Transcript Lighting the Path with Asynchronous Learning Tutorials

Lighting the Path with
Asynchronous Learning
Tutorials
Amy Harris Houk
Beth Filar Williams
Vanessa Apple
Jenny Dale
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
University Libraries
Synchronous Learning
Pros
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Reach all students at
one time, one location
Read body language
Intervene immediately
Personal connection
Familiar style of
teaching
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78124518@N00/1397737955/
Cons
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Everyone has to be there,
same time, same place
Need to have physical
location arranged
Not always convenient to
students
May be difficult to go at
own pace
Asynchronous Learning
Pros
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Reach more people
Reach more variety of
people
Student centered time/place of their
choosing
Users go at their own pace
Easy to gather data
Great for self-motivated
learner
Student control of learning
http://www.flickr.com/photos/86657707@N00/2348649408/
Cons
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Tech problems
Can be expensive (tech) to
build
May need expertise to build
No immediate feedback
No direct intervention
possible
Sense of disconnect
Relies on student
motivation
Background
 2000: Creation of First Steps tutorial
 2005: Update for usability and ADA
compliance, name changed to FIRST:
Finding It! A Research Skills Tutorial
 2009: Began discussing updating tutorial
again
 2010: PATH goes live
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cobalt/409924867/
What can we tell from the numbers?
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Total number of distinct visits: 30868
• A lot of visits for one semester
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Percentage of users who logged in and completed all mini
quizzes and the final quiz
• 49%, or essentially 1 in 2 people
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Ratio of video views to transcript views
• 10 to 1
• Needed for accessibility and technical difficulty
900
Quiz Saves versus Quiz Visits
800
700
600
500
Quiz Saves
400
300
Quiz Visits
Technologies Used & Alternatives
Code
Database
• ASP.NET (server side code)
• jQuery (client side code)
• Architecture on MS SQL Server
• T-SQL statements
Alternate Options:
• PHP/Perl/Python
• MooTools, Javascript
•No code, just HTML
Alternate Options:
• MySQL
• MySQL SQL statements
• None hardcoded, not dynamic
Database Use
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Allows dynamic quizzes
Allows tracking user progress
Modules
Questions
Users
Answers
A Team Effort
 Students,
faculty, and
staff at UNCG all
contributed to
PATH’s
development
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/1384952210/
Future?
•Printable certificate
• Collecting data when not
logged in
•Shared question bank
•Create paths by discipline