Enabling Flexible Distributed Learning (FDL) at Oxford Brookes University

George Roberts

Development Director

Off-campus e-Learning

Oxford Brookes University

Scottish QAA Seminar

06/12/2004

SQAA 2 06/12/2004

Beyond Flexibility Enabling Flexible Distributed Learning

1) Background• Personal• Policy

2) Strategic Definitions: Flexibility• Agenda(s)

3) Brookes context• Institutions and structures• Values• Criteria• Examples

4) Frameworks, Standards, Quality• Pedagogical Pragmatism

SQAA 3 06/12/2004

Life before and around Brookes

Education• 1968 - DEC PDP8 & FORTRAN• 1972 - BA (English Lit)• 1986 - MPhil (Historical & Comparative Linguistics)• 2001 - MA (Education w/Open and Distance Education)• 2004 - PhD study at U of Southampton

• The extent to which beliefs (ideologies) about learning and teaching are embedded in the artefacts of learning technology

Work & Related• 1987 PEP Preparatory Education Project• 1988 ACE adult community continuing education tutor• 1989 College of Petroleum and Energy Studies• 2000 Brookes• 2003 Open University

• ALT• Writing

SQAA 4 06/12/2004

Role at Brookes

• Identify opportunities for off-campus e-learning development• Undertake research on e-learning nationally and internationally• Advise SMT on:

• potential and actual partnerships in e-learning • feasibility of specific off-campus developments• resource requirements to underpin off-campus developments

• Establish and maintain strategic relationships with actual and potential partners

• Stimulate internal development of e-learning for external use and application

• Advise and work with• academic staff preparing and delivering off campus e-learning • admin staff on adaptation of systems to support off-campus e-

learning• Facilitate sharing and dissemination of best practice across boundaries• Ensure off-campus and on-campus developments are complementary

and co-ordinated

SQAA 5 06/12/2004

Policy: the Big Picture

• Globalisation• Liberalisation• Participation• Innovation

the Code is based on the key principlethat collaborative and FDL provision,wherever and however organised,should widen learning opportunities

• Education and training policy replaces industrial policy as the means by which governments seek to make regions economically competitive

SQAA 6 06/12/2004

What’s happening, then? Chips with e-verything

e-Society: ICT is becoming

Everywhere UbiquitousBackground AmbientPersonal Adaptive and AwareFast High-speedMobile Wireless

(wifi and telephony)Merging Convergent

(TV, radio, learning,work, leisure)

Multi/multiple media All Connected, Always on

SQAA 7 06/12/2004

Learners Empowered

Creativity & Innovation

Flexible Provision

Professional Workforce

Better Value for Learners

Objectives of Current DfES StrategiesRaising Standards

Improving quality Removing BarriersPreparing for employment skills Widening Participation

early years Primary Secondary 14-19 Skills Post-16 HE

Contributions from e-LearningPersonalised support, Online communities, Flexible Study

Virtual Environments, Individualised Study, Collaborative Learning, Tools for Innovation, Quality at Scale

Strategic ActionsLeading Sustainable e-Learning,

Supporting pedagogical innovation, Staff development, Unifying Learner support, Aligning assessment,

Building a better market, Assuring tech and quality standards

A 21st century education system

SQAA 8 06/12/2004

Widening participation

Widening participation policies are focused in two conflicting directions:

• emancipatory and empowering for the individual: stimulate the growth of autonomous, entrepreneurial, IT-literate, multi-skilled individuals capable of creating and taking advantage of the opportunities inherent in a post fordist economy

• ensuring a supply of appropriately skilled workers for industry: create a compliant low-expectation labour force inured to the demands of flexibilisation in order to attract inward investment not on the basis of high skills available but on the basis of low costs

SQAA 9 06/12/2004

Covert CurriculaThe less obvious--but more important curriculum--is the covert curriculum, which is composed of the skills and characteristics the student develops as a result of successfully completing the overt curriculum. (Appleby)

http://www.psichi.org/pubs/articles/article_59.asp

Industrial era• Overt

“3 Rs”: reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmatic• Covert

punctuality, subordination, repetition

Postmodern era• Overt

flexibility, community, personalisation• Covert

piecework, normalisation, surveillancesee Roberts (2004) http://www.shef.ac.uk

/nlc2004/Proceedings/Individual_Papers/Roberts.htm

SQAA 10 06/12/2004

Quick discussion

• What is flexibility?

