Problems and Promises of Using LMS Learner Analytics for Assessment: Case Study of a First-Year English Program

Learning management systems (LMS) are widely used in education. They offer the potential for assessing student learning, but the reality of using them for this is problematic. This case study chronicles efforts by librarians at Marquette University to use LMS data to assess students’ information literacy knowledge in Marquette’s first-year English program

Quality in MOOCs: Surveying the Terrain

The purpose of this review is to identify quality measures and to highlight some of the tensions surrounding notions of quality, as well as the need for new ways of thinking about and approaching quality in MOOCs. It draws on the literature on both MOOCs and quality in education more generally in order to provide a framework for thinking about quality and the different variables and questions that must be considered when conceptualising quality in MOOCs. The review adopts a relativist approach, positioning quality as a measure for a specific purpose. The review draws upon Biggs’s (1993) 3P model to explore notions and dimensions of quality in relation to MOOCs — presage, process and product variables — which correspond to an input–environment–output model. The review brings together literature examining how quality should be interpreted and assessed in MOOCs at a more general and theoretical level, as well as empirical research studies that explore how these ideas about quality can be operationalised, including the measures and instruments that can be employed. What emerges from the literature are the complexities involved in interpreting and measuring quality in MOOCs and the importance of both context and perspective to discussions of quality

Educational Data Analytics for Teachers and School Leaders

Educational Data Analytics (EDA) have been attributed with significant benefits for enhancing on-demand personalized educational support of individual learners as well as reflective course (re)design for achieving more authentic teaching, learning and assessment experiences integrated into real work-oriented tasks. This open access textbook is a tutorial for developing, practicing and self-assessing core competences on educational data analytics for digital teaching and learning. It combines theoretical knowledge on core issues related to collecting, analyzing, interpreting and using educational data, including ethics and privacy concerns. The textbook provides questions and teaching materials/ learning activities as quiz tests of multiple types of questions, added after each section, related to the topic studied or the video(s) referenced. These activities reproduce real-life contexts by using a suitable use case scenario (storytelling), encouraging learners to link theory with practice; self-assessed assignments enabling learners to apply their attained knowledge and acquired competences on EDL. By studying this book, you will know where to locate useful educational data in different sources and understand their limitations; know the basics for managing educational data to make them useful; understand relevant methods; and be able to use relevant tools; know the basics for organising, analysing, interpreting and presenting learner-generated data within their learning context, understand relevant learning analytics methods and be able to use relevant learning analytics tools; know the basics for analysing and interpreting educational data to facilitate educational decision making, including course and curricula design, understand relevant teaching analytics methods and be able to use relevant teaching analytics tools; understand issues related with educational data ethics and privacy. This book is intended for school leaders and teachers engaged in blended (using the flipped classroom model) and online (during COVID-19 crisis and beyond) teaching and learning; e-learning professionals (such as, instructional designers and e-tutors) of online and blended courses; instructional technologists; researchers as well as undergraduate and postgraduate university students studying education, educational technology and relevant fields

When Teachers and Machines Achieve the Best Combination: A National Comparative Study of Face-to-face and Blended Teaching and Learning

This paper analyzes a national technology and education program in Uruguay known as Plan Ceibal. This work studies a sample of over 105,000 students from 4th, 5th, and 6th grade of public primary education in that country. This work aims to assess the impact of technology on teaching and learning of English. The method adopted is based on log-file data to compare two different modalities of English teaching (a face-to-face and a blended model). Additionally, we explored the correlation between a common measure of online engagement when using the Learning Management System (LMS) and an adaptive English assessment. We examined the impact of the teaching modalities on the students engagement and to what extent the engagement can contribute to enhance the student learning of English. This work documents the steps followed to elaborate the common measure of engagement to ensure transparency and its replicability (or improvement). A strength of this work, in comparison with previous studies, is the number of cases analyzed as well as the age of the target population (primary school students). The results indicate that engagement is affected by at least three key factors: socio-cultural context, teaching modality, and the role that teachers play. In fact, the higher the engagement level, the larger the proportion of students who achieve a better learning outcome in the assessment. This study shows that the use of LMS enhanced the learning experience when this tool is integrated within the ecosystem of the teaching and learning process. The findings of this study are consistent with previous works in the field, for instance: the relevance of the context as well as the role of teaching. Although the measurement of engagement can help to understand students performance noteworthy that as a stand-alone dimension it is a poor predictor of performance. To consider additional factors associated with learning is still necessary

