Browsing by Person "Peacock, Susi"

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Developing a Museum Web Presence for Higher Education: the Evaluation of an Online Course at Richmond, The American International University in London
(2000) Peacock, Susi; Dickerson, E.
This paper discusses an online module: Museums and Galleries: The Cultures of Display for Junior level, undergraduate art history students at Richmond, the American International University in London (RAIUL). Published on the University's IntraNet, this module is part of a university-wide IT and Teaching Initiative. We specifically address the educational rationale for the project with reference to the institutional context and the impact of such developments on the University's support services.
Developing e-learning provision for healthcare professionals' continuing professional development
(IDEA, 2006-05-15) Peacock, Susi; Dunlop, G.; O'Donoghue, John
This book enumerates the difficulties in implementing technology within the educational curriculum in the context of institutional policy and procedures--Provided by publisher
Digital identities in ePortfolios: the first-year experience in a higher educational institution
(2008-10) Murray, Sue; Peacock, Susi
Introduction ePortfolios have the potential to promote learning and encourage personal development and digital identity by supporting (a) the learning process, (b) the product of learning and(c) the transition of learners at various stages of the lifelong and life-wide journey -(Barrett & Carney 2005; Ward & Grant 2007; ISLE 2005). This presentation outlines a new study, which explores first-year learners' experience of using ePortfolios with the aim of providing grounded guidelines to support institutional implementation and assist effective student engagement, in order to develop digital identities.
E-learning in physiotherapy education
(Elsevier Science B.V. Amsterdam, 2007-09) Peacock, Susi; Hooper, Julie
This paper reports the findings of a 1-year research project into the role of e-learning as a mechanism to support and enhance the learning environment for pre- and post-registration physiotherapists. The findings reveal tutor and student perceptions about what study entails, the anticipated respective roles of individuals in the learning process and how those individuals believe learning should occur when supported by e-learning in a tertiary education institution. Critical differences between the two groups of students, at different stages of their professional education, and their different uses of virtual learning environments are highlighted. This study raises some key issues that need to be addressed by educational institutions deploying e-learning in order to prepare students to engage with such a learning medium, which is likely to be unfamiliar to them at the outset of their undergraduate studies. In addition, physiotherapists need the skills, time and resources to regularly access and actively participate in the online environment. These points are essential if online communities such as interactiveCSP (www.interactivecsp.org.uk) are to be sustainable. Employers have a crucial role in promoting the professional development of staff by supporting such initiatives and ensuring that they are inculcated into an organisational culture which promotes the sharing of expertise and practice that is evidence based.
Effective use of VLEs in supporting staff to implement E-Learning
(2005) Peacock, Susi
Engaging staff and students in the development and deployment of a departmental website : a review
(Australasian and New Zealand Association for Medical Education, 2004-11) Peacock, Susi; Adamson, S.; McKenzie, Jane; Williams, K.
Introduction: This paper discusses the development, deployment and evaluation of a website for an academic department, built around a customised webtemplate. We draw upon a two-year, co-ordinated initiative between the Dietetics, Nutrition and Biological Sciences Department and the Centre for Academic Practice at Queen Margaret University College. Initially we provide a brief overview of the issues involved in using web-based technologies from the student and staff perspective. We then describe the process of setting up the site and present the results of the evaluation. Results and Conclusions: We address the emergent issues raised by the project. For staff these include ease of use and the provision of a variety of support mechanisms. These are critical for long-term engagement and sustainability since they reduce the risk of distancing staff from their materials and encourage ownership of the website. Students use the website for preparation for lectures, as signposts for further research and reflection. Key barriers relate to access, systems stability and commitment of support departments. To address such concerns an institutional approach is proposed to provide long-term support.
