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THEMA: Exploring the experiences of Master’s students in technology-rich environments
The Thema project is being conducted by the Learning Technologies Group with the co-operation of TALL and the Department of Educational Studies. It will investigate the learning experiences of students on Master’s level programmes at Oxford University with a strong emphasis on students’ use of personal technologies to support their learning. Areas to be addressed are:
- The impact on students’ learning of the choices that they make in relation to the timing and location of their studying, their study partners and the supporting technologies that they use;
- The critical moments in their experience of technology for learning;
- The extent to which they personalise their learning tools and environments and involve “personal” technologies in their learning, and the practical issues that they encounter;
- Whether “effective” strategies for learning in technology-rich environments can be identified and used to help students who are less effective in this respect.
The participants will be 50-80 students on taught Master’s degrees, both full-time and part-time. This group is of particular interest because of its heterogeneity in terms of, for example, educational history, life situation and extent of IT experience. Moreover, a substantial number will be planning to embark on doctoral programmes and thus making the transition from taught to independent study.
Project manager: Liz Masterman
The study will last for 21 months and will use surveys, interviews and data reported at significant or memorable moments to create a broad-brush picture enhanced by in-depth case studies.