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University of Huddersfield Repository
Iredale, Alison
Connecting inclusive learner participation within culturally responsive teaching in Higher Education
Original Citation
Iredale, Alison (2008) Connecting inclusive learner participation within culturally responsive teaching in Higher Education. In: The teaching research interface: Implications for practice in HE and FE. ESCalate, Bristol, pp. 3644.
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Selection of conference papers presented on29th - 30th April
2008 at the University of Stirling
Edited by Dr Muir Houston, University of Stirling
The Teaching-Research Interface: Implications forPractice in HE
and FE
-
Edited by Dr Muir Houston,University of Stirling
Selection of conference paperspresented on 29th - 30th April
2008at the University of Stirling
The Teaching-ResearchInterface: Implications forPractice in HE
and FE
-
2
The Teaching-Research Interface: Implications for Practice in HE
and FE
Introduction 3Muir Houston, University of Stirling
1. Are Virtual Learning Environments used to facilitate
collaborative 5student learning activity? Findings of an
institutional evaluation.Chris Turnock and Pat Gannon-Leary,
Northumbria University.
2. Using Video-conferencing to Teach in HE 12Simon Clarke, UHI
Millennium Institute.
3. The experience of simulating student work experience
18through the Virtual Work Placement tool John Curry, City of Bath
College.
4. New pedagogies for postgraduate research teaching:
22integrating on-line research narratives. Gordon Joyes, University
of Nottingham & Sheena Banks, University of Sheffield.
5. Didactic transformation in mathematics teaching 30Alexandre
Borovik, University of Manchester.
6. Connecting inclusive learner participation within culturally
36responsive teaching in Higher Education. Alison Iredale,
University of Huddersfield
7. Widening participation through workplace learning 45Morag
Harvey, The Open University.
8. Maintaining Motivation: implications for widening student
participation 51Effie Maclellan, University of Strathclyde.
9. Hop, skip and a jump: a three step approach to supporting
57independent learnersCarina Buckley, Sarah Fielding and Judith
Martin, University of Portsmouth.
10. Anyone can do it? Supporting educational research in other
disciplines 64Fran Beaton and Janice Malcolm, University of
Kent.
11. Excellence In Teacher Training: Impact on Teaching and
Learning 70Wendy H. Jones, Bournemouth and Poole College.
12. What are Foundation degrees? 78Urmi Joshi, Hackney Community
College.
13. Research? When I don’t know who I am or what I am! 85A
question of Identity for HE in FE tutorsJenny Eland, Birmingham
City University.
14. The Link Between Research and Education: An FE Example
91John Curry, City of Bath College.
-
There has been a growing interest in recent years in what has
been termed the nexus betweenteaching and research and its impact
on student learning. As noted by Jenkins, Healey andZetter (2007
p.33) there can be important disciplinary differences in the
relationship based inpart on: the nature of knowledge within the
discipline; different forms of pedagogy and variationsin delivery
and assessment; and, the nature and organisation of research within
the discipline.Moreover, the relationship, as the papers in this
collection, based on presentations delivered atthe ESCalate
Conference - The Teaching-Research Interface: Implications for
Practice in HE andFE illustrate, can take many forms.
The first four papers report on research which examines the role
of technology in the form ofVirtual Learning Environments (VLEs)
and video-conferencing in supporting student learning.Turnock and
Gannon-Leary report research which examines the role of VLEs in
facilitatingcollaborative learning among students, while the paper
by Clarke, examines the role that video-conferencing can play in
delivering lecture material to a number of dispersed sites in a
largelyrural setting. The third paper by Curry, examines research
into the role that a Virtual WorkPlacement tool can play in
simulating placement experiences and the impact of this
technologyon student learning. This is followed by Joyes and Banks,
who report on another use of virtualresources this time in the
research training of postgraduate students. Using a dedicated
on-linetraining resource, they explore the development of the
on-line training suite and its impact onstudent learning.
The focus of the paper by Borovik is research which examines the
way important concepts inmathematics are taught to undergraduate
students. According to Borovik, students need a clearunderstanding
of these concepts in order to successfully progress to more
detailed and refinedmathematical problem solving.
The next four papers all to some extent engage with issues of
widening participation and socialinclusion. Iredale reports
research carried out on an innovative project which seeks
toencourage social inclusion, widening participation and urban and
social regeneration. Using astudent lifecycle model, Iredale
outlines the development of the project and provides someevidence
of its wider benefits. The paper by Harvey, takes a slightly
different approach towidening participation. Reporting on research
into work-based learning, Harvey suggests thatwidening
participation by enabling students to use their work-based learning
can be bothmotivating and rewarding. Moving back to more
conventional delivery settings, MacLennanexamines research on
student motivation within the context of the learning cycle and
offerssome suggestions as to how teaching staff may attempt to
motivate students throughcurriculum design as well as indicating
some implications for widening participation. Finally inrelation to
widening participation, Buckley, Fielding and Martin report on
research into learningpreparation for mature widening participation
entrants.
The paper by Beaton and Malcolm, reports on research which
examines the effect of disciplinarycultures and its impact on
pedagogical research. They report on how an academic
developmentunit supports colleagues in subject departments in
developing educational research and inquirywith a view to
dissemination through publication as a way of raising both
institutional andpersonal profiles.
3
Introduction
-
4
The Teaching-Research Interface: Implications for Practice in HE
and FE
The final four papers report on developments in the FE sector.
Teacher training in FE is the focusof the paper by Jones, who
utilises an ethnographic approach to examine the impact of
recentreforms in qualifications for teaching in FE. She traces the
historical development of these newqualifications and outlines a
research programme which seeks to understand how thesechanges have
impacted on current trainees. The paper by Joshi examines the
development ofFoundation Degrees and reviews the literature on
work-based learning. Findings are presentedon the perceptions of
both students and employers in relation to the benefits of
work-basedlearning and suggestions on how to improve communication
between the college andemployers are made. The role of tutors
delivering HE level course in an FE environment areexamined by
Eland. Issues of identity and tutors perceptions of the language of
research andscholarship, commonly used in HE, are examined.
Finally, Curry reports on capacity building inrelation to research
in FE colleges. Curry suggests that developing a staff research
culture canaid recruitment, retention and student motivation.
Muir Houston, University of [email protected]
References:Jenkins, A., Healey, M. and Zetter, R., 2007. Linking
teaching and research in departments anddisciplines. York: The
Higher Education Academy.
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IntroductionMany authors have identified how additionalVLE
functionality offers potential use of non-transmissive approaches
to education inwhich there is a belief that deep studentlearning
will occur, e.g. constructivist andcollaborative learning
methodologies. Whilstthe authors were aware of some internal useof
non-transmissive approaches to VLE use,there was little evidence to
support anyanecdotally based conclusions about theextent to which
such activity occurred.Therefore, the purpose of this study was
toobtain information from students about theiruse of the
university’s VLE, enabling theauthors to evaluate the extent to
which theVLE was used as both a transmissive andnon-transmissive
tool.
The study’s aims were:• To find out what students used on the
VLE• To determine what students used the VLE
for• To investigate student perceptions of the
VLE
• To find out what additional informationand features students
would like on theVLE
• To identify factors influencing studentusage of the VLE
MethodologyThe methodology employed in this studyfollowed
principles for examining students’experiences of technology
recommended forthe JISC e-learning programme and whichhave formed
the basis of a number of recentmajor studies of students’ views on
the useof technology in Higher Education, such asthe JISC LEX
(Mayes, 2006) and LXP (Conole& de Laat, 2006) projects. The
study used anaturalistic approach, recruiting studentvolunteers to
use various tools that wouldprovide a triangulated, essentially
open-ended approach to obtaining students’perspectives on how they
used the VLE. Toobtain both breadth and depth in datacollected
about students’ use of the VLE,three methods of data collection
were used:questionnaire, diary and focus group.
5
Are Virtual Learning Environments used to facilitate
collaborativestudent learning activity? Findings of an
institutional evaluation
1. Are Virtual Learning Environments used to
facilitatecollaborative student learning activity? Findings of
aninstitutional evaluation.
Chris Turnock and Pat Gannon-Leary, Northumbria
[email protected]
[email protected]
Summary Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are used
extensively within higher education, primarily asan educational
tool, but can also have additional functionality. There has been
considerabledebate, both internal to the university and in the
external academic community, about the valueof a VLE, e.g. MacLaren
(2004), Sharp et al. (2005) and Conole and de Laat (2006). The
focus ofthis debate is whether or not a VLE is primarily used as a
transmissive tool, in which the teacherdetermines VLE content and
communication and which tends to be teacher initiated while
thestudent adopts a passive role (Jonassen & Land, 2000).
Whilst a transmissive approach may bean important element in
students’ learning experiences, there is little evidence to suggest
suchusage facilitates deep learning.
