Home

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 H9

10 Impact of networked learning on access

This institution aims to cater for a student population that contains a large number of those from non-traditional university backgrounds. Issues around flexible access and widening participation were therefore seen by all respondents to be of importance and did feature in the interviews.

Flexible access

Networked learning, it is argued, adds value to the student experience because it provides easy access to the learning resources. This was emphasised by several of the respondents.

It’s easy to put information on our website that the students can get anytime, any place, it’s easily accessible... it can be updated on the fly, you don’t have to wait... You can put them up on a Saturday and they could be reading them Monday morning... (H9I5)

There is evidence of added benefit and that is to do with the ability of students to access their learning in different ways from the ones that are traditionally offered by staff... (H9I4)

I think it can be useful if students can’t access the campus for one reason or another or they want to look again at things that have been done... (H9I6)

I think the way students work, I think once the students get here they realise that they are going to have to look at their time quite closely… if they are having lectures packed into two or three days and they are working in Tesco the other two days, the only time they have got is sort of like in the evening… most of them now have computers and are working from home. They want access that way. (H9I2)

I would like to see a system where all students had access to materials online before they actually hit the teachers/students contact... (H9I3)

Clearly there is feeling that networked learning provides flexible access for the student population and that this is beneficial as students nowadays have work and/or family commitments in addition to their studying. However, it was interesting to note that one of the respondents qualified this with the need to help students manage the online learning experience by not providing all materials from the beginning.

Perhaps not all at once [referring to the materials] but week by week because I think it is a way we can help students manage their time. If you put everything up and they have got access to everything all at once, they don’t know where to start. You can tell them but they will still get lost... (H9I3)

This final quote suggests a system where the learning experience is clearly managed by the tutor and this could perhaps be seen to contrast with the aim stated in the learning and teaching strategy to develop learner autonomy.

Widening participation

It was felt by several of the respondents that networked learning may not necessarily have an impact on widening participation as the institution already had a considerable number of students from non-traditional backgrounds.

That’s very difficult to say... because as a kind of new university, our mission has always been to… have a very broad profile of students... (H9I3)

I don’t think for us it would be making a major change to either the kinds of students we have or the ways that they normally go about studying... (H9I4)

I couldn’t put my hand on my heart and see how networked learning had particularly had an influence in the last couple of years (on widening participation)... but...I am very much the wrong person to ask... (H9I1)

Finally, it was also suggested by two respondents that networked learning might have a negative impact on social inclusion.

Well it implies you have got a computer, it’s expensive so it’s possible on some programmes that people are in work and they can use the work computer but I mean I would not necessarily expect students to be able to afford a computer... I don’t know if you can see computers as broadening access I really don’t know. (H9I6)

I don’t see... how it is going to increase inclusion just because you have got it on the computer rather than any others reason. In many ways it may actually reduce it because you need access to a computer and you have to be computer literate to use it. And the people we need to include are the people who probably don’t know how to use a computer... So I don’t think in itself just because you have network learning it’s going to expand the reach as it were... (H9I5)

Flexible access is thus seen as a bonus for students; however, social inclusion, it is argued, is not necessarily improved through the use of networked learning.

Summary

Networked learning was seen as offering flexible access and this was considered a major benefit. This is especially the case for students who have to combine studies with work and family responsibilities. Its role in social inclusion was questioned though. Cost of equipment and lack of IT skills may provide a barrier particularly for non-traditional students.