SQAA 11 06/12/2004

Learning Technology Affordances

• Flexibility with respect to time• Time shifting

• Flexibility with respect to place• Location shifting

• Flexibility with respect to sequence• Tutor directed learning• Student directed learning

• Enhanced communication• Distributed collaboration• Access to resources• Simulations

SQAA 12 06/12/2004

Strategic definitions

Flexible Distributed LearningCode of practice for the assurance of academic quality and standards in higher education, Section 2: Collaborative provision and flexible and distributed learning (including e-learning) - September 2004

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/public/COP/cprovis/contents.htm

• The term 'e-learning' will be used here to refer to modes of learning that are ICT-based

• Flexible and distributed learning (FDL) denotes educational provision leading to an award, or to specific credit toward an award, of an awarding institution delivered and/or supported and/or assessed through means which generally do not require the student to attend particular classes or events at particular times and particular locations.

SQAA 13 06/12/2004

DfES e-Learning Consultation

Broad and inclusive

• If someone is learning in a way that uses information and communication technologies ICTs, they are using e-learning … playing an interactive game, … collaborating using the Internet, … watching an animated diagram, … taking a driving theory test online - it all counts as e-learning.

(DfES Consultation, “Towards a Unified e-Learning Strategy”, July 2003)

SQAA 14 06/12/2004

Axes of Flexible Learning

• Individual • Organisation

• Identity • Culture

• Technology • Standards

SQAA 15 06/12/2004

Blended learning

The variety of approaches represented by FDL in the UK and elsewhere is now considerable,

and embraces a continuum of pedagogical opportunities.

3-C matrix:

collocationlow/high (face-to-face vs. distance learning)

collaborationlow/high (individualised vs. collaborative learning)

computerisationlow/high (e-learning vs. traditional print and communication technologies)

SQAA 16 06/12/2004

Blended learning: 3-Chi collocationhi collaboration traditional laboratorylo computerisation

hi collocation whiteboards in classroomshi collaboration virtual field tripshi computerisation

lo collocation CACL, online forumshi collaboration “Learning to teach online”hi computerisation

hi collocationlo collaboration video link lecturehi computerisation

lo collocationlo collaboration “traditional” OU DLlo computerisation

lo collocationlo collaboration CBT traininghi computerisation

SQAA 17 06/12/2004

Techniques

• Large class teaching• Personal response systems• Prior reading: fewer plenary lectures

• Formative assessment• CAA• Simulations

• Distrubuted (online) discussion forums• Work-based learning• International / distributed cohorts• Multi-professional learning• Collaborative working

• Reflective learning• Blogging• ePDP/ ePortfolio

SQAA 18 06/12/2004

VLE/MLE

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/mle/reps/briefings/bp1.html

SQAA 19 06/12/2004

Thinking Outside the Slots“More or less off-campus more or less most of the time” http://www.

brookes.ac.uk/research/odl/taocp_home.html

• and/or Semester Calendar• and/or Room slotting• and/or Modular degree

BUT Systems issues embed certain (traditional?) practices• Workload planning

• unit of academic resource expressed as ratio oftime in classroom : time in preparation

• Resource allocation model• DL does not use Library = Learning Resources

but.. Learning Resources also = Computer Services (VLE, eJournals, etc)

SQAA 20 06/12/2004

Flexibility: Multiple Learning and Teaching Styles

• ContingentContingent

• InherentInherent

• RelativeRelative

• PoliticalPolitical

SQAA 21 06/12/2004

Contingent Flexibility

• Organised

• Managed

• Funded

• Directed

• Accredited

• Bureaucratised

• Wired Infrastructure

• Wired-in, connected

• Networked

SQAA 22 06/12/2004

Inherent Flexibility

• Latent• Potential & Kinetic• Emergent & Evolutionary

• Located in domains• Disciplined• Sectored• Nationalised

• Symbolic Capital• Personal, Social, Cultural

• Experienced, Phenomenal• Prior Learning

• Cognitive• Modelled & Theorised• Taught & Learned

SQAA 23 06/12/2004

Relative Flexibility

• zero sum

• worth asking if an increased flexibility in one part of a system will result in decreased flexibility (+inflexibility) in another

• digital/analogue : particle/wave

• granular (objectified)

• modular / linear

• lifelong & continuing

• genetic/mimetic

• inherited

• preventable/unstoppable

• recreational/re-creational

SQAA 24 06/12/2004

Political Flexibility

• Work-related

• Valued (high/low)

• Classified (Property)

• Controlled

• Democratic … or not

• Pragmatic

• Global

• Shapable

• Standardised

• Assured

• Necessary?

One of the cavaliers, those Bonny Princes, said:

If I have freedom in my love and in my heart am free,then Angels who dwell in heaven aboveshall know no such liberty.

