Interactive radiological anatomy eLearning solution for first year medical students: Development,integration, and impact on learning

A technology enhanced learning and teaching (TELT) solution, radiological anatomy (RA) eLearning, composed of a range of identification‐based and guided learning activities related to normal and pathological X‐ray images, was devised for the Year 1 nervous and locomotor course at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton. Its effectiveness was evaluated using a questionnaire, pre‐ and post‐tests, focus groups, summative assessment, and tracking data. Since introduced in 2009, a total of 781 students have used RA eLearning, and among them 167 Year 1 students in 2011, of whom 116 participated in the evaluation study. Students enjoyed learning (77%) with RA eLearning, found it was easy to use (81%) and actively engaged them in their learning (75%), all of which were associated to the usability, learning design of the TELT solution and its integration in the curriculum; 80% of students reported RA eLearning helped their revision of anatomy and 69% stated that it facilitated their application of anatomy in a clinical context, both of which were associated with the benefits offered by the learning and activities design. At the end of course summative assessment, student knowledge of RA eLearning relevant topics (mean 80%; SD ±16) was significantly better as compared to topics not relevant to RA eLearning (mean 63%; SD ±15) (mean difference 18%; 95% CI 15% to 20%; P < 0.001). A well designed and integrated TELT solution can be an efficient method for facilitating the application, integration, and contextualization of anatomy and radiology to create a blended learning environment. Anat Sci Educ 7: 350–360. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

虚拟学习社区中影响学员间知识共享的因素研究

回顾近期或经典文献中关于虚拟学习社区中学员间知识共享的影响因素的研究,总结得到11个学员间知识共享的影响因素,将它们用解释结构模型法进行层次分析,发现直接因素是社区的成熟度、学员间的信任和学员参与学习活动的意愿或动机;中层因素是社区文化、社区平台、学员的个性特征和学员的学习能力;深层因素是社区教师或组织者的学习活动组织方法、知识(话题)本身和学员的态度;而根本因素是社区领导的意见和态度.     

Understanding the real barriers to technology-enhanced innovation in higher education

Background: Academic staff have a key role to play in the innovation efforts of universities aiming to exploit the potential of web-based learning technologies. Although learning technologies are an important building block of educational innovation, the eLearning adoption rate of European academic staff appears disappointing. The majority of curricula in European universities are stalled in the traditional pedagogical model of knowledge transmission, which continues to dominate teaching and learning.

Purpose: This conceptual paper explores underlying structural and cultural barriers to technology-enhanced innovation in higher education.

Sources of evidence: Starting from the underdeveloped state of eLearning in European universities, the paper challenges arguments that visible barriers such as technical issues, budget constraints or lack of interest in technology amongst academic staff represent the actual reasons for the slow advancement of learning technologies in university curricula.

Main argument: The paper argues that the lack of faculty interest and engagement for eLearning are visible symptoms for deeply rooted causes, which hinder current innovation efforts of universities. It explores theoretical viewpoints for structural peculiarities of universities, motivational and habitual traits of academic staff, and long-standing cultural values in the academic community in an attempt to understand their impact on technology-enhanced innovation in higher education.

Conclusions: The real dilemma for eLearning innovation is caused by macro-level influence factors that even committed universities can hardly overcome at institutional level. University leaders have to take the underlying innovation barriers into account when they try to engage academic staff for the use of learning technologies. With a realistic view on existing limitations, institutional eLearning adoption efforts have to be tailored to serve real learning needs and motivations of academic staff; and they have to consider specific goals and contexts within different universities.     

重新审视英美小说教学

审视英美小说是了解英美文化的重要窗口,小说是通过讲故事和对具体环境的描写,以塑造人物为中心的一种文学体裁。作为英美文化的知识瑰宝,诸如英国戏剧大师莎士比亚的《罗密欧与朱丽叶》、著名英国女作家奥斯汀的《傲慢与偏见》、英国作家劳伦斯的著名小说《儿子和情人》、美国著名作家马克·吐温的名著《汤姆·索耶历险记》、19世纪美国浪漫主义作家霍桑的长篇小说的《红字》等等。它们的文学魅力及思想教育性是不可多得的财富。基于此,要使学生多途径、多方位地获取英美文学知识,需要改变英美文学的教学方法,从而提高学生的文学作品阅读的兴趣和能力,培养学生英语文学素养。     

