Enhancing student retention rates on open non-formal online language learning courses

N. Cowie, K. Sakui
{"title":"Enhancing student retention rates on open non-formal online language learning courses","authors":"N. Cowie, K. Sakui","doi":"10.24135/pjtel.v1i1.17","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Open non-formal online courses (Rha, 2018) are becoming increasingly popular as a self-paced option for learners. These courses are often hosted by commercial platforms where teachers and course creators develop and market courses to students across the globe. The numbers of students enrolled on these kinds of courses is hard to estimate but figures from providers do indicate the numbers are significant. For example, the Udemy course provider (https://www.udemy.com) states that as of October 2019 it has over 30 million students learning on 50,000 courses. However, the attrition rates for such courses, similar to other online options such as MOOCs, can be high (Sánchez-Elvira Paniagua & Simpson, 2018). In this presentation two teacher-researchers reflect on and analyse their experience of creating open non-formal online courses for English language learners, and go on to suggest several practical techniques to decrease the number of students that may drop out. The theoretical framework for this paper is that of exploratory practice (Allwright, 2003). This is an approach to teacher development in which teachers collect information on their courses and then try to use that data to reflect on their practice and improve conditions for learning. The two sources of data are the meta analytics supplied by Udemy for every course and surveys from university students who were asked to evaluate different types of video. These two sources of data were analysed using a two-step coding approach (Miles, Huberman & Saldana, 2014) in which codes are assigned and then grouped together based on emergent themes. In the presentation, firstly, the wider reasons why online students drop out, such as insufficient support (Simpson, 2017) or the impact of cognitive overload (Sweller, Ayres & Kalyuga, 2011), are discussed and several ways are suggested to get around these issues. Secondly, various principles of instructional design such as keeping lessons consistent but variable, relevant, and divided into manageable chunks are recommended (Lehman & Conceição, 2014). Finally, a number of ways that videos can be made more engaging are shown (Mayer, 2017), especially focusing on how a talking head can be best portrayed in order to give the clearest information and develop a more personalised teacher presence (Garrison, 2011). Although the data and analysis are focused on open non-formal online courses the findings and discussion are of relevance to other forms of online instruction and multimedia learning. \n  \nReferences \n  \nAllwright, D. (2003). Exploratory practice: Rethinking practitioner research in language teaching. \n     Language Teaching Research, 7(2),113-141. https//doi.org/10.1191/1362168803lr118oa \nGarrison, D. R. (2011). E-learning in the 21st century: A framework for research and practice. (2nd ed.). New \n     York, NY: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203166093 \nLehman, R., & Conceição, C. (2014). Motivating and retaining online students. San Francisco, CA: Jossey- \n     Bass. \nMayer, R. E. (2017). Using multimedia for e-learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 33, 403- \n \nhttps//doi.org/10.1111/jcal/12197 \n \nMiles, M.B., Huberman, A.M., & Saldana, J. (2014). Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook.   \n     London: Sage. \nRha, H.M. (2018). A study on the classification of online education types and development of quality \n     management indicators for lifelong vocational skills development. In T. Bastiaens et al.   \n     (Eds.). Proceedings of EdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and Technology (pp. 759- \n     763). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education \n     (AACE). Retrieved from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/184274. \nSánchez-Elvira Paniagua, A., & Simpson, O. (2018). Developing student support for open and distance \n     learning: The EMPOWER project. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 1(9), 1–10, \n     https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.470 \nSimpson, O. (2017). Innovations in distance education student support: What are the chances? In: G. \n     Ubachs, L., Konings, & M. Brown (Eds.). The Envisioning Report for Empowering Universities (pp. \n     52-55). Available from: https://empower. eadtu.eu/images/report/The_Envisioning_Report_ for_ \n     Empowering_ Universities _ 1st_ edition_2017.pdf \nSweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive load theory. New York, NY: Springer.","PeriodicalId":384031,"journal":{"name":"Pacific Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning","volume":"76 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2019-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"5","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Pacific Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.24135/pjtel.v1i1.17","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 5

