EnABLing the Institution: a holistic approach to enhancing the student experience [1677] Home : Annual Conference 2017

EnABLing the Institution: a holistic approach to enhancing the student experience [1677]

Public Group Active 4 years, 8 months ago

Wed, Sep 6 2017, 3:00pm – 4:30pm

Authors: Vicky Brown, Julie Usher, and Elizabeth Palmer

Room: Mandela Rm (2)

Theme: Moving from the practical to the ‘publishable’

Type: 60-minute session

Description

Pedagogic research has increasingly emphasised the importance of active learning approaches in supporting learning at undergraduate level (Freeman et al. 2014). Alongside this, the argument for developing digital fluency in students, to prepare them for lifelong learning in a knowledge economy, grows ever louder (House of Lords Select Committee, 2015). In an ideal world, these two drivers for change can be complementary – technology can enable and extend active learning, when used well. In practice though, while it is acknowledged that use of technology in teaching is becoming commonplace, it is not clear that high quality active, blended learning is the ‘norm’ in every classroom or lecture hall (UCISA, 2016). So how do we translate what the research is telling us into practice on the ground and in the classroom? How do Learning Technology professionals support colleagues and students to ensure the quality of this new ‘normal’?

This session will present a large scale institutional case study from a University committed to rolling out active blended learning across all taught programmes over a five year period, alongside preparations for a physical move to a custom built new campus. Recent investigations by Jisc have illustrated more clearly the need for a holistic approach to this kind of institutional change, and the importance of developing all stakeholders (particularly staff and students) together to create success (Jisc, 2017). Two years into our strategic plan, we will describe how the process at our institution is being informed by three ongoing, complementary projects, to research staff and student experiences of learning and teaching with technology.

The case study will provide a framework for participants to consider institutional-level change from each of three key perspectives: teaching staff needs, student needs, and technology needs. We will present a brief analysis of some of the approaches that have been tried at our own institution. Participants will then be invited to review and develop complementary strategies in order to bring these perspectives together, so as to cater for all stakeholders, incorporating a combination of good practice, robust technology and positive learning experiences. Through this activity, we will explore the commonalities, interdependencies and conflicts that make change management at the institutional level such a complex challenge.

References:

Freeman, S., Eddy, S.L., McDonough, M., Smith, M.K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., and Wenderoth, M.P. (2014) Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 111(23), pp. 8410–8415.

Jisc (2017) Building digital capability: Building capability for new digital leadership, pedagogy and efficiency. Jisc [online]. Available at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/building-digital-capability [Accessed: 22 March 2017].

House of Lords, Select Committee on Digital Skills (2015) Make or Break: The UK’s Digital Future (HL 2014-2015 (111)). London: The Stationery Office.

Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (2016) Technology enhanced learning survey. Available at https://www.ucisa.ac.uk/-/media/files/publications/surveys/tel%20survey%202016_nov16.ashx?la=en [Accessed: 22 March 2017].

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