Elearning Practices in Higher Education

Greetings Readers

There are a variety of benefits associated with Micro-learning, particularly in eLearning environments. In essence, micro-eLearning offers students the opportunity to more easily absorb and retain the information that is being offered, by making lessons and course activities more manageable and “digestible”. Micro-eLearning is often referred to as “bite-sized” education because it breaks the educational process down into lessons that typically last no longer than a few minutes, and enable them to collect and recall course materials more efficiently and effectively.

Micro-eLearning Techniques To Improve Your eLearning Course Design 

Micro-eLearning Technique #1: Micro-games online
It's a proven fact that people learn more if they are engaged with the subject. Participating in a game, even if there is no winner, will allow students to interact directly with the lesson, and will enable them to get more out of the experience. This will provide you with the opportunity to make learning fun and fast. Therefore, it will be more effective.

Micro-eLearning Technique #2: Lesson-based Podcasts
One of the most beneficial micro-eLearning techniques used today is the educational podcast. Recording a small amount of information, that can discourse far and wide, can give learners the chance to gather important data and knowledge from the comfort of their own homes or offices (or even on-the-go). Better yet, they don't have to set aside large blocks of time to absorb this new information, as the lesson can be distilled into a few minutes and offered via podcast.

Micro-eLearning Technique #3: Multimedia presentations (slide shows)
Online slide shows are becoming increasingly popular due to the fact that they appeal to virtually every type of learner. Whether an employee or student is able to more effectively absorb information through auditory, visual, or interactive methods, a slide show can cater to their needs. Typically, these slide shows can provide a micro-lesson in a matter of minutes, and can allow the learner to grasp the concepts of each slide before moving onto the next. As such, it's an ideal technique for courses that may require more in-depth explanations or illustrations, ensuring that the learner fully understands each one of them.

Micro-eLearning Technique #4: Simulations that teach a skill set
You can also use simulations, either online or in group settings, that teach a particular skill set. For example, if you are designing an eLearning course that is geared toward sales transactions in retail environments, you can employ a simulation that walks the learners through a transaction and then asks them to do it on their own, after the brief step by step instruction that has been provided. This not only enables the learners to build upon a specific skill or knowledge of a task but gives them the opportunity to try it in a real-life or virtual setting.

Micro-eLearning Technique #5: Instructional videos (approach for this learning task)
Instructional videos can be created in a number of ways and can be used in a variety of educational environments. For example, you can easily design a video and integrate it directly into your site design or even post it on your video sharing sites (such as Youtube) in order to deliver it to remote learners. The students or employees can then access the video whenever they like and take their own time to absorb the information being offered. This particular micro-eLearning technique is ideal in situations that call for the demonstration of a specific skill or task.

Micro-eLearning Technique #6: Online assessment and quizzes
Micro-eLearning techniques can also come in the form of assessments or quizzes online. These quick virtual exams can give instructors the opportunity to gauge the level of skill and understanding of each of their learners, and can even offer learners the chance to determine how they are progressing along the way. They can also prove to be a good source of motivation, which always leads to enhanced performance both in and out of the office.

Micro-eLearning Technique #7: Educational blog posts
Even something as simple and straightforward as a blog post can serve as a micro-eLearning activity. Learners can visit the blog whenever they choose and gather the required information, making it an ideal way to get the information across when and where the learners need it. Blog posts can serve as a method by which you inform potential learners about the lessons being offered, or keep current employees or students up to date on the latest news or knowledge.

By offering your learners micro e-learning options, you gain the ability to boost their performance in the online classroom, without requiring them to devote a great deal of time to the learning process. Therefore, these activities are perfect for any educational setting, given that they can be effective for every type of learner, and allow each student to go at their own pace and fully master each lesson before progressing to the next one.

