Arun Karnad

About Arun Karnad

Arun Karnad is the Research Officer with the Learning Technology and Innovation. He has published several research papers on Digital Literacy in Higher Education and Education Technology for LSE Research Online and is responsible for managing recruitment, student liaison, web content and communications for the SADL project. He would like to find out how undergraduates are using digital literacy skills in their studies at the LSE, and the kinds of skills that would be useful to students in their future careers.

Neurodiversity and Lecture Capture report is now available

The Neurodiversity and Lecture Capture report written by myself and Steve Bond is now available on LSE Research Online.

Neurodiversity is a term encompassing a range of conditions, including autism and Asperger’s syndrome, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia (Dalton & Hall, 2013). Past studies suggested that recorded lectures could be a useful tool for neurodiverse students (Williams & Fardon, 2007). However, little is known about about whether lecture capture actually is useful to neurodiverse students, or how these students use it to study effectively while managing their condition.

Just before the end of the Summer Term, Steve Bond and I conducted a survey of neurodiverse students to measure the impact of lecture capture, and the (perceived) pedagogical benefits of the School’s Echo360 software. We sought to answer the following questions:

Do neurodiverse students access lecture recordings more or less often than neurotypical students?
To what extent to do students access recordings?
How useful were these recordings to the study strategies of neurodiverse students, and what challenges did they face when using lecture capture technology?
Did students record lectures themselves? If so, why?

138 students responded to the survey, of which 124 completed surveys were used in the study. 66% of students reported having a neurodiverse condition, the most common of which was dyslexia (33%). Neurotypical students, or students not reporting to have a neurodiverse condition formed 34% of the study population.

The key findings from this study were as follows:

Neurotypical and neurodiverse students access lecture recordings at similar rates.

Although previous studies suggest that neurodiverse students may benefit more from lecture recordings, neurodiverse students in this survey reported accessing lecture recordings at similar rates to neurotypical students.

Both neurodiverse and neurotypical students find lecture recordings “essential” for their studies.

49% of neurotypical students, and 46% of neurotypical students claimed that recorded lectures were “Essential” to their studies.

Neurodiverse students may not be accessing lecture recordings because they are unaware of their existence, or because they are not available in the first place.

The key reasons why neurodiverse students reported not accessing lecture recordings on Moodle were either lack of awareness that recorded lectures were available on Moodle, or that lectures had not been made available.

Neurodiverse students raised sporadic availability of lecture recordings as an issue.

Out of 81 suggestions on how the LSE could improve its provision of lecture recordings, issues with availability of lecture recordings were raised almost a third of the time (29%, 24 responses).

Neurodiverse students are more likely to use lecture recordings to reinforce concepts and revision, than to avoid attending lectures.

Neurodiverse students were over more likely to use recorded lectures to revisit sections to reinforce concepts and to make extra notes than neurotypical students, who were more likely to use recorded lectures to catch up on missed lectures. Only 4% of neurodiverse students and 7% of neurotypical students (16 respondents in total) reported using recorded lectures to avoid attending lectures.

Students identified audio and video quality as the biggest technical issue with lecture recordings.

Technical issues, including the video and sound quality of lecture recordings were mentioned 37 times out of 81 suggestions on how lecture recordings on Echo360 could be improved.

The majority of students do not record lectures themselves…

122 students completed this section of the survey in total, and the majority of students reported that they did not record lectures themselves (62%, 76 respondents).

…but if they do, its predominantly in audio format.

Audio recording was the most popular format for recording lectures, with 93% of all recordings made in audio format. Standalone recording devices, such as Dictaphones were mainly used for recording, with 32% of all recordings made on such devices.

Students suggested that access to lecture recordings on mobile devices and the ability to bookmark sections of recordings would be useful.

The functionality to add bookmarks to recordings on Echo360 does exist, and a recommendation could be to better inform students about the features of Echo360 to allow them to make optimal use of the service.

Conclusion and recommendations

Neurotypical students reported using lecture recordings more frequently, although the majority of neurodiverse students reported using recorded lectures in their studies. Neurodiverse students found lectures to be an “essential” tool for their studies and used lecture recordings to address issues in note-taking and content comprehension. However, inconsistencies in the availability, quality and accessibility of recordings are hindering neurodiverse students from fully exploiting this resource.

