A question of complexity:measuring the maturity of online enquiry communities

Online enquiry communities such as Question Answering (Q&A) websites allow people to seek answers to all kind of questions. With the growing popularity of such platforms, it is important for community managers to constantly monitor the performance of their communities. Although different metrics have been proposed for tracking the evolution of such communities, maturity, the process in which communities become more topic proficient over time, has been largely ignored despite its potential to help in identifying robust communities. In this paper, we interpret community maturity as the proportion of complex questions in a community at a given time. We use the Server Fault (SF) community, a Question Answering (Q&A) community of system administrators, as our case study and perform analysis on question complexity, the level of expertise required to answer a question. We show that question complexity depends on both the length of involvement and the level of contributions of the users who post questions within their community. We extract features relating to askers, answerers, questions and answers, and analyse which features are strongly correlated with question complexity. Although our findings highlight the difficulty of automatically identifying question complexity, we found that complexity is more influenced by both the topical focus and the length of community involvement of askers. Following the identification of question complexity, we define a measure of maturity and analyse the evolution of different topical communities. Our results show that different topical communities show different maturity patterns. Some communities show a high maturity at the beginning while others exhibit slow maturity rate. Copyright 2013 ACM.

A study of learners' perceived value and satisfaction for implied effectiveness of online learning systems

Online learning systems (OLS) have become center stage for corporations and educational institutions as a competitive tool in the knowledge economy. The satisfaction construct has received extensive coverage in information systems literature as an indicator of effectiveness but has been criticized for lack of validity; yet, the value construct has been largely ignored, although it has a long history in psychology, sociology, and behavioral science. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the value and satisfaction constructs in the context of OLS, and their perceived by learners relationship for implied effectiveness of OLS. ^ First, a qualitative phase is employed to gather OLS values from learners' focus groups, followed by a pilot phase to refine a proposed instrument, and a main phase to validate the survey. Responses were received from 75 students in four focus groups, 141 in the pilot, and 207 the main survey. Extensive data cleaning and exploratory factor analysis were done to identify factors of learners' perceived value and satisfaction of OLS. Then, Value-Satisfaction grids and the Learners' Value Index of Satisfaction (LeVIS) were developed as benchmarking tools of OLS. Moreover, Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) techniques were employed to impute value from satisfaction scores in order to reduce survey response time. ^ The results provided four satisfaction and four value factors with high reliability (Cronbach's α). Moreover, value and satisfaction were found to have low linear and nonlinear correlations, indicating that they are two distinct uncorrelated constructs. This is consistent with the literature. Value-Satisfaction grids and the LeVIS index indicated relatively high effectiveness for technology and support characteristics, relatively low effectiveness for professor's characteristics, while course and learner characteristics indicated average effectiveness. ^ The main contributions of this study include identifying, defining, and articulating the relationship between value and satisfaction constructs as assessment of users' implied IS effectiveness, as well as assessing the accuracy of MCDA procedures to predict value scores, thus reducing by half the survey questionnaire size. ^

Outdoor experiential team -building and the college adjustment and persistence of freshmen in learning communities

Student retention is a primary goal in all higher education institutions. Students who are more adjusted to college life are more likely to persist. The purpose of this research was to determine the effects of an outdoor experiential team-building program on the college adjustment of first-semester freshmen in learning communities at a diverse, urban university. The participants in this quasi-experimental study were first-semester freshmen enrolled in learning communities. A total of 123 students participated, with 61 students in the experimental group and 62 students in the comparison group. There were no significant differences between the two groups in relation to age, gender, or ethnicity. The students in the experimental group participated in the team-building program, which consisted of three events spaced three and four weeks apart. At the end of the semester, students in both the experimental and comparison groups completed the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ), a 67-item self-report survey. ^ Independent samples t-test of the SACQ scores (for attachment to the institution, social adjustment, and overall adaptation to college) between groups was done, and the analyses revealed no statistically significant differences. Chi-square analyses revealed no significant difference in the enrollment pattern between the two groups over a four-year period. Repeated measures ANOVAs revealed that from the first semester of enrollment to the second semester there was a significant drop in GPA for students from the comparison group and no such drop in GPA for students from the experimental group who had participated in at least two of the team building activities. A repeated measures ANOVA was conducted for the first year by semester and ethnicity. No ethnic differences were found, and no interaction was found by ethnicity and semester. ^ Should colleges and universities continue to utilize outdoor experiential team-building programs as a creative way to influence students' connection to the institution they should further investigate its value on students' adjustment to college. Future studies should also consider other variables influenced by team-building programs that affect students' college adjustment, such as collaborative learning. Faculty should be included in the planning process to increase their participation. ^