SQAA 25 06/12/2004

Brookes Context

• 16,000 students (12,000 fte)• 1,600 DL (all “part time” 0.4 fte)

• More or less off campus more or less most of the time

• Outside UMP, semester calendar and slotting system

• Increasingly “Blended”

• Funding• Self• Employer• TTA/NHS• Other

• “Full price”• Financial models problematic

• Economics embeds practice: RAM & PWP

SQAA 26 06/12/2004

Archaeology

• Modular Programme

• RBL

• IT Term (the Hypothetical)

• LTTF

• Brookes Virtual

• Brookes Online

• e-Learning at Brookes

Mists of time

Today

SQAA 27 06/12/2004

Partners

New Project-Based Management ApproachNew Project-Based Management Approach

Academic Development including C4eLAcademic Development including C4eL

DirectoratesDirectorates

DirectoratesDirectorates

SchoolsSchools

Schools

Institutional Structure

Students UnionStudents Union

AcademicBoard

AcademicBoard

Learning andTeaching

Committee

Learning andTeaching

Committee

e-Learning Forume-Learning Forum

Widening ParticipationWidening Participation

CPD ForumCPD Forum

ResearchCommitteeResearchCommittee

Resourcesand PlanningCommittee

Resourcesand PlanningCommittee

Undergraduate ForumUndergraduate Forum

Postgraduate ForumPostgraduate Forum

ExecutiveBoard

ExecutiveBoard

Board of GovernorsBoard of Governors

SQAA 28 06/12/2004

Networks and Critical Distance

Vice Chancellor

Deputy Vice Chancellor

Deputy Vice Chancellor

Pro Vice Chancellor

Pro Vice Chancellor

Registrar

SQAA 29 06/12/2004

• Structure

• Leadership

• Responsibility

• Budgets

• Authority

All derive from institutional utility based on knowledge, experience and information.

Chaos model of management allows individuals to gain influence on the basis of charisma and hermeneutic approaches.

Networks of Influence: Flexibility Inherent

SQAA 30 06/12/2004

Institutional Structure: Networks

University

School

Department

Admin & SupportPolitySocial

Centres for e-Learning?

SQAA 31 06/12/2004

Partners

New Project-Based Management ApproachNew Project-Based Management Approach

Academic Development including C4eLAcademic Development including C4eL

DirectoratesDirectorates

DirectoratesDirectorates

SchoolsSchools

Schools

Institutional Structure

Students UnionStudents Union

AcademicBoard

AcademicBoard

Learning andTeaching

Committee

Learning andTeaching

Committee

e-Learning Forume-Learning Forum

Widening ParticipationWidening Participation

CPD ForumCPD Forum

ResearchCommitteeResearchCommittee

Resourcesand PlanningCommittee

Resourcesand PlanningCommittee

Undergraduate ForumUndergraduate Forum

Postgraduate ForumPostgraduate Forum

ExecutiveBoard

ExecutiveBoard

Board of GovernorsBoard of Governors

Institutional Structure: Networks

SQAA 32 06/12/2004

Why e-Learning? (Brookes e-L Strategy 2002-04)

• to encourage active learning in all domains

• to support and develop independent, reflective

learners

• to maintain high levels of support and guidance to a

diversity of learners

• to develop key transferable skills:

• IT, teamwork, self-management, learning,

problem solving and communications

SQAA 33 06/12/2004

University e-Learning Strategy 2002 - 03

1. Provide a Managed Learning Environment

2. Personal computer ownership and connectivity for all

3. Library development and support

4. Develop and provide of learner support resources

5. School support for the development of e-learning

6. Stimulate e-learning and provide a University framework for development of e-learning

7. Create Centre for Higher Education e-Learning Development

SQAA 34 06/12/2004

Centre for e-Learning• support for the achievement of the Academic Plan

• leadership in all aspects of learning technology; guide the University’s vision of the future for e-learning

• ensure that the e-learning strategy is coherent, focussed and in-line with national policy recommendations

• determine central e-learning strategy and take responsibility for cross-University decisions relating to e-learning

• steer and advise on the balance between innovative developments in e-learning and practical applications support for e-learning

• co-ordinate, conduct and disseminate research into e-learning and commission, or undertake as appropriate, research and development projects in e-learning

• co-ordinate and steer ongoing staff development and evaluation of the impact of e-Learning on the University community

SQAA 35 06/12/2004

E-Learning at Brookes:

Supporting e–learning

through curriculum design and

development

Developing, enabling and

valuing e–Learning

practitioners

Improving and

expanding environments for e–learning

Researching and

evaluating e–learning

aims to apply Learning Technology to the provision of flexible, active, collaborative and professionally authentic learning

