Volumetric laser endomicroscopy and its application to Barrett's esophagus: results from a 1,000 patient registry.

Volumetric laser endomicroscopy (VLE) uses optical coherence tomography (OCT) for real-time, microscopic cross-sectional imaging. A US-based multi-center registry was constructed to prospectively collect data on patients undergoing upper endoscopy during which a VLE scan was performed. The objective of this registry was to determine usage patterns of VLE in clinical practice and to estimate quantitative and qualitative performance metrics as they are applied to Barrett's esophagus (BE) management. All procedures utilized the NvisionVLE Imaging System (NinePoint Medical, Bedford, MA) which was used by investigators to identify the tissue types present, along with focal areas of concern. Following the VLE procedure, investigators were asked to answer six key questions regarding how VLE impacted each case. Statistical analyses including neoplasia diagnostic yield improvement using VLE was performed. One thousand patients were enrolled across 18 US trial sites from August 2014 through April 2016. In patients with previously diagnosed or suspected BE (894/1000), investigators used VLE and identified areas of concern not seen on white light endoscopy (WLE) in 59% of the procedures. VLE imaging also guided tissue acquisition and treatment in 71% and 54% of procedures, respectively. VLE as an adjunct modality improved the neoplasia diagnostic yield by 55% beyond the standard of care practice. In patients with no prior history of therapy, and without visual findings from other technologies, VLE-guided tissue acquisition increased neoplasia detection over random biopsies by 700%. Registry investigators reported that VLE improved the BE management process when used as an adjunct tissue acquisition and treatment guidance tool. The ability of VLE to image large segments of the esophagus with microscopic cross-sectional detail may provide additional benefits including higher yield biopsies and more efficient tissue acquisition. Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02215291

Development of technology enhanced learning in the School of Chemistry

This project has completely changed the way that the School manages the provision of information (both teaching and administration-related) for undergraduate students. The Chemistry VLE is now at the heart of undergraduate teaching and learning. An example of the student use of the Chemistry VLE is reflected in the tracking data since the beginning of Spring term - all 325 students have used the VLE. The average time of use per student to-date is 4 hours and 7 minutes, with variation between ca. 1 hour up to a maximum of 31 hours. Staff engagement with the Chemistry VLE is also impressive – of the 25 staff involved in undergraduate teaching, 20 self-manage the uploading of their material (after appropriate training), and 2 require help in uploading material but still make use of the VLE. The Chemistry VLE is constantly evolving – each year more of the WebCT tools are used within the VLE, including online submission of assessments and assignments (where possible electronically), use of discussion tools, use of the “My Grades” tool for feedback of student marks, and the use of Questionmark Perception is being piloted as an assessment tool in the area of Spectroscopy, alongside some interactive animations. It is likely that use of Turnitin will begin next academic year, following a recent successful small-scale pilot

VLE a blessing or a curse: VLE use by HE Academic Staff

This study makes use of qualitative and quantitative methods to explore how a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) can be supported in a Higher Education setting. Data analysis showed that holistic support strategies were capable of targeting larger groups of teachers effectively via staff development workshops and strategies. School-wide mechanisms were embedded establishing a ‘standard’ for the VLE. Once adoption of the VLE across the school had reached its peak, course teams required bespoke and specialised support. This required revisiting the (formative and summative) assessment techniques in module specifications to incorporate this use of the VLE. In conclusion, use of the VLE has levelled after the ‘peak’, individualised support is critical to maintain progression and benefit of the VLE which can be done through short-term strategies. The skill-set of those providing the support evolved from technical expertise to one that incorporates a good understanding of relative pedagogy

Peer observation of on-line teaching in a distance learning environment

The introduction of a new VLE at the University of Lincoln was an opportunity to pilot an extension of the University’s peer observation of teaching scheme into an on-line environment, and to consider alternative methods of staff development in order to fully exploit the affordances of the VLE. This paper reports on a small research project into that pilot which found that online peer observation had the potential to be a very powerful development tool. It was largely welcomed by staff involved in the project and has led to more sophisticated exploitation of the VLE by participants, based on a mutually defined conception of teaching quality

A case study of the barriers and enablers affecting teaching staff e-learning provision

