[SueFolley]

Hi Elizabeth – I haven’t done this activity yet but it is interesting seeing your results. I do think there is a barrier for people if they have not used any of the social media tools before, as there is a learning curve with some of them. I think Twitter in particular takes a bit of time to fully get. You have to not only add lots of people but start making useful connections and engaging with them before you really see the benefit, which can take weeks or months. I often liken it to being on Facebook without any (or with very few) friends on there – you just can’t see the point at first. If you have to overcome a lot of these barriers before even starting with grappling with course content, you can see how time-consuming this would be. Having said all that – I usually advise people just to dive in and try and engage. You can learn a lot by observing how others use the tools and interact with one another.

[SueFolley]

It would be really interesting to know if there is any correlation between scores and student success, I wonder if any of these institutions do some follow up work on this? Also it would be interesting to know if any potential students were put off by taking the questionnaires and if so, what the reason was. It could have made them rethink their expectations about an online course, but alternatively they could have been put off by something which was easy to learn or a skill that they could develop as they go. I often think people are not fully ready for courses, but as long as the motivation to do well is there and there is a willingness to learn skills as they go, this should not put them off.

[SueFolley]

I agree – mixing in some deal-breaker questions like ‘do you have access to a pc with internet’ with some others where the skill involved would take a few minutes to learn or even could be developed via participation in the course, just does not make sense. I think it is more likely to put people off taking an online course. All these things need to be checked and discussed but to reduce them to a survey is over simplifying things.

[SueFolley]

Those links worked fine. I liked these questionnaires Helen. I particularly liked the graph in the results and the detailed feedback indicating how we can improve on some of the skills. It is all done in a positive and encouraging way. I tended to score quite highly on all except digital scepticism, so perhaps I need to tackle that area and curb my enthusiam for a bit more discrimination 🙂

[SueFolley]

Hi Elizabeth, I think dealing with expectations is a very important thing to tackle whether the course is f2f or online. I think people often assume that it is clear what is expected in f2f courses as that is the norm, and people understand the unwritten rules of engagement. The reality though is that every f2f course is different in terms of what is expected, hours needed to put in, tutor support, how much time needed for independent study, how much group or collaborative work is involved etc. I think that maybe we ought to think about making these expectations clear before people sign up to any course and also having an initial discussion at the start of the course.

[SueFolley]

Yes I agree these questionnaires need to be used with caution. I think they are positive in making the learner consider their expectations about what they get with an online course, and of course checking they have access to a computer and the internet etc (a bit of a deal breaker if this is not the case). However I think they could also put people off in the way you stated. It maybe that one person does not know how to manage files or attach something to an email – but that could be taught very quickly, so should not be a deterrent to taking an online course. In the same way we all are guilty of procrastination and all wish we were more organised, but it does not mean that we would not do well in an online course. On the whole I think they are good at making people more aware of what they are signing up for, but should be used with caution and maybe followed up with offers of support or encouragement.

[Author]

Posts