A Cross-Disciplinary Evaluation of Students ' Online Learning Experiences : Preliminary Findings from the SOLE Project

This paper focuses on online learning experiences of students from a range of disciplines, drawing on and presenting outcomes from the SOLE (Students' On l i n e Learning Experiences) project. SOLE, funded by LTSN and JISC, has undert a k e n e valuations of the learning experiences of students using virtual learning e n v i ronments (VLEs) across five disciplines. The paper will introduce the study and p resent a summary of key findings on several aspects including the way in which the VLE was embedded in the pedagogy, tutor and student roles and communication issues. The paper concludes with a discussion of some emergent themes and the ro l e of the discipline in the design and implementation of online learning experiences.


I n t r o d u c t i o n
This paper investigates the online learning experiences of students from a range of disciplines.It introduces the SOLE (Students' Online Learning Experiences) study, outlines the re s e a rch design and aims of the project and presents an ove rv i ew of the m e t h o d o l o g y.Some key findings are presented focussing on how VLEs we re embedded within courses, tutor and student roles and communication issues.So m e emergent themes and conclusions are then discussed and the role of the discipline in the design and implementation of online learning experiences is considered.The next stages of the SOLE project are finally outlined to signpost the reader to furt h e r reading about this pro j e c t .

. Students and virtual learning environments
The term Vi rtual Learning En v i ronment or VLE has been widely used over the past f i ve years to describe online learning environments, which have emerged and d e veloped over that period in both higher and further education in the Un i t e d Kingdom.Initially these we re defined and conceptualized functionally, for example, a s 'learning management systems that synthesize the functionality of computermediated communications and on-line methods of delivering course materials' ( Britain & Liber, 1999).Howe ve r, the definition itself has evo l ved alongside these learning environments and the emphasis has shifted from the technological components to a focus on how a VLE supports learning.This is demonstrated by a m o re recent definition from the UK Joint Information Systems Committee (J I S C ) , which defines a VLE as 'the component(s) within an MLE [Managed Learning En v i ronment] that provides the 'online' interactions of various kinds, which can take place between learners and tutors, including online learning.' 1 The potential of VLEs to support new ways of learning and to support the incre a s i n g h e t e rogeneity of the student cohort is widely re c o g n i zed and anticipated (UK De p a rtment for Education and Skills --DfES, 2003).Many Higher Ed u c a t i o n institutions, in order to re c ruit and retain a growing, diverse range of students are looking to provide increasingly flexible learning opportunities (e.g.part -t i m e , practice-based, distance) and a more support i ve environment (e.g.provision of extra re s o u rces to support less able students skills).T h e re is now an increased focus on the potential of e-learning, and VLEs in part i c u l a r, to deliver these objectives (DfES, 2003Higher Education Funding Council for England -HEFCE, 2003).Su c h o b j e c t i ves have been key to the explosive uptake of VLEs in the UK over the past few D i f f e rent Shoes, Same Fo o t p r i n t s ?Timmis et al (2004) 1 JISC ( 2002) -Joint In f o rmation Systems Committee, Managed Learning En v i ronment Pro g ra m m e : h t t p : / / w w w. j i s c . a c .u k / i n d e x .c f m ?n a m e = m l e _ ove rv i e w years and reflects the drive from government and institutions to fully exploit the potential of these new technologies.An UK Un i versities and Colleges In f o r m a t i o n Systems Association (UCISA) survey (Armitage et al, 2001) re p o rted a 7% uptake of VLEs in 1997 compared to an 81% uptake by 2001.This survey was updated in 2003 and as might be expected VLE uptake has continued to rise to 86% of returns; that is 84% of pre-92 universities; 97% of post 92 universities and 67% of HE colleges ( Brown & Jenkins, 2003).
Howe ve r, to date, the evaluation, subsequent support and use of VLEs has focused on staff rather than learners.Stiles (2002) re p o rts from a survey of 127 Hi g h e r Education (HE) and Fu rther Education (FE) institutions that the vast majority of institutions have selected VLEs for one reason above all others: 'ease of use by staff ' .
The 2001 UCISA survey substantiated this finding '...the focus of the impact of VLEs on institutions is on s t a f f rather than s t u d e n t s ' and concludes that 'VLEs are widely recognised as an important component of an institutional strategy yet is poorly matched by delive ry' and 'mature support mechanisms have ... yet to be c o m p re h e n s i vely developed across the sector' (Armitage et al, 2001).Howe ve r, a c c o rding to the more recent UCISA survey conducted by Brown & Jenkins (2003) t h e re is now increased recognition that VLEs are intended to support learning, rather than for example, efficiency gains and they re p o rt a pattern of consolidation acro s s the contributing institutions which is more encouraging.
S O L E 2 was funded by the Learning and Teaching Su p p o rt Ne t w o rk 3 and JISC within this context of increasing use of VLEs and a focus of attention on staff rather s t u d e n t s .When the project began in 2002, there we re few, if any, studies focussing on student experiences of VLEs.Since then, a few examples have been published ( Breen, 2002, Aspden et al 2003) although these have focussed primarily on one institution.Fu rt h e r m o re, whilst there is a growing body of evidence on individual aspects of the student experience of online learning, there has been far less re s e a rc h exploring the total learning experiences of students and student behavior when learning using a V L E .

