Assessing the journey: online conversation as a means of active learning in information literacy

Geoff WaltonSenior Researcher (I-ACT) & Academic Skills Tutor Librarian (Information Services)

Staffordshire UniversityLILAC Glasgow 12th April 2012

I’m not suggesting it will be a religious experience today, but it may – hopefully – be an epiphany for some

Epiphany - A sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

St Peter’s church, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland

The PlanStart with my theory and my theory alone The blended learning and teaching intervention structure In their own words – what did the students actually think about this process? What did the students actually do? Online discourseThe evidenceBack to the discourse – can we assess it – is there enough in student postings to determine information literacy learning? Final thoughtsAny questions?

Spheres can occur in no particular order

Find/ access/ locate

Evaluate/ discern

Use/ communicate/ produce

Each sphere triggers its own set of behavioural, cognitive, metacognitive and affective states

Becoming information literate takes place in a wider social context determined by roles, norms and tasks

Which do you think is the most important sphere -1st choice Green, second choice Amber, third choice Pink?

The blended learning and teaching intervention structure for the core module...

Research and professional development in sport & exercise level 4

Small group workProblems to solve or questions to answerLearning by doing – tasks – hands-on etc Involves behaviour, thinking, negotiating meaning

with others, reflecting

Discourse between studentsDiscourse between tutor and studentsVisible outputs by students which are routinely

recognised by the tutor and shared with the group

Formal assessment

Students submit 500 word essay in induction week in answer to a question such as – “What defines success in sport?”

Essay marked and returned within 2 weeks

Weeks 6, 7 and 8 submit 800 word assignment for online peer assessment

Week 12 submit final 1500 word assignment

Week Lecture Workshop 1 Introduction to the module Reflecting on the essay process

2 Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Learning Styles

3 Developing Research Skills Using e-resources

4 Plagiarism and Referencing Internet based session

5 Writing Styles (1): The written word Understanding plagiarism and referencing

6 Writing Styles (2): Report Writing, Reading and Summarising

Online Peer assessment: Essay introduction

7 Assessment, feedback and revision Online Peer assessment: Essay main body

8 Introduction to Qualitative Research OnlinePeer assessment: Essay conclusion and bibliography

9 Introduction to Quantitative Research Qualitative Methodologies - choosing the right methodology

10 Qualitative Research (2) Quantitative Methodologies – becoming acquainted with statistical concepts

11 Quantitative Research (2) Working with Qualitative / Quantitative data

12 Module summary Working with Qualitative / Quantitative data

112 students in 7 online tutor groups (2007-08) 111 students in 7 online tutor groups (2008-09) 162 students in 8 online tutor groups (2009-10) 171 students In 10 online tutor groups (2010-11) 159 students in 9 online tutor groups (2011-12) Week 1 Activity Discussion concentrated on the Essay Introduction

Week 2 Activity Discussion focused on the Essay Main Body

Week 3 Activity Discussion centred on the Essay Conclusion and references

Within groups students expected initially to post comments in pairs

Forum – Peer Assessment Thread - Students posted their draft essay Seed – What are the criteria for writing a good

assignment? Task - Read criteria for good essay structure Resource - Assignment Survival Kit (ASK) step 9

Task - Make comments, give feedback to fellow students and discuss issues

Diversity of tutor behaviour Some summarised discussion and posted this before

next session only Some participated in ongoing discussion and posted a

summary

http://www.staffs.ac.uk/ask

http://www.staffs.ac.uk/refzone

What did they actually do?

The equivalent of this but in the virtual domain

“Good introduction, well referenced however you may need to reference the bit about the Indianapolis Colts football team, nice one mate.”

“[...] could use references from books as well as the internet”“[...] include more [sources] that are more up-to-date.”“Your whole reference list are (sic) websites. could you know use books as its easyer (sic) as you dont (sic) have to worry if they are credible? “

“[...] try to use academic references instead of autobiographies.”

“[...] Be careful with punctuation and use of brackets when referencing.”

“Your references could include more information such as page numbers.”

“[...] Watch your referencing in the main text, only author and date is need (sic), not the title of the book or journal.”

“[...] four of your refences (sic) have not got the place and name of publishers.”

“[...] you have to put the name of the author before the journal/book! i (sic) didnt (sic) do that either on mine but i (sic) have just reallized (sic) and learned something from reading other peoples comments”

Multiple contributions by many students.Every student made at least one

contribution.

The evidence?

Grades taken for 500 word and 1500 word submissions

Statistical test indicated a significant difference between students’ performance (n=32) on the two assignments (t (1, 74) = 11.380, p<.001). For assignment one, the mean across both groups was 40.22% with a standard deviation of 6.50; for assignment two, the mean across both groups was 57.92% with a standard deviation of 7.05. An increase of TWO grade points!!

In their own words – what did the students actually think about it?

The feedback gained will make my summative submission better because my peers helped me with their feedback and I found it good to read their work and gather similar ideas that had worked well for them (student 91)

I found it a good exercise. It gave me a chance to get a range of feedback on my essay from both my tutor and my peers. It also gave me the opportunity to read through other essays and comment on their writing style (student 15)

90% 10%

It was a very good exercise. A lot of feedback was provided which enabled me to progress my work to a much higher standard. Some comments were short but some were very good. It would be good to use this in all our assessments. It motivates you to get the work done so that you can get feedback (student 54)

Needles in haystacks or an embarrassment of riches? Task: In the handout there is a real extract from a

discussion board activity. Try to mark some of the discourse using the criteria. You are looking for evidence of learning within the

student postings Be ready to discuss your thoughts and feelings

regarding the exerciseHandout contains - Text of the IL theory, extract of

online discourse, a marking scheme and the module programme

• Staff feedback very positive.

• Students enjoy it.• Students

comfortable with online social networking environment.

• Research indicates usable generic template for online discourse.

• Potential to assess online discourse?

Students in circle http://irudiak.argazkiak.org/276df12b972b1b876

f80402474acdf8d_c.jpg

St Peters – Rob Bishop http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/139180