[MelissaBailey]

Out of the 3 surveys I accessed, (Penn State, San Diego, U of H) I found the U of H most effective.  The preamble put the whole idea of being a ‘Learner’ in a context and the areas of competence was clear – ‘Computer Skills’, ‘Independenct Learning’, ‘Dependent Learning’ etc.

In my experience of teaching online for the Open University (mostly with groups of students from Continental Europe), there is a need for a more integrated approach ie online surveys need to feed into the learning experience in a positive and more integrated ways.  At the OU we provide different kinds of support for Online distance learning students: students have a tutor who generally is an academic expert; they have access to the computing helpdesk for support with technical difficulties; there is additional support available for students who have various identified needs such as visual difficulties or mental health problems.  

However, in my work as a tutor, it was often unclear whether a student failed to achieve their potential because of poor academic skills, poor organisational skills/external pressures or because their computing skills were too basic to access everything which was on offer.  So whilst these surveys aare a useful first point of call for the student to self-assess, what is needed is more integration of this kind of survey and self-assessment  in the online courses themselves so that the information which is being gathered can feed into the learning and teaching process.

 

 

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