Technology-enhanced learning supported by virtual learning environments (VLEs) facilitates tutors and students.VLE platforms contain a wealth of information that can be used to mine insight regarding students’ learning behaviourand relationships between behaviour and academic performance, as well as to model data-driven decision-making.This study introduces a system that we termed ASIST: a novel Attention-aware convolutional Stacked BiLSTM net-work for student representation learning to predict their performance. ASIST exploits student academic registry, VLEclick stream, and midterm continuous assessment information for their behaviour representation learning. ASISTjointly learns the student representation using five behaviour vectors. It processes the four sequential behaviourvectors using a separate stacked bidirectional long short term memory (LSTM) network. A deep convolutional neuralnetwork models the diurnal weekly interaction behaviour. It also employs the attention mechanism to assign weightto features based on their importance. Next, five encoded feature vectors are concatenated with the assessmentinformation, and, finally, a softmax layer predicts the high-performer (H), moderate-performer (M), and at-risk (F)categories of students. We evaluate ASIST over three datasets from an Irish university, considering five evaluationmetrics. ASIST achieves an area under the curve (AUC) score of 0.86 to 0.90 over the three datasets. It outperformsthree baseline deep learning models and four traditional classification models. We also found that the attentionmechanism has a slight impact on ASIST’s performance. The ablation analysis reveals that weekly event count hasthe greatest impact on ASIST, whereas diurnal weekly interaction has the least impact. The early prediction usingthe first seven weeks of data achieves an AUC of 0.83 up to 0.89 over the three datasets. In yearly analysis, ASISTperforms best over the 2018/19 dataset and worst over the 2020/21 dataset.

Conversations and networks are essential for transforming academics' teaching practices as learning experiences (Palmer 1993). Yet, there has been little research reporting academics' informal conversations about teaching (Thomson and Trigwell 2018). Teachers will generally access small significant networks (Becher and Trowler 2001) for nuanced and personal issues relating to teaching and learning. Collaborative transnational projects provide fertile ground for unique conversations about Higher Education (HE) teaching (Thomson 2015), with the added value of cross-national perspectives. This study examines the conditions that help to create significant networks and conversations, based on collective autoethnographic reflections of the member of an Erasmus+ project, including five partner universities from four different countries. The results provide insights into how the project have afforded the generation and continuation of cross-national and interdisciplinary significant networks and how unique conversations have allowed for trust, relationships and common goals to develop, which add value beyond the individual level.

This study explores the pedagogical use of adaptive learning to foster learner-content interaction, and its subsequent impact on student performance in a large first year Macroeconomics course in an Irish University. To increase student-content interaction, an adaptive learning tool (LearnSmart) is employed to create five weekly adaptive reading assignments, over a six-week period. We include two separate indicators of learner-content interaction (the amount of time spent and number of completed adaptive assignments) in our analysis. Results indicate that student performance is enhanced by the number of completed adaptive assignments, which captures learner-content interaction and adaptive learning. However, the amount of time spent studying was negatively associated with performance. This surprising result comes as a novel contribution, which extends our knowledge of how adaptive learning technology can be potentially used to drive learner-content interaction and student performance. Pedagogically, our findings suggest the need for more intentional design and personalisation of learning activities to enhance student-content interaction and subsequent performance.

The European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu) is a robust, evidence-based framework that can be used both as a policy guide and an implementation aid for regional and national tools and training programs. It provides a general frame of reference to support the development and enhancement of educator-specific digital competencies. This article explores the use of the DigCompEdu framework in Ireland, looking at its deployment as a tool for analysis in one regional Irish university. We explore the use of the DigCompEdu framework as a mechanism to identify changes in pedagogic practice and competencies around online assessment practice as a consequence of teacher experiences of remote teaching, learning, and assessment during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Our survey questionnaire, which was administered to the teaching staff in an Irish university, categorized respondents according to their alignment with the Area 4 Assessment DigCompEdu proficiency statements. Additionally, a series of open-ended questions enabled respondents to give further details on their online experiences. These were interrogated using thematic analysis, which revealed a consensus on the advantages and disadvantages of the move to online space. However, most significantly, our analysis points not only to shifting digital competencies but also to shifting teacher roles. Remote teaching in the online format required changes to assessment and engendered a shift in the role of the teacher from a more traditional didactic model to one based on moderation and facilitation.

