Quantified Self Analytics Tools for Self-regulated Learning with myPAL

One of the major challenges in higher education is developing self-regulation skills for lifelong learning. We address this challenge within the myPAL project, in medical education context, utilising the vast amount of student assessment and feedback data collected throughout the programme. The underlying principle of myPAL is Quantified Self -- the use of personal data to enable students to become lifelong learners. myPAL is facilitating this with learning analytics combined with interactive nudges. This paper reviews the state of the art in Quantified Self analytics tools to identify what approaches can be adopted in myPAL and what gaps require further research. The paper contributes to awareness and reflection in technology-enhanced learning by: (i) identifying requirements for intelligent personal adaptive learning systems that foster self-regulation (using myPAL as an example); (ii) analysing the state of the art in text analytics and visualisation related to Quantified Self for self-regulated learning; and (iii) identifying open issues and suggesting possible ways to address them

How do students want their workplace-based feedback visualized in order to support self-regulated learning? Initial results & reflections from a co-design study in medical education

Developing good self-regulated learning (SRL) skills is highly important for medical students, not only to help them to navigate and succeed at their current study, but to support their continuing professional development and lifelong learning once they enter the workplace. A key component of SRL is the ability to reflect on feedback and to use this to spot gaps in knowledge/skills, identify learning opportunities and plan new learning goals and activities. Technology can help by providing students with tools that scaffold their development of these skills. This paper reports on the co-design of myPAL, a student-facing learning analytics system. Within co-design workshops, we worked with students to improve myPAL. These hands-on, creative workshops involved students in discussion of their current and desired use of feedback, practical interface/visualisation design and prototype use and adaptation. Using this participative approach we have identified one key visualisation and a set of functions/features that students want to be available to help them to review and act on their feedback. In this paper we report and reflect on the co-design approach that has been used, including the observed benefits of taking such an approach as well as its limitations. We also outline the further work that is planned to develop & evaluate the required improvements to myPAL

Augmented Minds: Technology’s role in supporting 21st Century Doctors

The issue of preparedness of medical students to work as junior doctors has come under increasing scrutiny. One of the key challenge for tomorrow’s doctors is the capacity and engagement for continuing professional learning and development, as well as, appropriate decision making. consequently, medical schools are exploring various ways in which technology can support this and this includes preparing students for work-based learning as well as enhancing the work-based learning placements. This includes the augmentation of the learning process with the development and consumption of digital content and electronic resources of interactive character to support issues around complex problem solving, decision-making and clinical management. Virtual patients and scenario based learning activities as well as the concept of Living Labs may be used in the preparation for the workplace activity, and thus to enhance the effectiveness of medical student work-placements. Mobile learning, reflective learning and coaching tools are being used to support students’ reflections and action planning whilst on work-based learning placements. The scope of this paper is to provide a vision as to how related technologies and associated pedagogical models may be engaged to augment workplace learning and professional development and to digitally empower the medical professional. Emphasis is placed on technology enhanced self-regulation and decision-making for tomorrow’s medical professionals through innovative use cases practiced at the Leeds Institute of Medical Education, in the UK and the Medical School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. The expected institutional and societal impacts are considered in the relevant timescales of addressing the problem and in view of forthcoming technological innovations

Using a Quantified-Self App to Personalise Learning -- A Comparison of Visualisations for the Evaluation of the Learning Process

The digitalisation of students’ lives leads to the almost ubiquitous use of apps for all parts of life. The digitalisation of university learning has led to many learning management systems in use in institutions of higher education. However, it has not quite kept up with the demand for highly flexible learning at all hours and in all locations. Learning apps are not used frequently by universities to improve students’ personalised learning. The paper reports on an app that combines self-regulated learning and the Quantified-Self approach to support such ubiquitous learning. When students track their learning in an app, they can later on benefit from the tracked data on an individual as well as aggregated level. Data analyses provide the potential for individual evaluation of the learning or comparison to peers. Thus, this study derives an extensive set of user stories for such app from the literature. Those user stories are the basis for evaluating the approach by turning them into visualisations that are then tested based on a mixed-method approach. The evaluation finds differences among the evaluated visualisations regarding ease of understanding, intuitive operations, visual appeal, and metacognition as well as potential for further improvement. From the findings an improved set of visualisations is generated and the results are fed back into the user stories

