Study behaviours in an increasingly digital world: Learning habits, top tips and 'study hacks' questionnaire survey

In response to recent changes in the higher education market, student performance and competitor activity, The Open University has developed strategic objectives around a shift to developing ‘digital by design’ modules and the development of new digital tools to improve student success rates. In order to design effective tools, this initial piece of research was designed to understand more about students’ current study behaviours. The survey was built on a framework with student success at the centre, and generated a great deal of rich, qualitative data about how current distance learning students approach their study. The data was analysed using a thematic analysis, and produced a number of interesting themes. These included a variety of digital personas; priorities when organising study sessions; note-taking methods and reasons for making notes; and boundaries. The practical applications of these findings are some embryonic concepts for new tools and digital spaces for students that encourage the development of successful study behaviours. These concepts are being developed in conjunction with a rigorous research plan

A Survey of the Learning Behaviour of Open University students

This survey forms a crucial part of research completed by the Learning Innovation team to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying study habits and learning behaviour of Open University (OU) students to inform the future development of systems, tools and platforms. This research validates the themes that emerged from the previous report, ‘Study behaviours in an increasingly digital world: Learning habits, top tips and 'study hacks' questionnaire survey’ (Ellis, Gallagher and Peasgood, 2017). Analysis carried out on the data from that survey revealed eight possible learning behaviours that underpinned the student responses. In order to validate those original findings a new survey was designed. This report explains the findings of that survey. The survey consisted of 55 behavioural and attitudinal statements aligned to the learning behaviours, some of which were based upon survey instruments from the literature. Survey statements were written to explore each of these on a five-point scale (‘Very true for me’ to ‘Not at all true for me’) in order to identify the concepts that describe the behaviours and preferences of OU students through a process of Principle Component Analysis (PCA). In addition, the survey included questions to inform the analysis and explore potential confounding factors: accessing OU content, access to the web, and technological self-efficacy. The technological self-efficacy statements were selected from the OU’s Digital Competency Framework for Level 1 students. The survey was peer reviewed and piloted, before being sent to a generalised student population. The overall response rate was 12.7% with 524 valid responses received. Seven clear learning behaviours were identified through PCA, and a cluster analysis of the data was carried out. These learning behaviours are: • Goal-setting • Time • Focus • Note-making • Digital-preferred • Help-seeking • Elaboratio

Leadership In Librarianship

published or submitted for publicatio

Welcoming and Managing Neurodiversity in the Writing Center

University Writing Cente

Production of (anti-)3^3He and (anti-)3^3H in p-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} = 5.02 TeV

The transverse momentum ($p_{\rm{T}}$) differential yields of (anti-)$^3$He and (anti-)$^3$H measured in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV with ALICE at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are presented. The ratios of the $p_{\rm{T}}$-integrated yields of (anti-)$^3$He and (anti-)$^3$H to the proton yields are reported, as well as the $p_{\rm{T}}$ dependence of the coalescence parameters $B_3$ for (anti-)$^3$He and (anti-)$^3$H. For (anti-)$^3$He, the results obtained in four classes of the mean charged-particle multiplicity density are also discussed. These results are compared to predictions from a canonical statistical hadronization model and coalescence approaches. An upper limit on the total yield of $^4\bar{\mathrm{He}}$ is determined.Comment: 30pages, 11 captioned figures, 4 tables, authors from page 25, published version, figures at http://alice-publications.web.cern.ch/node/565

Cultural Capital and Educational Attainment

According to Bourdieu’s theory of cultural reproduction, children from middle class families are advantaged in gaining educational credentials due to their possession of cultural capital. In order to assess this theory, I have developed a broad operationalisation of the concept of cultural capital, and have surveyed pupils on both their own and their parents ’ cultural capital. I will conclude that cultural capital is transmitted within the home and does have a significant effect on performance in the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) examinations. However, a large, direct effect of social class on attainment remains when cultural capital has been controlled for. Therefore, ‘cultural reproduction ’ can provide only a partial explanation of social class differences in educational attainment