Strategies for increasing student participation in web-based learning. (The scholarship of teaching and learning).

Abstract

The first part of this paper presents the rationale and mechanisms by which web-based learning was implemented into a 1st year core module in Sport and Exercise at the University of Teesside (UK). After disappointing student feedback in regard to its usage in the first year of implementation, the second part of this paper describes some of the changes made to the module in order to increase student participation. These changes appeared to have the desired effect the following year. Although too many changes were made to pinpoint the exact reason causing this shift in student learning behavior, it is suggested that freeing up more learning time within the schedule could have had the most dramatic effect. These findings should have relevance to those responsible for teaching on large compulsory first year modules but may also have wider implications for anyone considering web-based resources to support their programs of study.

Rationale

From a pedagogical perspective web-based learning has many advantages over traditional techniques (Barnett et al., 1996). It has the potential to provide one-to-one teaching on a grand scale and allows students to work at their own pace in a fairly realistic and interactive way. The possibilities of fostering a deep-approach to learning in a safe environment are an attractive proposition and web-based learning is therefore undergoing considerable expansion in most higher education institutes. The University of Teesside is no exception. Amongst other priorities, the University plans to provide 33% of its modules via the web by 2003 (Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy, University of Teesside, 1999-2003). The module described in this study is entitled `Gross Anatomy and Kinesiology' and is the flagship for web-based learning in the Sport and Exercise Subject Group at the University of Teesside.

Sport and Exercise Science is comprised of three major disciplines; Psychology (the study of behavior and cognition), Physiology (the study of biological functioning of the body) and Kinesiology (the study of human motion). The multi-disciplinary nature and increased awareness of sport science support work in the UK has led to a huge rise in the popularity of such programs. Accordingly, the provision of Sport and Exercise degree programs has increased rapidly from 1 in 1980 to over 300 in 2000. Each year the Sport and Exercise Subject Group at Teesside has an intake of over 150 students. In accordance with Teesside's policy as the "Opportunity University", which actively promotes widening participation, inclusive admissions policies, and regional regeneration, this ensures that for the `Gross Anatomy and Kinesiology' module we have high student numbers of very diverse backgrounds.

The most important outcome of this module is that students are able to describe scientifically the movements of joints in terms of muscle contractions, ligament stability, and skeletal geometry. Thus, a large proportion of the material covered is anatomy. For several reasons, not least its pictorial nature and the cost of maintaining dissection laboratories, web-provision is becoming a popular learning resource in this subject area to improve the quality of teaching and learning (Nageswaren et al., 2000). In addition, undergraduate modules such as Gross Anatomy and Kinesiology must develop generic skills that appeal to potential employers, a term Dearing (1997) describes as `graduateness'. Therefore it is hoped that through web-based learning the students' experiences, confidence and attitudes towards computers will be positively influenced (Levine and Donsita-Schmidt, 1997).

Much of the research (e.g. Nuha et al., 2000) in this field has focused previously on the development of web-based materials and the technological advances which can be incorporated to present visually stimulating and interactive text. However, to be truly meaningful to the quality of the student learning experience, the focus must turn to the evaluation of these teaching and learning strategies (Laurillard, 1993). Along with the subsequent achievement of learning outcomes and assessment results, student participation is a crucial element of this debate.

Initial Design of the Module

The module homepage can be accessed with a username `visitor' and password `visitor' at the address: http://sss-studnet.tees.ac.uk/sportscience /anatomy_and_kinesiology/Kinesiology.htm In common with most first year modules on the Sport and Exercise programs, the learning and teaching strategy for this module was a weekly lecture, to introduce the new material to all students, followed by a weekly tutorial and a `hands-on' anatomy laboratory session to reinforce learning for groups of 20-30 students.

The module utilised lectures presented using PowerPoint (Microsoft Corporation) which were then uploaded onto the student intranet, thus allowing the students to work through the material at their own pace and to foster deeper learning through private reading and study. It also provided resources which remained accessible to the students throughout their period of study on the module. However, despite this provision, students generally contributed very little to the subsequent tutorials and often these would end up as `mini-lectures' in an attempt to ensure that the students had the underpinning knowledge from which to access the anatomy laboratory.

The lecture presentations for the `Gross Anatomy and Kinesiology' module had created an extensive range of anatomical images using CorelDraw Version 8 (Corel, USA). Consequently, a wealth of uncopyrighted images were available for creating a web-based learning resource for tutorial support. Therefore the weekly lecture and anatomy laboratory continued as before; but, rather than attend for group tutorials, web-based tutorials linked to the lecture topics were provided at a supplemental level (Finder and Raleigh, 1998). Students were encouraged to access this material at a time and pace of their choosing, thus preparing them for the subsequent laboratory session. Although, we chose not to make the web-tutorials compulsory in terms of assessment, the use of strategically located links to a database server allowed us to monitor student usage and the time taken for individuals to complete tutorials. Although no data is presented, it was observed that web-usage peaked in the first few hours after the lecture and the last few hours prior to the laboratory session. Initially, students would take approximately 1 hour to progress through the tutorial but as their familiarity and understanding of the current topics increased, the time taken for completion fell rapidly (some students could complete in less than five minutes).

