4.1. Comercio exterior
4.4.2. Composición de las importaciones de Estados Unidos a China
Aside from effectiveness another key aim of the research is to consider how e- learning can be made entertaining and engaging. That learning should be both entertaining and informative has been my adage for most of my working life. It must be informative – or it is not learning, it must be entertaining or it simply becomes drudgery and drudgery is not learning either. Entertaining does not necessarily mean telling jokes or wearing a red nose (although it could) but is about engaging the hearts and minds of learners so that their interaction with you is worthwhile and joyful.
In the pre-course survey trainees were asked how they thought an online learning programme could be made interesting. The most frequent suggestion was that there should be variety in terms of how the material was delivered (50% of respondents) as well as in the content itself. Different suggestions for delivery methods included interactive quizzes, forums, games and summaries of different processes. The trainees also commented that the programme’s visual appearance should be clear and interesting.
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Table 5-6 Summary of how trainees thought e-learning could be made interesting prior to the course
How do you think an online learning programme could be made interesting and engaging?
Number of respondents
Variety of delivery methods/Mixture of different media 4
Variety of content/topics 2
Interactive questions/quizzes 2
Online Chat Forum 1
Summaries 1
Games and activities 1
Interesting looking screen 1
Clear layout and graphics 1
Relevant Examples 1
Real life anecdotes 1
Examples of what not to do 1
Focusing on achieving a goal 1
Useful information 1
Avoid information overload 1
Don’t know 1
In order for the programme to be interesting and engaging trainees felt that the content needed to be right too. In particular, an important aspect was for the programme to be directly relevant to trainees’ employment roles with “real life anecdotes”, “relevant examples” and even examples of “what not to do”. Focusing on achieving a goal, as opposed to demonstrating resources, was also mentioned by one trainee. Information needed to be useful, but not overwhelming.
From the post-course survey, the feedback from the trainees about the elements they found enjoyable was largely positive. Two aspects, the variety and the use of videos, drew the most comments:
really liked the interactivity of the modules using written content, videos and quizzes. Didn't get bored at all and appreciated the
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efforts of colleagues being involved. It was nice seeing them in there and as time goes by, new videos could be made by newer people... Tasmin
Pretty darn good locally-made videos featuring local talent.
Catherine
Videos....fun to watch colleagues in action & to compare their style to your own. All the music...it kept the adrenaline going ! Eve
The videos and the variety of ways in which info was presented, because I never knew quite what was going to come next. Zoe
Videos were good, easy to follow & learn. Lauren
I liked the mixture of watching, reading and doing. Most videos
were of a good length and got the message across effectively… I
thought it was well balanced and kept my interest most of the time.
Sarah
I found the variety of media good. Emma
Other aspects of the programme that trainees enjoyed were being able to use specific online library resources easier/better, the self-directed aspect, and the fact that it was pitched at an achievable level. Tasmin also enjoyed the quizzes, which encouraged trainees to use resources to answer typical customer enquiries:
I liked the way I got involved in the databases. It is actually even better than going to a training session sometimes Tasmin
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enjoyed all aspects of the learning, found it useful, interesting and entertaining Nadia
When trainees were asked in the focus group when they felt most engaged with the programme again they mentioned the quizzes and the videos, but also being able to tick things off and monitor their learning
When I’m doing a quiz and I’m getting it right. And there are ticks
at the end. Zoe
When you get to tick things off, like you do something and you can tick it off or find the answer. Emma
Watching the videos. Catherine
I loved being able to watch interactions and watch the actual screen that I would actually be using rather than someone just telling you something. I found that really good. Lauren
I think it was well balanced between like watching and doing. I thought the quizzes were really good too. Coz it was nice to go and
actually do stuff. So there wasn’t too much, just like watching. There wasn’t too much just doing so It didn’t feel like it just dragged out each session. Sarah
Another aspect of engagement that trainees mentioned was being able to learn at a time and pace that suited them as learners:
I like personally, the learning in your own time. And I think most people that work in a library are quite likely to want to keep
learning. I think if you didn’t it would be a bit harder but I liked the
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I found if I did it in a chunk say like I had an hour or an hour and a half I was more engaged than if did little bits because otherwise I had to like find that place of engagement again, you know getting started and then you sort of get in the zone. Emma
However, when asked what made people feel least engaged with the course again time was the biggest factor:
Zoe: I think because I was always doing it on a Saturday or a Sunday, by the time I was on to my second hour I was like –
ahhhh –because I’ve got to finish this today because it’s not
happening again until next weekend. By that second hour I was actually feeling somewhat less engaged.
Lauren: Just when I was rushing at the end to get it finished, actually that was it.
