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NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 1 of 94
Contexts
The final report documents what the project has done and achieved and will be made publicly available. For
most projects, it will be a report of publishable quality for the community and should draw out
recommendations for the HE sector.
Where the completion report simply signs off on the project work, the final report gives a more detailed and
considered account of the project‟s achievements that will be of interest to the broader HE community. The
report will be made available through EvidenceNet (http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/evidencenet). Please can
you also highlight to us any other suitable materials for inclusion in EvidenceNet.
Projects should submit a draft of their final report at the end of the project to allow the Academy to make
any comments or requests for revision. The Academy reserves the right of editorial control. Projects should
resubmit the final revised version of the final report no later than three months after the formal end date of
the project. The final grant payment will be made once the final version of the report is received and
accepted.
Please bear in mind that the final report will be made publicly available and should be written to maximise
its accessibility to as wide an audience as possible.
Please complete the sections below. If you have any queries regarding the completion of the forms please
contact the NTFS project strand Project Officer at ntfsprojects@heacademy.ac.uk or 01904 717500.
Final Report Project Information
Project lead institution University College Falmouth
Project title Creating Academic Learning Futures
Lead contact name Anne George
Authors Dr. Sandra Romenska, Dr. Karenanne Knight, Robert Cane,
Jaideep Mukherjee, Anne George, Prof. Gilly Salmon
Project lifespan August 2008 – July 2011
Submitted by Anne George
Anne George
Anne George
Anne George
Date submitted
Date submitted
15th
July 2011
NTFS Projects Final Report Template
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 2 of 94
1. Table of contents
1. Acknowledgements p. 3
2. Executive summary p. 4
3. Background p. 5
4. Aims and objectives p. 6
4.1. Aim p. 6
4.2. Objectives p. 6
4.3. Research questions p. 7
5. Methodology p. 7
5.1. Exploratory component p. 7
5.2. Descriptive component p. 7
5.3. Explanatory component p. 8
5.4. Methodology for the exploratory component p. 8
5.5. Methodology for the descriptive component p. 9
5.5.1. Maximum Difference Scaling p. 9
5.5.2. Scenario Development p. 13
5.6 Methodology for the explanatory component p. 16
5.7. Summary of methodologies used in the CALF research project p. 17
6. Implementation p. 17
6.1. The CALF implementation model – Learning Futures p. 17
6.1.1. Hindsight p. 18
6.1.2. Insight p. 18
6.1.3. Foresight p. 18
6.1.4. Learning Oversight p. 18
6.2. CALF workshops p. 19
6.3. Identifying, approaching and motivating students for participation in the project activities p. 19
6.3.1. University College Falmouth model of student involvement p. 19
6.3.2. University of Leicester model of student involvement p. 19
6.4. Motivation of students to participate in CALF p. 20
6.5. Recommendations for replicating the CALF implementation process p. 21
7. Outputs and findings p. 20
7.1. Findings from the horizon scanning p. 22
7.1.2. Future Trends: Change p. 22
7.1.2. Future Trends: Stability p. 24
7.1.3. Opportunities to promote change p. 25
7.1.4. Risks and challenges p. 26
7.1.5. Conclusion of the horizon scanning p. 27
7.2. Findings from the student participation component p. 28
7.2.1. Employability p. 33
7.2.2. Personalisation and flexibility p. 34
7.2.3. Open access and visibility p. 36
7.2.4. Diversity p. 39
7.2.5. Quality of the physical environment for learning p. 40
7.2.6. Length and cost of study p. 41
7.2.7. Student services p. 42
7.2.8. International mobility and greening of learning p. 44
7.2.9. Risks and threats p. 46
8. Outcomes p. 47
9. Conclusions p. 53
10. Implications p. 54
11. Recommendations p. 55
11.1. Recommendation 1 p. 55
11.2. Recommendation 2 p. 55
11.3. Recommendation 3 p. 55
11.4. Recommendation 4 p. 55
12. References p. 56
13. Technical terms p. 58
14. Appendices p. 59
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 3 of 94
The Creating Academic Learning Futures project was the result of the National Teaching Fellowship (NTF)
Scheme project strand, funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and
managed by the Higher Education Academy.
NTF Prof. Gilly Salmon directed the conceptual development of the Learning Futures model and provided
creative insights, strategic and operational guidance for the CALF project. Her work resulted in a high
profile for CALF‟s operation and findings, greater visibility of the deliverables with corresponding
opportunities for expanding the network of partners and interest in implementing the project‟s outcomes by
the two partner institutions.
Strategic lead on project management as well as the integration of e-learning and learning technologies
within creative disciplines and creative approaches to imagining the future of learning was provided by the
Director of Academic Services at University College Falmouth Anne George.
Work on the project benefited from the strategic direction provided by members of its Steering Group –
Geoff Smith, Deputy Rector of University College Falmouth (UCF); Christine Fyfe, Pro Vice-Chancellor of
the University of Leicester (UoL) and NTF Dr Liz Anderson.
Design and implementation of the research model of the project, conceptual analysis of the results and
reporting of the outcomes were supported by the expertise and guidance of Prof. David Hawkridge and Dr.
Alejandro Armellini. Collaboration with Dr. Palitha Edirisingha enabled dissemination of CALF findings
and models to a larger community of interest.
Analysis of policy reports and other documents relevant to the future of learning was carried out and written
up by Robert Cane.
The project evaluator, Andrew Comrie, provided valuable objective feedback.
CALF‟s thanks and acknowledgement of their invaluable contributions go to the lecturers, course leaders
and learning technologists at UCF - - Katrina Brown, Malaika Sarco-Thomas and Susanne Thomas (BA
Dance); Rebecca Lloyd (BA English); Christina Bunce (MA Professional Writing); Ben Bull, John Sumpter
and Oliver Scott (Learning Technology); Andrew Harbert (BA and MA Design); Steve Braund (MA
Illustration: Authorial Practice; Alan Male (BA Illustration); Charlotte Barry (MA Journalism); Russel
Clarke (BA Media and Communication) and Fiona Hackney (20th
C Art and Design). Essential for the
organisation and running of the workshops at the University of Leicester was the help of the Media Zoo
Keepers at UoL, Matthew Wheeler and Simon Kear.
Dr. Sandra Romenska was CALF‟s Research Associate at the University of Leicester. The smooth running
of the project was result of the work of CALF‟s Project Manager Dr. Karenanne Knight at UCF and Jaideep
Mukherjee at UoL.
The most important contribution to the project was that of the students from the two partner institutions who
dedicated their creativity and energy to generating insights and understanding of the possible futures of
learning.
1. Acknowledgements
Note that the project was a result of the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme project strand initiative
funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and managed by the Higher
Education Academy. You may also want to list the project partners and acknowledge any person or
organisation that was helpful during the project or in writing the report.
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 4 of 94
Creating Academic Learning Futures (CALF) is a collaborative research project, led by
University College Falmouth. NTF Gilly Salmon provided academic guidance and support to the
full time researcher on the project Dr Sandra Romenska. CALF aimed to create, explore and
present for discussion a variety of plausible „alternative futures‟ for learning and teaching in
Higher Education (HE). Creation, exploration and presentation of alternative futures was
achieved by capturing emerging issues which may influence the future of student learning and
by engaging student voices. The project focussed on three research questions:
1. What are the factors which may influence the future of teaching and learning?
2. What are the ideas about the future of students from University College Falmouth and the
University of Leicester?
