scholarly journals Revealing Impact Factors on Student Engagement: Learning Analytics Adoption in Online and Blended Courses in Higher Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 608
Author(s):  
Si Fan ◽  
Lihua Chen ◽  
Manoj Nair ◽  
Saurabh Garg ◽  
Soonja Yeom ◽  
...  

This study aimed to identify factors influencing student engagement in online and blended courses at one Australian regional university. It applied a data science approach to learning and teaching data gathered from the learning management system used at this university. Data were collected and analysed from 23 subjects, spanning over 5500 student enrolments and 406 lecturer and tutor roles, over a five-year period. Based on a theoretical framework adapted from Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework by Garrison et al. (2000), the data were segregated into three groups for analysis: Student Engagement, Course Content and Teacher Input. The data analysis revealed a positive correlation between Student Engagement and Teacher Input, and interestingly, a negative correlation between Student Engagement and Course Content when a certain threshold was exceeded. The findings of the study offer useful suggestions for future course design, and pedagogical approaches teachers can adopt to foster student engagement.

Author(s):  
Kimberly A. Whiter

Creating an engaging course environment requires a conscious effort from faculty to utilize course design, teaching methods, and instructional technologies that foster high levels of student interaction. Instructional technologies paired with effective pedagogies are making student engagement in online environments rich and meaningful. The use of instructional technologies is linked to student engagement in the online learning environment. Utilization of instructional technologies should address three major types of interaction: student interaction with course content, the faculty, and their learning peers. The use of instructional technologies to engage students can also increase students' motivation for their learning by increasing student value for course content. This chapter addresses specific strategies for utilization of course design, pedagogies, and instructional technologies to incorporate student interaction and develop and maintain students' motivation in their learning.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Croft

Reading list practices are long-standing but cause confusion and misunderstanding between module leaders and students. Constructive alignment (Biggs and Tang, 2011), although widely applied in course design across the UK Higher Education sector, has not previously been applied to the practice of reading lists but offers a practical and pedagogically sound method for reinventing reading list practice and bridging the gap of understanding between the intentions of module leaders and the interpretation of students. The module leaders of seven modules were offered the support of a project led by Oxford Brookes Library to redesign their modules so that the reading lists were constructively aligned with the learning outcomes of the modules. After an initial run of the redesigned modules the module leaders were asked whether they would embed the practice of constructively aligned reading lists in their modules. Five of the modules were redesigned and continued with the redesign past the initial instance, one of the modules exited the project before it was redesigned, and one of the modules returned to the pre-project module design and reading list practice. The project was successful in embedding constructively aligned reading list practice in Oxford Brookes University modules past the first run of the module, but several barriers to effective learning and teaching were identified with the most significant being a lack of student engagement with the redesigned reading lists. The implication for practice is that constructively aligned reading lists should include an element of summative assessment to increase the chances of student engagement and the successful embedding of constructively aligned reading lists in the design of modules.


2021 ◽  
pp. 095042222110126
Author(s):  
Stella Xu ◽  
Zimu Xu ◽  
Fujia Li ◽  
Arun Sukumar

Entrepreneurship-related modules have become increasingly popular over the years, not only among business school students but also among those from other disciplines, including engineering and the arts and humanities. In some circumstances, they are offered as optional modules for students across different faculties and disciplines. While it is beneficial to mix students with different backgrounds, bringing in a wide range of perspectives, there are also challenges relating to course design and student engagement. With these challenges in mind, the authors trialled a new approach in the hope of motivating students from diverse academic and socio-cultural backgrounds to engage more fully in the classroom by utilising student entrepreneurs as guest speakers. The student-centric approach has proved effective in enhancing student engagement, as evidenced by both informal and formal feedback.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 604-604
Author(s):  
Sara Police ◽  
Jessie Hoffman,

