uptake and usage of virtual learning environments: findings from a multi institutional student usage...
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Uptake and Usage of Virtual Learning Environments: Findings from a multi institutional student usage survey. Robert Cosgrave (UCC)Theresa Logan-Phelan (TCD)Marion Palmer (IADT)Nuala Harding (AIT)Margaret Phelan (ITT Dublin)Willie Ward (LIT)
Claire McAvinia (NUIM)Angelica Risquez (UL)
Fiona O'Riordan (Griffith College)
Noreen Vaughan (LIT)
Tom Farrelly (IT Tralee)
Virtual Learning Environments are now core infrastructure in most
tertiary institutions.
But what do students actually do with VLEs?
Do we get the best use of our VLEs?
Does the choice of VLE matter?
Where should we focus our effort in making them work
well?
2008 – 5 institutions2009 – 11 institutions
HE TimesUniversity of
Leitrim has best VLE!
No use of findings for PRAll published results to be anonymous by Institution.
Institutions letter coded A,B,C…
Warning. Your Mileage May Vary.
Response Rate
0%
4%
8%
12%
16%
20%
I 2009 F 2009 D 2009 G 2009 D 2008 B 2008 A 2008 A 2009 H 2009 E 2009 C 2008 E 2008
Online Survey > Self Selecting Sample >
Built in sample bias
Different institutions, Different stories
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
System Age (Years)
TA
L s
taff
per
100
0 st
ud
ents
Size indicates institution size. Colour coded by VLE
Are they used?
What proportion of your coursework this term has had material in your VLE?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
None Some About Half Most All
D F G I A AVERAGE
How often do you use your VLE?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Daily A few times a week Once a Week Once or twice permonth
Never
I 2009 D 2008 D 2009 G 2009 H 2009 A 2008 A 2009
E 2008 F 2009 B 2008 C 2008 Series13 AVERAGE
If you use your VLE, Why?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Keep Track ofclass times
Get copies oflecture notes
Get other coursematerial
Onlinediscussions
about the course
Online Quizzes SubmitAssignments
2009 A 2008 A 2008 B 2008 C 2009 D 2008 D 2009 E 2008 E 2009 F
2009 G 2009 H 2009 I Average
But what for?
If you use your VLE, Why? (All sites)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Keep Track ofclass times
Get copies oflecture notes
Get other coursematerial
Onlinediscussions
about the course
Online Quizzes SubmitAssignments
Average
If not, why not?
If you don't use your VLE, why not?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
My Lecturers don’tuse it
The information on itisn’t useful
I can’t access it I find it difficult to use I don’t have accessto the web
2008 A 2009 A 2008 B 2008 C 2008 D 2009 D 2008 E 2009 E 2009 F
2009 G 2009 H 2009 I Average
If you don't use your VLE, why not?
0%
10%
20%
My Lecturers don’tuse it
The information on itisn’t useful
I can’t access it I find it difficult to use I don’t have accessto the web
Lecturers Usage
1
2
3
4
5
1 2 3 4 5
Q10k My Lecturers make good use of (VLE)
Q10
j I
wo
uld
lik
e m
y le
ctu
rers
to
mak
e m
ore
u
se o
f th
e V
LE
Do they help students learn?
Easy to Use vs. Helps to Learn
1
2
3
4
5
1 2 3 4 5
Q9d Ease of Use
Q10
m E
asie
r to
Lea
rn
Getting notes on the VLE makes me less likely to go to lectures
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree
2009 A 2008 A 2008 B 2008 C 2009 D 2008 D 2009 E 2008 E
2009 F 2009 G 2009 I
Do they make students lazy?
What have we learned?
VLE still mainly content management tools.
The challenge for learning technologists is to find ways to move staff beyond that.
What will we find out next?
Does the choice of VLE really matter?
What is the right level of resourcing and technology assisted learning staff?
How important are other factors like staff usage? Training approaches?
Pros and Cons
Survey helps put institutional issues in
national context
Time series will help us build up a picture of the evolution of an
institutions VLE over time
Understanding the findings requires deep understanding of each
institutions VLE history.
Survey not a ‘silver bullet’ for evaluation.
Your mileage may vary!
Next StepsFull Analysis. Find correlations
What about staff? Staff survey in summer 2009
Institutional Case Histories. Build up a case history for each institutions VLE so we can interpret the findings more fully
Review the questions:What have we learned? What else do we need to find out?What do we need to keep monitoring?
Doing it all again in 2010!
New institutions welcome.
Project coordination work supported by NAIRTL