How to design for persistence and retention in MOOCs?

Design of educational interventions is typically carried out following a design cycle involving phases of investigation, conceptualization, prototyping, implementation, execution and evaluation. This cycle can be applied at different levels of granularity e.g. learning activity, module, course or programme. In this paper we consider an aspect of learner behavior that can be critical to the success of many MOOCs i.e. their persistence to study, and the related theme of learner retention. We reflect on the impact that consideration of these can have on design decisions at different stages in the design cycle with the aim of en-hancing MOOC design in relation to learner persistence and retention, with particular attention to the European context

Business school techspectations Technology in the daily lives and educational experiences of business students

Business School Techspectations is the second in a series of reports based on research by the DCU Leadership, Innovation and Knowledge Research Centre (LInK) at DCU Business School. With its roots in an Irish business school, it is no surprise that LInK’s mission is to strengthen the competitiveness, productivity, innovation and entrepreneurial capacity of the Irish economy. Ireland’s next generation transformation will be enabled by information and communication technologies (ICT) and digital participation by members of Irish society. As a university research centre we have an important role to play in supporting education, industry and government to accelerate this transformation

Ethnic disproportionality in the identification of speech language and communication needs (SLCN) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD): 2005-2011

The Better Communication Research Programme (BCRP) was commissioned as part of the Better Communication Action Plan, the government’s response to the Bercow review of services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. There has been a long standing general concern about the progress and achievement of some minority ethnic groups in England and one element within the general concern has been the specific issue of disproportionate representation among pupils designated as having SEN. This study seeks to determine whether these patterns of disproportionate representation are still present in the most recent data, whether the patterns can be explained in terms of other factors associated both with SEN and ethnicity, such as poverty and socio-economic disadvantage, and to what extent disproportionate ethnic representation varies across local authorities

Maintaining connectivity and enhancing communication through the use of text messaging in an undergraduate nursing programme

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a study that examined the use of a Short Message Service (SMS) (or ‘Text Messaging’) to enhance communication and participation with students on an undergraduate nursing programme. The ideology behind the study is based on an awareness that technology is not always recognised by nursing students as a useful aspect of their education and practice. Therefore it was considered that integrating this ubiquitous from of technology use might help them to recognise the usefulness of technology as an aid to enhance and develop more effective ways of learning and working. Short Message Service (SMS) is a communications protocol allowing the interchange of short text messages between mobile phones. It is the most widely available data application on the planet with over 2.4 billion users (Wikipedia 2008). The advantages in using SMS messaging include ‘always-on’ communication, connectivity to real world learning contexts, ‘top of mind’ direct access and ‘just for me’ personal communication (Jones & Bunting 2008). The widespread availability of mobile phones provides an opportunity to establish and maintain a sense of connectedness in helping learners to engage with their programme of study as almost everyone can participate in synchronous and asynchronous communication. Laurillard (2008) suggests that we should ‘harness technology to meet the needs of education rather than simply search for problems to which technology is the solution’. This concept has particular relevance for the learners in this study who undertake clinical learning experiences throughout their programme of study that are geographically dispersed over a large area for periods of time ranging from two to eight weeks. Text messaging was used to develop and maintain strong links between the tutor/programme director and the students throughout the duration of the programme

Using Video Games to Develop Communication Skills in Higher Education

Employers are increasingly concerned that university graduates possess the transferable skills – sometimes termed ‘graduate attributes’ (Barrie, 2006) – necessary to succeed in the workplace. Prominent among these skills are those which relate to communication; however, not all higher education courses are designed explicitly to teach or develop such skills. Many commercial video games, on the other hand, require players to communicate in order to succeed, particularly in an era of increasingly ubiquitous online multiplayer games. The pilot project described here sought to explore the use of commercial video games to teach communication skills in a formal higher education environment. The work could inform the development of self-directed game-based activities that students may undertake without intervention from already over-committed (and costly) academic staff. As such, the study aimed to begin to address the problem of how desirable ‘soft skills’ such as communication competence may be developed in higher education. The pilot was conducted over eight weeks, with a small group of undergraduate student volunteers asked to complete psychometric tests relating to communication skill in weeks one and eight. In the intervening period, students were asked to play selected commercial video games, for two hours per week. Each week, students were given loosely-defined tasks to carry out using the specified game. Games that rely upon some form of communication were selected with input from a panel of academic and industry experts and included Minecraft, Gone Home, Portal 2 and Never Alone. In Minecraft, for example, pairs of participants were asked to perform a number of loosely-defined collaborative tasks, such as building a home for both players. Portal 2, on the other hand, required participants to work together in order to solve a series of puzzles. All such in-game activities were thought to require some form of communication. Lab activities closed with a short group discussion, and participants were encouraged to blog about their experiences. It is possible that group discussions also had an effect on participants’ communication competence, and such discussions may form part of any future interventions. Few participants opted to blog about the project, so the impact of this activity on the communication skill measured here is considered to be slight. The Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (McCroskey & McCroskey, 1988) and the Communicative Adaptability Scale (Duran, 1992) were used to measure self-reported communication skill before and after volunteers had played the selected games. In addition, the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1979), General Self-Efficacy Scale (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995) and Big Five Inventory (John et al., 2008) were administered to gather data potentially related to communication skill. For each measure, the change in the associated test score was recorded, for each participant, over the course of the eight-week study. Mean values of both communication measures were observed to increase between testing sessions. 95% confidence intervals for change in mean communication scores did not cross zero, suggesting this was not a chance occurrence. While the lack of a control group means it is difficult to prove that the games played were the cause of gains in communication skill, this finding is consistent with such a hypothesis, and motivates a further, hypothesis-testing, controlled study. In addition to the calculated confidence intervals, the correlation coefficients between each measure were calculated using Pearson's r. Correlation between the two communication measures was moderately strong (r = 0.76), which, as they are intended to measure aspects of the same attribute, indicates good validity. The pilot proved instructive and highlighted a number of challenges and concerns that must be addressed in any subsequent study. In the absence of a control group, it is unclear how much of the effect is a result of the intervention. However, the pilot did provide some indication of the measures that should be employed in a subsequent study. A more robust approach to student recruitment must be taken if any study that builds on this work is to attract and maintain a large cohort of volunteers, and meaningful statistical analyses are to be performed on the data. Logistical concerns must also be addressed: a greater number of participants would place greater demands on limited hardware and software available for gaming sessions. Technical issues encountered during the pilot were infrequent and relatively slight. Researchers were familiar with the chosen platforms (PC and PlayStation 3) and most of the games. Where there were unknown factors, such as the restrictions imposed by the university’s IT infrastructure, extensive testing of configurations was undertaken in advance. Other issues related primarily to participants’ attitudes towards the selected games. For example, a small proportion of our volunteers were somewhat dismissive of Gone Home, as the experience did not align with their own personal definition of what constitutes a video game. While these players rushed to complete the game without pause for reflection, the majority of players did, however, appear to become engrossed in the game’s elusive narrative. This situation is illustrative of one of the problems that can arise when using a prescribed game within a formal learning environment: not every game is to every player’s taste. Squire, for example, has documented similar problems (2011, p.117), where some proportion of the class in question isn’t interested in playing video games, or fails to see the educational value in doing so. The limited data described here, however, do appear to warrant further investigation. These data, coupled with informal feedback from student participants, suggest that commercial video games may have a role to play in developing communication skills in our graduates. Based on a small sample size, the pilot’s highly promising results have motivated a further, hypothesis-testing, controlled study which is currently underway