3. What are the preferred futures of the students who participated in the project?
The findings of the project revealed factors that will influence the future of education, as well as
opportunities and threats, student preferences and expectations:
The Future of Learning and Teaching – Summary of CALF Findings
Employability: Learning and teaching in the future will make use of strong links with leading local
and international employers.
Personalisation: Learning processes will be personalised to the needs and preferences of individual
students with institutional support and guidance provided for the students‟ personal choice of learning
technologies.
Openness: There will be increasing openness of learning resources, sharing of learning resources,
networking across disciplines and blurring of institutional and disciplinary boundaries.
Quality: Provision of high quality learning environments, learning resources, student facilities and
student accommodation will be a prominent characteristic of future learning and teaching.
Diversity: There are signals for increasing diversity in student demographics in the future with greater
number of mature, part-time, disabled and international students.
Mobility: Innovation, as well as internationalisation and globalisation trends, will support the
increasing importance and availability of transnational education, the mobility of students and
universities.
Non-state funding: The funding structure of higher education will change, with more emphasis placed
upon private funding and student contributions, leading to a higher education sector that functions
more like a private than a public sector.
Technological and pedagogical innovations: Development of new technological platforms and tools,
and their increasing use, will create significant opportunities for the adaptation of such technologies to
meet educational needs. HE institutions will seek to improve their teaching and learning strategies as a
result of student demand for new and more flexible courses, methods of delivery, support services.
2. Executive summary
Summarise highlights of the project (one page), including aims/objectives, overall approach,
findings, achievements, and conclusions. The full report may include technical terms, but try to keep
the executive summary in plain English.
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 5 of 94
This rich picture of future learning and teaching was developed as a result of the development
and implementation of a set of innovative research methods. The data collection within CALF
was guided by a research model called Learning Futures, developed for the purposes of the
project by NTF Prof. Gilly Salmon. The model structures a process for pro-active application of
analytical and creative skills for envisaging the future of HE. The outcome of the application of
the model is an understanding of what may happen in the future of teaching and learning in HE
and a clear, shared commitment to creating the preferred future for a higher education institution
(HEI). The Learning Futures model was implemented in 44 collaborative workshops for
imagining the future of learning and teaching. Data was collected using a combination of three
research methods: scenario development, maximum difference scaling surveys and cognitive
mapping interviews. Data was collected from 320 students from UCF and UoL and from 209
contributors from the wider research and teaching communities. A range of literature sources
and policy reports reporting ideas about the future of education were analysed.
The findings were widely disseminated across a community of interest through conference
presentations and workshops, the newsletters and web portals of the two partnering institutions,
the two project blogs and a variety of other web-based dissemination channels.
These achievements ensured that the project met its planned aims and objectives and delivered
its expected outcomes. The added value of the project‟s deliverables lies in the development of
models of learning futures; designing frameworks of how learners can be involved in the
planning, re-shaping and assessment of learning and technologies; development of the capacity
of students and staff at both institutions to imagine and analyse the future of learning; informing
the planning of new structures for the delivery of UCF's courses and new strategies for teaching
and learning at both institutions.
Despite debates as to whether universities have remained “medieval organisations,” unchanged
over the 700–800 years of their existence (Clarke, 1996; Kerr, p.152, 1982) or have been
transformed by major changes (Clarke, 1996; Kyvik, 2004), consensus seems to prevail about
intensifying pressures for reform in HEIs today (Aghion, 2007; LERU, 2006). Technological,
financial, political, regulatory, demographical, cultural and psychological factors bring major
challenges to twenty-first century higher education. These challenges can be viewed as both
threats and opportunities, and it is important that planning and management are not dominated
by short-term thinking about immediate problems and maintaining established practices. In order
to be able to look beyond the constraints of the present, especially when the investment of
significant resources is concerned, HEIs need to sharpen their capacity to systematically explore
and interpret complex trends and influences so as to imagine and prepare for alternative futures
(Lancrin, 2004, Notten, 2006).
At the time of the launch of the CALF project in 2008 three major international initiatives on the
future of higher education were announced. The Centre for Educational Research and Innovation
(CERI) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) launched the
project “University Futures”. It explores the opportunities offered to countries by new trends in
higher education. The research work of CALF was informed by the outcomes of previous work
by the OECD on the future of secondary school learning and future learning environments. Also
in 2008 The Steering Committee of the Intersectoral Platform on Anticipation and Foresight of
UNESCO initiated a series of debates which highlighted the growing need for developing a
3. Background
Summarise the background to the project (and how it builds on previous work) and the need
it for it (and why it is important).
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 6 of 94
capacity for foresight analysis of higher education by intergovernmental organisations,
governments, higher education institutions. The same year the European Science Foundation
(ESF) launched a European Collaborative Research Scheme on Higher Education and Social
Change aimed at developing further the achievements of the ESF project “Higher Education in
Europe beyond 2010: Resolving Conflicting Social and Economic Expectations” (ESF, 2008)
Despite the increased attention directed to the future of higher education students are often
uninvolved in policy deliberations and largely inactive in shaping the future of their educational
processes. Few authentic voices from learners have been interpreted into feasible approaches to
learning or included in projects aiming to create visions for the future of learning and teaching.
Meanwhile, higher education institutions, with their natural conservatism and concern for
tradition and quality, change slowly. They need to look beyond the obvious if they are to prepare
for the future in unknown and uncharted territory.
Involving today‟s learners in a dialogue about the future of learning is essential for ensuring that
strategies for the future of higher education take into account changes in students‟ expectations
and cultures. Students have a unique contribution to make in the developing of realistic visions
of future directions and pathways for learning and teaching. The student perspective is a vital
component in envisioning any possible futures for higher education and the opportunity for
student representation in the efforts for constructing strategies for the future of learning and
teaching can enable greater and more fruitful cooperation.
4.1. Aim
The aim CALF started with the aim to create, explore and present for discussion a variety of
plausible „alternative futures‟ for learning and teaching methods in HE. The scenarios for the
future needed to be grounded and context specific, based on „student voices‟ and regularly
communicated to managers and university teachers for securing their feedback. The project‟s
aim remained unchanged for the duration of the project and guided its development and
implementation.
4.2. Objectives
The objectives agreed at the start of the project are presented in the table below. The right-hand
column indicates changes in the objectives, if such occurred during the project.
Objective Change
1. Surface and capture signals which may influence the future of student
learning.
1.1 Undertake trend analysis about the potential impacts on HE.
1.2 Undertake emerging issue analysis about the potential impacts on HE.
1.3 Present the results to the partners and the sector.
No
2. Involve a wide variety of CALF contributors in developing, understanding
and examining possible, preferred, viable and achievable futures for learning
in HE
2.1 Engage student voices and surface and articulate views about the future
of learning in HEIs at Falmouth with its creative practice-based courses
No
4. Aims and objectives
List the aims and objectives agreed at the start of the project, and note if they changed during
the project.
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 7 of 94
4.3. Research questions
The aims and objectives of the project were translated into three research questions:
1. What are the factors which may influence the future of teaching and learning?
2. What are the ideas about the future of students from University College Falmouth and the
University of Leicester?
3. What are the preferred futures of the students participating the project?
The research questions guided decision-making regarding research approaches, methods for data
collection and analysis.
