Download - Enhancing Student Learning Experience and Satisfaction Using Virtual Learning Environments
Enhancing Student Learning Experience and
Satisfaction Using Virtual Learning Environments
Hanan Faour
Salford Business School
University of Salford
Salford, UK
Mohammad Hammoudeh
School of Computing Math & DT
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester, UK
Ahmed Al Ghamdi
Opportunity Training & Consultancy
London, UK
Abstract— The paper presents a project that aims to enhance
students experiences and satisfaction through the use of a Virtual
Learning Environment. Particularly, it aims at developing a
blended learning community to support diverse student
population, including students with special learning needs. This
project focuses on the teaching/learning aspects of students
experiences and satisfaction. Other aspects are geared towards
use by student support staff and those whose main responsibility
is technical or system administration support. Various methods
were used to measure the success of the project and its
implementation. Evaluation results show a significant increase in
student satisfaction and enhanced progression rate.
Keywords-component; Student experience and satisfaction,
Virtual learning environment, Computer science teaching pedagogy
I. INTRODUCTION
This paper provides a description and evaluation of the
implementation of a project that aims to enhance students‟
experiences and satisfaction through the use of a Virtual
Learning Environment (VLE). This project supports the
argument that learning should be student-centred [1]. It
involves working towards identifying the aspects that enhance
the quality of the learning experience. The quality of any
learning experience is dependent upon complex interaction
among the experiences, attitudes and characteristics of learners,
and the attributes of the „task environment‟ [2].
In the following sections, the project‟s aim and rational is highlighted and its context is set by presenting a concise literature review. Then the implementation methodology is outlined and the results are discussed. The last section concludes the report.
II. PROJECT OUTLINE AND RATIONAL
Computer Science (CS) teaching in the new millennium
needs to suit the students‟ needs and employers‟ expectations.
Many CS teachers are characterised by their adverse focus on
the technology development of VLEs rather than on concepts
and teaching pedagogy. To enhance the learners‟ experiences,
we tried to engage learners in self-directed and active learning
by encouraging them to take responsibility for their learning.
VLE-based learning encourages learners‟ to locate their own
learning material, facilitate collaborative work, involve in
discussion with peers, and take formative assessments.
This project is concerned with enhancing students‟ experiences and satisfaction through the use of VLEs. Particularly, it aims at developing a blended learning community to support diverse student population, including students with special learning needs. Consequently, the main outcomes we hope to achieve at the end of this project are:
Offer students a more flexible mode that may better suit the learning style and commitments
Enable key skills to be developed including communication, time management, problem solving, and critical and analytical thinking
Enhance the cognitive, social, and affective dimensions of students‟ experiences using VLEs
To encourage the formation and development of accessible and inclusive learning communities
III. LITERATURE REVIEW
Research on student engagement with learning suggests that when students perceive that they have choices in how to learn subject matter they are more engaged and motivated to move beyond simple information acquisition to trying to gain an understanding of the subject [3]. Chou and Liu [4] also found that engagement with learning was higher when using a VLE than when using traditional models of learning. A greater sense of „connectedness‟ among students, and between staff and students, who use VLEs, leads to higher completion rates when compared with students who did not use VLEs [5].
VLE helps to adapt and develop teaching/learning provision to permit more personalisation and greater flexibility to react to the varied needs of today‟s students while ensuring they bring a quality service [6]. The learning and teaching activities will be designed to provide scaffolding with the teacher having the main responsibility for providing the guidance, but peers also playing a role. As VLE push learners to become more skilled in learning so that they could become more empowered when choosing how they want to learn, a suitable pedagogy such as “Learner-centred pedagogy” [7]
must be used. This pedagogy helps to deal with individual learners variations.
IV. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
Dale & Lane [8] warn that teachers should not assume that
because they develop interactive material that students will
necessarily use it. They suggest a model for encouraging
students to engage with the discussion forums. This model was
generalised, slightly adapted, and used to implement this
project. The modified model is comprised of four actions:
1) View pedagogy as the „driver‟ and technology as the
„enabler‟ [6]. Most of our teaching is based on social
constructivist approaches that aim to change the role of
learners and tutors [9].