As a result of this survey, we recommend the following measures:

Support could be given to lecturers to help them adapt their lecture style to produce better lecture recordings.
Lecturers could be incentivized to provide lecture recordings, by including any training taken towards providing lecture recordings being included as part of personal development.
Academics could be provided with guides on how to use lecture recording equipment, and given tips and reminders to help improve the quality of recordings, such as remembering to switch on lecture recording equipment microphone in case lecturer before them switched it off.
Academic support staff should also ensure that lecture recording equipment is installed and in working condition, especially if there have been extensive technical problems with recordings from a particular room or course.
Students could be encouraged to produce their own lecture recordings in formats that suit their learning requirements, and provided support and guidance in being able to do so.
Further research should be conducted into more specific issues faced by neurodiverse students, and how technology is incorporated into their study strategies.

We believe that implementing these recommendations could improve the learning experience of students in general and improve the inclusivity credentials of the LSE.

We would also like to thank Linda Kelland from the LSE Disability and Wellbeing Office, and Sophie Newman, the former Students’ Union Disability Officer for their help and advice for this study.

References:

Dalton, N. S., & Hall, W. (2013). Neurodiversity & HCI. In CHI 2013: Changing Perspectives (pp. 2295–2304). Paris, France.

Williams, J., & Fardon, M. (2007). Lecture recordings: extending access for students with disabilities. In Research paper for ALT-C: Beyond Control 2007, University of Nottingham. Nottingham.

November 21st, 2013|Reports & Papers, Teaching & Learning, Tools & Technologies|Comments Off|

The LSE SADL Project is now recruiting!

Digital and Information literacies are knowing how to find, evaluate, use and manage information using digital technology appropriately. They are part of lifelong learning and an important skill for all students.The Student Ambassadors for Digital Literacy project is looking at how we can best embed these skills into undergraduate teaching. We are look for plugged-in, enthusiastic undergraduates studying in the Department of Statistics and Social Policy to help develop digital and information literacy skills relevant to their courses, and tell us how we can better embed digital literacies into undergraduate teaching at the LSE.

In return, students will receive training for skills such as writing for blogs, maintaining a social media presence and managing research resources; skills which will be vital in their future careers. Participation in this project will be recognised in students’ LSE Personal Development Aide Memoir (PDAM), and students will also receive vouchers to spend online.

The deadline for applications is 27 November (Friday Week 8). For more information, please visit http://lsesadl.wordpress.com, follow the project on Twitter @LSESADL, or email Arun Karnad at a.r.karnad@lse.ac.uk.

If you think you can be the face of digital literacy, apply now!

November 14th, 2013|Uncategorized|Comments Off|

CLT Learning Technology Innovation Grant – Call for Applications

CLT Learning Technology Innovation Grant

Call for Applications

We are launching the Learning Technology Innovation Grant (LTIG) and invite applications from LSE academic staff from all departments. This replaces the former CLT development grant.

The overall aim of all projects is to encourage and support the integration of new technologies in teaching and learning at LSE. A further aim is to foster the professional development of individual members of academic staff, both in their use of technology in teaching and in the continuing evaluation and development of their teaching practice.

In this first round, we are looking to fund 6 projects. Applications that fit into the following strands are particularly encouraged, though projects that do not fit will be considered and are also welcome.

The use of video and multimedia in teaching
Using technologies to innovate assessment and feedback practices
Changing your classroom teaching
Developing digital literacies

We encourage applicants to discuss their ideas with any of us beforehand.

You can download the application form (word document) from the MUG (Moodle Users Group) Course on Moodle.

Applications should be submitted via the above course assignment module by midnight Friday 15^th November 2013.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

CLT

November 6th, 2013|Announcements, Teaching & Learning|Comments Off|

Trends in Education Technology II

Education technology is a rapidly moving, sometimes divisive and always interesting, especially to us working in Higher Education.

Here’s a round-up of some of the articles I found interesting, and thought you might too.

Do comment, recommend and share.

MOOCs

Can the Current Model of Higher Education Survive MOOCs and Online Learning? – Henry C. Lucas, Educause Review

Henry Lucas, Professor of Information Systems at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, analyses the impact MOOCs and other disruptive technologies will have on the Higher Education industry. He concludes that MOOCs offer a great opportunity to engage a new generation of students, and universities need to adapt their business models to incorporate emerging trends to avoid becoming redundant like the companies Lucas uses as case studies.

