The use, role and reception of open badges as a method for formative and summative reward in two Massive Open Online Courses

Open online learning courses such as cMOOCs and xMOOCs differ from conventional courses yet it remains uncertain how, and if, existing common yet costly practices associated with teacher-driven formative and summative assessment strategies can be made to work in this new context. For courses that carry no charge for registration or participation, authors of open online courses have to consider alternative approaches to engaging, motivating and sustaining study and for helping participants manage, plan and demonstrate their own learning. One such approach is that of open badges or similar such visual public symbols that communicate to others a particular quality, achievement or affiliation possessed by the owner. This paper reports the role, reception and use of open badges in two ‘massive’ open online courses delivered in 2013 with attention to varied functions of badges and the a distinction between formative and summative applications. The paper will then draw upon data from end of course surveys, which specifically asked about badges, pre-course surveys, and user comments made during the course on platforms such as Twitter to examine what value participants ascribed to the open badges. Although there was found to be a broadly positive response to badges in both MOOCs, the reasons for this were often very different, and approximately a quarter of respondents remained sceptical or concerned about their role. The paper concludes by reflecting on the open badge as a formative instrument for providing the learner with an indication of progress and achievement

War and peace in the classroom: moments of reprieve; a strategy for reflecting on – and improving – students’ classroom behaviour

In this article I intend to outline a strategy for supporting trainee teachers on Certificate in Education (Cert Ed) and Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses in developing their ability to deal with disruptive student behaviour in their classes. I describe a particular class-based, peer-reflective practice and demonstrate how this has been effective in impacting on helping trainees to deal with teaching disruptive or challenging groups. The rationale for exploring this issue, and the problematic national context in which disruptive student behaviour takes place, is outlined. I then explore a strategy for offering trainee support and peer reflection by sharing a case study of two trainees’ classes where students were particularly disruptive. I examine how this reflective strategy helped support these trainees to improve their practice. Before concluding, some epistemological questions are raised as to the problematics of how teachers know whether improvements took place

User Experience in MOOC Art Courses: A Case Study at Open University Malaysia

In the conventional way of teaching art, which is a skills-based, subject areas are usually delivered through face-to-face teaching in the studio setting. The advancement of technology, through the existence of online learning platforms such as learning management systems and the Massive Open Online Course systems, has benefitted many educators in delivering their courses due to the flexibility and personalised learning environment provided by most of the online learning platforms. Regardless of all the constraints, especially in its reliability in demonstrating the learner’s competency level, art subjects can also be delivered through online learning. This study intends to observe the users’ experience in performing the tasks on the course page in an art course at Open University Malaysia delivered through the massive open online course platform at openlearning.com. It also aims to observe the behaviour of the 616 participants in the course. The course has been conducted since October 2014. The study will report on the user experience based on the observation of the number of views on the course page and average time spent per second on the page. Both the number of views and average time spent per second are measured through the split (A/B) testing method to measure how those two groups perform, categorised according to the content. [ABSTRACT BY AUTHOR

Analyzing navigation logs in MOOC: A case study

Continued use of various technological devices has massively increased the generation of digital data, which are recorded as an opportunity for research. In the educational case, it is common to analyze data generated in Learning Management Systems which allows better understand the learning process of the participants and make informed decisions for better e-learning processes and situations in which develop. This paper analyzes participants’ navigation logs in a MOOC hosted on the Coursera platform, for which a visual e-learning analytics process was performed. The results confirm that the videos of experts are an essential educational resource for learning in a MOOC, similarly, the discussion forums are an important resource which are recurrent social spaces in different navigation paths complementing other activities

System upgrade: realising the vision for UK education

A report summarising the findings of the TEL programme in the wider context of technology-enhanced learning and offering recommendations for future strategy in the area was launched on 13th June at the House of Lords to a group of policymakers, technologists and practitioners chaired by Lord Knight. The report – a major outcome of the programme – is written by TEL director Professor Richard Noss and a team of experts in various fields of technology-enhanced learning. The report features the programme’s 12 recommendations for using technology-enhanced learning to upgrade UK education

OPAL Community Environment Report

The Open Air Laboratories network, or OPAL, as it quickly became known, was launched in 2007 following a successful application to the Big Lottery Fund It was the first time that Big Lottery funding on this scale had been awarded to academic institutions. The University of Central Lancashire led by Dr Mark Toogood was responsible for understanding public engagement with OPAL. The Open Air Laboratories (OPAL)network is a nationwide partnership comprising of ten universities and five organisations with grants awarded totalling £14.4 million. • Over half a million people have participated in the OPAL programme. OPAL activities are carried out by people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities, including 10,000 people in ‘hard to reach’ communities. • OPAL opens people’s eyes to the natural world. Nearly half (44%) of OPAL survey participants said that this was the first time that they had carried out a nature survey. 90% of participants have learnt something new. • OPAL has the ability to change people’s behaviour. Almost half (43%) of respondents said OPAL had changed the way they thought about the environment and more than a third (37%) said they will change their behaviour towards it. • In addition to raising environmental awareness, OPAL also improves personal well-being by motivating people to spend time outdoors doing something positive, while connecting with people and nature