2) Formalising VLE facilitated learning: timetable
students to engage in the VLE and place the VLE in the
module guide.
3) Integrate online materials into traditional lecture-based
sessions to help legitimise the new method.
4) Recognise students work and provide constructive
feedback.
5) Map learning to assessment. Many students are mark-
driven and take a strategic view of what work is needed and
their work can be focused closely to course requirements [10]. This blended learning approach [11] fosters effective and
accessible learning communities and helps students to engage better with learning communities. This engagement has been addressed by several authors as an integral to success of VLE-based learning [9]. We decided to implement a range of online tools: discussion forums; email; animation/simulation; quizzes; podcasts; grade books; and file repository. Initially this project will be concerned with a final year undergraduate unit that is thought by the second author. We choose this unit as it attracts enough students from whom we can obtain adequate feedback to evaluate the success of this project. As part of this project we have developed WebCT area for this unit.
V. RESULTS
We used wide-reaching evaluation methods to assess the
success of this project. Using a hybrid assessment criteria and
research methods provides deeper-insight on how successful
this project is. The project is based on the argument that
learning should be student-centred, and thus any evaluation
should also be student-centred. The backbone of the evaluation
is a number of measuring methods:
Student questionnaires to examine student learning experiences: Based on the data collected from the two questionnaires, students were highly satisfied with the way the unit was delivered in general and reported positive experiences with the VLE.
Statistical analysis (from WebCT): We have collected statistical data from WebCT and compared attendance records with last year. The results were very consistent with these from the questionnaires and show that students‟ performance in summative assessment has been significantly improved. It also shows that students have
engaged with various VLE tools, e.g. forums and formative assessment.
VI. CONCLUSION
We think that this project has generally been a success. It
is crucial to be cautious about generalising from a small study
but there are some lessons and conclusions that can be drawn
from this experience.
The students found that the VLE has opened up a range of
possibilities in terms of enabling them to engage in a range of
different learning processes appropriate to their personal needs
and preferences. The project evolution showed that students
felt more supported in their learning and helped us to identify
areas where students were not engaging actively in the VLE.
Generally, as teachers we need to have a greater awareness of
the individual learning experiences and strategies to facilitate
VLE-based learning. Moreover, there should be a balance
between learning on-VLE and face-to-face learning depending
on the experience of students and the discipline. Another area
of success in this project was the obvious student satisfaction
with the way the unit was delivered.
REFERENCES
[1] Richardson J. A., Turner A., "A Large-scale „local‟ evaluation
of students‟ learning experiences using virtual learning
environments," Educational Technology & Society 3(4), 2000.
ISSN 1436-4522.
[2] Pask, G., "Styles and Strategies of Learning," British Journal of
Educational Psychology. 46, 1976, pp 128−148
[3] Entwistle, N. J. and Ramsden, P. "Understanding Student
Learning," London: Croom Helm, 1983.
[4] Chou, S. W. and Liu, C. H., "Learning Effectiveness in a Web-
Based Virtual Learning Environment: a learner control
perspective," Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 21, 2000,
pp 65–76.
[5] Enjelvin, G., "Investigating VAT (Value-Adding Technologies)
and effectiveness in a French Department," Journal of Further
and Higher Education, 29(2), 2005, pp 155-167.
[6] Comrie, A., "TESEP: Transforming and Enhancing the Student
Experience Through Pedagogy," 2005.
[7] Mayer, R. E.; R. Moreno, “A Cognitive Theory of Multimedia
Learning: Implications for Design Principles,” 1998.
[8] Dale, C. and Lane, A.M., "Carry on talking: developing ways to
enhance students‟ use of online discussion forums," Journal of
Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education, 3, 2004, pp
53-59.
[9] Salmon, G., "E-moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning
Online," 2nd Edition. 2004, Kogan Page: London.
[10] Hall, R., "Observations on a Year of Using the Wolverhampton
Online Learning Framework (WOLF)," Journal of Hospitality,
Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 1(2), 2002, pp 66-70.
[11] Rogers, P. L., "Traditions to Transformations: The Forced
Evolution of Higher Education," in Educational Technology
Review, 9(1), 2001.