The research strategy of the CALF project was developed on the basis of the research questions
that the project set out to address, the project‟s objectives and the research setting within which
the project operated. The overall aim of the research strategy was to produce valid, credible and
useful insights about the future of teaching and learning in higher education. This aim led to the
formulation of a research strategy which combined exploratory, descriptive and explanatory
components.
5.1. Exploratory component
The exploratory component of the strategy sought to discover students‟ views about the future of
teaching and learning, as well as capture signals, trends and emerging issues in the HE
environment which may influence the future of teaching and learning.
5.2. Descriptive component
The descriptive component of the research strategy aimed to portray accurately the ideas and
emerging issues identified by the exploratory component.
within a rural environment
2.2 Engage student voices and surface and articulate views about the future
of learning in HEIs within the highly-diverse campus, work-based and
distance learning communities at Leicester
3 Interpret, model and represent ideas emerging from all CALF activities and
secure feedback on ideas
3.1 Involve a wide variety of technological and pedagogical partners,
together with forecasters to interpret results
3.2 Publish to the sector usable ideas and pathways for the future of
pedagogy and learning design
No
5. Methodology
Summarise the overall approach taken and why this approach was chosen over other options
considered. Then describe the methodology in more detail. Depending on the project, this
might include the methodology for research you carried out, technical design or
development, evaluation, etc. Finally, note any specific issues that had to be addressed by
the methodology, e.g. standards, interoperability, scalability, etc.
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 8 of 94
5.3. Explanatory component
The explanatory component was directed towards interpretation and modelling of the ideas about
the future, uncovered by the exploratory component and articulated in the descriptive
component.
5.4. Methodology for the exploratory component
The choice of methods for this component was determined by the need to capture and analyse
data from two sources – the wider HE environment and from students from the two partner
institutions – University College Falmouth and University of Leicester. Two research
approaches were selected in order to satisfy this requirement which led to the application of a
range of research methods.
In order to accomplish the capturing of signals, trends and emerging issues in the HE
environment which may influence the future of teaching and learning, a horizon scanning
approach was adopted. Its purpose was to provide a conceptual overview of published research
reports and policy documents related to the future of higher education in order to identify future
changes in the higher education landscape. The aggregation in a systemic review of future-
relevant materials allowed a special emphasis to be placed on possible opportunities or threats
which might arise in the future but are not visible in the present. The research method of choice
for data collection and data analysis for the horizon scanning was meta-ethnography.
Meta-ethnography was proposed by Noblit and Hare in 1988 as a solution to the problem of
“putting together written interpretive accounts“ (Noblit and Hare, 1988, p.22) where simple
integration is not sufficient. In meta-ethnography the integration is replaced by synthesis as an
activity where separate parts are combined to form a “whole” which is greater than the sum of its
parts (Strike and Posner 1983). The application of the meta-ethnography method involves
selecting for synthesis relevant published research reports and policy documents. These
documents are read in sequence and key concepts are noted down. The key concepts constitute
the raw data for the synthesis. The synthesis is performed by examining the previously identified
key concepts across documents and trying to derive concepts which run through more than one
of the documents being synthesised. These newly derived concepts may not have been explicitly
articulated in any of the original documents but emerge as a result of the meta-ethnographic
synthesis.
The meta-ethnography method in the CALF project was used to review and analyse 24 reports,
summaries, and other policy relevant documents related to the future of higher education, with a
particular emphasis on the UK higher education sector and the growing importance of learning
technologies. In order to compile the relevant literature sources a “pearl-growing” literature
search was undertaken (Hawkins and Wagers, 1982). The Pearl Growing technique involves the
following procedure as proposed by Schlosser et al (2006):
(a) identify a relevant document;
(b) identify the terms under which the article is indexed in a database (in CALF‟s case this was a
Google search);
(c) repeat steps 2 and 3 in other databases;
(d) repeat steps 1–4 for other relevant sources;
(e) finish when the retrieved sources are of diminishing relevance.
The criteria for selection were that a document needed to be produced by sources which were
credible, authoritative, based on expert-opinion and related to the future of learning, teaching,
higher education or students. The documents examined as part of the meta-ethnography study of
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 9 of 94
the CALF project came from a range of sources, including UK government departments, the EU,
the University and College Union (UCU), the HEA, JISC, and a number of other policy-relevant
bodies and organisations. The period that they cover stretches from Franklin and van Harmelen‟s
May 2007 report on Web 2.0 for Content for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education to
Lord Browne‟s report on Securing a Sustainable Future for Higher Education, which was
published in October 2010. The list of analysed documents is enclosed in Appendix 1 and the
main themes the documents cover is in Appendix 2.
The compiled documents were analysed using the meta-ethnography method, Lines-Of-
Argument (LOA) synthesis. It involved building a representation of the whole – the future of
learning and teaching in higher education – from studies of separate trends, components or
factors identified by published reports and policy papers. Britten et al (2002) and Campbell et al
(2003) studied the use of this method for synthesis and report its successful application for the
generation of middle-range theories with stronger explanatory power than a narrative literature
review could produce.
LOA synthesis of the CALF project involved the careful reading of the chosen documents in
order to identify the main concepts. Then the relationships between the concepts arising from the
different papers were considered by a cross-examination of the different papers for common and
recurring concepts. At this stage the synthesis focussed on four key dimensions.
The first two describe the future trends predicted by the analysed documents in terms of
expectations for future changes and expectations for future factors which will remain constant.
The third dimension relates to identified opportunities presented by the identified trends towards
change or stability. The fourth dimension identifies limitations, risks and challenges that the
analysed documents point to.
The four dimensions were placed in a table, synthesising all 24 documents in a way that
represents the main contribution of each of the documents towards each of the four dimensions
of interest for the horizon scanning – expectations for future changes, expectations for future
stability, opportunities and risks.
The difference between meta-ethnography and a traditional narrative or systematic literature
review lies in the systematic identification and charting of the key concepts in the documents
being examined. In the meta-ethnography carried out by the CALF project, the concepts of each
policy report were compared one by one with the four key dimensions in order to test the extent
to which they endorsed or contradicted them. The conclusions of each policy paper were
extracted in the form of an explanation, interpretation or description as appropriate. These
explanations, interpretations and descriptions were then compared across the whole set of
studies. The results of the meta-ethnography component of CALF informed the design and
implementation of the next stage of research activities of the project.
5.5. Methodology for the exploratory component
5.5.1. Maximum Difference Scaling
The research objective of identifying preferred futures for higher education required the use of a
research method which could yield data about the choices which participants in the project
would make from a set of possibilities for the future. A method that addresses this particular
requirement is maximum difference scaling.
The maximum difference scaling method was first proposed by Finn and Louviere (1992) who
applied it to a discrete choice task where a respondent in their study had to choose both the best
and worst option in a given set of options. Maximum difference scaling is a form of the well-
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 10 of 94
established methodology of paired comparisons (Liem et al. 2004) where instead of only
selecting the best option from a pair (binary choice), participants identify the best and the worst
option from sets with more than two options. The maximum difference approach offers a
solution to one of the perennial problems in preference rating research – the difficulty that
people usually have in articulating their preferences (Finn and Louviere, 1992). Presented with a
long list of attributes of a particular object, product, idea, etc. on a scale of 1 (“completely
unimportant”) to 10 (“extremely important”), participants tend to rate many or even most of the
attributes as being of some degree of importance.
