Online Learning Research
Augmented Learning Environment for wound care simulation
Paper presented at the EDEN Annual Global Meeting 2016 in Budapest, Hungary from 15-17 June 2016.
Introduction
Emerging technologies for teaching and learning have made it possible to create environments, scenarios and virtual patients that simulate clinical practices in order to promote the development of skills and knowledge in healthcare education (Lewis et al., 2005; Hogan, Sabri, & Kapralos, 2007). These simulations are seen as educational techniques that bring interactivity and immersion into the learning process, allowing the recreation of clinical experiences without the risk of causing harm to patients (Maran & Glavin, 2003). Other known advantage is the possibility learners have to practice an unlimited number of times a procedure or technique until correct realization, before applying it in real-world scenarios (Rey et al., 2006).
Virtual reality (VR) and Augmented reality (AR) are examples of emerging technologies for teaching and learning that allow the creation of digitally enhanced learning environments. These technologies are expected to have an impact in education, as highlighted by the Horizon report for Higher Education in 2010, 2011, and most recently in 2016 (Johnson et al., 2010, 2011, 2016). Regarding healthcare education, several studies indicate the positive effect of AR and VR in developing decision making skills and practical procedures using virtual simulators, with a higher impact on non-experienced participants (Zhu et al., 2014).
However, using VR in healthcare education can be a debatable approach since it immerses learners in a synthetic environment, enabling them to see the surrounding real-world. Acting in a different environment from which learners will have to act in real life scenarios is another concern to take into account.
Reference
Jorge, Nelson; Morgado, Lina; Gaspar, Pedro (2016). Augmented Learning Environment for wound care simulation in Teixeira, Szucs and Mazar (2016). Conference Proceedings EDEN 2016 Annual Conference. Page 256- 264. ISBN 978-615-5511-10-3. License CC-BY 4.0.
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The TU Delft Online Learning Experience: From Theory to Practice
Paper presented at the EDEN Annual Global Meeting 2016 in Budapest, Hungary from 15-17 June 2016. At the conference Gala Dinner the paper received the EDEN 2016 Best Practice Initiative Award.
Introduction
In 2014 TU Delft started an innovation programme to educate the world and improve quality of education based on online learning. The programme included open (OpenCourseWare and MOOCs) and online (Professional Education, Bachelor and Master) courses. Lecturers of TU Delft have shared their knowledge in MOOCs with more than 750,000 learners around the world. Next to the open courses, more than 800 learners enrolled in our online courses. Adopting new instructional strategies based on online learning elements has had a very positive impact in TU Delft’s overall education, benefiting traditional on campus education and contributing to the changing need in educating engineers (Kamp, 2014). Naturally, blended learning has arisen on campus, where online learning materials are reused in a flipped classroom approach with very positive results: higher completion rates, higher average grade, more flexibility for students to interact with the course material and more flexibility for teachers in choosing which elements to include in the interactive classroom sessions (van Valkenburg, 2015).
The development of TU Delft online courses is based on the Online Learning Experience (OLE), a pedagogical model that supports the development of our courses and strives for increasing quality. The creation of the OLE was an important step for TU Delft, contributing to the development of online courses in a more systematic and consistent way, guiding all course development teams through the realisation of several shared educational principles.
Last year, when we presented the OLE at the 2015 EDEN Conference in Barcelona, we were still at an early stage of its development, collecting fundamental background to support it and feedback from online learning experts. Although we only had a collection of ideas translated into 8 principles, it was clear that the model needed to be flexible in order to accommodate many educational scenarios that coexist among TU Delft’s Faculties, but with a clear and useful purpose to help improve the quality of our online education (Jorge, Dopper & van Valkenburg, 2015). This paper describes how the OLE is applied in practice.The main goal of the OLE is to improve the quality of our online education by setting course design and development principles to support course teams. At the same time, the OLE can be used as a tool to promote reflection before the course starts to set expectations, and in the end to evaluate and plan improvements for the next run. In the next sections we’ll describe the OLE in both ways – as course design principles (guidelines) and as a tool (the radar graph).
Reference
Jorge, Nelson; Van Valkenburg, Willem; Dopper, Sofia (2016). The TU Delft Online Learning Experience: From Theory to Practice in Teixeira, Szucs and Mazar (2016). Conference Proceedings EDEN 2016 Annual Conference. ISBN 978-615-5511-10-3. License CC-BY 4.0
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- Download Paper (PDF)
- Explaining the model (PDF)
- Prezi slides
video of teacher’s perspective of Online Learning Experience:
Beyond the MOOC platform: gaining insights about learners from the social web
Paper presented at the 8th ACM Conference on Web Science in Hanover, Germany.