. The SOLE Study
The SOLE study set out to investigate student experiences across five discipline are a s within a range of institutions and contexts in order to gather evidence on student experiences more broadly and to investigate any discipline-dependent issues.The aim of the study was to draw out the effectiveness of VLEs in supporting different subject The key re s e a rch questions identified for investigation we re agreed as follow s : • What are the implicit and explicit learning models and what is the actual tutor and student behavior?
• What factors do students identify as affecting their motivation positively or n e g a t i vely and can these be attributed to the VLE itself?
• How much time (online and offline) do students spend working on V L E m o d u l e s ?
• What re s o u rces are students using and what patterns of use can be identified?
• How do students use the VLE toolkit?
• How do students choose to communicate --how, when and why --and for what purposes?
• What are the roles of the tutor and the student?How do these relate to the implicit, explicit model of learning?How does it relate to student part i c ipation in the V L E ?
• Is it possible to identify issues around authority, for example, of know l e d g e , of expertise and teacher-student communications, in relation to V L E s ?
• How do students and tutors use and perc e i ve the various forms of support a va i l a b l e ?
Whilst a range of different VLEs we re included, the intention of this re s e a rch was not to compare VLEs or their functionality.The main objective was to try to identify what happens when students are working within a VLE, the discourse and pro c e s s e s they undertake, the students' views and perceptions and the identification of common factors and success indicators.
The emerging consensus on approaches to evaluation studies of online learning focuses on the need for a variety of methods, due to the complexities and multifaceted nature of online learning and teaching (Phillips et al, 2000).A shift tow a rd s D i f f e rent Shoes, Same Fo o t p r i n t s ?Timmis et al (2004) the Constru c t i v i s t -In t e r p re t i ve -Qu a l i t a t i ve Paradigm is evident (Guba &Lincoln, 1989 andPatton, 1990), howe ver Phillips et al (2000) argue that in most cases an " Ec l e c t i c -Mi xed Me t h o d s -Pragmatic Paradigm" will be most applicable.T h i s a c k n owledges that no single method can provide all the answers and that a range of a p p roaches, using quantitative and qualitative methods together with triangulation is essential.In this study, we take a holistic approach (approaching evaluation in a range of ways in order to understand better the re s e a rch questions of the study as a whole), drawing on illuminative and integrative methodologies and using a range of methods, (Parlett & Hamilton, 1977, Draper et al, 1996, Ma rton, Hounsell & Entwistle,1984).The study also draws upon a theoretical model of the motiva t i o n a l context for virtual learning (Cook & Timmis, 2002) in order to investigate the ways (if any) in which motivation is affected by students' virtual learning experiences.
A case study design was used with a range of both qualitative and quantitative data gathering techniques.In addition, secondary sources such as institutional policies in relation to e-learning we re consulted.Data was collected primarily from the students; howe ve r, tutors we re also interv i ewed and in some cases, others with a p a rticular role in the module where appropriate.The primary data gathering tools we re questionnaires, diaries, interv i ews, discussion board and transaction log data, and supporting documentation.In order to track changes over time, students we re g i ven a questionnaire at the start of the module and a similar one at the end.In addition, tutors we re interv i ewed at the beginning and end of the module.
The case studies we re chosen by each subject re s e a rch team using agreed sampling criteria which ensured a balance of pre ('old') and post ('modern') 1992 unive r s i t i e s .
All case study sites we re campus-based groups, most of which we re either first or second year undergraduates, apart from Education where one group we re postgraduate students.All groups had little or no previous experience with the v i rtual learning environment in use.Fu rt h e r m o re, groups we re chosen where the tutor was planning to use the VLE for more than just an arc h i ve of materials as it was felt that some active use of the VLE was necessary to explore the issues invo l ve d .
The findings from the study are still being collated; they re p resent a large and dive r s e evidence base and in this paper only a subset of these will be pre s e n t e d .T h e findings presented here will focus on three of the subjects?Education (case studies 3 and 4), Ps ychology (case studies 5 and 6) and Economics (case studies 7 and 8).Re p o rts from each of the five subject areas, and overall findings will be available on the SOLE Website 2 during 2004.

