tt280 conference usage. participation and grade effect of conference participation on grade achieved...
Post on 21-Dec-2015
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Participation and grade
Effect of conference participation on grade achieved – statistical comparison covering 3 presentations
Choke points
Are there points at which students tend to leave the course? Are there any solutions for that?
Moderators’ activities
Some thoughts about what moderators are trying to achieve
A study of a specific issue to illustrate what kind of communications moderators undertake
Overall figuresPresentation: 04E 04J 05B
Total messages 9096 12333 5340
Mods total 1530 2259 1646
Mods proportion 16.82% 18.32% 30.82%
Total contributors 337 443 261
Total students registered at start 801 909 525
Proportion contributing 42.07% 48.73% 49.71%
Proportion more than 1 message 33.58% 40.37% 40.38%
Proportion messages from top 10 30.00% 31.28% 17.66%
Ave number of messages from top 10 273 386 94
Number contributing 1 message 68 76 49
Proportion contributing 1 message 20.18% 17.16% 18.77%
Comparisons
Total messages
Average OES 04E
Average OES 04J
Average OES 05B
Average of averages
0 39.97 39.3 39.13 39.46
1 42.06 41.75 42.42 42.08
2-9 48.48 52.23 47.7 49.47
10-99 57.71 59.20 58.28 58.4
100+ 72.90 71.76 42 62.22
Message content – one timers
From 04E presentation
("I wouldn't normally dream of actually writing to one of these conferences, but I must find out if anybody out there is in the same boat as me.
I read through the conferences and everybody seems to be so advanced in their knowledge of web sites. I wonder what half of you are doing on this course as I'm sure I signed up for "Web Basics". )
Are one timers reading?
Total Message Histories approx 2m items
Analysed Message History of 40 messages, 0.004% total
Of the 68 one time posters, 14 had read at least one and 4 of the 14 had read them all
The 14 all passed well
Suggests reading messages has beneficial effect
Conclusions - stats
A very strong, indeed almost unbreakable, correlation between degree of participation in the conferences and grade of passing.
This is demonstrated even in the difference between posting one message and posting none.
Conclusions – causal?
Data do not support any conclusion.
Reasonable however to assume that participation causes greater understanding of the issues and requirements of the course .
Conclusions – effect of only reading messages
sampling of message histories suggests also that reading without contributing also has beneficial effects
What are the mods up to
A specific example:
XX posted 57 messages in a very short space of time about the ECA in the just finished presentation
Many expressed panic, most asked simple generic or specific questions, a lot were effectively asking what the answers to the ECA were
I analysed our responses
XX’s questions
An example:
“I was hoping you mods could offer some advice on the report..Like what it means and stuff.”
The messages contained well over 100 questions, max of 13 questions in one message
The responses - tone
Very similar style and language (5 mods)
Even toned
Did we show signs of irritation?
The responses - consistent
Rarely gave her answers except where the answer was clear and she was really just asking for confirmation.
When, at one point, she said it would be easier if the mods just said "correct", we gave her an explanation of why we weren't going to do that (that was coded as a 5).
The responses – good practice
• encouraging people to work things out for themselves (mostly 2 and 7, with 5 thrown in) – a distinctive style where we are not providing answers but pointing in directions people should be thinking of going
• encouraging people to make active use of the conferences and the resources (1 and 12)
• clear encouragement to use judgement (3 and 4)
• clear encouragement to take the initiative and do what the course material indicates (7 and 9)
• while at the same time giving help where it is clearly needed (2 and 11)
Student Engagement
Student Sessions
0
5
10
15
20
25
<5
<10
<15
<20
<30
<40
<50
<60
<70
<80
<90
<100
<150
<200
<250
<300
<350
<400
<450
<500
<100
0
Number of sessions
Nu
mb
er o
f st
ud
ents
Minimum recommended
Mean
37% of students