Author: traceyh

Categories
Delivery and assessment of the curriculum Digital technologies to enhance learning and teaching and assessment. Enabling student development and achievement Online learning qualitative quantitative Student engagement in learning Student experience Technology and digital literacies

Distance Learners’ Use of Handheld Technologies

people on tube looking at mobile devices

Blog Authors: Walter Patterson; Lynn Brown; Jan Robertson; Joe Wilson; Tracey Howe

Image: Matthew Hurst from New York, NY, USA / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

One only has to walk through College or on any street or social place to notice that the majority of people are engrossed in some activity on the screen of their handheld technology. How can we utilise this technology for best effect for learners at our College. We explored the findings of a recently published paper Distance Learners’ Use of Handheld Technologies: Mobile Learning Activity, Changing Study Habits, and the ‘Place’ of Anywhere Learning.

Here’s what they did

Undergraduate students enrolled at the UK’s largest distance learning university were surveyed. This included questions about: (a) ownership of technologies; (b) frequency of use of handheld devices (tablet, e-readers, and smartphones) for specified leisure activities and for specified learning activities; (c) locations at which each device is used for study purposes; (d) perceived change in study habits; (e) statements about impact of use on learning; (f) reason for purchase; (g) length of time used; (h) benefits and challenges; and (i) preferences for future use of each technology for learning. Open comment questions were added to probe the types of learning used in distance learning contexts, reasons for use or non-use, and the locations of use. Students were asked separately about their use of tablets, smartphones, and e-readers so potential differences in use could be analysed.

There were 446 responses from 3000 students giving a response rate of 14.9%. All age groups, study levels, and disciplines were represented. A wide range of analytical methods were used to analyse the data.

Here’s what they found

Five key findings are:

  1. most students now use handheld devices for study-related learning;
  2. the distribution of study-related learning tasks was similar in all seven study places;
  3. there is a strong, statistically-significant correlation between the number of study places in which handheld devices are used and the number of study task types performed;
  4. two fifths of students using a handheld device for learning have noticed a change in study habit and benefit to learning;
  5. and multiple regression analysis shows three variables (number of study places, number of study tasks, and change in study habits) are predictors of finding it easier to access learning materials and improved quality of learners’ work.

The author/s concluded

The study concludes by proposing two new concepts: the flow of places and place of space. These should help direct the framing of future studies into the places, spaces, and mobility of formal and informal seamless learning.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? Walter and Joe declared an interest as in the past they had both worked with Prof Sharples (author of over 300 papers and founder of the Association for Mobile Learning).

What do we know about the journal? The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning (IRRODL) is a refereed, open access e-journal that disseminates original research, theory, and best practice in open and distributed learning worldwide. Club members judged it to be very reputable, with all articles subjected to double-blind peer review by a minimum of 2 subject experts. According to Google scholar in 2019 the journal has a ranking of third among educational technology journals and a rank of fifth of all education journals.

What about the methodology used? The abstract was viewed by some to be concise and accurate, but others thought that it presented an overcomplicated approach to some straightforward research questions. The abstract also lacked an explanation of some important concepts in the paper (e.g. flow of places).

Some felt that the readability of the paper was impacted by its layout on the page with the text looking dense. It was also noted that there appeared to be a predisposition to adopting a particular framework and that this may have influenced the approach taken and the analysis.

The introduction is rather lengthy and would be improved by more explicit subheads in the text. It also introduces complex ideas some of which are not fully addressed in this paper. Also it was unusual for research questions to appear in the middle of an introduction rather than at the end.

It was also noted that the population for the study is very niche since it is the specific domain of distance learners, who are highly likely to also be mobile learners. This would not mirror well to the type of students who attend COGC.

The careful definition of what a handheld device is was appreciated and and the context and background of the study was well explained.

There was an extended discussion of the response rate (14.9%). There was a danger to the study that these respondents were self-selecting to have a definite view one way or the other on the topic of mobile learning. There was concern that we knew nothing about the 85% who did not respond (eg traits, attributes).

The over-representation of older students was noted, even although the initial sample was stratified according to key factors (good). The survey design itself well developed and demonstrated best practice. The choice of categories for place seemed reasonable but had only been piloted with 6 people. The inclusion of PCs and laptops was welcomed as it offered a good comparison between truly mobile devices and others, as was the recognition in the survey design that mobiles could be used for other (distracting) activities as well as study-related.

No qualitative results were presented, which was somewhat disappointing (to be published separately). The presentation of the results could have been more informative by inclusion of actual sample numbers rather than just percentages. The tables and charts allowed a clear understanding of the study outcomes. The statistical evidence was well presented.

There are strong connections between the number of different study places where mobile devices are used and the number of different tasks for which they are used. The distribution of study-related tasks was fairly even across all the different study places. Some (40%) of respondents noted a change in study habits and improvement to learning through the use of mobile devices.

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a low risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

A study of learning designs across the college revealed a predominance of content delivery. There was scope to implement better quality learning designs that drew on varied tasks, many of which could be supported by mobile learning (ABC of Learning Design). The college could move in this direction so that students were encouraged more to participate in mobile learning.

It was commented that changing the tone of voice in some module content (eg personalised voice) had proved to better engage learners – so this could also be incorporated.

Next steps

It was intimated that one response to COVID-19 could be to move more learning to mobile and that staff would be given help to do this in the coming weeks.

View from

What do you think?

References

Cross, S., Sharples, M., Healing, G., & Ellis, J. (2019). Distance Learners’ Use of Handheld Technologies: Mobile Learning Activity, Changing Study Habits, and the ‘Place’ of Anywhere Learning. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 20(2). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v20i2.4040

Keywords: mobile learning, seamless learning, study space, handheld learning technologies, anywhere learning, distance education.

