Abstract:

Introduction:
The aim of the TOTEMM ERASMUS+ project was to promote equity, social inclusion, and participation of European non-mobile midwifery students. Partners from United Kingdom, Italy, Estonia, and the Netherlands created and implemented a new inclusive mobility model, which combines virtual and physical activities to provide more accessible exchange experiences. A secondary aim was to investigate if these activities can develop intercultural sensitivity. In this TOTEMM project we implemented 4 introductory Virtual Learning Packages (VLPs) into Learners’ online resources hub to be used as benchmark metrics. The introductory VLP was called “An Introduction to midwifery in Europe”. Four additional VLP were developed namely Promoting Positive Lifestyle Choices; Empowering Women to Maintain Their Sense of Safety; Championing the Needs of the Migrant Population; an Optimising Psychological Wellbeing for Women and Families. An average of 24 Learners were registered in each introductory VLP and once finished they continue to one of the other 4 VLP. The total number of students engages were 96, with 19 from each Partner location.

Methods:
Key learning analytics were evaluated to help understand how these goals were reached. These data were in the form of Log files taken from Moodle- the platform of delivery for the Learners to access and reuse the modules. The data consisted of 36,636 data points of Modules' usage, from 2nd November 2020 to 13th October 2022.

Results:
There were no significant differences in frequencies of hits (singular data log captures) between modules except between Introductory VLP 3 and Introductory VLP 4 - with Introductory VLP 4 receiving 9.1% more Hits. Al modules were used for around 19 out of 24 hours a day. This was expected. Indeed, the results showed consistency and engagement from Learners, in the 4 final introduction modules due to the structure and features purposefully designed into these TOTEMM learning resources. The homogeneity of these baseline introduction modules helped to compare additional module usage when they are subject specific.
No significant difference in metrics for the time-of-day was found both between the introductory module and within each group of content specific modules. Therefore 24/7 access supported all learner schedules. The results showed positive interactions towards information seeking as identified by an average of 2.6 peer discussion posts created per Learner into their respective content specific module. Additionally, there were 7.3 questions answered per Learner which indicated at least 2 answers per question for all course modules. We found there were 598 ‘lessons resumed’ in total, indicating that Learners pause and save module progression 3 times before completion. This was signalled in more frequent usage times in the morning before 9am, midday between 1-3pm, and in evenings after 5pm.

Conclusion:
The Learning Analytics allowed to better understand the behaviour of the learners and identified areas were VLP had high or low engagement. The learning analytics also triangulated some findings of a post questionnaire administered to the students.

Acknowledgment:
This work is supported by the ERASMUS+ Strategic Partnership in Higher Education “Transforming transnational intercultural sensitivity for midwifery students through an inclusive mobility model (TOTEMM)” (project reference number: 2019-1-UK01-KA203-061974).

Keywords:

Midwifery, Learning Analytics, Moodle, Pedagogy.