The Challenges of Creating Successful Collaborative Working and Learning Activities in Online Engineering Courses

Bacon, Liz; MacKinnon, Lachlan

doi:10.18687/laccei2016.1.1.151

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…By implication, therefore, teaching staff should be equipped with indispensable skills which they can use to implement Virtual Collaborative Learning and encourage students to be active participants in their online groups. They need to design online group work in such a way that it includes both group and individual performance-based tasks, as well as the individual’s responsibilities (Bacon and MacKinnon, 2016; An et al , 2008). The given challenges call for an inquiry to be carried out in different contexts at institutions of higher education to find out whether or not the same challenges can be encountered.…”

Section: Implementation and Challenges Of Virtual Collaborative Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging perspectives and challenges for virtual collaborative learning in an institution of higher education: a case of Lesotho

Matee

Motlohi²,

Nkiwane³

2022

ITSE

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Purpose This study aims to investigate emerging perspectives and challenges which teaching staff and students in the Faculties of Business and Accounting, Health and Education as well as Computing encountered in using Virtual Collaborative Learning during their classes in one accredited institution of higher education in Maseru district Lesotho. Previously conducted studies reveal that although similar studies to the current one have been conducted in different countries across the globe, conducting them in another different country such as Lesotho and in a different context might provide new information. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on Lev Vygotsky’s social constructivism as the theoretical framework because it is relevant and appropriate. The study was buttressed by constructivism paradigm, qualitative design as well as a qualitative case study. A purposive sampling technique was used in this study. A sample of 35 students and 11 teaching staff from the 3 respective faculties were used as participants of the study. This qualitative case study was based on online questionnaires issued to the participants using emails for data collection. Data were generated based on the themes which emerged. Findings The findings of the study suggest that majority of students found Virtual Collaborative Learning helpful and a user-friendly tool. However, lack of resources, clear instructions from the teaching staff and cooperation, internet connectivity issues, as well as data expenses have been identified as stumbling blocks that discourage students’ satisfactory engagement in Virtual Collaborative Learning. The findings further revealed various strategies including encouraging students to cooperate, grading students’ participation on online platforms and consultations could be used to overcome the challenges encountered in using Virtual Collaborative Learning. For generalisability and understanding of the breadth of the students and teaching staff experiences and challenges of Virtual Collaborative Learning, the authors recommend further study to be conducted on a larger representative sample, using the established themes of the current study. Research limitations/implications Using face-to-face interviews and classroom observations for data collection would have been more suitable for a qualitative methodology. However, due to COVID-19 regulations that restrict contact and limit lessons on online platforms, an online questionnaire was used for data collection. Originality/value This research reveals emerging perspectives and challenges which are encountered by teaching staff and students while using Virtual Collaborative Learning in one institution of higher education in Maseru Lesotho.

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Section: Implementation and Challenges Of Virtual Collaborative Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging perspectives and challenges for virtual collaborative learning in an institution of higher education: a case of Lesotho

Matee

Motlohi²,

Nkiwane³

2022

ITSE

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“…In the face of such continuous change and development, it is no longer viable to see education and training as separate elements from workplace activities, particularly if staff are to utilise new and advanced technologies effectively in their work. The recent growth in the use of MOOCs [40] offers considerable potential for the online provision of education and training, but as the authors described in their LACCEI paper last year [41] there is both a need to provide effective training in the use of such courses to develop metacognitive skills in the learners, and to develop a broad range of such courses to meet different learning requirements. The provision of remote and virtual "lab" facilities online [42] also offers STEM personnel the opportunities to experiment with new and existing technologies relative to workplace activities and project requirements.…”

Section: Models To Support Lifelong and Workplace Learning In Engmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In terms of time commitments and loss of productivity there is a need to provide the learning opportunities in the workplace, but to link to external sources and particularly to certification and qualification frameworks. In their LACCEI paper last year [41] the authors discussed the difficulties of learning heavyweight collaborative processes, particularly Distributed CCD [56], in a MOOC context. However, using an integrated workplace-based learning model would enable most of those difficulties to be overcome, and thereby offer an added value to the online learning provision.…”

Section: Relevance To Stem Industriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Online Learning into Workplace Information Systems – Supporting the Goal of Lifelong Learning

MacKinnon

Bacon

Graven

et al. 2017

Proceedings of the 15th LACCEI International Multi-Conference for Engineering, Education, and Technology: “Global Partnership F

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Instructional strategies and course design for teaching statistics online: perspectives from online students

Yang

2017

IJ STEM Ed

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BackgroundTeaching online is a different experience from that of teaching in a face-to-face setting. Knowledge and skills developed for teaching face-to-face classes are not adequate preparation for teaching online. It is even more challenging to teach science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) courses completely online because these courses usually require more hands-on activities and live demonstrations. Although the demand for online STEM courses has never been higher, little has been done to develop effective instructional and online course design strategies for teaching STEM courses online. This paper reports the effectiveness of the instructional strategies adopted and the online course design features in a fully online statistics course from the students’ perspectives. The online statistics course was an introductory, quantitative research course that covered common statistical concepts and focused on the application of educational research concepts for graduate students in educational technology. In terms of the statistics concepts covered, the course was similar to an introductory statistics class for students majoring in science, technology, math and engineering (STEM). The participants were mostly K-20 (meaning from kindergarten to college) instructors who had knowledge of instructional strategies.ResultsData collected from participants’ reflections and course evaluations revealed that a range of instructional strategies and course design features were effective and helped students learn statistics in an online environment. Specifically, case studies, video demonstrations, instructor’s notes, mini projects, and an online discussion forum were most effective. For online course design features, consistent structure, various resources and learning activities, and the application focused course content were found to be effective.ConclusionsThe implications of this study include effective instructional strategies and online course design for application-oriented STEM courses such as physics and engineering. The study results can be used to guide online teaching and learning as well as online course design for instructors, course designers, and students in STEM fields.

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The Challenges of Creating Successful Collaborative Working and Learning Activities in Online Engineering Courses

Cited by 3 publications

References 27 publications

Emerging perspectives and challenges for virtual collaborative learning in an institution of higher education: a case of Lesotho

Emerging perspectives and challenges for virtual collaborative learning in an institution of higher education: a case of Lesotho

Integrating Online Learning into Workplace Information Systems – Supporting the Goal of Lifelong Learning

Instructional strategies and course design for teaching statistics online: perspectives from online students

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