Presented at the International Conference on Information Communication Technologies in Education, 7-9 July, 2016, Rhodes Greece.The present paper reports the outputs of a focus group examining the perceived uses, enablers and barriers of utilising virtual learning environments (VLEs), amongst a small group of postgraduate teachers. Sixteen pedagogical/teaching functions were identified and were mapped to MacLean and Scott’s (2011) model of VLE elements. Whilst a number of enablers of VLE use were apparent, participants’ insights and inputs indicated a larger number of VLE barriers. It appears that the biggest barrier to overcome in using VLEs is finding the time to develop the materials and navigate the technology

Pragmatic functions of lengthenings and filled pauses in the adult-directed speech of Hungarian children

Two most common disfluencies of spontaneous speech, vowel lengthenings (VLE) and non-lexicalized filled pauses (NLFP) were investigated in the adult-directed speech of eight Hungarian children. Though VLE and NLFP might seem to be similar vocalizations, recent investigations have shown that their occurrences might differ remarkably in child speech and may al-so change as a function of age. Based on these findings, in the present study the functional analysis of VLEs and NLFPs was performed. It was hypothesized that in child speech the two phenomena have roles not only in speech planning, but also in discourse management, and that they show functional distribution. The analysis provided evidence that VLE is more common than NLFP. VLE often tends to mark discourse events and may play a role in turn-final floor-holding strategies, while NLFP is mostly connected to speech planning, and occasionally, it may also participate in turn-taking gestures, as well

The students’ acceptance and use of their university’s virtual learning environment

The proliferation of digital and mobile devices, including; smartphones and tablets has led policy makers and practitioners to include these ubiquitous technologies in the realms of education. A thorough review of the relevant literature suggests that both students as well as their course instructors are becoming increasingly acquainted with the adoption of education technologies in the higher educational context. Hence, this study explores the university students’ readiness to engage with the virtual learning environment (VLE). The methodology has integrated measuring items that were drawn from the educational technology literature, including the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, to better understand the students’ perceptions towards VLE. It investigated whether they were influenced by their instructors or by fellow students to use VLE. The results suggest that most of the research participants were using this technology as they believed that it supported them in their learning outcomes. The findings also revealed that the students were not coerced by their course instructors or by other individuals to engage with VLE. Moreover, the university’s facilitating conditions had a significant effect on the participants’ usage of VLE. In conclusion, this contribution puts forward key implications to practitioners. It also clarifies the limitations of this study and proposes future research directions.peer-reviewe

The PORTOLE Project: Supporting e-Learning

The PORTOLE (Providing Online Resources To Online Learning Environments) Project was a JISC-funded project which sought to produce a range of tools for tutors which could be used to enable them to discover information resources and to embed these into their course modules from within a University Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The VLE in use at Universities of Leeds and Oxford is the Bodington system. A key deliverable of the Project was to produce tools that were designed with ease of incorporation into other VLE environments in mind. This paper discusses the background to the project and the key outcomes. Aworking service has been developed and is now being tested and evaluated with academic staff

A tale of one city: intra-institutional variations in migrating VLE platform

City University London committed in 2009 to make Moodle the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) at the core of a new Strategic Learning Environment (SLE) comprised of VLE, externally facing website and related systems such as video streaming and virtual classrooms. Previously, the WebCT VLE had been separate from most of the other systems at the institution with very limited connections to other tools. Each of the schools within the institution was able to pursue their own strategy and timeframe for the migration and embedding of Moodle within their subject areas, within an absolute limit of 2 years. This paper outlines the approaches taken by the various schools, highlighting similarities and differences, and draws out common aspects from the project to make recommendations for institutions seeking to undertake similar migrations

Are Virtual Learning Environments used to facilitate collaborative student learning activity? Findings of an institutional evaluation

Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are used extensively within higher education, primarily as an educational tool, but can also have additional functionality. There has been considerable debate, both internal to the university and in the external academic community, about the value of a VLE, e.g. MacLaren (2004), Sharp et al. (2005) and Conole and de Laat (2006). The focus of this debate is whether or not a VLE is primarily used as a transmissive tool, in which the teacher determines VLE content and communication and which tends to be teacher initiated while the student adopts a passive role (Jonassen & Land, 2000). Whilst a transmissive approach may be an important element in students’ learning experiences, there is little evidence to suggest such usage facilitates deep learning