Student Support Services in eLearning & Virtual Classrooms in Education Provision Projects Led By Ericsson Education Ireland

Student Support Services in eLearning Partners in the project were –NKI –DEIS –FernUniversität –University of Roma Tre

Definition The definition of Student Support Services (SSS) adopted by the project was “those parts of a distance learning or elearning system that are additional to the provision of course content”. Aims To address the frequently expressed concerns that in many elearning systems SSS were diminished or absent. To assess the American analyst Davenport’s judgment that ‘the use of elearning is generally unsupervised by any instructor or training professional; this is one way it achieves economic efficiencies’. The question ‘Can all assessment in elearning be done electronically?’

Analysis of the pedagogical constructs of eLearning There is a multiplicity of meanings with regard to the term eLearning. eLearning assumes that the learner can reach learning goals and objectives solely by studying the learning package. The movement from the central role of the educational institution to the central role of the student can be realized in eLearning thanks to SSS.  T raditional face-to-face higher education institutions are viewed as more effective environments for learning – they have a range of support services

Analysis of the pedagogical constructs of eLearning – cont. Attention is paid to the design and delivery of course content but none to the provision of supports and services – very different to the support expected on a traditional campus Empirical research is needed to match the services needed to the services wanted The quality of a system depends on the quality of available information "about" all elements (from author via dispatch to the students)

Existing Student Support Services among the Partners NKI (Norway) developed internally an administrative data systems designed to make ensure the supply of efficient student support services with a heavy emphasis on the use of tutors, based on their distance learning experiences. In Italy the trend was towards administrative and didactic support rather than motivational In Germany the experience was similar to that in NKI – however, it was found that students had to dig deep to find the services In Ireland in DEIS student supports services were designed around Tait’s three primary function which are cognitive, affective and systemic In the corporate world, the eLearning offering was designed to minimize human support even though a help desk is available more for technical questions rather than content

Analysis of Major LMS Systems WebCT, TopClass, Saba, Learning Space, Blackboard and proprietary systems.

Findings Few of the features provided in the commercial LMS are explicitly for SSS but many can be if properly managed and facilitated An innovative use of relatively low-tech features then can be more effective from the point-of-view of both the learner and the tutor/instructor The effectiveness of LMSs depends as much on their intelligent and pedagogically judicious use as on their technical features and functionalities eLearning platforms create a virtual learning environment, which is an effective and efficient way to organize both the institution’s and student’s work.

Student Satisfaction Survey with SSS Can eLearning be conducted totally electronically? –Yes according to Irish corporate students –No according to academic Norwegian students The business model for corporate elearnig seems to be based on the virtual elimination of human actors in the system Within the academic world, student support services are viewed as essential The corporate world appears to be satisfied with electronic assessment Human feedback on assignments etc are essential in the academic world

New Student Support Services Rich eLearning Model Information Phase Guidance Phase Registration Phase Integration Phase Help Desk Learner Support Evaluation System Final Results Phase Accreditation Assistance Phase Guidance on Further Study Phase Dispatch of physical materials Instruction on Online Learning Advisors/student Counsellors Academic Staff Learning Support The Personal Tutor Follow-up of Inactive Students Bulletin Boards, Forums Online Tutorials Face to face Tutorials Resources/Library Student Self-Assessment Automated Assessment Tutor Assessment Assessment Feedback- electronic Assessment Feedback-manual Pacing System Submission System

New Student Support Services Rich eLearning Model – NKI

New Student Support Services Rich eLearning Model – Student Satisfaction Overall positive The unique conclusion of the project is that it indicated a split in the world of eLearning into corporate and academic providers which could only have been discovered by focussing on student support services. New model incorporated into NKI & DEIS Influenced Ericsson when setting up an mLMS for mobile learning Student Support Services for eLearning Outcomes and Conclusions

Virtual Classrooms in Educational Provision - Synchronous eLearning Systems for European Institutions

Virtual Classroom – What is it?

Link to recorded centra session

Pedagogical Characteristics of Virtual Classrooms Students have the advantages of the flexibility of studying on their own and the social advantages of belonging to a learning group Teacher and student are separated in space but not in time The pedagogical structure of the class assembled at a fixed time and for a fixed period is restored A WWW browser is used as an important delivery medium

Pedagogical Characteristics of Virtual Classrooms Voice contact between the teacher and the students and, at times, between student and teacher is restored Student study is paced by the virtual classroom sessions Communication is managed electronically Pedagogical features of elearning like video broadcasts, text chat, whiteboards, Power Point type presentations and application sharing are available Breakout rooms for small group discussions and web safaris for use of the WWW are available

Virtual Classrooms – Current Status in Europe Research among 28 European Countries shows that there is reasonable awareness but limited usage Certain level of confusion exists on what virtual classroom is Open University of Catalonia and Corvinus University of Budapest

Virtual Classrooms – Current Status in America More extensive usage – accepted and used as a legitimate educational method Evidence that these systems are gaining ground as more vendors of Learning Management Systems are having to incorporate a Synchronous dimension to their systems

Virtual Classrooms – Advantages Increased and fast access to information Just-in-time information Convenience Elimination of space, time and geographical constraints Can be used as a student support in eLearning Cost Savings Archiving of courses Increased repetitions

Virtual Classrooms – Challenges Absence of face-to-face communication Low rate of internet penetration Cultural differences Perceived lack of control of the participants Underdeveloped IT infrastructure

The Future Institutions who have explored the possibility of using Virtual Classrooms will continue to do so As bandwidth expands, systems will stabilise and enable lecturers and students alike to be more confident