KeywordsVirtual learning environments / collaborative learning /
transmissive learning / student evaluation.
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The questionnaire was selected to provide abroad student
perspective on their VLEactivity and was completed on-line via
theStudent Union web site. Design of thequestionnaire structure
enabled the authorsto collect information about how studentsused
the VLE from both a transmissive andnon-transmissive perspective,
ease of use,support provided in VLE use, personalfeelings about
using the VLE, evaluatingimpact of VLE use on their learning
anddemographic data.*
The second data collection tool to be usedwas a diary that was
used after thequestionnaire completion period hadexpired. The diary
provided an opportunity,through adoption of an open endedstructure,
for students’ accounts of their VLEuse, for example how they used
the VLE andthe relationship between VLE use and theiroverall
learning, to obtain detailed insightsinto student activity. The
students completedthe diary for one VLE session each week overan
eight week period.*
The focus group was the final data collectiontool used to enable
the authors to acquireclarification about student diary data as
wellas explore further the themes emerging fromdiary and
questionnaire data. Discussionwithin the two focus groups covered
aspectsof inconsistencies in the VLE, relationshipbetween the VLE
functionality and theirlearning style as well as the actual
andpotential of the VLE for studentcommunication and
collaboration.*
407 students (1.67% of the university’sstudent body) responded
to university widepublicity and volunteered to complete theon-line
questionnaire. A purposive sample of14 students was selected to
complete thediary with the same 14 students participatingin one of
two focus groups. These 14students were chosen so that all nine of
theuniversity school’s were represented andthat a cross-section of
undergraduate andpostgraduate programme years were
included as well as international students. Quantitative data
resulting from thecompleted questionnaires and diaries
weresubjected to descriptive statistical analysis(Patton 2002).
Qualitative data obtained fromall three data collection methods
wereanalysed following the principles of thematiccoding (Boyatzis
1998). One member of theresearch team read through the
transcribedinterview transcripts and generated somecategories
descriptive of the interviewcontents. After discussion with
colleagues inthe team, the categories derived weregrouped and
refined into a thematic codingscheme. Inevitably, in this process,
datareduction occurs as the research team tookdecisions about
concepts and, insummarising, coding, eliciting themes andclustering
responses. Such a datareduction/transforming process is referred
toby Strauss (1987) as the conceptualisation ofdata. By
collaborating as a team, theresearchers hoped to reduce
theintrusiveness of the researchers by workingtowards a mutual
interpretation of the data.Interview transcripts were revisited by
theteam members and passages allocatedparticular codes across the
transcripts wereextracted, matched and commented upon byeach team
member. The results sectionrepresents the outcome of this
process.
ResultsThe study found that a majority of students(66%) logged
into the VLE on a daily basis.The predominant ways in which the VLE
wasused concerned students either downloadingand then annotating
learning materials, orusing the VLE for assignment preparation.
Table 1 indicates the time in minutes spent inthe VLE by
students on one day in each ofthe eight week period of diary
completion.
The data provided insight into the students’views of the
contribution that the VLE madeto their learning, both in a positive
andoccasionally, a negative way. This paperutilises participants’
comments to illustrate
6
The Teaching-Research Interface: Implications for Practice in HE
and FE
* Copies of all instruments are available from the authors on
request.
-
the authors’ interpretation of the data, whichidentified the
different ways that the VLEenhanced student learning as well
asconsidering factors impeding their learningand how the VLE might
be more effectivelyused.
The data provided an overview of studentactivity within the VLE.
Table 2 illustrateswhat students did in terms of downloading,note
taking, printing and reading notes viathe VLE:
Student activity data suggests that the VLE isprimarily used as
a content repository, withlittle indication of
non-transmissiveapproaches to learning being used. Themesgenerated
from the qualitative data were asfollows:
Extension of subject knowledgeSome students discussed how
extension oftheir subject knowledge was made possibleby the
provision of supplementaryinformation on the VLE:
The VLE gives you the opportunity toexplore subjects in more
detail… The VLE…has helped on essay writing and allother aspects of
university project life…itcontains useful information on
subjectswhich help you learn but also on subjectswhich you would be
interested in, allowingyou to extend your knowledge. (2nd
yearfemale UK student)
Modernity and motivation.Students welcomed the modernity of the
VLEand found it motivated them in their learning:
The information was clear and conciseand helped me understand
the workwhich I was trying to do. Therefore I feltmore motivated to
complete it to a higherlevel…, it was a very contemporary way
toreceive information…(1st year femaleinternational student)
Other students liked the flexibility of the VLE,the “any time,
any place” aspect of usageand the ability to communicate with
theirlecturers via the VLE:
The VLE is an interesting addition toteaching because it means
that you haveaccess to everything you need to know forthe module
and course at any time day ornight. (3rd year female UK
student)
The VLE as a source of support& interactivityAlmost half of
the survey respondents (42%)agreed that the VLE fostered
interaction withstaff. When their lecturers were unavailableor time
was short, students recognised thatthey could get support from the
VLE:
The VLE is a good way to learn…especially at times when I may
findsomething difficult on my course and donot have the time to
speak to a lecturer, Ican log on to VLE and get information.(2nd
year female UK student)
Support could be forthcoming not only fromlecturers but from
other students in moduleswhere interactivity was encouraged:
I could not successfully complete amodule without the VLE site.
I use VLE toallow me to interact with other studentsand lecturers
via the discussion boardsand it often helps when I am
strugglingwith work, especially when I know othersare also finding
it difficult.(2nd year female UK student)
The interactivity and communications aspectof the VLE were
described as beingbeneficial to shy students and tointernational
students who might be inhibitedabout speaking up in class but felt
moreconfident engaging in on-line discussion.This could help
increase such students’confidence.
7
Are Virtual Learning Environments used to facilitate
collaborativestudent learning activity? Findings of an
institutional evaluation
-
Independent study and personalisation.The VLE afforded students
the opportunity topace themselves and engage in
independentstudy:
The VLE …allows the individual to bemore in control of their own
learning andgo at their own pace… (2nd year femaleUK student)
Students were aware of how the VLE couldcater for different
learning styles:
Students each learn differently so byhaving a mixture of
learning options it willallow all students to be able to use theVLE
to help themselves. (1st year femaleUK student)
The reflective studentFurthermore, students described how
theyused the VLE to reflect on sessions,particularly by downloading
and annotatingon-line learning materials provided by thelecturer,
e.g. lecture notes and furtherreading links. However, some
studentsbelieved the VLE was not being used formaximum benefit and
as such limitedopportunities for students to adopt astudent-centred
approach to learning:
I have not greatly benefited from the VLEin a sense regarding
teaching; it is morean information point for me. It mainlysaves me
time if I can print off lecturesrather than taking a lot of
notes…The VLEis not as yet an aid to learning nor a way oflearning.
There has been nothing morethan lectures put on the VLE. (2nd
yearfemale UK student)
Certainly students were aware of how theeffectiveness of the VLE
was dependent onusage by staff and students:
The VLE is certainly an effective additionto teaching in terms
of the facility to postlearning information and material.
Sometimes it is an interesting addition toteaching. It depends
on the lecturer andhow they use it. (postgraduate female
UKstudent)
On the other hand there were instanceswhen lecturers used the
VLE but thestudents on the module did not availthemselves of the
options made available tothem:
It also depends on the student cohort.For example, one of my
lecturers started adiscussion board this semester which Ithought
was a really good idea and a goodway to stimulate interest but no
onebothered to post anything there!(postgraduate female UK
student)
This is a common experience with face-to-face courses since
students may feel there isno real need to use virtual discussion
whenthey have direct access to their peers. Use oftechniques to
encourage participation,particularly through staff
developmentactivity, might increase discussion boardactivity:
Students use the VLE just because theirtutors ask them to do it.
They do not use iton their own initiative. That may be one ofthe
reasons why on-line discussion is notused widely…The function of
interactivityis available on VLE, but students are notinterested in
it. I think one of the mainreasons is that the “authors” of VLE
arenot responsible… too busy to make theirmodule information
attractive.(postgraduate female internationalstudent)
However, it would be inappropriate to blamestudents for failing
to use the VLE if staff lackthe time, experience and training to
makeon-line material more attractive. Lecturersmay not be afforded
the time to developexpertise or attend training sessions toenable
this.
8
The Teaching-Research Interface: Implications for Practice in HE
and FE
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Students appeared to adopt a student-centred approach to their
learning whenusing a teacher-controlled facility since theywere
able to identify ways they met theirindividual learning needs, as
in the followingexample:
I normally do a lot of research to understandthe problem very
clear before solving it. Ineed a clear structure or strategy to
learn andestablishing them take me a lot of time. Ithink VLE is
suitable for me because theamount of material and how it is
organisedhelp me to reduce my time searching formaterials and
focussing more on the actualproblem. (postgraduate male
internationalstudent)
Impediments to student engagementwith the VLEStudents identified
a number of impedimentsto their use of the VLE, including nature
ofcontent; lack of effective induction;consistency in navigation
functionality; and,access problems.
