Personalised virtual learning spaces to support undergraduates in producing research reports: Two case studies

The purpose of this study was to create and evaluate personalised virtual learning spaces (PVLSs) in a course that was previously delivered face-to-face only. The study addressed three related questions: (1) Can a PVLS successfully be introduced into a course where IT has not previously featured? (2) Can the PVLSs be used to enhance the assessment from an extended essay to a higher-level empirical research project? (3) What are the perceptions of the students and the tutor of the PVLSs in terms of access, clarity and usefulness of the supervision of undergraduate research projects? Results showed that the introduction of the PVLSs into the course was trouble-free and that the PVLSs were able to enhance assessment. The vast majority of students and their tutor showed high levels of satisfaction, particularly with (1) the messaging tool, which allowed asynchronous, one-to-one communication with the tutor, and (2) the interactive web-forms, which provided structured guidance of how to conduct a small-scale empirical research project. The study concludes that the interactive web-forms and messaging tool can be beneficial functions of virtual learning spaces.