Online Library Tutorials: A Literature Review

In 2009, the Journal of Web Librarianship published a literature review covering best practices for creating library online tutorials. These principles included (1) knowing the tutorial’s purpose, (2) using standards, (3) collaborating with others, (4) engaging students, and (5) conducting evaluations. The purpose of this current essay is to serve as an updated literature review, culling and synthesizing seven other pedagogical facets from newer literature: (1) technology updates, (2) tutorial maintenance and revision, (3) multimedia learning by gaming, (4) cognitive load theory and chunking, (5) adult education theory, (6) blended and flipped learning, and (7) the importance of ongoing engagement

Blending for student engagement: lessons learned for the MOOCs and beyond

The purpose of this ongoing, three-year action research study is to explore the digital challenges of student engagement in higher education within the experimental platform of blended learning. Research questions examine the role of digital innovation in supporting diverse learners, as well as building meaningful connections with technology for undergraduate teacher education students. Results from qualitative data collected through instructor journals and field notes and student mid-term and exit surveys during year one, indicate blended learning can be effective for modelling how to use technology to shift learners towards more active agency. The immediacy of the localised university classroom delivered a viable research setting for digital experimentation, while providing a significant lived experience for undergraduates to springboard their future technological practices with K–12 students. Four pedagogical opportunities for digital intentionality in virtual spaces emerged during data analysis and are shared as considerations for future innovation: (1) designing digital resources, (2) scaffolding student learning, (3) learner customisation, and (4) promoting the lived experience. Lessons learned could be effective in helping develop higher quality educational experiences for on-campus students, as well as scaffolding greater engagement in online formats involving more global populations (e.g., massive online open courses – MOOCs)

To care or not to care - reflections on the ethics of blended learning in times of disruption

The recent student protests in South African Higher Education have highlighted both the opportunities and challenges of blended/online learning in higher education. This paper describes two lecturers’ attempts at continuing teaching online during the 2016 campus closure at a large University of Technology in South Africa. Using Tronto’s Ethics of Care lens and in particular her moral characteristics of care, namely attentiveness, responsibility, competence, responsiveness and solidarity, we reflect on the ethics of our practices when moving towards more open educational practices. Recommendations on academic staff development that promotes ethical open practices conclude the paper

Digital communities: context for leading learning into the future?

In 2011, a robust, on-campus, three-element Community of Practice model consisting of growing community, sharing of practice and building domain knowledge was piloted in a digital learning environment. An interim evaluation of the pilot study revealed that the three-element framework, when used in a digital environment, required a fourth element. This element, which appears to happen incidentally in the face-to-face context, is that of reflecting, reporting and revising. This paper outlines the extension of the pilot study to the national tertiary education context in order to explore the implications for the design, leadership roles, and selection of appropriate technologies to support and sustain digital communities using the four-element model

Does Lynda.com’s ‘Introduction to SPSS’ Course Provide a Positive Learning Experience Relating to Data Analysis within a Research Methods Module? the Beginnings of an Exploratory Study

When embarking on a clinical degree, students imagine themselves in a clinical environment treating patients as well as learning a plethora of medical conditions to help inform practice. The modules met with the most resistance are the two research methods modules they must complete to successfully graduate. Students at the beginning of their second year cannot comprehend how a module that is very different to the general stream of clinical modules fits onto their learning curve. However, over the past academic year, I have been able to identify the reason for the resistance, which lies solely in the students’ fear of statistics. In this article I discuss the implementation of screencasts as an adjunct to standard methods of teaching statistics in higher education. This particular project served as part of the completion for my Postgraduate Certificate in Education

Teaching MLA Formatting and Research Using Screencasting Technology: Resources for High School English Teachers and Students

The topic for research was how online screencasts demonstrating research and MLA format in research writing can support students in learning key research and research writing skills. The online screencasts are designed with English Language Learners and students who do not have access to help from people with research writing experience outside the classroom. The screencasts demonstrate steps in the research and formatting process to support students with demonstrations as they begin their own research. The videos may also be used by teachers, as part of a flipped classroom model, to teach research skills and MLA format. The author provides lesson plans and practice materials to support whole-class instruction

University students' perspective on blended learning

This research project aimed to explore students’ perspective on an appropriate mix of online and-face-to-face activities in a master’s programme in library and information science at an Australian university. Identifying aspects that students evaluate as supportive, challenging and efficient in their learning is important for the design of an appropriate mix in blended learning courses. Twenty-three master’s students responded to a questionnaire containing 40 open-ended and closed questions. Applying both statistical and content analysis provides a deeper understanding of students’ responses. Students like the flexibility and the convenience of online learning, but also the possibilities of face-to-face interaction with teachers and peers for building personal learning networks. Students expect an equal quality of learning delivery and criticised the quality of online participation and lecture recordings. Blended learning is an approach that supports a range of learning styles and life styles

Student's perception of effectiveness of a technology enhanced problem based learning environment in a Mechanical Engineering module

The main aim of this research is to improve the use of education technology inproblem based learning (PBL) environment in a Mechanical Engineering (ME) module. The research study adoptedthe quantitative and qualitative methods. The study sample comprised of 79 students from Edinburgh Napier University (ENU), Scotland. Thedata gathering instrument comprised of two quantitative and one qualitative student’s feedback questionnaires. The results shows that education technology integration into the PBL environment according to the students learning needs,toprovide students with an opportunities to collaborate and build new knowledge in a PBL environment. Finally, the study proposed an improved design of the learning task. It implies the need for the teaching institution to provide academic staff development to support tutors in carrying out PBL and to encourage the use of tools like 3E-Framework that help academic staff to meaningfully incorporate technology into learning and teaching

Motivating Students to Learn a Programming Language: Applying a Second Language Acquisition Approach in a Blended Learning Environment

Learning a programming language typically involves acquisition of new vocabulary, punctuation, and grammatical structures to communicate with a computer. In other words, learning a programming language is like learning a human language. A recent study showed that programmers use language regions of the brain when understanding source code and found little activation in other regions of the brain devoted to mathematical thinking. Even though programming code involved mathematical operations, conditionals, and loop iterations, researchers found that programming had less in common with mathematics and more in common with human language