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The rise of microlearning both for professional training and in the field of education seems unstoppable. Nonetheless, there is a lack of evidence of its learning effectiveness and student satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to uncover these two aspects of microlearning when taking part in a business education program. Its originality is that it analyses in depth a fast-growing EdTech startup that provides business training using microlearning methods, exploring the effect in terms of student satisfaction and learning effectiveness when combining a significant number of microlearning lessons to create a macro-learning course. Findings show that learning effectiveness is mainly explained by the reason for enrolling in this type of training and its applicability to the students' current jobs, resulting in four possible learning outcomes of increasing levels of effectiveness: entertainment, updating knowledge and skills, unexpected learning, and effective learning. This paper helps fill a gap in the research on learner satisfaction and microlearning effectiveness, finding that they are not necessarily guaranteed. It also has practical implications for designing, recruiting for, and implementing microlearning-based programs. Keypoints: Empirical research into microlearning effectiveness and student satisfaction in postgraduate business education. Exploring the effectiveness of macro-learning, or the grouping of a significant number of microlearning lessons into a learning program. Uncovering different levels of learning effectiveness and their antecedent conditions. • Seeking learning or curiosity drive reasons to enroll in microlearning. • The effectiveness of microlearning hinges on reasons for enrolment and relevance to job roles. • Two thirds of the participants in microlearning are satisfied covering their learning objectives. • Four types of learning outcomes with increasing effectiveness are identified. • Outcome types: entertainment, updating knowledge and skills, unexpected learning and effective learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The paper discusses how the intercultural knowledge is enhanced in a technology-enabled learning environment. We developed a comparative reflection approach, for an undergraduate course participated by three groups of students, who were globally distributed in the US, Mainland China, and Taiwan. Made possible by the videoconferencing technology, the approach included two group-based tasks of describing, comparing, analyzing, and reflecting on everyday activities and cultural practices. To evaluate the design effectiveness, we conducted a discourse-based ethnographic study to examine the knowledge construction stimulated by the task design. We identified that, while all the three groups constructed cultural-specific knowledge on the first task, some constructed deep cultural knowledge and insightful cross-cultural interpretations on the second task. As student groups undertook the two progressive tasks, they worked through various levels of understandings, hence moving from surface to deep learning. Highlights • Three globally distributed groups of undergraduate students were connected via the videoconferencing technology. • The three groups participated in two progressive tasks to describe, compare, analyze, and reflect on everyday practices. • All the three groups constructed certain cultural-specific knowledge, while two constructed deep cultural knowledge. • The learning gap highlighted the necessity of task clarity and appropriate scaffolding in the teaching and learning design. • The groups also constructed understandings about the presentation format by learning from the best practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper examines the discrete learning strategies employed within a massive open online course and their relationship to the student learning experience. The theoretical framework centered on the Community of Inquiry model of online education, which outlines the three critical dimensions (presences) of student learning experience: teaching, social, and cognitive presence. The Community of Inquiry survey instrument, administered as the part of the post-course survey, was used to measure student perceived levels of the three presences. Cluster analysis revealed three different groups of students with unique study strategies: limited users, selective users, and broad users. The strategies adopted significantly differed in student use of available tools and resources, final course grade, as well as the perceived levels of cognitive presence. The results also indicate there were significant differences regarding student commitment to learning, motivations and goals for enrolling in a MOOC, as well as goal orientation, approaches to learning, and the use of different study strategies. Implications for research and practice of online learning are further discussed. Highlights • We examined student study strategies within MOOCs based on interaction log data. • Cluster analysis revealed three groups: limited, selective, and broad users. • Differences in final grades and pre- and post-course surveys answers were examined. • We observed differences in final grades and perceived levels of cognitive presence. • We observed differences across factors such as motivation and goal orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the initial stage of a design-based research program that aims to devise student-facing social learning analytics in a postsecondary setting. In order to foster student discussion in online classes, we devised an analytics toolkit that turns discussion forum data into information for students to reflect upon. The first pilot study conducted in an online course showed