E-lecturer Feedback E-lecturer Feedback of the of the Inclusion of Inclusion of Blended Learning Blended Learning in in Undergraduate Undergraduate Occupational Occupational Therapy Therapy By Paula Barnard-Ashton By Paula Barnard-Ashton
Electurer Feedback Electurer Feedback of the of the Inclusion of Inclusion of Blended Learning Blended Learning in in
Undergraduate Undergraduate Occupational Occupational TherapyTherapy
By Paula BarnardAshtonBy Paula BarnardAshton
IntroductionIntroduction
• Blended learning = combined and integrated use of eLearning and facetoface (F2F) learning activities to develop a community of learning [13]
• The OT curriculum delivery has been a purely F2F, problembased learning (PBL) design,
• In 2009 blended learning was adopted :– enhance the learning opportunities,
– optimise communication within the occupational therapy courses and
– alleviate some of the lecturer time resources
DevelopmentDevelopment
• Initially courses were designed in Blackboard (WebCT)
• For the 2010 academic year courses were migrated onto a Moodle platform.
• All lecturing staff developed and contributed to all the elearning / online course environments.
• All OT students have access to the course for their academic year of study.
Aims of the studyAims of the study
• Document eLecturer behaviour in order to determine the level of uptake of blended learning by eLecturers.
• Determine eLecturer belief in the value of blended learning.
• Determine eLecturer attitude towards blended learning.
• Determine eLecturer Virtual Learning Environment tool preferences.Objective: The results of the study would guide the initiatives and development of enhancements to the
blended learning delivery.
Method: Participatory Action Method: Participatory Action Research (PAR)Research (PAR)
• 12 of the 13 full time lecturing staff participated.
• Conducted from January to May 2010.
• PAR involves a cyclical process.
PAR cyclePAR cycle
The ProblemThe Problem
• Anxiety about migrating from WebCT to Moodle.• Consensus that the VLEs were primarily used in
2009 for posting lecture notes or communicating notices to the eLearners.
• ELecturer frustrations: – use of time (esp. F2F timespend on individual
student tutoring)– academic output – manage their undergraduate teaching
responsibilities
Participation StrategyParticipation Strategy• The VLE platform (Moodle) would remain consistent during the
2010.
• The VLEs would be branded with the label “eOT”,
• the characteristic colour of the curriculum year use to present an environmental “feel”.
• ELecturers attended a morning live Moodle training session.
• ELecturers would encourage eLearners to use the discussion boards to post queries (instead of F2F meetings).
• ELecturers were encouraged to use the quiz tool to generate selftests or formative assessments.
• ELearners would attend a scheduled computer based training session which introduced them to the tools and functions of the VLE.
ActionAction
InvestigationInvestigation
• Reflection and comment on blended learning at the monthly staff meetings.
• Online survey, using surveymonkey.com, of the eLecturers beliefs and attitude at the end of the first term.
• ELecturer VLE access statistics logged at the end of the first term for the third and fourth year occupational therapy courses.
The data were collected in the second week of May 2010 and analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.
Results: Staff MeetingsResults: Staff MeetingsTHEME COMMENT
e-Learner positive attitude
students were enthusiastic about e-OT. noticed the increased use of e-OT. appreciated the availability of resources.
Server and network inefficiency
Chat rooms do not work when the whole class is online. Class test quiz did not work with the whole class online, =
rotated through the test (10-12 e-Learners at a time). e-Learners and e-Lecturers are unable to access e-OT at
times.
Plagiarism monitoring software
The lack of plagiarism monitoring software is of concern. It was available through the Blackboard platform.
Success e-Lecturers feel that are generally able to use the tools on the VLE.
Most students were regularly accessing e-OT.
Survey: ELecturer AttitudeSurvey: ELecturer Attitude
e-OT STATEMENTS
Survey: Survey: eLecturers ranking of use eLecturers ranking of use of VLE tools of VLE tools
VLE Access LogsVLE Access Logs
• Review of the access logs indicated that – 83.3% of eLecturers actively contributed the
content on the VLEs of the third year course
– and 66.7% to the fourth year courses.
• Both VLEs have been accessed by 100% of the eLecturers during the first term of 2010.
RecommendationsRecommendations
• Recommendations for the second cycle of the PAR: – The migration of the VLE platform to a larger,
higher processor server.
– eLecturers should be facilitated to use a broader scope of the VLE tools.
– Sustain the impetus of blended learning within the DOT by presenting the results of this cycle to the eLecturers and triggering the start of the second cycle.
ConclusionConclusion
• The use of blended learning in undergraduate occupational therapy PBL curriculum delivery has indicated full initial eLecturer uptake and implementation in the DOT.
• Though there is still ongoing scope for development, the initial study indicated a sense of success and ownership by the eLecturers.
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