In this global information age, schools that teach public affairs and administration must meet the needs of students. Increasingly, this means providing students information in online classrooms to...

Using Learning Analytics to Predict At-Risk Students in Online Graduate Public Affairs and Administration Education

Volumes of detailed information are now unobtrusively collected as students use learning management systems and digital learning environments in their studies. This significantly elevates opportunities to better understand how students learn. The learning analytics community is exploring these data to describe learning processes [117] and ground recommendations for improved learning environments [8, 102, 139]. One challenge in this work is need for more and more detailed information about each student’s learning processes to mine for developing useful and timely feedback for students and teachers [150]. Student engagement is a strong focus in this work. Research consistently shows positive relationships between engagement and academic success (e.g., [68, 111]). However, to construct learning analytics describing student engagement and recommending more productive forms of engagement, the field needs to better understand what student engagement means, how it can be observed online and quantified, and how it relates to learning processes and achievement. We review literatures describing student engagement and its relations to learning focusing on engagement in online and distance learning in postsecondary education. We catalog conceptualizations, measurement approaches and benefits of student engagement for learning and academic achievement. Through lenses of learning analytics and learning science, we map the evolution of analytics about student engagement and propose future research to bridge the learning analytics—learning science gap. We note challenges of tracking and supporting student engagement and recommend strategies that are predicted to facilitate positive long-term change.

Analytics for Student Engagement

Appraising the role of the virtual patient for therapeutics health education.

Student engagement continues to be a point of emphasis in pharmacy education, yet there remains little data on tangible means to increase organic student engagement. This review attempts to better define student engagement, draws from educational theorists to emphasize the importance of student engagement, and provides the reader with practice philosophies that can be used across of variety of teaching settings to help develop an engaging learning environment.

Practical Insights for the Pharmacist Educator on Student Engagement.

Rapid advances in technology during the last few decades have provided a multitude of new options for teaching and learning. Although technology is being widely adopted in education, there is a shortage of research on the effects that this technology might have on student learning, and why those effects occur. We conducted a comprehensive review of the literature on various uses of digital technology in educational settings, and the effects of that technology on students’ objective learning outcomes. We interpret these effects within the context of empirical research on effective principles of learning, and the extent to which the affordances of technology permit opportunities for increased engagement with the material, retrieval practice, and spacing. Results revealed that technology is neither beneficial nor harmful for learning when used primarily as a means of presenting information (e.g., information viewed on a computer screen vs. on paper), but can be beneficial when it involves unique affordances that leverage effective learning principles. We discues these findings in light of the ever-increasing availability of technology in education, and the importance of evidence-guided criteria in decisions about adoption and implementation.

A Comprehensive Review of Educational Technology on Objective Learning Outcomes in Academic Contexts

Objective. To assess factors influencing student engagement with e-tools used as a learning supplement to the standard curriculum in pharmacology courses. Design. A suite of 148 e-tools (interactive online teaching materials encompassing the basic mechanisms of action for different drug classes) were designed and implemented across 2 semesters for third-year pharmacy students. Assessment. Student engagement and use of this new teaching strategy were assessed using a survey instrument and usage statistics for the material. Use of e-tools during semester 1 was low, a finding attributable to a majority (75%) of students either being unaware of or forgetting about the embedded e-tools and a few (20%) lacking interest in accessing additional learning materials. In contrast to semester 1, e-tool use significantly increased in semester 2 with the use of frequent reminders and announcements (p Conclusion. The provision of online teaching and learning resources were only effective in increasing student engagement after the implementation of a “marketing strategy” that included e-mail reminders and motivation.

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Student Engagement in Pharmacology Courses Using Online Learning Tools

Objectives. To design a series of e-learning tools within the framework of a defined educational pedagogy to complement the conventional pharmacology curriculum at Griffith University and evaluate the impact of this strategy on student level of understanding through taxonomic classification of student final exam answers. Methods. A series of 148 e-learning tools was designed for 3rd year undergraduate pharmacy students and incorporated into their curriculum during 2012. The educational benefits of the e-learning tools were evaluated by analyses of student level of understanding (by SOLO taxonomy) at the final exams between the control group (standard curricula) in 2011 and the intervention group (standard curricula

/pdf/a-comparative-study-to-evaluate-the-educational-impact-of-e-4dxwrn4iek.pdf

A Comparative Study to Evaluate the Educational Impact of E-Learning Tools on Griffith University Pharmacy Students’ Level of Understanding Using Bloom’s and SOLO Taxonomies

Objective. To assess factors influencing student engagement with e-tools used as a learning supplement to the standard curriculum in pharmacology courses. Design. A suite of 148 e-tools (interactive online teaching materials encompassing the basic mechanisms of action for different drug classes) were designed and implemented across 2 semesters for thirdyear pharmacy students. Assessment. Student engagement and use of this new teaching strategy were assessed using a survey instrument and usage statistics for the material. Use of e-tools during semester 1 was low, a finding attributable to a majority (75%) of students either being unaware of or forgetting about the embedded e-tools and a few (20%) lacking interest in accessing additional learning materials. In contrast to semester 1, e-tool use significantly increased in semester 2 with the use of frequent reminders and announcements (p,0.001). Conclusion. The provision of online teaching and learning resources were only effective in increasing student engagement after the implementation of a “marketing strategy” that included e-mail reminders and motivation.

S. Niru Nirthanan

Papers

Student Engagement in Pharmacology Courses Using Online Learning Tools

A Comparative Study to Evaluate the Educational Impact of E-Learning Tools on Griffith University Pharmacy Students’ Level of Understanding Using Bloom’s and SOLO Taxonomies

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN AND ASSESSMENT Student Engagement in Pharmacology Courses Using Online Learning Tools