Let them eat MOOCs – Gianpiero Petriglieri, Harvard Business Review

Countering Henry Lucas’ article is an interesting argument by Gianpiero Petriglieri, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD. Prof. Petriglieri questions whether MOOCs can actually deliver the democratization of higher education, and open up elite institutions to all. Instead, he argues that MOOCs may actually lead to “colonialism” by elite universities and deepen the divide between themselves and smaller institutions.

Report by Faculty Groups Questions Savings from MOOCs – Lawrence Biemiller, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Summary of the latest report by Campaign for the Future of Higher Education. The executive summary to their report can be accessed here. The paper, backed by faculty unions in the US, argues that students are not getting value for money by having to pay for credentials from online courses which are “virtually valueless in the marketplace”. It cites the example of Georgia Tech’s fully online Masters course in Computer Science provided by Udacity as being exploitative of the university’s reputation and course content for their own commercial gain.

Gamification

Infographic – Knewton

A useful little infographic charting the history of gamification in education.

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

Mobile Learning

Five Fabulous ways to use Google Apps in the Classroom – Mary Claudia, Edudemic

A useful summary of how Google Apps can be used to organise lessons and allow collaboration between teachers and students.

October 18th, 2013|TEL Trends|Comments Off|

Trends in Education Technology I

Education technology is a rapidly moving, sometimes divisive and always interesting field of study, especially to us working in Higher Education. Therefore, I will be posting a fortnightly round-up of some of the articles I found interesting, and thought you might too.

Do comment, recommend and share. That’s what blogging is all about after all!

General

40 Future Uses for Educational Technology [Infographic] – EdTech Magazine

http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2012/07/40-future-uses-educational-technology-infographic

Whilst aimed at K-12, concepts such as gamification and digitized classrooms also have implications for HE provision.

MOOCs

Moocs: From Mania to Mundanity – Times Higher Education

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/comment/opinion/moocs-from-mania-to-mundanity/2007773.article

Written by the author of the recently released BIS report on the impact of MOOCs on HE provision, this article argues that MOOCs have moved beyond hype and hysteria, and are now becoming normalised into the teaching strategies of many universities.

Third-party credentialing

College Diplomas are Meaningless. This is How to Fix Them. Design specs for upgrading the communications device formerly known as the sheepskin – New Republic

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114692/college-diploma-time-upgrade

Whilst quite transparent in suggesting that LinkedIn could be a better alternative to demonstrating skills than a University degree, Reid Hoffmann, co-founder of LinkedIn, does make a point that the way graduates gain skills in future will involve a an unbundled format of course provision, allowing students to tailor skills to their own career aspirations. Central to this would be the ability for third-party course providers to be able to grant recognisable credentials to subscribers, e.g. Mozilla Open Badges.

Online mentoring

Internet mentors could supplant traditional lectures – Times Higher Education

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/internet-mentors-could-supplant-traditional-lecturers/2007676.article#.UkPiDCVB2W8.twitter

One of the findings to come out of the Horizon 2020 report from the Observatory on Borderless Education. As information becomes more freely available via MOOCs and other platforms, support provided by junior-level lecturers at universities may be replaced by Online mentors, who may themselves be professionals in the topic or PhD researchers.

Education technologies

50 Education Technology Tools Every Teacher Should Know About – Edudemic

http://www.edudemic.com/50-education-technology-tools-every-teacher-should-know-about/

A lot of technologies mentioned here will be familiar to many, but this is a useful round-up of the tools available to educators.

October 4th, 2013|TEL Trends|Comments Off|

Embedding Digital and Information Literacy in Undergraduate Teaching report

The latest piece of research by CLT on Embedding Digital and Information Literacy in Undergraduate Teaching compared strategies being used by three projects that are part of the JISC Developing Digital Literacies programme and the opportunities and threats for adopting some of these strategies as part of the work to embed the ANCIL framework into undergraduate teaching.

The report recommends a dual approach for Information Literacy and Digital Literacy skills to be successfully embedded into undergraduate teaching at the LSE. As explored in the CASCADE programme, student change agents provide contextualised, peer-to-peer support, but also important feedback on the kinds of issues faced by students, and the tools and technologies being used to overcome them and gain IL skills.

The ‘top down’ approach advocated by McGuinness (2007) is also needed to complement and support change agents. There needs to be increasing communication between academic faculty, academic support staff and librarians to better understand each others roles and remits, and find areas for effective collaboration.

