End of Term evaluations #digilit #cll

Module Evalutaion forms are just in and it is possible now to get a longer view of students' responses to the module.

The range of teaching methods used on this module have helped my learning - av= 3.8/5

The NOW (VLE) online resources for this module have helped support my learning - av= 4.2/5

I find the module to be a valuable learning experience - av= 3.8/5

I understand the aims and learning outcomes of the module - av= 4/5

Module teaching staff are good at explaining things - av= 4.1/5

I find the module intellectually stimulating - av= 3.6/5

What aspects of teaching have you enjoyed?
"I like computer work"
"sessions used for group assessment is a good use of time"
"we can use Macs and research to learn new methods"
"demonstrating how to do things step by step and having someone around to help you"
"working on group tasks as a team"
"group work activities; using the computers; referencing and citation"
"referencing and citation very useful"
"help on hand from previous first years"
"online learning"
"all staff are approachable and willing to answer questions"
"learning about different things is fun and relevant"

What aspects of the teaching could be improved?:
"explaining things more"
"more time for the tasks"
"I don't enjoy trying out new things on the internet"
"classes too big, too vague, I don't feel like I am coming away having learnt anything"
"time would be better spent on other assignments"
"it is good but the layout of the room makes it difficult to hear everything"
"too simple"
"need more summative work and less formative work"
"hard to ask questions as it's a big group"
"more involvement of students as it gets quite boring"

What aspects of the module have you enjoyed overall?
"skills - using NOW, Google Scholar etc"
"learning how to carry out research"
"using the Macs"
"assisted me in ways to research online"
"the module is well organised and running smoothly; I find it to be a valuable learning experience"
"group work activities; using the computers; referencing"
"varied use of technology; group work"
"the group work - and it's quite laid back"
"helps me to understand how to Harvard reference - especially for other assignments"
"range of tasks and teaching methods. Each task is relevant to Health and Social Care and often learn new skills for the future e.g referencing."
"it's very different from the other modules, gives you a chance to expand on researching skills"

What could be improved (about the module overall)?
"Not using the apple macs"
"Make the lesson more enjoyable. I don't like using computers and this has pushed me further back than I was because I don't understand it"
"more interaction with the PowerPoint from the lecturers"
"more emphasis on links to other modules"
"keep the smaller classes"
"maybe it's a bit too laid back because I don't always understand what is going on"

In general the feedback suggests that:

• large classes make it harder for some students to hear, understand and contribute
• a standalone research and study skills class needs to be explicitly connected to other modules
• working on group tasks is valuable
• using the laptops is generally popular although one or two struggle
• to get full value out of the tasks a longer workshop may be needed
• student mentors are helpful
• having staff available to help with group tasks is valued
• teaching about referencing and citation is useful

For 2014/15 we have already timetabled 2x2hr workshops, making the classes smaller and longer. We are also looking at ways in which we could continue to have student mentors involved. 

However, beyond that, as a course team we are now looking at how research and professional skills can be integrated into other modules in year 1. This seems right as the use of technology, an understanding of digital citizenship and competence in handling information should not be seen as separate skills but rather be wholly integrated into every part of the curriculum, just as reading and writing are now.

From our Student Mentors

As they come to the end of their stint as digital skills mentors, Holly and Sarah offer some reflections on their roles within the classroom:

Holly:

My Role as a Digital Skills Mentor
I have enjoyed my role as a digital skills mentor because I have been able to help students with their work for this year. Having experience in the module already really helped to do this. Through taking on this role as a digital skills mentor, I have gained more confidence through my communication skills. Having to talk to and listen to students, who I have never met before, has helped me in being able to be more confident when talking to people. I have seen this myself from taking part in more discussions in my own seminars. This role has also given me an insight in to the university and what they are trying to achieve with students digitally. This has boosted my team work skills by having to work with another digital skills mentor and many members of staff to achieve this.

From observing a lot of seminars across two terms, I found that the sessions in the first term were more interactive for the students. This is because they had to complete tasks and also had time allocated to complete the assessment. Sometimes the tasks they were carrying out were maybe a bit too simple and the students acted as if they knew how to do these tasks already, for example learning how to use Google to search for particular things.

