University of San Diego

Background

With more than 8,000 students from 85 countries and 50 US states, the University of San Diego is the youngest independent institution featured in the U.S. News & World Report of Top 100 Universities in the US. Their small class sizes, compassionate culture, unique learning and overseas-study opportunities, as well as state-of-the-art resources, ensure that graduates succeed after graduation and throughout their lives.

The relationship between the University of San Diego and Learning Pool goes back a long way when key people involved from both sides were working on early developments of online mediated learning while working within different organizations. These projects evolved and the early version of Learning Pool Platform and taken on by the University over twelve years ago.

Solution

With its ability to accommodate intrinsic motivation and social learning the early version of Learning Pool Platform was considered ahead of its time and a breakthrough in online learning by the University.

Their first usage of the platform involved their Sustainable Supply Chain Management course. The solution was the answer to a significant challenge for the Faculty as there were no textbooks available for the course. Learning Pool Platform allows the Faculty to provide curated material for the students by bringing together a range of learning objects, such as web pages, newspaper articles, videos etc. for the students to access.

Learning Pool Platform offers the student cohort the opportunity to come together to engage around a learning object. They are able to comment and share, as well as upload their own objects. The social and gamified learning aspect of the platform really hooks the students in and keeps them engaged and interested. Students are deliberately not micromanaged so encouraging them to be active learners is key. The element of competition created by the points system and leader board means they are incentivized to watch, comment and share their own material. A healthy discussion on who is leading and what material has been enjoyed takes place when the students come together for lectures.

Learning Pool Platform is also now used for the Service Management, Operations Management and Sustainability courses within the University.

Learning Pool Learning Record Store (LRS) offers the lecturers sophisticated learning analytics which allows them to see which students are engaging well with the material and ranks them within a leader board. This enables the Faculty to understand which students need more support and encouragement. The students themselves are also able to see an element of analytics around their own activity, and that of fellow students, adding an element of competition.

Results

The use of Learning Pool Platform has been extremely successful within the University and in one particular MOOC that was run through the system, completion rates of around 50% were achieved, which is a significant number compared to comparable online platforms.

Students from the Supply Chain Management course consistently rate Learning Pool Platform as the ‘best part of the course delivery’. Others have reported that the platform and its content has been extremely eye-opening and sparked their interests within the subject, giving them research ideas and potential career options to pursue that they hadn’t previously realized.