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

Categories
Assessment and feedback Delivery and assessment of the curriculum Design, development and approval of programmes Digital technologies to enhance learning and teaching and assessment. Enabling student development and achievement qualitative Student engagement in learning Student experience Technology and digital literacies

Experiences of reflection and digital storytelling

SECC panorama Glasgow

Blog Authors: David Cullen, Walter Patterson, John McVeigh, Lynn Brown, Tracey Howe, Lisa Shields

Image: Dave Morris from Oxford, UK / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

City of Glasgow College has many interests including: ESOL teacher development, reflective practice in educators and the use of technology in assessment evidence. This week’s paper ESOL pre-service teachers’ experiences and learning in completing a reflection paper and digital storytelling was chosen for review as it ostensibly covers a number of these topics.

Here’s what they did

The subjects of the qualitative study were 20 students on a post-graduate level Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) course. In a module on Language and Culture, the students had to complete two assessment tasks: a written assignment and a digital storytelling artefact. The researcher then had the students carry out two further tasks for the purposes of the study: writing a reflection paper and delivering a reflective presentation. The researcher analysed all four sources of data and sought to examine the subjects’ performative approaches to the tasks, and their reactions to the tasks. The researcher also considered the gender and nationality of the subjects in relation to their performance and response.

Here’s what they found

  • that there were general commonalities in the subject’s performance of and reaction to the two sets of tasks (assessment and reflection).
  • there was a significant difference in subjects’ responses between the familiar written report and the unfamiliar digital storytelling task.

The author/s concluded

The inclusion of a dual reflective task was of benefit to pre-service TESOL candidates as it enhanced their reflective literacy and their understanding of the course content on Language and Culture. TESOL training courses should consider using this approach.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? This study was undertaken by an individual researcher, an Associate Professor of English (TESOL) at Murray State University in the United States. Regarding the individual author, it was not possible to find a list of publications or citations. We also noted that only one other individual contributed to the research activities.

What do we know about the journal? The Australasian Journal of Educational Technology is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering research in educational technology, instructional design, online and e-learning, educational design, multimedia, computer assisted learning, and related areas. It was rated in 2015 as having an Impact factor of 1.171. It is published by the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education. Our view is that this is a trustworthy publication.

What about the methodology used? We felt that the literature review was almost completely descriptive, serving only to provide definitions of terminology, and failed to critically evaluate the sources.

Secondly, the researchers failed to identify and declare any potential bias and limitations of their activity. Thirdly, we felt that the writing of the article, while being thorough and detailed in parts, lacked clarity, and was consequently difficult to decode and interpret.

Finally, there was significant and undeclared potential for bias: the researcher was also the course tutor; the students as subjects were potentially eager to teacher-please in their responses; only one other individual was involved in supporting the researcher and that person was also a direct colleague.

Given the high probability of bias and the other concerns outlined above, we have limited confidence in this article and we feel that the exploratory project would have been better served had it been presented as a less formal case study account.

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a high risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

How can CoGC staff develop “reflection” in our working practice and professional development ?

Is this concept included in Staff Integration activities?

Is digital storytelling something we can use in staff development and/or student work? The topic of reflective practice should be considered for inclusion in the OneCity event in June and the Education Symposium after summer.

We have recently had a tussle with a local university over the accreditation of a vocational award. The university insisted that reflection should be assessed via an essay. After several rounds of negotiation, the university has accepted that there are equally valid representations of reflective practice – such as digital storytelling (videos, blogs, e-portfolios). We have been assured on many occassions by Scottish Qualifications Agency (SQA) that it has moved away from specifying the form in which evidence can be presented – if only all External Validators were of the same mind!

Next steps

The topic of reflective practice should be considered for inclusion in the OneCity event in June and the Education Symposium after summer.

View from

What do you think?

References

Ho-Ryong Park. ESOL pre-service teachers’ experiences and learning in completing a reflection paper and digital storytelling. Journal of Education Technology, 2019, 35(4)

SQA 2017 Digital Evidence for Internally Assessed HN and VQ Units: Principles and Guidance

Keywords:

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

Categories
Delivery and assessment of the curriculum Digital technologies to enhance learning and teaching and assessment. Enabling student development and achievement Online learning qualitative quantitative Student engagement in learning Student experience Technology and digital literacies

Students’ insights on the use of video lectures in online classes

empty classroom

Blog Authors: Walter Patterson, John McVeigh, Jan Robertson, Joe Wilson, Tony Adams, Tracey Howe

Image: Iase.bodh / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

This week our College closed in response to Covid-19 epidemic sweeping across the UK. We selected this weeks paper Students’ insights on the use of video lectures (VL) in online classes to help us explore options for remote learning for our students. The overarching question motivating this research focused on students’ perception of their own learning in courses using VL.

Here’s what they did

This was mixed method study using surveys and focus group as a source of data collection combined with a review of previous research on the topic. Selection criteria for participants included: (1) graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in online courses for Business and Education majors in the 2014–15 academic year; (2) online courses that include VL of any type; and (3) instructors’ approval to explore the design of the online courses. 96 out of 493 (424 undergraduate students and 69 graduate students) were recruited – 10 graduate and 86 undergraduate.

The online survey consisted of 18 questions that focused on 5 main categories: overall experience as online students, interaction with VL, perceived learning impact and integration of VL with other course activities. The focus group was administered via a web conferencing system.

Data from the focus group was analyzed qualitatively only. Basic descriptive statistics and graphical analysis were performed with quantitative data 

Here’s what they found

Three factors predict students’ satisfaction rate and their perception of relevance of VL in their own learning.

  • familiarity with the media,
  • the extension of experience using video in learning, and
  • educational level or academic status.

The author/s concluded

This study suggests that courses in higher education should consider the inclusion of VL in their course materials because the use of video meets different learners’ preferences, increases students’ engagement with content, enhances students’ perception of better learning experiences through content interaction, and reinforces teaching presence in online courses.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? Dr Norma I. Scagnoli is the senior director of eLearning in the College of Business and holds a position of Research Associate Professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois. The other authors are also based there.

