Applied eLearning

MSc Applied eLearning

Project

Project Milestone
Formative Feedback Sheet
Milestone 1: S Selecting an appropriate e-learning project
[1500-2000 word report including a justification for the
project and a comprehensive, current literature critique]
Project Title

Can a blended learning approach help to overcome new learning

challenges in first year?
-

Start Date

I think this will continue to develop into having

convergent thinking and cognitive load somewhere in
the title, as well as a mention of the target student group
and their technical skills development.

Mid September 2014

Proposed

1 July 2015

End Date
Module Participant/
Project Developer

Tracey Dalton

Supervisor

Roisin Donnelly

Host Institution (where Dublin Institute of Technology

the project takes place)
Project Web URL

For the BA Honours degree in Interior Design & Furniture in DIT:

post-lecture CAD screencasts

Criteria
Background to
project/rationale for
project selection

Aims & Objectives

Written Commentary/Formative Feedback

A clear rationale is present for the need for your project at this time,
and why it is a retrospective look at the area with a particular student
group. The two aspects below have been outlined for exploration:

Technical skills as a challenge for the design students, thereby

exploring convergent thinking as a conceptual framework

Evaluating the artefact using cognitive load theory

Just thinking more about the objective of the screencasts enabling the
students to become both convergent and divergent thinking this is
very definitive and might better be phrased as exploring the potential
of both types of thinking for their skills development on the BA
programme.
The two blended learning (BL) objectives can be framed as one and

Dr Roisin Donnelly

MSc Applied eLearning

Project

Applied eLearning

related to the screen casts as BL is such a broad topic in its own right.
Project
outputs/outcomes/goals

It would be good to have the 5 students in the focus group interview to

give a fuller picture of the student learning experience with the
screencasts in their first year.

Literature review

Good balance of critique and discussion, and you have been clear
about the gap that your project will identify in arts-based disciplines.
Could include a short paragraph at the beginning outlining what
literature the section will explore and how it relates to your research
question. As you are bringing in the sub topic of student anxiety, you
will need to engage with some of the key literature in this area.

Analysis of target user

group

In the full paper, it will be useful to discuss in more detail the

characteristics of the design students.

Technology
development

You have not included detail on how the screencasts were designed
and developed initially I know you made the argument that some
previous papers on the topic tend to focus on software creation, but
depending on your target journal, it might be useful to include a sub
section of the paper on this. Otherwise, a full section in your
ePortfolio can document the design and creation of the screencasts
and reflection on any issues you encountered along the way.

Project support

It will be good to include in the fuller paper, an outline of the supports

that a practitioner wishing to develop screencasts needs to think about
and have in place.

Detailed project plan

There is a good plan included you may want to set aside longer for
the data analysis stage though, as this will include reading around
appropriate analytical frameworks for use.

Presentation

Include page numbers for all direct quotations from the literature.
Check consistency on referencing presentation.

Project challenges

You can bring this put in your WIP presentation and discuss in detail
in your ePortfolio; it can focus on practical and logistical challenges to
developing the screencasts or carrying out the research with the
students, rather than situational issues such as hearing back from the
ethics committee etc.

Dr Roisin Donnelly