English Subject Centre Mini Projects
E-learning Advocate Project 2007/8
Project Report
Author: Jess Edwards
Department of English, ManchesterMetropolitanUniversity
English Subject Centre Departmental Projects
This report and the work it presents were funded by the English Subject Centre under a scheme which funds projects run by departments in Higher Education institutions (HEIs) in the UK. Some projects are run in collaboration between departments in different HEIs. Projects run under the scheme are concerned with developments in the teaching and learning of English Language, Literature and Creative Writing. They may involve the production of teaching materials, the piloting and evaluation of new methods or materials or the production of research into teaching and learning. Project outcomes are expected to be of benefit to the subject community as well as having a positive influence on teaching and learning in the host department(s). For this reason, project results are disseminated widely in print, electronic form and via events, or a combination of these.
Details of ongoing projects can be found on the English Subject Centre website at . If you would like to enquire about support for a project, please contact the English Subject Centre:
The English Subject Centre
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham, Surrey TW20 OEX
T. 01784 443221
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Introduction
My central objectives for this project were to increase basic use of our institutional VLE from a fairly low base to somewhere near 100% and to support interested colleagues in more adventurous use of elearning tools. To quote my original proposal, I also wanted from the outset to make my department 'more confident and effective' in securing appropriate institutional support for its elearning needs.
Institutional Context / Background
In 2007/8 my University embarked upon a new initiative to develop a Managed Learning Environment (MLE): an initiative to which the introduction of WebCT Vista has been core. My 40-strong department have sought my support this year as departmental elearning coordinator, and as funded ESC elearning advocate, in making the VLE a standard element in their teaching. As we have dramatically increased our use of the VLE, we have discovered the limitations of our institutional resources. The 07/08 version of our VLE featured bugs which rendered it unusable by most computers without modification. At the same time technical support structures in place have not been adequate to meet the needs of staff and students. At the beginning of 07/08 technical support for students was limited to daytime office hours and University machines, and many staff office computers could not cope with the resource-hungry new VLE platform. We have just heard that a general upgrade of staff machines promised for September 08 will not now take place, and that an existing commitment at least to replace all machines over 5 years old has been abandoned. Moreover, in a University which is pushing the MLE as a key strand in its current 'change agenda', almost no seminar classrooms have multimedia resources and there are very few laptops available for use in teaching, making it hard to bridge the gap between elearning and classroom practice.
Methodology
In my original project plan I proposed to:
- Run a departmental strategy day on elearning.
- Run a series of departmental elearning workshops for discussion of needs and to pool ideas.
- Work closely with the University Learning and Teaching Unit to develop my own skills.
- Support colleagues individually in the development of resources.
- Network with the wider elearning subject community.
My plans didn't change much over the year. This is what I actually did:
- The departmental strategy day took place as planned in September 07/08, attended by most of the department, and though we lost our main speaker and (temporarily) the VLE itself to an institutional systems failure, two elearning specialists from our faculty led a workshop on key tools within the VLE, and the day gave me an opportunity to introduce my advocacy project.
- In addition to the strategy day, I ran 3 elearning workshops over the year and co-organised a national day conference on Creative Writing and Elearning, hosted at MMU. The first workshop was a 'show and tell' session designed to pool experiences to date of our VLE; to publicise the work of a few relatively experienced colleagues; and to discuss ways forward with our elearning practices. Two more workshops featured elearning specialists from the national subject community presenting on the use of discussion fora and wikis. A fourth, commissioned from our University Centre for Learning and Teaching, involved a hands-on introduction to communications tools and technologies.
- Over the year I attended various events arranged by the University Centre for Learning and Teaching (CeLT) and by the Elearning 'Community of Practice', of which I'm a member. These ranged from general talks on elearning practice (a visit from Gilly Salmon), through workshops led by software designers on specific tools and practices (Coursegenie and podcasting), to presentations on University elearning projects (development of an MMU presence in Second Life).
- I held many one-to-one meetings with colleagues over the year to support their development of elearning skills and resources.
- The workshops I've organised have involved some very productive networking with elearning specialists from the wider subject community.
Discussion
Overall, I'm happy with the approach my project took. I could have done more one-to-one work with colleagues. Meetings have tended to be on demand and I could have been more proactive in following up interests expressed in my census of elearning needs and interests. The coincidence of my project with a quinquennial subject review in 0708 was also something of a missed opportunity. New unit designs had to be in by the end of January and by the time we'd had presentations indicating the possibilities for assessing elements of elearning it was too late for colleagues to rethink assessment strategies. Nonetheless, I think this rethinking will happen. Amongst the many strands of its 'change agenda', my University has embarked on a 'challenging assessment' initiative which should mitigate the usual anxieties about modifications to our programme subsequent to a major overall review.