Enhancing student engagement and learning through programme redesign: experiences from undergraduate and post graduate radiography programmes at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
(TESEP, 2007) Meikle, D.; Blyth, Christine; Cockbain, Margaret; Morss, K.; Bovill, C.; Peacock, Susi
An exploration into the importance of a sense of belonging for online learners
(Athabasca University, 2020-04-30) Peacock, Susi; Cowan, John; Irvine, Lindesay; Williams, Jane
Online learning provides flexible learning opportunities but with it come notable issues. Fostering a sense of belonging and a personal connection is seen as fundamental by many educational researchers regardless of the learning environment. For online learners, nurturing a sense of belonging may present a way of improving their experiences and attainment as well as reducing attrition rates. Limited research has explored specifically sense of belonging and online learning. This article addresses that gap and reports a small-scale exploratory study using qualitative data collection and analysis methods to investigate its importance, or not, for postgraduates’ online education, by exploring the origins and nature of their lived experience of online learning and their sense of belonging therein. Our initial findings emphasise its importance for them as online learners and has identified three significant themes: interaction/engagement; the culture of the learning; and support. These early findings highlight the importance of their role in promoting a sense of belonging and in ensuring that there are opportunities for meaningful group and peer interactions and will be of interest to all engaged in online education
Exploring learner and tutor experiences of Wimba in drama and the creative industries
(2010-05-12) Girdler, Simon T.; Peacock, Susi; Dean, John; Mastrominico, Bianca; Brown, Douglas; Murray, Sue
Nine-month funded project by PALATINE (the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Dance, Drama and Music). Focus on online synchronous learning environments (OSLEs) such as Wimba in drama and cultural management.
Exploring Tutor and Student Experiences in Online Synchronous Learning Environments in the Performing Arts
(Scientific Research, 2012-11) Peacock, Susi; Murray, Sue; Dean, John; Brown, D. M.; Girdler, Simon; Mastrominico, Bianca
High levels of student dissatisfaction and attrition persist in blended and online distance learning programmes. As students and tutors become more geographically dispersed with fewer opportunities for face-to-face contact emergent technologies like Online Synchronous Learning Environments (OSLEs) may provide an interactive, connected learning environment. OSLEs, such as Blackboard Collaborate and Adobe Connect, are web-based, computer-mediated communication programs typically using video and audio. This article reports the findings of an exploratory, nine-month study in the performing arts in which tutors used an OSLE for dissertation supervision, pastoral support and performance feedback. Garrison & Andersons (2003) Community of Inquiry (COI) framework was used as the basis for evaluation of student and tutor experiences to explore in what ways learning could be supported when using the OSLE. Our findings indicate significant benefits of OSLEs including convenience, immediacy of communication and empowerment of learners, even for our rehearsal-based case study. For students, it was important to see and talk with each other (peers and tutors), share and discuss developing ideas and check understanding through the video and audio media. Tutors reported that OSLEs required them to re-think the design of the learning environment, re-visit how they facilitated discourse and re-examine their communication skills especially with regard to feedback on student performance. Technical limitations such as poor quality audio and video, lack of system robustness, and the need for turn-taking did impact on learning; however, it was accepted that OSLE-technology was improving, and rapidly so. Despite the limitations of the study, the evaluation using the COI framework demonstrated that learning had been supported and that use of an OSLE could support all three elements of the framework: social, cognitive and tutor presence. Also, it was apparent that the tutors and most of the students were extremely committed to using the OSLE believing it offered a lively, personal and dynamic learning space.
Flashlight online : an evaluation toolkit
(ASSOCIATION FOR LEARNING TECHNOLOGY, 2002-10) Kemp, Catriona; Peacock, Susi
Flashlight Online is part of the American Association for Higher Education, Teaching Learning and Technology Group's (TLTG) Flashlight Program (http://www.tltgroup.org/programs/ flashlight.html). The core of Flashlight Online is the Current Student Inventory (CSI); a bank of approximately 500 ready-made questions that can be used to create an online survey. The questions are designed to help institutions obtain relevant information about common issues relating to learning technologies and their use. Academics, staff developers and learning technologists can select questions, creating surveys which can be edited using Dreamweaver. Surveys can include the author's own questions as well as ones taken from the question bank. In addition, it is possible to change the font size and colour and tailor the background of the survey form.
From pioneers to partnerships : the changing voices of staff developers
(Swets and Zeitlinger, 2003-01-01) Littlejohn, A.; Peacock, Susi; Seale, Jane
The aims of the book are to use the topic of institutional implementation to present a review of the impact of learning technology on tertiary education over the past few years; and to highlight and discuss key changes and developments that are shaping present and future activities and consider the implications for individual enthusiasts who work in the field of learning technology. The book outlines the context in which individual enthusiasts have operated and institutional implementation has occurred over the last ten years.;Four key themes are highlighted throughout the book: the individual enthusiast and their role in institutional implementation; the institutional enthusiast and their role in local and global e-learning initiatives; finding the evidence to justify enthusiasm and underpin implementation; and reinventing the individual enthusiast.