Please find the link below for my MicroLED video. It is a video that is linked to a course that I am currently teaching online due to the COVID19 situation. Looking forward to your comments and suggestions.

https://youtu.be/2Fj1PoEpjy4

Moving on, Laboratory experimentation plays an essential role in engineering and scientific education. Virtual and remote labs reduce the costs associated with conventional hands-on labs due to their required equipment, space, and maintenance staff. Furthermore, they provide additional benefits such as supporting distance learning, improving lab accessibility to handicapped people, and increasing safety for dangerous experimentation.

Taking into consideration the COVID19 situation currently, we at the school of engineering are facing great problems in conducting laboratory TLAs online. Therefore, we have to come up with a solution to how we can mitigate this issue. Thus I have been motivated to conduct a case study on the current situation that we have i.e. “Remote Laboratories for Undergraduate Engineering at the University of the South Pacific”. Recently, remote laboratories have been developed at multiple universities and adopted in engineering education. Furthermore, some of these laboratories are replicated at many universities such as the electronic circuit's remote labs: NetLab, VISIR, and labs based on NI ELVIS II. This was the commence of a new mainstream that advocates a better remodeling of those laboratories to allow their allocation, sharing among universities, and their communication with other heterogeneous systems, e.g., Learning Management Systems (LMS). In this context, numerous sharable educational architectures for remote lab integration have emerged such as LiLa, Lab2go, ISILab, DCL, WebLab Deusto, iLab (ISA), and Labshare (Sahara).

Reference
Giurgiu, L. (2017). Microlearning an evolving elearning trend. Scientific Bulletin, 22(1), 18-23.

Thanks
Hiye

eLearning trends in Higher Education

Hello Readers

What is learning analytics?

Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data about learners, learning experiences, and learning programs for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and its impact on an organization’s performance.

The 4 levels of learning analytics

1.       Measurement

Analytics starts with measurement or the simple act of tracking things and recording values to tell us what happened. Measurement doesn’t require complicated math or statistics, but you must start by gathering data. Otherwise, it’s impossible to do any analytics. 

2.       Data Evaluation

Once the data has been captured, it's time to start evaluating it and assessing whether the data means something good or bad. At this level, we’re applying high-school level math—averages, means, modes, and basic statistics—to aggregate the data and establish benchmarks. In current practice, most analytics fall into the basic data evaluation category, and that’s OK. There’s tremendous value here, and opportunities for some huge wins.

3.       Advanced Evaluation

Exciting things start to happen as we get into the advanced evaluation and apply college-level math. Here, we’re looking at things such as correlations and regression analysis. We’re applying statistical techniques to understand, not just what happened, but why it happened. Advanced evaluation creates theories about causation, allowing us to focus on what works best and scrap ineffective learning.

4.       Predictive & Prescriptive Analytics

The most sophisticated levels of analytics are predictive and prescriptive analytics, which require graduate-level math and often rely on AI or machine learning-powered by big data sets. Predictive analytics say, “based on what’s happened in the past, here’s what is most likely to happen next.” Prescriptive analytics take that a step further and say, “based on what’s most likely to happen next, here’s the action we should take to optimize the outcome.”  Ultimately, when we get here, we rely on highly intelligent recommendation engines that deliver just the right learning, at just the right moment, in just the right way to significantly improve performance. As an industry, we’re not there yet, but we can get there if we start measuring and work our way up.

A recent study done by [1] gave the following learning analytics for USP Students

As flexible learning forms part of mainstream educational processes at the university, the collection of a wide variety of data on student retention, their progression and graduation, is embedded in the university’s core planning, development and quality assurance processes. This kind of analytics includes monitoring of learner and learning behaviors, data warehousing, and working with big data, building models and predicting trends, and reporting to improve learning and teaching at the university as well as its business processes. USP students, many of whom are part-time students with families and jobs to sustain, may have a higher tendency to withdraw, or fail to persist with their course of study for very personal reasons, which are not related to their educational programs. For this reason alone, the university takes very seriously the gathering of intelligence on all of its learners in order to ensure that the educational opportunities it affords, more than adequately meets their needs.