La autoeficacia en el uso de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) es una variable clave para predecir el éxito de los estudiantes en la educación superior. Este estudio explora una serie de variables (género, edad, experiencia de uso, formación y actitudes hacia las TIC) relacionadas con el uso de las TIC por estudiantes maduros, y analiza la relación de estas variables con la autoeficacia percibida. Se aplicó un cuestionario a 382 estudiantes que preparaban el acceso a la universidad de Sevilla por las vías de mayores de 25, 40 y 45 años. Los datos fueron analizados a través de estadísticos descriptivos y análisis de regresión múltiple. Mediante análisis factorial se identifican dos dimensiones: autoeficacia en el tratamiento de la información y autoeficacia con Internet, tomadas como variables dependientes. Los resultados indican que estas dos dimensiones de autoeficacia se asocian respectivamente al uso de software para el procesamiento de información y de Internet. Los grupos de estudiantes de mayor edad tienden a sentirse menos competentes en el uso de las TIC, especialmente en relación a la autoeficacia con Internet. La formación parece ser un precursor relevante de la competencia de un estudiante en el uso de programas básicos de tratamiento de la información, pero no para el uso de Internet. Para los estudiantes maduros, la competencia en el uso de Internet parece ser una cuestión de actitud, por lo que una actitud positiva hacia las TIC facilita el desarrollo de su propia confianza en el uso de Internet. Se concluye insistiendo en la necesidad de que las instituciones de educación superior sean conscientes y presten especial atención a la “brecha digital”, y a las peculiaridades que puede presentar el alumnado universitario de mayor edad.

This paper shares the experience of a group of academic developers' engagement in collaboratively working towards the completion of an online open-access professional development (PD) course designed to support higher education teachers to engage with a new professional development framework. Committee members of theEducational Developers in Ireland Networkset out to complete the course as a demonstration of their commitment to their own PD and to experience the process with a view to becoming facilitators of the course. An auto-ethnographic approach was used to capture this experience, and findings demonstrate an inspiring alternative to PD that supports academic developers in the quest to legitimise and prioritise their own PD in the context of highly pressurised roles.

This article describes a professional development initiative facilitated through a transformational partnership model. In this context, we discuss our experience of piloting an online continuing professional development course in the area of online teaching, which offered a digital badge for successful participants. The course was the result of a partnership between three Irish higher education institutions and a national agency that had initiated a nation-wide scheme to create and disseminate a range of open access collaborative professional development courses to promote the professionalisation of teaching and learning, with a specific digital badge being available for each course. We investigated the interplay between the digital badge issued for the course we piloted, and other potential intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Digital badges appear to be a weak motivating factor in initial enrolment and engagement, although for some participants, they did motivate continued engagement and completion. We discuss implications in relation to internal and external drivers and motivations around professional development. We also offer reflections on the larger context in which badges might be used or valued by course participants in their professional environments. Implications for practice or policy: For digital badges to motivate learning, educational developers and institutions need to associate them with intrinsically meaningful rewards. Partnership between higher education institutes and non-accrediting bodies can drive the development and wider acceptance and use of digital badges as a tangible and agreed currency of learner and learning achievement. Learners benefit most from digital badges when they are linked to and facilitate the development of personal identities associated with disciplinary and professional communities.