The web-based tutorial provision was designed using Dreamweaver Ultradev (Version 1.0, Macromedia Inc., USA). The anatomical images were inserted into a web-page and partitioned into image maps. The partitioning enabled clicks on different areas of the image to redirect the student to different pages. Thus, for our purposes, the student was prompted to click on a given anatomical landmark. If the click was on the incorrect location of the map then the student is directed to a feedback page about the landmark they have just incorrectly selected. In contrast, if the students clicked on the correct region of the image, then they are directed towards the next stage of the tutorial. Keenly aware that providing students with resources would not on its own induce a deep approach to learning (Gibbs, 1992), we were able to design a system which was successful in enabling students to become more actively involved in the acquisition of knowledge. Nageswaren et al. (2000) stated that learning by doing is required if learners are to be successful in an on-line environment; so, in addition, students could undertake an interactive quiz. Here questions on the new material were randomly selected from a database and presented to the students in a stimulating environment. With the introduction of a hi-scores table students could monitor their progress, thereby providing a system of formative assessment.

Following the lecture and web-based tutorial, the students attended a `hands-on' anatomy laboratory session, in which the relevant skeletal components bones were used to identify landmarks and recreate soft tissue structures. In addition, at the close of the session, the students completed a paper/pencil test on all of the week's material, the sum of which contributed 20% to their final grade.

Whilst this change in strategy was possible due to the technology that had previously been used for the lecture delivery, it was also underpinned by a sound pedagogical framework. This ensured that we avoided the traditional tutor centred `transmission metaphor' which can be a feature of many technological innovations (Taylor and Maor, 2000). In particular, we incorporated many of the principles of Kolb's' (1984) experiential learning cycle, whereby the students were asked to prepare for the lectures using a variety of sources, including materials and incomplete handouts which were available through the uploaded lecture materials (concrete experience). Following the lecture, students were encouraged to use the materials via the intranet and directed to further reading to think through the issues in their own time and to search for information that met their individual needs (reflective observation). From this knowledge and understanding, students would then begin to draw out the different interrelationships of anatomical structures (abstract conceptualization) and thereafter would have the opportunity to apply this knowledge through the interactive step-by-step web-based tutorial, the quiz and supplementary laboratory sessions (active experimentation). This cycle was repeated several times throughout the module to ensure effective links between theory and practice and to stress the importance of reflection

After the first year of implementing this strategy, students were asked to complete a questionnaire in which they were asked to respond whether they agreed/disagreed with the following statements: A Likert scale was applied in which students were given the choice of five responses ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

1) The web tutorials are well presented

2) You visit the module web-site often

3) The web-based tutorials are effective in supporting your learning of the material

Despite its good pedagogical intentions and popularity amongst the students using the web-tutorials on a frequent basis (all of these students responded with an `agree' or `strongly agree' regarding statement 3), it was found that overall web-usage remained disappointingly low with around 50% of students not using the resources to their full potential (they responded with `no opinion' or negatively to statement 2). Changes to the module were made accordingly.

Changes implemented

Overall the web-provision was considered by staff and students alike to be well presented. The only page changed was the schedule page, which had previously only included links to the week's lecture, but was amended to also include links to the week's web-tutorials. It was envisaged that by having all learning materials together, as opposed to the initial layout in which the tutorials were on separate pages, it would make it clearer to the students what was expected of them on a weekly basis.

The more drastic changes to the module were permitted because of a revalidation of our Sport and Exercise degree program. In order to incorporate more formative feedback and to avoid excessive summative assessment, we lengthened modules from single to double semester delivery. In doing so, this allowed the material covered to be spread over a fortnightly rather than a weekly cycle. Not only did this enable inclusion of an intermediate lecture on the application of kinesiology to the sporting context (usually by an invited speaker), but also gave the students more time in which to access the web-provision. By spending more time studying one topic it was hoped that students would adopt a more deep, holistic approach to learning the material (Ramsden, 1992).

Results over a 2 year period

See issue's website <http://rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/spri02.htm>

When questioned second time around about their level of participation with the web-based materials, the student feedback demonstrated a significant improvement in their use of the web-based provision. In particular, a highly significant increase (p<0.001) was found in the students' perception of the effectiveness of the web-provision (Figure 1). Over the two years, the number of students who did not agree that web-provision was effective in supporting their learning decreased from over 50% to less than 4%. In addition, the number of students strongly agreeing increased from 18% to 33%.