Sarah:
What has it been like to be a Digital Skills Mentor this year?
I have really enjoyed my year as being a digital skills mentor as I have gained a new experience on what it is like to be a mentor/observer and has given me new skills that I can improve on in the future. I have improved on my communication skills, it has given me more confidence from having to work in groups or walk up to groups and ask them questions on my own. It has also enhanced my partnership working as I often worked with Holly (my co-digital skills mentor) and with other members of staff. One of my favourite parts of being a digital skills mentor was helping the first years with any issues they had in class or any questions they had about set assignments. To me, I was more than just a digital skills mentor but also a general health and social care mentor as I got to give students tips on what to do in first year and second year and talk to them about student life. I have also become familiar with first year health and social care as when walking around the campus I will say hello.

What activities and task have I been asked to do?
The main activities and task I was asked to do when working in teaching sessions with Jane was writing down any observations about the sessions. Some of these observations included student’s thoughts on the module, any difficulties they were having with technology, tasks they were set, how the sessions were structured and what software and programmes they were using. We were also, asked to play a ‘teaching assistant role’ and walk around the tables to see if any of the students needed any help. The majority of the questions were how to do certain things on programmes or laptops, where to find things on NOW or if they were unsure about the task set and needed a clearer explanation. Another duty Holly and I were asked to take part in, was to film a video interview with a group of about 10 students to ask them questions to do with their general computer skills, anything that has surprised them about the course, anything they have learned from the module to help with their computer use, anything that was missing from the module and whether their confidence has grown with technology since being on the course.

Catching up

In case you are wondering, it's not that we have given up on the great Scale Up experiment, it's that we are having a little break from teaching. At the moment the first year students are having 5 weeks input on research from a colleague. This is in preparation for the final assignment which is a group research project.

Since Christmas we have also divided the group into two once again, in response to students' complaints about space and noise (too little of the former and far too much of the latter). The research sessions are more traditionally teacher led although each week there are on line search activities for them to carry out and worksheets to be completed on the laptops.

Because the groups are smaller there is no longer the need to use the microphone, which makes communication actually a bit easier (once the class quietens down). Continuing problems with the audio system still make it difficult to play videos at a reasonable volume. Input from technical staff (and interest from the centre) seems to have waned but there is a meeting coming up this month when I am sure there will be an opportunity to voice these concerns and ask for some solutions to be found at least before the next academic year.

Students complain less about the Macs but still struggle with the continuous Pop Up messages and find it nigh on impossible to complete work, save it and or email it to themselves, so this is not a useful way of working. Delays in linking to Apple TV have also caused that to be abandoned as a teaching technique. It is something I may return to next year when I have smaller classes and 2 hour workshops.

I am overall though still happy with the tables and seating plan as it facilitates group work and when I return to take over leading the group again in 2 weeks' time it will be far easier to support their project work in this environment, and far easier for them to do their research and present their work with the macs or their own devices on hand.

The final project has two options: the first, to design a survey questionnaire using Google Forms OR to curate web based resources on a health and social care theme, using Pinterest, Storify, a Facebook Page, Tumblr or something similar.

The first option is what the students did last year and it was fairly successful. The second option is a bit of an experiment but relates well to the themes of the module and particularly to digital literacy competencies.

The teaching team, together with student mentors, library and CADQ partners are going to be presenting our work at the Annual Learning and Teaching Conference. The particular focus will be on how we have used this module and this new teaching environment to explore ways of enhancing students' digital literacies. Together with the "before and after" surveys previously discussed, we will be anlaysing the observation logs made by our student mentors and also conducting some small focus groups amongst the first year students to find out what they make of all this.

In tandem with the classroom work, the student mentors have also been observing the support work that happens in the library to see whether changes need to be made there to support student transition and digital skills. This is moving us towards thinking about having digital skills mentors permanently on hand and about how we can use students as change agents in embedding digital literacies into the curriculum.

More statistics anyone?

I have blogged more about the digital skills survey results here:
 http://thevirtualleader.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/all-i-want-for-xmas-is-more-statistics.html

More statistics about that Marmite....

I ran an online survey about the module at the end of Term 1. Here are the results so far (50 students responded).

Students do seem to dislike the delivery of the seminars in the Scale Up environment. 58% feel that the classes are NOT well organised although 74% say they get good tutor support in class and 82% feel they get equally good support outside of class. 56% say they enjoy the group based activities but 96% think the class size is too big. (The room is intended to be for 108 students seated at 12 tables each holding 9 students).

"..l have a bit of problem with the research and professional practise module.It goes very fast and the group is too big.At times l get lost whilst carrying out a task.lt takes long to get back on track."

is a fairly typical comment.