Text-based contentSome e-Learning systems containpredominantly
text-based content whichmay make users less engaged during
on-linelearning. Users dislike reading large volumesof text on
screen (Carswell, 1998). AsCarswell points out, students are used
to the‘web culture’s colourful punchy documentswhich display their
information quickly andeasily’ (Carswell, 1998: 47). The VLE
wascriticised by a number of students for itslimited functionality
and over-reliance ontext, which may partially explain low take-upin
some modules:
As I study Law I often have to read longpassages of text which
can be quiteboring but if there were images andinteractive
questions and answers to testyourself on what you have just read,
itwould make it more interesting. (1st yearfemale UK student)
InductionOnly 13% of the questionnaire respondentsfelt that they
needed more guidance in usingthe VLE and, overall, 85% agreed that
theywere confident using the VLE. However, anumber of student focus
group participantsidentified problems in their preparation:
I didn’t receive much support at thebeginning of my course on
how to use theVLE so found that I have taught myself.(1st year
female UK student)
It would appear that some students wouldhave preferred greater
information about theVLE plus more preparation for using the
VLE:
I wish I had understood the significance ofit……I really wish
that we had theopportunity to use VLE and navigate ourway around
the site as if we weredownloading lecture notes before alecture etc
as that would have made itstick in my mind so much more. Also
ifsomeone had actually said the words“This is the most significant
thing you willdo today and it will have great significanceto the
way you will study all year” I wouldhave paid more attention.
(postgraduatefemale UK student)
This comment would seem to indicate aneed for a more effective
inductionprogramme, including emphasising theimportance of the
VLE.
Access and navigationIn the case of these two impediments,
Britainand Liber (1999) discuss the ‘micro-world’ ofthe VLE and the
potential impact of how thecourse structure is set up with linkage
oftools to course homepages etc. While 78.5%of questionnaire
respondents felt the VLEwas easy to navigate, an issue
ofinconsistent appearance emerged in thestudy:
9
Are Virtual Learning Environments used to facilitate
collaborativestudent learning activity? Findings of an
institutional evaluation
-
Different layouts for different modules cancause
confusion…should be a standardlayout for each module. Although
‘modulecontent’, ‘learning material’ and ‘learningresources’ might
all be the same thing, itcan cause confusion…(2nd year male
UKstudent)
These comments provide guidance to staffabout the need to
consistently design VLEsites, assess ease of navigation through
aVLE site and prepare students for using theVLE.
Concluding remarksMost student activity in the VLE appears tobe
associated with a transmissive approachto learning. Whilst there is
some evidence ofnon-transmissive approaches being used,particularly
student collaboration andconstructivist learning activity, it seems
to belimited usage. Student data provides littleindication that
academic facilitation ofcollaborative and/or constructivist
learningoccurs, predominant academic use of theVLE being as a
repository of teacherproduced learning materials.
The VLE offers pedagogic benefits to staffand students. For
example it has thepotential to help students explore
subjectsfurther and in more depth, it can motivatestudents, it
affords students the opportunityto pace themselves and engage
inindependent study; and it can aid reflectivethought.
Students identified other aspects of their VLEuse that have
implications for developmentand use of the VLE by staff. Some
studentsbelieved they needed more preparation inusing the VLE.
Inconsistencies in sitestructures hindered students’ ability
tonavigate module sites. A number of studentsbelieved that the
VLE’s communication toolshad, if used effectively, the potential
toenhance student learning.
The study highlights several areas in whichstaff may want to
consider developing initialstudent preparation for using the
VLE,ensuring students are not only able to usethe VLE, but
understand its importance intheir learning. Furthermore, staff
shouldconsider how to best make use of the VLE’spotential to
support collaborative and/orconstructivist learning activity to
facilitatedeep learning.
Many of these recommendations haveimplications for staff.
However, the authorsacknowledge that the study did not obtainstaff
perspectives on how a VLE canenhance student learning. Another
group notincluded in the study was students onprogrammes making no
use of the VLE.Whilst the authors attempted to obtain theviews of
such students, none volunteered tocomplete the online
questionnairespecifically designed for them. Both staffVLE users
and non VLE student users wouldform groups worthy of study, though
theresources available to the authors meant thatthe study focussed
upon student users.
References Boyatzis, R., 1998. Transforming
qualitativeinformation: Thematic analysis and codedevelopment.
Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Britain, S. & Liber, O., 1999. Framework forPedagogical
Evaluation of Virtual LearningEnvironments. JISC Technology
ApplicationsReport 4, [Online] Available
at:http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001237.htm [Accessed
17 January 2008].
Carswell, L., 1998. The ‘Virtual University’:toward an Internet
paradigm. ACM SIGCSEBulletin, 30(3), p.46-50.
Conole, G. & de Laat, M., 2006. Learnerexperiences of
e-learning, [Online] Availableat:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning_pedagogy/elp_learnerxp.aspx[Accessed17th
January 2008].
10
The Teaching-Research Interface: Implications for Practice in HE
and FE
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Jonassen, D. & Land, S., 2000. Theoreticalfoundations of
learning environments.Mahwah NJ: Erlbaum.
MacLaren, I., 2004. New trends in web-based learning: objects,
repositories andlearner engagement. European Journal ofEngineering
Education, 29 (1), p.65-71.
Mayes, T., 2006. LEX: Learner experiences of e-learning.
Methodologyreport, [Online] Available at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/lex_method_final.doc
[Accessed17th January 2008].
Patton, M., 2002. Qualitative research &evaluation methods.
(3rd edition), ThousandOaks: Sage.
Sharpe, R., Benfield, G., Lessner, E. &DeCicco, E. (2005)
Scoping Study for thePedagogy Strand of the JISC
e-LearningProgramme. [Online] Available
at:http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning_pedagogy/elp_learneroutcomes.aspx
[AccessedJanuary 2007].
Strauss, A.L., 1987. Qualitative analysis.New York: Cambridge
Press.
11
Are Virtual Learning Environments used to facilitate
collaborativestudent learning activity? Findings of an
institutional evaluation
Table 1: Minutes spent by diarists on VLE
Table 2: Downloading, note taking, printing and reading and the
VLE
Action Number usingDownloads 23Note-taking from screen 4Printing
24On-line reading 20
Teaching Activity WeekNumber Date Mean Mode Median
Semester one teaching 1 Nov 13 67 120 352 Nov 20 78 120 603 Nov
27 54 60 604 Dec 4 78 60 60
Semester 1 5 Dec 11 62.5 60 60exam period 6 Jan 8 72 60
60Independent study week 7 Jan 15 52 180 5
Semester 2 teaching 8 Jan 22 53 120 20
-
IntroductionBefore considering how VC is used in detailit is
necessary to outline the reasons forusing the technology. UHI is
not aconventional educational institution intowhich students can
travel to receive acentralised service. Rather it is a
partnershipof scattered campuses, colleges andresearch centres
spread across theHighlands and Islands of Scotland. UHI wasset up
with the aim of eventually becoming auniversity in and for the
Highlands andIslands. The intention was that the region’speople
would not be obliged to leave theircommunities in order to study at
degree levelor pursue a career in academia. It was alsohoped that
locally managed courses wouldbetter reflect the economic needs
andcultural aspirations of the indigenous people(UHI 2003, p.3).
The reason this has neverhappened before is that the region has
arelatively modest population (about half amillion), scattered over
a huge area. It hastherefore lacked the necessary critical massfor
a conventional HEI (Hills and Lingard2003, figs. 2, 3 and 4). In
the late twentiethcentury two things changed. Firstly a muchhigher
proportion of the population wasgiven the opportunity to go to
university andsecondly technology started to offer theprospect of
bringing services togethervirtually, through use of the internet
andvideo-conferencing (Hills & Lingard 2003,
p.32). The UHI project has tried to build onexisting educational
provision in the form of15 independent educational and
researchinstitutions. As well as the main campusesmany of the
further education institutionshave small outreach/learning centres,
whichmeans that most of the Highlands andIslands population is
within reach of thenetwork.
The difficulties of offering HE in theHighlands and Islands
environment isdemonstrated by the example of ShetlandFurther
Education College, centring on themain town Lerwick, Shetland.
Shetland isphysically isolated from the rest of Scotland,a hour’s
flight or twelve hours on the ferryfrom Aberdeen. Communication is
also achallenge internally. Shetland’s populationof just under
22,000 people are scatteredover an archipelago of 15 inhabited
islands,stretching north south for over 120 km, evenwithout
counting Fair Isle, which is half wayto Orkney (SIC 2006, p.4).
