m-Learning in Mental Health
Building Technology Skills for the Labor Market

Measures

This page outlines the various ways in which we plan to study the impact of the m-Learning initiative.

Hypotheses

Based on the evidence in the literature, technology can have a positive impact on student engagement through active and collaborative learning activities. This initiative ventures to answer a number of research hypotheses related to the impact of m-Learning in the Mental Health program.

  1. Student/Faculty perceptoins of the ease of use of the iPad will increase over time.
  2. Student/Faculty perceptions of the usefullness of the iPad will increase over time.
  3. The iPad will postively impact perceptions of learning for Students/Faculty.
  4. The iPad will positively impact perceptions of engagement for Students/Faculty.
  5. The iPad will increase 1:1 interactions between Faculty and Students.
  6. The iPad will increase 1:1 interactions between Students and other Students (Collaboration).

Additional data will be collected related to specific learning outcomes and institutional impact.

Demographics

  • Demographic Questions Under Consideration
    • Age
    • Gender
    • College Experience (number of credits completed)
    • Are you a matriculated Mental Health program student?
    • How many credits are you taking this semester?
    • Are you taking classes online, face-to-face, or both?

Instruments

Student First Week Survey

  • This survey was administered to address a number of immediate questions:
    • What is the status of iPad ownership among students.
    • Plans for acquiring an iPad.
    • Demographics
    • Hypothesis 1 and 2
    • The survey will be incorporated into questions at the end of the semester

Learning and Engagement Survey (adapted from Diemer, et al. 2012, and Davis, 1989)

  • This instrument will be used to gather data to address hypotheses 1, 2, 3, and 4
  • The instrument will be administered twice a semester (around mid term and at the end of the course) through an online survey tool.
  • The instrument will be administered to both Students and Faculty.
  • Click to view the list of questions that will be on this instrument.

iPad Incident Report

  • This generic document has been designed by the researchers to capture quantitative and qualitive information related to interactions between Faculty and Staff and Students regarding the m-Learning Initiative.
  • Copies of this document have been distributed to the KVCC community including Student Services, Learning Commons and Library, Information Technology, and to all Faculty.
  • Staff and Faculty have been encouraged to use this form to document interactions with students regarding the iPad/Apps or any other aspect of the m-Learning Initiative and to be ready to deliver those forms to the researchers.
  • The data collected from the iPad Incident Reports will be used to address hypotheses 5 and 6.
  • Click to view the iPad Incident Report
  • What we expect to get from each set of iPad Incident Reports:
    • Faculty
      • Faculty will be asked to report when they provide technical support to students regarding the iPad and apps.
    • Information Technology Helpdesk
      • Helpdesk will track iPad/App specific requests
    • Learning Commons/Library Support Staff
      • Learning Commons will track iPad/App specific requests
    • Tutors/Student Services
      • Tutors will track iPad/App specific requests
    • iPad Tutors (Under Development)
      • Documentation of activity
    • Trainings and Orientations (Under Development)
      • Documentation of activity

iPad Integration Discussion Board

  • Embedded within each of the MHT course Blackboard website is a section dedicated to information and interaction related to the m-Learning Initiative.
  • iPad Integration Discussion Board - this open discussion board provides Students and Faculty an opportunity to interact regarding the m-Learning Initiative implementation for that particular class. This discussion will be used to field questions and provide support for the initiative.
  • Qualitative data collection and analysis will be collected from each of these discussion boards at the end of the semester in order to address hypotheses 5 and 6.

Learning Outcomes

In order to explore if the m-Learning Initiative is having an impact on Learning Outcomes we have to resort to a small set of assignments that have been standardized across the Mental Health program. These assignments, referred to as "Special Assignments" have been mapped across the entire program curriculum and serve to teach and assess material related to the KVCC Essential Learning Outcomes. Additional assignments have been mapped to address General Educationa Learning Outcomes as indicated by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) VALUE outcomes.

The advantage of using THESE activities is that we have pre-initiative data on students' learning outcomes from previous semesters. This will allow us to compare learning before and after the implementation of the m-Learning Initiative. Some of the assignments have been specifically modified to take advantage of the tools associated with iPad. These will be of particular interest as they directly engage the student to utilize the device to complete the assignment.

Below you will find direct links to the standard "Special Assignments" for each class, with an indicator (*) as to the ones that have been modified specifically for the m-Learning Initiative.

Pedagogical ROI

The ultimate question has to do with a "Pedagogical Return on Investment"...is the cost (both money and time) of the m-Learning initiative perceived of as "worth it" on the part of each of the key stakeholders (Students, Faculty, Staff, and Employers).

This aspect of the research will be conducted through a series of interviews, focus groups, and surveys yet to be developed.

Case Studies

We plan to collect highly detailed accounts of specific incidents of "Epic Success" and "Epic Fail" These will be gathered and presented as examples of transformative teaching and learning in the spirit of informing our ongoing development of the m-Learning Initiative.

We have developed a form for reporting Case Studies. It would be really good to have other pieces of evidence such as screen shots, movies, and artifacts.

RESULTS

In this section below we will publish results of our research.

Infrastructure

Student First Week Survey, Instituional Data, and in-Class Data Collection

  • # of students with iPads
  • Immediate impact on time in class and learning
  • Emergency Loans
  • Matriculated vs. Non-matriculated Students (and iPad Status)
  • Attrition Rate (compare to last semester and to last Fall-Spring transition)

Library Utilization