Tsaap-Notes -- An Open Micro-Blogging Tool for Collaborative Notetaking during Face-to-Face Lectures

International audienceSocial theories of learning demonstrated that collaborative note taking during face-to-face lecture provides important benefits: better learner engagement, collaborative learning, and knowledge building. In this paper we present Tsaap-Notes, an open micro-blogging platform dedicated to collaborative note taking that can be used as a standalone application, or fully integrated into existing virtual learning environments. Tsaap-Notes provides users with advanced features such as annotations, questions, or filtering that encourage learners to participate in the collaborative activity. Our tool has been experimented with a cohort of forty students during a short period of time, results show that learners are getting more and more familiar with Tsaap-Notes and that this application becomes useful when the time of preparing exams has come

The Effect of Distributing Electronic Notes to Students: Ethical Considerations Raised By Computer Science Faculty at The University Of Namibia

In an effort to encourage the uptake of technology among its academic community, the University of Namibia (UNAM) introduced the Electronic Notes System (ENS) in the year 2010. The ENS was envisaged as a web-based method of distributing lecture notes to students, where the faculty members would upload the teaching materials and the students would download the materials. Although this method was believed to be a practical way of distributing the notes in comparison to the existing method, faculty adoption of the ENS has been rather poor, prompting the eLearning committee to conduct awareness campaigns at the Faculty Board meetings. Discussions at the Faculty Board meetings revealed ethical concerns that prevented faculty from adopting the ENS. Using the discussions from the awareness campaigns as well as results from one-to-one loosely structured interviews with the faculty members in the Computer Science department that participated in those presentations, the paper presents some ethical considerations that may need to be addressed when introducing technologyenhanced learning in similar contexts

A Program Evaluation of Student and Teacher Perceptions of an Online Edgenuity High School Course Program in an Urban High School

Abstract This program evaluation is concerned with the value of online learning for academic student achievement as perceived by teachers and students. Online learning programs are becoming commonplace within traditional educational settings. These types of programs resolve a variety of educational issues related to equal access of curricula, funding, and quality. The current issue lies with educational institutions’ ability to implement these types of programs using research-based methods and strategies that enhance academic student achievement. This study initiates the research by identifying the perceptions of the stakeholder participants in the Edgenuity online learning program regarding graduation rates and other comparisons between Edgenuity graduates and non-Edgenuity graduates. The study captured these perceptions using student surveys, teacher interviews, and reports from the Edgenuity program and the district’s student information system. A pragmatic approach was used with mixed methods afforded by the use of the CIPP model from the Use Branch developed by Stufflebeam and Coryn. The data analysis process included the use of the Qualtrics survey program to administer and analyze the results from student surveys and coding to analyze the teacher interview responses. The study revealed that stakeholders perceived the Edgenuity program as satisfactory with suggested adjustments regarding the processes, practices, and procedures in an effort to make relevant and necessary changes for the future of the online program

Comparing the effect of ICT and longhand note-taking instructions towards learners’ comprehension test results

With the advancement of technology nowadays, taking notes by hand seems old-fashioned to most students nowadays. They prefer typing using their various gadgets since it will be done faster, especially when there is a lot of information to be recorded. However, the use of ICT devices (such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets) in the classroom has a tendency to be distracting for the students – it is very easy for the students to take out their gadgets and click on Facebook or other applications during a dull lecture. The purpose of the present study is to find out whether note-taking using ICT devices affect the students’ understanding of the lecture. This study will use a quasi-experimental design, with 52 English department students of a private university as the participants. They will be divided into two groups as the control and experimental group. Participants of both groups were instructed to watch a video from TED talks twice. While watching the video, the control group was instructed to take notes by hand, while the other group was instructed to take notes using their various devices. After that, participants had to do a comprehension test of the lecture video. The results revealed that participants who took notes by handwriting performed better in comprehension test compared to those who took notes using ICT devices

Understanding Communication Patterns in MOOCs: Combining Data Mining and qualitative methods

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offer unprecedented opportunities to learn at scale. Within a few years, the phenomenon of crowd-based learning has gained enormous popularity with millions of learners across the globe participating in courses ranging from Popular Music to Astrophysics. They have captured the imaginations of many, attracting significant media attention - with The New York Times naming 2012 "The Year of the MOOC." For those engaged in learning analytics and educational data mining, MOOCs have provided an exciting opportunity to develop innovative methodologies that harness big data in education.Comment: Preprint of a chapter to appear in "Data Mining and Learning Analytics: Applications in Educational Research