Distance education in an era of eLearning: challenges and opportunities for a campus‐focused institution

The growth of eLearning technologies has blurred the boundaries of educational modes to a point where distance education programs can be offered without drawing particular notice on campus. The experience of distance education staff working in campus‐focused universities and their perceptions of their chances of successfully planning and teaching by distance should inform evaluation of a university’s quality framework. In this case study, we report on the experience of distance educators at an Australian campus‐focused university. We identify organisational structure and culture as critical success factors for quality in distance education, with technology a, perhaps surprisingly, minor consideration. While the eLearning era has opened the door to a distance education cottage industry, eLearning strategy has failed to comprehensively prepare the way for the issues unique to distance education. The paper recommends that campus‐focused universities must protect their reputation by systematically assuring the quality of their (inevitable) distance offerings.     

Accelerated Online Learning: Perceptions of Interaction and Learning Outcomes Among African American Students

This study investigated student interaction, satisfaction, and performance in accelerated online learning environments with the use of an online learning course-management system. The interactions assessed in this study included learner–learner interaction, learner–instructor interaction, and learner–content interaction. The participants were African American students from a university in the southeastern United States. Quantitative approaches including correlation and regression analyses were performed to examine the contribution of interaction predictors to student satisfaction as well as the relationship between student satisfaction and student performance. In addition, Internet self-efficacy and its impact on interaction was investigated. The results showed that learner–content interaction was the only significant predictor of student satisfaction whereas interaction among students or with the instructor did not significantly predict student satisfaction. Internet self-efficacy was positively correlated with three types of interaction. Student satisfaction was found to be related to student performance.     

Investigating relationships between features of learning designs and student learning outcomes

This article reports a study of eLearning in 21 courses in Hong Kong universities that had a blended design of face-to-face classes combined with online learning. The main focus of the study was to examine possible relationships between features of online learning designs and student learning outcomes. Data-collection strategies included expert reviews of the learning designs, student surveys of perceptions of the web environment and their own learning outcomes, and a SOLO (structure of observed learning outcomes) analysis of assessment evidence of student learning outcomes. The findings of this correlational study indicate mild relationships between features of learning design and student perceptions of their learning outcomes. Both the provision of learning resources and the engagement of students in online communication relate to aspects of learning (acquisition of knowledge and skills, and enhancement of learning motivation). Also, the relationship was stronger when eLearning strategies were more extensively used. However, no relationship was found between learning design and the student performance in assessment tasks, possibly because of the limited assessment data that was examined.     

Campus‐based student experiences of learning technologies in a first‐year science course

This study reports on an investigation into the campus‐based experience of university students studying mammalian physiology that was significantly supported with learning technologies. The design of the course enabled the students to interrogate the key ideas that they came across in their lectures and laboratories through online activities which prepared the students for practical classes. Close‐ended questionnaires were used to uncover qualitative variation in the population sample, particularly the differences in the concepts of learning technologies and approaches to learning technologies. Qualitative variation in concepts of, and approaches to, learning technologies was found to be significantly associated with variation in academic achievement. The outcomes have important implications for the approaches to teaching of campus‐based experiences of learning supported by learning technologies when we seek to support all students to realise their learning outcomes in technology‐mediated processes     

Conceptualizing and Measuring the Optimal Experience of the eLearning Environment*

Online learning (eLearning) has become a global phenomenon as many organizations and educational institutions worldwide have entered the field in an attempt to enhance the students' experience of learning. While numerous studies have focused on the effectiveness and benefits of eLearning, few have focused on understanding and measuring the user experience and relating this to the actual student usage of the eLearning system. This study addresses this gap by conceptualizing and measuring the eLearners' experience from two integrated perspectives: (1) the learners' affective perceptions using the flow model and (2) the learners' technology acceptance using the Technology Acceptance Model. The integrated perspective proposes that the users' acceptance and the affective responses toward a particular system are two important factors in determining the users' intentional and actual behaviors, which in turn, influence user participation and engagement with the system. The data was collected in 2004 directly from 964 students using a Web‐based eLearning system called CECIL ( http://www.cecil.edu ) at the University of Auckland. The conclusions drawn from the results of the study using a structural equation model support the use of the integrated model for investigating eLearner behavior. The research implications of our findings are discussed.     