From Presences to Linked Influences Within Communities of Inquiry
(Athabasca University, 2016-09-01) Peacock, Susi; Cowan, John
Much research has identified and confirmed the core elements of the well-known Community of Inquiry Framework (CoIF): Social, Cognitive and Teaching Presence (Garrison, 2011). The overlap of these Presences, their definitions and roles, and their subsequent impact on the educational experience, has received less attention. This article is prompted by the acceptance of that omission (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2010). It proposes enrichment to the Framework, by entitling the overlapping spaces uniting pairs of Presences as Influences. These three spaces, linking pairings of Social, Teaching, and Cognitive Presences, can be labelled as trusting, meaning-making, and deepening understanding. Their contribution to the educational experience is to address constructively some of the challenges of online learning, including learner isolation, limited learner experience of collaborative group work and underdeveloped higher-level abilities. For these purposes we also envisage cognitive maps as supporting learners to assess progress to date and identify pathways forward (Garrison & Akyol, 2013). Such maps, developed by a course team, describe the territory that learners may wish to explore, signpost possible activities, and encourage the development of cognitive and interpersonal abilities required for online learning. We hope that considering the Influences may also assist tutor conceptualisations of online community-based learning. Our proposals call on both learners and tutors to conceive of the Presences and Influences as working together, in unison, to enhance the educational experience whilst fostering deep learning. Our suggestions are presented to stimulate scholarly debate about the potential of these interwoven sections, constructively extending the Framework.
How do diverse groups of learners in the health sciences respond to a new virtual learning environment?
(Queen Margaret University College, 2005-06) Peacock, Susi; Hooper, Julie; Learning Teaching Support Network for Health Sciences
Aims of the project In the original proposal, the stated aims of this research were to: 'Investigate learners' responses to their first exposure to a new learning experience in a VLE Examine learners' attitudes to the VLE as an effective learning environment through the project Compare and contrast attitudes to a VLE in two different physiotherapy programmes.' Objectives of the project The main objective of the research (as stated in the original proposal) was to provide a detailed analysis into the experience of two specific and differing physiotherapy student cohorts who were new to using VLEs in the learning experience. We aimed to: 'Provide an overview of the literature on the use and value of VLEs in the health sciences. This will focus specifically on initial learner attitudes to Information Technology in learning Conduct a study exploring students' reactions to, and participation in a VLE during the lifetime of the project Identify issues in preparing students in the use of a VLE drawn from diverse groups Evaluate the findings of the study which will: Review students attitudes to the use of a VLE in physiotherapy programmes Highlight individual, social and technical barriers for the meaningful implementation of the VLE from the student perspective Consider the potential for VLEs for the health science community as a whole as well as to the individual lecturer Raise awareness, throughout the duration of the project, of the potential roles of VLE in improving students learning.'
Identification of staff training and development needs.
(Queen Margaret University, 2007) Dunlop, G.; Peacock, Susi; Scottish Funding Council's e-Learning Transformation Programme
This interim report will present the findings to date of current practice in using and maintaining an electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) for personal development planning across the tertiary education sector that have implications for staff development. A review of the current literature and a series of staff interviews have consistently identified a number of key issues relating to current and future ePortfolio practice which require serious consideration by institutions within higher and further education within a staff development programme. The terminology used to refer to an ePortfolio is also discussed in an attempt to differentiate between an ePortfolio as a process and an ePortfolio as a software program. Recommendations are made for staff development in current learning and teaching practice that include the use of reflection and story telling-. Additional areas for consider are: assessment; blogging;legal issues and an institution' rationale for use on an eportfolio.
