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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 H10

8 Impact of networked learning on teaching, learning and assessment

Teaching and learning was mentioned by respondents in relation to a number of issues. The main focus was on the staff rather than on the student experience and the development of materials featured in several of the interviews.

Blended learning

The term blended learning was one that surfaced in a number of interviews and was seen as an increasingly important mode of delivery.

And what it means in effect is that we’ve got blended learning, we’ve got an opportunity for students to meet tutors, especially in induction, the pedagogy is the second purpose for this. (H10I3)

… different schools are using that system (the VLE) to varying extents so, for example, the School of […] delivers much of its material using the VLE. And therefore, their teaching and learning is blended, other schools might be at an earlier stage of development but we would expect over the next three or four years all schools to be using blended learning. (H10I1/6)

So what networked learning offers, is just another tool, it’s not just a single, different thing, it’s many, many different things. And I strongly believe it’s got a huge role to play. The big shift will be in the way we teach on campus, not distance learning, but with the campus experience. (H10I4)

The evidence then suggests that online learning will not replace traditional modes of delivery rather it will be used as an additional tool.

Changing role of teacher

There is an indication in several of the quotes that the role of the teacher will change. It has already been noted up to a point in relation to the changing nature of work. This change includes the development of the e-moderator role but also that the teacher role becomes more one of support and facilitation.

There is no programme of lectures and tutorials that they have to prepare for, the material is written up front and it’s their job then to help the students through that material so they are guiding them, facilitating them, mentoring them… (H10I5)

This suggests a change from the traditional lecture towards students accessing the learning materials through the VLE with support and facilitation from the tutor. Perhaps the greatest change suggested was the move towards fewer academics who were responsible for the creation of the learning materials with a greater number of e-moderators operating as facilitators.

Then it’s a question of seeing what the academic role becomes and sometimes we epitomise it by saying, there will be fewer academics. But we see there being a number of people who are responsible for the development of excellent programmes, because their expert knowledge can contribute towards the development of excellent programmes, but you will need fewer people who are just doing the rote delivery of the programmes. So if you have got one person, or two or three academics who are creating something which may be scaled for 10,000 students. You don’t then go for a geometric progression as we do at the moment, that you have an academic for every 20 more students… the support you need is quite different, you need probably a level of academic support, the e-moderator support for learners to answer and manage academic questions that are coming up, but they can be a different kind of calibre of staff. (H10I4)

This would suggest not just a change with the lecturer becoming a facilitator but rather that there will be different types of academics, those that develop the materials and those that support the learner.

Impact on pedagogy

The issue of pedagogy is not mentioned specifically by any of the respondents; however, the quotes in relation to assessment of online learning and the changing role of the teacher implicitly indicate pedagogical underpinning of delivery.

Development of teaching materials

Development of teaching materials was commented on by four out of the five respondents and explained in more detail by two. It was clearly an important part of the introduction of networked learning and was further discussed in relation to the new quality procedures.

… what we did was that we decided that we needed to get the content quality assured… that it was appropriate, appropriate level, that the assessments were appropriate. (H10I3)

We don’t want to suppress people’s creativity, but what we want to do is to create frameworks, which are clear to everybody, which are transparent in the way in which they are to be applied, within which people can have their own innovation. (H10I4)

The same respondent elaborated on this need for consistency.

What we have done is to create all our materials outside to IMS standards and we have developed our own content management system. And our content management system saves everything as data, it’s a database way of constructing materials. So if you take the research methods module it maybe has 1000 elements… and that can be anything from a few lines of text, we have a sort of audio that we have on the programme… there’s maybe 1000 of those elements for which 85% are probably common… if somebody… wants a research methods module… [they will] be able to tailor and adapt it easily to the needs of… different schools… So we are working now on… social method in social sciences, research method in health care, I’m sure we will soon do research methods in technology. (H10I4)

New materials for networked learning then are seen as providing a way of avoiding duplication and increasing efficiency.

Discussion and interaction

As for the student experience, this aspect of networked learning was not focused on in the interviews; however, the training of e-moderators mentioned in relation to staff training suggests that this is seen as an important part of online learning.

Changing practices in assessment

Assessment is one area where the online learning environment offers potential for changes in relation to the handling and marking of assessments. One respondent commented on the relationship between the learning process and assessment and also the potential for using the online discussion to assess reflection on learning.

And so we’ve been trying to… include the online debates and so on, as part of a formative assessment strategy. In that sense, yes it is developed, but I think we need to work a little bit more on that, to think about different ways of catching that. But the way we do it at the moment is to build in to the assessment, a reflective piece where they would need to reflect on their learning and the easiest way of doing that would be to include their online conferences and so on. Yes so it has affected our thinking about formative assessment much more, well, and summative as well. It has focused our minds much more than it has ever done on the learning process, full stop. (H10I3)

For one respondent, then the impact of online learning is seen as affecting the nature of the learning process and its relationship to assessment.

Student experience

The student experience was not discussed to a great extent though it was clear that it was considered important by the respondents. This is suggested by the emphasis on student preparedness explored in student support and the quality monitoring procedures that have been put in place.

Questionnaire data

In the questionnaire, two of the respondents were asked questions in relation to the development of materials and both stated that the most commonly used materials were those developed in-house. They also stated that there were no incentives for staff to use networked learning materials. One of the respondents mentioned that there were incentives for some to develop new materials; whilst the second respondent stated that there were none. However, it was noted by the first respondent that a new policy was currently being drafted to deal with the development of new materials and this may account for the differing perceptions.

All five respondents were asked to comment on whether networked learning had added value to teaching, research or academic support at the institution and all felt that it had done so. They were also asked whether the students’ learning experience had changed and again all stated that this was the case. Flexibility and peer collaboration was provided as evidence for such a change by one of the respondents. The questionnaire data is in broad agreement with the interview data.

Summary

The evidence suggests that online learning will not replace traditional modes of delivery rather it will be used as an additional tool in a blended learning model; however, in some specific areas there may be provision that is only available through e-learning. It is anticipated that the traditional role of the lecturer will change towards a more facilitative and supportive role. It was also felt that there may be a change in role for academics with some becoming more involved in the development of learning materials, with others taking on the role of e-moderators as supporters of learners. Careful development of new learning materials was seen as providing resources that could be adapted for a range of settings.