Overcoming Isolation: The Virtualisation of Research Student Groups

The nature of research students has been changing over recent years. This paper considers the issues faced by students who are undertaking a PhD either part-time or through distance learning. These students represent a growing segment of the research student numbers in the UK. However, evidence suggests that these students are at the highest risk of not completing their studies. Important threats would appear to be a sense of isolation accompanied by a lack of communication felt by the students. This paper reviews the formation of virtual teams as a means of increasing communication between students, and also introduces the notion of adopting more recent internet-based tools, wikis and blogs, to support the teams. The question which this paper seeks to address is whether the existing internet-based tools available for social interaction and collaboration are sufficient to support the needs of distance learning research students

Developing Effective Educational Experiences through Learning Analytics

The quality of students’ learning experiences is a critical concern for all higher education institutions. With the assistance of modern technological advances, educational establishments have the capability to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of their learning programs. Developing Effective Educational Experiences through Learning Analytics is a pivotal reference source that focuses on the adoption of data mining and analysis techniques in academic institutions, examining how this collected information is utilized to improve the outcome of student learning. Highlighting the relevance of data analytics to current educational practices, this book is ideally designed for researchers, practitioners, and professionals actively involved in higher education settings.Preface ; 1 : A Language and a Space ; 2 : Advances in Algorithms for Re-Sampling Class-Imbalanced Educational Data Sets ; 3 : An Institution Wide Approach to Learning Analytics ; 4 : Developing a Framework for the Effective Use of Learning Analytics ; 5 : Developing a Framework for the Visualisation of Learning Analytics in UK Higher Education ; 6 : Effective Learning Strategies for the 21st Century ; 7 : Here Be Dragons ; 8 : Outstanding Student Achievement ; 9 : Personalising the Pathway ; 10 : Post-Course Survey Development ; 11 : Role of Learning Analytics in Enhancing Teaching and Learning ; 12 : The Role of Learning Analytics in Global Higher Education ; Compilation of References ; Inde