The CLT staff survey was conducted using Bristol Online Surveys between 30 May and 4 July 2008. There were 86 respondents, recruited from members of the clt-announce mailing list and from the readers of this blog.
Report
The following summary highlights the key results.
- The vast majority of respondents thought that their course had benefitted from the introduction of a VLE. However, several commented on the high initial workload required to get a course online.
- Respondents identified the following changes that they had made to their teaching since starting to use a VLE. Some respondents, however, commented that they felt they were not yet making the most of Moodle’s potential.
- Enabled blog-type comments on course readings
- Measured students’ extent of use of online resources
- Used quizzes to monitor student progress
- Provided online support outside office hours
- Followed up issues online after seminars
- There was an overwhelmingly positive view of the e-packs service, with personal commendations for the work of Mei Pang and Jane Secker. There were also, however, some comments that the process was rather time-consuming.
- All agreed that the Moodle Training run by CLT provided the skills needed to get started developing a Moodle course.
- More generally, there was almost complete satisfaction with the support and training offered by CLT, with several complimentary comments.
- Areas that respondents wanted to see CLT cover in future workshops included the following. We shall be reconsidering our training programme in light of these requests:
- Demonstrations of exemplar courses, to provide inspiration and directions for good practice. This was repeatedly requested.
- Use of screen capture
- Use of quizzes
- Turnitin (plagiarism detection service)
- Special workshops focussed on particular departments
- Audio / Podcasting
- Virtual Worlds (such as Second Life)
- Techniques to motivate students
- The question “Would you be willing to have your lectures video- or audio-recorded and made available to students?” produced a 3-way split between “Yes”, “No” and “Maybe”. Amongst the Noes and Maybes, some of the reasons given were as follows:
- It discourages students from attending lectures. This was the most widely-cited reason.
- Worries about intellectual property – about how long recordings will be kept, and to whom they will be distributed. This was also a common concern.
- Discomfort about being recorded
- Other requests and suggestions included:
- Requests for an ‘Advanced Moodle’ course. (Note our “Moodle Next Steps” course is now available.)
- Use of Personal Response Systems
One final comment we particularly liked:
“CLT has done a magnificent job over the past year and there are no suggestions for improvement.”
Given that, and the fact that it’s 6pm on Friday, I’m going home.