Abstract Objectives The purpose of this project was to design, develop and implement an online two-credit course, Drug & Nutrient Interactions, as an elective for a new online Graduate Certificate in Applied Nutrition and Culinary Medicine at the University of Kentucky. Methods Drug & Nutrient Interactions was designed to meet the needs of select student cohorts: undergraduate Pharmacology minors, graduate students enrolled in the Masters in Nutritional Sciences program, and online graduate certificate students. Faculty within the Dept. of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences and the Division of Clinical Nutrition were consulted to identify curricular gaps and to avoid redundancy across programs. Instructional designers were consulted to identify evidence-based best practices in online course design and teaching. Results Content of the Drug and Nutrient Interactions course is structured within four thematic modules: 1. Introduction to Pharmacology and Food & Drug Interactions, 2. Exploring Drug-Nutrient Interactions, 3. Genes, Bugs & Time, and 4. Current and Future Directions in Nutrition & Pharmacology. Each module is three to four weeks in duration, to span a 14-week semester. Each week, students’ tasks include reading, watching, writing, and reviewing content related to the student learning objectives. Methods to promote student engagement with the content recur week-to-week, to ensure consistency for students’ experience. An eBook was written by the instructors to provide a current and interdisciplinary review of the intersections of nutritional sciences and pharmacology in the course. In lieu of proctored online exams, module-level assignments assess students’ achievement of learning outcomes. Drug & Nutrient Interactions launched in fall 2019 with nine students enrolling and completing the course. Course analytics track student engagement by logging page views and participation. Increasing students’ page views and participation align with due dates for module assignments. Therefore - in spring 2020, deadlines were shifted to a weekly timeline to foster consistent engagement. Conclusions Instructors should explore various methods to foster student-content, student-student and student-instructor engagement in an online learning environment. Funding Sources This course project was funded by a UK Online award & an Alternative Textbook grant.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 9-12
Author(s):  
Emily McGinn ◽  
Meagan Duever

Purpose This paper aims to detail the use of ESRs ArcMap in the undergraduate history classroom, as an example of pedagogical inquiry and as a method for integrating digital humanities (DH) tools and methods directly into humanities research and pedagogy. Design/methodology/approach This class is an example of pedagogical inquiry and a method for integrating DH tools and methods directly into humanities research and pedagogy. Findings With this approach, students see the immediate application of DH to traditional humanities objects of study and aid these in the pursuit of innovative research questions and methods. Originality/value The use of DH in traditional humanities classrooms as a central concept with experts from the libraries integrated into course design and project planning is unique and is a model that could be implemented at other institutions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Attwood

This anecdotal pilot case study of practice addresses the question: How can technology be used to make online history courses more engaging with museums? Findings from this case study suggest that virtual art museums via the Google Cultural Institute (now Google Arts & Culture) were an effective way to encourage students to do more than the minimum required for the online forum response assignment in a survey (100-level) history course at a community college in the northwest United States. The instructor designed an assignment that was posted in the learning management system as a PDF. Implications for practice are that online instructors of history, as well as online instructors of humanities, can assign virtual art museum visits with an online discussion component to encourage student engagement centered on course content.


Author(s):  
Lynne Hunt ◽  
Michael Sankey

This is the story of top-down, middle-out, and bottom-up change to promote learning and teaching at a regional university in Australia. The case study documents a whole-of-university change process designed to get the context right to enhance university learning and teaching. It describes the baseline for action, the planning processes, and implementation strategies that adapted a project management approach. The chapter explores contestable issues associated with centralised university change processes versus devolved, faculty initiatives, and it shows how these might be combined. It also outlines the guiding principles of the change process, which was informed by a concern to develop coherent student learning journeys, cross-institutional planning, and a community development approach to engage the hearts and minds of staff. It also featured a systems approach designed to make it difficult for staff to get things wrong.


Author(s):  
Debra Sprague

Flipping the classroom has gained much attention over the past couple of years. It involves using video and online technologies to provide the lecture portion of a lesson. Students view the online lecture for homework, while class time is spent engaged in applying what is learned from the lecture. By doing this, it is believed students become active learners and take more responsibility for their learning.Although a skeptic of the flipped learning model (after all, a lecture is a lecture no matter what format it takes) the presenter decided to give it a try and flip one of her teacher education courses. The result was more student engagement, better quality of student work, and increase in student evaluations.This presentation will focus on strategies for flipping a course through the creation of a hybrid (combination of online and face-to-face) course. The presenter will share with the audience how she provided meaningful online activities and how she engaged the students during the face-to-face classes. Although the course content derives from the education discipline, the strategies presented can fit any content area.


Author(s):  
Sylvie Doré

The goal of this pre-study was to prescribe a solution to a perceived decrease in student engagement in an elective course on additive manufacturing. The objectives were to:identify in what activities the students are engaging; identify causes for lack of engagement in their studies, if any;identify possible changes to the additive manufacturing course.A mixed (quantitative and qualitative) triangulation interpretivist approach was used to address the first two objectives. Approximately half (1/2) the students stated that their studies was not their priority, two thirds (2/3) reported that they attended university primarily to earn a diploma rather than to learn and again two thirds (2/3) said that they had difficulty concentrating, signs that most students are not fully engaged in learning. The qualitative analysis provided insight and nuance to the quantitative analysis. It made it possible to identify sources for lack of engagement. Apart from the presence of electronic devices which distract attention, teaching methods, course content and evaluation modalities were often cited. Based on the findings, three changes are suggested to the course


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