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Hi All,

Some notes I made whilst reading Conole et al. (2008) and some comments I made.

Comments:

Criticism so far: Research mainly focused at the level of evaluations, rather than how learners actually use and experience technology. (Sharpe et al. 2005)

I agree with this statement. In previous articles it was mainly about the evaluation of the questionnaire in which it was obvious that it was about the use of technology in courses, but not how they used it…which is in this context more interesting. Although some surprising results!

More in depth studies is needed: how are they using technology in their formal studies and what is their perception of this technology.

Conole mentions Kennedy about how little empirical research has been done about the claims made about the Net Generation.

Kirkwood & Price (2005) found a dramatic increase in students’ access to, experience of and attitude towards technologies across subject disciplines.

Conclusion: In depth study to understand the nuances of how students are using technology to support their learning: LXP Project

Methodology:
Focused on two main questions:
- how do learners engage with and experience e-learning
- how does e-learning relate to and contribute the whole learning experience

Data collection by three resources:
- Online survey
- Audio Logs
- Interviews

Findings
Overal, students made extensive use of personally owned technologies, including computers and a range of mobile devices. Most did not have a personal printer and used USB Sticks to transfer data and information between locations.

Four overarching themes which describes how students were using technology and their perception of technology:

Information Seeking and Handling
Use of the web is extensively to extend their understanding of concepts and supplement course material: Wikipedia and Google Scolar
Wikipedia is relatively new but is “counts as good” because of peer review and sharing.
Credibility was experienced as sometimes difficult: double check resources and cross reference and validating materials were mentioned as solutions: students mix and match information resources.

 

Use of “trial and error” in finding and using digital information.

Using resources provided by tutors depended on individual departments and tutors. Peer reviewing was evident.

Use of library resources was recognized as well in terms of being able to see the availability of resources.

Info retrieval was mainly focused on text-based materials however, some searched for images, podcasts, e-modules and other online materials to supplement their course material to get a better understanding of the topics being studies

 

Communication
Reported use of:

·         Mobile phones to text and phone each other, discuss issues related to their learning, assignment queries

·         MSN (AIM etc) for international communication, share resources, video conferencing, group works

·         Skype: cheap and easy way to keep in touch with friends and family (overseas students)

·         Forums: potentially useful, but preferred reading rather than posting. Individuals could dominate discussions, time lag between posting and reply frustrating, not always possible to engage with issues at a deep level => Students are creating their own social network rather than being constrained in topic and technology via discussion forums.

Complaint: some found communication technology disruptive to study

Email is the main channel for communicating with tutors.

Assignment preparation
ICT usage in connection with assessed work. Students use Word and PowerPoint (Open Office occasionally) . Word for essay and report writing and PowerPoint for oral presentations, revision and distributing online course material. Excel for carrying out audits and drawing graphs.

Very few have had official training in Office software and was highlighted as problematic because of the expectations in using this software for their assignments (international students may have less experience in using computers).

Comment: What is the role of secondary and primary (Office is on our curriculum, Word, Excel and Powerpoint)

Spelling checker, dictionary and grammar functionality is valued by the students.

Some students set up an e-portfolio.

Students say they use revision as a learning strategy, but it was not clear if they were effective strategies and making optimum use of their available technologies.

Integrated learning

Their VLe (Virtual Learning Environment was not used much, just to follow up on their course. Medical students used it a lot as there was a built in tool for their e-portfolio.

Online course materials was considered as a good thing but face-to-face was still necessary and important. Meeting with classmates and discussing work issues was considered important. It was considered vital in building a sense of community or belonging to the group/class.

One student argued that online communication did not provide the same quality, value for money or degree of interaction.

This was found in ECAR and Kennedy study as well: traditional students!!

Cheers