BYOD and mLearning

Mobile learning is any sort of learning that happens when the learner is not at a fixed, predetermined location or learning that happens when the learner takes advantage of the learning opportunities offered by mobile technologies. These technologies makes learning easy for any user. Devices such as smart phones, notebooks, laptops, tablets can be used. Limitations of learning as in everywhere are overcome by using mobile learning as it provides mobility through the use of portable mobile devices. The m-learning team is tasked with looking into feasible options of including mobile learning into tertiary education.

USP Mobile App

The University of the South Pacific is one of the premium providers of education in the Pacific and is known to be connected to thousands of people across the Pacific and even internationally[2]. With so many people connected to the University, the efficiency in conveying information and communication may vary from time. To ensure that the important bits of the information are shared in time and efficiently, The University of the South Pacific would like to introduce its very own USP Mobile App. 

The USP Mobile App is an informative tool for students, staff and visitors. The aim of the app is to have University information and services accessible by the users instantly and efficiently. The USP Mobile App has certain futures (course feed, course notification, Course/Exam timetable) just for students who is available upon their login. It has features such as News and Course Feed provides all the latest university and course news, Notification Alert notifies users about announcements and activities, Events the feature shows all the events and activities in USP for the year as per USP calendar, Course and Exam Timetable enables students to access their class and exam schedules on their mobile devices, First Year tools have information on important tools targeted for the first-year students, Emergency contacts have important contact for the user to contact in case of emergency, Frequently Asked Questions feature allows users to get urgent assistance when needed, Course Finder shows all the courses offered with their detail and game feature is available to try out different formats of learning (edutainment). The USP mobile App also links to the USP Campus Map that will help the app users to find their way around USP. The app also has other university information. The the app will be continuously updated to have most of the USP’s online functionalities in the app. 

USP Pacific TAFE SKILL ME UP App

The University South Pacific’s Pacific TAFE offers both Pre-degree and Sub-degree programmes to its twelve member countries. With its diverse nature, Pacific TAFE needs to be able to reach all its students wherever they may be and provide them with learning support assistants.

The Pacific TAFE Learning Support APP is designed to provide key learning support services to all our students wherever they are, whatever mode of learning they are in, and at the times they need it most. Its creation resulted from a survey showing that many students were not aware of our learning support services, hence the decision to make it more accessible to them. Once downloaded, learning support is at their fingertips.

Skill Me UP is based on the approved Learning Support Framework and addresses 4 key areas of learning needs namely “Coping Well” for new students, “Language and Literacy”, “Numeracy” and “Work Readiness”.

The app will be further strengthened via links to relevant demonstrative videos and other resources. 

It will also be used for notifications of workshops, conducting surveys and will only be accessible to registered students of Pacific TAFE.

VR and AR

Virtual reality is a very new technology and will take about 2-3 years to be adopted in the PICs. However, one way it can be incorporated in our engineering syllabus is by having a virtual laboratory. In our labs not, all equipment is present for research purposes which might be available in other universities. Through this platform students can perform research and come up with perfect outputs.”

Makerspaces

The Makerspace for Education site was born from a big idea! What if we could have a site dedicated to innovative hands-on learning? A site made for teachers, by teachers! Here is where the idea was born!

At the school of engineering, we are far beyond makerspace. We at engineering use a design process for innovation i.e.

1.       Identify & define the problem

2.       Research

3.       Identify possible solutions

4.       Create a prototype

5.       Evaluate

6.       Refine

7.       Communicate

8.       Go back to step 1 and the process continues until we get optimum results

We at engineering expose the student to the most relevant programming microprocessors from the cheapest i.e. PIC and Arduino to the most expensive in the Pacific d-SPACE and FPGA. With these programmable devices in our hands, there are unlimited possibilities e.g. from programming robotic arms to a micro-grid. Please visit the school of engineering to see what we are up to!

Moving on, what is Turnitin?