The institution currently supportsapproximately 75 full time and
120 part timelocally based HE students, on programmesranging from
HNC to PhD level (ShetlandCollege 2008), but only one member of
staffis wholly engaged in HE. (Most HE studentsare supported by
lecturers whose mainbusiness is FE teaching).
12
The Teaching-Research Interface: Implications for Practice in HE
and FE
2. Using Video-conferencing to Teach in HE
Simon Clarke, UHI Millennium Institute.
[email protected]
Summary This paper will examine the use of video-conferencing
(VC) as part of a blended learningapproach within the UHI
Millennium Institutes's networked taught degree
programmes.Discussion will focus on the author’s generally positive
experiences of using the technology tosupport students, but will
also highlight potential weaknesses which can lead to less
satisfactorylearner outcomes, and have limited the uptake of the
technology amongst UHI’s lecturers.
Keywords video-conferencing / networked teaching / UHI
Millennium Institute / blended learning
-
Networked Learning Using VC and VLETechnologyClearly such a
small college acting inisolation could not support the diversity
ofspecialisms that are required in a degreeprogramme. The solution
has been to drawon the resources of other colleges by meansof
video-conferenced classes supported bythe use of a Virtual Learning
Environment(VLE). For example on the BA Culture Studiesprogramme
politics, sociology and someliterature modules are taught to
Shetlandstudents from Inverness College. Thearrangement is a
reciprocal one, with theauthor offering archaeology and
heritagemanagement modules to students across thenetwork. In
semester one of 2007-8 forexample the module “History of
MaterialCulture” (a core module for both BScEnvironment and
Heritage and BA CultureStudies and an option for BA
ScottishHistory) was taught to 44 students based in16 different
campuses and learning centres.
The role of the lecturer in remote colleges istherefore twofold;
Firstly lecturers act asacademic specialists, providing a
servicethroughout the UHI partnership. Secondly,and equally
importantly, they offer non-specialist support to students locally,
initiallyinducting them in the use of VC and VLE andthen providing
encouragement and generalacademic support. As has been
foundelsewhere this second role is vital to studentretention and
achievement on e-programmes(Goldstein 2002, p.14-15; Boys 2008,
p.11).
Both the institution and individual academicsbenefit from this
arrangement. Small collegesare able to offer a greatly expanded
range ofcourses. Because cohorts can be assembledfrom across the
region the lecturer is able tobe a specialist, which means they can
teachto a higher standard, and keep their workload to reasonable
proportions, allowing timefor engagement with research. In fact
withoutthis arrangement the author’s post inShetland College would
not be educationallyor economically viable.
The Learning ExperienceStudents also benefit from the use of
VCtechnology, getting weekly interactivesessions with their tutors
in a way that couldnot be achieved by a VLE alone. The typicalVC
set-up has either two screens, or a splitscreen, with one incoming
image and oneoutgoing. The incoming signal is voiceactivated to
show whoever in the remoteaudience is currently speaking. Often
this willbe the lecturer, but if another site asks aquestion or
wants to make a point the imagein all the participating suites
switches to thatstudent. Indeed as all the sites haveessentially
the same equipment thetechnology can have a profoundly
levellingeffect. There is no front of the class, nopodium from
which the lecturer holds court.Everyone can, with
encouragement,contribute on an equal basis. Used correctlythis can
be a powerful aid to student-centredlearning in which the class are
encouraged toplay an active, contributory role.
The outgoing signal is typically a camerafocused on the local
participants, but mostUHI VC suites also have alternative
inputdevices. The first is the “document camera”or “object camera”
which allows the operatorto show slides and documents, even
smallobjects to the remote group. Input is alsopossible from a PC
or laptop so thatPowerPoint presentations or video-clips canbe
shown. This means that teachingsessions have the potential to be as
visuallyrich as in a conventional classroom.
Differences to a Conventional Classroom While a VC learner
experience is in manyways comparable in quality to a
face-to-faceencounter, the VC delivery is different
fromconventional classroom teaching in anumber of important
respects. These need tobe bourn in mind if learning is not to be
badlydegraded. The most striking difference is theabsence of
instant feedback from VC classes(contra Smyth 2005, who over
estimates thecapabilities of the technology). During VCsessions
sites without an immediate
13
Using Video-conferencing to Teach in HE
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contribution to make are encouraged to mutetheir microphones to
improve the audioquality (cut out background noise and
audiofeedback) and to avoid the image changingevery time papers
rustle or a participantcoughs. Noise in the classroom can be
atrial, but it is also a vital clue as to the moodof the class; are
they bored,uncomprehending etc. Similarly unless theVC has been set
to show multiple sites, like“Celebrity Squares” panellists each in
a tinysplit screen box, the lecturer’s incomingscreen will normally
show only the last site tohave spoken. The majority of
theparticipating sites are therefore not givingany visual cues from
body language; has theclass slumped at their desks or even left
theroom! The solution is for the lecturer toconstantly be
soliciting the variousparticipants for their opinion. At the very
leastthe class should be given the chance to askquestions, and
confirm that they haveunderstood the points made so far.
Ideallyhowever remote students should be requiredto actively
participate – offer their ownopinion on issues raised or
provideadditional local examples.
It is technically perfectly possible to deliver aformal lecture
by VC. However from apedagogical perspective it is not
normallydesirable to do so. It is very difficult to holdthe
attention of a class that you are gettingno visual or audio cues
from. To be effective,short burst of presentation by VC should
beinterspersed with question and answersessions and opportunities
for the wholeclass to contribute. Interaction after all neednot
just be between the student and lecturer.
There will of course be considerablyquantities of “content”,
significant facts thatany course needs to impart to the
class.However if the lecturer is in “broadcast only”mode there are
cheaper and more reliablemechanisms than VC available. In the
pastthis might have been done with handouts ora course workbook In
the era of the internetthese are conveniently replaced by
materials
held on a VLE, for UHI currently Blackboard.This allows most of
the necessary knowledgeto be delivered asynchronously, and
thusavailable to the student at a time of theirconvenience. A good
learning and teachingpattern is to expect students to have
readmaterials ahead of the timetabled VCsession. This liberates the
class fromknowledge transfer allowing it to concentrateon student
participation.
Student Satisfaction and Staff UptakeModule evaluation from
‘History of MaterialCulture’ suggests most students are happy
orvery happy with their experience. In particularthey value the
detailed on-line notes anddirections for further reading (much of
itidentified on-line). Although VLE interaction ispossible and
positively encouraged throughthe discussion board, most students
muchprefer the live VC discussion which occursinterspersed with
short bursts of slidepresentations by the lecturer. Used properlyVC
can give a classroom experiencecomparable to conventional face to
faceteaching. Student satisfaction is by no meansconfined to
“generation-y” born to the age ofe-communication. UHI’s networked
coursesrecruit very high proportions of maturestudents, including
pensioners. If supportedadequately the UHI experience is that
moststudents quickly get used to the technology,even if they have
had little previousexperience.
Sadly the blended learning experiencerepresented by the “History
of MaterialCulture” module might be regarded asexceptional. A
recent survey of UHI’s VCteaching found only one other UHI
modulewas taught to as many learning centres. Asignificant
proportion of UHI VC teaching is toonly one or two other centres,
and studentcohorts are usually modest (VC StakeholdersGroup 2007).
Such VC use is certainlyextending the range of subjects
availableacross the different partners and probably thespecialist
qualifications of those leadingclasses. These are worthwhile
achievements,
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The Teaching-Research Interface: Implications for Practice in HE
and FE
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but it is not clear that UHI’s use of thetechnology is generally
being managed tomake delivery more efficient or
financiallysustainable. Furthermore blended delivery isnot the
dominant mode within UHI, becausethe majority of courses continue
to bedelivered conventionally face to face to smalllocal cohorts in
parallel rather than bynetworked provision, even where the
samequalification is available in more than onecentre.
One reason for this is certainly the perceptionamongst staff and
students that VC deliveryrepresents a second rate
experiencecompared to conventional classroomcontact. Recent focus
groups in InvernessCollege for example have been highly criticalof
VC provision, citing poorly preparedsupport materials, poor VC room
set up and alack of interaction in VC classes (VCStakeholders Group
2008).
Good and Bad VC PracticeThere is no detail in the focus group
reportsto suggest which modules or even whichcourses students are
being critical of.However considerable anecdotal evidenceexists of
less than ideal practice. One of themost common problems has been
staff failingto modify their conventional classroomderived
technique. Often little or no allowanceis made for the strengths
and weaknesses ofthe technology so that materials areunavailable or
illegible and activities poorlyconsidered or non-existent for
remotestudents.
