modality: the antithesis of student-centred learning?

Modality:the antithesis of student-centred learning? A/Professor Martin CarrollPro Vice-Chancellor AcademicAugust 2012

SESSION OUTLINE• About CDU

• About Learnline

• About Modality

• Modality and Public Policy

• Modality and Student Learning

• New Concepts of Modality

• CDU, Blackboard and Modality

• NT is 1.42M km2 (size of Texas, New Mexico, California combined!)

• CDU is the only uni based in the NT

• Widely distributed population of just 1/4M

• Dual-sector• HE (≈10,000 students)

and VET (≈14,000)• ≈ 75% HE students are

external• Multi-campus

OUR LEARNLINE JOURNEY

OUR LEARNLINE JOURNEY (TO DATE)

• Started in 2003 with LMS & Content (voluntary uptake).

• Managed Hosting since 2009 (will add BCP soon).

• Learn 9.1 SP6 (planning upgrade to SP10 over summer) including:– Community

– Outcomes (mainly for surveys)

– SafeAssign

• CDU Mobile Central and Learn (1254 since S2 2012)

• Collaborate 11 (planning upgrade to 12 over summer)

• Bb Student Services (24x7 for students; a/hrs for staff)

OUR LEARNLINE JOURNEY (FUTURE)

• Considering Bb Social (in Community)

• Considering Bb Analytics for Learn

• Need a Rich Media Management System

• Need improved Learnline templates (VET & HE) that address new concepts of modality

ABOUT MODALITY

Internal

External

“MODE OF ATTENDANCE”A classification of the manner in which a student is undertaking a unit of study:

• Internal: unit of study for which the student is enrolled.... is undertaken through attendance at the HEP on a regular basis; or where a student is undertaking a HE unit for which regular attendance is not required, but attends the HEP on an agreed schedule for the purposes of supervision and/or instruction.

• External: unit of study for which the student is enrolled involves special arrangements whereby lesson materials, assignments, etc. are delivered to the student and any associated attendance at the institution is of an incidental, irregular special or voluntary nature.

(HEIMSHELP Glossary)

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 20110

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

Commencing HE Students Nationally

Internal ExternalMulti-mode

“MODE OF ATTENDANCE”Multi-modal: a unit of study is undertaken partially on an internal mode of attendance and partially on an external mode of attendance.

(CGS Guidelines No.1)

Multimodal students are those undertaking the multi-modal mode of attendance

Multimodal students are those undertaking the multi-modal mode of attendance, where at least one unit of study is undertaken on an internal basis and at least one unit of study is undertaken on an external basis.

“CAMPUS”For the purposes of regional loading, a campus is defined as the physical location from where a course of study is delivered. It must have:

a) regular face-to-face teaching – there must be academic staff present at the campus during the entire teaching period; and

b) entire courses must be delivered from the location (the bulk of units within a course leading to a higher education award must be offered at the campus location).”

Video conference

2nd Site

Main Site

CollaborateMobile

Learner

Teacher

Why do definitions matter?

MODALITY AND PUBLIC POLICY• CGS Load by Campus

• Student Service & Amenities Fee

• MyUniversity Website

• Away From Base funding

• International Student Visas

• TEQSA Learning & Teaching Standards

• Base Funding Review

BASE FUNDING REVIEW• The Report called for further work to “allow assessment

of mode of teaching as a basis for a future funding model” (pxv).

• “Principle number 7: The base funding model should reflect the relative costs for different disciplines or modes of teaching” (pxvii).

Education-Professional experience

Nursing Practice

Criminal Law Engineering mathematics of differential calculus

Financial Accounting

Average contact hours

260 183 119 244 168

Class size 25-155 10-81 24-264 17-123 9-310

Modes of teaching used by different universities

TutorialsPracticumLectureWorkshop

LectureLaboratoryPracticumTutorialProblem-based learning

LectureSeminarTutorial

LecturePractice classTutorialWorkshop

LectureTutorial

BASE FUNDING REVIEW• “On the other hand, allocating funding according to

mode of teaching is potentially administratively complex and may also be more open to manipulation, in the sense that subjects could change their current mode of teaching for no other reason than to gain additional funding” (p66).

What the…?

IS MODALITY EITHER/OR ?

Internal

External

Internal

External

Internal On

OffExternal

Individual

Internal OnSynchronous Group

IndividualAsynchronous Off

External

SCHEDULE

WHAT ARE MODES REALLY?Student cohort management mechanisms that maximise organisational efficiency by sorting students into groups with prescribed and limited ranges of engagement methods and timelines.

Is this student-centred?

What are our

students saying?

SELT (S1, 2012) RESPONSESStudents differ extensively on expectations of modality:

• Some expect (want) “external” to mean solo and asynchronous. They believe group work or synchronous engagement is anathematic.

• Some are external but want an experience equivalent to internal, i.e. synchronous and group oriented.

• Some want to have internal & external student mixing.

• Internal students (and, it seems, staff) are confused about how Learnline fits.

• No-one wants their modality to be inferior, but some external students are more forgiving.

SELT (S1, 2012) RESPONSESCommon issues regarding Learnline are:

• They want more training in how to use Learnline (including Collaborate).

• They want staff to have more training in how to use Learnline (including Collaborate).

• They want greater consistency in Learnline site design.

• They want more rich media content.

• Connectivity (especially for Collaborate) is a major concern.

“No problems. I love Learnline!”

“Learnline is easy once you get used to it”

“Collaborate is fantastic and allows for interaction with the lecturer”

“I also cannot use a public computer without downloading a pile of stuff for which I never have time. Fortunately my other subject has

tutorials archived on MP3, so it was downloadable.”

“Get better Internet strength for Collaborate.It is ridiculous how many times people get

kicked out of that system.”

“Getting programs like Collaborate to work.How hard can it be?”

Internal Mode

External Mode

METHODS OF ENGAGEMENT

ISSUES OF MODALITY• Respond to how students want to engage.

• Clearly define and communicate Affordance-Inclusive Modes verses Affordance-Exclusive Modes.

• Within an Affordance-Inclusive Mode, consider Access and equity issues embedded in Reliance methods (unit can’t be done without Method X) verses Augmentation methods (unit is enhanced by Method X).

• Ensure academic equivalence of a unit served via multiple modalities.

Internal Mode

External Mode

METHODS OF ENGAGEMENTFOR A UNIT IN MULTIPLE MODES

Augmentation(mainly learning

activities)

Reliance(mainly unit information and access to content)

Augmentation(mainly learning

activities)

CDU, BLACKBOARD & MODALITY

WILL CDU STICK WITH BLACKBOARD?• Many other LMS (Moodle, Desire2Learn etc.). That’s if

we use an LMS at all! Consider Udacity or iTunesU.

• Each option does some things well; all options are evolving.

• Key issues are functionality (and compatibility of multiple functionalities), usability, roadmap, stability, support and price.

• And a deep understanding of the relationship between educators, students and technology developers and suppliers.

START FINISH

Bill Belcher(Raha)

CONCLUSIONS• Learning technologies are providing the opportunity for

a radical redefining of modality.• New modalities must focus first on effective student

engagement, and secondly on organisational efficiency.• Effective engagement will respond to student

affordances and expectations as well as curriculum demands.

• New modalities must be clear and equitable.• This requires major institutional reform (& templates!)• Policy reform is also required.