Learning Our Way Forward in eLearning: The Story of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Something Fishy</Emphasis>

This paper describes how a number of unlikely publishing partners unexpectedly found themselves exploring eLearning as a medium for teacher and pupil learning. Blackrock Education Centre supports teachers through professional development programmes and the publication of educational resources under the auspices of the Department of Education and Science (DES) in the Republic of Ireland. This paper describes how the intention to create a standard primary school classroom resource by the Education Centre has been unexpectedly transformed in ways which have enabled us to explore eLearning in partnership with a local Institute of Technology, IADT. In doing so, we have ourselves become learners in unexpected ways with our teachers and students. The paper describes how intentions emerge in conversation in processes of local interaction and that the strategic direction of an organisation (in our case, our unexpected involvement in eLearning) is best understood in retrospect. It is about how our identity is transformed in our learning and how strategy can be viewed as an emergent property of relationships. The learning resource is entitled Something Fishy, a humorous play on an English expression meaning something a little suspicious, even subversive. Somethnig Fishy can be viewed at www.somethingfishy.ie     

Enabling connections in postgraduate supervision for an applied eLearning professional development programme

This article describes the practice of postgraduate supervision on a blended professional development programme for academics, and discusses how connectivism has been a useful lens to explore a complex form of instruction. By examining the processes by which supervisors and their students on a two-year part-time masters in Applied eLearning negotiated the blended approach adopted to supervision, it illustrates the conditions that enable connections to occur and flourish. The socio-technical context for supervision was supported using learning technologies (VLE, research wikis and ePortfolios), small group supervision (two to three supervisors and students) and traditional individual supervision. Qualitative data were obtained through surveys and focus groups, and analysed using a framework which drew on connectivist principles. Findings suggest that for increased connections between supervisors and their students, a sense of sanctuary, community and regulation within the supervision process is important; the role of technologies in unifying postgraduate supervision in professional development are discussed.     

Online Technologies Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulated Learning as Predictors of Final Grade and Satisfaction in College-Level Online Courses

This study was designed to examine performance as a function of grade and course satisfaction in online undergraduate level courses, specifically students' self-efficacy for online technologies and self-regulated learning strategies. This research included a sample (N = 815) of community college students enrolled in liberal arts online courses during a single semester. The results of this study showed that online technologies self-efficacy scores were not correlated with student performance. Of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire subscales, time and study environment and effort regulation were significantly related to performance. Students who scored higher on these subscales received higher final grades. In addition, rehearsal, elaboration, metacognitive self-regulation, and time and study environment were significantly positively correlated with levels of satisfaction.     

Exploring the Roles of Social Presence and Gender Difference in Online Learning

Online learning has become more popular in higher education with its advantages of flexibility and accessibility. However, there have been challenges to students’ learning experience in online learning. One critical challenge would be providing interactions between students and instructors as good or effective as in the face‐to‐face environment. However, providing face‐to‐face interactions in online learning is not feasible because students and instructors are not physically present together. In this study, we introduce and empirically investigate social presence as student learning experience in online learning in which physical presence does not exist. Drawing upon the social presence and online learning literature, we propose a research model to explore how the interactivity of communication tools can drive social presence and student satisfaction in online learning. Furthermore, this study examines gender difference as a moderator in the model. Data were collected from undergraduate students who were taking online business statistics courses where an interactive communication tool was required to use for class communication and collaboration. The results showed that social presence driven by tool interactivity had a significant impact on student satisfaction in online learning. We also found that gender difference moderated the relationship between tool interactivity and social presence in online learning.     