Eve: time pressure.
Lauren: time pressure. Actually doing it was fun.
Nadia: Yes, actually getting to do it was the pressure.
Aside from time pressure, the other barrier to engagement trainees mentioned in the focus group was longer videos:
Zoe: The only time I thought that was the slightly longer videos. Three minutes – good, but six, seven minute videos I just. I
can’t sit watching TV doing nothing, and six, seven minutes
just watching was too much for me
Lauren: longer videos yes
Catherine: Dewey system.
At this point Catherine mentions the Dewey System video, which is one of the longest videos in the programme. This particular video is singled out several times for dislike and further discussion is presented in the Instructional Design section (5.2) below.
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When trainees were asked in the post-course survey what could be done to make the programme more engaging, the largest numbers of comments were around solving technical issues and improving the quality of picture and sound in videos as well as reducing their length (table 5.7). In addition, trainees wanted additional questions and optional activities. Having a clearer checklist was also mentioned as important for engagement in future courses. The only topic that was specifically mentioned as needing changing was Dewey.
Table 5-7 Factors that trainees thought would improve engagement with the programme
Response Number of
respondents
More quiz questions 3
Solve technical issues 3
Clearer sound and video 3
Use presenters with clearest voices 2
More support from management to relieve time pressure
2
Clearer Checklist/Sense of progress 2
Optional Activities 2
Shorter Video 1
Can Dewey be made more engaging? 1
Apart from the programme needing more support from management. Time to complete the training was also seen as important for engagement.
Overall the programme was described by the trainees as “fun” and “entertaining” as well as being seen as effective. There were, however, a number of suggested improvements from an engagement perspective and these are examined in more detail in the instructional design section below.
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5.2
Instructional Design for E-learning
One of the important things to learn from the perspective of improving the programme in the future, and developing new online professional development programmes, was what design elements made the programme effective. Of particular interest was the effectiveness of different activity types.
In the post-course survey trainees were asked both how effective and how engaging they found the different activities (table 5.8). The different activities listed were videos showing overviews of resources, videos showing a reference interview, answering multiple choice quizzes, and posting and responding to comments on the forum. The scale of effectiveness ranged between not at all, a little bit, some, very and completely.
Table 5-8 Trainees rating of the effectiveness of different activities
Participants Rating of the Effectiveness of Different Activities
Videos showing overviews of resources Videos showing a reference interview Answering multiple choice quizzes Posting and responding to comments on the forum Not at all 0 0 0 1 A Little Bit 0 1 0 5 Some 3 2 1 1 Very 4 3 5 1 Completely 1 2 2 0
The trainees rated both kinds of videos highly and more or less equally, although one respondent rated the reference interview videos only “a little bit effective”. Answering the multiple choice questions was rated slightly higher. The forum however received very low effectiveness scores.
When comparing the scores for effectiveness with the scores for engagement (table 5.9) the two were (unsurprisingly) highly correlated; individuals who rated
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an activity as highly effective also rated it as highly engaging. The engagement ratings were more extreme than the effectiveness ratings; more respondents rated the activities as “completely” engaging, while the individual who found the
reference interview videos only “a little bit” effective found it “not at all” engaging.
Table 5-9 Trainees rating of the engagement of different activities
Participants Rating of the Engagement of Different Activity Types Videos showing overviews of resources Videos showing a reference interview Answering multiple choice quizzes Posting and responding to comments on the forum Not at all 0 1 0 1 A Little Bit 0 0 0 5 Some 2 1 1 2 Very 4 2 3 0 Completely 2 4 4 0
Again the forum received low engagement scores suggesting that as an activity it was rated neither particularly effective nor engaging.
5.2.1
The Forum
The forum had not performed as expected. As the programme progressed there was a noticeable decrease in the number of posts to the forum. The content of the posts also changed to focus more on technical issues or observations and less on the content of the programme.
The forums are being totally misused. They are supposed to be discussing learning but have turned into a litany of fault finding – “CTRL F doesn’t work on my MAC” – well of course it doesn’t …It’s
nothing to do with the programme or the website, it is to do with
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It had been hoped that the forum would be a way of providing a channel of communication for the group, providing support and group cohesiveness, but instead the forum seemed to create a barrier to learning with trainees afraid of looking foolish.