What do we know about the journal? BJET has just published its 50th Anniversary edition. The Journal is published by Wiley on behalf of The British Educational Research Association (BERA). Impact factor:2.588 (2018). ISI Journal Citation Reports © Ranking: 2018:31/243 (Education & Educational Research).

BJET is a long standing journal but it is held to be academic in it focus and its treatment of EdTech is quite different from current ALT Publications which tend to focus on ‘real world’ matters. BJET articles were characterised as being abstract, nuanced, distanced from real world practice.

What about the methodology used?

The abstract did not offer much of an explanation of the journal article – it was more of a teaser to read further. At first sight the ‘practitioner notes’ (included in a box) appeared to give a clear explanation of the context, methods and outcomes of the study but this was re-visited later.

The research questions were easy to find and the methodology was deemed to be appropriate (mixed methods using surveys, focus groups). The inclusion of the survey questions and the focus group questions in the appendix was appreciated.

However a significant weakness in this paper is that it provides no indication of the context of the undergraduate or postgraduate students who participated. Participants were clearly self-selecting from the purposeful sample with a high risk of bias to the qualitative data. The fact that only 10 graduate students participated made some of the conclusions and analysis suspect. Also, the inclusion of graduate students made the analysis and results more complex than was required for this study

It would have been good to have some demographics of the participants in terms of: age, experience, and access to technology – so that some comparisons could be with the student cohort at our College.

Nor was it possible to make sense of the data in the light of the particular population sampled. It was agreed that it would be unsafe to make these conclusions generalisable. It was also noted that the use of a particular online tool (Zoom) for the focus group could have excluded some from participating.

The statistical analysis was over complicated and a number of different tests had been carried out on the data to uncover where some statistical significance might arise – rather than proposing a hypothesis and using the data to confirm or reject that hypothesis (which is how statistical analysis should be performed).

In the discussion of the results it was noted that the percentage figures could be quite misleading and the absolute numbers should have been included. Also the choice of dark columns for the very small graduate sample meant that the reader’s eye was drawn to these figures rather than those of the much larger sample of undergraduate students. A question was also raised about the meaning of the term “Effect on learning” in the analysis.

It was concluded that any statements made about differences between graduate and undergraduate experiences and satisfaction were untenable because of the small sample size for the former.

Returning to the practitioner notes it was then realised that some of the statements made in the Notes were NOT established evidentially in this paper (even though they were seen to be reasonably correct.

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a high risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

The paper gives no hint of the practical difficulties of recording and broadcasting video lessons where artefacts that can be freely used as copyright ‘fair dealing’ in the classroom became a breach of copyright when recorded to open broadcast. There are issues to do with staff intellectual property rights of video material ,and this has been the subject of much negotiation and discussion between institutions and staff unions. The paper offers no way of no advice on picking a way through such issues.

It was noted that the current Covid-19 crisis was driving delivery to online and that this had the potential to change the face of further education for the future.

Next steps

View from

What do you think?

References

Scagnoli, N.I., Choo, J. and Tian, J. (2019), Students’ insights on the use of video lectures in online classes. Br J Educ Technol, 50: 399-414. doi:10.1111/bjet.12572

Keywords:

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

Categories
Delivery and assessment of the curriculum Design, development and approval of programmes Enabling student development and achievement Political, social and economic drivers influencing educational policy and strategy. Quality assurance Student experience Systematic Review

Work-based learning in technical and vocational education

Photo by Science in HD on Unsplash

Blog Authors: Tony Adams, Fiona Balloch, David Cullen, Ian Hamilton, John McVeigh, Walter Patterson, Jan Robertson, Joe Wilson, Tracey Howe

City of Glasgow College provides over 2000 courses across a diverse range of technical, business, and professional curriculum areas. Our unique Industry Academy model channels our curriculum and staff expertise, along with external industry partner collaboration, to match the needs of students with the needs of employers. As a result, our students graduate with industry-relevant skills and highly valuable qualifications sought after by industry. We were therefore interested in a recently published systematic review of Application Of Work-Based Learning Model In Technical And Vocational Education (TVET).

Here’s what they did

The authors searched five databases: Scopus, PsycINFO, Springer, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect using search terms “Work-Based Learning” “Conceptual Model of WBL” “WBL in TVET” and “Implementation of WBL in TVET”. They included and reviewed 16 research based articles published from 2000 to 2018.

Here’s what they found

  • The extent of the implementation of WBL in TVET in tertiary institutions including universities is low.
  • Emphasis was given to aspects such as Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) leaving other aspects unexploited. cooperative work experience, job shadowing, youth apprenticeship programme, internships etc.
  • Factors affecting the implementation of WBL in TVET included curriculum defects, poor policy framework, inadequate trained manpower to supervise the proper implementation and lack of WBL learning implementation framework in institution of learning.

The author/s concluded

WBL is beneficial to students and attainment of the goal of TVET, however, the several obstacles to the proper implementation of the WBL contradicts the effectiveness of the WBL in TVET ……… However, there is no high quality evidence with which to provide robust answers to questions about the effectiveness of WBL.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work?The authors work at Department of Technical and Engineering Education, School of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru and Department of Electrical and Electronic Technology Education, SOSE (Technical), Federal College of Education (Technical) Bichi, Kano, Nigeria.

What do we know about the journal? Education, Sustainability and Society (ESS) is a peer-reviewed, open access trans- and interdisciplinary e-journal. Volume 1 was published in 2018.

What about the methodology used? The authors state that this was a systematic review. However, there were no definitions of the population of interest other than ‘schools’ and ‘workplace’. They did not offer the definition of ‘work based learning’ that they used to include papers. Neither did they define any specific measurable outcomes they were interested in. It is unclear whether papers were independently reviewed and how disagreements were resolved.

