Online learners webinar, by Sarah Knight, Heather Price, Helen Beetham and Lou McGill

1. What makes a successful online learner?12/01/2017
Sarah Knight, Heather Price, Helen Beetham, Lou McGill

2. Quick poll
Which most closely describes your role in
online learning?
A. Teaching
B. Course design/development
C. Supporting/developing people
D. Supporting/developing systems
E. Management/leadership
Jan 2017 What makes a successful online learner webinar
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3. Quick poll
Which most closely describes your aims for
this webinar?
A. Develop myself professionally
B. Develop my dept/organisation
C. Learn more about the research/evidence
D. Get ideas for improving a course/courses
E. Other
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4. Background

5. Background
»Digital Student: series of projects to
investigate students' expectations and
experiences of the digital environment
»Scaling Up Online Learning: guidance
and resources for institutions looking to
make online learning scalable and
sustainable
»Online learners scoping study:
background review and
recommendations for the online learners
investigation
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What makes a successful online
learner - report

6. Jan 2017 What makes a successful online learner webinar
Our assumptions:
» Most learners will experience some online component to
their learning: as they move into lifelong
learning/professional development, this component will
probably become more significant.
» Online learners are not a distinct group of learners: they are
any and all learners in situations where online resources,
networks and interactions are significant to their learning.
» For some learners, in some situations, ‘online’ is the strongly
preferred or only available space of learning.
» For most learners, ‘online’ is an adjunct space of learning
which intersects with offline learning at many points.
What do we mean by ‘online learning’?
Image attributed to Flickr user: wocintech stock - 127
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7. Jan 2017 What makes a successful online learner webinar
What do we mean by ‘online learning’?
Image attributed to Flickr user: wocintech stock - 127
= online courses +/or
online elements of blended courses +/or
informal learning online
= learning in online spaces +/or
with online materials +/or
through online communications +/or
with online pedagogies
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8. » Literature review and analysis (260+ studies)
›Zotero online library
›Bibliography
» Validation of findings with:
›Expert advisory group
›Online learners
#OLsuccess forum
#OLSuccess report
›Practitioners
(3 live, 2 online events)
» Reporting and dissemination
What we did
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9. Our focus: what makes for
a successful online learner?
Key questions
» What are successful online learners like?
» What do successful online learners do?
» How do successful online learners feel about learning online?
» What differences among online learners are significant to their
success?
» How can providers and teachers/facilitators support online
learners’ success?
Underpinning issue: who defines success, who measures it?
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10. Key findings

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»Online learners are highly diverse: more differences than similarities
»Contexts and motivations for online learning vary across life stages
»Relationship of motivation to success: learners see them thru same lens
»Emotional responses significant to success: curiosity, confidence,
independence, connection; vs boredom, frustration, loneliness
»'Readiness to learn online' a consistently used but contested metric:
providers devising one-off instruments with little evidence base
»Research ‘tribes’ with different issues, discourses, methods e.g. big data vs
rich narratives
Key points
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12. Successful online learners are…
» Experienced, already successful learners (especially online!)
» Motivated, resilient and persistent
» Autonomous, self-efficacious, self-regulating
» Curious and inquiring
» Well-prepared and well-organised - with digital tech!
» Digitally capable (diminishing effect? Necessary but not sufficient)
» Divergent in their learning preferences and needs:
belonging vs independence, open vs closed, self-directed vs
scaffolded
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13. Jan 2017 What makes a successful online learner webinar
Finding: How do you prefer to use online resources?
Slightly more of our participants
preferred to use recommended
resources than to find resources
online for themselves: the
preference would almost certainly
have been stronger with a less
confident and experienced group of
learners.
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Finding: How do you like to use your social media?
Our participants were fairly evenly
split between using their social media
informally for learning, using it as a
core/essential element of their
learning, and keeping it quite separate
from their learning, with informal use
marginally the more popular.
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15. Successful online learners do…
» Engage in learning that’s right for them and focus on their own
aspirations (choice, motive: signposting, advice)
» Set goals, make and monitor plans
» View, actively curate, collate and review a wide range of course-
related content
» Pro-actively: find information, seek help, initiate communication
» Manage time and attention
» Integrate personal with course technologies and media
» Make online setting work for them: belonging vs independence,
open vs closed, self-directed vs scaffolded
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16. (Online) learning success
Context
(e.g. course)
Person
Experiences
(activities/
feedback)
Beliefs
(confidence,
self-efficacy)
Repertoire
(practices,
habits)
Motives
(objective,
desire, identity)
gender
age
language/culture
social/econ capital
access
other demands
environment
resources
activities
rewards
roles
interactions
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17. For example
Context
(e.g. course)
Person
Experiences
(activities/
feedback)
Beliefs
(confidence,
self-efficacy)
Repertoire
(practices,
habits)
Motives
(objective,
desire, identity)
2. The course
requires you to share
links and resources
using twitter
3. You comply:
have positive
feedback from
others and some
public RTs
4. You are more
likely to tweet
again, believing
you will have a
+ve response
1. You are keen to
meet course
requirements (be
a good student)
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18. Successful online learners feel…
» enjoyment - even when learning is challenging (fun, motive,
curious, self-development)
» in control of their learning and their outcomes
» belonging and care - even in situations of low social/emotional
presence (implied from research)
» complex emotions about working with others
» anxiety and frustration e.g. with technology – but have strategies
for coping
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19. #OLsuccess Week
There are some things that I think are
vital; it’s the taking note of the
advantages that online gives, (e.g.
ability to have asynchronous activities
as well as synchronous ones)... But,
ultimately, we’re all different. What
suits me, today, mayn’t suit you
tomorrow.
What helps me in learning online is
the ability to set my own projects
and goals, to have access to a wide
range of resources and a group of
peers to support me. What doesn’t
help me is a course structure or
timed-delimited focus
If you do find it difficult to
have a voice – start small
and work up to more as
your confidence grows
Mainly I like it
because I don’t feel
pressured to be with
other people, which I
struggle with due to
my autism.
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20. #OLsuccess Week
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21. Significant differences
» Self-efficacy, self-regulation etc. (disposition or repertoire?)
» Educational background, experience and capital: previous success
» Other demands on time, especially for older adult learners
» Access needs and challenges + Linguistic needs and challenges
» Mode of participation
» (to some extent) subject and level of study
» (to a diminishing extent) ICT confidence and capability
» (In a few studies) age, gender, cultural background, ethnicity,
employment status, socio-economic status
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22. Quick question
Any questions?
• Please write any comments or questions in the chat
window…
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23. Key recommendations