Proposta di un framework per i Learning Analytics nel contesto accademico

In the last decades, learning analytics (LA) have been considered as one of the key emerging trend in higher education (Vassakis et al., 2018) and they have attracted a lot of attention among researchers and designers for their potential to address some of the major challenges in the academic sector (Bach, 2010). Despite the broad interest and implementation of LA processes, there remain numerous issues regarding the availabilityof developed and adaptable-to-the-context reference framework across Universities (Gaševi et al., 2015). Furthermore, scholars and practitioners have approached LA from a range of perspectives: it is necessary to define not only the aims of what could be achieved using LA but also what should be done to attain it. Generally, LA are considered as measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of learners’ data and their contexts, to optimize learning and the environments in which it occurs (Khalil and Ebner, 2016). Starting from this definition, and using an action research method, we propose an “extended” LA framework that puts learner and instructor at the centre of it.Negli ultimi decenni, i learning analytics (LA) sono stati interpretati come uno dei trend di maggiore importanza nell’ambito dell’istruzione universitaria (Vassakis et al., 2018) e hanno attratto l’attenzione di ricercatori e instructional designer per il loro potenziale nell’affrontare alcune delle principali sfide all’interno delle istituzioni accademiche (Bach, 2010). Nonostante l’interesse generale e l’implementazione di processi di LA, nelle università permangono numerosi problemi relativi alla disponibilità e allo sviluppo di modelli di riferimento adattabili ai diversi contesti (Gaševi et al., 2015). Inoltre, ricercatori e instructional designer hanno indagato i LA da una serie di prospettive: è necessario definire non solo gli obiettivi che si possono raggiungere usando i LA, ma anche ciò che dovrebbe essere fatto per raggiungere tali obiettivi. Generalmente, i LA sono considerati come misura, raccolta, analisi e reporting dei dati degli studenti e dei loro contesti, per ottimizzare l’apprendimento e gli ambienti in cui esso si verifica (Khalil and Ebner, 2016). Partendo da questa definizione e adottando il metodo della ricerca-azione, il paper propone un framework di LA “esteso” che metta al centro lo studente e il docente

Online courses for healthcare professionals: is there a role for social learning?

Background: All UK postgraduate medical trainees receive supervision from trained supervisors. Training has traditionally been delivered via face to face courses, but with increasing time pressures and complex shift patterns, access to these is difficult. To meet this challenge, we developed a two-week massive open online course (MOOC) for faculty development of clinical supervisors. Summary of Work: The MOOC was developed by a group of experienced medical educators and delivered via the FutureLearn (FL) platform which promotes social learning through interaction. This facilitates building of communities of practice, learner interaction and collaboration. We explored learner perceptions of the course, in particular the value of social learning in the context of busy healthcare professionals. We analysed responses to pre- and post-course surveys for each run of the MOOC in 2015, FL course statistics, and learner discussion board comments. Summary of Results: Over 2015, 7,225 learners registered for the course, though 6% left the course without starting. Of the 3,055 learners who began the course, 35% (1073/3055) were social learners who interacted with other participants. Around 31% (960/3055) learners participated fully in the course; this is significantly higher than the FL average of 22%. Survey responses suggest that 68% learners worked full-time, with over 75% accessing the course at home or while commuting, using laptops, smart phones and tablet devices. Discussion: Learners found the course very accessible due to the bite-sized videos, animations, etc which were manageable at the end of a busy working day. Inter-professional discussions and social learning made the learning environment more engaging. Discussion were rated as high quality as they facilitated sharing of narratives and personal reflections, as well as relevant resources. Conclusion: Social learning added value to the course by promoting sharing of resources and improved interaction between learners within the online environment. Take Home Messages: 1) MOOCs can provide faculty development efficiently with a few caveats. 2) Social learning added a new dimension to the online environment