Continuous Improvement in e-Learning: Investigating the Effect and Impact of Our WebCT Chemistry Support Initiative (CSI) and Implications for Further Enhancement

of the Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) Developed

EdTech 2007, 24EdTech 2007, 24thth May, Bolton St. May, Bolton St.

Claire Mc Donnell, Christine O’Connor & Michael Seery,

School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, DIT

Background - Teaching and Learning Strategies Used to Support Learning for First Year Chemistry Students at DIT

Contextualisation Visual Images Molecular models Virtual learning environment (VLE) - introduced Sept 2004 Problem solving workshops / tutorials Integrating study skills into subject teaching

Aims We Had for this Virtual Learning Environment

Pool resources in Chemistry at DITProvide formative assessment quizzes (“cyber tutorials”) with instant and detailed feedback Promote a learner-centred environmentEnhance visualisation and animation/ simulation in our delivery to improve engagement and understandingProvide a central resource for course informationUtilise the e-learning platform (WebCT) that our Institute has invested in

General Template of the VLE

Necessary Information – contains course handbook,assignments, assignment criteria, selected lecture notes, summary sheets, useful links.

Noticeboard – access to WebCT mail and calendar (assignment schedule and assessment dates) and discussion board.

Tutorials – sample and past exam questions, problem solving question sheets,

Welcome and General info – course information.

Glossary – chemical definitions.

Careers – examples of careers in Chemistry.

Quizzes – database of chemistry multiple choice quizzes and crosswords.

Evaluation of Current Use of WebCT by Staff WebCT incorporated into every year of every programme in the School since Sept ’04

Staff surveyed last month to ascertain level of use of WebCT in the School.

The results of the survey are discussed under the following headings;

1. Motivation for adoption

2. Resource implications

3. Training and support required

4. Current use of WebCT (Programme management, School management)

5. Level of interactivity

6. Management of VLE

7. Constraints and problems encountered

Motivation for Adoption of WebCT

Comments from staff reflected that use of WebCT stemmed from a personal interest and student expectations.“Taught first year group who already had a WebCT site for another subject (Physics) and got a Learning and Teaching grant with a colleague to develop VLE with quizzes for first year students. Also, had used WebCT as a student in the Learning and Teaching Centre and could see it was useful.”“Positive impression from colleagues, expectations of students, makes life much easier.”

Main motivation is to use WebCT as a programme administration and communication tool.

Facilitation of work placement students in 30 companies in Ireland. Coordinators for part-time postgraduate programmes in particular use the

VLE for:(i) making programme material available, (ii) the discussion board functionality,(iii) storing module and programme information, (iv) as a remote learning tool.

Applications of the VLE for part-time postgraduate and full-time undergraduate programmes are different to cater for different learner

types.

Resource Implications

250 undergraduate students, 89 part-time taught postgraduate students in the School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences supported by our VLE and large amount of service teaching to other schools (Physics, Biological Sciences) and faculties (Tourism and Food), some of which are also supported.“With greater use of WebCT, there will be a greater pressure on access to

the system perhaps requiring more student facilities”. The School currently has one computer room which has 20 computers

with internet access for student use and one computer for the lecturer. All computers were replaced in January 2007 through school budget.

There is access to one printer in our computer room and other than that there are printing facilities in the library.

Students have poor Wi-Fi access on the floor where ourschool is located. However, they do have Wi-Fi access in mostother areas of the college.

Training and Support Required

Most members of staff received their training on courses run by the DIT Learning Technology Team (LTT).

In-School training was requested in 2005 and the LTT facilitated this request over lunch time once a week for 6 weeks. 60% of the staff attended.

In general one day training events are not sufficient. The timing of the training is significant as it is felt that WebCT is not user

friendly.“Received introductory training. It was good and covered all aspects, but I find

learning by doing is best once basics are covered.”“Training was fine, but I did not use it straight away so all was forgotten by then.”

Peer tutoring from colleagues in the School and over the phone support from the LTT are useful support mechanisms.

38% of staff would be interested in learning more about: (i) more WebCT functionalities, (ii) extending their current use of WebCT and (iii) to learn from other users how and why they use WebCT.

