Designing online education for work based learners: refining bite sized learning
type: CreativeWork
description: Online learning is increasingly prevalent in education and one area which stands to benefit from this approach is work based learning. This area is characterised by time-poor students and a requirement for flexibility in time and location. Online learning could be considered a solution to these issues, providing greater flexibility than campus based offerings, but it is not a panacea. Online learning suffers from a range of issues, particularly in retention, generally seeing attrition rates between 10% and 20% higher than traditional education. This research investigates an emerging method for delivering online education to work based learners and how it compares to traditional methods with respect to engagement. The method is named bite sized learning, and the core principle is that lessons are delivered in very short, bite sized chunks. These chunks are delivered on a daily basis, comprised of content, guidance and practical tasks. Each chunk also includes a requirement for social interaction with a learning peer group. This work takes an action research approach, combined with grounded theory and mixed methods. The author proposes the use of a methodology "stack", utilising each of these approaches, which will be shown to enable rigorous evaluation and development of an emerging educational method. The mixed methods employed comprise learning analytics and qualitative course evaluation survey data. To begin the work, a series of identical bite sized courses are quantitatively analysed in order to propose a reliable measure of engagement for bite sized learning. This concludes that a measure of daily participants produces the most effective results. Using the methodology "stack," the body of this research takes a 3 stage practice-based approach. A set of live bite sized learning courses are studied, via the "stack", producing an evaluation, an experiment and a resulting theory for bite sized learning. The evaluation reveals current patterns of engagement within bi…
abstract: Online learning is increasingly prevalent in education and one area which stands to benefit from this approach is work based learning. This area is characterised by time-poor students and a requirement for flexibility in time and location. Online learning could be considered a solution to these issues, providing greater flexibility than campus based offerings, but it is not a panacea. Online learning suffers from a range of issues, particularly in retention, generally seeing attrition rates between 10% and 20% higher than traditional education. This research investigates an emerging method for delivering online education to work based learners and how it compares to traditional methods with respect to engagement. The method is named bite sized learning, and the core principle is that lessons are delivered in very short, bite sized chunks. These chunks are delivered on a daily basis, comprised of content, guidance and practical tasks. Each chunk also includes a requirement for social interaction with a learning peer group. This work takes an action research approach, combined with grounded theory and mixed methods. The author proposes the use of a methodology "stack", utilising each of these approaches, which will be shown to enable rigorous evaluation and development of an emerging educational method. The mixed methods employed comprise learning analytics and qualitative course evaluation survey data. To begin the work, a series of identical bite sized courses are quantitatively analysed in order to propose a reliable measure of engagement for bite sized learning. This concludes that a measure of daily participants produces the most effective results. Using the methodology "stack," the body of this research takes a 3 stage practice-based approach. A set of live bite sized learning courses are studied, via the "stack", producing an evaluation, an experiment and a resulting theory for bite sized learning. The evaluation reveals current patterns of engagement within bi…
author: Gray, Colin
language: eng
keywords: Work based learners, Bite sized learning, Online education
date published: 2015-10
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:50:03Z
provider: Abertay University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Abertay University