information science and technology institute & crisel “carlo bo” university of urbino

E-Urbs“Carlo Bo” University of Urbino

© alessandro bogliolo 1/21EU eLearning and Minerva meeting 2006

E-Urbs - European Master in Comparative Urban Studies

eLearning and Minerva meetingWorkshop 2.1 Learning Communities

How Does the Virtual CommunityImpact the Learning Process?

Alessandro BoglioloInformation Science and Technology Institute & CRISEL

“Carlo Bo” University of Urbino61029 Urbino, Italy

[email protected]




Agenda

• Introduction– The dimensions of virtuality– The community– The learning process

• Methodology• Preliminary results and discussion

– Student population– E-learning platform– Psychological sense of community– Outcomes

• Ongoing activities– E-Urbs– Cross-border accessibility




The Dimensions of Virtuality[Bacsich, 2004]

1. To what extent are students not physically present on campus?

2. To what extent are staff used in non-conventional modes and contracts? (part-timers, consultants, teleworkers, …)

3. To what extent is computer and network support outsourced?

4. To what extent has physical infrastructure begun to be reduced?

5. To what extent has the legal and institutional strength been reduced?

6. To what extent has the degree structure begun to dissolve into ever-smaller modules (down to learning objects) studied in an ever more flexible pattern?




The Psychological Sense of Community (PSoC)

[Rovai, 2002]

1. SpiritFriendship, Cohesion, Bonding among learners

2. TrustCredibility, Benevolence, Confidence among learnersTrust granted and receibed

3. InteractionHonesty in feedback

4. Commonality of expectationsSharing of the same goals




The Learning Process

Teaching method

Interest

Personal conditions(hours worked per day)

Support services

PSoC

Effort(hours studied per day)

Persistence

Performance

Satisfactions




Agenda








Methodology (1)

• Comparative analysis conducted on equivalent on-line and face-to-face degree programs in– Applied computer science– Sociology

• On-line degree programs implement only the first dimension of virtuality (i.e., delocalization)

• Face-to-face degree programs used as control




Methodology (2)To what extend does PSoC affect learning

outcomes?

To what extent does distance learning

affect PSoC?

• Data collected by means of questionnaires

• Partial correlation analysis conducted to isolate the effect of each independent variable on the parameters under study




Agenda








Student population

On-line Face-to-faceAge 30,00 21,00

Hours worked per day 7,38 0,43Hours studied per day 1,55 4,29

Prepared exams per session 0,79 2,72Taken exams per session 0,60 2,62




• MEC Informatica’s Land of Learning (LoL)– www.landoflearning.it

• Main functionalities:– Classroom

synchronous textual chat with permanent logs

– Forums– Libraries– Showcases– Shared blackboard

E-learing platform (1)




E-learing platform (2)




Outcomes: Satisfaction

Total PartialPSoC 0,54 0,54

Support 0,53 0,49Interest 0,46 0,20

Effort -0,15 0,07Learning distance -0,01 0,38

Hours worked per day 0,01 0,09

Correlation

To what extend does PSoC affect satisfaction?




Outcomes: Passed exams

Total PartialLearning distance -0,40 0,40

Hours worked per day -0,37 0,04Effort 0,30 0,08

Interest -0,16 0,08Support 0,10 0,17

PSoC 0,10 0,14

Correlation

To what extend does PSoC affect performance?




Outcomes: Average marks

Total PartialInterest 0,42 0,42

Effort -0,40 0,36Learning distance 0,39 0,12

Hours worked per day 0,29 0,34PSoC 0,20 0,13

Support 0,17 0,25

CorrelationTo what extend does PSoC affect performance?




Outcomes: Persistence

Total PartialLearning distance -0,43 0,43

Support 0,38 0,08Hours worked per day -0,34 0,15

Effort 0,18 0,07PSoC 0,09 0,07

Interest 0,04 0,32

Correlation

To what extend does PSoC affect persistence?




PSoC

Total PartialSupport 0,46 0,46Interest 0,28 0,31

Hours worked per day -0,14 0,22Learning distance -0,11 0,02

Effort 0,10 0,02

Correlation

To what extend does distance learning affect PSoC?




Agenda








E-UrbsEuropean Master in Comparative Urban Studies

www.e-urbs.net

• International curricula developmentbased on the Bologna process

• Reciprocal recognition fo 60 ECTS among 9 partner universities:

Urbino (IT), Copenhagen (DK), Barcelona (ES), Berlin Humboldt (DE), Leuven Catholic (BE), Milan Bicocca (IT), Birmingham (UK), Amsterdam (NL), Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)

• Dual-mode learning integrating virtual and physical mobility

Summer school in Urbino, On-line classes, Project work within the partner universities

• Advanced multi-language e-learning toolsCustomized version of Land of Learning




E-Urbs (innovative tools)European Master in Comparative Urban Studies

www.e-urbs.net• Integrated feedback management tool

– Self-evaluation– Learning curve monitoring– PSoC, Learning styles, satisfaction– Examinations

• Learn with fun– Massive multi-player on-line games

• Visual lab– Searchable data base of classified pictures– Search by example– Automatic clustering– Classify by example

• E-portfolio– Personal portfolio– Personal development plan




Cross-border accessibilityInternational learning communities

• World-wide campus model– Lightweight examination centers

• Digital divide– Using e-learning to promote eLeteracy

• Uni-lingual vs Multi-lingual approach– Duplication of information– Communication delay– Equity

• CLIL– Content and language integrated learning

information science and technology institute & crisel “carlo bo” university of urbino

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