How can we accommodate individual variations in learning styles in an elearning environment?
Although we said to the students that we wanted them to post their reflective diaries we were prepared to accept posting which were posted irregularly. This did allow the students the flexibility to work according to their own preferred pace but in reality most of the students were happy to post and ‘get it out the way’ before the next lecture (the deadline). In terms of learning styles (after Gardner 1983) we did audit their preferred learning styles in order that we could identify how this might have impacted on their ability to engage with the wiki and WebCT. This aspect has not been analysed yet. Q: How can we avoid assessment overload if students are being asked to use new technologies as well as writing traditional essays? A: The review of the papers was already an assessment component of the module so all that happened was we turned the paper into a digital copy. So there was no extra work for the students to do, in fact their workload was reduced as we were asking them to write