Turnitin can be described as an electronic text matching system that compares text in a student assignment against a database of sources and It provides an originality report in which ‘matched’ text is underlined, color-coded, and linked to either the original source or a similar document on its database…also offers an indication of the proportion of the submitted work that matches other sources. The University of the South Pacific provides access to the Turnitin Assignment tool as a Moodle activity. While Turnitin can be used as a punitive measure to catch students who are copying the work of others without acknowledgment, it is also valuable as a feedback mechanism to help students learn what constitutes plagiarism and to help them to develop their academic writing skills. Turnitin is one aspect of the adoption of a holistic approach to academic integrity that can be used to teach students what constitutes plagiarism as well as how to cite sources and reference correctly. Turnitin can also provide indicators for staff where students may need help with improving their writing skills.

Early Warning System (EWS) in place at USP, 

There is a lot of emphases nowadays on the online management system for teaching and learning. The shift in the pedagogy invariably warrants innovative ways of monitoring student progress in the new and exciting ICT driven learning environment. Early Warning System (EWS) piloted at The University of the South Pacific (USP) monitors student progression using the history of interactions, completion, and course achievement as indicators of satisfactory or unsatisfactory performance. Incorporated within Moodle, the real-time progress tracking system helps identify underperforming students so that corrective measures and actions can be taken before it is too late. Students are flagged on incomplete tasks, alerted on lack of engagement with online activities, and informed on the progress made on popular course activities. Course coordinators are able to identify student learning patterns and group similar learners, which is a difficult task, especially in large classes. The model will also assist the coordinators in evaluating and maintaining courseware by identifying effective and ineffective course activities. The paper presents the implementation report of EWS at USP, highlighting its share of strengths and opportunities.

What is E-Assessment

It refers to the use of information technology in innumerable ways to assess performance and measure student learning. The notion of e-assessment was presented to overcome all the inadequacies of traditional pen and paper assessment modes. Electronic assessment arises from the use of Web-specific tools for assessment. It can be used to assess theoretical knowledge (using e-testing software) as well as practical skills (using e-portfolios or simulation software). It is also called the online assessment/computer-based assessment in which information technology is used to assess students’ academic progress. E-assessment is the possibility to generate computer-based assessments done offline or even online. An electronic assessment, in which all the assessment procedures from the start to the end of assessment should be carried out electronically. Electronic assessment, also known as e-assessment, online assessment, computer-assisted/mediated assessment and computer-based assessment is the use of information technology in numerous arrangements of assessment such as educational assessment to evaluate and/or gather data about the academic performance of an individual or a team. 

When feedback is most effective

Feedback is most effective when:

• initiated by the student, in conjunction with self and/or peer assessment
• teachers carefully gauge when feedback is needed to promote learning
• teachers use the kind of feedback prompt that best meets the need of the students, at the level of support they need
• teachers provide strategies to help the student to improve
• teachers allow time for, and students can independently act on, feedback to improve their learning
• feedback takes place as a conversation
• teachers check the adequacy of the feedback with the students.

Feedback is most effective when it is given at the time of the learning so that students can make improvements as they go. However, written feedback can be beneficial to learning if the following points are taken into consideration:

• Some students have difficulty understanding and processing written feedback.
• When students are presented with grades and comments, the grades can cancel the beneficial effects of the comments.
• Teachers often give too much feedback, which students find overwhelming and difficult to understand.

These "negatives" of written feedback can be avoided if there is good communication between teacher and student so that the student can say if the feedback is helpful or not in providing paths for improvement.

Reference

[1]"View of Future Proofing Higher Education in the Pacific with Open and Flexible Learning | Journal of Learning for Development", Jl4d.org, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://jl4d.org/index.php/ejl4d/article/view/309/349. [Accessed: 08- Mar- 2020].

[2]2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.usp.ac.fj/index.php?id=17681. [Accessed: 08- Mar- 2020].

Useful Links

https://www.watershedlrs.com/learning-analytics/what-is-learning-analytics

https://net.educaus.edu/ir/library/pdf/ff1207s.pdf

Learning Resources and technologies

Hello Readers

Firstly I would like to highlight the online tools that we use for PGCTT. 