Collaborative Study Web Platform

Online learning is gaining importance in Universities, in student communities, and companies. Learning Management Systems (LMS) are the prevailing software solutions for education and e-learning. These systems are evolving from simple containers of courses information, syllabus, and documents or files, to offer more intricate features, associated with social and collaboration-oriented software. Aside from LMS, students often use multiple web applications for studying and doing projects. LMS may not offer a workspace where users can organize and share information, which is segmented on several online tools. Some solutions may even entirely restrict creation of content by students. With this in mind, a system was designed and implemented with the goal of providing an alternative or complementary solution to other LMS. In general, educational institutions deploy these systems, with restricted access within their peers. On the contrary, the proposed approach provides a set of collaboration and content organization tools. It is a web application provided under a software as a service (SaaS) model, to which potentially anyone can access and register. The platform is organized into groups, which hold content elements and place users together. Each group member has his/her set of roles inside the group, defining corresponding permissions, which are enforced by an access control system. Permissions are set in respect to users, groups and content. An emphasis is given on providing a way to assess or rate users through both their actions and content creation, hypothesizing this as a factor for user engagement and trust. Users, through several feedback elements such as voting and commenting, evaluate content. A presentation is done of the studied rating calculation methods and simulation of several of these methods. The resulting web platform sets a basis to explore different approaches for content creation and sharing collaboratively. The use cases in the system are analysed and discussed,considering this system as a foundation for a web application focused on collaborative and group-based study

ECO D2.5 Learning analytics requirements and metrics report

In MOOCs, learning analytics have to be addressed to the various types of learners that participate. This deliverable describes indicators that enable both teachers and learner to monitor the progress and performance as well as identify whether there are learners at risk of dropping out. How these indicators should be computed and displayed to end users by means of dashboards is also explained. Furthermore a proposal based on xAPI statements for storing relevant data and events is provided.Part of the work carried out has been funded with support from the European Commission, under the ICT Policy Support Programme, as part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) in the ECO project under grant agreement n° 21127

Learning from Digital Natives: Bridging Formal and Informal Learning. Final Report

Overview This report suggests that students are increasingly making use of a variety of etools (such as mobile phones, email, MSN, digital cameras, games consoles and social networking sites) to support their informal learning within formalised educational settings, and that they use the tools that they have available if none are provided for them. Therefore, higher education institutions should encourage the use of these tools. Aims and background This study aimed to explore how e-tools (such as mobile phones, email, MSN, digital cameras, games consoles and social networking sites) and the processes that underpin their use can support learning within educational institutions and help improve the quality of students’ experiences of learning in higher education (pgs 9-11). Methodology The study entailed: (i) desk research to identify related international research and practice and examples of integration of e-tools and learning processes in formal educational settings; (ii) a survey of 160 engineering and social work students across two contrasting Scottish universities (pre- and post-1992) – the University of Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian University – and follow-up interviews with eight students across the two subject areas to explore which technologies students were using for both learning and leisure activities within and outside the formal educational settings and how they would like to use such technologies to support their learning in both formal and informal settings; and (iii) interviews with eight members of staff from across the institutions and two subject areas to identify their perceptions of the educational value of the e-tools. (pgs 24-27). Key findings • Students reported making extensive use of a variety of both e-tools (such as mobile phones, email, MSN, digital cameras) and social networking tools (such as Bebo, MySpace, Wikipedia and YouTube) for informal socialisation, communication, information gathering, content creation and sharing, alongside using the institutionally provided technologies and learning environments. • Most of the students owned their own computer or had access to a sibling or parent’s computer. Many students owned a laptop but preferred not to bring it onto campus due to security concerns and because they found it too heavy to carry about. • Ownership of mobile phones was ubiquitous. • Whilst the students’ information searching literacy seemed adequate, the ability of these students to harness the power of social networking tools and informal processes for their learning was low. Staff reported using a few Web 2.0 and social software tools but they were generally less familiar with how these could be used to support learning and teaching. There were misconceptions surrounding the affordances of the tools and fears expressed about security and invasion of personal space. Considerations of the costs and the time it would take staff to develop their skills meant that there was a reluctance to take up new technologies at an institutional level. • Subject differences emerged in both staff and student perceptions as to which type of tools they would find most useful. Attitudes to Web 2.0 tools were different. Engineers were concerned with reliability, using institutional systems and inter-operability. Social workers were more flexible because they were focused on communication and professional needs. • The study concluded that digital tools, personal devices, social networking software and many of the other tools explored all have a large educational potential to support learning processing and teaching practices. Therefore, use of these tools and processes within institutions, amongst staff and students should be encouraged. • The report goes on to suggest ways in which the use of such technologies can help strengthen the links between informal and formal learning in higher education. The recommendations are grouped under four areas – pedagogical, socio-cultural, organisational and technological