Joint Information Systems Committee – David Kernohan – eLearning

Mark Childs, Rossana Espinoza-Ramos, Dr. Ruth AyresStudents Blending Learner User Preferences

University of Warwick

Matching student choices to institutional provision

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Which learners?

Pilot study of

8 students from Warwick

12 students from Northumbria

8 case studies from previous LXP project

Main study will draw data from 56 students

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What experiences?

Physical environment

Virtual environment

Social Collaborative Learning Spaces,

Forums

Individual Library VLE, web pages, portals

Physical environment

Virtual environment

Social kitchen, café, workplace

MSN, Facebook, SMS

Individual Bedroom, blogs, eportfolio

Institutional

Personal

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How are we researching learners’ experiences?

Broad based interviews involving 40 first year undergraduate students per year

Intensive study documented through reflective logs

Research-based study through four undergraduate research projects

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Early findings

Information gatherers or communicators (or neither) but not both

Additional technologies only used when additional factors present

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Early findings

Online social Online individual

Offline social These are social learners in any environment, choosing to use MSN and Facebook for forming social groups and also meeting face-to-face.

These tend to be social learners, but without the familiarity with technology, or do not experience a sense of copresence online.

Offline individual These are social learners while online, using MSN and Facebook to exchange information and seek help, but prefer to work alone physically.

These individuals work alone constantly, either due to difficulty in communicating with peers, or their subject specialism does not encourage collaborative working.

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Emerging themes

Institutional Personal