Centre for Academic Practice
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Item 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, JaneOnline 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 educationItem Supporting staff transitions into online learning: A networking approach(Edinburgh Napier University, 2018-09-05) Peacock, Susi; DePlacido, ChristineAs online programmes in higher education continue to grow in number, the literature identifies emerging areas of concern. Whilst appreciating the flexibility and accessibility of online learning, learners often experience challenges in balancing their professional and personal lives whilst studying. In addition, such students have complained that their online educational experiences may be irrelevant and inappropriate, with tutors having limited presence or interest. Online learners’ experiences are contingent upon the skills and characteristics of the tutors, who face the challenges of changing and developing practices, such as taking a more student-centred approach in order to provide opportunities that foster deep learning. Current, familiar practices may no longer be appropriate. There is a need to support tutors as they develop and expand their practices, facilitating familiarity and confidence with the opportunities afforded by a range of technologies. Research indicates that communities of practice as a form of staff development may assist tutors in this transition. This paper shares the early experiences of a recently formed Network for online tutors at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, Scotland. This community of practice was based upon an adapted Community of Inquiry Framework (Peacock & Cowan, 2016). The Network, endorsed by management, was launched in 2017, with two co-leads, one from an educational development unit and one from the School of Health Science. Sub groups, all led by members of the Network, were subsequently developed to look at specific aspects of online delivery and development within the University. The purpose of the Network and the successes achieved in the first academic year are outlined. The challenges arising in the early stages of implementing the Network are reported, and proposals for progress in the next academic year are discussed. Finally, suggestions are offered to those embarking on a similar endeavour.Item Using feedback and ePortfolios to support professional competence in healthcare learners(AABRI, 2012-07) Peacock, Susi; Scott, Alison; Murray, Sue; Morss, K.This article presents a learner-centric approach to feedback for healthcare students based upon current research literature and the authors' own research into student experiences of feedback using ePortfolios. Feedback is essential for all learners but for healthcare learners failure to engage with feedback may impact on patient care with potentially life-threatening consequences. Therefore, the aim of this practical approach is to support learners in the development of their professional competency and identity through deeper and broader engagement with feedback facilitated through learner-generated internal reflective and external dialogues. Such an approach requires learners to broaden their conceptual understandings of feedback, embracing its different forms and types regardless of when it is provided and by whom. Learners are also required to become active agents in the feedback process seeking out feedback opportunities in all their learning environments within and outwith academia. Fundamental to the approach is the ePortfolio providing a highly flexible, integrative environment for learners to create, record, collect and collate feedback over a period of study which can be used for reflective dialogue, appraisal of current progress and to plan for future learning activities. Practical tutor guidance is provided and the suitability of this approach for other disciplines is also discussed.Item Tutor response to implementing an ePortfolio to support learning and personal development in further and higher education institutions in Scotland.(John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2010-09) Peacock, Susi; Gordon, Lisi; Murray, Sue; Morss, K.; Dunlop, G.Emergent research indicates that electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) can have a positive impact on the learning experience, but there are significant challenges-pedagogical and technological-which may limit their effectiveness. This paper contributes to research by providing further evidence about such challenges from the tutor perspective and offers suggestions about how institutions may address these issues. The paper draws upon 23 semi-structured interviews conducted with tutors in a range of subject areas, from Scottish further and higher education. Tutors were positive about the role that ePortfolios could play in the learning environment to encourage personal development and a more reflective approach to studies, assist student transition and, in some cases, support assessment. Concerns were raised, however, relating to moving paper-based assessed portfolios online, the legal issues of implementing an ePortfolio and the technical robustness and flexibility of systems. Barriers were identified regarding tutors' lack of understanding about personal development and reflection, and their role in the academic environment, initiative fatigue and lack of access to information technology. It was felt that these could be overcome, especially with long-term institutional commitment, significant staff development and the creation of tutor support networks. These findings should assist academics, staff developers and managers to implement an effective institutional ePortfolio solution.Item The PhD by Publication(Informing Science Institute, 2017) Peacock, SusiItem Integrating reflective activities in eportfolios to support the development of abilities in self-managed experiential learning(Taylor & Francis, 2017-05-18) Cowan, John; Peacock, SusiThis 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 GroupItem Towards online student-directed communities of inquiry(Taylor & Francis, 2017-05-11) Peacock, Susi; Cowan, JohnThis paper opens by summarising the case for student-directed learning in online higher education as a means of bringing about the development and use of higher-level cognitive and interpersonal abilities such as critical and creative thinking. The writers refine their conceptualisations of student-direction, different to, but flowing from student-centred learning, by scrutinising a progressive series of face-to-face examples offering some autonomy in learning. Nine features are identified as essential in a student-directed programme. They review Garrison's recent account of learning-centred Communities of Inquiry (CoI), identifying aspects of the teacher/instructor's role that would need to be altered for student-directed online communities. Guidelines are suggested for creating a student-directed CoI including programme design addressing the development, and use, of generic abilities. Finally, the writers provide an example programme structure incorporating preparation of learners for the responsibilities expected of them and the changing role of the tutor in an online student-directed CoI. 2017 UCUItem The Transformative Role of ePortfolios: Feedback in Healthcare Learning(Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research (CIDER), 2011-08) Peacock, Susi; Murray, Sue; Scott, Alison; Kelly, J.; Health Sciences and Practice Subject Centre (HSaP), Higher Education Academy (HEA)This article reports findings of a study based in Scotland that explored healthcare learners' experiences of feedback and ePortfolios. Feedback is a highly complex, multi-dimensional phenomenon, and healthcare learners consider it essential for their learning, recognizing that without it patient safety may be compromised. This study sought to explore whether ePortfolios, with their dual emphasis on both the product and process of learning, could encourage deeper and broader learner engagement with feedback. Drawing upon three examples where ePortfolios have been embedded into the curriculum, our findings demonstrate that most participants were generally positive about using the ePortfolio to access, read, and store feedback on their assessments. In some cases where ePortfolio had been introduced across a program, a number of learners had also begun to use feedback provided through the ePortfolio as a springboard for reflection and planning for future development. However, many of our students missed the wider opportunities for long-term, regular creation of and engagement with feedback through the ePortfolio. After reviewing our implementation and using novel work based on threshold concepts, we propose the Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTS) framework as a guide to support deeper learner engagement with feedback.Item From Presences to Linked Influences Within Communities of Inquiry(Athabasca University, 2016-09-01) Peacock, Susi; Cowan, JohnMuch 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.Item Retreats for intramental thinking in collaborative online learning(Taylor & Francis, 2016-11-28) Peacock, Susi; Cowan, JohnMuch online learning nowadays depends upon the creation of a generic, quality online educational experience, with a particular emphasis on collaborative conversations. In this discursive piece, drawing upon published scholarship and our facilitation and evaluation of learning in technology-mediated environments, we propose an enrichment to the pedagogy of such approaches, referred to as learner retreats. Such metaphorical spaces recognise the need for a 'quiet, safe place' for the private (internal) reflective thinking of each learner, as a foil to the shared collaborative dialogues in the external world of the online community. This 'headspace', with a specific focus on private thinking, is where community learners may probe and enhance current group thinking through reflection and self-regulatory activities. Guidelines are provided for tutors wishing to optimise the use and impact of such personal retreats, promoting deep individual learning and development within the educational experience of online learning communities. 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group