. The case studies
Table 1 below provides an ove rv i ew of participants and courses for each of the case studies discussed in this paper and how the VLE was embedded in these courses.
Table 1: Case study descriptions Year long course; blended approach.
Lecture & workshop weekly, supported by online material, assessments and discussion.
Mostly online; noncompulsory support workshops.

lectures only (weeks 1 & 3).
Working in teams, supported by email and discussion boards.
Assessed by group project.
Lectures and seminars weekly, supported by online materials and discussion.

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. How the VLE was embedded
In the case studies, VLEs we re embedded in teaching in a wide variety of ways, these included course information and reading, using email through the VLE, discussion tasks, online assessment, tutorial practical activities, and group work (including with student managers).In initial interv i ews, tutors we re asked why they intended to use the VLE in their course and what they hoped it would achieve.Responses to this question highlighted a number of reasons why the tutors chose to use a VLE in their t e a c h i n g .In some studies, the perception that e-learning could be motivating and that the interactive nature of working online might be helpful appeared to be the main drive r : "... (I'm) just trying to make it more exciting and kind of more hands on so they think about it and probably learn something at the end."Tutor --case study 5 ( Ps yc h o l o g y ) In another case study (6, Ps ychology), the VLE was used to help cope with incre a s i n g student numbers by integrating re s e a rch methods throughout the degree pro g r a m m e .In this study the tutor was also inspired by her previous experience where she had used the VLE ve ry successfully in other modules.This course was ve ry stru c t u red and the students appreciated the support the VLE gave them: " I think its just the stru c t u re of it re a l l y, that it was step-by-step and you knew what you had to do" student interv i ew --case study 6 (Ps yc h o l o g y ) In the first Education case study (3) a more explicit learning related objective is discernible from the tutor's comments: " Well --I can't speak for the other half of the module but I am ve ry much try i n g to get them to be collaborative and constru c t i ve in the way that they appro a c h their learning and to get them to think critically about what they are doing and what they are trying to achieve with their learning and ICT.' "I wanted the students to know about learning and teaching ... I tried to practice what I preach ... I do feel that if ICT is to be taken as a normal teaching tool then seeing teachers as role models teaching with it is as important as teaching them about it ... 'Also the stru c t u re of the WebCT materials supported collaboration" Tutor --case study 3 (Ed u c a t i o n ) Journal of In t e r a c t i ve Media in Education, 2004 (13) In the second Education case study, the rationale for using a VLE was more concerned with participation.The tutor interv i ew clearly indicated a commitment to VLEs as offering a valuable opportunity to some students for contributing to discussion in a manner that was not possible in face-to-face sessions.
In the first Economics study (7) the intention of the tutor was to use the VLE to s u p p o rt a workshop module by setting up group areas where each group could p a rticipate in online discussion and exchange information and files.The group as a whole only met twice at the start of the module and we re then organised into teams with student managers.
" Ho p e f u l l y.They will be learning better by actually being invo l ved ?by actual g roup peer pre s s u re and learning by doing" Tutor --case study 7 (Ec o n o m i c s ) In case study 8, also Economics, the reason for using a VLE was less distinct and was closely allied to the overall aim to develop an overall understanding of macro e c n o m i c s : " So by the end of the module I don't want them to be experts in macro economics, I want them to be able to hold a basic simple conversation about what is happening, and how things are affected by basic macro economic e vents."case study 8 (Ec o n o m i c s ) One of the areas where we compared data was in connection with the implicit and explicit learning models that we re to be found in these studies.Biggs (1999) re f e r s to the process of constru c t i ve alignment as an essential re q u i rement for effective teaching.Constru c t i ve alignment can be defined as "re m oving inconsistencies b e t ween the curriculum taught, the teaching methods used, assessment pro c e d u re s , the educational environment created and the learning objectives students are to a c h i e ve " (Armitage & O'Leary, 2003, p18).In several of the case studies, there was evidence that constru c t i ve alignment was not fully achieve d .For example, in the two Economics studies, where considerable emphasis was attached to the import a n c e of group work and discussion using the VLE, there was a ve ry disappointing level of i n vo l vement by students.Access statistics show that in case study 7, access levels we re l ow and 9.8% never accessed it at all, in study 8 this figure was 12.5%.This was p a rticularly striking in case study 7 where students we re supposed to communicate t h rough the VLE and the whole group only met twice at the beginning and then w o rked in groups throughout the module.

