learning - Academic Conferences Limited

Glenn Duckworth
“… I think the second set of exercises that we did where we actually introduced basic
terms - I think that was a lot better for the students. I think the way that the exercises
introduced the module to the students … was to say this is a module which can be very
nerve wracking…. They may not be very au fait with numbers and things like that. And
rather than reading a text book and not really understanding things, I think the
introduction of the basic concepts was very good for them and that really helped them …
(they) got the general basic understanding, were able to do the exercises and this really
started the group off from a very different position. And perhaps that eased them into
reading the textbook.”
9. Other aspects of the pre-workshop components
As well as the glossary exercise and the finance resources, a range of resources and activities were
incorporated.
The introductory videos were generally seen as being useful, as long as they provided useful
information and that information was provided in written form as well.
“Very useful.”
“Some info was only on video. Would have been useful if given written version also to
prevent having to re-run video to pick up elements later.”
“Could use brief repetition of required tasks at close of video.”
“It made it more personable.”
“Could replay to understand.”
“Good. Not too long. Just about right in terms of time.”
Online communication was encouraged through various means. The use of the social
networking/profiles site in advance of the first module was generally seen as useful for group
cohesion. Some students did indicate that it was somewhat time consuming to set up but most
indicated that they found it to be a useful exercise and that they enjoyed learning about their fellow
MBA peers from the profiles.
“Great idea.”
“Helped each other to remember names”
“Took a good couple of hours to set up.”
“Useful to find out about other students - although noticed that not all posted info.”
The use of other communication tools such as discussion boards was somewhat varied. For example,
on the Managing Decisions finance module, the first group of students made use of discussion boards
to discuss issues they were having with completion of the exercises. The second group, however, did
not post any messages at all. When asked about the lack of activity on the discussion board, some
students stated that they did not feel the need to use it (“No need - no questions to ask”) or
commented on the lack of posts from others in the cohort (“No reason to - nobody else was using it”).
Blogs and wikis were used with some success. Most of the students engaged in these activities and
they did produce some online discussion.
10. Conclusions
The process of priming via online pre-workshop activities was seen as being valuable by both
students and lecturers.
There was some concern that students would not engage with the online activities due to time and
work pressures. But this has not been the case, and the majority of students did indeed make use of
the resources and activities before the classroom teaching began. Many of the exercises helped
students to structure their reading and forced them to do the appropriate reading rather than merely
skim read the suggested texts. They also provided a method for students to evaluate their
understanding of the key concepts before even entering the classroom.
It seems that the activities did help students and staff to ‘hit the ground running’ and they could begin
engaging in high level discussion of concepts from day one of the classroom based sessions. This
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