In some cases students are based locally inthe centre from which
a lecturer is delivering.It is not impossible for combined local
andremote classes, but often the lecturer endsup addressing the
local group to theexclusion of the remote learners. Unless
thelecturer make a conscious effort to addressthe camera, creating
the illusion of eyecontact, the students watching by VC willquickly
feel excluded. In the most extremecases due to the way rooms have
been set up
teaching staff have turned their backs on theVC camera in order
to faced those presentlocally. Nothing could be more calculated
togenerate a sense of alienation in the remotestudents, who
naturally feel that they arepassive onlookers intruding on
someoneelse’s learning experience. Comments andquestions from the
local group are evenharder to handle well, easily degenerating
intolocal round table discussions to the exclusionof the wider
group. Care needs to be taken toensure that microphones can pick
upstudents’ contributions and ideally that theytoo can address the
VC camera.
Everyone participating in the VC, not just thelecturer, needs to
make an effort to ensurethey get the most out of the
technicalcapabilities of the equipment. The wholepoint of VC is to
be seen and heard, and thatmeans appropriate room layout, direction
ofthe camera and lighting. Sitting off camera orin the dark are
simply not acceptable.If you cannot see the participants’ facesthey
may just as well have joined by phone!Lecturers obviously need to
set a goodexample themselves, but they also need toactively correct
students in their use, asthey would challenge disruptive
behaviourin a conventional classroom or poorgrammar in written
work. Quite apart fromthe impact on the VC session itself these
areimportant transferable skills in the knowledgeeconomy.
Institutional SupportThe infrastructure required to
connectstudents and lecturers to their classes isformidable. UHI
has invested heavily in largenumbers of VC suites (five in
ShetlandCollege alone), network bandwidth and the“bridging
facilities”. It also employs a full timeteam of VC technicians to
oversee thefacilities and manage the booking andconnection process.
Classes are pre-bookedwith all the details of which suites are to
beconnected at what time and for how longrecorded on an automated
system. The VCbridge team is based in Shetland College, but
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Using Video-conferencing to Teach in HE
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could have been based anywhere; monitoringthe process and fixing
problems remotely.The majority of classes start smoothly withonly a
minimum of technical input from thelecturer who is free to
concentrate onteaching. If a VC suite is wrongly connectedor fails
to due to technical problems help isonly a phone call away.
The efficiency of this process is an importantprerequisite for
success. UHI’s considerabletechnical competence however is not
enoughin itself. As Dearing noted “all HE institutionsshould
develop managers who combine adeep understanding of communications
andinformation technology with seniormanagement experience”
(Dearing 1997;paragraph 42). Development of widelynetworked courses
have been materiallyobstructed by the fractured nature of
UHI’sadministration – what it refers to as its“federal collegiate
model of governance” (UHI2006). The most graphic illustration of
this ispartner institutions’ extremely reluctant torelinquish
control of time tables and roombooking systems, to the extent that
while VCconnections can be booked centrally, therooms that the
equipment sit in need to bebooked separately with each of the
collegesand leaning centres. Similarly the detail ofsemester
timetables has never been centrallyagreed (Hills and Lingard 2003,
p.190). Whilethe UHI’s start and finish dates are generallyadhered
to, colleges set their own holidaysand differences, especially at
the Easter andOctober breaks, are particularly problematicto
networked courses. Some students missout on a significant amount of
supportbecause they are not able to attend VCs. Thisraises the
issue of equivalence of the learningexperience at different
centres, andundermines students’ confidence in theadministrative
competence of UHI. Similarly acommon system of VC teaching slots
basedon standard 90 minute sessions has beenestablished across the
main networked UHIcourses for several years, but is widelyflouted.
A recent survey found that almosthalf of bookings for teaching by
VC did notconform (VC Stakeholders Group 2007). Thismeans that the
VC equipment cannot be
used efficiently and potentially that studentsare denied access
to particular modules dueto the availability of the VC suites.
Many staff are reluctant to leave the comfortzone of traditional
teaching and some fearthey would be innovating themselves out of
ajob. JISC’s statement that e-learning hasenabled some courses to
enrol additionalstudents without increasing the staff base(JISC
2008, p.31), will be regarded with deepsuspicion by many academics.
Blendedteaching using VC and VLE requiressubstantial investment
ahead of delivery, forexample in the development of
on-linematerials (Inglis et al 2002, pp.56-7, pp.75-6).This
requires initiative and drive on the part oflecturers, but also
institutional support fornew ways of working. This has not
alwaysbeen forthcoming in UHI where somecolleges’ thinking
continues to be dominatedby narrow definitions of “contact time”
–hours spent in front of classes, with little or noacknowledgement
of time supportingstudents on-line or creating and
maintainingmaterials for asynchronous delivery.
Within UHI it is notable that areas of pre-existing teaching
strength, such ascomputing and business administration,present in
almost every partner college, havegenerally continued with parallel
localteaching rather than collaborating to teachacross the network.
In contrast ambitiousnetworked programmes such as CultureStudies
have often been created fromscratch, staffed substantially by
newappointments, with no existing local coursesto build out from.
With these institutional impediments toprogress it is perhaps not
surprising that takeup has not been wider.
ConclusionTo conclude, looking firstly at the positive,
VCteaching has significantly extended what it ispossible for staff
to teach and students studyin remote UHI campuses. On a personal
levelit was the only way my appointment to teacharchaeology in
Shetland could have beenviable.
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The Teaching-Research Interface: Implications for Practice in HE
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Personally I have found the combination ofVC with VLE rewarding,
giving me the senseof connection with students, and thefeedback to
improve my teaching that wouldprobably have been absent from VLE
alone.From the perspective of Shetland Collegestudents the approach
has met withconsiderable success. In 2007 four studentsgraduated in
Shetland from the CultureStudies honours programme; two with
firsts,two with upper second class degrees. Threeof the four were
students that would not havebeen able to attend a conventional
course, sothe provision can be said to have significantlybroadened
access to HE in Shetland.
There is however a down side which partiallyexplains the failure
of VC delivery to havebeen taken up more widely. Firstly VCdelivery
requires individual staff to completelyrevise their teaching
practice, and many arestruggling in the absence of
effectivedirection and encouragement. At theinstitutional level a
massive outlay inhardware in the form of VC equipment is onlypart
of what is required. Courses networkedacross the UHI partnership
also represent aformidable organisational challenge for whichUHI
lacks a cross institutional line-management system or the political
will toenforce the kind of standardisation ofoperation necessary
for efficient and effectiveintegrated student support across
thepartnership.
ReferencesBoys, J., 2008. Introduction. in Boys, J. &Ford,
P. (eds) The e-Revolution and PostCompulsory Education: Using
e-BusinessModels to Deliver Quality Education.
London:JISC/Routledge. p.1-23.
Dearing, R., 1997. The Dearing Report onHigher Education in the
Learning Society.National Committee of enquiry into
HigherEducation.
Goldstein, M. 2002. The Economics ofe-Learning. In Teaching as
e-Business?Research and Policy Agendas; SelectedConference
Proceedings, Centre for Studiesin HE (CSHE) University of
California,Berkeley.
pp.13-16http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=cshe[accessed
9 June 2008].
Hills, G. & Lingard, R., 2003. UHI: The Makingof a
University. Edinburgh: Dunedin AcademicPress.
Inglis, A., Ling, P. & Joosten, V., 2002.Delivering
Digitally: Managing the Tradition tothe Knowledge Media Second
Edition, Openand Distance Learning Series, London:Korgan Page.
JISC, 2008. Exploring Tangible Benefits ofe-Learning: Does
Investment Yield Interest?Northumbria University.
SIC, 2006. Shetland In Statistics 2006Economic Development Unit,
Lerwick:Shetland Islands Council.
Shetland College, 2008. Operational Plan2007-8, (unpublished
internal document).
Smyth, R., 2005. Broadband Video-conferencing as a tool for
learner centreddistance learning in HE. British Journal
ofEducational Technology 36(5), p.805 – 820.
UHI, 2003. Strategic Plan 2003-7, Inverness:UHI Millennium
Institute.
UHI, 2006. Our
Visionhttp://www.uhi.ac.uk/uhi/our-vision[Accessed 9 June
2008].
VC Stakeholders Group, 2007. Minute of V-CStakeholders Group
Held on 2 November,Internal UHI document.
VC Stakeholders Group, 2008. Minute of V-CStakeholders GroupHeld
on 18 January 2008, Internal UHIdocument.
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Using Video-conferencing to Teach in HE
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IntroductionSome jobs are largely procedure based, andcrudely,
consist of following establishedprocedures when requested by a
customer orline manager. A good example of this is thefast food
industry, where staff are trained torapidly produce packaged food
to a setstandard. The success of this training in thisindustry is
perhaps demonstrated by theability of some firms to move staff
trained inone outlet and use them in another outlet,even in another
country, with only a minimalinduction at the new site.
