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eLearning Why Bother?

eLearning Why Bother?. Dr Max Jones University of Manchester max.jones@manchester.ac.uk. Challenges. How to improve teaching and learning in large humanities courses with reduced contact hours? How to make seminars more effective? How to support Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs)?.

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eLearning Why Bother?

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  1. eLearning Why Bother? Dr Max Jones University of Manchester max.jones@manchester.ac.uk

  2. Challenges • How to improve teaching and learning in large humanities courses with reduced contact hours? • How to make seminars more effective? • How to support Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs)?

  3. VLEs - Strengths I • Course Outline (& Skills Info) Easily Accessible • Improve Access to Secondary Sources • Harness Online Resources. Some online resources may only be used on secure Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) • Direct Seminar Preparation of Students – Active Learning • Provide Framework for GTAs • Good for Career Progression

  4. VLEs - Strengths II VLE Tools: • Discussion Boards • Quizzes • Essay Submission & Feedback • Plagiarism Checker • “Wiki” Tool • Podcasts • Surveys

  5. VLEs - Weaknesses • Substantial initial investment of time • Hidden workload maintaining VLE • Reliance on technology beyond your control • Perception that new technology is intended to replace contact with staff • Humanities students become overly reliant on online resources, and don’t learn how to use library • Rigid Framework? • Staff Resistance

  6. Project Revamp Level 2 Modern British History course – c.120-students. 1 lecture + 1 seminar per week. Students must complete a “Seminar Worksheet” before each seminar

  7. Seminar Worksheet Single A4 Sheet with 4-6 questions. The questions direct students’ engagement with assigned primary and secondary sources. Students email a copy of worksheet to GTA before each weekly seminar.

  8. Seminar 6. The People’s War?: 1939-45. • How does Rose explain the particular anxieties provoked by “good-time girls” in wartime Britain? • Why does Rose believe inter-racial sex provoked particular tensions? • Choose one example from the article, which you could use in an essay to illustrate Rose’s argument. • How could you use Fires Were Started to support or challenge Rose’s argument? • How is the period 1914-39 presented in the Labour Party manifesto? • How does the manifesto describe the Labour party’s attitude towards “freedom”?

  9. Questionnaire Results ‘The material available on-line significantly enhanced my learning’ Mean score of 1.81 Highest score of 140 UG course units with over 30 students in 2007-08

  10. Online Survey 1 ‘I learned more in my weekly seminar, if I had completed a Seminar Worksheet’, • 38 ‘Agree’ • 7 ‘Mostly Agree’ • 6 ‘Neither Agree nor Disagree’ • 3 ‘Mostly Disagree’ • 5 ‘Disagree’

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