Online study and support groups for postgraduate students
Judith Jeffcoate, Associate Teaching Fellow
What is the problem?
Postgraduate students in Computing may feel isolated, as there are no
regular tutorials. They have only limited contact with other students through a
First Class Conference.
From an educational viewpoint, there is a need for tutorial work to develop
the academic literacies appropriate to postgraduate study. This could be
done through an iterative process of writing and discussion.
The course M883
discussion forums. The selected activities were designed
to encourage the development of appropriate strategies for
approaching tasks such as evaluating a paper and writing
a critical summary.
Analysis of the Moodle logs showed differences in the way
that volunteers approached these tasks. For example
some accessed the VLE intensively over a short period,
whilst others revisited the
discussion over a longer
period. The diagram shows
a visualisation of one
activity. Figures in circles
are the number of active
contributions to the
discussion on a given day.
Visualisation of Moodle logs
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The full study
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/0
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/0
At the end of the November 06 presentation, students from one tutorial group
completed a questionnaire giving their views on tools, such as wikis, blogs
and forums, which could be supported by a VLE such as Moodle.
After discussion with the
course team, a set of activities was provided in the May 08 presentation. This
consisted of three discussion forums, each based on one of the papers that
were provided as essential reading for the course. These activities were
available to all students but remained optional.
The pilot study
Future plans: evaluation
During the May 2007 presentation a pilot study was carried out with a group
of volunteers. They were provided with a set of short formative activities
centred on developing the academic analysis and writing skills required for
postgraduate study. Two of the activities used wikis and the other three
The logs from the VLE will be analysed to establish the number of students
who have interacted with the activities in some way. In addition, a set of
telephone interviews will be carried out with selected students, including
those who did not take part in any of the activities.
A
The survey
C
H
K
M
.
Step 1
Survey of tutorial
group from Nov 06
presentation
Analysis of findings
Centres for Excellence in Teaching & Learning
Step 2
Pilot study with
volunteers on May 07
presentation
Analysis of findings
Step 3
Full study
open to all on
May 08 presentation
Evaluation
& report
COLMSCT
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/0
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/0
The project is designed to look at ways of supporting students through online
study groups in a VLE. Its main objective is to help them to develop suitable
academic literacies.
3
Activity 3 started
04
/0
The project
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No of actions
M883 (Software Requirements for Business Systems) is a postgraduate
computing course that is presented twice a year, in November and May. The
course already makes use of some features of the OU’s virtual learning
environment (VLE), including a wiki and a reflective journal.
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