Future Training Required

The Staff in the School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences have expressed an interest in the use of WebCT applications such as:My grades – for formative assessment results Quizzes (especially uploading from Respondus) Discussion boards Interactive sites and developing own animations E-packs to enhance visualisation of programme material

and provide support material.

Current Use of WebCT

Programme Management WebCT facilitates effective programme management and the main

applications of the VLEs are listed in the following Table.

WebCT

Application Tool

% Staff

using tool

WebCT

Application Tool

% Staff

using tool

Programme Management

88 % Handouts (summaries) 88 %

Discussion Board 38 % Tutorial Sheets 88 %

WebCT mail 75 % On-line learning activities 38 %

Lecture Notes* 63 % On-line assessment 12.5 %

Calendar 88 % Simulations/ Animations 25 %

Quizzes 50 % Others N/A

*Only for final year students and part-time taught postgraduate programmes.

School Management WebCT Site (launched (2006/ 2007)

Level of Interactivity

Young and Kornblith, (2006) gave examples of the interactivity to look for:‘case studies, games and simulations at a level that should require input and actively engaging students in a learning process.’

Some staff replied that the level of activity was based on how regularly students logged on to the VLE. However, some of the existing users are making efforts to enhance the interactivity of the VLE.

‘to use the web as simply a coat hanger where files are left for students to access will not engage students and thus be counter productive’ (Broad, 2004)

“High when using discussion board, crosswords or quizzes.” “Low; students mainly use e-mail except for on-line assignments.” “Basic interactivity in terms of quizzes, crosswords and links to interactive websites, but I have not developed animations/ simulations myself.”http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/JCESoft/CCA/pirelli/index.html

Management of VLEs

Programme coordinators or a responsible person are the VLE designer for

the year and programme they coordinate. Other users can send their

material to the VLE coordinator for uploading or ask for designer status. In future preferable if all the teaching team on that programme year are

added as students so all can view what the students have access to. Designers feel WebCT is a very cumbersome and unintuitive system,

especially as it is not Microsoft compatible. For many designers the programme template was already designed. VLE designers access WebCT on a weekly basis and spend on average 1

to 3 hours a week uploading/ maintaining the site. One designer required 2-4 hrs per week when using a discussion board. As an exception one member of staff uploaded all of the material required

for a mature student part-time programme last year and has not accessed

the VLE at all for this academic year.

Constraints and Problems Encountered

'Time is perceived by staff as the major inhibiting factor to e-learning.’ (Oates,1999)The main factor arising with staff as an issue is time. Nearly all users complained of the time it takes to upload onto/maintain a VLE.“One by one uploading/ managing is ridiculously primitive even with Netdrive!”“Uploading and removal of material takes too much time when using the site regularly.”“Having the time to upload quizzes and write messages on discussion boards.”Other issues arising are:

- ease of adding staff as students/ teaching assistants. -the current programme template is limited in terms of how material is presented as a list under module title for programme year. - students forgetting passwords.- WebCT is not intuitive so if you are not using it regularly it is not very user-friendly. - a ‘save-draft’ option is not available on the discussion board.- WebCT mail is not linked with Microsoft Outlook.

Staff Not Using WebCT

20 % of staff in School are not using WebCT directly as a VLE.

60 % of that 20 % are using our school staff administration site on WebCT.

From the comments below it is hoped that in the next academic year the teaching

team on each programme year will have a minimum of student access.

Reasons for not using WebCT Suggestions to overcome the reasons

“Do not know enough about it” “If one had access to current programme/ student WebCT it would help in learning more about WebCT”

“Not familiar with the system” “taking time to learn how to use it”

“Stress” “None”

“Lack of time prevents me from loading material onto WebCT”

“Introduction of small portions of programme gradually”

Of the staff surveyed who are currently not using WebCT, only one felt they would not like to use it in the future. This individual felt that they had done all the courses but were unable to get a grasp of WebCT. All other members of staff felt that they would all like to use WebCT in the future.

Evaluation of Current Use of WebCT by Students

One group of 2nd Year students surveyed last month. Evaluation

questionnaire; series of questions, some open-ended.