A Science for Citizenship Model: Assessing the Effects of Benefits,Risks, and Trust for Predicting Students’ Interest in and Understanding of Science-Related Content

This study showcases the Science for Citizenship Model (SCM) as a new instructional methodology for presenting, to secondary students, science-related technology content related to the use of science in society not taught in the science curriculum, and a new approach for assessing the intercorrelations among three independent variables (benefits, risks, and trust) to predict the dependent variable of triggered interest in learning science. Utilizing a 50-minute instructional presentation on nanotechnology for citizenship, data were collected from 301 Taiwanese high school students. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and paired-samples t-tests were used to analyze the fitness of data to SCM and the extent to which a 50-minute class presentation of nanotechnology for citizenship affected students’ awareness of benefits, risks, trust, and triggered interest in learning science. Results of SCM on pre-tests and post-tests revealed acceptable model fit to data and demonstrated that the strongest predictor of students’ triggered interest in nanotechnology was their trust in science. Paired-samples t-test results on students’ understanding of nanotechnology and their self-evaluated awareness of the benefits and risks of nanotechology, trust in scientists, and interest in learning science revealed low significant differences between pre-test and post-test. These results provide evidence that a short 50-minute presentation on an emerging science not normally addressed within traditional science curriculum had a significant yet limited impact on students’ learning of nanotechnology in the classroom. Finally, we suggest why the results of this study may be important to science education instruction and research for understanding how the integration into classroom science education of short presentations of cutting-edge science and emerging technologies in support of the science for citizenship enterprise might be accomplished through future investigations.     

基础英语教学改革中英美文学的渗透与实践——以《现代大学英语》精读为例

我国传统的英语专业精读课教学一直采用以教师教授为主的基本模式,课堂教学活动的主角是教师而不是学生,学生完全处于被动的接受地位,在语言学习中失去动力和兴趣,教师的积极性也被大大挫伤。文学教育是学好语言必经的途径,让英美文学渗透到英语专业基础教学中,这项举措不仅帮助提高学生基础语言能力,同时让学生学到了英美文学中的精华、了解了英美文化。在精读课中渗透并加强英美文学教学,是适应我国大学英语专业培养目标的有效办法,也是外语教学中不可缺少的组成部分。     

Professional storytelling in clinical dental anatomy teaching

The aim of the present work was to see if storytelling in a clinical dental anatomy course would increase student satisfaction. We enhanced teaching by spontaneous storytelling in problem‐based learning, in half of the third‐year dentistry class. At the end of the course, we administered an anonymous questionnaire to the students in the class, consisting of 12 questions that students had to answer on a Likert scale of 1–5. An overall satisfaction score was obtained and we used a linear mixed model to compare differences in satisfaction between the two groups, with “group” as the fixed effect. We also conducted an exploratory factor analysis of the responses to investigate whether there were distinct constructs within the data. Overall satisfaction is high, with students “with stories” having higher satisfaction than those “without stories.” The former group consistently gives higher satisfaction scores, regardless of which question is being asked. Factor analysis provides evidence that storytelling nurtures reflective learning, while students work on their clinical anatomy problems. Anat Sci Ed 1:84–89, 2008. © 2008 American Association of Anatomists.     

Students with Disabilities and eLearning in Australia: Experiences of Accessibility and Disclosure at Curtin University

This article reports on a study into students with disabilities and their experiences of eLearning at Curtin University in Australia. The results are compared to an earlier study of students at Open Universities Australia (OUA) (Kent 2016). The results confirm the earlier study’s findings that these students are drawn to eLearning. The prevalence of mental illness and medical disabilities as the two most frequent impairment types amongst students with disabilities in Australia was confirmed, along with a need to rethink universal design for eLearning to better accommodate these students. It also finds that the students had difficulty accessing online platforms and notably those provided directly by the university. This survey confirmed that students at Curtin University were more aware than their OUA counterparts of accommodations that could be made to help with their studies. It also showed that, when used, those accommodations were more successful. However, the study also reported that Curtin University students were more likely to not disclose their disability as part of their studies.     

Online support service quality,online learning acceptance,and student satisfaction

This paper examines potential differences between Korean and American students in terms of their perception levels regarding online education support service quality, online learning acceptance, and satisfaction. Eight hundred and seventy-two samples, which were collected from students in online classes in the United States and Korea, were analyzed using factor analysis, structural equation model techniques, independent sample t-test, and logistic regression. The following results were obtained from this analysis: 1) There were significant differences between the perceptions of Korean and US students with regard to online education support service quality. In this context, Korean students held a significantly higher perception of online support service quality. 2) Perception of online support service quality was a significant predictor of online learning acceptance and satisfaction for both Korean and American students. It appears that a majority of the students in the two countries, irrespective of the differences in their perceptions of online support service quality, believe that the acceptance of online classes would benefit them.