Health and Education Northumbria Students Access to Learning resources
Anne Middleton
School of Information Studies
University of Northumbria
UK
Presentation
Convergence & Continuity
The presentation will be based around the outcomes from the recently completed 'Health and Education Northumbria Students Access to Learning resources' (HENSAL) project. It will explore the theme of 'Convergence & Continuity' and focus on the transition between work, home and the classroom. As information and communication technologies (ICT) take on a central role in the delivery of both learning and learning resources, access to the technology becomes more important. This study explores what this means for two specific university student groups who spend significant time away from the university whilst learning.
This project was undertaken by the Information Management Research Institute at Northumbria University and funded primarily by the Northern NHS Workforce Development Confederation. The project aimed to investigate two different student groups' experiences of accessing learning resources whilst away from the university campus on placement. These groups were NHS pre-registration students and education students on a School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) course. The health students undertake clinical placement that accounts for up to 50% of their time. The SCITT students are completing a Northumbria University postgraduate teacher-training course but are based in school for 95% of their time. The students' views were elicited by a questionnaire and focus groups were conducted with some of the other stakeholders. 415 completed questionnaires from the health students were received, representing 21% of the total relevant student numbers.
The presentation will outline the findings as they relate to the value students gave to accessing learning resources and ICT on placement. Further consideration will be given to the nature of the use by these placement students of such ICT based services as e-mail, the managed learning environment, e-journals, web based databases and the Internet. Key findings have emerged that show differences in how these services are used. The range of physical locations used to access resources and the varying levels of equity are explored. The outcomes illuminate the differences in learning environment provided from the placement site, the University and also the increasing use of electronic resources from the students' homes. Further important findings explore where students on placement go to for support for effective use of learning resources.
The project's outcomes and recommendations will be outlined. A major strength of this work has been the role of the Steering Group that included representation from all stakeholders. The process will be described which both produced the recommendations and also translated the recommendations into practice.
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