D i f f e rent Shoes, Same Fo o t p r i n t s ?
Timmis et al ( 2004) In case study 5 (Ps ychology), the goals at the beginning by the tutor we re not s u p p o rted by his own views on how the course developed.His initial re m a rks on what pedagogical approach was intended we re : "What I am trying to do is encourage the students to take more responsibility for t h e m s e l ves (...) in particular the discussion board and hopefully to answer the questions, instead of just coming and seeing me all the time."Tutor --case study 5 (Ps yc h o l o g y ) At the end he felt that the students had not done much work at all and had not taken the responsibility that he had hoped for.The perceptions of roles and responsibilities when working online are critical factors in the success of using a V L E .The nature of the roles undertaken by tutors and students in our studies is examined in the next section.

. Tutor and student roles
The expectation that student and tutor roles will need to evo l ve and move away fro m the traditional information and transmission approach to teaching (Prosser & Tr i g well, 1999) in order to be successful in adopting a networked learning or elearning design have been well documented (Go o d ye a r, 2001, Jones, 2000).Armitage & O'Leary (2003) note that e-learning itself does not automatically signal role changes unless this is part of the educational philosophy underpinning the design of the course.Go o d year ( 2001) describes a number of indicators for how both tutor and student roles are likely to change.These include the tutor moving from the role of an oracle and lecturer to that of a consultant, guide and re s o u rce prov i d e r ; tutors becoming designers of learning experiences rather than content providers and m oving from total control of the learning environment to sharing this with the student as fellow learners.In addition he notes that teacher-learner power stru c t u re s might be expected to erode as students move from passive consumers to constru c t o r s of their own know l e d g e .
In our studies, there was a marked difference between some subject areas in the ro l e s of tutors and students.As might be expected, in the Education case studies, learning models and approaches we re more ove rtly constructivist/social constructivist in design and this was supported by evidence from the students and tutors re g a rd i n g their ro l e s .Students tended to see their role as active and the tutor as a facilitator and the responses of those who we re interv i ewed showed that they are comfort a b l e with this: "The tutor was the facilitator.I had to be fully active in personally carrying out tasks and making decisions.I also had to communicate when I needed help." Student interv i ew case study 3 (Ed u c a t i o n ) In the other Education case study (4), the students emphasised being part of a gro u p and seeing their learning as a joint re s p o n s i b i l i t y : " Wo rking on Bl a c k b o a rd also makes me feel part of the group because it is a team effort.We ' re also --this is a whole year thing.It's not just made for --this isn't an individual person.It's a group thing."Student interv i ew --case study 4 ( Ed u c a t i o n ) Similarly during staff interv i ews, in particular for case study 3, tutors demonstrated their expectations that students would take more control and re p o rted that they v i ewed their roles as facilitative, although also still emphasized the need to stru c t u re the activities: " ...different at different stages ... The first stage would be me standing up and i n t roducing the exe rcise to get the aims across.... Once the activity is started I go around and check pro g ress ... so I was acting principally as a facilitator. . ." Tutor interv i ew --case study 3 (Ed u c a t i o n )

