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Executive Summary

1 Introduction

2 Context

3 Methodology

4 - 9 Findings, Analysis and Discussion

10 Summary of Findings

11 Discussion of Findings

12 References

13 Case Studies

Acknowledgments & Partners

Case Study Map 

Institution H2

8 Impact of networked learning on teaching, learning and assessment

The university’s Learning Teaching and Assessment strategy emphasised its commitment to student centred learning and e learning. It was clear that the respondents supported this emphasis with various aspects of teaching and learning being referred to by all the respondents on several occasions. Interestingly the respondents focused more on students and their learning than on teachers and their teaching, suggesting that the university is implementing a more student centred approach. This might be related to the respondents’ emphasis on the development of pedagogy.

The questionnaire responses suggest that teaching and learning have changed as a result of the growth of networked learning. All respondents agreed that this was the case. One respondent suggested that modes of teaching might be changing, but many of the written comments focussed more on access to information than to pedagogical change.

… has encouraged the development of more flexible teaching modes. (H2I2B)

networked learning has improved the service to students who have places on distance learning courses. It has also allowed other students and academics easier access to learning and institutional information. (H2I5)

The more access to information and support the more value added for the student. (H2I4)

Blended learning

Two respondents spoke about blended learning and agreed that this approach would best suit the focus of the university and the needs of its students.

… our position is that we’re going to use [networked learning] in a blended way, but it’s going to be available to all students on all programmes and all courses… What I mean is that we’re a vocational university, we’ve got students here who work full time and study full time, so they have got two lives, they’re very busy people and they need to be able to blend their learning opportunities. They need to be able to decide whether they come to the physical campus or whether they use us online… (H2I4A)

… this institution is about caring, sharing, supporting students and all that kind of thing and in this kind of institution they would not want mainstream programmes ever to be in the situation where we lost the personal contact. So the general university community, I think still feels here very strongly, that personal contact with students is and is likely to remain a good thing. So a complete move towards e distance learning of some kind would be undesirable and would not be liked by our students. (H2I6)

Changing role of teacher

The majority of respondents did not appear to feel that the teacher’s role was changing as a result of the growth in networked learning, although one respondent recognised the potential for changing roles. However, the potential of the engagement in networked learning for prompting reflection on teaching was noted and suggests that issues around pedagogy are at the forefront for at least some of those involved developing networked learning.

Three respondents expressed the view by that networked learning alone will not change the way people teach, and that in the end this will be driven by their own personal philosophy of teaching.

People who take a constructivist approach and who have student centred learning in their classrooms, they work like that generally. In terms of e learning depending on their skill and ability with e learning, they will take that approach also with e learning but if staff are very much the experts with information, this is what you’ve got to know, this is what you give me back in the exam in the class then that’s how they’ll do it online as well. (H2I3)

Three respondents noted that networked learning could be used simply as an information and communication tool, but that staff development along with debate and discussion are needed to get people to think about it in terms of using it in pedagogy effective ways.

… simply saying you will use [the VLE] for all your modules from next year… is not a good idea unless you have a parallel attempt to raise awareness of the pedagogy in the staff. What they discovered is that you know the uses of [the VLE] have been mundane unless they’ve supported the introduction of [the VLE] with a proper programme of raising staff awareness about why we are doing this and what are the possibilities and some of the examples you will see of [the VLE] been used in this institution, it’s very hard to understand what the point is. They are just basically lecture notes on the web with one or two self assessment questionnaires thrown in. (H2I4B)

I think there is a debate going on in the Business School now as they begin to realise that unless you use networked learning in an imaginative way that improves the pedagogy then you don’t get a big benefit from it. Just using it to manage the learning and teaching process, manage the running of the course is ok but it’s not the big deal that would seem to justify all the hype about it. (H2I4B)

Development of teaching materials

The respondents did not discuss the way in which teaching materials are developed to any great extent. However, there were frequent references to the Rapid Development Task force, which, as noted above, was an approach used in the Business School in order that teams could work together to produce online teaching materials for delivery via the VLE.

