Using Moodle to Support Peer and Group Online Undergraduate Research Supervision

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Using Moodle to Support Peer and Group Online
Undergraduate Research Supervision

• Kay Mac Keogh
• Oscail DCU kay.mackeogh_at_dcu.ie
• EdTech Conference Dundalk IT
• 23 May 2008

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Outline

• Role of the undergraduate dissertation project
• Research supervision at a distance
• Oscail BA Research Modules POURS Peer and group
  Online Undergraduate Research Supervision Model
• Evaluation
• Summary

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Final Year Undergraduate Research Projects

• Emphasis on Fourth Level research
• Declining emphasis on research training at third
  level
• Increasing student numbers
• Staff overload
• But an essential generic skill for graduates
• Essential base training for fourth level research
• Consolidates student understanding of the
  discipline
• Helps develop deeper approach to learning
• Demonstrates capacity as independent autonomous
  learner
• Develops transferable skills problem definition
  solving, project management, stats research
  skills, analytical, evaluative, synthetic skills
  etc.
• A requirement for some professional bodies (e.g.
  PSI Psychological Society of Ireland) or entry
  to post grad.

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Issues in final year research projects

• Developing/embedding of research skills
• Ethical considerations over researched groups
  health, safety insurance police checks etc
• Policing plagiarism
• Large numbers in final years difficult to
  provide one to one supervision
• Need to develop systems to cope with these issues
  without compromising quality
• Problems exacerbated with distance students

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Oscail BA Research Modules

• Research Essay 7,000 words
• His5 Women History
• Research Dissertations 10,000 words
• His6 Local History
• Psy6 Psychology
• Soc5A Sociology
• All at a distance specific problems of
  supervising distance students

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Supervising at a Distance

• Challenges
• Part-time supervisors
• Restricted time availability
• Students off-campus
• access to SPSS, instruments,
• literature, participants
• Research Stats Skills
• Ethics supervision
• Plagiarism - how do we
• know its their work?

• Some solutions
• Peer supervision peer reviews advice online
• Moodle online forums always on
• SPSS on CD online databases help forums
  student networks
• Research Stats School
• Online stats exercises resources
• Process broken into distinct stages
• Ethics approval form limits on target groups
• Weekly progress reports online discussions
  reflective diaries

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Research Supervision

• Supervisor Role varied subject experts,
  gatekeepers, resource persons, advisors,
  midwives, director, project manager, shaper,
  scaffolder, supporter, editor.
• Supervisor Approach a continuum between active
  passive direct active indirect active
  indirect passive passive (cf Anderson).
• Need to balance support autonomy best
  approach
• Indirect active at the beginning of the process
  selection of topic, research design, project
  proposal, ethics clearance
• Indirect passive toward the end as student takes
  responsibility for final product.

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POURS Peer Group Online Undergraduate
Research Supervision

• Break up process into key stages deadlines
• Revise research skills training in parallel
  (depending on subject, builds on work in previous
  modules, or introduces new skills) online
  exercises
• Limited face to face sessions only where
  necessary (e.g. stats skills, oral presentations
  etc)
• Peer reviews draw on collective knowledge base of
  students
• Group supervision - all discussion on research in
  the open forum to enable students to learn from
  each other, avoid narrow focus on their own
  research topic/methodologies.
• Threaded supervisory discussions -
  tutor/supervisor then scaffolds student
  learning where there are gaps

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POURS - Stages in Research Projects

• Working title student posts working title on
  Moodle general discussion for 2 weeks
• Research outline post 2-300 word outline on
  Moodle
• Peer reviews by 2 other students who discuss
  feasibility, relevance, additional sources etc
  (marks allocated for peer reviews)
• 30 minute individual meeting with supervisor (not
  mandatory)
• Research proposal literature review feedback
  from supervisor/students (marks allocated)
• Research Approval Form (no data to be collected
  before clearance)
• Aims methodology/design instruments
  (questionnaire etc) participants how
  recruited risk assessment method of obtaining
  informed consent plain English statement
  briefing/debriefing process dissemination of
  results confidentiality/anonymity protection
  security/storage/disposal of data.
• Supervisory threaded discussion with
  supervisor/fellow students
• One draft (only) submitted to supervisor for
  comment
• Slide presentation online and/or at oral
  presentation
• Submission of final thesis (10,000 words)