… and 5 key projects

Widening participation and creating effective e–

learning partnerships

E-Learning at Brookes values:

innovation, enterprise, equality, scholarship and social responsibility

… with these underpinning values

SQAA 36 06/12/2004

Good learning

based on • reciprocity • authenticity • credibility

independent of the mode of engagement

SQAA 37 06/12/2004

Good teaching

• sets ground rules• provides alternative modes of participation• exemplifies models of engagement • gives access to the experience of the

instructor(cf. Brookfield 2001, Jones 1999)

independent of the mode of engagement

SQAA 38 06/12/2004

Good practice

• encourage student-tutor contact• encourage student-student co-operation• encourage active learning• give prompt feedback• emphasise time on task• have and communicate high expectations• respect diverse talents and ways of learning

independent of the mode of engagement

SQAA 39 06/12/2004

Good design

• Permeability: multiple pathways• Variety: multiple learning & teaching

styles/preferences• Legibility: multiple literacies, modes and systems of

meaning• Robustness• Visual appropriateness• Richness: complexity at scale• Personalisation

independent of the mode of engagement

SQAA 40 06/12/2004

Mode 1 – baseline course administration and learner support (e-LearningStrategy Action 6a)

Baseline course administration and learner support (chosen from thefollowing): use web to distribute course information and carry out courseadministration, e.g. aims and objectives, assessment criteria/proformas, pastexam questions and model answers/assessment sheets, timetablingannouncements, reading lists, tutor contact details, course evaluation tools,FAQs, additional web resources, links to field level resources, course/modulehandbook, lecture notes.

Mode 2 – blended learning leading to significant enhancements to learning andteaching processes

Communication Assessment and feedback

Provide improved tutor-student,student-student communications,mainly using discussion boards oremail. Enable students, especiallyin disparate groupings andlocations, to exchange information,ask questions and discuss issuesrelating to the course.

Provide improved feedback tostudents on their learning viacomputer assisted assessment foreither formative (self-assessmentand monitoring of progress) orsummative (examination andgrading) purposes or both. Mayinvolve electronic setting,submission and return of studentassignments using digital artefactsand proformas where objectivetesting inappropriate.

Collaboration Quality learning material

Provide a platform for collaborativestudent projects, involving sharedresponsibility for resources andoutcomes. Students usecommunication tools and shareddirectory to collaborate on taskprocesses and outcomes.

Develop flexible access to highquality, reusable learning content,which may include structuredgateways to web and otherresources with accompanying self-paced independent learningactivities, interactive tutorials withfeedback, simulations, study andlearning skills resources andactivities fostering independentlearning.

Mode 3 – on-line course/module

Develop course/module primarily on-line, incorporating all or most of theabove, for flexible delivery, allowing learners to learn at times and places oftheir choosing. Likely to include learning materials, communication betweentutor and students, assessment and monitoring of progress, learner supportand course administration.

Modes of Engagement

Mode 1: baseline admin and support

Mode 2: Blended Learning

Mode 3: FDL

SQAA 41 06/12/2004

Approaches in the SchoolsLarge class teaching

Diagnostic testing

Work-based learning

International / distributed cohorts

Multi-professional learning

Collab’ tive working

Blogs PDP/ Portfolio

Business Education Health and Social Care Social Science and Law

Built Environment Biological & Molecular Arts & Humanities Technology

SQAA 42 06/12/2004

Quality Reflections: Frameworks & Standards

• Process/outcomes

• Frameworks• Standards & Standardisation

• Beliefs

SQAA 43 06/12/2004

FDL Precepts

• Overall, the revision may be characterised as moving from the 'process-based' style of the earlier version to a more 'outcome-based' approach.

• The focus now is on ends rather than means. Institutions … will see that the basics remain in the content of the revised version but will, it is hoped, appreciate the flexibility now offered by the greater attention to outcomes.

• Flexibility has become an epi-phenomenon, part of the meta-curriculum

SQAA 44 06/12/2004

Learning Technology Support Architecture

Embedded in systems architectures (source IEEE LTSA)

SQAA 45 06/12/2004Source: Bill Olivier, CETIS, 2003-04

SQAA 46 06/12/2004

… and, Conditioned by beliefspositivism: knowledge is “out there”, categorical

• objective-led (behaviourist) pedagogies of external motivations such as enquiry-based learning, physical simulation and experiment

social perspective: knowledge emergent, constructed• dominant approaches are exploratory learning and constructivism

tacit communitarianism: common-sense normalisation• knowledge engineering, and computational approaches such as

organisational learning and intelligent systems

new critical: cognitive disconnect in L&T practice• project and problem-based learning, applied and action research

are characteristic

SQAA 47 06/12/2004

Final thought

• Flexibility is not an end in itself

• Contingent• Inherent• Relative• Political

• Questions/Comments/Discussion

SQAA 48 06/12/2004

Thank you!Thank you!

George RobertsDevelopment Director, Off-campus E-learningOxford Brookes University

groberts@brookes.ac.uk+44 (0) 1865 484871+44 (0) 7711 698465http://www.brookes.ac.uk/virtual/http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2004/