D i f f e rent Shoes, Same Fo o t p r i n t s ?
Timmis et al ( 2004) Journal of In t e r a c t i ve Media in Education, 2004 (13) Page 11 In these studies then, there was some evidence that using a VLE was support i n g g roup work and more independent learning by students and that the tutors and students had adapted their own roles accord i n g l y.Evidence of changing roles was not found to any great extent in the other case studies discussed in this paper (although as a subset of the SOLE study, these examples do not re p resent all the other cases).
In both the Ps ychology case studies, as previously noted, there was evidence of the tutor aspiring to foster independent learning and some of the role changes mentioned by Go o d ye a r.
"I suppose I see myself more as someone who facilitates their learning."Tu t o r i n t e rv i ew --case study 6 (Ps yc h o l o g y ) "...I would like them to support each other and share what they have learnt and if they have something to tell each other about...." "...What I expect is going to happen is that they are not going to do that.That they are going to continue to be over reliant on me but they need to be trained, trained to b e h a ve!" Tutor interv i ew --case study 5 (Ps yc h o l o g y ) Howe ver in case study 5 (Ps ychology), it is also clear that the tutor has little confidence that his approach will work.It is also clear from this statement that he sees the students as quite separate to his teaching, over which he has little influence.This is also supported by other quotes, re p roduced later in this section.
In Economics the two case studies presented ve ry different learning models.In the first study where the students worked in teams, the students' responsibility for learning was acknow l e d g e d : " In case study 8 (Economics), although the tutor wanted to foster more independent learning, he was viewed by the students as a strong leader who they looked up to and this was seen by them as a factor in maintaining reliance on the tutor.

D i f f e rent Shoes, Same Fo o t p r i n t s ?
Timmis et al ( 2004 Despite a wide variety of activities and learning models amongst the Economics and Ps ychology case studies, the evidence of any significant changes in roles and behaviour is slight.In the main the roles appear to be fairly traditional and static and many students wanted more tutor invo l vement.In these studies, students did not appear to be as comfortable as the Education students with working online and s h owed resistance to working more without direction from a tutor. "They still see it ve ry much as I'm the tutor and they are the students, what they go on there for is to find out what I have put on for them not to share things a round or discuss things."Tutor interv i ew --case study 5 (Ps yc h o l o g y ) "I would say that one of the problems, I mean the discussion board is really good and eve rything but [the tutor] said we should try and use that instead of coming to see him...but I would like to see him more----I thought it would be another aid, but its like a substitute" Student interv i ew --case study 5 (Ps yc h o l o g y ) The tutor in case study 6 (Ps ychology) adopted an independent learning model and the course allowed opportunities for both group work and individual tasks.
Howe ver student responses seem to indicate that it was still the face-to-face support they re c e i ved from the tutor that was central to their confidence in their work .Some of the students interv i ewed also wanted more face-to-face contact and tutor s u p p o rt as shown here : " If you went to the lecture s / w o rkshops [tutor] is always there to ask questions so I thought that was good.If you didn't go to the lectures I'd imagine it would be a bit harder to communicate with her because it would all be through email." Student interv i ew --case study 6 (Ps yc h o l o g y ) Jones (1999) observed that those invo l ved in teaching using networked learning e n v i ronments (or VLEs) tended to share a common educational philosophy, which emphasised the importance of collaborative learning, made links between the l i t e r a t u re and their practice and we re sensitive to the need to adopt different learning styles and approaches.Students in our Education studies, who are likely to have studied constructivism and social constructivism as part of their course, we re perhaps in a better position to recognise and adapt to new roles than the students in the other case studies.

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. Communication issues
In all the case studies, students re p o rted a ve ry strong appreciation for having course information online and "all in one place".This was by far the most well re p o rt e d benefit of using a virtual learning environment and yet all the tutors in these studies wanted to promote some form of communication through the VLE and a variety of communication tools we re in use.Whilst online discussion fora and other communication tools we re included in the design of several of the courses in the studies, it was noticeable from student interv i ews and responses that students often failed to see the re l e vance or benefit of these.
An exception to this is the first of the Education studies, where students did not appear to have any difficulties communicating online with fellow students and saw it as a positive experience: "When I put my own work online I got the reply from others.They shared their ideas and opinions tow a rd my work which are quite va l u a b l e ." St u d e n t i n t e rv i ew --case study 3 (Ed u c a t i o n ) .
" We planned a lesson on contour lines, as a group and pasted it to the bulletin b o a rd."Student interv i ew --case study 3 (Ed u c a t i o n ) .
Howe ver it should be noted that case study 3 (Education) students we re postgraduates and a ve ry small group so undertaking discussion and collaboration within this group might be expected to be successful.Students in case study 4 ( Education), where numbers we re ve ry high (260 in the cohort) we re happy with the principle, but had not really got into two-way communication during the course: "...I don't think that the online discussions-people have really used them as much as they could have done this ye a r.And you have got the same people going on eve ry time just to put things on.It's too easy to just sit back, read it like I do and not actually write anything."Student interv i ew --case study 4 ( Ed u c a t i o n ) .
"...I only agree with the on-line discussions are a good thing way to learn in this module because I mean I haven't used them a lot so I don't really know about h ow good they really are.' Case study 4 --student interv i ew (Ed u c a t i o n ) .
Similarly the students in the Economics case studies, where again the numbers of D i f f e rent Shoes, Same Fo o t p r i n t s ?Timmis et al (2004) students in the groups we re ve ry large (97, 216) re p o rted difficulties with communications and discussions.In both studies, the online communications we re not we l l u s e d .In case study 7, usage was significantly higher amongst the female students.
In case study 8, whilst overall participation was low, amongst those whose first language was not English, usage was significantly higher than the rest of the gro u p and as the quote below shows, this group clearly appreciated having written c o m m u n i c a t i o n : '...I think almost eve rything was easier with We b C T, because my mother language is Finnish...so it is much easier to read eve rything and get new information.'Student interv i ew --case study 8 (Ec o n o m i c s ) .
In case study 7 (Economics), with such a strong emphasis on group work, communications we re critical to the success of the module.The tutor had intended to set up g roup areas for each individual group which would allow easy group email, a gro u p discussion board, file exchange and group chat but found the task too time "..in a way if you did want to say something to someone then your ID shows up so you can't just say anything.Quite a lot of people argue through the email thing on (the VLE) and I don't get invo l ved because its printing your name and e ve rything."Student interv i ew --case study 6 (Ps yc h o l o g y ) Its printed nature and a concern over privacy may indicate that these students we re either not ve ry familiar with working online or not well briefed on how to addre s s these concerns.

