LTGPublicWiki: Thema

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About Thema

The Thema project is being carried out by the Learning Technologies Group within Oxford University Computing Services. It is funded from 1st March 2007 to 30th November 2008 by JISC (the Joint Information Systems Committee) and is one of eight projects in phase 2 of JISC’s [http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning_pedagogy/elp_learnerexperience.aspx Learner Experiences of E-learning Programme]. Each of these projects is exploring a different aspect of students' experience of computers and other digital technologies in their learning in a range of institutions and at different levels of post-compulsory education.

Thema focuses on the experiences of students on taught Master’s programmes, both in Oxford’s main collegiate University and its Department of Continuing Education. We believe that students at this level are of particular interest because of their heterogeneity in terms of, for example, age, educational history, life situation and IT skills. Moreover, a substantial number will be planning to embark on doctoral programmes and thus making the transition from taught to independent study.

Why Thema? Thema is the Greek for "theme," of which we hope to elicit a large number during the course of the study. The full title of the project is "Thema: Exploring the experiences of Master’s students in technology-rich environments." However, we do not expect courses to make extensive use of technology. Rather, the "environments" of which we speak are those of the early 21st century in general, which offer both teachers and students a wide range of digital resources which they can use in their teaching and learning.

Research questions

Starting from the assumption that students come to Oxford with an existing set of IT skills and technological tools at their disposal, which they have used in their previous studies and/or their personal and social lives, we want to investigate students' evolving experience of technology – both hardware and software – during their courses. Our key areas of interest are:

1. Whether - and how - their use of such tools changes during their course, through contact with the tools provided by the University (e.g. the WebLearn VLE or bibliographic software) and tools which they find out about in other ways (e.g. from fellow students or through their own discoveries).

2. Whether teaching staff use technology in a way that students find motivating, and which they feel really benefits their learning.
3. The extent to which students are using new "social software" such as blogs, wikis and Facebook, and whether they feel these tools might have a role to play in their studies.

Although Thema is part of a national programme, we expect our findings to yield substantial benefits within Oxford University, principally through identifying opportunities for more creative use of IT in teaching and learning and suggesting possible directions for the future development of WebLearn.

Methodology

Our planned approach consists of a preliminary survey and a main study with four components:

1. Baseline survey: Carry out a large-scale online quantitative survey of students in May-June 2007 to obtain a comprehensive snapshot of their current technology use, both in their studies and in their personal and social lives. This will provide a backdrop for the main study.

2. Initial profile: At the start of the Academic Year 2007-8, survey all students in the identified cohorts in order to elicit data on, inter alia, their existing use of technology, and their expectations and intentions regarding the course and the role of technology in it.

3. "Concurrent" data: During the course, invite students to contribute general reflections and/or snapshots of usage that they consider to be significant or memorable.

4. Reflective survey: After 6-7 months, conduct a "reflective" online survey to capture students’ experiences, their use of the tools and the extent to which their expectations and intentions have been realised.

5. Case studies: Follow up the second survey with a small number of interviews, from which we will compile 10-12 case studies, also drawing on data from the surveys and contributions made by the students during the course.

Project team

Advisory Group:BR Dr Chris DaviesBR Dr Paul Davis: Manager, LTGBR Marion Manton: Senior Manager, Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning Unit, Oxford University Department of Continuing EducationBR Peter RobinsonBR Dr Paul Trafford: Learning Technologies Group, OUCSBR

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