Digital learning journals to enhance student success in a large first-year class in COVID-19 times.

Abstract

Digital learning journals to enhance student success in a large first-year class in COVID-19 times.

Christopher Love, Shai Strampel & Julie Crough School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia.

COVID times have forced universities to teach remotely and this will continue for the foreseeable future. Remote learning in many ways relies on students being pro-active and self-motivated, placing more responsibility on students to take control of their own learning. Therefore, it is imperative to implement strategies that support online learning and student performance. To assist student transition and ensure success in first-year biochemistry (~350-400 students), a digital workbook was successfully implemented in 2019 for students to evaluate and reflect on their performance and create study plans. This resulted in students improving (30.2%) or maintaining (41.1%) their grades from one quiz to the next1. The success and creativity of study plans, along with students identifying their own strengths and weaknesses through self-reflection, was also a measure of success. The rapid transition to remote teaching due to COVID-19 provided an opportunity to further enhanced learning by expanding the existing PebblePad workbook into a comprehensive and scaffolded, digital Biochemistry Learning Journal. The learning journal contained: 1. Weekly activities/entries aligned with key biochemistry concepts to prepare students for assessment; 2. Study plans to support an increasingly diverse student cohorts who may not have the appropriate skills to successfully transition through university; 3. Embedded assignments personalised to individual students for enhanced learning; and 4. Opportunities for students to evaluate their performance and reflect on their learning to develop metacognitive skills, encourage self-regulated learning, and improve their performance. The digital learning journal’s success is evident through reduced fail rates from 27% (2019) to 24% (2020), and supportive student comments such as, “I liked the flexibility that the use of the learning journal afforded the students, especially in the wake of covid [sic] restrictions and online learning. This increased flexibility has been particularly important during these times, as balancing work-life-study has become increasingly difficult.”

References 1. Love, C.A., Crough, J., Green, D. and Allan, C. (2020) PebblePad workbooks for self-regulated learning: Study plans, learning strategies and reflection to promote success in first year. In Poot, A. (Ed) Charting new courses in Learning and Teaching: Case studies from the PebblePad Community, pp 42-48.