both early promises and challenges with this effort. In particular, students reported usefulness of the toolkit for monitoring posting behaviors and setting participation goals. Content analysis of post content linked tool usage with students' increased attempts to solicit peer responses to their posts and increased reflection on individual participation. However, the tool was not found useful or easy to use by some students, and it did not show benefits in other aspects of online discussion, such as crafting stronger argumentation or reflecting on group processes. These findings highlight the need of social learning analytics to strive for tool simplicity, scaffold students' development in data literacy, and bring analytics and pedagogical designs into close coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study aiming at examining the affordances and constraints of BYOD (Bring YourOwn Device) for varied pedagogical practices from teachers' perspectives in higher education. Seventeen teachers from eight departments and centers participated in the one-year study. The affordances and constraints of BYOD were examined under the "framework of affordances and constraints in BYOD-supported learning environment". Data collection included class observations, class videos, field notes, resources on the BYOD website and teaching plans. Content analysiswas adopted in the data analysis. The research findings showthat (1) seven types of BYOD conceptualized affordanceswere identified for varied pedagogical purposes; and (2) three types of constraints of BYODwere singled out in pedagogical practices. Discussions regarding the affordances and constraints are made and implications are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the ways in which higher education students search for information in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. Data for this study was drawn from verbal reports of nine participants engaged in retrospective think-aloud sessions to solve ten tasks each. The results of the thematic analysis revealed that the participants followed the pattern outlined in literature of connectivism and literacy frameworks. Namely, the participants proceeded with four interrelated steps: locating information, information use, remix and repurpose, and knowledge sharing. Some key themes were observed that differed from previous studies, including meta-search and the frequency of changing search keywords over time. Each difference deserves further consideration. Moreover, the results highlight extreme plagiarism among participants and their low-level competencies to innovatively evaluate and remix online content. This paper argues that critical and cyberliteracy are perhaps the nominated theoretical frameworks for developing information search mechanisms in oppressed societies. Implications for educational practices are discussed. • Students in fragile contexts and in western countries search information similarly. • Students in conflict-affected learning contexts plagiarize content heavily. • Students in deprived societies lack digital literacy to evaluate online content. • Meta-search is a key theme to develop digital competencies in higher education. • Connectivism's model of learning found some support in oppressed societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies have shed light on policies and strategies for learning analytics (LA) adoption, yet there is limited understanding of associations among factors that influence adoption processes or the change in priorities when institutional experience with LA increases. This paper addresses this gap by presenting a study based on interviews with institutional leaders from 27 European higher education institutions. Results showed that experienced institutions demonstrated more interest in exploring learning behaviour and pedagogical reformation than simply measuring a phenomenon. Experienced institutions also paid more attention to methodological approaches to LA than data constraints, and demonstrated a broader involvement of teachers and students. This paper also identifies inter-related connections between prevailing challenges that impede the scaling of LA. Based on the results, we suggest regular evaluations of LA adoption to ensure the alignment of strategy and desired changes. We also identify three areas that require particular attention when forming short-term goals for LA at different phases of adoption • Connections of key adoption factors vary among institutions with different LA experience. • Experienced institutions prioritised exploring over measuring a learning phenomenon. • Experienced institutions were more concerned with methods than constraints of data. • Experienced institutions engaged primary stakeholders more equally. • Special attention is need for institutional context, people issues, and ethics and privacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to report the influence of self-control and self-regulated learning on a group of tertiary students' learning outcomes in a blended learning environment. In this project, 74 second-year students who were enrolled in a blended course of ICT in Education completed a questionnaire survey on self-control and self-regulated learning skills at the beginning of the course and weekly reports about their learning experiences during the course. It was found that self-control (as a dispositional personality trait) and self-regulated learning (students' capability of using effective strategies to achieve their learning goals) would predict the participants' course outcomes that were indexed by their final grades in the course. The impact of self-control on the participants' learning outcomes was mediated through their self-regulated learning and course participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to