The analysis section was weak giving no information on how themes were established or whether they were indeed defined a priori by the authors. No indication is given on whether quality appraisal took place. The findings are descriptive and lack detailed critique.

The discussion is a summary and is not reflective and does not draw upon the extensive wider literature. Instead it focuses on issues relating to the authors own contexts.

The authors could have benefiting from using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a high risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

This paper evoked much discussion around this topic. There is literature from North America and Europe and UNESC and the World Bank on this area, examples include [Joe to add].

In terms of our own practice we should be cognisant of National – and for World Skills – International occupational standards and we considered whether our staff are up to date and aware of the latest versions and integrate these into curriculum design, delivery and evaluation. This could be facilitated by the engagement of members from industry professional organisations at all phases in the curriculum cycle. Our Industry Academy model would provide an obvious platform for this.

We discussed the validation cycle for rapidly moving areas such as computing [other examples] which are currently 5 years. Should we be looking a faster cycles such as 18 months? This could be addressed within the refresh of our student experience strategy. Other organisations have considered graduate skills and given the dramatic change since the Covid-19 pandemic we also need to consider skills FOR and AT work.

Other areas discussed included the College’s role as a Civic Anchor and how we could benefit the wider community for example linking with Volunteer Scotland.

Next steps

  • Review the integration of new staff from industry into education
  • Review staff expertise and identify opportunities for updating skills
  • Redefine Industry Academies and their operationalisation
  • Deliver new opportunities for professional practice deriving from work placements –  building on staff internal capacities.
  • Anticipate demand for Active Blended Learning and Active  Distance Learning  programmes in preparation for and during work as part of an ongoing engagement with Industry and Commerce.
  • Finalise the ‘Appointment of visiting and honorary staff’ scheme
  • Engage externals in our governance process e.g. Faculty Boards
  • Engage externals in all aspects of the curriculum process
  • Address some of these issues within the refresh of our student experience strategy.

View from

What do you think?

References

Keywords: systematic review, technical, vocational, work-based, education, learning

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

Categories
Digital technologies to enhance learning and teaching and assessment. Enabling student development and achievement Online learning review Student engagement in learning Technology and digital literacies

The flipped classroom!

Flipped classroom

Blog Authors: Tracey Howe, John McVeigh, Jan Robertson, Walter Patterson, Cathy Glover, Anna Close, Fiona Nixon

Image: DuEnLiJu / CC0Attribution

In the last few weeks, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the world of education has had to react to a fundamental change due to closures of schools, colleges and universities on a world wide scale. Our College like many other institutions has had to shift from more traditional lecture-based approaches to teaching on-line.

This week we discussed this recent systematic review of flipped classroom empirical evidence from different fields addressing the gaps and future trends. Flipped classrooms are where students attempt to learn and comprehend the instructional contents before attending class through video-recorded lectures.

Here’s what they did

The authors searched electronic databases, namely ScienceDirect, EBSCOhost Web, Emerald Insight, Wiley Online Library and Springer Link for studies using keywords flipped classroom, flipped learning, flipping the class, inverted classroom and inverted learning in different fields and published in 2017 and 2018.

The authors reviewed and analysed 48 studies that met their criteria using content analysis. They explored positive impacts and challenges of implementing flipped classrooms.

Here’s what they found

Four major themes emerged;

  • students’ academic achievement,
  • learning motivation and/or engagement,
  • self-directed learning skills
  • social interaction.

The flipped classroom yielded positive impacts on students’ learning activities such as academic performance, learning motivation and/or engagement, social interaction and self-directed learning skills.

The most significant challenges encountered by the instructors is a lack of students’ motivation to watch the pre-recorded video lectures or to study the contents outside of the class time.

The author/s concluded

The findings suggest  that the flipped classroom concept might be effective in pursuing the 21st century learning such as greater collaboration, more interaction, greater confidence in communicating  ideas, and interestingly delivering a more democratic and equal learning space.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? The authors are affiliated to the Faculties of Education at the University of Hong Kong and the Ocean University of China.

What do we know about the journal? An international journal, On the Horizon, now in volume 28, explores the issues that are emerging as technology changes the nature of education and learning within and among institutions, other organizations, and across geo-political boundaries, as learning increasingly takes place outside of the traditional institutional environment. 

What about the methodology used? This was stated to be a systematic review using content analysis (see here for a hands-on guide to content analysis). The authors would have benefited from using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. For more information see here.

The inclusion and exclusion criteria were not explicit, studies were only eligible if they were indexed by the the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). The SSCI is a multidisciplinary index and indexes over 3,000 social sciences journals – 1988 to present. It would have been helpful to have a PRISMA flow diagram and tables of included and excluded studies.

It is not clear what language restrictions, if any, were applied and whether studies were independently reviewed by authors, what the level of agreement there was or how any disagreements were resolved.

The 5 summary tables of findings, 4 of positive impacts based on the four themes identified and one of challenges were helpful to the reader.

The final section on gamification did not appear to be based on the included studies and appeared more personal opinions of the authors and based on the work of ‘a professor’ at the same university of most of the authors which may have been one of the authors of this paper.

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a high risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

Covid-19 may become a catalyst for educational institutions worldwide to search for innovative solutions to the closure of campuses in a relatively short period of time.

It appears that those students who benefit from flipped classroom approaches are those with high self efficacy and motivation. Rather than offering a blanket change in practice could we do more to evaluate students self efficacy, motivation, learning styles, digital literacy and access to technology and connectivity. This would help targeting interventions to those who need support.

It is our anecdotal experience that gamification often appeals more to a younger cohort of students, this may be due to the format and content. Furthermore, cultural and language context should be taken into consideration.

It may be a cultural issue that many students are expecting to be talked at rather than taking responsibility for their own learning. This is reflected in evening class students who in general appear more motivated to undertake activity outside of the classroom.