. Emerging themes
To conclude this paper, some of the key themes that are have emerged from this brief re v i ew of some of the early findings from SOLE will now be discussed.

. 1 How can tutors achieve a greater alignment between implicit and explicit learning models?
T h e re are a number of examples amongst these case studies where the implicit and explicit learning models we re not aligned due to factors such as the underlying p e rception that students we re passive recipients rather than partners in the learning e x p e r i e n c e .Eq u a l l y, a mismatch between aspirations and the actual design of the module by tutors was seen as a contributor and students' continuing perc e i ved need for face-to-face tutor invo l vement and leadership.It could there f o re be argued that Biggs' concept of constru c t i ve alignment should be extended to suit the needs of the online environment and to include the students' needs and objective s .

. 2 How can we define and achieve successful participation in online communication?
Our initial findings suggest that participation in online communications remains a significant problem, which in many cases, affected student (and tutor) motiva t i o n and the intended learning model.It was evident that in some cases online dialogue (in contrast to information re t r i e val) was loosely managed by tutors and was seen as m o re aspirational than intentional.Students also re p o rted some lack of understanding of the role of online discussions and in some cases even discussion itself was seen as irre l e va n t : "...I think this module is just about learning something that is related to the module, but there's no need [for] any discussion on something."Case study 8 -student interv i ew (Ec o n o m i c s ) .
The need for a well developed induction and staged introduction to e-learning and online communication in particular has been clearly demonstrated in Gilly Sa l m o n ' s f i ve stage model ( 2000) but may still not be systematically applied or sufficiently in depth to pre p a re students adequately.Howe ve r, it should be noted that Sa l m o n ' s model focused on distance learning and as these case studies we re all campus-based it may suggest that a different approach is re q u i red.Fu rther examination of the data to examine the relationship between these concerns and induction, design and management issues will now be undertaken.In addition an in depth discourse analysis has been completed using discussion board data from one of the studies to i n vestigate the nature of the dialogue and discourse when using a discussion board at a micro level and the findings from this study will be drawn on in further inve s t igating this area.This re p o rt will be also published on the SOLE we b s i t e 2 .

. 3
Are the roles of the tutor and students changing?Are the power dynamics between tutors and students changing?
Our initial findings indicate that tutors and students may be adopting limited changes of role but students still look to tutors for leadership.These role changes we re most strongly in evidence in the Education studies, where student awareness of the theoretical principles and educational purposes underpinning a learning activity is likely to be much stro n g e r.It could be argued, there f o re, that in preparing both staff and students for learning with VLEs there needs to be more explicit tutoring in these theoretical principles and that students may need to be given more explicit guidance on how the different types of support and roles fit together to meet their needs.In order to investigate these pre l i m i n a ry findings in more depth, the SOLE data (in particular the critical incidents re p o rts which made up a large part of the student and tutor interv i ews) is currently being re-analysed and triangulated acro s s all the studies to look for further illumination on roles and re l a t i o n s h i p s .

