Last week, I was kindly invited by Dr Jo-Anne Murray to present some ideas to the MVLS TELT group on e-learning evaluation and scholarship. MVLS is already doing a lot of great work in this area, and the purpose of the talk was to celebrate and identify ways to build on existing good practice.
As examples of good practice, three presentations were highlighted from the recent ELESIG Scotland meeting in Dundee last month, all from MVLS. Dr Mary McVey gave an invited presentation about student experiences of an Online Pre-Entry Nursing Summer School (OPENSs); this included a video presentation from the students themselves which highlighted the power of the learner voice. Dr Leah Marks presented the outcomes of an evaluation of learner experiences of a Student Selected Component (elective course for medical students) which made use of the ‘Cancer in the 21st Century’ FutureLearn MOOC as part of a blended curriculum design. Finally, Dr Jo-Anne Murray presented work undertaken by her Digital Education Unit in relation to providing an online student induction to learning online, which is being repurposed for use in other colleges and programmes.
During my MVLS TELT presentation, we discussed evaluation and scholarship beyond the learner experience, referencing Cook and Ellaway’s (2016) comprehensive framework for TEL evaluation. We also discussed evaluation for quality assurance, and scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) generally, and the importance of defining clear research questions. There already are existing scholarship groups at school and college levels, and one of the outcomes of the meeting was to potentially formalise the structure and increase its visibility to encourage greater participation.
For more information, see the slides from the MVLS TELT meeting. I would be very happy to discuss this further with anyone who’s interested, alongside e-learning contacts across the colleges and colleagues in the Learning and Teaching Centre.