There is a widespread assumption that all students are able to access and engage with online material. This is not the case. Many students do not have access to wifi, have poor broadband width and general connectivity issues, lack of suitable mobile technology, skills required to use them and some have language barriers.

Next steps

  • Convene a virtual group, MS Teams, of staff who have experience or wish to gain experience of using flipped classrooms. This will allow us to pool expertise and resources. This will also identify any staff development needs and develop a strategy to fulfil any needs.
  • Look at adding material as part of new staff integration process.
  • Finding new ways to develop students’ self-efficacy and motivation
  • Consider introducing a ‘learning log’ for all staff to capture innovative practice, challenges and issues during this period of College closure.

View from

What do you think?

References

Liberati A, Altman DG, Tetzlaff J, Mulrow C, Gøtzsche PC, et al. (2009) The PRISMA Statement for Reporting Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses of Studies That Evaluate Health Care Interventions: Explanation and Elaboration.PLoS Medicine (OPEN ACCESS)  PLoS Med 6(7): e1000100. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000100

Zamzami Zainuddin, Hussein Haruna, Xiuhan Li, Yin Zhang, Samuel Kai Wah Chu, (2019) “A systematic review of flipped classroom empirical evidence from different fields: what are the gaps and future trends?“, On the Horizon , https://doi.org/10.1108/OTH-09-2018-0027

Keywords:

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

Categories
Enabling student development and achievement Lecturers competencies qualitative Quality assurance quantitative

Lecturers Competence in Teaching and Learning

cartoon of teacher

Blog Authors: David Cullen, Jan Robertson, John McVeigh, Tracey Howe

Image: Freepik (https://www.flaticon.com/authors/freepik) / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

The UK quality Code for Higher Education states that ‘staff have an appropriate level of competence for teaching and supporting learning.’ College Faculty of Nautical and STEM provides a full range of marine operations courses from mandatory training for Merchant Navy Officers to a range of short courses. Therefore we were interested in this recent paper The Analysis of Lecturers Competence in Teaching and Learning Process of Cadets At Makassar Marine Polytechnic.

Here’s what they did

The study aimed to determine the competence of lecturers in the learning process of cadets at Makassar Marine Polytechnic (PIP Makassar). The research method used was a survey method to describe the existing conditions using a questionnaire of nautical, technical and management cadets. The 4 competency aspects studied were:

  • Pedagogic, such as the right methods and media used to create a good learning environment whilst providing guidance and motivation to cadets.
  • Lecturer personality, in providing a good example, duty and authority in front of cadets and still be polite when speaking as well as neatness of dress.
  • Professionalism, in managing the class and delivering training.
  • Social, in communicating and interacting with parents/ guardians of cadets as well as establishing a rapport with peers.

To study identified the main problem of the study to be the competence of lecturers in the teaching and learning process of cadets at PIP Makassar. The research method used was a survey method to describe the existing conditions using a questionnaire as a data collection instrument. The focus of research on a sample totalling 96 consisting of nautical, technical and management cadets.

The population of the study was made up of 135 Cadets of which 65 were majoring in nautical, 55 technical and 15 in management. The number of samples with an error rate of 5% from each population gave 96 cadets. The author collected data via questionnaire, interview and a document review. This data was analysed using a quantitative descriptive analysis in the Frequency Distribution Formula:

P = f/n x 100 Where P = Procedure, f = frequency of respondent’s answers, n = number of respondents

A scale was then used to measure the competence of lecturers.

Here’s what they found

  • Through the analysis of the responses, the author reported that the four aspects of competencies of lecturers measured were good or very good.
  • Through interviewing 3 cadets, one from each of the majors identified, lecturers were able to understand students as individuals.
  • Lecturers were also deemed to have paid special attention to the biological, intellectual and psychological differences of their students in order to better understand them.

The author/s concluded

That the lecturers of PIP Makassar had met the required national education competency standards.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work?

At the time of publication Endang Lestari worked in the Nautical Department of Politeknik Ilmu Pelayaran Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. As the author was a lecturer in the department, the objectivity and independence were challenged, and a potential conflict of interest was raised regarding the anonymity of the questionnaires where the cadets are the respondents to a lecturer.

What do we know about the journal?

The journal of Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, volume 75. 1st International Conference on Materials Engineering and Management – Management Section (ICMEMm 2018). This paper was a conference paper submission and it is unclear whether it had been peer reviewed.

The literature review section was not linked to the aim of the study and had no critical evaluation of the literature that contributed to the paper.

What about the methodology used?

The paper was more of a practitioner article rather than an academic study – “this is what we did and this is we found”, with no further discourse made. We thought that the rationale for the study was not clearly stated.

The absence of the content of the questionnaire allowed us to speculate on the number of questions asked, the weighting, the number of responses and the format of the questions, whether simplistically framed in order to give the conclusion wanted rather than discovered.

There was no breakdown of the respondents’ data available such as gender, age, questions answered or subject majoring in.

This evidence was very limited with no general recommendations for further study. There were no ethical considerations reported of the sample population or of the interviewees (cadets and staff in the institute) and this introduced a high risk of bias. The body of this paper was poorly presented, with poor syntax, poor reporting and of a poor structure and style that is sandwiched between the abstract and the conclusion.

No strengths, weaknesses, self-critique or recommendations were forthcoming in the subsequent analysis for the responses.

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a high risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

A topical piece that unfortunately promised more than it delivered. It highlighted the importance of social rapport with students as a competence and led discussion to the process of recruiting lecturers. Student rapport is not guaranteed with a candidate that has the required academic and industry experience. In fact, how lecturers’ interpersonal skills contribute to the team could be more of a measure of social competence.

Next steps

There is the potential for the College to conduct a similar study, learning from the inadequacies of this study and then conduct a compare and contrast critical evaluation. The focus of future study could investigate the academic and vocational competencies required in delivering vocational courses with the demands of GTCS registration and the Professional Standards for Lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges.

