TOM FARRELLY, SARAH O’TOOLE AND TONY MURPHY Institute of Technology, Tralee

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (2007) defines a catalyst as “an agent that facilitates a change”.

In our case, the catalyst for change was the manner in which we responded to real-time student feedback.

Real-time feedback influenced the nature and manner of the response to technical troubleshooting

However, an unexpected outcome of the experience was the manner in which responding to real-time feedback changed roles and processes.

Fisher and Miller (2008) - early collection of data allows educators to respond to unique concerns so that potential problems are not allowed to develop.

Expectations of the students – Generation Z

Students learn best when they actively construct their own knowledge (Beuckmanet al. 2007).

The WorkbooksThe PlatformThe Cohort

Profile

Issues Survey

ResponsesThe Survey

DiscussionA New Team –

Redefined Roles

Conclusion

The target population was drawn from three undergraduate first year student groups:

Social Care (n= 64),

Early Childhood Care & Education (n= 39) and

Youth & Community Work (n = 30)

Thus totalling 133 students, who were all undertaking the Introduction to Social Research Methods module.

Utilising the college’s VLE - Blackboard, the e-learning element was intended to be used by students in an independent manner

While these students had been introduced to accessing their notes online through the (VLE) they had not used learning resources as their main source of learning material before.

Three online interactive ‘workbooks’ that were published within an Articulate (www.articulate.com) platform.

Each ‘page’ of the workbook incorporated some form of online teaching element such as: an embedded video, hyperlinks to ebooksand/or a websites, directed reflective activities, assessments, interactive quizzes, reading material and PowerPoint presentation videos.

As soon as each of the three workbooks went live, a hyperlink to each survey (one per workbook) was made available via Blackboard in the research methods module and via an email sent to all class members.

The survey was created in SurveyMonkey™ and consisted of five questions; four closed questions relating to functionality and technical issues, and a fifth open-ended question which allowed for free comments.

Survey # Social Care

Early Childhood

Youth & Community

Response Rate

Survey 1 34 13 8 55 (41%)

Survey 2 23 19 9 51 (38%)

Survey 3 29 19 7 55 (41%)

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Ebrary BookLinks

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“Great learning activity” (Workbook 1)“I found it very easy to use and had no problems at all” (Workbook 1)“Very easy to understand and easy to access” (Workbook 2)“This is one of the best ways of learning I have ever experienced. I love it.” (Workbook 2)“Made the learning easier” (Workbook 3)

“It would have been much more helpful if a person could pause when they need to take down a note, instead of having to start at the very beginning every time”.“The only inconvenience was not being able to pause mid-slide when interrupted” “Couldn’t get sent through to the ebrary, but do like the idea of being directed to a specific text as you are going through the workbook”“I could not access the ebrary. It said I needed to be in the Tralee area”

“The only problem experienced at any stage was accessing the first book on stats from home which was rectified and gaining access was no bother” (Workbook 3)“The fact that I could now pause the videos was very good” (Workbook 1)“Had a problem the first night on accessing ebrarybook links but this seemed to have been rectified the second night” (Workbook 2)

Sims (2006) asked “how valuable might strategies be where students are the proactive providers of content, not just recipients?” (p.2).

The real-time feedback did more than simply help troubleshoot; it provided the student with a place at the table during the development stages.

If we are going to encourage more staff to engage, we need to have an easier more flexible and more responsive process.

Half the battle: there is little point in having the responses from students without having the ability to produce an integrated quick response.

Locally, this project led to the development of a team with redefined roles for each member.

Instructional Designer

‘Emblended’ Librarian

Lecturer

A large percentage of their work involves training academic staff members on the different applications and tools that are available.

They also work with a lecturer on the development of a resource, which once complete is given to the lecturer and the instructional designer has no more to do with it.

Generally, instructional designers do not get the chance to engage with the end user of the resource (the student).

Getting the real-time feedback from the students and then incorporating it into the workbooks allowed the instructional designer to become more aware of the end users’ needs

Embedded Librarian - “to remain relevant, academic libraries must go where the students and faculty are” (Gibbons 2005).

‘Blended Librarian’ encourage academic librarians to integrate instructional design and technology skills into their existing library and information technology skill set. – (Bell & Frank 2004)

Lecturers trying to incorporate e-learning into their teaching and learning strategy, but largely working alone, run the risk of burnout and simply giving up.

They also risk diluting the core value of what they have to offer the design process by trying to do everything.

Early adopters may become the largely disillusioned

Gathering feedback is only worthwhile if you have the ability to respond and incorporate the findings.

A new generation of students, “for whom technology IS the environment and for who learning means different things” Sims (2006 p. 2).

If e-learning is to move from being a peripheral to a mainstream activity for the vast majority of lecturers, a more supportive model than is currently being offered is necessary.

Beuckman, J, Rebello, N and Zollman, D. 2007. Impact of a Classroom Interaction System on Student Learning. AIP Conference Proceedings 883: 129-132.

Bell Steven J. and Shank, Shank. 2004. The blended librarian: A blueprint for redefining the teaching and learning role of academic librarians. College and Research Libraries News July/August 2004: 372-375.

Fisher, R. and Miller D. 2008. Responding to student expectations: a partnership approach to course evaluation. Assessment & Evaluation In Higher Education. 332: 191-202.

Gibbons, S. 2005. Integration of Libraries and Course-Management Systems. Library Technology Reports 413: 12-20.

Sims, R. 2006. Beyond instructional design: Making learning design a reality. Journal of Learning Design 12: 1-7. Accessed 30/05/2012. http://www.jld.qut.edu.au/publications/vol1no2/documents/beyond%20instructional%20design.pdf.

Shorter Oxford English Dictionary: On historical principles Vol 1. 2007. 6th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.