Discussion and Conclusions

This study was not originally set out to be a scientific investigation, rather a working report on strategies to increase the use of our web-provision. Consequently, several factors were changed simultaneously, thus making it difficult to pinpoint the most important factor causing the shift in learning behaviour. However, informal feedback from students from both cohorts indicates that some strategies may have been more successful than others. In addition, there are also some factors beyond our control, which could also have affected the results. Firstly, it has been found that year by year students entering Higher Education are less computerphobic (Todman, 2000). It is therefore acknowledged that the second cohort of students was probably less inhibited when faced With this method of learning. However, Todman (2000) reported only a 12% reduction in computerphobia in the UK between 1992-98. By extrapolating these findings over a one year period we would expect a 2% increase in the number of students enrolling on the Anatomy and Kinesiology module who are confident from the start at using the web-based provision. It is therefore suggested that reduced computerphobia on entry would not explain the dramatic shift found over this 1 year period of evaluation.

A second change which occurred during this study was that a new cohort of Sports Therapy students enrolled on this module. Although the background and entry requirements of students enrolling on this specialized program are similar to the other students on the module, the Sports Therapy students are more likely to have an intrinsic interest in the information being presented given the nature of their chosen degree. It is therefore acknowledged that, in pursuit of a deeper knowledge, this group of students may have been more likely to participate in the web-based provision (Biggs, 1989). Unfortunately, the questionnaire was anonymous and did not differentiate between programs. It is therefore impossible to verify whether the shift is the result of the changes in the module or simply changes in the student group. However, assuming the additional students were more intrinsically motivated and hence more likely to take a deeper approach to their learning (Biggs, 1989) we would only expect a shift at the more positive end of the spectrum (i.e. more `strongly agrees'). While such a shift did occur (Figure 1) the more dramatic shift occurred at the lower end of the spectrum (from over 50% not agreeing with the statement in 1999-2000 to only 3% in 2000-2001) i.e. from those students who probably had less of an intrinsic interest in the subject. It is therefore suggested that the shift of students from the lower end of the spectrum is most probably due to our own interventions.

In our opinion, the greatest cause of the shift in learning behavior, particularly at the lower end of the spectrum, was the reduction of weekly teaching time. This was achieved by lengthening the module. Ramsden (1992) argues that students are more likely to adopt a deep approach to learning if we resist the temptation to overteach and let the students learn autonomously. By stretching the period of time spent on one topic in this module, students have the opportunity to learn for themselves and use the web-based provision, and in doing so, prepare themselves, not just for later modules in our program, but also to become lifelong learners (Dearing, 1997). Judging by their responses, virtually all students took up this opportunity; and the web-resources, by providing a safe, well-structured and interactive learning environment, were an effective tool for initiating this lifelong-learning (Nageswaren et al., 2000).

There are, however, several drawbacks to this approach to teaching and learning which should be noted. Firstly, on average the time taken to prepare the resources for the proceeding fortnight can take up to 3 days (This being in addition to the 5 hours of staff training on the technical aspects of web-authoring). Overall, we estimate that, despite staff-student contact time being reduced, more time was actually spent on this module than would have been the case if traditional teaching methods were retained. However, we anticipate that, in the foreseeable future, most of our efforts will be spent on maintaining and fine-tuning the provision. Such tasks should be considerably less time-consuming and we may reap the benefits of such innovation. We would, however, urge other teachers in higher education to consider these time implications before they embark upon such a teaching and learning strategy.

In addition to time constraints, there are also technical implications. Despite being fairly rigorous in our approach, it is acknowledged that we are neither qualified programmers or software testers. When testing the provision, most of the problems occur when the students have answered questions incorrectly. Consequently, annoying features such as missing links do occur but are hidden away from the more obvious pathways. In order to overcome these difficulties students were encouraged to e-mail us when they encountered problems and a further benefit of increasing student usage has been that missing links could be identified and rectified more rapidly.

The final, and arguably the major drawback of the strategies adopted in the last year, is the lack of face-to-face staff-student contact. Not only do traditional tutorials provide the opportunity for staff and students to communicate on a more informal basis but they also provide a forum in which to discuss ideas. At Teesside, students choose an area of research for their final year project and over the last few years we have worked hard to increase the numbers opting for kinesiology research. Unfortunately, since these teaching strategies have been adopted, the number of students choosing projects in this area has dropped. In our opinion, this trend is not coincidence and serves to highlight the impersonal nature of the learning strategy adopted. Obviously, action will have to be taken in this area and steps are currently being undertaken to incorporate informal research discussions within the schedule.

Finally, it is our opinion that web-based provision does have pedagogical advantages over traditional techniques. In the foundation module studied, large numbers of students are required to learn the same material and this module has undoubtedly benefited from such provision. It has been a successful innovation by which we have worked hard to value diversity, by ensuring that students can engage with the material in a way which meets their own quite different needs. Our future work will also review the different approaches to web-based support that may be required for smaller more specialised modules, which may be better served using more traditional strategies of teaching and learning.

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Iain R. Spears, University of Teesside, United Kingdom Matthew Portas, University of Teesside, United Kingdom Alison Pettigrew, University of Teesside, United Kingdom

Iain, Senior lecturer in Sport and Exercise, and Matthew, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise, completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education in October 2000 and both are members of the Institute for Leaning and Teaching. Alison, Principal Lecturer in Learning and Teaching, is a member of the Institute for Learning and Teaching and Programme Leader of a nationally accredited Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.