These reservations aside, my project has been largely successful in meeting its goals. My department has seen a dramatic increase in the use of its VLE. From 13 largely course unit-based areas at the beginning of 0708, we now have 45. All course units are now supported by WebCT and all colleagues can use at least the basic tools involved. Most of my colleagues are now incorporating discussion-based elearning exercises as a standard element in their teaching. Institutional resourses permitting, some will use wikis in the classroom next year. A few of us have the necessary skills and equipment to begin podcasting and using other voice tools. I myself will teach the first MMU English undergraduate unit next year to run entirely online. I think that significant changes to unit design, particularly to incorporate assessment of elearning activities, will follow. Moreover all undergraduate students taking English course units (around 1000) have access to English Student Area, a general WebCT resource featuring course information (from committee minutes to exam dates); online tutorials in English skills; links to key English study resources (websites and databases); and discussion fora and noticeboards (on topics ranging from English clubs and societies to advance reading lists for individual course units). My advocacy year gave me the opportunity to develop a corresponding English Staff Area which hosts, amongst other things, resources for and discussions on a range of aspects of English learning and teaching. Whilst perhaps only a quarter of colleagues participate regularly in online discussions, the document and information-delivery functions of the English Staff Area mean -as with the English Student Area- that it is visited regularly, and that participation is likely to grow rather than diminish.
My advocacy has had a substantial impact beyond the department. As elearning link for my department and member of the University Community of Practice for elearning, I liaise and share ideas regularly with colleagues. The use of our VLE for a general Student Area has served as a model for another department (Sociology) and I've been asked to present to colleagues on the University Continuing Professional Development Scheme. Perhaps the most substantial impact of my project within an extra-departmental context has arisen from its exposure of gaps and weaknesses in the resourcing of elearning. The Writing school at MMU, which runs a well-established and pioneering online MA, has suffered considerably over the past year from bugs in our new VLE platform and from the inadequacy of University technical support structures in helping staff and students deal with these. I have liased between the Creative Writing and VLE management teams to ensure that these problems are resolved for the future. The technical bugs appear now to be fixed and an extension of student technical support to cover evening hours and non-University machines is being discussed. Although English, and particularly Creative Writing, has suffered a great deal of inconvenience through serving as a test case for these more general problems and solutions, the experience has also raised our profile with senior University managers as innovators in elearning practice.
Levers & Barriers to embedding
Colleagues generally have little concern about blended learning and see many opportunities for the enhancement of their pedagogic practices through elearning. Some worry about the replacement of any 'live' seminar time, viewed as a core aspect of the English learning experience. At least one of my colleagues -a Creative Writer- has been bold enough, however, to say that online teaching can be better than the live seminar (his presentation can be viewed on the ESC website as part of the MMU contribution to the Creative Writing and Elearning day event). In the wake of my advocacy my department will go on debating the way in which we mix our blend.
Student experience
I hope my project has helped to reinforce the sense of an MMU English community. Colleagues worry that the presence of the department and its course units online encourages students to detach themselves from the physical University, becoming de facto distance learners. My own, more optimistic view, is that these resources further the classroom experience and help to bring together a student body increasingly fragmented by the demands of extra-University life.
Project Support
Meeting current and previous advocates face to face was extremely valuable in helping me shape my project and set manageable goals. The project team have been remarkably helpful. Brett has been a tireless support, both online and in his visits to MMU, helping me make contacts, giving me technical advice and making sure that I kept my expectations for the project high. Basecamp has been useful for the sharing of resources and ideas. I don't think I made the most of it. As with student use of communications tools, I think the advocates perhaps needed some greater motivation/coercion than the raw desire to communicate.
Outputs/Outcomes
Is it possible to document the tangible progress you made in your advocacy year in terms of new blended courses? New learning spaces created? Number of newly motivated colleagues? How can you tell?
My advocacy has resulted in:
45 new webct areas
24 colleagues using our VLE for the first time
Conclusions / Recommendations / Closing thoughts
I'd say that this kind of funding opportunity is extremely valuable. As well as buying time and offering support for step changes to be made in departmental practice, it raises the profile of advocates and departments within their institution and reinforces links between departments and the national subject community. I'll certainly go on serving as an elearning advocate within my department and institution. I will remain elearning coordinator within my department and will maintain my involvement with the University elearning community of practice. I would recommend that any department seeking to embed elearning within their teaching, and any advocate commencing a funded project do the following:
Make contact with the individuals and teams responsible for the pedagogic and technical support of elearning and establish what internal University support is available for developing staff practice in elearning
Conduct a census of staff skills and interests in elearning
Give staff plenty of opportunity to express their anxieties about elearning and try to address these anxieties
Establish that departmental and wider University resources (hardware and platforms) are fit for the needs of the department
Ensure that staff responsible for elearning development are adequately time-resourced to help colleagues develop their skills and resources
Bring in English elearning specialists to lead workshops etc.: it's important that elearning tools are shown to be directly relevant to the subject
E-learning advocate report for Jess Edwards Page | 1