View from

Joe to get a relevant external commentator

What do you think?

References

Keywords: competencies, professionalism, lecturer, cadets, learning process, questionnaire

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

Categories
Digital technologies to enhance learning and teaching and assessment. review Student engagement in learning Student experience

What the Kahoot!

Kahoot logo

Blog Authors: Tracey Howe

Our College is considering running a webinar on how to use Kahoot! a game-based student response system (GSRS) where the classroom is temporarily transformed into a game show where the teacher is the game show host, and the students are the contenders. We were pleased to find this paper published in 2020 ‘The effect of using Kahoot! for learning – A literature review’ the objective of which was to investigate studies on the effects of using Kahoot! for learning. Specifically,
how Kahoot! affects learning performance, classroom dynamics, student anxiety, and the perceptions of students and teachers.

Here’s what they did

The purpose was of this study was to investigate the effect of using Kahoot! in learning from the point of view of a researcher in the context of students and teachers in education. They used the Goal, Question, Metrics (GQM) approach. They searched 5 electronic databases using the search string was “Kahoot”. 

They included 93 studies. Appraisal of studies for inclusion was carried out independently by 2 authors and was on relevance (only articles classified as an experiment, survey case study or similar with focus on Kahoot!), rigor (appropriate research approach described including research context, number of subjects, scope, design, methods, and execution), and credibility (conclusions based on sound analysis and reasoning). Studies were classified according to their type and by nine attributes and a narrative review was reported.

Here’s what they found

  • Effect on learning positive compared to traditional learning and other learning tools and approaches and for various contexts and domains
  • Classroom dynamics – improved teacher-student interaction and student-student interaction, more favourable to actively participate in class, improved classroom atmosphere, and easier to answer questions in class.
  • Student anxiety was reduced related to asking questions, reduce stress and tension, encourages participation without being judged, add humour to class, and enables shy students to get involved.
  • Students have a very positive perception including a positive effect on motivation, engagement, concentration, perceived learning, attention, enjoyment, satisfaction, and confidence. Main challenges – technical challenges, hard to read questions and answers on a projected screen, time pressure, afraid of losing, and hard to catch up if an incorrect answer had been given.
  • Teachers were positive about using Kahoot! for teaching. Positive – higher motivation of teachers, ease of use, a motivating tool, support teachers’ instructive work in class, can assess students’ knowledge in real-time, increases student motivation, stimulate students to speak their point of view in class, can wake up students, increase class participation, and reduce teacher’s workload. Main challenges – technical issues and challenges, get the questions and answers right and scoring based on timing.

The author/s concluded

Kahoot! has a positive effect on learning, but there are challenges and room for improvement.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? Both authors were based in the Dept. of Computer Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. It appears that one of the authors was funded by Fulbright Scholarship to visit Institute for Software Research (ISR) at University of California, Irvine where the work took place.  

What do we know about the journal? Computers & Education is an international peer reviewed journal that aims to increase knowledge and understanding of ways in which digital technology can enhance education, through the publication of high-quality research, which extends theory and practice. Impact Factor: 5.627

What about the methodology used?

They authors only considered papers in English and those available through their institutional subscription. Appraisal of studies did not include quality assessment, the synthesis was narrative, and the analysis was thematic. The authors stated that they biased selection of articles in that only positive studies were accepted! 97% present mainly positive results related to Kahoot! and 8% include challenges and problems. The results from all the accepted studies were summarized according to the five research questions and the kind of results reported.

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a high risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

Many of our staff use Kahoot! Workshops to introducing using it within VLE. Way to replace expensive clicker system. Introduced in interactive way in classroom but now we find ourselves in distance learning. Kahoot is just one of many tools that staff can use to bring interactivity into their teaching. There are a range of tools that staff can deploy.

These tools feature in teachmeets and should feature in future learning and teaching conference.

Next steps

  • Introductory workshops and how to guides [REF]
  • This paper will be used as background material
  • Experiment with STEM girls lightening zoom meets. Enable development of Kahoot by group

View from

What do you think?

Kahoot is excellent but like many innovations need to be adopted in a planned way. Students will experience Kahoot fatigue if it appears in every learning episode.

References

Keywords: Kahoot!, teaching, learning, classroom dynamics, student anxiety, review

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

Categories
Coronavirus Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) Research methodology

6-Step vs 3-Step Hand Hygiene Technique

Hands in UV light

Blog Authors: Tracey Howe, John McVeigh, Walter Patterson, Joe Wilson, Lynn Brown

Image: Tracey Howe

The UK and Scottish Governments and NHS services have been advocating hand washing as the primary public health prevention for the Covid-19 outbreak. So what should we be advocating for our staff and students.

Fortunately we were aware of a study that evaluated the microbiologic effectiveness of the World Health Organization’s 6-step and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 3-step hand hygiene techniques using alcohol-based handrub.

Here’s what they did

The Glasgow based group used a parallel group randomized controlled trial in an acute care inner-city teaching hospital. Doctors (n =42) and nurses (n =78) undertaking direct patient care. intervention. Random 1:1 allocation of the 6-step (n =60) or the 3-step (n= 60) technique.

Here’s what they found

  • The 6-step technique was microbiologically more effective at reducing the median log10 bacterial count.
  • The 6-step technique reduced the count from 3.28 CFU/mL (95% CI, 3.11–3.38 CFU/mL) to 2.58 CFU/mL (2.08–2.93 CFU/mL), whereas the 3-step reduced it from 3.08 CFU/mL (2.977–3.27 CFU/mL) to 2.88 CFU/mL (−2.58 to 3.15 CFU/mL) (P= .02).
  • However, the 6-step technique did not increase the total hand coverage area (98.8% vs 99.0%, P= .15) and required 15% (95% CI, 6%-24%) more time (42.50 seconds vs 35.0 seconds, P= .002).
  • Total hand coverage was not related to the reduction in bacterial count.
  • For the 6-step technique, the back of hands were more frequently missed, whereas the back of the index and the middle finger of the right hand were less frequently missed, compared with 3-step.
  • Doctors and nurses achieved a comparable level of hand coverage with similar areas of the hands not covered: a median of 1.2% for doctors and 1.1% for nurses.