We have already starting to explore some of the recommendations of this report, and have got the ball rolling through the ‘Student Ambassadors for Digital Literacy project’ (SADL), which will be looking at the role of student ambassadors to support digital literacies, and provide vital feedback to the project team on the embedded approach.

The report is now available via LSE Research Online.

References:

McGuinness, C. (2007). Exploring Strategies for Integrated Information Literacy: From “ Academic Champions ” to Institution-Wide Change. Communications in Information Literacy, 1(1), 26–38. Retrieved from http://www.comminfolit.org/index.php?journal=cil&page=article&op=view&path[]=Spring2007AR3&path[]=14. Accessed 26 July 2013.

July 26th, 2013|Reports & Papers, Research Skills, Teaching & Learning|Comments Off|

Exploring Social Media as data sources for research

Last Wednesday, CLT ran a workshop on Exploring Social Media as data sources for research as part of our NetworkEd series.

There was an excellent turnout of around 35 academics and PhD students from across the LSE’s departments attending, which shows that there is real interest in developing effective research methods to analyse the wealth of data social media can provide.

Some of the tools we explored can be found here. We got the ball rolling by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using social media data for research, which Jane presented below:

July 1st, 2013|Events & Workshops (LTI), NetworkED, Research Skills, Social Media|Comments Off|

Student Use of Recorded Lectures report

I’m really pleased to announce that CLT’s latest report on Student Use of Recorded Lectures is now available at http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/50929/.

This report reviewed recent literature on the use of recorded lectures, and explores 4 issues on the subject:

How do students use recorded lectures?
When do students access recorded lectures?
What effect do recorded lectures have on student attainment?
What effect do recorded lectures have on student attendance?

The report concluded that students find lecture recordings to be a learning useful tool, and mainly use recorded lectures to make up for missed lectures and to prepare for assessments, which also explains student access patterns to recorded lectures. Having access to recorded lectures did not have any significant effect on student attainment for assessments, and although some students may choose to miss lectures due to the availability of recorded lectures, there seems to be little evidence that students actually believe that having access to recorded lectures is the main cause or incentive to miss lectures. In fact, the majority of students (55%) surveyed by Traphagan et al. (2009) strongly agreed that they preferred receiving lecture content in class, even when it is available through other means.

There is also scope for further research into how specific groups of students with high rates of access utilise recorded lectures, such as students with neurodiverse conditions and students from a non-English Speaking Background (NESB). Steve Bond and I have already got the ball rolling on that front, and are conducting a survey of students with neurodiverse conditions at the LSE, the results of which we hope to share online by the end of August, or early September.

References:

Traphagan, T., Kucsera, J. V & Kishi, K., 2009. Impact of class lecture webcasting on attendance and learning. Educational Technology Research & Development, 58(1), pp.19–37. Available at: http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s11423-009-9128-7 [Accessed March 11, 2013].

June 25th, 2013|Images, Audio & Video, Reports & Papers, Teaching & Learning|Comments Off|

Neurodiversity and Lecture Recording survey

Steve Bond and I have been reviewing some of the research on how students use lecture recordings for their studies, and we noticed that several papers mention that lecture recordings could be helpful for neurodiverse students, particularly students with dyslexia, without actually measuring how. A bit more delving revealed that, although research has been done on dyslexic students’ views on Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), and studies have looked at note-taking by dyslexic students, little research exists about how dyslexic students actually use lecture recordings in their studies.

We got in touch with Sophie Newman, the Disability Officer with the LSE Student Union and Linda Kelland at the Disability and Well-being office for some more information. Their advice has been really helpful in highlighting some of the challenges neurodiverse students face at the School, such as lack of access to lecture recordings and lecture notes, and how students are using apps such as Notability to help make notes in lectures, which has really helped us get some insight into this topic.

So we thought we’d do a bit of research on this, and we need your help. We’d be most grateful if you could take our survey at http://tinyurl.com/p4eb5s9, but we’d also like your opinions and experiences on questions like:

What are the challenges you’ve faced making notes or recordings?
What are your experiences with lecture recordings on Moodle? Do you find them useful? And
What do you think would make life easier for your studies at the school (lecture recording wise, of course)?

There’s also a chance to enter a draw to win a £50 Amazon voucher, so if you’d like to help out, please comment below!

May 28th, 2013|Uncategorized|Comments Off|