predict what university course a student may select has important quality assurance and economic imperatives. The capacity to determine future course load and student interests provides for increased accuracy in the allocation of resources including curriculum and learning support and career counselling services. Prior research in data mining has identified several models that can be applied to predict course selection based on the data residing in institutional information systems. However, these models only aim to predict the total number of students that may potentially enrol in a course. This prior work has not examined the prediction of the course enrolments with respect to the specific academic term and year in which the students will take those courses in the future. Moreover, these prior models operate under the assumption that all data stored within institutional information systems can be directly associated with an individual student's identity. This association with student identity is not always feasible due to government regulations (e.g., student evaluations of teaching and courses). In this paper, we propose an approach for extracting student preferences from sources available in institutional student information systems. The extracted preferences are analysed using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), to predict student course selection. The AHP-based approach was validated on a dataset collected in an undergraduate degree program at a Canadian research-intensive university (N = 1061). The results demonstrate that the accuracy of the student course predictions was high and equivalent to that of previous data mining approaches using fully identifiable data. The findings suggest that a students' grade point average relative to the grades of the courses they are considering for enrolment was the most important factor in determining future course selections. This finding is consistent with theories of modern counseling psychology that acknowledges self-efficacy as a critical factor in career planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors previously proposed a framework for institutional BL adoption (Graham, Woodfield, & Harrison, 2012), identifying three stages: (a) awareness/exploration, (b) adoption/early implementation, and (c) mature implementation/growth. The framework also identified key strategy, structure, and support issues universities may address at each stage. In this paper, the authors applied that framework as well as Rogers' (2003) diffusion of innovations theory to determine the degree to which institutional strategy, structure, and support measures facilitate or impede BL adoption among higher education faculty. In addition, the authors explored whether higher education faculty's innovation adoption category affects which measures facilitate or impede BL adoption. To achieve these objectives, the authors surveyed 214 faculty and interviewed 39 faculty at a school in the adoption/early implementation stage of BL adoption. The authors published the survey results in a prior article. The current article explores the results of the interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent popularity of social technologies has motivated some university lecturers to use them for Online Social Networking (OSN) educational activities. These technologies have enormous potential to enhance the teaching and learning experience. However, there have been limited studies assessing how to effectively use social technologies and what the impacts are on students' learning experience, particularly with regard to their value in enhancing interactions. This paper focuses on students' experiences with using OSN for student–student and student–lecturer interactions. A total of nine focus group discussions with 46 students were held in Malaysian and Australian universities. A thematic analysis revealed that students identified a number of positive outcomes from using OSN to interact with each other and with their lecturers. The findings contribute to current understanding about how students leverage social technologies to enhance interaction among themselves, with their lecturers, and with the content of the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief paper develops a series of provocations against the current forms of Learning Analytics that are beginning to be implemented in higher education contexts. The paper highlights a number of ways in which Learning Analytics can be experienced as discriminatory, oppressive and ultimately disadvantaging across whole student populations, and considers the limitations of current efforts within educational data science to increase awareness of 'ethics' and 'social good'. This culminates in a stark choice: is it possible to substantially improve the field of Learning Analytics as it currently stands, or should we abandon it in favour of new forms of applying data science that are aligned with the experiences of non-conforming 'learners' and un-categorizable forms of 'learning'? • Learning Analytics can be discriminatory, oppressive and ultimately disadvantaging. • Concerns over 'data ethics' and 'social good' do not address these issues. • We need to expand understandings of Learning Analytics 'stakeholders'. • Can data science be reimagined for un-categorizable forms of 'learners'? