Student Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Adaptive Courseware for Learning

Despite the increasing research on the effectiveness of adaptive learning courseware by vendors and academic institutions, there are few published, peer-reviewed studies on adaptive courseware that address the student experience and student perception of this teaching and learning tool. Over the course of two academic years, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019, researchers at the University of Mississippi conducted 16 course-based student focus groups and gathered data from 4 end-of-semester surveys to understand how students are experiencing adaptive courseware and whether or not they find it adds value to their education. Our study found that, although students generally find courseware to be helpful in their learning, they do not agree the courseware is adaptive, and they find the benefits of the courseware to be undermined by poor implementation and frequent overpricing

Higher education curriculum ecosystem design

This study focuses on the development of a Design Framework for Higher Education Curriculum Ecosystem design. The study views the world as a digital ecosystem where the physical and the virtual are fully intertwined and function through integrated social and technical architecture working together in a seamless mesh that is persistent and pervasive. This digital ecosystem is an open, flexible, demand driven, self-organising, collaborative environment. It has enhanced individuals’ abilities to connect with other people, share ideas, work collaboratively and form communities. This has inevitably impacted on educational practice in Higher Education. The thesis draws together educational theories, curriculum designs, and concepts drawn from ecological psychology, cognitive apprenticeship, distributed cognition and activity theory, and extends them through the application of a Complexity Science lens. A Complexity Science perspective views the world as comprised of Complex Adaptive Systems. This study explores how authentic learning processes can be scaffolded within a Complex Adaptive System. The iterative development and refinement, through three iterations over six years, of a curriculum ecosystem for a Built Environment Degree Program is used as a case study for the development of a Higher Education curriculum ecosystem exemplar. A Design Framework for a Curriculum Ecosystem for Higher Education which has emerged through this process is presented

Towards Understanding Learner Experiences In Elearning Tools

An understanding of how learners interact with eLearning tools and the relationship of different forms of interaction on subsequent learning outcomes is fundamental to improved learning outcomes as well as the effectiveness of eLearning tools. In this paper our main objective is to present methods to extract and analyse some crucial experiences and patterns, from an eLearning tool, that have significant effect on students learning. The proposed methods are presented in the context of a study conducted with undergraduates and postgraduates taking a course inan information system discipline. We demonstrate how the extracted experiences and patterns can be used as feedback to learners to improve learning. Academicians and lecturers can also use the analysis as a gauging instrument to measure the effectiveness of the eLearning tool thereby allowing the tool and learning practices to be improved

OPEN-SOURCE IMPLEMENTATION FOR E-LEARNING SYSTEM IN INDONESIAN UNIVERSITIES

University and educational organizations have different strategies in deploying E-learning systems, one of which is the use of open-source e-learning systems. This research is designed to analyze the implementation of elearning system using open source in the Indonesian universities. The survey result shows that the majority of elearning system from public and private universities in Indonesia use open source which is integrated to the university portal. The integration is considered favorable as it generally improve the content quality of e-learning system. This survey shows that the most frequently used open system system in Indonesian university is moodle. The finding also indicates that the content of e-learning websites of the Indonesian Universities is relatively low in quality compared to world class universities e-learning website

Achieving a Scaled Implementation of Adaptive Learning through Faculty Engagement: A Case Study

This paper presents a case study describing the implementation of adaptive learning at Colorado Technical University (CTU) with a focus on faculty adoption. A number of barriers to the adoption of technology will be discussed and more importantly, how CTU overcame these barriers. A description of the key elements of faculty support including training will be outlined as well as the information about the adoption of faculty using data to inform teaching strategies. The authors argue that if given the choice, faculty at CTU would prefer adaptive learning technology in their courses and welcome the use of technology and data to enhance the classroom experience

Impact of personalized recommendation and social comparison on learning behaviours and outcomes

ELearning suffers from the lack of face-to-face interaction and can deprive learners from the benefits of social interaction and comparison. In this paper we present the results of a study conducted for the impact of social comparison. The study was conducted by collecting students&rsquo; engagement with an eLearning tool, the attendance, and grades scored by students at specific milestones and presented these metrics to students as feedback using Kiviat charts. The charts were complemented with appropriate recommendations to allow them to adapt their study strategy and behaviour. The study spanned over 4 semesters (2 with and 2 without the Kiviats) and the results were analysed using paired T tests to test the pre and post results on topics covered by the eLearning tool. Survey questionnaires were also administered at the end for qualitative analysis. The results indicated that the Kiviat feedback with recommendation had positive impact on learning outcomes and attitudes.<br /

FORGE: An eLearning Framework for Remote Laboratory Experimentation on FIRE Testbed Infrastructure

The Forging Online Education through FIRE (FORGE) initiative provides educators and learners in higher education with access to world-class FIRE testbed infrastructure. FORGE supports experimentally driven research in an eLearning environment by complementing traditional classroom and online courses with interactive remote laboratory experiments. The project has achieved its objectives by defining and implementing a framework called FORGEBox. This framework offers the methodology, environment, tools and resources to support the creation of HTML-based online educational material capable accessing virtualized and physical FIRE testbed infrastruc- ture easily. FORGEBox also captures valuable quantitative and qualitative learning analytic information using questionnaires and Learning Analytics that can help optimise and support student learning. To date, FORGE has produced courses covering a wide range of networking and communication domains. These are freely available from FORGEBox.eu and have resulted in over 24,000 experiments undertaken by more than 1,800 students across 10 countries worldwide. This work has shown that the use of remote high- performance testbed facilities for hands-on remote experimentation can have a valuable impact on the learning experience for both educators and learners. Additionally, certain challenges in developing FIRE-based courseware have been identified, which has led to a set of recommendations in order to support the use of FIRE facilities for teaching and learning purposes

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning, Volume 7, Issue 1: APLU Special Issue on Implementing Adaptive Learning At Scale

The second of two Specials Issues of the CIEE journal to have been produced and guest edited by the Personalized Learning Consortium (PLC) of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), featuring important research resulting from university initiatives to launch, implement and scale up the use of adaptive courseware and the strategies of adaptive learning

Implementing sustainable EdTech projects in Small Island Developing states: Strategies, challenges and reflections

This paper discusses issues involved in trying to make foreign aid-funded education technology (EdTech) projects sustainable in the context of Small Island Developing States. Using two EdTech projects, the paper shares the authors’ experiences in working towards sustainability by involving local stakeholders through collaborative design and implementation processes and other strategies. The paper also highlights challenges faced and how they were overcome, such as by changes in local ministry staff and restrictions on travel during the coronavirus pandemic. The strategies, lessons and recommendations shared in the paper are intended to assist other practitioners in the area and contribute to collaborative learning through sharing practitioner experiences. While designing a foreign aid-funded project that is sustainable is not easy, this paper concludes that by sharing experiences and working collaboratively with local stakeholders, project teams can develop successful strategies to enhance sustainability