HEA E-Learning Pathfinder Project

HEA E-learning Pathfinder Project

The University recently took part in a Higher Education Academy (HEA) E-learning benchmarking exercise, the results of which confirmed significant strengths in our institutional approach to e-learning, However, it also identified infrastructural and pedagogic shortfalls or constraints. These included a need:  to fully develop quality processes and procedures for e-learning;  to improve the profiling and sharing of good practice;  to promote greater take-up of staff support for e-learning and  to provide a more coherent and integrated approach to e-learning ensuring equality of provision and support for both staff and students.

As a follow-on from the benchmarking exercise we successfully bid for a one year Higher Education Academy (HEA) funded pathfinder project on E-Quality. This project has three main foci; institution; staff and students and it involves:  in-depth analysis of current practice building upon the initial e-benchmarking work.  adaptation of current quality management and enhancement processes so that e-learning is fully embedded and integrated.  piloting of an emerging technology (podcasting).  identification of staff needs in relation to e-learning and the provision of appropriate staff development programmes and activities.  dissemination and showcasing of e-learning practice  identification of student needs in relation to e-learning and response to these in terms of programme design, student support and guidance.

Details of some of the ongoing progress is available in this newsletter, but expect regular updates throughout the academic year (see the Staff Lounge in Blackboard). Also, the L&T Conference in January where the Pathfinder team’s presentation is entitled ‘E- learning e-quality: how do we know that what we are doing in terms of e-learning has quality and provides equality for learners?’.

The Team

The Pathfinder team consists of Eileen Webb (Project Leader); Lucy Armitstead-Pinkney (Researcher); Helen Ashley (Developer) and Emma Shaw (Administrator). We are based In the Pegasus building on Woodlands Road (yes, a grand name for the old school clinic) and working alongside the E-learning team we’re helping to provide extra staff resource to support increased e-learning provision. While this newsletter was being prepared Helen (far right) successfully interviewed for the position of Learning & Development Officer (IT) within Staff Development. Although we are pleased for her it is a loss to the team. For the rest of the university though she will be continuing with the whiteboard training workshops as well as developing new staff development initiatives. If anyone wants any further information withregard to the Pathfinder project then please contact Eileen Webb (73)8028 [email protected]

Determining Student Needs

One of the tasks of the Pathfinder Project is to look at student needs in relation to e- learning. We want to ensure that we meet the needs of all students, including those who are not skilled or comfortable with new technologies when they first come to the University of Teesside. To get an idea about what students expect from the university in terms of e-learning, we are conducting a student study which will run throughout the rest of this academic year. The study consists of two parts; a quantitative questionnaire and a qualitative series of focus groups. The survey is already underway and a link to the survey has been emailed out to all students in the university as well as placed on the ‘Student’, ‘Home’ and ‘Your Views’ tabs on Blackboard. As we are keen to get as many replies as possible, we would really appreciate staff reminding students about the survey whenever possible! We are aware that some students may not be keen to carry out a survey online and so also have a paper copy of the survey available. If there are any groups or individuals whom you are aware of that might prefer a paper copy of the survey, we would really appreciate it if you could let us know. All those entering the survey will be given the opportunity to enter a prize draw where they can win an ipod classic (80GB), an ipod shuffle (1GB) or one of a number of generic MP3 players. This survey is intended to lead on to a qualitative study using focus groups which we hope will give us a clear picture of student experiences and expectations of quality and equality of e-learning provision. The survey covers a range of topics on e-learning such as mobile learning, Blackboard, induction and pre-induction experiences and electronic whiteboards.

Staff Development for E-learning

The second strand of Pathfinder is staff development. We are talking to all staff who will stop long enough for us to ask about their needs and requirements in terms of the skills they require to use e-learning to effectively facilitate student learning, as well as the software and hardware they require to support their teaching aims. The broad range of requirements and aspirations that we collect will then form the basis of a set of recommendations that will inform the future provision of staff development, IT systems and work-loading within the University. So, it’s important that you put in your two-pennyworth. Our key collaborators on this side of things are the Schools’ Learning & Teaching and E- learning Co-ordinators, who are already making their opinions and experiences known. Issues such as time-tabling, proper recognition of time spent creating and supporting e- learning materials and making the right hardware and software available to academic staff have already been tabled. The E-learning team already provide a wide range of staff development resources and training including: workshops; desk sessions; recipe sheets; podcasts; E@T lunches; this newsletter and much more. It is important however to ensure that staff are aware of what is on offer and have the opportunity to benefit from this. If you would like your views taken into consideration, then please don’t wait to be asked but contact the Pathfinder team (see page 1 ).

