Lighting the Path with Asynchronous Learning

Tutorials

Amy Harris HoukBeth Filar Williams

Vanessa AppleJenny Dale

The University of North Carolina at GreensboroUniversity Libraries

Synchronous LearningProsReach all students at

one time, one locationRead body languageIntervene immediatelyPersonal connectionFamiliar style of

teaching

ConsEveryone has to be there,

same time, same placeNeed to have physical

location arrangedNot always convenient to

studentsMay be difficult to go at

own pace

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78124518@N00/1397737955/

Asynchronous LearningPros ConsReach more peopleReach more variety of peopleStudent centered - time/place

of their choosingUsers go at their own paceEasy to gather dataGreat for self-motivated

learnerStudent control of learning

Tech problems Can be expensive (tech) to

buildMay need expertise to buildNo immediate feedbackNo direct intervention

possibleSense of disconnectRelies on student motivation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86657707@N00/2348649408/

Background2000: Creation of First Steps tutorial2005: Update for usability and ADA

compliance, name changed to FIRST: Finding It! A Research Skills Tutorial

2009: Began discussing updating tutorial again

2010: PATH goes live

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cobalt/409924867/

What can we tell from the numbers?Total number of distinct visits: 30868• A lot of visits for one semester

Percentage of users who logged in and completed all mini quizzes and the final quiz• 49%, or essentially 1 in 2 people

Ratio of video views to transcript views• 10 to 1• Needed for accessibility and technical difficulty

Topic and Q

uestion

Keywords

Source

s & Parameters

Library

Catalog

Finding Arti

cles

Scholarly

versu

s Popular R

esources

Finding W

eb Source

s

Plagiarism

Paraphrasing

Citing Source

s300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Quiz SavesQuiz Visits

Quiz Saves versus Quiz Visits

Technologies Used & AlternativesCode Database

• ASP.NET (server side code)• jQuery (client side code)

• PHP/Perl/Python • MooTools, Javascript•No code, just HTML

Alternate Options:

• Architecture on MS SQL Server• T-SQL statements

Alternate Options:• MySQL • MySQL SQL statements• None hardcoded, not dynamic

Database UseAllows dynamic quizzesAllows tracking user progress

Users

Questions

Answers

Modules

A Team EffortStudents,

faculty, and staff at UNCG all contributed to PATH’s development

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/1384952210/

Future?

•Printable certificate

• Collecting data when not logged in

•Shared question bank

•Create paths by discipline