Active Blended Learning ABL Active learning Blended learning
Active Blended Learning [ABL] Active learning: Blended learning: • • Experiential Practical/ hands-on, ‘Real world’ orientated Collaborative Reflexive Technology-enhanced Face-to-face [F 2 F] & online combined Digital literacy
____________________ The Research Elizabeth Palmer University of Northampton elizabeth. palmer@northampton. ac. uk @ejpalmer 1986 Sylvie Lomer University of Manchester sylvie. lomer@manchester. ac. uk @SE_Lomer Ivelina Bashliyska University of Northampton Assistant Researcher ______________________ With thanks to: David Cousens
Data Collection Student engagement with ABL Pilot (yr. 15/16) 24 5 5 Students Focus groups Schools Qualitative focus groups led by student researchers. Inductive thematic analysis Main study (yr. 16/17) 201 47 4 Students Focus groups Faculties Qualitative focus groups led by staff & student researchers. Deductive thematic analysis based on pilot findings (with modifications). Palmer, Lomer & Bashliyska, 2017
Learning beliefs “They [lecturers] are telling you that it’s important for you to do it but at the same time the way they’re conveying that message to you, it doesn’t seem like it’s important to do it. ” “They want us to engage to support what they’ve taught us in class but for me it all boils down to, like you said, I would prefer to be in class” “I’d rather spend my time in lectures with people, you know, with other students actually learning” “And we haven’t had to do it in the past so to suddenly be expected to do all these, it just feels like extra things. It just seems a bit more difficult. ” Palmer, Lomer & Bashliyska, 2017
Learning beliefs: • • Transparent pedagogy. Rationale for ABL. Roles and responsibilities. Support mechanisms. Palmer, Lomer & Bashliyska, 2017
Relationships and Collaboration “If we could do things as a group or as a class concerning creating stuff rather than leaving us to do it on our own. ” “you get so much out of your peers’ perspectives on what you are learning because, well you just do don’t you? ” “I don’t feel like there’s any in session guidance. There’s no, ‘Right, this is online, do this, it’s to help you with this’. ” “If they show interest it encourages us. ” “If the lecturers go online, if they go in and read and put comments and everything, it encourages us to want to do them more. ” “(Relationships) got to be there for you to be comfortable” Palmer, Lomer & Bashliyska, 2017
Relationships and Collaboration • ‘Interest, care & empathy’: o Presence/ visibility o Interaction o Feedback • Support • Collaboration Palmer, Lomer & Bashliyska, 2017
Task Design “I think if you are going to deliver things online it has to be there has to be some sort of thing that’s going to make people think. Not just like, ‘Look it up on a website and then fill in the gap’. ” “I thought that was nice because it was a group activity that we had to do together to make a collage of pictures from history and then present… like talk about them together so that was quite fun, it was group work, we got to do it all together” “They said we needed it for the class but then no-one mentioned it. ” “You don’t understand until you get into the lecture and it’s kind of well what was the point of doing it if – “ “It’s not really that interactive. All I’ve done is just open a Power. Point. ” Palmer, Lomer & Bashliyska, 2017
Task Design • F 2 F & online linked • Timing/ Planning • ‘Contact’: Presence, Feedback & Support • Interactive tasks (Level) • Multimedia • Collaboration Palmer, Lomer & Bashliyska, 2017
The teaching MA Education International Higher Education in International Contexts
Blog-based module “I adore this blog. We learn a topic in lecture session from Sylvie then we choose a relevant piece to write. After that, we learn from classmates in tutorial session, and we write the comparison in blog. ”
Research-informed module design Principle • • • Autonomy Transparent pedagogy Relationships & care Collaborative Meaningful & active task design • Embed digital literacy skills Design • Free choice of case study • First lecture explained • Positioned students as coresearchers • Students worked in blog groups • Blogs were essential to the seminars, part of assessment strategy and fed into later lectures as examples • How to write blogs directly addressed, resourced, and reflected on
Caveats • Optional module – those who didn’t buy in didn’t stick around • Most students had a class from me in previous term – pre-existing relationship increased trust • Small group – 33 students • All bar 3 Chinese
Countries represented in blogs • • • • India UK USA Canada China Germany Australia Netherlands Chile Hong Kong Macau Taiwan Japan • • • • Finland Singapore Indonesia Russia Papua New Guinea Brazil Jamaica Mexico Korea Cambodia Malaysia ‘Africa’ Trinidad and Tobago • • • South Africa Vietnam Portugal New Zealand Switzerland France North Korea Colombia Kazakhstan Thailand Iran Regional – Americas, Europe, Asia
How often students self-report learning activities 18 16 14 12 10 Every week 8 Most weeks 6 Never 4 Once or twice 2 0 read other peoples’ blog posts? make a comment on someone’s blog post contribute to read some of the seminar reading list blog post discussions or suggestions asking questions in lectures
What students felt they learnt most from
Few comments initially • Many students (48. 1%) said they were “not sure what to say” • 55. 6% of the students wanted to “say something but were not sure how to express it” • Most wanted more comments from classmates and all wanted from more lecturer. Ø Further work to do on embedding collaboration
Student feedback • Majority of students (over 90%) had a favourable view of the module • More than 90. 9% of the students agreed that the content of the module was intellectually stimulating • Seminar discussions varied in how productive they were
Lessons learned • Using student generated content makes blended learning meaningful • Require & model comments that link and question • Usernames that refer to actual names • Having written blogs gave students confidence to discuss in seminars, which fed into lectures
Thank You! Palmer, E. Lomer, S. & Bashliyska, I. (2017) Overcoming barriers to student engagement in Active Blended Learning. University of Northampton. Available at: https: //www. northampton. ac. uk/ilt/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/05/Student-Engagement-with-ABLInterim-Report-May-2017 -v 2. pdf
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