Improving access to learning in the workplace using technology in an accredited course
(Elsevier Science B.V. Amsterdam, 2005-03) Munro, Kathleen; Peacock, Susi
This article gives an account of a case study which seeks to explore the potential for using technology to deliver learning in the workplace: a syringe driver course for nurses. We provide a brief overview of workplace learning, continuing professional development and learning technology in the health sciences. The paper then draws upon a three-year project that involved the transition of a traditionally taught, institution-based face-to-face course to work-based learning using technology. Through the evaluation and discussion of the case study we address key issues that have emerged, such as, marketing of the product; in our case it was decided that the most cost-effective way to provide the course and recuperate some costs was to accredit the course by the Institution. Registered practitioners in the workplace assess learning and are linked to the quality assurance mechanisms of the Institution. We also consider some of the major barriers to implementation, highlighting critical areas for consideration for those undertaking a similar project. These include the lack of technical knowledge in the Group, which resulted in a steep learning curve for all members. This and numerous iterations of materials (including video and animations) lengthened the project considerably whilst technological advances meant other more sophisticated technological solutions that became available during the production process were incorporated. A cost benefit analysis would show that the product has been delivered across Scotland and production costs covered and that there have been unquantifiable gains, including improving the external profile of the academic institution and the NHS Trust, developing the technical skills of the Group and providing invaluable experience of working in a cross-disciplinary collaborative working environment.
Initial Findings from a Large-Scale, Longitudinal Study of First-Year Learners' Experience of ePortfolios
(Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, 2008-07) Peacock, Susi; Murray, Sue; Morss, K.
ePortfolios are one of the latest web 2.0 tools available to educators in tertiary education. Their application and popularity are growing rapidly in Europe and North America in all subject areas (Stefani, Mason and Pegler 2007; Strivens 2007). Early studies indicate that the learner response to this tool in the first year of study has been mixed, with a notable lack of student engagement and ownership (Oradini and Saunders 2007; Pond 2007; Cosh 2007; Peacock & Gordon 2007; Tosh et al. 2005). This response may reflect confusion regarding the different roles of an ePortfolio within the learning and teaching environment. However, there has been little indepth, longitudinal research into the learner experience of such systems to date that might substantiate this. This presentation outlines a new study, which sets out to explore first-year learners' experience of using ePortfolios with the aim of providing practical, grounded guidelines to support institutional implementation and assist effective student engagement.
Integrating reflective activities in eportfolios to support the development of abilities in self-managed experiential learning
(Taylor & Francis, 2017-05-18) Cowan, John; Peacock, Susi
This article presents the case for self-managing and self-regulating learners to link their various forms of reflection explicitly, and to do so within an ePortfolio, in order to support the development of higher-level abilities such as problem-solving, critiquing, decision-making, empathising and resolving conflicts. It explores the reflective options for self-managed experiential learning, and concentrates upon what three forms of reflection (reflection-for, -on- and in-action) entail, and could contribute to learning and development. It also addresses how linking previous reflections (composted reflections) can contribute to the development of higher-level abilities. An ePortfolio is taken as a natural and effective location for this integration. Guidance is offered, requiring modest tutorial activity to generate and maintain learner involvement in the development of linked reflections in a learner's assorted records and reflections housed in an ePortfolio. Suggestions for gathering learner constructive feedback on such initiatives are included. 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
Learners' initial expectations and experiences of ePortfolios: A pilot study
(Oxford Brookes University, 2009-03) Peacock, Susi; Murray, Sue
This paper discusses the findings of a pilot study that explored learners' preliminary expectations and experiences of using an ePortfolio. ePortfolios have the potential to support learning and personal development due to the multiple roles they can play in the learning environment; however, student engagement has been varied. A mixed-method approach assisted in developing a rich picture of learner experience and use, and findings suggest that tutor and learner need support to understand the complexity of the tool. Furthermore, data protection and alumni access need to be addressed at an institutional level before appropriate resources are committed to implementation.
Learning technology and its potential to support student placements in hospitality and tourism education
(Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Network, 2005-04) McGugan, Stuart; Peacock, Susi
This study explores the contribution that learning technologies can make to support students and enhance their learning on placements. Using action research, the implementation of a virtual learning environment (VLE) with undergraduate students studying hospitality and tourism management is evaluated. The study reveals that it is feasible to create an online environment that can be beneficial for some students. However, barriers exist which prevent the full potential of such a facility being realised, and more needs to be done to promote the use of a VLE to assist students' abstract learning from experience. This may reflect the view held by many students and staff that the academic environment and the workplace are two distinct learning contexts.