In addition it is often impossible for the researchers to estimate the difference between any two
points on the scale as perceived by the respondents. Depending on individual perception the
degree of importance assigned to option 7 “quite important” by one respondent may equal the
degree of importance assigned to option 9 “very important” by another respondent and
traditional rating scales have no means of estimating this difference in perception. Preference
rating instruments are often too blunt to capture the distinction or similarity between responses
given by participants, i.e., they lack in discriminatory power (Louviere et al. 2000).
The decision to use the maximum difference scaling method for identifying preferable futures
brought a number of advantages. Firstly, it offers a more discriminating way to measure attribute
importance than either rating scales (like Likert scales) or the method of paired comparisons
(Cohen 2003). In addition it offers better predictive validity than either ratings scales or the
paired comparisons (Cohen 2003). Thirdly, like other choice-based methods, it has significant
discriminatory power, making it ideal for studies asking participants from a variety of
backgrounds and cultures to select among complex characteristics of a phenomenon (Cohen,
2003), as is the case with the CALF project.
The maximum difference scaling method works on the assumption that the phenomenon of
interest – the future of learning in the case of CALF – has a set of traits, positioned along an
underlying subjective dimension where each trait‟s position along the dimension is determined
by its perceived importance (Auger, Devinney and Louviere 2004). Participants are presented
with questionnaires containing combinations of the traits of interest and asked to choose the
most and the least important trait from each combination.
The design removes any bias from the rating scale since there is only one option to select a
“most” or “least” important trait (Cohen and Markowitz, 2002). It produces individual ordinal
rankings of the importance of the characteristics under study for each participant in the study and
an interval ranking of the same characteristics, indicative of the preferences of the participants as
a group (Louviere et al. 2000).
The method enables participants to decide on the importance of different characteristics of a
phenomenon by multiple comparisons and a number of studies indicate that participants find the
task easy and quick to complete (Louviere et al. 2000). The analysis of the collected data is
relatively simple, consisting of the calculation of a coefficient for each choice. The importance
of each characteristic is then derived by comparing their coefficients – the larger the value of a
coefficient, the higher the importance of its corresponding characteristic. If the coefficient has a
negative value this will indicate that participants have perceived the corresponding characteristic
as unimportant.
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 11 of 94
In order to address the CALF project objective for identifying preferable futures for learning and
teaching, a questionnaire was designed, using the maximum difference scaling method. A total
of 102 questionnaires were completed by students participating in the CALF project, as shown in
Table 1 and Table 2 below:
Table 1
Number of students who completed maximum-difference questionnaires, presented by course and institution
Total number of questionnaires UCF 72
Total number of questionnaires UoL 30
Total number for both institutions UoL and UoF 102
Table 2
Total number of students who completed maximum-difference questionnaires,
The participating students were asked to choose between eleven “most important” or “least
important“ options. The instructions to the students in the questionnaire were:
“ Imagine that it is the Year 2025. Imagine that you have just finished secondary
school and you are considering studying further. Which of the features described in
the questions below would MOST make you want to choose a university or a
college for your further studies and which would LEAST make you want to enrol?”
A copy of the questionnaire is enclosed in Appendix 3.
The eleven options were derived from results of the horizon scanning study as well as the future
scenarios developed by students participating in the exploratory CALF research events and are
presented in Table 3 on the next page.
No. of students Institution Course
55 University College Falmouth BA English with Creative Writing
12 University College Falmouth MA Design
5 University College Falmouth MA 20th Century Art and Design
9 University of Leicester Medicine MBChB 4th
year
21 University of Leicester Post-graduate and research students
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 12 of 94
Table 3
Options for the future of learning and teaching that students had to choose from when completing the questionnaire
Questionnaire Options
1. Quality student accommodation, on-campus student facilities for learning and
leisure, library buildings and library collections of physical books.
2. Strong links with leading edge local and international employers for learning on
the job and work experience while studying.
3. Courses delivered over shorter period than in 2010 with less living costs, earlier
entry into job market and quality degree.
4. Possibility to accumulate course credits from studying abroad or to gain a joint
degree with an overseas institution.
5. Environmentally-friendly practices in every aspect of learning and teaching.
6. Personal face-to-face tutorials with the institution‟s own local teachers.
7. Personal online access to internationally renowned teachers, practitioners and
researchers in online tutorials and computer-based virtual reality environments at
low cost.
8. Guided unlimited online access to internationally renowned quality learning
resources (e-journals, e-books, e-textbooks) and constantly updated in real-time
archives quality educational content for all subjects studied from leading teachers
and researchers.
9. Learning process personalized and supported for the needs of each individual
student, delivered using learning styles, new or traditional technologies, preferred
by the individual student, support provided for the students‟ personal technology.
10. Courses and institutions recommended by other students from your social network
and friends, with possibilities to give constant feedback for your satisfaction and
recommendations.
11. Strong pastoral student support, institutions with proven record for meeting
diversity and special needs.
The design of the maximum difference scaling questionnaire in CALF followed the model
proposed by Finn and Louviere (1992) where participants are asked to complete a questionnaire
with 11 options for the future of learning and teaching, arranged in 12 sets of choices. The
arrangement of the options and sets of choices ensures that each of the options appears 6 times
across all choice sets of the questionnaire. The results of the maximum difference scaling
produced a ranking of the 11 options from “most important” to “least important”. The place of
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 13 of 94
each option in the ranking of all options is calculated by subtracting the number of times that
option has been chosen as “most important” in all questionnaires from the number times it has
been chosen as “least important.” The result is divided by the number of questionnaires
multiplied by the frequency with which each option has appeared in the questionnaire – 6 in the
case of the CALF questionnaire. In this way the level of importance of each option is
standardised and comparable across the sample since it is determined by the number of
participants and the frequency with which each option was listed in the choice sets. The formula
for calculating the standard score is:
A worked out example is as follows: if option 1 is rated “most important” 73 times and “least
important” 14 times in a total of 20 questionnaires where option 1 appears 6 times in each
questionnaire then:
A positive score indicates “important” options and negative scores indicate “unimportant”
options.
The ease of analysis and comparison of options, offered by the use of the maximum difference
method presented a potentially powerful advantage since it enabled straightforward reporting
and presentation of findings, as demonstrated in the Findings and Outputs Section of this report.
The data from the questionnaires was analysed on two levels. The first level was the two partner
institutions which produced two sets of results – one from analysing the questionnaires
completed by University of Leicester students and one from the questionnaires completed by
University of Falmouth students. A comparison of the resulting rankings of preferences was
performed, revealing interesting differences between the two institutions. The second level of
analysis was the calculation of scores from the combined responses of participating students
from both institutions, which looked at their aggregated preferences as one larger group.
5.5.2. Scenario Development
The second aspect of the exploratory component of the CALF project research strategy was to
enable students to generate and articulate ideas about the future of learning and teaching. One of
the challenges that the project set out to tackle was that few authentic voices from students have
been interpreted into feasible approaches to learning and that students are often uninvolved in
policy deliberations and largely inactive in shaping the future of their educational processes
(Butler, 2007). The exploratory component of the research therefore required a methodology
which would enable students to engage in the creation and discussion of views about the future.
