Implementing Technology-Enhanced Learning @ DMU, 2010-13

Richard Hall (rhall1@dmu.ac.uk, @hallymk1)Richard Hall (rhall1@dmu.ac.uk, @hallymk1)e-Learning Co-ordinator, National Teaching Fellowe-Learning Co-ordinator, National Teaching Fellow

Some alignmentOutcomes from Surrey’s first workshop. With a question or two.• Selecting new software alone is not enough – the University

needs to be clear what will be achieved through having a VLE: Are your human networks enabling/enabled by your edtech use?

• Enabling students to take a more active role: can this be achieved through the VLE alone? Or do you need extensions that reflect/extend your culture?

• Integration of the VLE with other information systems will require cross-service collaboration and taking a ‘whole-University’ view: How will you reflect the needs of the parts rather than their sum?

Some DMU background• Hub-and-spokes approach to Technology-Enhanced

Learning (TEL) since 2003

• A core of DMU technologies; users empowered to engage with a range of non-DMU tools

• Blackboard LS/Communities; wikis, blogs, podcasts; video library; Turnitin; Gmail, Google Calendars, linked to MyDMU; Articulate Presenter, Wimba Create, Audacity, Movie Maker

Blackboard 2008–09 2009–10

Total logins 1,579,027 1,212,674

Active Students 20,574 22,358

Active Staff 1,933 1,822

Live modules on Bb 1,810 1,650

Live modules as a proportion of the validated curriculum

83.7% 76.3%

Some DMU numbers

Why a review? A sign of the timesNational strategies/reports:• How do we enhance our students’ learning literacies through our

services and curricula?• How do we enable staff and students to create learning

environments that support learning at an appropriate scale?• Can we develop services that enable staff and students to

manage transitions, progression and attendance?• Do we need a reappraisal and extension of professional

development, and reward and recognition?• How can we develop flexible approaches to the curriculum?• Can we extend a distinctive institutional culture?

What is the place of social media in the twenty-first century University?

• DEMOS Edgeless University/Resilient Nation: what is the idea of the University?

• Digital Economy Act: what is the idea of co-producion?• JISC Report, Thriving in the 21st century; FutureLab,

Beyond current horizons: what is the idea of learning?• Committee of Inquiry into the impact on HE of

students’ use of Web 2.0: what is the idea of teaching?• Revised HEFCE Strategy: what is the place of social

media in HE?

In order to address these issues, the DMU TEL review focused upon whether the following are fit-for-purpose within the institution:

• the technologies that are deployed [e.g. VLE, non-institutional social software];

• the professional development available for staff, alongside related quality improvement approaches; and

• the support services provided for students.

Why a review?

The review process Evidence-based report for ULTC with recommendations and resource implications, in the form of a vision and blueprint:

• usage statistics for DMU-supported technologies from 2007–10;• technology survey with 91 academic/support staff in December

2008 and a follow-up survey with 45 staff in December 2009, and interviews/workshop with 32 different staff in December 2009;

• in-depth interviews/on-line focus groups with 178 students at all levels, including postgraduate, in all five University faculties; and

• Professional development survey with 31 teaching excellence award winners in December 2009, and a focus group with 11 staff.

it’s the curriculum dummy: DMU examples

1. Mentoring/students as guides– Game Art Design: mentoring and co-creation– Peer-mentoring: story-telling between students

2. Curriculum learning environments– Integrated learning in History– Leading and Managing at a Distance– The Virtual Lab in HLS

3. Life-wide reward for students– UCPD [WBL] for Placement students in PCS– Social Media Development @ DMU

Caveats

a tendency for both teachers and learners to ‘rein in’ these potentially radical and challenging effects of the new media formations, to control and constrain them within more orthodox understandings of authorship, assessment, collaboration and formal learning

Hemmi et al., JCAL, 25(1), 2009

educational technology as a profoundly social, cultural and political concern

Selwyn, JCAL, 26(1), 2010

Recommendations• Organisational structures for the deployment of TEL: decision-

making; resources; development: agility. • Mix of DMU and non-DMU tech: flexibility. [Core, plus WPMU]• Professional development and the role of e-Learning Champions:

evolving; gregarious. [UCPD WEP]• Migration to Blackboard 9 in July 2010 as a re-launch of TEL at

DMU: functional; innovation. • Openness for learning and teaching: evolving; open. • A focus on multimedia and mobiles: innovation. • Evaluation of data processes for TEL: functional. • Work with Student Reps on digital identities and safety:

straightforward; gregarious.

Mark Stubbs (2010): http://lrt.mmu.ac.uk/ltreview/

Matters arising: towards a programme of work

• Strategic: how does edtech enable our educational and social values?

• Institutional: how do we address differential experience, expertise, demand and workloads?

• Professional: how does edtech underpin professional identity?

• Learner: how do we make and act upon good-enough decisions?

Think people, tech, data, policy, process, outcomes, benefits, projects

Benefits

A programme, 2010-13 designed to deliver:

• Enhanced resilience of DMU’s academic provision;

• Increased recognition within the HE sector of DMU as a leading TEL provider; and

• Enhanced flexibility and efficiency of core business processes and systems related to TEL.

Outcomes

• Integration of core and personal technologies• A coherent infrastructure and value-added services that are

reliable, consistent and readily accessible on and off campus.• Organisational and policy structures that support the agile

delivery of TEL.• Learners will develop their own digital identities through PLEs.• Academic teams will demonstrate an enhanced integration of

TEL.• An accredited development pathway for practitioners.• Increased capacity for research and EIG related to TEL.

Planning• Scoping projects

– e-Administration/e-Services/e-Content– Professional and learning literacies/research– marketing of TEL @ DMU

• Programme plan

• Teams for delivery/governance, reporting to PVC

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