Exploring the usage of a video application tool: Experiences in film studies

This paper explores our experiences in deploying a video application tool in film studies, and its evaluation in terms of realistic contextual end-users who have real tasks to perform in a real environment. We demonstrate our experiences and core lesson learnt in deploying our novel movie browser application with undergraduate and graduate students completing a Film Studies course in Dublin City University over a semester. We developed a system called MOVIEBROWSER2 that has two types of browsing modes: Advanced and Basic. In general, students found that the features we provided were beneficial for their studies. Some issues or mismatches arose during the trial. A ‘wish-list’ was drawn up that might be useful for the future system developer. The contribution and achievements reported in this article are on the demonstration and exploration of how advances in technology can be deployed, and media can be accessed in the context of a real user community. Exploring the usage indicates a positive acceptance among students, besides lessons learned that are important for further investigation

Do business games foster skills? A cross-cultural study from learners’ views

Purpose: This study seeks to analyse students’ perception of the effectiveness of business games as an e-learning method in management training. This analysis of games’ effectiveness is centred in the generic and managerial skills acquired, through the comparison of students’ opinions in different cultural contexts within Europe. Design/methodology: The analysis focuses on 120 management students at postgraduate level who use the same business game at different universities in five European countries: Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Germany. Findings: The results indicate that students positively assessed the generic and specific managerial skills fostered by the business game. The generic skills most valued were information and decision-making, and leadership. Regarding the specific skills, the most valued were management skills and the least valued, skills related to planning and the acquisition of theoretical knowledge. However, significant differences were found between students in different cultural contexts and education systems in the case of certain specific managerial skills. Practical implications: This finding suggests that the students’ perception of how a business game helps them acquire specific managerial skills is influenced by cultural aspects and previous exposure to experiential learning, which determine that the teachers’ role and the teaching process should be adapted to the students’ learning model. Originality/value: With this study, a better knowledge about the students’ perception of this e-learning method is obtained, not just considering a specific educational environment, but comparing opinions of students from different cultural contexts, which adds value to the analyses developed.Peer Reviewe

How can I use video to improve teacher engagement with my school’s abundant ICT equipment?

This paper examines how video can be used to enhance teacher engagement with ICT as a teaching tool. The Connect School Project, South Dublin County Council’s ubiquitous computing initiative, equipped St. Aidan’s with a vast amount of information and communication technologies (ICT). A review of appropriate literature indicated that the use of such technologies in class could lead to effective teaching and learning environments, increase student self-esteem and could bridge the ‘digital-divide’ that might exist between students in disadvantaged areas and those in more affluent communities. Through two cycles of enquiry, I planned and produced a video which modelled how the laptops and associated hard and software could be used effectively in class. The video aimed to represent all stakeholders in the school: management, teachers and students. In this way a top-down endorsement of the use of ICT as a teaching and learning tool was communicated. I feel that if teachers are to embrace the use of technology in class, pedagogical as well as technical support must be provided. Using video to model effective practice could be an ideal way to provide such support

Effective partnerships in Open Distance Learning: implications of the Irish National Distance Education Centre model

The National Distance Education Centre in Ireland has adopted a cooperative and collaborative approach in meeting its primary aim of extending access to qualifications and training throughout Ireland to those who are unable to attend full-time education because of work, location, disability, or domestic reasons. This paper analyses the conditions which determine the effectiveness of partnerships and networks in the context of this experience. The paper will consider the challenges and opportunities facing cooperative national distance education systems in the context of new technologies, globalisation, and converging markets