I have to agree that the size of the class is absolutely overwhelming and the much vaunted advantages of Scale Up seem not to be being realised (e.g improved attendance). It is interesting that since these problems started to emerge I have found some information on line about the well known problems of this style of teaching. These were not discussed when the pilot was mooted and volunteers sought!

From my survey and other discussions with students I would say that noise levels, the use of the microphone and cramped seating conditions are the most frequent complaints about the physical environment.

Half of the students say they have not experienced too many difficulties with the Macs (56% say they are easy to use) but that leaves 44% who have struggled and again, anecdotally, the students complain about the need to adjust to the Mac operating environment for this one class - it has slowed down their productivity and made them feel stressed and lagging behind.

Generally though the session specific satisfaction ratings are fairly positive:

60% found the sessions on digital identity to be useful
88% rated the sessions on Harvard referencing very positively :)
92% found the plagiarism and Turnitin session useful :D
82% were very satisfied with the session on search techniques using the library catalogue, databases and Google Scholar
60% also say they have learned new ITC skills in the classes.
There was quite a lot of support for sessions we ran on Evernote, Diigo and Google Drive (60% satisfaction for each), but the verdict was 60% against the use of Twitter - some enjoyed it but  the majority found it irrelevant or an intrusion on their private spaces.

A couple of positive comments were:
"its amazing what we can find for ourselves with a pc or a laptop"
 ".. it is more interesting to learn about new techniques and how you go about it,and that can boost my confidence up and be able to do a lot on the internet through my studies"
".. It is very interactive ... and I enjoy the different tasks eg. the collaborative task."

Generally I think there is something about the readiness of the class to work independently and smaller class sizes may be helpful at this point to be able to give more support to students in carrying out the group tasks. There is also an argument for putting some of this teaching into drop in workshops or integrating the skills into other tasks - even into other modules?

We have already adjusted the timetable so that the next two terms will be taught in 2 smaller groups, but still in Scale Up. The project continues....

The marmite experience

I've now finished my teaching for this module (apart from the assessment session around Easter), and gathered some written feedback from the students at the end of my last session. There's a ranking scale of 1-4, with 1 being poor, and 4 being excellent. Normally I receive 3s and 4s, but there were quite a few 1s and 2s this time. I'm trying not to take it personally, as the comments show the students either really enjoy the group work, or they hate it, so these extremes of feeling are reflected in their opinion of the session. Despite the majority (fortunately) rating the session as good or excellent, quite a few commented on the size of the class and would prefer to learn in groups, but as part of a smaller class. I felt happy at the end of my last workshop as every group made progress with the task, and not one resorted to searching Google instead of the prescribed databases. In fact, far more had a go at searching Academic Search Complete than students in previous years, so this was a positive result for them and for me.

Student mentor bogs 2

My name is Holly and I am a second year Health and Social Care student. I am a Digital Skills Mentor for the module Research and Professional Practice for the first year students studying Health and Social Care.

My experience of being a Digital Skills Mentor has been a good one. It has given me an insight in to the different ways of teaching. Having taken part in the same module last year, I think using Scale Up with the MAC computers has given the module a more interesting and interactive perspective, making it more enjoyable for the students in learning the module.

However, the Scale Up project hasn’t come without its problems. At first, the students weren’t very confident with using the MACs, as most of them had never used one before so it took time to get used to learning in this way, and using a different operating system to Windows. By the end of the first term however, the students have been much more confident in using the MACs and haven’t needed as much support in finding their way around one, for example knowing the keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste and how to use the mouse.

Also, the NOW system, for the students, took a lot of getting used to especially finding the resources for the sessions such as Padlet and the discussion boards. The class size has seemed quite big to teach for the lecturers and having smaller class sizes would maybe be a benefit but it would be difficult to fit that many seminars into one week of teaching.

However, I think having two mentors in the classroom for students has been helpful to them. Even though at first the students seemed to be quite wary of us being in the classroom, it didn’t take long for them to get used to the idea and were soon asking us for help as well as the lecturer. It has offered them help from people who have experienced and completed the module before so have an idea of what should be happening and how the tasks should be completed. It also offers them a way of getting help from someone who may know how to explain a task in a simpler way from how the lecturer may have explained it for them, to get a better understanding of what to do. Also, another benefit for the students has been that they have been able to ask us questions about second year and our experience of first year generally. Even though that’s not our reason to be in the classroom, I think the students have found it helpful being told from someone who has been through first year what it will be like and how different second year may or may not be.