Opening up access to eLearning experiences: A Caribbean case study

Abstract

The goal of this exploratory case study was to improve the quality of a tertiary level course in media and technology education by opening up new learning experiences for students located at two physically distant Caribbean campuses: the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus in Barbados and the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College (SALCC) in St. Lucia. The study explored co-planned eLearning experiences that provided common activities for both groups of students. Prior to the study, there was no online (or any other) interaction between the students; each course was implemented separately by each lecturer at their respective campus, although students followed a common syllabus. Interaction between lecturers was more administrative than instructional. Participants in the study were the 55 students enrolled in the Bachelor of Education, Media and Technology in Education course, at both campuses, during the second semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. Three common eLearning opportunities were implemented during the course: a blog, and 2 webinars via ZOOM, one by each lecturer. Student feedback vial an open-ended questionnaire at the end of the course indicated that they valued the eLearning experiences as they gave them opportunities to interact with students in another Caribbean country. They reported that eLearning provided novel, convenient and efficient access to course resources and helped them learn course content better. However, students were challenged by technical and pedagogical aspects of the eLearning experiences.// Paper ID 269