1)  Moodle as a general learning management system and also within this Mahara, a content-free e-portfolio platform for which an online tutorial is available. 

2) (PowerPoint, Prezi, etc.) Wiki-Space, 

3) online videoconferencing tools (e.g., Google Hangout), blogs, and digital cognitive tools, i.e. critical thinking scaffolds as e-scaffolds, including cognitive mapping tools. 4) BigBlueButton (BBB). Real-time (live/synchronous) sessions will be conducted using BBB.

The online tool that I found very interesting and helpful is Bubbl.us

Bubbl.us is a Mind mapping service that helps businesses with collaboration, presentation, brainstorming, and visualization. Writers, musicians, teachers, professionals, entrepreneurs have used Bubbl.us to improve organization, study habits, and workflow.

Bubbl.us Features[1]
• Mind Mapping
• Brainstorming
• Flowchart
• Presentation Tools
• Project Planning
• Publishing / Sharing
• Templates

Best of all, students can share and collaborate with other Bubbl.us users. They can export charts as JPEGs or PNGs, or even as Web pages. Students can jump right in and start making charts with clicks or key commands. Customization options are limited, which makes the tool simple to figure out. For example, kids can choose text size, bubble color, and where to place bubbles on the screen, but beyond that, there's no control over the look of the chart. It might be nice to be able to customize bubble shape, fonts, or types of connection arrows, although tweaking the final project or report will be more important than tweaking the brainstorm[2].

Pros: It gives a good visualization then I tried using it especially there is a Free account. I was able to create and visualize my plan, the funnel mapping of a chatbot, and built the format super easy. I can also copy and paste it easily. I could also easily add a bubble between two bubbles that are already there. Super easy to modify and move things around. It's a very friendly platform for making brainstorming maps. After you finish your map, you can download in different kinds of file, depending on what you are requiring. Also, you can access them on any device that you have. Very easy to use, and save projects.
Cons: I think it's a bit over-priced for what it is, but I've always been a fan of the early (and free) versions. I don't subscribe to the paid version current. There should be a feature that lets you change the color of an entire branch. Well so far using it is easy. Maybe one thing I encounter is selecting multiple bubbles that I need to move. There is no easiest way to grouping them to move all at once.

The following link shows how to use bubble
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RDSnRolrhA

Moving o, what are the benefits in using OER?

·         Saves costs for students

·         Grants access to more quality choices

·         Helps prior learning and after learning

·         Provides peace of mind for all users

·         Showcases research to the widest possible audience

·         Enhances a school’s reputation as well as that of the teacher or researcher

·         Social responsibility – provides education for all

·         shares best practice internationally

·         Creates additional opportunities for peer review

·         Maximizes the use and increases the availability of educational materials

·         Raises the quality standards for educational resources by gathering more contributors

The 5 OERs that I have selected are listed below and the 2 that have been evaluated are highlighted:-

1.       MIT open courseware – Audio, video, lecture notes, tutorials, assignments, etc.

2.       Merlot – It is a digital hub. Linking to other OERs. Repository.

3.       OER Commons – It is a digital hub. Linking to other OERs. Repository.

4.       Open Course Library – Courses on Google drive. No video nor audio.

5.       OpenStax CNX – Openly licensed textbooks.

Please find attached my OER evaluation

References 

[1]"Mindmapping Tools – Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies", C4lpt.co.uk, 2020. [Online]. Available: http://c4lpt.co.uk/directory-of-learning-performance-tools/mindmapping-tools/. [Accessed: 23- Feb- 2020].

[2]"bubbl.us Teacher Review | Common Sense Education", Common Sense Education, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.commonsense.org/education/website/bubblus-teacher-review/4020336. [Accessed: 23- Feb- 2020].

Useful Links

https://ocw-origin.odl.mit.edu/

https://cnx.org/

https://oer.psu.edu/benefits-of-using-oer/

https://mycourses.unh.edu/courses/27454/pages/advantages-of-using-oer?module_item_id=368190

Thanks
Hiye