I find the forum like a little bit scary but I’m getting more used to
that type of thing as well, just for putting your stuff out there for
everyone to see. That’s a new kinda concept for me.Emma
I find that when it comes to writing on the forum it is kind of like –
uuch – you know. I have to put my, and what if my answer is wrong and it is there on the forum for everybody to see. Zoe
I wonder if new starts who are more in my age group – the older age group – might do what I did and note it all down in the
booklet, my booklet’s full. I’m more comfortable jotting it down on
paper like this than sending anything to a forum online. I don’t
know, you might find that. Eve
Time was again an issue, with trainees saying that this was the reason they did not use the forum:
But I think by the time I had been through a module and I was getting to near the end of my hour and I’d find I didn’t have time to
post to the forum –so it often didn’t get done. Catherine
At the same time, some trainees appeared to recognise the value of a forum:
I never like doing things like that. I hate doing forums, but I have discovered through other courses that what you actually end up writing down is actually your learning at that time, so it is forcing you to think about it and actually write it down and digest it, so I
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think even though it is a pain in the... it’s actually very useful as a learning tool. Zoe
Doing this course because we had prior knowledge it’s kind of
easier to go through and do it. But as a new person I think the forum could really be used as a support mechanism, not just for posting your answers, but if it was encouraged as a support for people as they go through it. Because you could feel very isolated
and if you don’t have any background knowledge and you got in
trouble and there is no one to talk to that forum could be used.
Sarah
There were also positive comments about the forum in the post-course survey
I also found my colleagues' feedback on the forum very thought provoking. Zoe
The forum took a bit of getting used to but I warmed to it. Sarah
Some of the difficulties with the forum may have been due to its intended function as a place to write and discuss answers to problems rather than just a place to post questions and provide support. Several trainees suggested that this was a problem and thought the way the forum was used could be changed:
And at the end of the day the majority of us were just sort of parroting the same thing, you know – because you had to give answers to a lot of things, and a lot of answers were just the same, so it was just like ok, yes I agree with you, yep, da, da, da, da.
Lauren
I would rather put my answer in a quiz than have to put it on the
forum, which may be a tool to make you use the forum, I’m not
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Maybe if the forum were for posting thoughts or ideas, but not actually you need to go and look at this and then post what you’ve
done. Sarah
Another issue was that the forum automatically sent all the trainees an email when something was posted. This was intended to work as a reminder for trainees to respond to their colleagues’ posts. However, this feature created its own problems:
I found it quite intimidating when I was getting emails from the
forum talking about final fling and I’m going aaaargh, I haven’t
even got to local legend yet. Nadia
The feedback from the trainees suggested that there needs to be more
consideration of how (and indeed whether) forums should be used for online professional development and if they are not used what would be suitable alternatives.
5.2.2
Videos
In terms of both effectiveness and engagement trainees rated the videos highly. In the post-course survey a distinction was made between videos showing overviews of resources and those showing reference interviews. Trainees rated both types of videos highly, although Emma disliked the reference interview videos. The main recommendation for the videos, apart from technical issues of sound and vision, was to make them shorter; three minutes was the suggested optimum. However, two videos came up for particular criticism – the Introduction to Reader’s Advisory and the Introduction to Dewey.
In the [Reader’s Advisory] video where she is just standing against a blank background – I didn’t like that, I wanted her to be at a desk, like an information desk or something and if she’s talking about you can find this in a Newspaper, get a prop, find a
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newspaper – visual cues that make you think – oh yes, that - very good stuff, but just a talking mouth and I found that just too distracting Catherine (Focus Group)
The Dewey info was very clear perhaps a little too clear, while the other videos kept me focussed I drifted off a bit, maybe it was the white screen but it felt like it was slightly over explained. Sarah (Forum Post)
I found the Dewey video boring with too much info, don't feel I needed to have all Dewey read out as I could see it on screen…
Going Quackers was good really found that interesting Lauren (Forum Post)
These two videos were the only two in the programme presented purely as lectures. In the Reader’s Advisory Introduction a readers’ advisory expert simply talked about the practice of readers’ advisory and some of the key issues. The Dewey video was based on a PowerPoint presentation that had originally been used in the face-to-face course. The presenter narrated the presentation as she would typically do in a face-to-face class. These “lecture” type videos did not seem to translate well into the online environment.
However, the Dewey presenter also created a second video called “Going
Quackers” about catalogue information and as can be seen by Lauren’s feedback above and Zoe’s below, this was well received.
I really liked "Going Quackers" - it's an issue that comes up frequently and the whys and wherefore were explained clearly. (Plus, how can you resist a cute little duck?!) Zoe (Forum Post)
Both Dewey and cataloguing are theoretical, information-heavy topics. In the cataloguing video the topic was presented as a puzzle –a children’s book about a duck apparently had the wrong title – and the fields in the catalogue were then
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explored to try and solve the mystery. Creating context – even a slightly artificial context as in the Cataloguing example – appeared to result in a more interesting