Achieving flexibility? The rhetoric and reality of the role of learning technologies in UK higher education

University of York, UK

Richard Walker

ascilite2014November 23 - 26 2014

Coventry University, UK

Martin Jenkins

Imperial College London, UK

Julie Voce

Flexibility

The drive toward greater flexibility is influenced by:

– the marketisation of higher education;

– the emergence of students-as-consumers, exerting wishes for new kinds of educational provision;

– the potential of new digital technologies; and

– the apparent potential (that new educational environments are opening) for widening higher education at reduced unit costs. [our emphasis]

Barnett (2014: 8)

Barnett’s interpretation of flexibility

Sector flexibility:

– enabling flexible entry points for students to higher education study programmes

Institutional flexibility:– having institutional responsiveness to student

expectations and needs

Pedagogical flexibility: – having flexibility within teaching and learning

processes, including allowing academic staff control over teaching methods and the latitude to respond to different circumstances

Learner flexibility:

– student choice within their learning experience

What does the data say?

The Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA) has surveyed UK higher education institutions on the use of learning technology tools since 2001

http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/tel

Institutional flexibility

Investment has focused on:– E-assessment tools

– Plagiarism detection

– VLE/LMS platforms

– Lecture capture systems

Infrastructure development

Management & control of learning (mainstreaming)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

2003 2005 2008 2010 2012 2014

A

Bi

Bii

Biii

C

Pedagogical flexibility

Still an emphasis, though slowly reducing, on transmissive teaching methods

Category A – web supplementedCategory Bi – web dependent, contentCategory Bii – web dependent, communicationCategory Biii – web dependent, content and communicationCategory E – fully online (categories adapted from Bell et al., 2002)

Learner flexibility

Student experience

– Service oriented provision

– Expectations focused on connectivity and access to resources (Jisc, 2014)

– Instant and on-demand access to learning (Bone, 2013)

Achieving flexibility?

Institutional clarity in use of technology-enhanced learning– But potential conflicts in flexibility

Beware of disempowering academic staff– broadening the range of technologies but with

enterprise-wide goals in mind - not necessarily encouraging pedagogic flexibility?

Case study: Coventry

Institutional priorities– Student experience

– Digital literacy

Investment in TEL– E-assessment

– Plagiarism detection

Lack of awareness of TEL

Recognised need for pedagogic innovation

Disruptive Media Learning Lab

Case study: York

Institutional priorities- Enhancement of student learning experience

and delivery of services

Investment in TEL- Investment in electronic management of

assessment; lecture capture; BYOD provision

Challenges– short-term pressures (National Student Survey)

& quick fixes: assessment and feedback

– longer-term embedding of e-learning vision within curriculum review and academic practice (staff development and digital literacies)

Sector challenges

Consumerism and the mainstreamingof student services throughlearning technologies– speed of change / diversity of systems and

focus of change in TEL development

Can this be compatible with pedagogic flexibility and the academic freedom to experiment and ‘freedom to fail’?

(Price, 2013)

Questions?

University of York, UK

Richard WalkerCoventry University, UK

Martin Jenkins Imperial College London, UK

Julie Voce

References

Barnett, R. (2014). Conditions of flexibility: securing a more responsive higher education system, The Higher Education Academy: York.

Bell, M., Bush, D., Nicholson, P, O’Brien, D., & Tran, T. (2002). Universities online: A survey of online education and services in Australia. Canberra: Department of Education, Science and Training.

Bone, E. (2013). Improving learning experiences: Student attitudes towards the use of technology. NUS research study sponsored by Desire2Learn. Insights Roadshow, 16 December 2013.Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom.

References

Jisc (2014). Digital student project: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/research/projects/digital-student

Price, D. (2013). Open: how we'll work, live and learn in the future. Crux Publishing