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POURS - Discussion in Working Titles Forum -
Psychology
Highlighted text links to glossary definition
Response to working title - suggestions
Offer of help in finding participants
Reviewing title in light of feedback
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POURS - Student Interaction on Statistics
Exercises - Psychology
Man, this is like working through treacle! Would
I be correct in thinking that for this question
the independent variable is the participants with
2 levels male and female?
Thats what I thought. I had problems deciding
whether it was interval Or ratio data
Hi all. To use a parametric test requires a
normal distribution. I dont think Its
acceptable to assume this
Note highlighted terms which link to glossary
definitions
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POURS - Example of Peer Learning/Supervision
Discussion on Likert Scales Ordinal or Interval?
Thats assuming that likert scales are ordinal
and not interval our notes say if using likert
scales you generally treat as ordinal and
therefore non-parametric, however some
researchers treat them as interval especially If
they have 5 to 7 points.ps SPSS book very good
for telling you how to run tests in SPSS But I
find the Oscail notes better for telling you
about the tests themselves
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POURS - Online Student Supervisor Interaction
Student
Student is asking about which scales to use in
researching emotional intelligence, mentions a
number of articles. Asks if 15 references enough
for the bibliography
Supervisor
The approach sounds good 15 articles seems like
a small number However the area youre
researching is newpossible youve tapped the
main articles
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POURS - Online supervision analysis
stage Student request for advice on calculating
reliability of scales
Just did the Cronbach for the LS Scale and the EI
scale alpha for LS .68 too lowIs it enough
for me to point out this problem.and suggest A
reason?
Self-Correction keyed in the wrong score
Supervisor good to hear the Cronbachs alphas
are so high
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POURS Peer Support on Technical Issues (SPSS
Problem)
Student with SPSS problem advised to reinstall
disk or contact the helpdesk
Another studentthe helpdesk in DCU were very
prompt in getting back to me when I ran into what
seemed like a major SPSS problem all my data
seemed to be lost turned out it was a problem
with the calendar on my PC.
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POURS - Peer Supervision student providing
guidance on building a Literature review by
contacting other researchers
Contact writers
It is worth asking the experts for pointersIf
the article is anyway recentit gives the
authors contact details Based on my experience
EVERYBODY replies Some have asked me to send
them copies of my research when I am
finishedhighly motivating to me
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POURS Evaluation what the students thought

• 25 students 16 responses (64)
• Supervisor
• Provided timely feedback 87.5
• Provided good guidance 68.8
• Approachable/supportive 68.8
• Made good use of Moodle 62.5
• Knowlegeable about students topic 56.3
• Satisfied with level of supervision 62.5

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Conflicting Expectations of Supervision

• University of Western Australia Student
  Perceptions of online Supervision (SPORS) tool to
  match student/supervisor expectations
• http//www.catl.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/75635/SPORS
  _SUPERVISOR.doc
• 'Supervisors of undergraduate research students
  need to make clear their expectations at the
  outset, to ascertain the student's expectations
  and if necessary, to agree a compromise. GM-SPORS
  (the modified questionnaire) may provide a
  mechanism for initiating such a discussion.'
  (Jamieson Gray 2006)

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POURS Evaluation of Dissertation process

• Expanded knowledge of psychology 93.8
• Enjoyed the challenge 87.5
• Confident in ability to do research 68.8
• Too time consuming 62.5
• Fellow students helped knowledge understanding
  62.5
• Prefer to do exam instead of thesis 20

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Summary..

• Articulating process in forums allows us to
  identify problems of understanding facing
  students intervene
• Student learning enriched by exposure to range of
  topics/methodologies etc
• Pacing mechanism keeps students focused on
  track
• Enables us to ensure that ethical/plagiarism
  issues dont arise
• Reduces time for tutors without compromising on
  support
• Quality of dissertations has improved 5
  psychology students had papers accepted in PSI
  conference 2007

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Thank You.

• Contact me at kay.mackeogh_at_dcu.ie