Conference Submission and Peer Review

Lynda Weinman, Founder of lynda.com

    Identifying a place to situate online  learning platforms such as lynda .com, within the student experience, so as to encourage lecturers to lever their value in building student efficacy.

Author, David Monahan

Lynda.com is an online learning platform providing  online courses which help  users to learn software, technology and creative skills. Through  subscriptions, members have access to the Lynda.com video library of over 4000, courses taught by its tutors. Over 1000 institutions worldwide have  invested in this form of online learning platform. Dybvik ( 2008 ) points out that blanket access to hours of video tutorials do nothing to fill a skills gap if one has not been formally identified upfront. His research clearly states[that] ’the training effectiveness cannot be accurately determined without formal evaluation’ This would appear to have been the case in the institution under study where lynda.com had been available for 3 years, but no formal integration  of its content into the course structure had taken place.That said there was still a possibility to test the worth of lynda.com. as a learning tool. This study looked to the staff on a level eight photography course in a media faculty of a Dublin third level college. In  this environment  lynda.com was offered by the learning technology department as a resource to help keep up to date with the ever-changing landscape of softwares. Anecdotally it appeared to be underused, being offered to students in passing as a place for further software investigations.  Over a semester lecturer opinions on, and reactions to, the content of lynda.com were gathered.Where opinions were positive  lecturers were encouraged to identify video segments that underpinned their teaching and their module content, and using the integration tools in their virtual learning environment (VLE ) they added these clips to their course material. This paper will describe in detail the methodology employed to work with the lecturers on closely aligning the linda.com content with their course content. Methods which included Questionnaires, Focus groups, face to face, and ongoing evaluation,were employed ( particularly focusing on students engagement with prescribed content). Overall it was observed,( through data gathered from the VLE), that adding linda.com segments to the VLE was a worthwhile move elevating the lynda.com concept from a space for filling a technology information gap, to  a place where focus can lever it to help boost student learning, thus increasing their efficacy. With the video content now embedded in the VLE it should be possible to set up further investigations to see how effective this kind of learning platform is when used to aid specific learning goals and indeed to give some indications of its direct  effect on student efficacy.






references

Dybvic,B. (2008). An Examination of Student Perceptions Of lynda.com Software Tutorial Training, Research paper, University of Wisconsin-Stout. p02. Available at  http://www2.uwstout.edu/content/lib/thesis/2008/2008dybvikb.pdf     [ accessed  5th December 2017]




Peer review


ssessment

Grade: 88 of 100

Assessment form

Aspect 1

Would you recommend this abstract for inclusion in the conference?
0 =Strongly not recommend
1 = Not recommend
2 = Neither recommend nor no
3 = Reecommend
4= Strongly recommend

Grade for Aspect 1

3 / 4

Comment for Aspect 1

Very interesting and practical topic of research relevant to many fields of teaching.

Aspect 2

Rank your confidence in your assessment
0 = Unconfident
1 = Neither confident nor not
2 = Confident

Grade for Aspect 2

2 / 2

Comment for Aspect 2

Overall feedback

A very well thought out and focused topic of research with broad application in terms of potential application to other academic disciplines. A very clear scope and methodology is also identified in the Abstract, particularly in relation to exploring improved integration of the technology through the VLE in the delivery of relevant Modules. 

Assessment

Grade: 100 of 100

Assessment form

Aspect 1

Would you recommend this abstract for inclusion in the conference?
0 =Strongly not recommend
1 = Not recommend
2 = Neither recommend nor no
3 = Reecommend
4= Strongly recommend

Grade for Aspect 1

4 / 4

Comment for Aspect 1

This is a very well written abstract and the subject fits well into the theme of this year’s conference – Pedagogy, practice and research.

Aspect 2

Rank your confidence in your assessment
0 = Unconfident
1 = Neither confident nor not
2 = Confident

Grade for Aspect 2

2 / 2

Comment for Aspect 2

As mentioned in Aspect 1, this fits in well with the theme of this year's conference. The abstract is very well written and this inspires confidence in the research and the author.

Overall feedback

There is a very clear and concise introduction to the topic, explaining what Lynda.com is. I had not previously heard of Lynda.com but already have learned a great deal just through reading this abstract.
The topic of this study is clear and well explained. The work of Dybvik has been cited and this is very relevant and appropriate to the research that was undertaken in this study. This has been referenced correctly in the abstract.

A question has been asked and this paper provides an answer. I believe that this study will add significantly to the conversation around online learning platforms and also specifically to the effectiveness of Lynda.com.