Monitoring, supporting, and engaging students based on the evidence generated by digital technologies

Title: A research study on an online study course of English 

University: Vytautas Magnus University (VMU), Lithuania (Volungeviciene et al., 2021)

Section of the framework: B - Metacognitive strategies to measure students’ academic success

What competencies and learning outcomes of the DigicompEdu Framework are we addressing?

Key issues: This best practice description introduces the metacognitive learning activities that are designed and delivered in an online English language course in Moodle (and in the virtual conference room). Here the teacher has designed various learning activities that would help collect evidence on learners' academic success and learning design.

Tasks like group work, individual work, pair work, discussions, and analysis, allow teachers to engage learners better. Similarly, introductory presentations, reflections, and feedback given to and from peers affect students’ cognition. Here are some strategies used in the course:

Two-slide PowerPoint

Since the course is taken by students from different study fields and study programs, the teacher aims to learn more about students as learners. Therefore, the teacher asks to create a two-slide PowerPoint of introduction and posts it on Moodle at the very beginning when the course starts. 

- The first slide was divided into two parts. The first half focused on serious information – students’ names, education, and work. The second side of the slide reveals a student as a person – hobbies, interests, talents, passions, etc. 

- The second half of the slide was for students to share their likes and dislikes. Thanks to this strategy, the teacher aimed to foster their reflection on their own learning preferences. 

- Students were encouraged to present and discuss how they felt about their role as a student, a brother/sister, an English learner, or a professional in the job position he/she had at that moment. 

In this task, students are required to introduce themselves to the classmates and the teacher. Students post their introductions on a discussion forum where everybody from the group can participate (fig. 1).

Figure 1. Example of student presentation from the English language course (Volungeviciene et al., 2021, p. 138)

The slides’ purpose is to know more about students, their strengths, weaknesses and interests. Introductory slides and students’ presentations are useful for teachers to know more about learners’ context (family, work, passions, professional interests). Thanks to this information, teachers can encourage students to find out topics for future assignments according to their interests. By making these decisions, the teacher fosters learners' self-regulated learning, allowing them to plan their own learning or reflect on what topics they want to explore in their assignments.

Peer learning activities

Another learning design strategy that the teacher applies in the course is peer learning activities. By asking students to review peers’ presentations according to a set of criteria, the teacher raises awareness of their cognitive knowledge and skills (fig. 2). Students need to think critically, reflect on their own presentation, compare the results, and, when needed, make decisions on how to improve their own learning. 

Figure 2. An example of peer-assessment criteria (Volungeviciene et al., 2021, p. 144)

Throughout the study period, the teacher assesses students through a variety of assessment and self-assessment tools, like discussion forums, where students are encouraged to reflect and give feedback to peers on their performance and assignments.

Self-reflection on the learning process

At the end of the semester, learners have to reflect on their learning process. This can be done through a follow-up of an introductory activity by means of slides. Students are invited to reflect on their learning experience, think about if and how they would study differently in the future and evaluate their own learning.  Teachers encourage students to rate the usefulness of learning content, what they found the most and least useful, and, finally, what learning strategies or experiences  can be applied in their future studies. By using metacognitive learning strategies, the teacher engages learners in a continuous reflection on their learning practices. Such reflections help students think about their role in the learning process and in the learning community.

A list of reflective questions is also introduced after students have delivered the first-class project presentation (fig. 3). Through this task, the teacher invites students to reflect on the assignment's process and assess the value of the assignment. 

Reflections after each assignment reinforce students’ metacognition and, at the same time, allows teachers to receive feedback on their learning design. 

Figure 3. Reflective questions introduced to students after the assignment (Volungeviciene et al., 2021, p. 142)

Quizzes and a gradebook

Finally, weekly quizzes and a gradebook are used to support metacognitive learning strategies and self-regulated learning. Quizzes are created using the Moodle Quiz tool every week and the time is set for completing each quiz. It allows students to learn consequently, plan their learning, check if they use enough effort to achieve intended learning outcomes and be aware of their own learning progress. The gradebook allows students to follow their achievements and regulate their learning accordingly.

Relevance for teachers: 

The improvement of learning design is based on frequent reflections on assignments and follow-up activities. Teachers change the syllabus every semester and adapt it during the semester considering students’ needs, personalities and study programme peculiarities. The teacher’s aim is to push students outside of their comfort zone by encouraging them to share their opinion, critically assess peers’ learning and use argumentation. Diverse Moodle tools are used each semester and, at the same time, the teacher explores new possibilities about the learning design each semester. Discussion forums, Padlet, and group work results allow teachers to follow the progress of students. One of the most useful Moodle tool during this course was Padlet, where all students and teachers participated in the discussions. All these tools together allow teachers to follow students’ learning progress.

References

Volungeviciene, A., Tereseviciene, M., & Trepule, E. (2021). Learning Analytics: a Metacognitive Tool to Engage Students. Research study. Sciendo. https://doi.org/10.2478/9788366675643