Abstract
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have enabled millions of learners across the globe to increase their levels of expertise in a wide variety of subjects. Research efforts surrounding MOOCs are typically focused on improving the learning experience, as the current retention rates (less than 7% of registered learners complete a MOOC) show a large gap between vision and reality in MOOC learning.
Current data-driven approaches to MOOC adaptations rely on data traces learners generate within a MOOC platform such as edX or Coursera. As a MOOC typically lasts between five and eight weeks and with many MOOC learners being rather passive consumers of the learning material, this exclusive use of MOOC platform data traces limits the insights that can be gained from them.
The Social Web potentially offers a rich source of data to supplement the MOOC platform data traces, as many learners are also likely to be active on one or more Social Web platforms. In this work, we present a first exploratory analysis of the Social Web platforms MOOC learners are active on — we consider more than 320,000 learners that registered for 18 MOOCs on the edX platform and explore their user profiles and activities on StackExchange, GitHub, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Reference
Guanliang Chen, Dan Davis, Jun Lin, Claudia Hauff, and Geert-Jan Houben. 2016. Beyond the MOOC platform: gaining insights about learners from the social web. In Proceedings of the 8th ACM Conference on Web Science (WebSci ’16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 15-24. DOI=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2908131.2908145
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Learning Transfer: Does It Take Place in MOOCs? An Investigation into the Uptake of Functional Programming in Practice
Paper presented at the Learning @ Scale 2016 conference in Edinburgh.
Abstract
The rising number of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) enable people to advance their knowledge and competencies in a wide range of fields. Learning though is only the first step, the transfer of the taught concepts into practice is equally important and often neglected in the investigation of MOOCs. In this paper, we consider the specific case of FP101x (a functional programming MOOC on edX) and the extent to which learners alter their programming behaviour after having taken the course. We are able to link about one third of all FP101x learners to GitHub, the most popular social coding platform to date and contribute a first exploratory analysis of learner behaviour beyond the MOOC platform. A detailed longitudinal analysis of GitHub log traces reveals that (i) more than 8% of engaged learners transfer, and that (ii) most existing transfer learning findings from the classroom setting are indeed applicable in the MOOC setting as well.
Reference
Guanliang Chen, Dan Davis, Claudia Hauff, and Geert-Jan Houben. 2016. Learning Transfer: Does It Take Place in MOOCs? An Investigation into the Uptake of Functional Programming in Practice. In Proceedings of the Third (2016) ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale (L@S ’16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 409-418. DOI=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2876034.2876035
Paper
EMOOCS2016: Guidelines for Evaluating the Teaching and Learning in MOOCs: a TU Delft approach
Paper presented at the EMOOCS 2016 conference in Graz, Austria.
Abstract
What does it mean to qualify as a ‘successful’ MOOC? This question haunts policy makers and educators alike, and is at the core of the continued development and funding for Massive Open Online Courses. Because MOOCs can serve many purposes, their value lies in more than just their short-term educational role. A ‘successful’ MOOC can do more than just teach; it can provide institutional brand recognition, address global challenges, improve the quality of campus education, and generate data for educational research. In this paper, we examine the
methods and tools TU Delft uses to evaluate the teaching and learning within its own MOOCs in particular. Recommendations are provided for the use of a set of qualitatitve tools in addition to the more common quantitative tools used to evaluate the ‘success’ of a MOOC.
Reference
Marquis, Danika; Kiers, Janine; Meijerink, Leonie (2016). Guidelines for Evaluating the Teaching and Learning in MOOCs: a TU Delft approach. In Proceedings of the EUROPEAN STAKEHOLDER SUMMIT on experiences and best practices in and around MOOCs (EMOOCS 2016). http://emoocs2016.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/proceedings-emoocs2016.pdf. ISBN 9783739237107 (page 447-459)
Slides
Paper
Paper is part of the conference proceedings (page 447-459)
EMOOCS2016: Carpe Diem: a new day for flexible MOOC design
Paper presented at the EMOOCs 2016 conference in Graz, Austria. The paper was awarded the outstanding paper & video award.
Abstract
Is there one approach to course design that can be recommended in engineering education? At Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), we designed and developed 25 MOOCs, and our experience and expertise in course design is advancing.