Group selected as had used greatest number of applications of the

VLE (calendar, WebCT mail, discussion board, quizzes, grades, on-

line assignments)

Feedback from shorter questionnaire given to 1st Years and verbal

feedback from other students similar to data from this questionnaire.

Review of the VLEs in use also carried out to assess categories of

use they belong to. Very similar patterns to those reported in staff

questionnaire.

Student Responses

91% had found the Chemistry VLE useful in 1st Year The features they found useful in 1st Year are presented in the table below;

79% said they found the VLE useful in 2nd Year and the pie chart on the next page summarises which aspects they found most useful.

Tutorial sheets 73%

Email 45%

Calendar 36%

Exam papers 18%

Course handbook 9%

Necessary information 9%

Student Responses

Pie Chart Summarising Responses to the Question "What Aspects of the VLE That You Have Used in

Second Year Were Most Useful?"

Exam papers

Email

Discussion board

Calendar

Grades

Assignments

Tutorial sheets

Benefits of the VLE

Past papers, tutorial sheets 50%

Keeping in touch / up to date on course info and assignments 21%

Communicating with lecturers 14%

Project information 14%

Website links 7%

Access to grades 7%

Access to useful information 7%

100% of the students surveyed would like to see WebCT used more in the future

Disadvantages of the VLE

None 43%

Not all lecturers use it 29%

Lecture notes not up 14%

Remembering password 7%

Calendar 7%

Lecture notes up 71%

Tutorial questions 50%

Past papers, sample qs 21%

Assignments 7%

Calendar used more 7%

Lab report advice 7%

Advice on references 7%

Discussion board easier to use 7%

How Could the VLE be Used More?

VLE Review

Categories of Use Made by Academic Staff of VLEs (School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, DIT)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Course

managem

ent

Quizzes

WebC

T m

ail

WebC

T m

ail(student

response)

Discussionboard

Learningsupport

Assignm

ents

Exam

papers

Grades

Lecture notes

Main Conclusions/Issues from Student Responses

Usefulness as a central repository and means of

communication with staff and project group members

Flexibility cited as an advantage

Students would like more staff to use WebCT and many

are also asking for lecture notes to be available

Survey will be extended in 2007-8

Main Conclusions – Where to from Here?

Introduction of new version of WebCT in September should address

some of the current barriers to adoption. Additional training required.

Proposed to give all teaching staff student access to relevant VLEs

Specific topics for future training have been identified

In-School workshop in September to plan strategy and review survey

results

Evaluation In Other Colleges At Michigan Technological University (Charlesworth and Vician, 2003),

WebCT introduced as course management tool for First Year Chemistry in 2000 (Course notes, on-line quizzes and exams, e-mail and discussion board)

Students appreciated the flexibility

Used WebCT to complement other methods of learning, not to replace them

Improvement in students perceived learning and confidence. 75% said WebCT helped them enjoy the class more than traditional Chemistry classes they’d had before.

University of Texas-Pan American (Gregorius, 2005) and Sunderland Pharmacy School (Cunningham, 2003) also report positive effects

References

Broad, M. et al (2004) Accounting education through an online supported VLE, Active Learning in HE, 5(2) pp135-150Charlesworth, P. and Vician, C. (2003) Leveraging Technology for Chemical Sciences Education: An Early Assessment of WebCT Usage in First-Year Chemistry Courses, Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 80, 11, pages 1333 - 1337.What Can A Virtual Learning Environment Do for you and Your Students, Oral presentation by Dr Anne Cunningham, Sunderland Pharmacy School at LTSN Physical Sciences Workshop, Cardiff, 19th November 2003. Accessed at; (http://www.physsci.ltsn.ac.uk/Events/WorkshopReportsExtras/wsr_id52/Cardiff03v2.ppt )Gregorius, R. (2005) Traditional Versus PowerPoint and WebCT Augmented Classes, The Chemical Educator, Vol. 10, pages 72-77.Young E. and Kornblith P., ‘Evaluating an e-Pack in 10 Minutes or Less: Using the WebCT Key Features’, Accessed in May 2007 at: https://www.elluminate.com/site/pmtg.jnlp?psid=d1812929470.397628

Acknowledgements

Colleagues in School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Faculty of Science Learning and Teaching Centre Staff Learning Technology Team DIT e- Learning club