Abstract

Open non-formal online courses (Rha, 2018) are becoming increasingly popular as a self-paced option for learners. These courses are often hosted by commercial platforms where teachers and course creators develop and market courses to students across the globe. The numbers of students enrolled on these kinds of courses is hard to estimate but figures from providers do indicate the numbers are significant. For example, the Udemy course provider (https://www.udemy.com) states that as of October 2019 it has over 30 million students learning on 50,000 courses. However, the attrition rates for such courses, similar to other online options such as MOOCs, can be high (Sánchez-Elvira Paniagua & Simpson, 2018). In this presentation two teacher-researchers reflect on and analyse their experience of creating open non-formal online courses for English language learners, and go on to suggest several practical techniques to decrease the number of students that may drop out. The theoretical framework for this paper is that of exploratory practice (Allwright, 2003). This is an approach to teacher development in which teachers collect information on their courses and then try to use that data to reflect on their practice and improve conditions for learning. The two sources of data are the meta analytics supplied by Udemy for every course and surveys from university students who were asked to evaluate different types of video. These two sources of data were analysed using a two-step coding approach (Miles, Huberman & Saldana, 2014) in which codes are assigned and then grouped together based on emergent themes. In the presentation, firstly, the wider reasons why online students drop out, such as insufficient support (Simpson, 2017) or the impact of cognitive overload (Sweller, Ayres & Kalyuga, 2011), are discussed and several ways are suggested to get around these issues. Secondly, various principles of instructional design such as keeping lessons consistent but variable, relevant, and divided into manageable chunks are recommended (Lehman & Conceição, 2014). Finally, a number of ways that videos can be made more engaging are shown (Mayer, 2017), especially focusing on how a talking head can be best portrayed in order to give the clearest information and develop a more personalised teacher presence (Garrison, 2011). Although the data and analysis are focused on open non-formal online courses the findings and discussion are of relevance to other forms of online instruction and multimedia learning.   References   Allwright, D. (2003). Exploratory practice: Rethinking practitioner research in language teaching.      Language Teaching Research, 7(2),113-141. https//doi.org/10.1191/1362168803lr118oa Garrison, D. R. (2011). E-learning in the 21st century: A framework for research and practice. (2nd ed.). New      York, NY: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203166093 Lehman, R., & Conceição, C. (2014). Motivating and retaining online students. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-      Bass. Mayer, R. E. (2017). Using multimedia for e-learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 33, 403- https//doi.org/10.1111/jcal/12197 Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M., & Saldana, J. (2014). Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook.        London: Sage. Rha, H.M. (2018). A study on the classification of online education types and development of quality      management indicators for lifelong vocational skills development. In T. Bastiaens et al.        (Eds.). Proceedings of EdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and Technology (pp. 759-      763). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education      (AACE). Retrieved from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/184274. Sánchez-Elvira Paniagua, A., & Simpson, O. (2018). Developing student support for open and distance      learning: The EMPOWER project. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 1(9), 1–10,      https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.470 Simpson, O. (2017). Innovations in distance education student support: What are the chances? In: G.      Ubachs, L., Konings, & M. Brown (Eds.). The Envisioning Report for Empowering Universities (pp.      52-55). Available from: https://empower. eadtu.eu/images/report/The_Envisioning_Report_ for_      Empowering_ Universities _ 1st_ edition_2017.pdf Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive load theory. New York, NY: Springer.
提高开放的非正式在线语言学习课程的学生保留率
开放式非正式在线课程(Rha, 2018年)作为学习者自主学习的一种选择,正变得越来越受欢迎。这些课程通常由商业平台主办,由教师和课程创建者开发并向全球学生推销课程。参加这类课程的学生人数很难估计,但来自供应商的数据确实表明,这一数字很大。例如,Udemy课程提供商(https://www.udemy.com)表示,截至2019年10月,有超过3000万名学生在学习5万门课程。然而,与mooc等其他在线课程类似,此类课程的流失率可能很高(Sánchez-Elvira Paniagua & Simpson, 2018)。在这次演讲中,两位教师研究员反思并分析了他们为英语学习者创建开放的非正式在线课程的经验,并继续提出了一些实用的技巧来减少可能辍学的学生数量。本文的理论框架是探索性实践(Allwright, 2003)。这是一种教师发展的方法,在这种方法中,教师收集有关其课程的信息,然后尝试使用这些数据来反思他们的实践并改善学习条件。两个数据来源是Udemy为每门课程提供的元分析,以及来自大学生的调查,他们被要求评估不同类型的视频。使用两步编码方法(Miles, Huberman & Saldana, 2014)对这两个数据来源进行了分析,其中代码被分配,然后根据紧急主题分组。在演讲中,首先,讨论了在线学生辍学的更广泛原因,例如支持不足(Simpson, 2017)或认知过载的影响(Sweller, Ayres & Kalyuga, 2011),并提出了几种方法来解决这些问题。其次,教学设计的各种原则,如保持课程的一致性,但变量,相关的,并分为可管理的块被推荐(雷曼和构思, 2014年)。最后,展示了许多可以使视频更具吸引力的方法(Mayer, 2017),特别是关注如何最好地描绘一个说话的头,以便提供最清晰的信息并发展更个性化的教师存在(Garrison, 2011)。虽然数据和分析集中在开放的非正式在线课程上,但研究结果和讨论与其他形式的在线教学和多媒体学习有关。Allwright, D.(2003)。探索性实践:对语言教学实践者研究的再思考。语言教学研究,7(2),113-141。https//doi.org/10.1191/1362168803lr118oa Garrison, D. R.(2011)。21世纪的电子学习:研究与实践的框架。(第二版)。纽约,纽约:劳特利奇。http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203166093 Lehman, R., & concep o, C.(2014)。激励和留住在线学生。旧金山,加州:乔西-巴斯。Mayer, R. E.(2017)。使用多媒体进行网上学习。计算机辅助学习学报,33,403- https//doi.org/10.1111/jcal/12197 Miles, m.b., Huberman, a.m., and Saldana, J.(2014)。定性数据分析:方法资料手册。伦敦:圣人。Rha, H.M.(2018)。网络教育类型分类与终身职业技能发展质量管理指标制定研究参见T. Bastiaens等人(主编)。EdMedia会议录:世界教育媒体与技术会议(第759- 763页)。阿姆斯特丹,荷兰:教育计算机促进协会(AACE)。检索自https://www.learntechlib.org/p/184274。Sánchez-Elvira Paniagua, A., & Simpson, O.(2018)。发展学生对开放和远程学习的支持:EMPOWER项目。教育互动媒体学报,1(9),1 - 10,https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.470。远程教育学生支持的创新:机会有多大?: g . Ubachs L。,Konings & m·布朗(Eds)。赋予大学权力的展望报告(第52-55页)。可从:https://empower。eadtu。Sweller, J., Ayres, P., and Kalyuga, S. (2011). http://www.the_envisioning_report_ for_ empowering ing_ Universities _ st_ edition_2017.pdf。认知负荷理论。纽约:施普林格出版社。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
自引率
0.00%
发文量
0
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信