In addition, the methodological decisions for this component were guided by the need to ensure
that students‟ ideas of the future were captured, analysed and reported without loss of richness
and authenticity. These considerations led to the selection of the scenario methodology from the
range of methodological approaches offered by the field of futures studies.
option each of appearing ofFrequency iresquestionna ofNumber
least rated timesofNumber -most rated timesofNumber =n ScoredardSta
0.491 =120
59 =
620
14- 73 = Score Standard
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Scenarios are defined as “A quantitative or qualitative picture of a given organization or group,
developed within the framework of a set of specified assumptions” (MacNulty, 1977) which are
then “presented in coherent script-like or narrative fashion” (Schoemaker, 1993). The scenario
method is used for stimulating creative thinking about the future of individuals, organisations or
societies.
On the continuum of analytical tools, scenarios come between deterministic quantitative models
of the future and purely narrative descriptions (Nakicenovic et al. 2000). The generation of
future scenarios in collaborative activities is one of the richer, more accessible and useful
approaches to futures studies compared to conventional questionnaires or interviews (Wildman,
lnayatullah, 1996; Salmon, 2008 ) therefore the scenario methodology used by the CALF project
was applied in group settings.
The scenarios addressing the second strand of the CALF research strategy were generated during
workshops – CALF creative events. The workshop format has been identified in the literature as
appropriate for the creation of scenarios based on broad, interdisciplinary, current and socially
oriented questions about the future (Notten, 2006). The CALF creative events were aimed at
enabling students to develop scenarios for the future of teaching and learning, focussing on the
following set of questions:
1. What aspects of teaching and learning (practices, roles, technologies, content, location)
will change the most in the next 15 years?
2. What factors in the present (social, cultural, economic, environmental, demographic) are
likely to influence the envisaged changes?
3. What aspects of teaching and learning (practices, roles, technologies, content, location)
are likely to remain the same in the next 15 years?
4. What concepts or ideas best describe the future of learning in 15 years time?
5. What actions in the present can help today‟s learners and education practitioners to
prepare for the future of learning and teaching?
The format of the CALF events was adapted for workshops of varying duration – 3 hours, half a
day, whole day and a three weeks course. The workshops consisted of three components – a
presentation of the CALF research model, scenario development session and group presentation
and discussion. During the first part of the workshops the workshop facilitator plays a key role in
introducing the participating students to a variety of ways of thinking about the future of
learning and helping them build a vocabulary which would support discussions about the future.
The scenario development part of the workshop is structured as a competitive game, set up in
Google Maps. The participants are divided into groups and given locations on a Google Map
prepared in advance for the workshop. Screenshots of the Google Map CALF game are provided
in Appendix 4. At each location on the map the participants have to solve a challenge which
would give them an answer to one of the questions above, in this way gradually constructing a
scenario narrative.
The workshops conclude with presentations by each group of participants of their scenarios and
a discussion. Participants discuss the application of digital and web technologies and possible
ways in which they could change the future of learning and are encouraged to think about the
likelihood of future scenarios.
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The number of students who participated in CALF creative events, their institution, the number
and the type of workshops which took place during the project as well as the total number of
workshops and participants are presented in Table 4 below.
Number of students Institution Workshop type Number of
workshops
105 University College
Falmouth
Half-day workshop 20
24 University of Leicester Half-day workshop 3
60 University of Leicester 3 hours workshop 6
14 University of Leicester 3-weeks course 2
Total number of workshop participants Total number of workshops
203 31
Table 4 – Number of participants and workshops according to institution
The student generated scenarios produced at the CALF creative events yielded data which were
very rich with meaning and often pointed to sometimes contradictory views. An approach to data
analysis similar to the one adopted for the analysis of policy documents was used to analyse the
student-generated scenarios. The approach consisted of five stages:
a) Developing familiarity
b) Recognising significance
c) Emerging themes
d) Clustering themes
e) Uncovering meaning
The stage of achieving familiarity involved the reading and re-reading of the student scenarios.
During this familiarising process the aim was to reveal a holistic picture of what the data pointed
to, without reaching conclusions too early about significant or critical patterns within the data.
The next stage was recognising significance or identifying and highlighting those key parts of
the accumulated data that the researcher saw as significant on the basis of their relevance to the
subject of the study.
At the third stage of analysis the data identified as significant were grouped together and
assigned themes. At the fourth stage data belonging to each theme was identified, in order to
attempt to discover the „functions‟ of the theme in the narrative. Data that represents the
identified themes from stage three was clustered together. The last fifth stage involved critical
reading through the data identified as belonging to each theme, in order to describe the themes in
specific terms and attempt to „discover the „functions‟ of the theme in the talk‟ (Alexiadou,
2001, p. 60).
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5.6 Methodology for the explanatory component
Students‟ ideas about the future, uncovered by the exploratory component and articulated in the
descriptive component, provided rich material for the interpretation and modelling of networks
of key concepts about the future of learning and teaching. The method of cognitive mapping was
used to achieve the aims of the exploratory component.
The cognitive mapping method emerged on the basis of a theory from cognitive psychology, an
area of knowledge studying how people receive, record and utilise information (Hodginson et
al., 2004). The theory is Kelly‟s personal construct theory, according to which people make
sense of the world and their experience through the development of constructs or internal
representations of reality (Kelly, 1955). The constructing of internal representations enables
them to plan their actions and anticipate the future. Cognitive mapping attempts to capture and
document this process of sense-making through a set of qualitative interviewing techniques,
designed to elicit thinking about causes and effects as well as to explain causal links (Eden and
Ackerman, 2004). It is used for the analysis of complex problems and the exploration of values,
concerns, goals and possibilities for actions.
The term cognitive mapping refers to the process of eliciting, graphically representing and
analysing a person‟s thinking about an issue or a problem (Eden, 1992). The resulting product is
called a cognitive map which is a type of directed graph, consisting of brief verbal statements
called nodes, connected by unidirectional arrows which represent causal relationships between
the nodes as perceived and expressed by the person whose thinking is being mapped. The
direction of the arrows implies causality of the relationship believed to exist by the participant.
Cognitive maps are prepared through a process of interviewing and represent the subjective
thinking of the interviewee (Eden and Ackerman, 2004). They usually have a hierarchical
structure where statements expressing overarching goals and aims appear at the top of the graph
and statements representing deeply held beliefs, motivations and convictions occupy the bottom
of the graph. The statements between the top and the bottom of the graph express actions and
options for actions and consequences, connecting the beliefs and motivations of a person‟s
thinking to their goals and aims. The statement from which an arrow originates (the tail) is
judged to be the cause of the statement to which the arrow leads (the head).
The analysis of cognitive maps uses simple procedures involving the number of concepts or
nodes, the number of arrows and their directionality as determined by the number of heads and
tails (Eden and Ackerman, 2004). The first type of analysis describes the complexity of the map
by calculating the ratio between nodes and arrows. Idealised thinking about an issue is
characterised by a cognitive map where the number of heads (consequences) is smaller than the
number of tails (causes), indicating that the person‟s reasoning is dominated by a single or a few
overarching goals (Eden and Ackerman, 2004). Other analyses include the identification of
clusters and central concepts – nodes with a large concentration of incoming and outgoing
nodes, indicating that the issue captured in that particular concept dominates the person‟s
thinking. The analyses of potent options uncovers concepts from which many arrows originate,
suggesting that these concepts are seen by the person being interviewed as having great potential
for action (Eden and Ackerman, 2004).
