Investigations into Students’ Information Sourcing Patterns in a Postgraduate Blended Learning Course

Background: A blended learning approach has recently been implemented for a taught postgraduate course on Project Management in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The course attracts engineering, science and business studies students from a range of disciplines, with circa 80-student enrolment per intake. Approximately a third of the class study part time whilst employed in professional roles in industry. Purpose: The goal of our research is to improve student learning outcomes by implementing a programme of successive teaching innovations and review, thereby aiming for continuous, research-informed improvement. The research reported here forms the second iteration of data collection and course improvements that commenced in 2012. In particular data was collected in 2013 with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of student preferences for accessing information in a blended learning environment. Approach (Design/Method): The teaching innovations include the development and integration of a course website, lecture recordings, online case studies and discussion forums with the university's learning management system (LMS), coupled with a combination of traditional and participatory lectures, and tutor- and student-led tutorials. Following these innovations we have investigated how students access information from a myriad of different data sources when they make decisions on course assignments in the blended course environment. A mixed methods research approach has been used to identify information flows and students' preferred channels of accessing relevant information via a combination of people and documentary sources. Results: We present our findings of students' preferred information sources based on quantitative survey data and website analytics, together with qualitative data recorded during focus groups and class observations. We find that students use a very wide range of information sources and channels but still value face-to-face forms of communication. We also find that students will draw on their peer network, with fellow students being a particularly important information source. We compare these results with similar data obtained from industry practitioners and find similar trends in information preferences. Conclusions: Our results so far show the importance of student peer networks and of developing effective information sourcing skills in the modern data rich environment. We outline the implications for course design and blended learning initiatives that support the up-skilling of professionals.