One of the frequently used approaches for supporting course teams was inspired by the Carpe Diem approach (Salmon 2014). This paper discusses the experience of TU Delft in implementing this methodology in an engineering setting in MOOCs. The reason for choosing the Carpe Diem approach is that it is simple to use, supports constructive alignment and is a team based approach. In the approach a more activity-based design of MOOCs is promoted through developing e-tivities. In this article the experiences of e-learning developers are described in supporting ten course teams (5 online courses and 5 MOOCs) using the Carpe Diem approach. Two main challenges in supporting course teams are highlighted;
I. How to introduce course teams to the value of the methodology and
II. How to ensure that the specific characteristics of a MOOC are embedded in the design.
For both challenges a range of ‘proposed solutions’ is suggested based on the experiences of the e-learning developers. This results in lessons learned that can be applied by anyone who would like to make use of the Carpe Diem approach for flexible MOOC design. This paper argues that the Carpe Diem approach needs to be used in an interactive and flexible way, taking into account the diversity of the course teams and course leaders as well as the special characteristics of a MOOC.
Reference
Meijerink, Leonie; Kiers, Janine; Marquis, Danika (2016). Carpe Diem: a new day for flexible MOOC design. In Proceedings of the EUROPEAN STAKEHOLDER SUMMIT on experiences and best practices in and around MOOCs (EMOOCS 2016). http://emoocs2016.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/proceedings-emoocs2016.pdf. ISBN 9783739237107 (page 425-438)
Video
Slides
Paper
Paper is part of the conference proceedings (page 425-438)
EDM2015: Modeling Learners’ Social Centrality and Performance through Language and Discourse
This paper is presented at the Educational Data Mining Conference 2015 in Madrid, Spain.
Abstract
There is an emerging trend in higher education for the adoption of massive open online courses (MOOCs). However, despite this interest in learning at scale, there has been limited work investigating the impact MOOCs can play on student learning. In this study, we adopt a novel approach, using language and discourse as a tool to explore its association with two established measures of learning: traditional academic performance and social centrality. We demonstrate how characteristics of language diagnostically reveal the performance and social position of learners as they interact in a MOOC. We use Coh-Metrix, a theoretically grounded, computational linguistic modeling tool, to explore students’ forum postings across five potent discourse dimensions. Using a Social Network Analysis (SNA) methodology, we determine learners’ social centrality. Linear mixed-effect modeling is used for all other analyses to control for individual learner and text characteristics. The results indicate that learners performed significantly better when they engaged in more expository style discourse, with surface and deep level cohesive integration, abstract language, and simple syntactic structures. However, measures of social centrality revealed a different picture. Learners garnered a more significant and central position in their social network when they engaged with more narrative style discourse with less overlap between words and ideas, simpler syntactic structures and abstract words. Implications for further research and practice are discussed regarding the misalignment between these two learning-related outcomes.
Paper
SEFI2015: Gender and Diversity in Engineering MOOCs, a first Appraisal
This paper was presented at the 43rd Annual SEFI Conference June 29 – July 2, 2015 in Orléans, France
Abstract
This paper addresses the participation and performance of MOOC students in relation to gender and diversity. It is a first appraisal based on the data collected from the five engineering MOOCs executed in 2013-2014 at the Delft University of Technology (TUD) on the edX platform, which is part of the edX consortium (www.edx.org). section 2 gives an overview about previous research outcomes. In section 3 the data collection from TUD is summarized under the special focus on gender and diversity. In section 4 the authors of this paper present the outcomes of the data analysis with a focus on gender and diversity of student population in relation to participation and performance. Section 5 summarizes the outcomes and gives an outlook to further educational and research questions in this field.
Paper
SEFI2015: The Value of Engineering MOOCs from a Learner’s Perspective
This paper was presented at the 43rd Annual SEFI Conference June 29 – July 2, 2015 in Orléans, France
Abstract
This paper looks at the perceived value students adhere to the DelftX MOOC engineering courses they have taken, in other words what is the course worth in the context of their learning needs? Are you doing the course because you are curious, you want to get more knowledgeable on the topic, you need to know something related to your work, you do it for other professional reasons. This research will not cover all arguments as it is a first endeavor to get to know the learner better from the value perspective.
Paper
IJCLEE2015: Who is the Learner in the DelftX Engineering MOOCs?
This paper was presented at International Joint Conference on the Learner in Engineering Education (IJCLEE 2015) in San Sebastian.
Abstract
The Delft University of Technology (TUD) deployed her first generation of massive open online courses (MOOCs) in 2013-2014 delivered through the edX platform. These DelftX MOOCs were engineering courses designed at the level equivalent to that of a bachelor-program entry level. Almost 140 thousand students registered, around 3,7% received certificates of completion, and the rest participated to a degree reflective of their needs. To better understand and ultimately enhance the MOOCs, TUD conducted the collection and analysis of data about learners and their contexts. This exploratory paper focuses on the specific analyses pertinent to describing the demographics of an Engineering MOOC participant, as observed in the first generation of TUD MOOCs. The implications of the observed participant demographics are analysed and discussed.