Guiding Students to Success: A Systematic Review of Research on Guided Notes as an Instructional Strategy from 2009-2019

Guided notes were introduced decades ago, but there is still debate over their efficacy in improving student outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine peer-reviewed research on guided notes for adult learners in general populations since 2009, understanding the effects of guided notes on student learning, the knowledge and content areas supported by guided notes, and the impact of modality. Results of the 22 included studies indicate that students perceive guided notes in a positive light, and guided notes improve results in certain knowledge domains especially with complex content. However, modality does not influence the efficacy of guided notes. Implications for practice in teaching and learning and recommendations for research were provided

THE USE OF MOBILE DEVICES FOR FORMAL LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: INVESTIGATING STUDENT BEHAVIORS AND EXPECTATIONS

The use of mobile devices has transformed the way we live, work, and study. Nearly every student in higher education owns a smart phone and the majority of those that do report that they use those devices, at least in part, to conduct academic work. Institutes of higher education (IHEs) have widely adopted technologies to connect instructors and students, and most instructors incorporate digital materials into their curriculum. However, the selection of these learning technologies is often the domain of the institution or the instructor. Students are expected to provide the personal technology required to utilize these systems, which may include their mobile device. The purpose of this study is to discover what types of academic work students would like to perform on their mobile devices, what barriers to doing so they have encountered, how their learning behavior differs based on the device in use, and students' preferred instructional design practices for designing learning activities on mobile devices. A mixed-methods approach was used to answer these questions. Surveys and focus groups asked students about the personal technology that they own, the learning activities they perform, and how different devices are used to complete those activities. The log data of the Canvas learning management system was also analyzed to detail student behavior in the context of the device being used to interact with the system. The results show that students do use their mobile devices for significant amounts of academic work and consider them to be an important educational tool, but they are generally selective about the types of activities in which they will engage on a mobile device. Students tend to use their mobile devices for activities that are most convenient to them but identified several factors that prevented them from using those devices to engage in more detailed work. This study will inform instructors and instructional designers who produce academic content for students and assist IHEs in their decision-making process when adopting course materials and technologies

Adoption of Micro-blogging (Twitter) by Various Learner Types in an Information Systems unit: An Exploratory Study

A major obstacle in the practice of e-learning is the limited understanding of learners’ characteristics and perceptions about technology use. In this case, understanding the relationship between learning styles and Twitter usage could help educators to design better instructional strategies. This would also lead to better student experience and improved learning outcomes. Hence, in this study we investigate learning styles of an Information Systems undergraduate class and its influence on the use of micro-blogging (Twitter). The end of semester survey reveals that the majority of students were “well-balanced” on all learning style scales except ‘visual-verbal’ scale where visuals outclassed verbals. More importantly, active and visual learners emerged as the most significant adopters of Twitter. The study has implications for educators who wish to accommodate their students’ learning preferences and to enhance Web 2.0 usage in their teaching, in particular micro-blogging

HYPE-On-Campus: A Pilot Online Learning Program Designed for Helping Youth on the Path to Employment (HYPE)

Helping Youth on the Path to Employment (HYPE) is a research-based program housed at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The program aims to provide support and services to young adults with mental health conditions as they identify meaningful career paths and achieve goals for sustained employment. HYPE has developed a multi-stage trial program called Hype-On-Campus (HOC) that will expand the HYPE model to colleges and universities across the United States beginning with the fall semester of 2020. Graduate-level Student Practitioners, selected to participate in the initial HOC feasibility trial, will be enrolled in an HOC online distance training program to assimilate the HYPE model and provide support and services to these students. With the learning content of the new HOC online training program being duplicated from a previously designed in-person HYPE training series, the design and development of this project required specific focus on the instructional needs of the HYPE training staff. The primary need identified was to establish a productive means for scheduled synchronous training sessions with the related secondary need of populating and organizing all learning content within the Learning Management System (LMS). A successful online training program ran from mid-October to early December 2020 with two participating universities and an anticipated continuation/expansion will begin in early January 2021