Cognitive mapping interviews were carried out with 8 post-graduate students from the
University of Leicester and 7 students from University College Falmouth. The University of
Leicester students participated in the cognitive mapping interviews as part of a consultation on
the future learning and teaching strategy of the university and the interviews focussed on their
views for the future of teaching and learning at the University of Leicester. The participants from
University College Falmouth were BA students in Dance, BA students in Choreography and BA
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students in Music who prior to the interviews had taken part in 5 days of activities for exploring
the role of technologies for the future of art education. The shortest interview was 45 minutes
and the longest lasted an hour and 20 minutes. The mapping was done during the course of the
interview and the interviews were recorded using a voice recorder. The recordings were used
later by the project‟s Research Associate for refinement and double-checking of the maps
produced during the interviews. A cognitive map from an interview with a participant in the
CALF project is included in Appendix 5 as an example of the methodology.
5.7. Summary of methodologies used in the CALF research project
The project used a combination of four research methods in order to find answers to the research
questions regarding the future of learning and teaching. It used horizon scanning of policy
documents and reports relevant to the future of learning and teaching; maximum difference
scaling for establishing students preferred futures; scenario development for generation of ideas
about the future and cognitive mapping for interpreting and modelling students ideas about the
future. The multitude of research methods provided a form of methodological triangulation of
the trustworthiness and authenticity of the research findings. In quantitative studies the results
are often measurable statistically, which facilitates the measurement of success of the study.
Qualitative studies are built on words and do not involve any formal measurement such as
statistical analysis, but support analysis of the concepts found in the theory and practice (Leedy,
1993)
The implementation process of the project was guided by the need to resolve two key challenges.
First, it needed to develop means for identifying, approaching and motivating students for
participation in the project activities.
Second, it needed to design a technique for eliciting students‟ ideas about the future of learning
and teaching, avoiding the main shortcomings of futures studies, identified by O‟Brien (2004,
p.715):
- Predictability of the themes, events and influencing factors in the future envisaged by
participants.
- Tendency to develop overly optimistic or pessimistic scenarios.
- Focus on current/next/big issues and “future myopia.”
- Typical implicit assumptions.
- Unimaginative presentation of scenarios.
6.1. The CALF implementation model – Learning Futures
The project‟s implementation was based on the assumption that the solution of the second
challenge – adopting an approach for eliciting students‟ ideas in creative and imaginative ways,
may show the way to solving the first challenge and motivate students for participation. A model
“Learning Futures” was developed and implemented in the form of workshops – creative events.
The model structures the pro-active application of analytical and creative skills and tools for
generating ideas about the future of individuals, educational institutions or practices. As a result
a shared understanding emerges of what may happen in the future of teaching and learning, and
6. Implementation
Describe how you planned and implemented the project work and the activities it involved.
Depending on the project, this might cover technical development, processes, how you
conducted user studies, etc. Include any problems or issues that arose and how you handled
them, where readers can learn from your experience. Tell the story of what you did rather
than listing detailed activities.
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a clear, shared commitment to creating a preferred future. The model can be described in terms
of its four components. A graphical representation of the model is provided in Appendix 6.
6.1.1. Hindsight
As the future has no place to come from but the past (Neustadt & May, 1986), this component
encourages participants to use past information and experiences in order to reduce uncertainty
regarding future decisions and actions. The knowledge stored in organisational memory helps
participants to understand linkages of causality and chronology, to look behind the occurrence of
specific events and look for patterns and structures that underpin their occurrence. The Hindsight
component brings several advantages to the Learning Futures model, according to the literature
on futures studies (Neustadt & May, 1986). Firstly, ideas for the future that are critically
analysed in the context of an institution‟s history and the past‟s impact on the present are likely
to be more effective than those created in a historical vacuum (Kaivo-oja et al. 2004). Second,
the implementation of future strategies and plans framed within the context of an institution‟s
history are less likely to meet with resistance (Kaivo-oja et al. 2004). Third, plans and strategies
for the future that ignore the inertial power of an organisation‟s history are more likely to fail
than those that consider it (Neustadt & May, 1986).
6.1.2. Insight
The Insight component takes the form of an analysis of a broad range of issues internal to HEIs
as well as an environmental scan of the present, including global, political, economic,
technological, environmental and social trends. It identifies a wide range of individuals,
organisations and factors which can have an effect on or be influenced by the future under
consideration. Taken-for-granted assumptions are uncovered and participants discuss values and
rationalities beyond their present day-to-day context.
6.1.3. Foresight
The foresight component emphasises the importance of not attempting to predict, but analysing a
range of possible futures. It focuses on comprehending the variety of possible future situations
for learning and teaching by interweaving the layers of information uncovered in the Insight and
Hindsight components, including forces that shape the future, scenarios, future opportunities,
and potential trend changes. The outcome is tangible recommendations for future actions,
grounded in common perceptions of the present and the past, and unfolded, logically, from the
perceived present into a rich picture of a future via a believable progression (Wright et al. 2009).
As a result a strategic conversation within the HEI is enabled which prompts renewed scrutiny of
both the institution and its current success formula and current strategies – the viability of which
is tested against the future foresight outcomes.
6.1.4. Learning Oversight
An overarching component brings together the outcomes of the Insight, Hindsight and Foresight
components to tap into existing capabilities within the educational institutions to inform
planning. The Learning Oversight component serves a double function in the Learning futures
model, reflected by the double meaning of the term – 1. „to manage and direct‟ and 2. „to
overlook and underestimate.‟ The component emphasises that the future cannot be predicted and
that it will always present surprises. At the same time it denotes the possibility to determine the
decisions that can be made in the present to create the best of the possible futures. The improved
understanding of an educational institution‟s past, present and possible future enables users to
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build a picture of the future from new data, information and experiences. The success of the
Learning Futures process is made possible by ensuring that the new knowledge gained and
interpreted by participants through the Insight, Hindsight and Foresight is shared, thus enabling
their organisations to implement changes, make new decisions and take new actions.
6.2. CALF workshops
The four components were translated into workshop activities aimed at encouraging creativity,
collaboration and learning. Participants engage in group exercises that include each component
of the model - Hindsight, Insight, Foresight and Oversight. Participants use the internet as a
resource for information on relevant issues, learn to use technologies for collaboration and
learning such as wikis, Google Maps, Google Docs, word cloud applications, blogs, Second
Life, Twitter, etc. The activities are guided by the facilitator to ensure that participants learn to
use these tools in ways which will be relevant to their work and studies outside of the workshop
and to emphasise the expectation that the scenarios will result in creative output. The model
emphasises the development of action-oriented scenarios and the importance of creating
scenarios which the participants can communicate and advocate. The model achieves this
outcome by asking the participants to devise alternative ways of presenting their ideas – by
creating podcasts or videos of their scenarios, presenting them and discussing them as part of the
workshop in order to promote their impact.
The emphasis on group work and collaboration in the choice of futures workshops as one of the
research instruments in CALF is helps to establish a shared sense of ownership of the created
scenarios for the future of learning, as to what is feasible and desirable (da Cunha et al., 2007).
6.3. Identifying, approaching and motivating students for participation in the project
activities
Two different approaches to identifying and approaching students for participation in CALF
events were successfully used in the implementation of the project at the University of Leicester
and at University College Falmouth.
