Activity 5.1 – Summative Evaluation

Main strengths

Online experience
  • The course offers teaching practitioners the experience of engageing in on-line learning themselves. This was one of the most valuable experiences I had during the early stages of my involvement with on-line learning intitatives and can highlight many of the issues that as tutors or developers they are likely to deal with. The course is supported by an on-line discussion group from For many participants this too will represent their first exeprience of using communications technology for teaching & learning. Opportunities to experience the reality of using ICT/ILT, consider and reflect the experience in terms of their own teaching practice are invaluable in my opinion.

Delivers what the RSC advocates

  • The RSC exists to support colleges and promote the use of the JANET academic network. It is important to practice what we preach, set an example and demonstrate the advantages of using the internet for teaching & learning. The course is therefore a vehicle to showcase good practice and innovation.

Based on reserach - TNA conducted in July 2001

  • In a joint project, the two Scottish JISC Regional Support Centres conducted a training needs analysis that identified the current situation as regards the levels of exisitng skills within 4 constituent groups [managers, learning resources staff, curriculum staff, technical support staff], and indicated the extent of the uptake of ICT for teaching & learning - - The TNA also asked teaching practitioners their preference for training methods. Having this information to inform the training programme means that the course that has been developed is the result of thorough consultation and will clearly meet identified needs. This will help us at the RSC to "sell" the course to Staff Development Officers without appearing to tell them that "we know best".

Tried & tested

  • The face to face version of the course has been very well received, with evaluations confirming the approach, content and delivery are appropriate to meet the sectors immediate needs and at a level which reflects the current skills levels of FE staff.

Practical outputs

  • A collaborative learning model helps to ensure that the training is relevant and as productive as possible. It is project based with the emphasis on creating materials which meet participants immediate needs and which can be tailored to the requirements of their own courses. The course has been written by an experienced teaching practitioner for other teaching practitioners. The focus is very much on practical approaches, recognising the pressures teaching staff face in their everyday work.

Uses existing resources

  • The course framework is written around exisiting resources intially designed to support ftf training. This demonstrates good practice and shows the practical application of how web resources and locally created resources can be integrated. Many exemplar materials can be accessed to inspire.

Provides underpinning knowledge – learner centred

  • Course participants are most likely qualified FE Lecturers; therfore there is a degree of assumed knowledge. Underpinning knowlegde such as learning styles & pedagogy are included for participants to refer to should they wish but are provided to add value rather than as a core element of the course. Flexible navigation offers more options for working through the course which results in a very learner centred learning experience.

Potential to map to Qualifications framework

  • In the long term it is planned that the course is mapped to Cert Ed.& PDAs in delivering & developing on-line learning accredited by the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

Potential to populate college VLEs

  • The course is be able to be hosted locally on a college intranet or VLE and represents and opportunity for colleges to expand the use of their ICT/ILT network infrastructure.

Pre-requisite knowlegde is identified

  • Prerequisites are basic computer skills and experience of using Microsoft Windows to open, save & close files and folders. Experience of MSOffice applications is desirable. Participants are expected to have some experience of using email, have seen the World Wide Web and used a Web browser such as Netscape or Internet Explorer. It is anticipated that participants will have access to MSOffice applications, WWW, and a high-speed connection to the Internet in their college. To allow for a more flexible use of the programme, all resources will be able to be viewed using a browser and modem connection although some may be a little slow.

Flexible delivery

  • The flexibilty of the on-line course means that there is be less need for class cover and innovative methods of distributing staff development budgets can be developed and implemented by colleges. This may help to motivate staff to participate in CPD programmes e.g. – staff may be given opportunitities to use their time in a more discretionary way or may be rewarded for achievements in CPD programmes.
  • The course can be delivered in a variety of ways, over 3 weeks / 6 weeks / 9 weeks as appropriate.:-
  • On-line with tutor support – the course would be tutored initially by staff of the RSCs with the possibility of suitably experienced staff from the FE sector also being seconded as on-line tutors.
  • With ftf sessions – this could include an initial ftf induction session followed by a number of tutorials during the programme. Video conferencing may be a possibility.
  • With local mentor – If a suitable member of staff with appropriate skills and experience can be identfied it would be possible to use a mentoring arrangement to support course particiapants
  • With local learning sets faciltiated through SDO – A formal mechnanism for peer support may be appropriate in some colleges.

Scaleability – The course has potential to reach large numbers of curriculum staff particularly if organised in house

  • In addition to delivering the course through the RSC, it is envisaged that a programme could be used to train others within colleges to tutor the course, thus enabling skills to be further cascaded within institutions.

