Librarians and academics - partners in teaching and learning

Students are demanding digitally enhanced learning environments to supplement traditional face-to-face teaching. In some countries, such as Australia and Canada, many students undertake entire degree courses without regularly attending a university’s physical campus. These offcampus students are supported by print and multi-media resources, and virtual learning web sites. In Great Britain, because of the expectations of current and forthcoming generations of university students, online learning spaces that provide a virtual door to the university campus are becoming mainstream. These ‘Net Generation’ students expect and demand flexibility in their studies: alternatives to on-campus lectures; online access to lecture notes and resources; and online access to all the traditional university campus services, including library, student advice and support services

Homeschool parents\u27 perspective of the learning environment:a multiple-case study of homeschool partnerships

Homeschool families have the freedom to uniquely structure the learning environment to meet the needs of their children. Many homeschool parents increasingly rely on digital devices and the Internet to provide alternatives to traditional and private schools. Cooperatives (co-ops), charter school partnerships, virtual academies, online tutors, digitized instructional programs, and individualized curricula can be utilized to provide or supplement the learning environment. This research presents a multiple-case study exploring the variety of learning environments that homeschool parents utilize to teach their children. The participants in this research were homeschool parents who share teaching responsibilities with other homeschool parent educators, charter school organizations, or online instructional programs. In essence, the study examined the perceived effectiveness, efficiency, and efficacy of online, blended, and traditional face-to-face learning environments from the parents’ perspective. Data collection involved the combined responses from an online survey and participant interviews with ten homeschool parents. Each of the parents shared teaching responsibilities with a homeschool cooperative, a charter school organization, or both. Profiles of each participant include demographic information, homeschooling style, and the rationale for homeschooling their children. Three main themes emerged from the analysis of the homeschool parents’ perceptions: A Flexible Learning Environment Structure, Quality Time with Family, and Support from Like-Minded Others. The findings from this study can be utilized to advise future families of optimal practices for cultivating academic success and social development of the homeschooled child. The findings indicate homeschool parents perceive the academic and social learning environments as flexible and sufficient for their children’s education. From the study participants’ perspective, integrating technology into the homeschool structure positively impacted their children’s mathematics and literacy development. While partnering with homeschool cooperatives and charter schools, study participants were encouraged to continue educating their children, establishing close familial bonds, and providing opportunities for their children to interact with many people of different age-groups

Second Life as a Learning and Teaching Environment for Digital Games Education

Previous studies show that online virtual worlds can contribute to the social aspects of distance learning, improve student engagement, and enhance students’ experience as a whole [4]; [3]. This paper reviews previous research of using online virtual worlds in teaching and learning, compares Second Life with traditional classroom sessions and the Blackboard, and discusses the benefits and problems of using virtual environments in the post-sixteen education and how they affect students’ learning. It also reports a study of using Second Life as an educational environment for teaching games design at undergraduate level, and investigates the impacts and implications of online virtual environments on learning and teaching processes and their application to digital games education. The sample was 27 first year students of the Computer Games Modelling and Animation course. Students’ views on using Second Life for learning and teaching were collected through a feedback questionnaire. The results suggest that virtual learning environments like Second Life can be exploited as a motivational learning tool. However, problems such as identify issues and lacking of role markers may change student behaviour in virtual classroom. We discuss this phenomenon and suggest ways to avoid it in the preparation stage

Effective use of communication and information technology: Bridging the skills gap

There is a revolutionary culture change taking place within higher education in the United Kingdom. Part of this change is the adoption of new communication and information technologies (C&IT), such as the World Wide Web (WWW), for teaching, learning and assessment. Many academics have limited experience of the WWW for teaching and learning and perceive that the use of new technologies involves transferring traditional teaching methods into an electronic format, with no regard for the underlying pedagogical implications. Our current research with teaching staff has given insight into essential skills and competencies required to empower the use of C&IT bearing in mind the importance of the underlying pedagogy. In this paper we present an analysis of research carried out with academic staff members to determine the nature of staff and student skills needs regarding the use of C&IT in teaching and learning. This analysis is followed by a case study of how these findings were incorporated into the development and implementation of a staff development programme aimed at encouraging innovative teaching at the University of Strathclyde

Teaching Manuscripts in the Digital Age

This chapter reflects on the author’s practical experience teaching palaeography in several different contexts at the start of the so-called “digital age”. Material for manuscript-studies is becoming available at an enormous rate: perhaps most obvious are the results of the large-scale digitisation programmes which are making high-quality colour facsimiles of manuscripts available online to wide audiences. At the same time, Virtual Learning Environments provide new possibilities for teaching and learning, and many tools for research on manuscripts can also be used for teaching. Perhaps more fundamentally, however, it has often been noted that scholarship is changing as a result of digital tools, resources, and methods. What, then, of teaching? Should the teaching of manuscript studies also change along with the scholarly discipline, bringing the Digital Humanities into our classes on palaeography and codicology? To begin answering this question, and to suggest some pedagogical possibilities brought about by technology, the author’s own experiences are discussed. Some limitations of technology for teaching are then considered, and some general remarks are then provided on the relationship between palaeography and Digital Humanities, two fields which are both fighting for recognition as full academic disciplines and not “mere” Hilfswissenschaften

Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat (SWOT) Analysis of the Adaptations to Anatomical Education in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland in Response to the Covid‐19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has driven the fastest changes to higher education across the globe, necessitated by social distancing measures preventing any face to face teaching. This has led to an almost immediate switch to distance learning by higher education institutions. Anatomy faces some unique challenges. Intrinsically, anatomy is a three-dimensional subject that requires a sound understanding of the relationships between structures, often achieved by the study of human cadaveric material, models and virtual resources. This study sought to identify the approaches taken in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland to deliver anatomical education through online means. Data were collected from 14 different universities in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland and compared adopting a thematic analysis approach. Once themes were generated, they were collectively brought together using a strength, weakness, opportunity, threat (SWOT) analysis. Key themes included the opportunity to develop new online resources and the chance to engage in new academic collaborations. Academics frequently mentioned the challenge that time constrains could place on the quality and effectiveness of these resources; especially as in many cases the aim of these resources is to compensate for a lack of exposure to cadaveric exposure. Comparisons of the actions taken by multiple higher education institutions reveals the ways that academics have tried to balance this demand. Discussions will facilitate decisions being made by higher education institutions regarding adapting the curriculum and assessment methods in anatomy