6.3.1. University College Falmouth model of student involvement
At University College Falmouth student participation was achieved as a result of fostering a
close collaboration with course leaders and raising their awareness of the aims of the project and
the potential benefits of participation for students and for the institution. Achievement of this
result allowed the integration of activities designed according to the Creating Academic
Learning Futures model into the curriculum of existing courses with large number of students
participating, organising special CALF events in collaboration with course leaders with a focus
on questions about the future of learning in their particular area of expertise.
6.3.2. University of Leicester model of student involvement
At the University of Leicester the key to maximising student participation was tapping into
existing student-created and run networks, such as clubs and societies, and collaborating closely
with the members of their committees. In this way event plans were developed where the CALF
model components were modified in a way which brings the content and activities of the CALF
event in line with the interests and needs of the particular student society or club while at the
same time ensuring that the CALF research outcomes are achieved. Opportunities for integrating
CALF into university-wide initiatives were sought and successfully utilised, such as inviting
students presenting at the annual Festival of Postgraduate Research to participate in CALF
events. Close collaboration with the sabbatical team of the Students‟ Union and the student
newspaper also proved fruitful for attracting participants to CALF events.
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Following the example of successful integration of CALF activities in the curriculum of existing
courses at University College Falmouth a collaboration between the project and the University
of Leicester medical school was launched on the initiative and with the support of one of the
project Steering Group members. The collaboration resulted in the running of a three-week
module in learning futures for medical students for two consecutive years in 2009 and 2010. The
students learnt to use a range of new technologies for learning and collaboration. Feedback from
the students included:
“It was great to be outside the hospital, take a step back from practical
medicine and learn about something new.”
“The best thing I have done at Medical School”
“Good perspective on demographics, economical, ethical and future of the
medical profession. Encouraged more creative use of computers. Gave me tools
of how to prepare for the future.”
Quotes from feedback from UoL students who participated in the CALF Medical Special Component
6.4. Motivation of students to participate in CALF
Embedding learning activities in the CALF creative events, articulating and discussing the
expected learning outcomes with participants was part of the solution developed by the project to
address the problem of attracting and motivating students to participate in the CALF events at
the University of Leicester. At the first two events which took place before the CALF
implementation model was developed students were given book vouchers as an incentive for
participation. After the learning model was implemented nine half-day workshops and two three-
week courses were run in which no material incentives were given and students participated for
the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and skills and practise the preparation of future
scenarios and strategies, which led to budgetary savings for the project. The ethical perspective
to this aspect of the project implementation was that students could benefit from participating in
the project in a way that acknowledged their intellectual contributions to the development of
ideas and scenarios. In line with this aspiration and as a way of demonstrating to students that
their ideas about the future matter and are being taken into account an immediate follow-up to
participants‟ ideas about employability was integrated into the project. The scenario
development and learning activities at UoL were aligned with the University‟s programme for
employability skills – the Leicester Award for Employability. The award can be achieved by
students participating in programmes designed to help students to develop, assess, recognise and
record the employability skills they are gaining through extra and co-curricular activities. A
CALF module of learning futures activities was approved as a programme eligible for the
Leicester Award for Employability Skills to participating students. The CALF employability
module would have been another channel for recruiting and motivating students to participate in
the project activities. Unfortunately, the process for achieving approval took a considerable
amount of time and by the time it was awarded, the data collection stage of the project was near
completion and launching the employability module would have been unsustainable. The
approval of the proposed programme by the university, however, indicates that integrating a
process of consultation with students about the future of their university into an institutionally-
supported employability skills award programme may be a cost-effective feasible option with
mutual benefits for participating students and their university.
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6.5. Recommendations for replicating the CALF implementation process
- Ensure that the futures with which we ask the students to engage are personal to them,
i.e. relevant to the students‟ own context, aspirations and ideas, as well as usable and
actionable for the students in planning their own future in and after university.
- Ensure the Learning Futures process is legitimate and institutionally-supported for the
students through interaction, dialogue and institutional recognition of the students‟
learning outcomes in the Learning Futures process.
- Enable students to express their highest aspirations for what they want to create. The
Learning Future vision aims to engage students at the level of their highest aspirations for
„making a difference‟ for their own learning and for the learning and teaching in the
future.
- Create and facilitate activities which enable students to stretch beyond the limits of their
current realities. Challenges that are easy to achieve never bring out the best efforts of a
group and students are motivated by activities which make them ask themselves "Is this
really possible?" The Learning Futures activities enable students to articulate the future
as a bold adventure with important outcomes, which gives them a sense they are
empowered to make important contributions and stretch beyond what they perceived as
personal limits.
- Present the Learning Futures as a process which is achievable or will have an impact
within a specific time-frame. Students‟ ideas for the future may push the boundaries of
change in teaching and learning but they have to believe that they can make it happen.
The research findings reported in this section address the research questions which guided the
activities of the CALF project:
While the research strategy adopted by the project had different methodological components
corresponding to the different research questions, the analysis of the data from the application of
the different methodologies produced similar results which complement and enhance each other
as themes, describing the future of learning and teaching. The agreement across the results is
seen as evidence of successful methodological triangulation, increasing the authenticity and
trustworthiness of the research findings.
The research findings of the project are presented in two stages. First, findings from the meta-
ethnography on future-related policy documents are discussed. The discussion sets the context
7. Outputs and findings
Explain the end results of the project work in an objective way. Depending on the project, it
might include research results, findings, evaluation results, data, etc. If the project created
something tangible like content, a portal, or software, please provide a website link/reference
or indicate how it may be accessed by the wider community. Engage the reader, and avoid a
long list of deliverables.
1. What are the factors which may influence the future of teaching and learning?
2. What are the ideas about the future of students from University College Falmouth and
the University of Leicester?
3. What are the preferred futures of the students participating the project?
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for the second stage, presenting the findings generated from research work with the student
participants. The findings from the analysis of student-generated data are presented according to
emerging themes rather than according to research methodology. The themes allow the weaving
of ideas about the future of learning into a story told by the voices of the participating students,
which was one of the primary research objectives of the project. The themes emerged from the
ideas in the student scenarios, then their importance was rated using the maximum difference
questionnaires and the use of cognitive mapping revealed the values, aims and decisions
underlying the students‟ thinking about the different themes.
7.1. Findings from the horizon scanning
The findings relevant to the first research question were the result of a horizon scanning meta-
ethnography of 24 reports, summaries, and other documents related to the future of higher
education, with a particular emphasis on the UK higher education sector. The analysed
documents came from a range of sources, including UK government departments, the EU, the
UCU, the HEA, JISC, and a number of organisations. The findings of the meta-ethnography are
reported below in four sections, in accordance with the adopted research design:
- Expectations for future changes;
- Expectations for future stability;
- Future opportunities;
- Future risks.
7.1.1. Future Trends: Change
- Increased diversity in student demographics
A number of trends were identified by the documents as signals for impending change in higher
education. Amongst the most commonly identified is the fact that the student body, at least in the
UK, is becoming more diverse and will probably continue to do so (see, for example, National
Student Forum, 2009; Bradwell, 2009). The increased diversity will include a greater number of
mature, part-time, and disabled students who may have different needs to the rest of the student
body (Callender et. al., 2010; Pollard et. al., 2008). In fact, it is notable that several of the official
government reports placed significant emphasis upon issues concerning diversity, particularly in
terms of methods of access to higher education (Mandelson, 2009; Browne, 2010).