The antecedents of e-learning adoption within Italian corporate universities: A comparative case study

The implementation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in business education appears to be influenced by a number of organizational issues, such as culture and technological sophistication. However, extant research has had very little to say about the antecedents that shape the adoption and diffusion of ICT across companies. In order to shed light on the phenomenon under investigation, this paper presents a comparative case study between five Italian companies that have instituted a corporate university. By distinguishing companies in typical cases and deviant cases with regard to the extensive use of e-learning technologies, our findings provide some useful insights about the antecedents that make companies more or less prone to employ the new frontiers of technology in their CUs

High School Teacher and Librarian Perspectives Regarding Teaching Digital Media Skills

The problem addressed in this qualitative project study was the inconsistency in media literacy instruction provided by high school teachers and librarians when teaching students how to curate and create digital media. With the increase in technology and social media platforms in the 21st century, educators are expected to instruct students in the use of these new literacies. However, many are ill-prepared to teach media literacy. The study was grounded in the conceptual framework of critical media literacy pedagogy and research questions were designed to reflect teachers’ perspectives about and use of elements of critical media literacy pedagogy. A purposeful sampling procedure was used to identify those teachers of English and librarians who had taught at the high school level for at least 1 year in the partner district. Interviews with 10 high school English teachers and one librarian were conducted using a basic inquiry research design. Data analysis involved 2 cycles of coding, a priori coding and axial coding, followed by theme development. The findings from this study reflected 3 themes that indicated a lack of specific curriculum, district policy, and support for the teaching of media literacy. The resulting project based on elements of these themes was a curriculum plan that spans Grades 9–12. The plan is comprised of unit and lesson plans that apply research-based pedagogy and scaffolded technology skills, which can be implemented in conjunction with the current district curriculum. This curriculum will inform best practices for teaching media literacy which will impact the school culture as teachers implement it and affect the local community by providing students the media literacy tools to be positive social change agents

Middle-out approaches to reform of university teaching and learning: Champions striding between the top-down and bottom-up approaches

In recent years, Australian universities have been driven by a diversity of external forces, including funding cuts, massification of higher education, and changing student demographics, to reform their relationship with students and improve teaching and learning, particularly for those studying off-campus or part-time. Many universities have responded to these forces either through formal strategic plans developed top-down by executive staff or through organic developments arising from staff in a bottom-up approach. By contrast, much of Murdoch University's response has been led by a small number of staff who have middle management responsibilities and who have championed the reform of key university functions, largely in spite of current policy or accepted practice. This paper argues that the "middle-out" strategy has both a basis in change management theory and practice, and a number of strengths, including low risk, low cost, and high sustainability. Three linked examples of middle-out change management in teaching and learning at Murdoch University are described and the outcomes analyzed to demonstrate the benefits and pitfalls of this approach

Educational Data Analytics for Teachers and School Leaders

Educational Data Analytics (EDA) have been attributed with significant benefits for enhancing on-demand personalized educational support of individual learners as well as reflective course (re)design for achieving more authentic teaching, learning and assessment experiences integrated into real work-oriented tasks. This open access textbook is a tutorial for developing, practicing and self-assessing core competences on educational data analytics for digital teaching and learning. It combines theoretical knowledge on core issues related to collecting, analyzing, interpreting and using educational data, including ethics and privacy concerns. The textbook provides questions and teaching materials/ learning activities as quiz tests of multiple types of questions, added after each section, related to the topic studied or the video(s) referenced. These activities reproduce real-life contexts by using a suitable use case scenario (storytelling), encouraging learners to link theory with practice; self-assessed assignments enabling learners to apply their attained knowledge and acquired competences on EDL. By studying this book, you will know where to locate useful educational data in different sources and understand their limitations; know the basics for managing educational data to make them useful; understand relevant methods; and be able to use relevant tools; know the basics for organising, analysing, interpreting and presenting learner-generated data within their learning context, understand relevant learning analytics methods and be able to use relevant learning analytics tools; know the basics for analysing and interpreting educational data to facilitate educational decision making, including course and curricula design, understand relevant teaching analytics methods and be able to use relevant teaching analytics tools; understand issues related with educational data ethics and privacy. This book is intended for school leaders and teachers engaged in blended (using the flipped classroom model) and online (during COVID-19 crisis and beyond) teaching and learning; e-learning professionals (such as, instructional designers and e-tutors) of online and blended courses; instructional technologists; researchers as well as undergraduate and postgraduate university students studying education, educational technology and relevant fields