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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 H8

10 Impact of networked learning on access

This institution caters for a student population that contains a large number of people from non traditional university backgrounds. Issues around flexible access and widening participation were therefore mentioned by a five of the six respondents.

Flexible access

Networked learning was seen as potentially providing flexibility in a range of ways: at times and places convenient to the student, and that this would be a particular benefit to part time students.

it is giving access to people who can’t actually attend on campus... (H8I1)

Again the other issue that came up on that was to do with timing, to do with flexibility. Generally when we run an online tutorial we perhaps post the tutorial up on say a Friday evening and the students would have a week to contribute to the online tutorial. We don’t say to the students, you have to be sitting at your pc at 7 pm on a Friday evening and we will have a one hour online conference … (H8I3)

[the VLE] has definitely brought the university experience out to the workplace and to home … There are a surprising amount of students, and a surprising amount of staff, using [the VLE] in the late evening. …and the other thing from what I am led to believe, it doesn’t appear to have reduced student attendance at lectures, it doesn’t appear to have done that because people still want face to face communication.. (H8I5)

...there is no question that with part time students particularly, evening school students absolutely love it because they get access to the resources, they get access to email, they get access to discussion board… Because when you are coming in here two nights a week, for three hours, it’s very intensive listening, it’s very intensive take up, you go away, you’ve got a chance to reflect and … they’re not scribbling notes... they don’t have to worry about missing anything, because the notes will be on there after the lecture. (H8I2)

This respondent also noted that it was not just important for part time students:

But most of our students are full time registered but part time attendees, in the sense that most of them have to work. So they come for the lectures …, [but with] the resources being on [the VLE], it’s a godsend to them. (H8I2)

However, there was some evidence in relation to network interoperability that flexible access, especially in relation to students’ ability to contact staff could be hampered by the way in which the current networks operate.

Widening participation

Widening participation was commented upon by two of the respondents with some differences in terms of their views. One respondent felt that the widening participation agenda could be potentially be achieved through the use of networked learning:

One of the things about the government’s target about widening participation, most of the response to date has been about getting more people onto conventional degree courses, but if you really want to widen participation it isn’t about more 18 year olds, it’s about meeting people’s learning needs throughout their careers, and it means much more about professional development, or people who didn’t come into higher education initially, who are now in jobs …Now the real vision kind of thing is how universities could work with employers and people in employment in ways that we have never been able to in the past … I think much more flexible routes to higher education will become available to us... (H8I4)

The same respondent also suggested that networked learning could allow the institution to provide more flexible programmes that would help the widening participation agenda:

One of the things about widening participation is that people come in with a much wider range of previous education experience and qualifications, both in terms of people who haven’t been in education for some time coming back into education, different range of qualifications, different levels of achievement. And I think one of the things we’ll perhaps want to look at is how we can use a blended learning and network learning to be much more flexible about meeting individual learning needs... (H8I4)

The other respondent did not necessarily feel that the use of the VLE alone provided a means of widening participation, but that structural changes were also needed:

Our numbers from areas that are deprived areas, students from deprived areas have increased over the last ten years … I don’t think (the VLE has had an impact) so. I think it is more with us being more flexible. I mean perhaps slightly the VLE allows for more flexibility but I think it is our timetabling,... I think it is more to do with that where the students can come in and learn on a modular basis so I think that has probably got more to do with it than the fact that the VLE is there. (H8I1)

These two respondents offers slightly differing views. It is interesting to note that the first respondent was essentially exploring the potential for future development and how this could impact on widening participation and the second was reflecting on current impact and the need for other related structural changes to realise the flexibility offered by networked learning.

Summary

Networked learning was seen as increasing the flexibility of access to learning resources and as enabling communication between staff and students. Respondents considered that this flexibility could provide for further and different types of development especially in relation to providing greater access for students from a range of different backgrounds and widening participation.