e-Research Methods Theme 1 Introduction

The theme will introduce you to research at the University of Southampton and within your School. It will also begin the process of helping you become more self- aware of your particular learning style to enable you to manage the requirements of the Research Methods module

An Introduction to Learning Activities

A quick skim through Learning Outcomes, pedagogic methods and preparing and describing a learning activity.

Work less, teach better and get better feedback: why we tried innovative teaching methods

Speaker: Patrick McSweeney Organiser: Time: 15/10/2014 11:00-11:45 Location: B32/3077 Abstract Having started at Southampton in 2005 I have seen quite a few changes to the way courses are taught and studied. I will reflect on some of the interesting changes I have observed and suggest their causes. As a practical example I will talk about codestrom, a peer feedback tool for learning programming. We have found that this teaching method has improved the student experience and reduced the work load for the module team. Together we will discuss how this and other recent developments can enable other teaching innovations which benefit staff as well as students. Hopefully the new class of PhD students will be able to contribute from the point of view of having recently been undergraduate students here and else where.

Can you tell if they're learning?

The proliferation of Web-based learning objects makes finding and evaluating online resources problematic. While established Learning Analytics methods use Web interaction to evaluate learner engagement, there is uncertainty regarding the appropriateness of these measures. In this paper we propose a method for evaluating pedagogical activity in Web-based comments using a pedagogical framework, and present a preliminary study that assigns a Pedagogical Value (PV) to comments. This has value as it categorises discussion in terms of pedagogical activity rather than Web interaction. Results show that PV is distinct from typical interactional measures; there are negative or insignificant correlations with established Learning Analytics methods, but strong correlations with relevant linguistic indicators of learning, suggesting that the use of pedagogical frameworks may produce more accurate indicators than interaction analysis, and that linguistic rather than interaction analysis has the potential to automatically identify learning behaviour.

In search of a social science research methods pedagogy for the digital era: the story so far

Presentation given at the 2016 British Educational Research Association (BERA) conference