Structure of the symposium

1. Symposium: Exploration of the student experience of e-learning: beginning to bridge the learning divide Lynne Jump, Malcolm Ryan, Rita Headington and Yana Tainsh

2. Structure of the symposium

3. Our e-benchmarking … …revealed that there was a widely held view that e-Learning was being used to enhance the student experience of learning. Investigations revealed that despite this belief, there was almost no systematic evaluation of the impact of e-learning on the student experience.

4. Overview of SEEL The Student Experience of E-learning Laboratory (SEEL) project is a three year initiative that seeks to discover more about the student experience of using technology in support of learning. The primary aim of the first year of SEEL was to establish a ‘virtual laboratory’ to examine, develop and implement a range of approaches and tools to evaluate the student experience of e-learning, make recommendations on curriculum renewal, and contribute towards the transformation of the learning and teaching agenda at Greenwich and the wider community.

5. Outputs Literature review Review of current work on the evaluation of students’ experiences of e-learning. Review of tools and approaches that can be used in the evaluation of the student experience and a discussion of related issues. Tools & approaches Investigation into the impact on student retention and progression on programmes and courses making significant use of e-learning at the University of Greenwich and the role of e-support services. Retention & progression Results Student experience survey tool, analysis of results, cameos and case studies Pathfinder journey Short report outlining the SEEL project journey with overview of outcomes and messages for the HE sector.

6. Question 1 • What makes for effective learning within a context of digital learning? Consider.... The subject matter The determinants of effective learning Identity of the learner The pedagogic discourse Who controls what and when? Group feedback

7. Evaluation Tools & Approaches “Evaluations should be at the course as opposed to the programme level and student experiences of the whole may be less than the sum of the parts" (Prosser, 2008:2) Factors that have been identified in the literature as impacting on students' experience of e-learning not unsurprisingly show considerable overlap with areas identified as contributing positive student experiences in face-to-face contexts.

8. Retention & progression It has proved difficult to investigate and discover with any clarity what impact the introduction of technology into teaching, learning and support has been at Greenwich over the past few years using existing reports and mechanisms. Annette Devine, Office of Student Affairs

9. On-line survey Nearly 1000 students respond

10. Results: survey Less than 50% of students regularly make use of their University e-mail account. 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.

11. Results: 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”.

12. Question 2 Are there myths and truths about today’s learners? Consider the dominant discourse ( in your own context) about today’s students is it about … • Transformation and enhancement? • Moral panic? • Digital natives vs digital immigrants? • None of the above? • All of the above? Group feedback

13. Results: cameos “Some software required for our classes is only available in restricted places in the college. Not helpful to the learning process.” “When I use technology between family and friends it is more at my leisure but when studying it is more to get my work done”. “I use the University Portal to access course material and Facebook to contact other students to catch up when I have missed a lecture”.

14. Results: cameos “Without e-learning it would be impossible to reach essay deadlines”. “At present e-learning is pretty efficient”. “My teachers are in the same position as I am in, there isn’t much technology involved in History”.

15. As soon as I wake up 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. When interviewed students said …

16. I use WebCT but I use email to send things to my tutor, to get some information. I use Facebook to communicate with my classmates, get some information to them like what about classes. When I am on the computer doing some work I like to open Facebook and MSN. When interviewed students said …

17. I look at the website 3 times a week, as there is always information changing … You can book on the library through WebCT as well and I think that’s great … When interviewed students said …

18. I would say they (lecturers) should put more things up and give a bit more help on the internet. In some of the other subjects after we have done work they give feedback on-line on how the essay should have been written and what should have been in it. When interviewed students said …

19. I get emails from the lecturers, but not really from friends or people on the course as I would normally phone them or email them from my personal email address. I … phone other people on my course and speak to them if I had a problem or if I needed to know something. When interviewed students said …

20. 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. When interviewed students said …

21. I heard … that we might be able to use the plagiarism thing so we can check that we haven’t plagiarised anything by accident. That will be a good idea as sometimes you’re not sure if you have just read something and taken it without realising until it’s too late. When interviewed students said …

22. 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. When interviewed students said …

23. … I wouldn’t use Google to search for anything as you get up lots of irrelevant things you don’t really need. When interviewed students said …

24. The WebCT tool is great but I wouldn’t go on-line to the Open University 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. When interviewed students said …

25. In China in the University the students can go to the tutor and ask him some questions, but here it is harder because the tutor has to rush to another lecture. When interviewed students said …

26. I just want to stress that I think Internet handing in coursework is a really bad idea. I don’t agree with it at all. I don’t care if I get lynched tomorrow! When interviewed students said …

27. 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 … When interviewed students said … …and books can’t crash!

28. How shall we respond? If you were asked to design (in every sense) a new university for digitally competent students, what would you include? Group feedback

29. … to all the students who took part in the survey, appear in the 90 cameos, were interviewed – your voice is being heard! Thank you …

30. Group feedback Q1 • Open ended – is learning in a digital era any different to traditional learning – wide ranging discussion? • Students making choices – short life of tools (here today gone tomorrow) – personalising – lack of opportunity with institutional tools – control • Who controls what – identify, personal/professional roles, pros and cons of anonymity in e-learning. How students control their own learning – should we dictate? • Consensus – conclude that student control/centredness was ideally the focus of effective digital learning. Needs to be a meaningful experience. Issues with subject – e.g. medicine can we afford to allow for experimentation and self discovery? Navigation and tools also part of the experience. • Whatever digital learning is it has to enable effective learning. A complicated mix of factors and issues.

31. Group feedback Q2 • Some of the fundamental beliefs are maybe wrong – e.g. Facebook, most important thing is to observe and respond to student behaviour – the digital native is a massive myth – good with technology but not so good with digital fluency. Skimming because students are lazy – a myth! • Students being technically adept is a myth – they all know each other – a myth, wanting to be social is a myth! • Digital natives/immigrants – a myth. Feedback – writing down notes on an essay is good is a myth – there are better more interactive ways. Integration – do students like mixing learning and social life – the divides are a myth. • Myth that e-learning adds value/qlty to learning/teaching – a bad teacher is a bad teacher • Not all young people are digital natives and adept – e-learning is such a broad term – it seems to encompass e-mail and on-line submission.

32. Group feedback Q3 • Less control by policy makers – it leads to the wrong reasons for using technology • Promotion of the idea of students being a resource for each other – horizontal learning, informal learning, peer learning/mentoring • Review the fundamentals of learning – back to basics – what are we trying to do and why – revisit learning theory. • Challenge the question – less than a third use computers – poverty • Refocus on digital skills rather than the tools – critical thinking • Train lecturers more appropriately so they are more aware of the tools and technologies and their uses. • Not just about how to use the technology but mindful of the pedagogy – how to use it to promote effective learning • More flexible physical learning spaces that are technologically enabled. • Spaces in control of the students.