… the Rapid Development Task Force the idea is to develop an online course on [the VLE] or (any other learning environment) by blocking off two or three days, preferably off campus and bringing together all the module leaders involved, a team of experts like ourselves, [ICT] support & AVS everybody all in one place, and take them through a process of development. At the end of those three days to have an online course having gone through all the thinking and the development work; with people on hand to give immediate help and answer questions as they arise. (H2I2A)

Changing practices in assessment

Five respondents spoke about assessment, but there was general agreement that the university had not made much progress as yet in using networked learning to support and deliver formative assessment, particularly computer assisted assessment (CAA).

We’re not very strong on assessment I mean we don’t have a sort of an adopted, question mark, perception or whatever. People use the assessment bits in [the VLE]. (H2I4A)

We haven’t yet really used IT in any coherent way to innovate our assessment practices. (H2I6)

However, these respondents clearly felt that it was an important area for development.

Assessment I think, … we have to at least attempt to get more formative assessment into the system.... you ask yourself the question, what’s the way to do it, there must be a way to do it online that can give students instant feedback so I would hope that we could generate some momentum in the assessment area within the next couple of years by putting some effort into that. (H2I6)

I think we should make a big effort to use it where it can make a big impact that is in assessment so we badly need better technology support for assessment and in the support of tutorials and self assessment, … but the tools to develop that have been rather slow in coming forward and they still aren’t very impressive or widely used. (H2I4B)

Discussion and interaction

The potential of the online environment to stimulate discussion and interaction at different levels was noted; in some areas where online discussion is being used it is sometimes linked to assessment.

Well the students collaborate in terms of their group work… we’ve tried to make the resources available … to the students and said support your own group work. Use the communication facilities; use the discussion board, the virtual class as a means of communicating, as another means of communicating, within your group. So we’ve done that and that works sometimes, it doesn’t work other times, but we have done it and it is linked to assessment, we’ve done it when it’s just been optional extra, it’s variable but in the main that is quite good. It’s another way of supporting group work. (H2I3)

And also with all the online collaboration and conferencing that’s going on in some of the courses, the staff are having to do a bit of team teaching, and more group work which perhaps they didn’t do as much of before. I think that’s quite interesting. (H2I2B)

Two respondents thought that there was more interactive work going on facilitated by the communication facilities of the VLE:

There is a lot more use of the virtual classroom and chat facilities… people … well their knowledge is increasing and they are able to make more use of what is on the systems. (H2I5)

Three respondents spoke about the importance of student centred learning; one feels that it is still patchy and not yet universal, and two others pointed out that although the ideal was student centred learning, in reality there was often insufficient time for this. However one pointed out that it was the potential for communication that added the real value to networked learning.

But of course that has to be tempered with the fact that the academic staff are concerned about how that will impact on their own time, and this is something that we’re encouraging them to think about at the development stage, so that if they are setting up online group work, they have to think very carefully about what they are asking the groups to do, can the groups work on their own without the tutors having to be in there all the time checking on them. So it’s rethinking the students’ centred activities to ensure that they don’t find themselves overwhelmed with work. (H2I2B)

It offers the possibility that students’ [learning] can be truly student centred, that the teaching can be truly student centred and that individual students are empowered to ask questions and to have… really good feedback and they good interactions with their peers and so on. If you start to withdraw those elements from networked learning then it just becomes a tool like an overhead projector or something, which makes the learning and teaching process and bit smoother but doesn’t fundamentally change the pedagogy or improve it. (H2I4B)

Summary

The Learning, Teaching and Assessment strategy emphasised the university’s commitment to student centred learning and it was clear that the respondents supported this emphasis. Respondents focused more on students and their learning than on teachers and their teaching, suggesting that the university is taking a more student centred approach.

The questionnaire responses suggested that modes of teaching might be changing, but many of the written comments focussed more on access to information than to pedagogical change.

The respondents did not appear to feel that the teacher’s role was changing as a result networked learning. However, the potential of networked learning for prompting reflection on teaching was noted and issues around pedagogy were at the forefront at least for some of those involved in developing networked learning. Respondents also noted the potential of networked learning in enhancing the support for formative assessment. A new development group was created in order that teams could work together to produce teaching materials and to support staff engaging with e learning.

The potential of the online environment to stimulate discussion and interaction at different levels was noted. More interactive work is going on, and student centred learning is regarded as important although it is not yet universal. Where online discussion is being used it is sometimes linked to assessment. Two respondents pointed out that although the ideal was student centred learning, in reality there was insufficient time for this.

There were suggestions that a blended approach would best suit the focus of the university and the needs of the students.