Making e-learning standards stick: Empowering stakeholders to help achieve minimum standards [1703] Home : Annual Conference 2017

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Thu, Sep 7 2017, 1:00pm – 2:40pm
Authors: Aurelie Soulier, Jessica Gramp, and Tim Neumann
Room: Elizabeth Gidney I (2)
Theme: Learning Spaces
Type: 60-minute session

Description

The lack of consistency in the use of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) platform can lead to poor student satisfaction (Reed and Watmough, 2015). In an attempt to answer this issue a number of Further and Higher Education institutions have adopted, or are adopting, VLE baselines or minimum standards documents. Jisc (Killen 2016) recommend the use of guidance on standards for developing staff digital capabilities in the area of VLEs, but these need to go beyond technical issues and include standards on assessment, communication and teaching (Ellis & Calvo, 2007).

Since 2007, University College London and the Institute of Education, part of UCL from 2014, have been introducing and improving e-learning baselines (UCL 2015) that received Academic Committee endorsement and were disseminated as printed booklets and online.

In 2016, Cranfield Defence and Security (CDS) developed its Essential Learning Framework (ELF) for Moodle module pages, by adapting the UCL E-Learning Baseline to suit local needs (CDS 2016).

Both institutions set minimum standards for blended learning and for wholly-online courses, supported by checklists, electronic resources and module templates with help from Learning Technologists. Feedback informs the further development of the baselines and the associated support.

UCL and CDS are currently working towards turning the baseline into a mandatory policy. Ellis & Calvo (2007) identified this as a “most undeveloped” quality assurance area, but crucial for the implementation of appropriate evaluation and support services. A significant challenge is monitoring: automatic checks of some aspects are possible (Ashraf et al 2016), but technologically challenging, and to manually capture information across all modules represents a significant exercise, ideally tied to existing institutional processes.

Participants in this participatory workshop will share baseline alignment strategies and consider key issues for different stakeholders. Following a sequential ARISE structure, small carousel discussions will take participants through the themes of Aspiration, Rationale, Implementation, Support and Engagement to address a variety of aspects and stakeholder perspectives, with a view to providing participants with prompts to take their own institutional implementation forward.

Workshop structure:

Introduction and scene setting (Presentation – 10mins)
Stakeholder selection (Persona Cards – 10mins)
ARISE small group carousel discussions (Structured Worksheets – 30mins)
Review to identify key points and directions (Plenary Discussion – 10mins)

References

Ashraf, W., Barry, W., & McFarlane, S. (2016). Towards Consistency: Digital Learning Thresholds. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Higher Education Advances (pp. 309–316). Valencia: Universitat Politècnica València.

CDS (2016) Cranfield Moodle – Essential Learning Framework (ELF). [Online]. Available at: https://moodle.cranfield.ac.uk/elf [Accessed: 21 March 2017].

Ellis, R. A., & Calvo, R. A. (2007). Minimum Indicators to Assure Quality of LMS-supported Blended Learning. Source: Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 10(2), 60–70.

Killen, C. (2016) Building Digital Capability, in: Enhancing the digital experience for skills learners (Guide). Bristol: Jisc. Available at: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/enhancing-the-digital-experience-for-skills-learners/developing-staff-digital-capabilities. [Accessed 22 March 2017].

Reed, P and Watmough, S (2015) Hygiene factors: Using VLE minimum standards to avoid student dissatisfaction. Journal of elearning and digital media, 12 (1). 68 – 89

UCL (2015) UCL E-Learning Baseline: enhancing e-learning provision. [Online]. Available at: https://wiki.ucl.ac.uk/display/UCLELearning/UCL+E-Learning+Baseline%3A+enhancing+e-learning+provision#UCLE-LearningBaseline:enhancinge-learningprovision-10 [Accessed: 27 February 2017].

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