The author/s concluded

The study provides the first evidence in a randomized controlled trial that the 6-step technique is superior, thus these international guidance documents should consider this evidence, as should healthcare

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? The Glasgow based team work across NHS Scotland and Glasgow Caledonian University. Tracey Howe declared an interest as she has worked with this team on a number of projects and publications.

What do we know about the journal? Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology publishes scientifically authoritative, clinically applicable, peer-reviewed research on control and evaluation of the transmission of pathogens in healthcare institutions and on the use of epidemiological principles and methods to evaluate and improve the delivery of care. ICHE is the official publication of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).

What about the methodology used? The pragmatic parallel group randomized controlled trial is an established clinical trial design in health. Pragmatic meaning it was based in ‘normal clinical practice setting’ not a laboratory or constrained environment. It had ethical approval and informed consent of participants. The authors used random allocation of wards and assessments- microbiology and statistics were undertaken blind to allocation. Participants were instructed in the hand hygiene techniques which were standardised. Specific amounts of hand rub were supplied and were detailed in the paper. A standardised technique of collection and analysis of samples was used. Participants were observed and timed. Statistical analyses were well described. Overall this was a very well reported study.

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a low risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

As a College we have a number of areas that routinely teach hand hygiene these include, health and early years, culinary, sports, beauty and leisure. Many of these areas teach the 6 step method and this study provides evidence that our teaching is evidence based.

Next steps

Convene a cross College group to look at the following:

  • identify curriculum areas delivering hand hygiene
  • identify staff expertise and development needs
  • identify and share physical resources
  • identify and share teaching resources internally and externally
  • provide advice to the College leadership team especially at this time.

View from.. one of the authors

This research led by the SHIP Research Group at Glasgow Caledonian University has had an amazing impact. At the time of publication it was widely discussed in the media worldwide. The evidence it provided has been considered by the World Health Organization for inclusion in their guidelines and the publication won the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2017 William Jarvis Award.

Professor Lesley Price, Co-Lead SHIP Research Group, Department of Nursing and Community Health, Glasgow Caledonian University.

What do you think?

We would love to hear your view on this blog. Please send us your comments.

References

Keywords: Hand hygiene, 6-steps, 3-steps, RCT, coronavirus

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

Categories
Assessment and feedback Delivery and assessment of the curriculum Digital technologies to enhance learning and teaching and assessment. review Student engagement in learning Technology and digital literacies

Student-generated video creation for assessment?

mobile phone video call

Blog Authors: Fiona Balloch, Jan Robertson, John McVeigh, Robertson, Lisa Shields, Joe Wilson, Tracey Howe

Image: Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash

Student-generated video creation assessments are an innovative and emerging form of assessment in higher education. Academic staff may be reluctant to transform assessment practices without robust evidence of the benefits and rationale for doing so and some guidance regarding how to do so successfully. JISC have recently published Future of assessment: five principles, five targets for 2025 which states ‘In a move away from the traditional essay or exam, assessments are building in authenticity by asking students to develop websites, set up online profiles, shoot and edit videos, and use social media.’

We explored the idea, with reference to the article Student-generated video creation for assessment: can it transform assessment within Higher Education? published in the International Journal of Transformative Research, 2018.

Here’s what they did

They searched literature and conducted a thematic analysis related to the use of student-generated video for assessment.

Here’s what they found

For successful use of video creation for assessment:

  • Align video creation task set to both learning outcomes and skills development required for graduate capabilities for relevant industry
  • Ensure technological support, resources and infrastructure are all in place
  • Have an intentional change management process to support both staff and students in the transition to a new assessment format.
  • Involve students in the generation of clear guidance for the assessment and development of an assessment rubric.

The author/s concluded

Video assessment is beneficial for students’ digital communication skills and an effective and enjoyable method of assessment.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? At the time of publication the authors are Ruth Hawley and Cate Allen, who work at University of Derby.  Our view is that the authors may be biased in favour of video assessment, in order to provide evidence to support an initiative taking place within their own institution.

What do we know about the journal? The fully refereed Journal of International Journal of Transformative Research does not seem to be live yet and will be issued for the first time in Fall 2020. Our view is that the journal does not meet its stated aims, as it says that articles should explore transformative impact but this is not the case in this article.

What about the methodology used? Research could not be easily replicated based on the level of detail provided in the paper. In addition, the findings lack critical analysis. that this evidence is inconclusive and biased. It lacks a rationale for the use of video assessment or guidance on how it can be used effectively.

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a high risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

  • How can Nautical courses extend their use of asynchronous video assessment with international students?
  • How could the COGC Health suite integrate video assessment into assessments?
  • How could issues such as trolling, and confidence with one’s own image on video be addressed through digital communication skills training?
  • How could YouTube and Flipgrid be used for assessment?
  • How issues such as trolling, and confidence with one’s own image on video could be addressed through digital communication skills training. It is easier for assessors to view videos asynchronously at the time of the assessor’s choosing, than assessing a large run of live events, one after the other.
  • Training and support is available through the College Learning and Teaching Academy

Next steps

Create a working group to pursue this topic in the College with a view to group-creation of a paper on this area.

View from

What do you think?

References

Keywords: assessment, video, student-generated, Higher Education, digital, technology

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

Categories
Enabling student development and achievement qualitative Student engagement in learning Student experience Student support

A place for mature students in Further Education?

