Learning in a Digital Age Are we prepared?

1. Learning in aDigital AgeAre we prepared?  Malcolm Ryan Head of TALENT (Teaching And Learning Enhancement Team) and SEEL (Student Experience of E-learning Laboratory) project manager at the University of Greenwich, London, UK.

2. Overview • The SEEL project • Selected findings • Corroborative evidence • Questions

3. Overview of SEEL The Student Experience of E-learning Laboratory (SEEL) project at the University of Greenwich grew out of the Higher Education Academy’s (HEA) benchmarking exercise and is a three year initiative that seeks to discover more about the student experience of using technology in support of learning. Our benchmarking exercise using the OBHE methodology revealed that there was a widely held view that e-Learning was being used to enhance the student experience of learning. Further investigations revealed that despite this belief, there was almost no systematic evaluation of the impact of e-learning on the student experience within Greenwich.

4. Selected findings: the survey Fewer than 50% of students regularly make use of their University e-mail account. But… e-mail was the predominant tool used for every conceivable type of learning and teaching exchange. Research for assignments was mainly conducted through Wikipedia and Google.

5. Selected findings: the survey There was some indication of a clear separation of technologies used for learning and communicating with teachers and the institution from those used for socialising, contacting family and friends and reluctance amongst some students to use these within formal learning contexts. However, those who advocated tutor use of MSN and Facebook said it would be more convenient for them, and enable “regular feedback” and that “it’s easier to get to know (tutors) on social sites”.

6. As soon as I wake up I the first thing I do is check my emails, see who is on line, come to Uni and start using it again doing coursework and researching. I just use it throughout the day. Selected findings: the interviews

7. I find I am not one of those people who can sit down at a computer and know what they are doing. It took me quite a while to learn how to do it. I have a mobile, an i-Pod, that sort of technology, I have got a Nintendo DS for the games as opposed to the actual learning. Selected findings: the interviews

8. The WebCT tool is great but I wouldn’t (want to) go on-line … and just do e-learning as I like the contact with the lecturer and being able to ask questions, to me the interaction is important. Selected findings: the interviews

9. For reference it is really hard to sift out over the Internet. If you go on to Google and type in something it will come up with one thousand two hundred million, most of them are complete rubbish. It takes forever to sift through it to see which ones are actually useful. Selected findings: the interviews

10. If I have got an essay to hand in I go to the library. I like books more than I like computers. I am a bookworm. They are much easier to sift through and it is quite easy. Once you get a book you just have to look through the index, then that’s it the information is there … and books can’t crash! Selected findings: the interviews

11. Sometimes in the lecture theatres, using electronic white boards etc, some of the lecturers don’t really know how to use it …. They don’t really know what to do when it does go wrong so they need more training on using the technology. Selected findings: the interviews

12. Lack of leadership? Students do not perceive HEIs to be leading the way in developing new methods of learning. Their perception is that current technology training for students tends to focus on how to use different systems. There is little sense that the HEI has a remit to encourage these students to think differently about information, research and presentation. http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/greatexpectations.aspx

13. Students believe that … … technology should be used to enhance their learning … • They expect their tutors to be as fully engaged and adept with e-learning as themselves, and are highly aware of any less than enthusiastic involvement. • Tutor engagement and learner attitudes are closely interlinked. LEX Report 2006 JISC (p26)

14. Do students want Web 2.0? Attitudes as to whether social networking sites could be used in teaching are mixed, however, where social networking emerges organically among the students, it is shown to be more successful than networks put in place by the teacher – which can feel overtly formal and out of place. There is emerging evidence that student-driven ICT, including the use of Web 2.0 features is very beneficial in their learning despite relatively few feeling they are encouraged to use Web 2.0 features in this way. http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/greatexpectations.aspx

15. Questions? • In what ways are we listening and responding to students in our use of technology? • Who are the real experts when it comes to learning and teaching with technology – students or academics? • Are we really meeting the needs of our diverse student bodies with technology, recognising there are individual differences in attitudes and preferences? • Should we abandon the VLE (institutional) approach to e-learning and embrace student-led and owned technologies? • Are we blending to a purpose or just following the latest fashion?

16. Contact details Malcolm Ryan Head of TALENT School of Education and Training University of Greenwich Avery Hill Campus Bexley Road, London, SE9 2PQ TEL: 020 8331 9741 E-mail: rm03@gre.ac.uk URL: http://www.gre.ac.uk/seel