24. Recommendations from previous Digital Student Studies
HE Digital Student Study recommendations
Final report of the FE Digital Study
Digital Student Skills Sector Final Project Report
Recommendations
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25. » Choose and purposely redesign the course or activity for online
learning
» Enable and support staff to develop their digital capabilities for online
LTA
» Reward staff for teaching innovation and establish champions of
online learning to cascade approaches out
» Develop a flexible, robust online learning environment, addressing
barriers to access
» Enable and support learners to take advantage of the opportunities
that online learning offers
» Create safe online spaces for learners to develop trust, establish
learning communities and develop a sense of belonging to the
institution
Recommendations for organisations
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26. » Use the Scaling up Online
Learning guides and checklists
to assess strengths and
weaknesses
» Encourage staff to use the Jisc
online learning readiness tool
either individually, in teams or
as part of their CPD
Recommendations for organisations
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27. Jan 2017 What makes a successful online learner webinar
Recommendations for online teachers
» Teach responsively, with consideration to learners’ different: motivations,
interests, learning histories and resources
» Prepare online learners to study online: norms, practices, expectations, good
study habits, functional access
» Enable learners to use their own devices, services and skills
» Support access to rich and diverse learning content
» Provide a digital environment that is accessible, social and personalisable: open
(for some learners); secure (for others)
» Address the barriers to success we have identified for specific groups of learners
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28. Recommendations for online learners
» Focus on your reasons for learning and
review your progress and goals regularly
» Consider whether online learning is right
for you.
» Before you sign up, make sure that you
have a thorough understanding of what
will be expected of you at all stages of the
course.
» Consider if you need a support network.
» If you have specific needs, ask in advance
how the course provider can help to
support your learning.
» Make sure that you have access to the
appropriate technologies that you will
need.
Image source:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tamuc/14305644882/in/photostream/
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29. Recommendations for online learners
» Think about your learning ‘space/s’.
» Make a timetable and plan your tasks. Be
realistic about what you can complete.
» Try to be a ‘reflective learner’. At different
stages of the course consider if your
approaches are working for you.
» Be prepared to seek help if you need it from
tutors, other learners, or your own support
network.
» Consider using any mechanisms provided to
create a social presence, such as a place to
make a personal profile.
» Take advantage of any means to provide
feedback to your course provider.
Photo Credit: Adam Pantozzi/Times Alliance
https://www.flickr.com/photos/yodelanecdotal/4092671749
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30. Quick question
Which recommendation is most relevant
and actionable for your organisation?
• Please write any comments in the chat window…
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31. Moving forward

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»Online version of the Digital Student Experience Tracker,
specifically for online learners/courses/providers
»Adapted questions drew on findings of Online Learners study
» 27 institutions signed up: 10 FE/skills, 17 HE: data ready for analysis
in April
»
What next? Digital student
Image source: flickr.com/photos/yodelanecdotal/4092671749 32
New 'Learners
Stories' project
collecting personal
accounts from
successful digital
learners

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» Scaling up online learning
» Curriculum design and support
» Technology and tools for online
learning
» Checklists (word document)
Scaling up online learning
A series of guides and checklists to help staff understand the decisions that need to
be made and the processes involved in scaling up online learning at an organisational
level:
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For individual staff, teams or as part of CPD
Online learning readiness tool
We welcome your feedback!
Scaling up online learning
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35. Quick poll
Which of the following should Jisc prioritise
now?
A. Qualitative research with online learners
B. Quantitative research based on data
from the Online Learners Tracker
C. Develop further guidance resources
D. Build a network for peer learning
across institutions
E. Institutional consultancy offer
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Twitter: #OLSuccess
Forum:
http://olsuccess.loumcgill.co.uk/
What next? Join the conversation online
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