This paper reports on the research findings from a national project examining the issues in creating, sharing, using, and reusing open educational resources (OER) in the context of the development of open education in Ireland. One important aspect of the research was to investigate the potential for using existing institutional research repository infrastructure for the purpose of ingesting, managing, and discovering OER produced by academics. This approach would imply a move from previous strategy around a centralised repository at the national level to a devolved model that relies on institutional research repositories. The opportunities and potential barriers to the adoption of this approach were explored through an online survey and focus groups with academics from a range of higher education institutions (HEIs). Also, a focus group of institutional repository managers was convened to discuss the potential of the institutional repositories with those leading their development. Analysis of the data indicates that the devolved approach to institutions would be possible if the right supports and protocols were put in place. It was acknowledged that research repositories could potentially also serve as repositories of teaching materials, fostering parity of esteem between teaching and research. However, a range of important challenges were present, and alternative solutions emerged, which are discussed in the context of the present and future of online OER repositories.

Flipped classrooms are becoming increasingly popular, particularly when teaching non-native speaking students. Existing research has largely focused on examining academic performance and students’ perceptions of the learning process. This exploratory study uses log-file data to identify hidden patterns of student online behaviour in a flipped classroom environment for a cohort of students, with special attention to their command of the home language of the institution. Using cluster analysis, categories were identified regarding when and how often online flipped lessons were accessed: (i) before class, (ii) after class and before a weekly exam, and (iii) after the weekly exam but before an assignment. Gender and the average number of minutes the lessons were accessed before each time period were also considered. Findings indicated that there was sustained access to flipped materials throughout the semester for all students. In addition to accessing online lessons prior to class, students also accessed online lessons prior to weekly exams and project submission deadlines, indicating the value of such material for revision. Interestingly, two clusters of non-native English-speakers were identified where one group accessed the material more often than native students, and the second group accessed the material less frequently than the native English-speaking students.

This paper reports on the design, development, delivery and evaluation of an online continuing professional development (CPD) course in the area of online teaching by three Irish Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). The course was developed in the context of a nationally coordinated effort to promote CPD of those that teach in Higher Education through digital badges. Survey results suggest a very high overall satisfaction rate with the course as a whole, increased levels of knowledge and confidence in relation to teaching online, and also intended transference to practice. While the external motivator of demonstrating engagement through the digital badge arose in the surveys and focus groups, it did not feature particularly strongly. Implications for CPD are discussed in relation to internal and external drivers and motivations around CPD for higher education teachers, and the need for opportunities for participants to interact and engage in the manner reminiscent of a community of practice approach.

Virtual learning environments (VLEs) provide the core infrastructure for the digital learning experiences for many students in Irish and international higher education institutions. Hence the student experience and voice offer an important perspective to understand to what extent this proves a strategic choice, and investment of institutional resources and lecturers’ time. However, surveys comparing a diversity of institutions at different moments in time offer serious methodological limitations to data analysis. In this paper, results of the #VLEIreland student survey are presented for four Irish higher education institutions, which were surveyed using the common questionnaire with 3,332 student responses in 2011 and 5,170 when the survey was repeated in 2013. To some extent, this allows us to analyse the data while relatively controlling for institutional influences. This snapshot of students’ use and perceptions at two points allow for tentative trends to be drawn as to any changing patterns over time. The comparison of results indicate a consistent finding of high frequency of use (with almost half using daily in the more recent findings). The VLE thus provides a stable base for sharing learning resources, managing assignments and student communications. The consistency of the findings indicate a certain maturity of use of the VLE, albeit with a continued emphasis on disseminating notes and other learning resources to students. As the student VLE experience is largely determined by their lecturers’ use, a continued emphasis on the development of digital capacity of lecturers (as well as students) is needed.

This study examines the career choice motivations of first year students in the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) and describes a classification of the student characteristics that are associated with these motivations. A questionnaire was designed and validated for this purpose. The factor analysis renders three motivational dimensions: (1) Self-fulfilment and altruism; (2) Search for prestige and economic welfare; and (3) Avoidance motivation. The instrument has been applied to the first year cohort at UCA in the academic year 2013/14 (a total of 1156 students from different disciplines). The existence of differentiated student groups resulting from scores in the motivational scales has been demonstrated. The resulting predictive model can be purposed to guide interventions that are mindful of students’ motivations and needs in a particular context.