Training costs can be kept relatively low

  • There is a wide geographical spread of colleges across Scotland and there are also significant travel and accommodation costs associated with attending training often located in the central belt. The cost of class cover for colleges willing to release staff for training can be high. Although the RSC can deliver ftf training in colleges, traditional delivery has limitations for numbers able to particiapte at any one time from the point of view of classroom cover. There are also has physical limitations in terms of accommodation and access to training labs that are usually fully timetabled is often difficult to organise.
Groups of staff from common curriculum specialisms
  • The on-line course will use a collaborative model for learning. Planing the delivery to groups of teaching practitioners from the same curriculum area, will add value to the course and encourage the sharing of resources, lesson planning and teaching strategies. It has already been established that one of the most positive outcomes of the ftf version has been to re-establish networks that support curriculum areas

My contribution

I devised, wrote and currently deliver a face-to-face course to teaching practitioners from Further Education Colleges in Scotland in subject specific groups on how to exploit JISC resources available for teaching & learning. This invoved designing a course structure and gathering suitable resources or creating them if no suitable resources could be found.

Converting the course for online delivery has involved writing a framework around the resources which were already available, supplemeting them if necessary , designing and developing the course website.

Lessons learned

Project based learning

  • By using a project / case study as the learning vehicle the need for participants to progress at a similar pace is minimised as much of the learning is conducted through a web board and applied to the learners own project the pace of which is controlled by the learner. Learning resources are provided as stand alone objects that course participants can dip into as appropriate for their own projects. The intitial stage of project planning is the main section where it is useful for participants to work at the same pace.
Tutoring issues
  • Tutor input & moderation is critical to the success of the online course particularly when most of the added value that the tutor brings to the learning experience is generated through collabrative learning. The quality of content in that respect is largely down to the tutor's discretion and it seems to me to be important to have back up "content" that can be added if necessary which will take some pressure off the tutor and the limited time that will have been allocated for tutoring the course.
  • Revisiting learning objectives regularly would mean that web discussions are focussed on areas that the course designer had intended and outcomes from discussions would build up institutional knowledge that is up to date and highly relevant at that moment. This may help to inform rewrites and course edits.
  • The advantages of the fluidity and organic nature of collaborative learning and the exchange of ideas should be encouraged but should not distract from the project tasks. One of the roles of the tutor is to manage the correct balance of both.
  • Tutors should summarise discussions before bringing them to a close.
  • Peer review should be considerd carefully
  • Without a full understanding of each participants institution, circumstances and local issues it is very difficult to give and receive worthwhile and constructive review.

Recommendations

Course structure

  • A project based course will mean that after initial scoping and research learners will be able to determine their own pace within in broad time constraints. I do not anticipate that the course will involve assessment although I do anticipate that the course could support other training organised "in house" such as PDA in online learning currently being validated by SQA or Cert Ed that most FE colleges now provide and assess locally. The issue driving any time constraints is one of support and there are a number of alternatives that I can envisage.
  • On-line with tutor support – the course would be tutored initially by staff of the RSCs with the possibility of suitably experienced staff from the FE sector also being seconded as on-line tutors.
  • With ftf sessions – this could include an initial ftf induction session followed by a number of tutorials during the programme. Video conferencing may be a possibility.
  • With local mentor – If a suitable member of staff with appropriate skills and experience can be identified it would be possible to use a mentoring arrangement to support course participants
  • With local learning sets facilitated through SDO – A formal mechanism for peer support may be appropriate in some colleges.
  • Over 3 weeks / 6 weeks / 9 weeks as appropriate.
  • All of these models have resource implications for the institution but support a project centred course structure - this course has reinforced the suitability of this.

Course content

  • To ensure quality of course content I think it is important to include the basics and intend to provide course material. A degree of quality control can be ensured by using JISC resources which have been selected and reviewed for teaching & learning e.g. - resources created for the academic community largely by the academic community. Specific content that cannot be sourced easily will be created by the RSC see: - mmm support site.
  • Discussion forums will add value but will not be relied on for content generation in this instance.

Revisiting learning objectives

  • Tutoring notes will recommend that learning objectives are revisited regularly. There may be more or less emphasis on this depending on assessment requirements.

Peer review

  • Peer review will be completed as part of an editing process. e.g. course participants could partner each other and act as editors and providing partners were carefully matched, there would be a productive and quite focussed review completed. This might help to de-personalise the review process and provide a more task-orientated device for evaluation. Support agreements for this activity will be implemented.

Time allocation

  • A careful balance has to be established so that time spent completing the course is productive. Abstract concepts can be discussed using a discussion forum but it should not distract from the project itself. Scoping each project with realistic timescales is critical.

Discussion groups - Smartgroups

  • The discussion forum will add value to the course by building a learning community and used for peer-to-peer support. The group will be private, open to course participants only.
  • The course schedule will be created in the calander function of Smartgroups. Photographs of participants uploaded and course participants encouraged to share useful links and files with each other.
  • Tutors should be encouraged to advise course participants to revisit learning objectives regularly. This would mean that web discussions are focussed on areas that the course designer has intended.
  • Some hints and tips for the novice user will be included e.g.write messages in Word offline and cut and paste into a discussion forum when online or how to access the discussion forum from email messages.
  • Tutors will be advised to bring discussions to a close and email a summary to all participants.
  • A policy regarding levels of learner participation in web discussions will have to be devised.

Accessibilty

  • The course website will be "Bobby" approved.

Joan Walker – 29 /01/03