Podcasting Project

As one of the innovation projects within Pathfinder project we are involved in a podcasting pilot with Gaynor Cavanagh in the School of Computing. This is aimed at evaluating the use of both audio and enhanced audio podcasts to support learning and teaching on the first year undergraduate ‘Introduction to Digital Music’ module. For this module the podcasts will be used in two distinct ways: 1. Podcasts of selected lectures and information developed by the module tutor. 2. Podcasts created by the students, working in small groups, which will take the form of micro-lectures on research topics. These will be uploaded to a wiki in Blackboard, allowing all students in the module the opportunity to download and listen to the podcasts and also to comment online via the wiki. The podcasts will be made available in at least two different formats, enhanced audio (which include graphics and web links) and pure audio MP3 files. All the students studying the module, and the module tutor, have been given a portable MP3 player to allow them to listen to the audio podcasts remotely. It is anticipated that the students will use the two different podcast file types in quite different ways dependent on the integrated content and their mobility at the time. The enhanced audio files have much richer content, however, their usability is likely to be restricted as students mobility increases. The MP3 files in contrast can be listened to quite easily while on the move. This project will explore how students use and value the two different types of file format.

E-learning Case Studies Many staff across the University and in partnership colleges are involved in innovative use of learning technologies to support their teaching and their students’ learning. To support all staff it is important that the lessons learnt from the case studies are available to everyone. The Pathfinder and E-learning teams have identified a number of these staff who are willing to disseminate their findings and have persuaded them to produce posters and e- posters for display and presentation at the forthcoming Learning and Teaching Conference in January. These posters will involve looking at a range of technologies such as PDF files, Class Capture to support distance delivery, training movies, reflective diaries and Bluetooth wireless recording with Activstudio. The aim of these case studies is to help share how technologies can be used to support learning and what difficulties staff find in using them. We will be looking at how students use these technologies and what they think of them so that staff can see whether they would be suitable for their modules. We very much hope that you will find the time to come along to the Learning and Teaching Conference on Wednesday 23rd of January which will be held on the in the Centuria Building (SoH).

Workshop Programme

E-learning and Blackboard Workshops Jan—Mar 2008.

Introduction This timetable sees a slightly different approach from the E-learning Team. We will continue to offer the usual twice-weekly timetabled workshops for you to attend, but we’ll also be out and about quite a lot in a lab somewhere near you!

Where to find the Dates? You can check out dates via the ‘Staff Lounge’ tab on Blackboard. Alternatively we can email you a copy if you drop us a line — [email protected]

Booking a Place To book a place on any of our sessions please contact [email protected]

Timetabled Timetabled sessions will operate as usual – Wednesday afternoons and Friday mornings. These are 2 hours of hands-on ‘how to’ as well as ‘why to’.

Drop In We’ll be doing more drop in sessions than ever before. So we’re coming to you! We’ll be offering drop-in sessions around campus in locations that are convenient for you to do exactly that – drop in – when you have a spare ten minutes or so to talk about a particular issue, tool, idea you’ve had – anything.

‘E@T Well’ We’ll also be in a room near you offering sessions on what we feel are key topics in e- learning - module design or student feedback for example. If you want to make a real difference to your modules then come along to one of these sessions, spend an hour with us, and you’ll be well on the way to improving the experience for your students.

E@T Lunch We’ve got some interesting presenters coming up for 2008. The lunchtime sessions will take place on the first Thursday of each month. As usual – we’ll circulate details via email, on Blackboard, and as part of our monthly E@T Newsletter.

Bespoke If you and your module team/subject group would like your own session to look at specific areas or tools we’ll be more than happy to talk with you and arrange something focused on your requirements. This might be a quick lunchtime demo, or it might be a full away day on curriculum design in e-learning. Please get in touch with us to start the ball rolling – [email protected]

Desk Sessions/Recipe Sheets A wide range of recipe sheets are available from the new Staff Lounge tab on Blackboard, and we’re also beginning to release some video tutorials to accompany the recipe sheets. Next up, healthy e@ting case studies...keep your eyes peeled! Desk sessions with E@T staff are also available. For all training and workshop enquiries, please contact [email protected]