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the expectations of academic staff to learning analytics services from an ideal as well as a realistic perspective. This mixed-method study focused on a cross-case analysis of staff from Higher Education Institutions from four European universities (Spain, Estonia, Netherlands, UK). While there are some differences between the countries as well as between ideal and predicted expectations, the overarching results indicate that academic staff sees learning analytics as a tool to understand the learning activities and possibility to provide feedback for the students and adapt the curriculum to meet learners' needs. However, one of the findings from the study across cases is the generally consistently low expectation and desire for academic staff to be obligated to act based on data that shows students being at risk of failing or under-performing. • Academic staff perceives LA as a tool to provide students feedback but do not feel obligated to act based on LA data. • LA has potential in supporting learning and teaching but academics are not convinced that ideal expectations are realized. • There is a need to engage teaching staff in LA processes – strategy/policy formation, embedding LA into teaching practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online courses are a growing part of the community college experience, but many students, particularly minority students or students who are more at-risk, face challenges in passing those courses. This paper presents results from an experimental study of an effort to redesign a set of core introductory online courses to include a set of technology tools and instructional practices designed to improve students' experiences in the online environment. Results from the study showed that treatment students were less likely to withdraw, and minority students, specifically, were more likely to pass the class and to persist to the next year of college. • Students in online courses often struggle to successfully complete the course. • Project COMPASS uses technology and instructional strategies to improve student outcomes. • A randomized controlled trial shows positive outcomes for COMPASS students. • Larger impacts were seen for minority students and impacts differed by the course subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In higher education, learning activities increasingly take place in online collaborative groups. In this conceptual paper, we explore online collaborative interaction from the perspective of dialogicality. We aim to reconceptualize the notion of "productive interaction" and the typical focus of its research by turning attention to the dialogic features of collaborative interaction, especially the notions of alterity, dialogic attitude, and dialogic orientation. In relation to this, we offer a contextual perspective on collaborative interaction. Relying on data from an online university course, we conceptually analyze specified components of dialogicality. This article illustrates and explores the conceptual framework that connects different contexts in dialogic meaning-making. We also discuss our conceptual and empirical exploration from the pedagogical perspective. • The study reconceptualizes" productive interaction" in online collaboration • The study presents dialogic and contextual perspective on collaborative interaction • A conceptual analysis was conducted to search for elements of dialogicality [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education is under mounting pressure to confront student practices of assignment outsourcing to internet services. The scale and buoyancy of this 'essay mill' industry has now been well documented, including its various marketing techniques for urging students to purchase bespoke academic work. However, the inherently suspect nature of such services demands that they adopt a particularly shrewd and empathic rhetoric to win custom from website visitors. In this paper, we investigate how such rhetoric currently constructs a critical version of the student's higher education experience. We present a thematic analysis of promotional text and images as found on a large sample of essay mill sites. Findings reveal how these sites promulgate a hostile and negative attitude towards higher educational practice. Yet these findings may also indicate where the higher education sector needs to reflect on its practice, not least in order to resist the toxic messages of essay mills. • 95 essay mill websites scrutinised in relation to their promotional images and texts. • Analysis exposes hostile and negative narratives of prevailing experiences of students in higher education. • These narratives systematised around six themes. • A platform for the sector to reflect on good practice and how it is projected to students and publlic [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the hype and speculation about the role massively open online courses (MOOCs) may play in higher education, empirical research that explores the realities of interacting and learning in MOOCs is in its infancy. MOOCs have evolved from previous incarnations of online learning but are distinguished in their global reach and semi-synchronicity. Thus, it is important to understand the ways that learners from around the world interact in these settings. In this paper, we ask three questions: (1) What are the demographic characteristics of students that participate in MOOC discussion forums? (2) What are the discussion patterns that characterize their interactions? And (3) How does participation in discussion forums relate to students' final scores? Analysis of nearly 87,000 individuals from one MOOC reveals three key trends. First, forum participants tend to be young adults from the Western world. Secondly, these participants assemble and disperse as crowds, not communities, of learners. Finally, those that engage explicitly in the discussion forums are often higher-performing than those that do not, although the vast majority of forum participants receive "failing" marks. These findings have implications for the design and implementation of future MOOCs, and how they are conceptualised as part of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]