However, many professional jobs rely on staffusing high order
thinking and problem solvingskills. Training staff to follow
procedures,such as described above may have onlylimited relevance.
For example, a goal is setby the line manager with minimal
guidanceabout how to achieve it. The employee isexpected to use
their initiative to solve theproblem. There is often no standard,
‘off theshelf’ solution that exactly matches theparticular problem
they have been given. Tosolve the problem may involve: clarifying
theproblem or even spending time identifyingwhat the issues
actually are; research of therelevant facts; supplementing this
fact findingby asking appropriate questions; and finally,choosing
between conflicting options beforeapplying a solution.
Although the work placement has clearbenefits in training
students in such highorder thinking, there are significant issues
inidentifying suitable work placements forincreasing numbers of
students. Obtainingand maintaining work placements requires
asubstantial investment of staff time. Theremay not be sufficient
suitable employers ableto offer valid work experience within
thegeographical and financial constraints of thestudents.
Institutional concerns include risinginsurance costs for students
on workplacement and fear of litigation. From thelearner’s
perspective, the variation indelegated work based tasks is outside
thecontrol of the student’s own institution andvariations
subsequently lead to significantdifferences between individual
studentlearning experiences.
The Aim of the ResearchThe aim of this research was to develop
ageneral-purpose web based tool to simulatesome aspects of a
project based workplacement by virtual means. In manysubjects,
students were issued with anassignment brief that consisted of
thousandsof words describing the case study withclearly stated aims
and objectives. The taskswould be included, as would instructions
onhow to format the report, the sections toinclude and the
assessment criteria. While
18
The Teaching-Research Interface: Implications for Practice in HE
and FE
3. The experience of simulating student work experience
throughthe Virtual Work Placement tool
John Curry, City of Bath College. [email protected]
Summary Educational theory indicates that the work placement has
a clear role in professional typecourses and in preparing older
students for work. Research by the National Centre for
WorkExperience (2007) demonstrated that work placements were valued
by students and potentialemployers as linking academic skills with
the work place. Work experience can be a ‘maturingexperience’ with
the students growing in confidence and generating increased
application totheir studies.
Keywords Virtual work placement / VWP / work experience,
assessment
-
this level of support and guidance, explicit inthe assessment
material, assists thestudents, it bears little resemblance to
thereal world of work. It reduces the scope forthem to develop and
practise the high orderskills as posited by Bloom’s Taxonomy(Bloom,
1956).
The tool was designed to facilitate thepresentation of the real
world case studymaterial in a more realistic way in order forthe
student to complete an assessmenttask within the specified time
constraints.In addition, the tool was designed tominimise the
administrative burden on theacademic staff acting as ‘work
placement’supervisors.
The solution was found to be a web-basedtool using
‘content-management software’designed by
CSIM(www.tickboxmarketing.co.uk), a Somersetbased IT company with
clients in commercialtraining and education. The result wassoftware
that utilised a straightforwardinterface so that the academic could
rapidlydevelop and customise all aspects of thecase study in the
virtual work placement.
Virtual Work PlacementStudents were given a web address of
the‘business’ that required their services and astrict deadline for
the project to becompleted by. In addition, the students weregiven
the administrative rules of the scenariothey were going to
experience.
The company website for the organisationthat required their
services containedbackground material such as the servicesoffered
by the company and the staff.
In order to find out more about the project,the students had to
log-on to a contractorsarea within the website. When they loggedin,
they found an introduction consisting ofa phone call (accessible
via the software)inviting them as consultants to submit atender for
producing an IT system.
As the virtual ‘work placement’ progressed,subsequent
multi-media material wasreleased to the students day-by-daythrough
the contractor’s area. Thisincluded video interviews, notes,
memos,diagrams, documents and photographs.Experience shows that the
wider the rangeof material, the more the student’s
interestincreased. The recent improvements invideo technology made
it possible toproduce realistic interviews of less than 5minutes
duration at a reasonable level ofvideo quality and suitably
compressed to bedownloaded quickly.
In a real business environment, it might beexpected that
meetings could takeconsiderable time, but when presented witha
video of an interview it was found that 3-4minutes was the maximum
length that avideo could keep the students attention.
The case study contained deliberateomissions and prompts such as
memos toencourage the students to develop theirinvestigation by
submitting furtherquestions by email. The tool allows somestaff
working in the virtual firm to becontactable by email. The virtual
workplacement tool forwarded the studentemails to the work
placement supervisorwho then replied in the appropriate role.
Of course, the students were also requiredto role-play in their
emails. If the studentsubmitted questions in an
unprofessionalmanner, such as being rude, the responsewas a terse
email stating that questionsmust be asked in an appropriate
manner.Real business staff would not be expectedto tolerate rude
contractors.
If the students asked for data that a real firmwould not have
collected, e.g. how manyappointments last for 15 minutes
inproportion to those lasting 30 minutes, thenthey were told that
such information wasnot available within the time frame
forsubmitting the solution.
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The experience of simulating student work experience throughthe
Virtual Work Placement tool
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In order to reduce the workload ofresponding to emails, an FAQ
(FrequentlyAsked Questions) list was developed duringthe case study
to allow the supervisor to ‘cutand paste’ the answer into an ‘in
character’response. As questions were asked, theresponses were
simply saved with anappropriate heading, so the same responsecould
be used when the same question wasasked again.
Assessing the Virtual Work PlacementIn order to assist the
students to focus on thevirtual work placement, the course
teamagreed to make the project set by the virtualfirm as a formal
assessment. Inevitably,some students raised concerns about this
onthe grounds that the aim of the project wasnot spelt out when the
assessment was set.
Some of the more academically ablestudents found that not having
all the casestudy material laid out in a standard 5,000word case
study forced them to adapt theirlearning strategy. They reported
thisexperience as uncomfortable as they wereforced to ask questions
in order to clarify thesituation. Conversely, breaking down thecase
study information into multiple smallerchunks made it easier for
some students tounderstand the problem.
One of the most frequent questions tosupervising staff was from
students seekingguidance on which ‘characters’ in the casestudy
they should believe. Some of the‘characters’ involved in the
virtual firm hadapparently different views on what the finalsystem
should include. Supervising staffalways suggested students should
attemptto test the information they had been givenby asking
questions, looking at staff job rolesor simply applying ‘common
sense’. Anexample was an IT contractor who used towork for the
virtual firm, giving obviouslymisleading information as they
resentedbeing replaced by a new contractor.
An essential part of the case study were thehidden aspects of
it. These required studentsto ask, by email, the correct person
withinthe organisation. For example, studentswould have to ask for
a copy of reportsmentioned in an interview; they would not begiven
them automatically. There wereobvious omissions in the project
brief, suchas the potential budget, but there weresubtler gaps to
give opportunities forstudents who understood the case study
todemonstrate this.
Internal verification is an essential part of anFECs quality
control processes. The virtualwork placement presented unique
problemsto the verification process. The case studieswere broken
down, perhaps into 15 smallparts, often using multi-media and
weresupplemented by answers that studentswould not receive if they
did not ask the rightquestions. It was stated that the
assessmentwas considered a simulated work placementand since it was
a vocational course, arealistic case study could not be
consideredunreasonable.
Issues with Virtual Work PlacementStaff identified that younger
studentsrequired a ‘trial run’ case study, withguidance on how to
tackle a less structuredcase study than they would normally
haveencountered in their academic careers.
Not all students were comfortable withasking questions by email.
Some studentsexperience of work was apparently of havinga job
within a tight geographical area whereother staff were available
and willing to takeverbal questions as they occur.
The ‘e’ nature of the work placement allowedstudents to tackle
the problems in non-traditional office hours, however somestudents
had unrealistic expectations of theresponse time of the ‘virtual
staff’ and wereperplexed that questions emailed in themiddle of the
night had not been respondedto by 9.15 am the following
morning.
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Some of the students demonstrated littleinsight into what was
reasonable to ask the‘virtual staff’ for and what was not.
Inextreme cases, students were requestingsubstantial information at
very short notice.
Student FeedbackStudent evaluation of their learningexperience
within the virtual work placementwas very positive, however a
minority ofstudents rated the experience as useful, butthey did not
like it as it was uncomfortable,for example some mature
studentscomplained the virtual work placement was‘too
realistic’
Student quotesIn doing this assignment I have learnt thatsystems
analysis is difficult.
You will often be given little information,and it will be hard
to obtain anyinformation that you require.
People may not necessarily be very helpfulin giving you
information, so you need toask the right people the right
questions,and be very clear what you require; getstraight to the
point.
I found this more interesting than a paperbased case study.
The virtual work placement was very goodand I could see this
type of assignmentused more and more.
It was more realistic and different than myother assignments,
and this made it moreinteresting to me.