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. 4
Are there discipline dependent issues, which are emerging from these studies?
With the exception of the Education studies, the students described here, appeare d to be primarily concerned with the organizational aspects of VLEs --how it affected their ability to learn rather than the nature and quality of the learning experiences they had.They see the benefits in terms of how it will help them manage rather than learn.In addition, there we re many examples, in part i c u l a r, amongst the Ec o n o m i c s students where the processes indigenous to their subject we re shown to be uppermost in students' minds when considering learning.T h e re f o re although engaged in gro u p w o rk throughout the module, the students in case study 7 (Economics) saw this activity in terms of its contribution to their subject knowledge not to the e f f e c t i veness of their learning per se.This is also demonstrated by the quote above about the utility of discussion.It is also worth noting that of all the student gro u p s who took part in the study, it was only students in case study 6, studying Ps yc h o l o g y re s e a rch methods who contributed in any great numbers to the re q u i rement to fill in two activity diaries as part of the study.Whilst there is no direct explanation for this, it would appear to be explained by the alignment of this activity to the work in which these students we re already engaged.
Although there is some evidence that students in different disciplines may have d i f f e rent needs and may behave differently to an extent and that the subject or discipline itself may need to be approached differe n t l y, most of the issues that have emerged so far from SOLE are cross-cutting and re l e vant across all the disciplines.
Howe ver as stated earlier, this article is an introduction to the SOLE study and a p resentation of some early themes and findings.The issues raised here will be revisited and re c o n s i d e red in the light of additional evidence and our conclusions, full re p o rts and summaries will be posted regularly on the SOLE we b s i t e 2 f rom now o n .

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I think they are finding it difficult generally to engage with anything, it's hard to tell what they are finding difficult and what they are finding easy because I am not really getting much feedback from them in terms of helping them along."Tutor --case study 5 (Ps yc h o l o g y ) Un f o rtunately there are no access statistics for this case study as it would have been useful to compare these with the tutor's perc e p t i o n s .It is worth noting that this tutor's responses did not show any expectation that he should manage or support their learning experience with We b C T. His view of WebCT appears to be solely in terms of a re s o u rc e : " WebCT itself is fine you know?I expected it do what it was going to do, it's just the students who haven't lived up to my expectations but I think that 's just a general point."Tutor --case study 5 (Ps yc h o l o g y )

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Journal of In t e r a c t i ve Media inEducation, 2004 (13)   Page 12 "... there we re not many discussions from fellow students... the teacher had such a strong role."Student interv i ew --case study 8 (Ec o n o m i c s ) consuming as each student needed to be added in individually, and abandoned the i d e a -" I suppose I expected more of a discussion.Yo u ' re supposed to be able to use a discussion, but nobody ever uses it."Student interv i ew --case study 7 ( Ec o n o m i c s ) Any communication via the VLE was only through the email facility, which was little used (Bl a c k b o a rd does not keep a re c o rd of email for students or tutors to return to or keep track of ).In some cases communications broke dow n : "...I think the tutor expected eve rybody would be able to log on and check their emails and keep contact re g u l a r l y.The situation...I was not happy.I emailed them about five times and then they didn't even contact me..." St u d e n t i n t e rv i ew --case study 7 (Ec o n o m i c s )This student was a student manager of one group and became so frustrated that she resigned and undertook an individual assignment.Howe ve r, others commented about the usefulness of using email via Bl a c k b o a rd : " Bl a c k b o a rd is useful, basically... Ba s i c a l l y, yo u've got your gro u p, you can e-mail your group members, just-with the names, and it provides various data fro m one another-say having a group meeting.'Student interv i ew --case study 7 ( Ec o n o m i c s ) .Journal of In t e r a c t i ve Media inEducation, 2004 (13)  Timmis et al (2004) Some of the psychology students also raised concerns about the nature of the online e n v i ro n m e n t : "The discussion board is a bit impersonal re a l l y.It could answer your question fair enough but then, you know, there's always something else it might not clarify it completely and you might feel a bit silly having to write to him again saying you don't understand it."Student interv i ew --case study 5 (Ps yc h o l o g y ) .
...I don't think he was traditional... this type of module is independent work . . .you had to meet this deadline...If you don't get it done, that's your own fault.If you ever went to him, with any problems...he was always ve ry willing to help. . ." Student interv i ew --case study 7 (Ec o n o m i c s )