Online Learning Trends: Testing User Control and Phone Usage for College Students

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

A Closer Look at Online Learning Trends:Testing User Control and Phone Usage

for College Students

Derek MalenczakRutgers, The State University of New Jersey

School of Health ProfessionsDepartment of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling

Professions

Rutgers School of Health Professions

Overview

• Undergraduate online learning, like the rest of online learning in general, continues to increase rapidly

• Translating content from the classroom to the web requires innovation at times

• Students are completing more and more of their online coursework on their mobile devices (get stats)

• Offering content that is easily accessible via mobile devices improves user control, which can help with… (research)

• Listening to content, as opposed to reading/viewing video has been shown to have lower cognitive load (cite)

• Lower cognitive load leads to (research)


Hypotheses

• If given the option (user control) to access a weekly audio assignment either through their LMS (Moodle) or via a podcast published in iTunes, a significant amount of students will elect to listen on their phones either way.

• A significant amount of students will report doing other things while listening (surfing web, social media, walking/commuting, exercising, etc.).

• Students will find the weekly audio activity highly satisfactory due to the fact that it is not a written/video assignment.


The Course - Community Resource Management

• Offered online to undergraduate students at Rutgers University• Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation & Counseling Professions• Mixture of Associates and Bachelors level students• Course “focuses on the community support system and case

management functions. Emphasis is on linkage to and coordination of various community resources utilized by people with psychiatric conditions. Students will learn about the resources available in our local communities and how to connect program participants with needed resources.” – from the syllabus

• Two sections taught by different instructors, however parameters of the audio assignment were identical in both classes

• 23 students enrolled, and all competed the course (11/12 by section)


Audio Assignment – “Fly on the Wall” Overview

• Both instructors collaborated on the project• “A fictional series about 2 mental health case managers

and the people they work with, connecting them to needed resources in the community.” – iTunes description

• The community resources discussed are intended to be used by adults with severe and persistent mental illness.

• Each instructor created two fictional characters of people that they worked who have mental illness.

• Each week they recorded audio giving each other ”updates” about their caseloads.


Fly on the Wall Overview con’t

• 11 episodes released (1 Introduction, 10 Theme)• Updates focused various community resource themes

(Social Security, County Social Services, Residential, Vocational, Wellness/Self-Help, Family, etc.)

• Audio ranged between 7-26 mins• Average length of the 11 episodes: 15.6 minutes• Following listening to the episodes, student had to pick

one question (usually from 4 available) and answer it in that week’s Discussion Forum on Moodle, as well as comment on classmates’ responses.

• See www.flyonthewallproject.com for more information

http://www.flyonthewallproject.com/


The Survey Respondents

• N = 20 students took the optional listening survey at the conclusion of the course

• 87% response rate• Average (mean) age of respondents: 28 years old• 19 of 20 respondents reported listening to all 11 of the

available episodes


Primary Method of Listening to Audio

Moodle/Computer Moodle/Phone iTunes/Computer iTunes/Phone0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18


“Please briefly describe your reasons for choosing the primary method to listen that you did.”

• 11 of 17 respondents who chose either of the “Moodle” options used the terms “convenient”, “faster”, or “easier” to describe their reasons for choosing the method that they did.

• Two respondents specifically stated they chose to listen on their computer so they could take notes simultaneously.

• The two respondents that chose either of the “Phone” options both noted convenience. One respondent specifically stated they like to do other things (driving/cooking/laundry) while listening.

• Of the three that listened in iTunes, only one subscribed to podcast.


Primary Location When Listening to Audio

On Computer, "Focused" On Computer, "Unfocused" In Car Commuting/Walking/Exercising Other - Internship Site0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18


Focused vs. Unfocused Listening

• “Focused” = respondents not doing anything else except on the computer except listening to the audio, and/or taking notes about what they hear

• “Unfocused” = respondents doing something else on the computer (checking email, using social media, surfing the web, etc.) while listening to the audio in the background


Overall Podcast Knowledge/Experience Level

No Knowledge/Experience Very Little Knowledge/Experience Some Knowledge/Experience Very Knowledgeable/Experienced0

1

2

3

4

5

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7

8

9


Returning to our Hypotheses…

• If given the option (user control) to access a weekly audio assignment either through their LMS (Moodle) or via a podcast published in iTunes, a significant amount of students will elect to listen on their phones either way. (FALSE)

• A significant amount of students will report doing other things while listening (surfing web, walking/commuting, exercising, etc). (FALSE)

• Students will find the weekly audio activity highly satisfactory due to the fact that it is not a written/video assignment. (TRUE) Mean average of 1-5 Likert scale about satisfaction with the assignment = 3.95, plus qualitative feedback on following slides


Positive Feedback About FOTW

• “…made me feel important and in more immediate contact with what I will be doing in the field. I have now less fear in applying abstract concepts…”

• “I would rather listen than read about it in a textbook.”• “I thought that using these audio recordings added a

motivating element to the class. It made me want to keep coming back to hear what happened like when reading a good book.”

• “I was quite nervous about how i would learn from the podcasts but it turned out to be a great way. It makes you feel like you are there and I’m glad there was no video otherwise it would have gotten distracting. More classes need to use this method.”


More FOTW Positive Feedback

• “The podcasts was definitely an interesting learning tool. I found myself a little excited to discover what progress some people made next after each session. I thought it was a good way to analyze the interactions of a case manager and person served.”

• “I really liked the audio recordings. It is a much more interesting way of learning than just reading. I liked that we were able to listen the case management sessions and hear the dynamic.”

• “It was a new way to do an assignment. I think it was innovative in the sense that it is not something I've done before.”

• “I felt it was a great way to get the class involved.”


FOTW Constructive Feedback

• “It was hard keeping up sometimes and so I had to listen several times to the recording. This became a little bit of an issue since I am quite busy and could really only spare weekend time to sit down and listen effectively.”

• “An improvement would be to provide a transcript.”• “I think that in the near future the audio recordings should be

reduced significantly. After a while, the listener tunes out because of the length in the recording.”

• “Perhaps if there were only two focus people versus so many (four total) then it would have been more enjoyable.”


Conclusions, Future Considerations

• Small sample size is a barrier.• Listening via Moodle provides a similar level of ease and

convenience as downloading a podcast in iTunes, and in some cases is more convenient for a student if they are not familiar with podcasting in general.

• Despite majority of students having knowledge/experience with podcasts, few elected to use the option option.

• The vast majority of students treated this project as an academic assignment first and foremost, and prioritized a deeper understanding of the content than was expected.

• A transcript should be provided, both for those with hearing impairments (language?) as well as for those who would prefer to read it due to time constraints, or just because they feel they learn better that way.

Education

Online Learning Trends: Testing User Control and Phone Usage for College Students