The Impact of Using VirtualWork PlacementsThe timely completion
of the assessment setusing the virtual work placement for
fourcohorts of students significantly increased,but other factors
could account for thedifferent performance. Overall,
studentevaluation rated the virtual work placementassessment as
more valuable than the otherassessments they had taken on the
course,as it required application of their learning inwhat they
perceived to be a near workenvironment. They also noted it
hadsignificantly developed their confidence for areal work
placement.
ReferencesBloom, B.S., (ed.) 1956. Taxonomy ofEducational
Objectives, the classification ofeducational goals – Handbook I:
CognitiveDomain, New York: McKay.
National Council for Work Experiencewww.work-experience.org
Virtual Work Placement toolwww.virtualworkplacement.co.uk
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IntroductionIn the last 15 years there has been a rapidgrowth in
the number of graduate studentsas well as international growth in
theprovision of doctoral studies - HESA datashows that the total
postgraduate populationhas grown by over 50% in the 10 years
to2006/7. Over 120 UK universities offerdoctoral programmes (Powell
& Green 2007)accounting for almost 25% of total studentnumbers
in 2004 (Woodward & Denicolo2004) - this is still
increasing.
Doctoral students do not form a‘homogeneous population’
(Humphrey &McCarthy 1999). Recent trends with theemergence of
professional doctorates in anincreasing range of professional
fieldsinvolving those new to research have led to aconcern that
current provision does notacknowledge and respond to the diversity
ofstudents now undertaking doctoral study.Wellington & Sikes
(2006, p725) commentthat ‘doctorates are now more
accuratelycharacterised by diversity than dichotomy’and that
doctoral students have a ‘wide
range of academic, personal andprofessional needs’. It is also
acknowledgedthat current provision does not recognise thediversity
in the new modes of production ofresearch knowledge being
developedthrough these programmes and this has ledto critical
questioning of the purpose ofdoctoral programmes and how
researchknowledge and practice in these challengingcontexts can be
nurtured. For full-timestudents, this complexity is being
addressedincreasingly through the provision of a taughtelement in
doctoral programmes. This isbecoming the norm, the provision for
part-time students (HESA data indicates thatthese students
represent over 56% of thetotal) has been to some extent left
behinddue to the complexity involved in providingprogrammes that
match this diverse set oflearners’ needs. It is recognised
that‘research into doctoral pedagogy isbecoming a priority’. (Scott
et al 2004) andwe would argue that research into the use
oftechnology-enhanced learning to supportnew pedagogies for these
relatively ‘ignored’part-time students is an overlooked
priority.
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The Teaching-Research Interface: Implications for Practice in HE
and FE
4. New pedagogies for postgraduate research teaching:integrating
on-line research narratives.
Gordon Joyes, University of Nottingham & Sheena Banks,
University of [email protected]
[email protected]
Summary This paper argues that within the context of growing
numbers of doctoral students enrolled oncourses in the UK and the
increasing diversity of doctorates there is a need to explore
webbased pedagogic approaches that can connect research students
with their research andresearcher communities. This approach
underpins the work arising from an ESCalate fundedproject
(http://escalate.ac.uk/1051) and continued within the HEFCE funded
FDTL5 projectVirtual Resources for Online Research Training
(www.v-resort.ac.uk). It presents an on-linepedagogic approach that
builds a bridge between the contexts and understandings of
theresearch students and the theory laden and ‘reified’ body of
knowledge that is represented inthe literature. This free and
highly navigable resource is explored and the design principles
arediscussed. Research into the impact of the project and the
lecturer and student experience isalso presented.
Keywords Capacity building / postgraduate training / virtual
resources / methods
-
The need for technology-enhancedlearning and current use within
researchtrainingThe literature identifies the potential
fortechnology to bring more flexibility into thelearning and
teaching of research methods(for example Birbili 2002. Deem &
Lucas2006, Joyes & Banks 2008.) Currently,however, there is not
much evidence thatthis is happening. A recent survey of
thoseinvolved in research-training in November2006 within the
UKGRAD Yorkshire andNorth East Hub provided evidence that
e-learning was viewed as a way of reaching theincreasing numbers of
part-time anddistance postgraduate researchers.However, use was
found to be limited tosmall scale responses to specific problemsand
was very much in the hands of a fewindividual staff with the
relevant expertise,resulting in patchy provision and issues
oflong-term sustainability.
Park (2007), speaking at a recent UKCGE(UK Council for Graduate
Education)conference on digital futures, sees the role oftechnology
in doctorate programmes assimply one of providing access to
digitalresources, for example electronic archivesand digital
libraries, rather than impacting onlearning and teaching. While
electronicresources, such as repositories of
electronicdissertations, are important, we argue thatlearning
technology has the potential tochange the pedagogic practice
withindoctorates, not only through flexible learningin relation to
time, place, topics and use ofresources; but, also for the
development ofhigher order knowledge and metacognition,where we can
involve students in richinteractions with peers and moreexperienced
researchers and engagementwith authentic examples and insights
aboutpractice.
The V-ResORT project set out to exploreways of designing a
resource that would beable to be reusable in a wide range
ofcontexts that incorporated what we believe
are five key principles of designing forreusable learning (Joyes
2008). These are:
1. The choice of a generic area that has thepotential for wide
applicability, i.e. notbounded within one subject discipline;
2. Adopting a suitable pedagogic approachthat allows for
personalisation;
3. Adopting an ‘invented everywhere’approach that allows for an
element oflocalisation;
4. Adopting an action research approach tothe design that
involves potential users inan ongoing design process; and,
5. Ongoing research into the process andprinciples behind
designing for reusablelearning to inform subsequent design.
The outcome, the V-ResORT website athttp://www.v-resort.ac.uk is
described in thefollowing section.
The Virtual Resources for OnlineResearch Training (V-ResORT)
websiteThe V-ResORT project has developed afreely available on-line
resource to supportthe training of educational studies
researchstudents at Masters and Doctoral level. Theproject involved
four UK partner universities,the Universities of Sheffield, Bath
andCanterbury Christ Church and was led by theUniversity of
Nottingham, with a widernumber of institutions contributing
resourcesas a result of the action researchdevelopment process.
Central to the designis the recognition that video narratives:
canpresent authentic multiple representations of‘real’ researchers
projecting their knowledgeand experience of the research process;
canshow complexity and the contested nature ofeducational research;
and, can help to buildon-line learning communities. The projecthas
developed a conceptual and apedagogic framework to support
thematerials. It uses Internet-basedtechnologies that support video
streamingand captures a wide range of researcherexperiences, case
studies and expert viewsorganized into flexible e-learning
materials to
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New pedagogies for postgraduate research teaching:integrating
on-line research narratives
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give an authentic context for theory andpractice. These are
supported by skillstraining and links to resources. Thisrepresents
a radical departure fromconventional text based and theory
ledapproaches to introducing research methodsin education and
responses from academicsindicate that they may be suitable for
useacross a much wider range of subjectcontexts than education
studies.
Figure 1 provides a view of the mainnavigation page, showing six
key questionsthe researchers answered in describing theirresearch
journey. Learners can select aquestion, a researcher and then one
of theshort video clips shown. The selection of oneresearcher and
their responses will reveal acomplete research journey. The
selection ofa question and then the selection of allresearchers in
turn enables comparisonsbetween all of the research to be made.
Themain navigation page representing theresearch journey and the
profile of one of theresearchers featured in the narratives isshown
in Figure 1 while Figure 2 illustratesone of the video narrative
clips for thisresearcher.
A key feature of the V-ResORT website is theway the materials
are integrated into ameaningful learning resource. The
completeresearch narratives are linked to reports,articles, data,
thesis chapters and otheruseful on-line and text based
resources.Skills training is provided that relates directlyto
skills referred to within the narratives, i.e.the use of
interviews, focus groups and dataanalysis software. Figure 3 shows
a skillsbased training video clip coveringapproaches to writing at
research degreelevel which is also used for analysis of theconduct
of focus groups.
Discussant narratives are alsoincluded that explore
generalmethodological issues that arisedirectly from the
researchnarratives. This internal referencingwas a deliberate
pedagogic choice,
the researcher narrative providingcontext and meaning for the
learner- something research methodologytexts often fail to do.
Figure 1 represents one approach tonavigation around the video
narratives. Asecond approach uses a keyword searchfacility as shown
in Figure 4. If a lecturer or astudent enters a keyword such as
‘ethics’ allthe video narrative clips that engage with thisissues
are presented. This was thought to beof particular use in research
training withintaught components of research courses.
As a result of the action research processthat the project used
to engage withpotential users, resources were suggestedthat would
broaden the re-use of thewebsite. One of these suggestions
resultedin the inclusion of video narratives to supportthe
development of Master’s dissertations.As can be seen from Figure 5,
three Master’sstudents can be viewed presenting theirperspectives
at different stages ofdeveloping their dissertations.