Adult learners

Blog Authors: Jan Robertson, Joe Wilson, Lynn Brown, Maggie Darroch, John McVeigh, Tracey Howe, Paulo Monachello.

Image: COD Newsroom / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

An increasing proportion of the United Kingdom’s (UK) full-time undergraduate student population is mature. Student retention in higher education has been defined ‘as the process of helping students meet their needs so that they will persist in their education’ (Bolam 2003). renewed focus within Scottish FE to re-engage with the missing numbers of mature students as a whole, and for City of Glasgow College to attract and retain students through the offer of the best student experience the findings of Paula Dunne in “Here’s my story: Mature students narratives of Further Education” potentially offer us some insights into the particular experiences and challenges of this group, in order to be able to respond with appropriate support and adjustments to encourage mature adult learners and retain and develop this valuable resource.

Here’s what they did: The author delivered a small scale narrative enquiry into the lived experience of 5 returning students to Further Education in Ireland with the hope to capture their experiences through listening to their stories. Semi-structured individual interviews lasting 40 mins were then carried out towards the end of the academic year. The Interview transcripts were used to identify key themes using McAdam’s life story method protocol.

The key themes identified were:

  • Personal motivations for returning to education
  • Challenges faced & support needed to overcome
  • The influence of past life educational experiences
  • The impact on identity

Here’s what they found

FE could provide a worthwhile experience for these mature student returners. Students could gain qualifications; upskill and reskill. Students could potentially progress onto Higher Education

Further benefits for mature returning students included increased confidence, self-esteem, re-writing earlier educational experiences and building their sense of identity.

Returning to Further Education for mature students presented special challenges such as juggling family commitments, costs & availability of childcare, difficulty in securing part-time employment to fit around study demands & College attendance, feeling initially socially isolated & lacking confidence, (perception that everything is geared up to a “young” world), a fear of failure, lack of ability in IT, and overcoming earlier poor educational experiences

Support from family, peers and supportive teaching staff presented a way to overcome these challenges

The author/s concluded

Embracing education as a mature student for most could be a transformational and positive experience with the correct supports in place.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work? This paper is single-authored by Paula Dunne from Dundalk Institute of Technology. Our view is that there may have been some gains in having a collaborative approach.

What do we know about the journal? The All Ireland Journal of Teaching & Learning in Higher Education (AISHE-J) is an open-access, peer-reviewed, journal of scholarly research into Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. AISHE-J was first published in 2009 with Sylvia Huntley-Moore as inaugural Editor and welcomes the submission of manuscripts presenting original scholarly work or commentary in any aspect of teaching and learning in higher education.

What about the methodology used? The method is clearly stated as narrative enquiry – a form of qualitative research. Interviews were digitally recorded and later transcribed verbatim were used to identify common themes and strands.

We agreed that an ethical approach had been used in that the participants had voluntarily responded to an email to take part were advised that they could withdraw from the process at any stage. We are told also that password protections were in place and anonymization of participants.

Nevertheless, there were quite a few noted limitations of the study. It was felt that the aim was not explicitly stated in light of the named methodological approach taken. You had to really delve into the “Discussion” section to find this.

A lack of framework for the questions and explanation of the scoring methodology and further detail of the analysis were possibly missing. Perhaps the transcripts could even have been supplied to enrich the article – as the sampling was quite small (although it is stated that it is a pilot.)

McAdam’s life story method protocol (McAdams 1993) was noted as a seminal piece of work. However, it was felt that there were a lack of recent references.

There was no data given in the results section. It was felt that there was a lack of information on the technique to identify the sample. The sample itself is very small, five volunteers; four female and one male. It is limited in time and space. It was felt amongst that there may have been value in a longitudinal approach to examine the experiences of the mature FE students across the academic year rather than only at the end of the year.

Whilst there were reference to two other studies undertaken in Ireland the many studies that the author mentions undertaken within an HE setting are not referred to at any time to offer contrast or add to our knowledge of shared experiences of mature students. It may have been interesting to look at age as a determining factor in experience of the students given that in FE mature students are considered to be those 21years+ and in HE mature students are considered to be those 23years +. The study does only consider the situation in Ireland.

Note this article was published in a Teaching Journal which has a strong focus on the implementation of national teaching policies such as DES, 2008 and DETE, 2002 as referred to in the article.

Overall we thought there was a lack of focus. It was suggested that there may have been greater value in examining the experience of mature students who leave Further Education to find out their experiences this may give a richer picture. In addition it was considered that may be of value to look at the stories of those who were refused a place. Although it was noted it may be difficult to get access to that information

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a high risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

The article refers to articulation routes into Higher Education. There is space for these pathways to be really clear for mature students to access. Other questions we could consider in relation to our own practice at City of Glasgow College could be bespoke IT learning spaces for returning mature students, future childcare provision and identifying those life events when students consider returning to offer up our learning in a context that compliments that life stage

As an organisation we need to be more mindful of the needs of mature students and from a Worldkills point of view there will be a new focus beyond the 16-24 year olds. For mature learners there is greater need for negotiating things like deadlines for this who are balancing other life events. A place for mutual respect, we need to place relationship at the centre of learning. Things are changing and we need to keep a pace.

Next steps

  1. As an Organisation we ned to reconsider the place of “student confidence levels” and “prior life experiences” in the way that we approach future learning.
  2. Consider tailored support groups for mature students
  3. Consider ways to make the learning experience of mature students authentic and inclusive
  4. Support Mature Students Association development

View from

As a mature student at COGC, who has changed careers and is at least a decade older than most of the class I have enjoyed a mostly positive experience. As a mature student you are very focussed on your goals and serious about success. Through the support of the STEM Girls Group I have found support and encouragement and a Group I can be part of with mixed ages and backgrounds. This has helped.

Ketle Santos, Maritime Operations Level 5, City of Glasgow College

What do you think?

References

Keywords: mature students, FE, HE,

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

css.php