Mooney, Aidan and Bergin, Susan
(2014)
An Analysis of Alternative Approaches for the Distribution of Lecture Notes with
the Aid of a Virtual Learning Environment to Promote Class Engagement.
AISHE-J : The All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 6 (2).
pp. 1-13.
ISSN 2009-3160
Abstract
The use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) has become popular over the last ten years at
third level institutions. At NUIM the Moodle VLE is used to disseminate lecture notes, share course
related resources, perform assessment, and provide a means for online communication. This paper
is interested in how effectively to use a VLE to disseminate lecture notes. At NUIM lectures notes
are typically posted on Moodle before a lecture (for example, all notes posted at the start of the
semester or several days before an upcoming lecture etc.) or after a lecture with lecturers having a
personal preference for a particular method.
In this paper a pilot study on the dissemination of lectures notes through Moodle to a large first year
undergraduate class is described. In previous years student disengagement in this class has been
an issue, therefore, three different approaches were trialled in this pilot. In the first approach, a
summary set of lecture notes to be covered at the next lecture were made available four days in
advance. The summary was a one-page document containing at most six slides of the most
important material. The students were encouraged to read the notes in advance. It was hoped that
this would lead to more active participation by the students as they had time to assimilate the
material prior to the lecture. In the second approach the students were informed in advance that an
in-class assessment would be carried out based on the summary. In both instances a full set of
notes were made available on Moodle after the lecture. An overview of the findings of this pilot is
presented, including data on student participation during both approaches. In addition, a critique of
the potential effects on student results is provided and recommendations based on the findings are
discussed.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Additional Information: |
Published under a Creative Commons Attribution/NonCommercial/ShareAlike 3.0 license. |
| Keywords: |
Student Engagement; Large Classes; Lectures; VLE; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering > Computer Science |
| Item ID: |
6504 |
| Depositing User: |
Aidan Mooney
|
| Date Deposited: |
02 Nov 2015 16:53 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
AISHE-J : The All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education |
| Publisher: |
All Ireland Society for Higher Education (AISHE) |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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