Este trabajo tuvo como propósito analizar los motivos de elección de estudios y establecer perfiles motivacionales diferenciados en estudiantes universitarios de nuevo ingreso en la Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA). Para ello se diseñó y validó un cuestionario ad hoc, estructurado en tres escalas de motivación: (1) Motivos de superación profesional y altruismo; (2) Búsqueda de prestigio y solvencia económica y (3) Motivos de evitación. El cuestionario se aplicó a la totalidad de los estudiantes de nuevo acceso a la UCA en el curso académico 2013-2014 (1 156 estudiantes de diferentes disciplinas). Los resultados permitieron establecer la existencia de grupos diferenciados de estudiantes y obtener un modelo predictivo de clasificación destinado al diseño de acciones de orientación que tengan en cuenta sus motivaciones y necesidades en un contexto determinado.

In this paper we consider the position of the VLE in the context of the open education movement. This paper gathers data from the #VLEIreland survey in order to explore further whether open education was a concern of the academics involved, and if so, how it shaped their use of the local VLE. We will explore the nature of open education and open educational resources (OER), and whether there are interactions between these resources and the VLE. Open educational resources are materials shared online for educators to use and adapt, including full courses, modules, textbooks, and assets such as video clips, images or teaching methods. Data from our staff survey indicates a range of responses to the sharing and use of OERs and a spectrum of understanding (or lack of understanding) of copyright issues. We explore these findings and discuss their implications for OER in the future, and suggest that the ideals of “openness” are challenged by institutional VLEs and other mechanisms for resource sharing in higher education.

This investigation describes the design of the Strategies and Motivation for University Study Questionnaire (CEMEU in is version in Spanish) and its administration with a sample of 1,708 first year students at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina. Results are analysed in order to identify specific profiles in the use of study strategies and motivation. Satisfactory Cronbach's Alpha coefficient is satisfactory, thus supporting the reliability of the instrument. Internal consistency and content validity are also supported by factor analysis and revision of the instrument by a panel of experts. Means differences are tested according to gender, age range and discipline in order to define student profiles around their competence in the use of strategies for study and motivation. These results can be applied in order to customise guidance interventions to students needs.

espanolEste trabajo presenta el diseno del Cuestionario de Estrategias y Motivacion para el Estudio Universitario (CEMEU) junto con los resultados de su aplicacion, sobre una muestra de 1,708 estudiantes de nuevo ingreso de la Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina (UCA), con el objetivo de identificar perfiles especificos en el uso de estrategias de aprendizaje y motivacion. El analisis de su fiabilidad (Alpha de Cronbach) ofrece valores satisfactorios. El analisis de su consistencia interna (analisis factorial) y la validez de contenido mediante juicio de expertos confirman la idoneidad y relevancia del instrumento. Se presentan los resultados descriptivos y las diferencias de medias halladas en relacion con el sexo, el rango de edad y el area disciplinar. Se han podido establecer ciertos perfiles competenciales en la utilizacion de las estrategias para el estudio y la autorregulacion motivacional que permiten considerar actuaciones concretas de orientacion tutorial para cada caso de acuerdo con las necesidades. EnglishThis investigation describes the design of the Strategies and Motivation for University Study Questionnaire (CEMEU in is version in Spanish) and its administration with a sample of 1,708 first year students at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina. Results are analysed in order to identify specific profiles in the use of study strategies and motivation. Satisfactory Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient is satisfactory, thus supporting the reliability of the instrument. Internal consistency and content validity are also supported by factor analysis and revision of the instrument bya panel of experts. Means differences are tested according to gender, age range and discipline in order to define student profiles around their competence in the use of strategies for study and motivation. These results can be applied in order to customise guidance interventions to students needs.