From the Grassroot to the Tree Tops: How One Library has become Embedded in Online Learning

This presentation will show how a grassroots initiative has budded into the Florida International University (FIU) Libraries being an instrumental part of online learning. It will describe some of the marketing and outreach efforts that have been successful and share ideas on how to build alliances and networks with online faculty and students. Along with outreach efforts, the presentation will demonstrate some of the successful tools used to meet the needs of online students. Some of the these tools include becoming embedded in courses, building course and program specific Libguides, using Adobe Connect to reach students, creating simple YouTube videos, and creating more professional videos with FIU Online. The presentation will conclude with sharing some tips on how to keep the workload manageable when distance-learning programs are growing at the same time as library budgets and resources are shrinking.

Designing Massive Open Online Learning Processes: The importance of the social element

This is a pre-print for personal use only. Please refer to the Springer website for the official, published version http://www.springer.com/978-3-662-52923-2

Validation of the self-regulated online learning questionnaire

Abstract The number of students engaged in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is increasing rapidly. Due to the autonomy of students in this type of education, students in MOOCs are required to regulate their learning to a greater extent than students in traditional, face-to-face education. However, there is no questionnaire available suited for this online context that measures all aspects of self-regulated learning (SRL). In this study, such a questionnaire is developed based on existing SRL questionnaires. This is the self-regulated online learning ques- tionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on the first dataset led to a set of scales differing from those theoretically defined beforehand. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on a second dataset to compare the fit of the theoretical model and the exploratively obtained model. The exploratively obtained model provided much better fit to the data than the theoretical model. All models under investigation provided better fit when excluding the task strategies scale and when merging the scales measuring metacognitive activities. From the results of the EFA and the CFA it can be concluded that further development of the questionnaire is necessary.

Scaling up online learning strategic and operational checklist

This checklist highlights key questions for institutions that are considering their online learning provision and relates to the Jisc Scaling up online learning (strategic and operational) guide.

Scaling up online learning Curriculum design and support for online learning checklist

This checklist highlights key questions for institutions that are considering their online learning provision and relates to the Jisc Scaling up online learning Curriculum design and support for online learning guide.

Scaling up online learning technology and tools for online learning checklist

This checklist highlights key questions for institutions that are considering their online learning provision and relates to the Jisc Scaling up online learning technology and tools for online learning guide.

South West College: A whole-college approach to online learning and assessment

In 2013, South West College created a virtual college running synchronously alongside the physical college. Three years later, significant progress has been made towards offering online learning and assessment to learners based at home and abroad.

Scaling up online learning checklist: master version

This checklist highlights key questions for institutions that are considering their online learning provision and relates to all three of the Jisc Scaling up online learning guides.

Modelling the development of an online learning resource by health care professionals

The aim of this study was to model the process of development for an Online Learning Resource (OLR) by Health Care Professionals (HCPs) to meet lymphoedema-related educational needs, within an asset-based management context. Previous research has shown that HCPs have unmet educational needs in relation to lymphoedema but details on their specific nature or context were lacking. Against this background, the study was conducted in two distinct but complementary phases. In Phase 1, a national survey was conducted of HCPs predominantly in community, oncology and palliative care services, followed by focus group discussions with a sample of respondents. In Phase 2, lymphoedema specialists (LSs) used an action research approach to design and implement an OLR to meet the needs identified in Phase 1. Study findings were analysed using descriptive statistics (Phase 1), and framework, thematic and dialectic analysis to explore their potential to inform future service development and education theory. Unmet educational need was found to be specific to health care setting and professional group. These resulted in HCPs feeling poorly-equipped to diagnose and manage lymphoedema. Of concern, when identified, lymphoedema was sometimes buried for fear of overwhelming stretched services. An OLR was identified as a means of addressing the unmet educational needs. This was successfully developed and implemented with minimal additional resources. The process model created has the potential to inform contemporary leadership theory in asset-based management contexts. This doctoral research makes a timely contribution to leadership theory since the resource constraints underpinning much of the contribution has salience to current public services. The process model created has the potential to inform contemporary leadership theory in asset-based management contexts. Further study of a leadership style which incorporates cognisance of Cognitive Load Theory and Self-Determination Theory is suggested. In addition, the detailed reporting of process and how this facilitated learning for participants contributes to workplace education theory