Trends in higher education 

The higher education learning environment is undergoing extensive changes as it embraces technology to deliver courses more innovatively and creatively (Viberg et al., 2018). New trends and applications include; learning analytics, BYOD, M-learning, VR and AR, and maker space. All these enable instructors to deliver courses in a more creative way.

At USP learning analytics is used by various course coordinators as they use the moodle platform to facilitate learning. Learning analytics is used to monitor student log-ins, how students perform in online assessments, quizzes, and how often students log in. Those who don’t login can be reminded, sent an email to check on their performance or basically to find out if they are facing any problems. Moodle also has a feature that alerts the teaching staff that a particular student has not logged in for some time, this allows the teaching staff to get in touch with the student to find out what the problem is and appropriate action is taken (Leitner et al., 2017). It is very helpful as the instructor is able to attend to the student and assist accordingly. At USP learning analytics has helped students in their first year, as there is a first-year coordinator who assists students and connects them to SLS as well as the course coordinator. This has increased retention levels at 100 levels and kept students continuing with their second-year studies.

BYOD is basically where students are encouraged to bring in their own devices (laptops, tablets, smart phones and other devices) which assists them in learning. Students can be asked to use their devices to do research and then present the findings in class. This increases student engagement and encourages cooperative and peer learning.

Mlearning was used at USP some years ago and was very popular in sending messages to students about classes, changes in class times, exam time, venue, etc. it was an efficient way to communicate with students if only students had the same mobile number. One of the limitations was that there was only one-way communication – from the instructor to the student.

In management studies VR, AR and maker space can be further explored as there is a lot of scope since it stimulates learning. VR and AR have not been used but maker space is used in Marketing classes (MG 206) where students are encouraged to come up with original products and design marketing strategies for the local market. This enables students to contextualize what they are learning in the course.

I plan to use makerspace in my management classes as it will enhance creativity in students and increase student engagement. I am also interested in using free games that will further help students understand and apply what they have learnt (Beuk, 2016; Cook & Swift, 2006; Wellington & Faria, 1996). This can be used in setting up a new business (MG 305 Entrepreneurship) or making strategic decisions whether to diversify the business and the product lines. I plan to use game stimulations as an assessment (10%).

 

 

References:                     

Beuk, F. (2016). Sales simulation games: student and instructor perceptions. Journal of Marketing Education, 38(3), 170-182.

Cook, R. W., & Swift, C. O. (2006). The pedagogical efficacy of a sales management simulation. Marketing Education Review, 16(3), 37-46.

Leitner, P., Khalil, M., & Ebner, M. (2017). Learning analytics in higher education—a literature review. Learning analytics: Fundaments, applications, and trends, 1-23.

Viberg, O., Hatakka, M., Bälter, O., & Mavroudi, A. (2018). The current landscape of learning analytics in higher education. Computers in Human Behavior, 89, 98-110.

Wellington, W. J., & Faria, A. J. (1996). The use of simulation games in marketing classes: Is simulation performance due to luck or skill?. Journal of Marketing Education, 18(2), 50-61.