Helen Walmsley-Smith

Staffordshire University

*Does constructivist learning design affect online distance learning retention?

*Online Distance Learning Retention

*Rates

*Open University research suggests graduation rates may be 22%

*What impacts retention?

*External factors

*Academic and social (Tinto 1987)

*Transactional Distance (Moore 1993)

*Internal factors

*Motivation (Bekele 2010), e.g. ARCS theory (Keller 2008)

*E-Design Template

*Constructivist theories of learning:

*Learner-centred

*Knowledge-centred

*Assessment-centred

*Community-centred (Swan 2005)

*The e-Design Template for Online Distance Learning:

*Activity choice (student/tutor managed) (Zimmerman 2002)

*Question type (open/closed) (Andrews 1980)

*Feedback (Hattie 2003)

*Interaction (Bernard 2009)

*E-Design Principles

Week 1 Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

*Learning design chart development

1 open/closed 2 Management 3 Feedback 4 Interactions

0 all closed

1 most closed

2 most open

3 all open

0 all tutor managed

1 most tutor managed

2 most student managed

3 all student managed

0 1 low stake

2 peer

3 high stake

0 1 content

2 tutor

3 peer

*Online distance learning courses

*Four convenience courses used for pilot:

*LLM Business Law – International Trade and Commerce (level 7, 3 students)

*Physical Activity and Mental Health (level 7, 47 students)

*Money Advice Practice (DEMSA) (level 4, 109 students)

*The Management of Database systems (level 7, 9 students)

*Sample Learning Activities

Sample activities:1. Read through the "lecture" slides and make notes 2. Tutorial – exercise e.g., given this information, answer the

following: The table shows five transactions T1-T5 which act on database variables A-E. For each operation show the log entry and the values of the variables on disk.

3. [In answer for your portfolio] discuss how each transaction recovers from failure. Refer to the model answers

4. Discuss in the forum the purpose of "intercoms" and how a FAS contract works.

5. How does a FAS contract differ from a FOB contract?

*Content Analysis

*Raters were trained on how to use the e-Design Template

*A sample activity completed and reviewed

*Raters completed categorisation of 4 courses

*Data analysed with Cohen’s Kappa to see level of rater agreement

*Inter-rater reliability

Open/closed Learner/ teacher managed

Feedback interaction

Law 0.176 0.092 0.466 0.225

Sport 0.258 0.162 0.637 0.504

Advice Studies 0.248 0.474 0.691 0.643

Computing 0.164 0.223 0.282 0.06

*Data Visualisation

*Data presented as graph for review with online tutor

*Discussion

*Online learning designs are ‘messy’

*Representing learning designs is challenging

*Learning design chart shows potential to describe and represent learning designs quantitatively

*Learning design chart allows for comparison to retention and attainment data as well as to other designs

*Learning design does not necessarily show what students/tutors actually do

*Data visualisations allow opportunities for tutor discussion and development

*Development is underway to create an improved chart that operationalises the learning activities