The following section explores the impact ofthe resource from
institutional through tolecturer and student use. This
evaluationdata was gathered in a range of ways duringthe project.
E-mail contact was made withregistered users who were requested
tocomplete a survey. Follow up telephoneinterviews were conducted
with volunteerrespondents who identified that they wereusing the
website in interesting ways.
Impact: Institutional impactThe interest we have had from our
owninstitutions and from others has often beenfrom senior academics
with institutionalresponsibilities for graduate education,graduate
schools and research methodsprogrammes. We believe that we have
hadan impact in demonstrating how technologycan be used in these
programmes thateffectively supports the diversity of learnersnow
undertaking masters and doctoral
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The Teaching-Research Interface: Implications for Practice in HE
and FE
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degrees. This in turn is leading to strategicchange, for
example, in understanding howcollaboration and re-use of resources
canfacilitate development. It has also raisedawareness of the value
of on-line visuallearning, in particular video and this isimportant
given the predominance of text-based on-line learning materials
within thisarea.
Departmental impactLocal mentors were identified as keycontacts
within the institutions the projectengaged with. These mentors were
critical incross-fertilising good practice from theproject into
existing practice. The materialswere designed for educational
researchmethods students and so the impact hasbeen strongest at
departmental, teacher andstudent level. The materials were designed
tobe able to be used flexibly and the evaluationhas revealed some
examples where thematerials have been fully integrated intoresearch
training courses with specificactivities being integrated within
on-linematerials. In one institution students engagein on-line
discussion through fora and/orblogs to develop understanding of
theresearch process using the V-ResORTwebsite as the key stimulus.
However inmost institutions the V-ResORT website isprovided as a
useful link for students oncourses - we cannot be sure how
manydepartments provide this link on theirresearch training
websites for their researchstudents, but we do know of five who do
this.
Lecturer impactThere has been impact on the local mentorsand on
other lecturers. We know this fromthe requests that we have had to
help withthe localisation of materials. In additiontwelve lecturers
outside of the four partnerinstitutions who use the
resourcesresponded to the project evaluation. Therewas evidence of
lecturers incorporating thewebsite into face-to-face taught
sessions. Itwas also common to recommend thewebsite for self-study
of video narratives andalso for resources.
‘I have used extracts in teaching someresearch methods sessions.
Theyprovided illustrations of some of theprocesses I am expecting
of my studentsand an opportunity for them to hear, fromsomeone
other than myself, the languageof research in use. I found the
sectionsoutlining the identification of researchtopics helpful’.
Senior Lecturer pre-1992University
‘I used this in the taught session first as ademonstration and
advised students tolook at them independently, we did somefocused
discussion on motives forcarrying out research and then they
usedthese as self study resources’. Seniorlecturer pre-1992
University
The following comment is interesting as itreveals why these
resources may beappealing to some lecturers. They seem toreflect
the ways they were wanting to teachbut were limited by the lack of
resources. Itseems for some V-ResORT has met a realneed.
‘To me as a tutor they were valuable - thekind of thing I would
have liked to domyself but could not because of time andresourcing
- using them as self access( tolook at particular aspects) is a
good thingand makes it seem as we have researchedthe provision of
resources rather thansimply relying on last year’s handout’Senior
lecturer pre-1992 University UK
There were several unexpected outcomes. Itwas common for
lecturers to be using theresources to explore some of the
researchreported on the site.
‘I looked through the materials (I think itwas the first three)
which stimulatedthinking on research design. I liked thevideos and
the link to a paper written bythe person whose research I was
mostinterested in.’ Senior Lecturer at a post-1992 university
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New pedagogies for postgraduate research teaching:integrating
on-line research narratives
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There was also evidence that lecturers whohad been introduced to
the materials as partof their research training were
alsorecommending the materials for theirstudents who were also
undergoing researchtraining. We have also had feedback
thatlecturers find the video narratives useful as amodel of how to
design and use videonarratives/visual learning in their
ownpractice. We have also had requests fromlecturers to select
individual video narrativesto incorporate into on-line
postgraduateteaching within a Virtual LearningEnvironment. This is
a difficult issuebecause removing a video narrative from
thelearning context that supports it underminesthe contextual
integrity of the resource,though we can also see that it is
anotherapproach to re-usability that needs to beconsidered.
Student learningThe evaluation survey data providesevidence of
student learning. There is alsoevidence from within a Masters in
ResearchMethods course, in which we had access tothe discussion
forum and blog activities, thatthe students were actively using the
V-ResORT materials:
‘I met this resource as part of my masterscourse in research
methods and found thevideo narratives compulsive viewing.
Iparticularly liked the Patya video as Irelated to the ways she
seemed to bestill exploring the methodologicalissues. I watched
this from start to finishone evening at home, it was so useful
indeveloping an understanding of the realresearch process. The
course readers areof course helpful but the video brought
theresearch process alive for me.’ Mastersstudent at a pre-1992 UK
university
There was evidence that the resources wereuseful at all stages
of the research processnot just in initial research training.
Thisstudent was using the resource at the end ofher doctorate and
gives a sense of ways theresource can help a student overcome
the
sense of isolation that can be felt at thisstage.
‘At my stage (final months of PhD write-up)the resources are
valuable for those of us(probably most of us) working at a
distancefrom our institutions ... it is nice to feel partof a wider
network of people going throughthe same agony!’ Professional
Doctoralstudent at a pre-1992 UK university
Developing a sense of communityThe words highlighted in the
quotes aboveprovide evidence of the ways the resourceprovides
opportunities for students toidentify themselves as part of a
network ofresearch students, a network of researchersand a network
of distance learners. This is aparticular strength of the video
narrativeapproach, but it is also strengthened by theunderlying
conceptual framework that wasdeveloped at the start of the project.
Thisconsists of six main questions, representedin figure 1 as the
research journey, that couldbe asked of any researcher or about
anyresearch. This framework has been found tobe highly successful
in revealing authenticresearch ‘stories’ that research students
canfind connections with.
These questions are:• Where did the ideas for the research
come from? • What is the aim/purpose of the research?• Why were
the theoretical and
methodological approaches chosen?• How was your research project
designed
and conducted? - How? When? Whowith? Where?
• How was the research reported andcommunicated to a range of
audiences?
• What happened to the research after itwas completed?
Wenger’s notion that the ‘reification’(stratification and
codification) of knowledgeprovides a barrier to those new to
adiscipline gives an insight into the reasonswhy beginning research
can often be
26
The Teaching-Research Interface: Implications for Practice in HE
and FE
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problematic, not only for research studentsbut for new lecturers
in education. ‘There is apedagogical cost to reifying that
requiresadditional work - even possibly, a newpractice - to make
sense of the reification’(Wenger 1998, p. 264). The reified account
ofthe research process provides a rather tidyseparation of choice
of methodology,methods, field work, analysis, writing. Ourresearch
within the project found thatresearchers talked quite openly of
themessiness of the whole process adhering toa complexity model
rather than a moresimplistic one. The conceptual frameworkallows
for the description of this complexprocess. For example, question 4
allows forliterature review, fieldwork, analysis, furtherfieldwork,
refining of research questions, etc.to be reported in the ways the
processhappened. This tends not to be the wayresearch is reported
in the literature and wewould argue is a confusingmisrepresentation
for those new to the areaand an approach students cannot
easilyidentify with and represents a barrier to theiridentity as
members of a researchercommunity.
Concluding remarksV-ResORT is widely used in the sector andthere
is evidence that it has impacted onpedagogic approaches within
researchtraining, but there are issues about thevisibility of the
website. We found thatstudents would be introduced to the websiteby
lecturers/supervisors and/or otherstudents but would often not
bookmark thesite and then ‘forget’ of its existence. Thereis an
issue about where this and other usefulresources are located within
institutions, i.e.departmental and graduate research schoolweb
pages are seen as more helpful thanwithin a course in a VLE which
is oftenpassword protected.
The resource will continue to behosted by the educational
developmentinnovation technologies lab (ed:it)at the University of
Nottingham
(http://editlab.nottingham.ac.uk/index.php/)ed:it is currently
developing Web2.0 tools forsharing and discussing media (audio
andvideo). One of these, the Virtual InteractivePlayer (ViP),
allows for upload and tagging ofvideo, the creation of video
quotations, andprivate or open group discussion around thevideos.
The strength of the V-ResORTapproach is the high quality of the
videosand the strong navigation features, theweakness is that it is
very resource intensiveto create a video narrative and this can
onlybe done by a technician. The strength of theViP approach is
that anyone can upload thevideo, however quality cannot be
assuredand navigation will be user dependent. Inreality there is a
place for both the V-ResORTand the ViP approaches; they can be
usedalongside each other as powerful ways ofestablishing researcher
communities.
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March 2007]
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New pedagogies for postgraduate research teaching:integrating
on-line research narratives
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