Another group that is set to grow is international students. Many of the documents reviewed
identify the globalisation of the higher education as a particular driver for change (see, for
example, European Commission, 2009; Mandelson, 2009; Bone, 2009). They point out that, in
order for institutions in the UK (and EU) to compete, they will be forced to expand the focus of
their operations beyond a narrow national base. One EU report even points out that this is a
particular problem in the EU as there will shortly be a decline in the number of young people
across Europe (High Level Expert Forum on Mobility, 2008). The new global focus is predicted
to include both the recruitment of international students and the undertaking of higher education
activities abroad, particularly in partnership with institutions in the target country (Humfrey,
2009; UKCISA, 2010). Within the EU, there is a particular focus on increasing the ability of
learners to achieve mobility between the higher education systems in different countries,
particularly different countries within the EU (European Commission, 2009; High Level Expert
Forum on Mobility, 2008).
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- Mobility of students and mobility of universities across borders
The predicted expansion of functions for higher education institutions is not limited to
internationalisation. The Edgeless University report (Bradwell, 2009), in particular, suggests
that, faced with new, extensive and widely accessible information networks (on the internet),
universities will need to expand beyond their traditional role as campus-bound providers of
knowledge. Instead they will experience a „sprawl‟ in their functions, as new forms of teaching,
knowledge dissemination and public outreach extend beyond the campus into the unbounded
(„edgeless‟) realm of the internet.
- Growing importance of technology
Indeed, most of the examined documents predict that changes in technology will be significant
for the future form and function of higher education (see, for example, Learnovation, 2008;
Browne et. al., 2008; Cooke, 2009). The Horizon Report (Johnson et. al., 2010), in particular,
describes a number of technologies that are predicted to be most important to education in the
future, including mobile computing, open content, e-books, augmented reality, gesture-based
computing and visual data analysis. Many of the other analysed documents also pick up on some
of these developments, such as e-books and open content (see, for example, Carpenter, 2010;
Learnovation, 2008; Browne et. al., 2008). Particularly important amongst the widely discussed
developments is the increasing prevalence of interactive and social computing technologies and
Web 2.0, which allow for more collaborative interaction and social learning opportunities (see,
for example, Melville, 2009; Armstrong and Franklin, 2008; Franklin and van Harmelen, 2007).
Related to the development of these technologies is their widespread use amongst younger
generations (future students), and the extent to which they are now generally familiar and
comfortable with a wide range of new technologies, including Web 2.0, and, indeed, expect such
technology to form a central plank in their lives (Bradwell, 2009; Sutch, 2010). One report, for
example, points out that young people now spend more time online than they do watching
television (Melville, 2009). Another suggests that students, used to the instantaneous nature of
the internet, now expect to have 24-hour access to support services (Ramsden, 2009). It must be
noted, however, that this transition is not always described as a radical step change. One report
examining the academic practices of research students from „Generation Y‟ (those born between
1982 and 1994) suggests that the students who have not been surrounded by this technology for
their whole lives have more traditional information-seeking behaviours than those who have
grown up with the wide availability of the internet, although they remain very familiar with
modern technologies (Carpenter, 2010).
- Increased role of non-state funding of HE and student contributions towards
funding
Finally, and particularly amongst government reports, it is predicted that the funding structure of
higher education will change, with more emphasis placed upon private funding and student
contributions, leading to a higher education sector that functions more like a private than a
public sector (Mandelson, 2009; Browne, 2010). Such predictions are often made in light of both
the current poor economic climate and existing trends in UK higher education funding.
Furthermore, some of the documents suggest that these factors may lead to a reduction in the
levels of higher education financing (UCU, 2010; Bradwell, 2009).
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7.1.2. Future Trends: Stability
- Continued drive towards excellence in teaching and learning
In addition to suggesting how the future might differ from the present, many of the documents
suggest aspects of teaching and learning as well as educational institutions that are not expected
to undergo significant changes in the future. One of these aspects is presented by the Edgeless
University report (Bradwell, 2009) as a limit to the change brought by the predicted growth of
higher education functions. That is, that the place of the university as a store of expertise and
knowledge capital and a space for the development of such expertise will not be sidelined, even
though new technologies and societal attitudes allow for learning and knowledge building
outside official higher education structures. In fact, this is an assumption implicit in all of the
documents as they attempt to predict and shape the form of higher education into the future, and
is given particular prominence as many of the government-commissioned reports place
significant emphasis upon the need for the UK‟s higher education sector to remain a world-class
provider of teaching and learning and a significant driver of our knowledge economy
(Mandelson, 2009; Browne, 2010).
- Students’ preference for face-to-face interactions in learning and teaching
Several of the analysed documents maintain the stability of the tradition of the pursuit of
excellence in teaching and learning which they expect to continue (see, for example, Franklin
and van Harmelen, 2007; Ramsden, 2009; Bradwell, 2009). Furthermore, it is worth noting that
several of the documents that are concerned explicitly with the importance of technology for
learning emphasise the fact that students do not (and, it is suggested, will not) wish to see
technology dominate their education. The reports maintain that students still place great
emphasis upon the face-to-face aspects of learning and often struggle to imagine how recent
technology might be helpfully used in their education (Bradwell, 2009; Melville, 2009; Sutch,
2010). One report concerning adult learners and their engagement with higher education points
out that even though students value flexibility, they still generally prefer direct contact to online
or distance provision (Pollard et. al., 2008). Despite the introduction of fees and subsequent
focus on the financial benefits of higher education, students have not adopted a consumerist
view of their education as a commodity, and continue to highly value education and their
learning experiences (Ramsden, 2009).
- Funding constraints
Finally, despite this continued focus on the quality of teaching and learning, another constant
that is predicted to extend into the future (particularly in light of the financial crisis) is
constrained funding. The nature of this trend is unclear, as is evidenced by the fact that it has
also been mentioned above with relation to future change. It is clear that many of the documents
argue that higher education funding is an important issue moving into the future and that the
current economic climate will mean a reduction in government funding (Browne, 2009;
Bradwell, 2009; Cooke, 2009). Indeed, some of the more negative responses to the government‟s
proposed higher education policies place great weight on the fear that it will lead to
underinvestment in teaching and learning (UCU, 2010), whilst even the reports upon which such
policies are based place significant emphasis on financial restraint (Browne, 2010; Mandelson,
2009). However, whilst many reports fear insufficient funding, several of them suggest that it is
a historic trend, particularly with regard to the development of technology-enhanced learning,
implying that such underfunding could be accurately characterised as change (see, for example,
Cooke, 2009; Armstrong and Franklin, 2008).
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7.1.3. Opportunities to Promote Change
- Technological innovations
Building on the trends described above, the documents identify a significant number of
opportunities through which positive change can be promoted in the higher education sector. In
particular many of the trends are frequently described as enabling innovations and the
development of new teaching and learning techniques and methods. The most significant
example of this across the documents relates to changes and developments regarding technology.
Given the development of new technological platforms and tools, and the increasing prevalence
of their use in the lives of future (and current) students, there are significant opportunities for the
adaptation of such technologies to meet educational needs, especially when students and staff are
given time to experiment and innovate (see, for example, Bradwell, 2009; Learnovation, 2008;
Sutch, 2010). Two of the documents stress the fact that since students still value traditional
modes of teaching and learning, this opportunity ought to be conceptualised as technology-
enhanced learning, rather than technology-dominated learning (National Student Forum, 2010;
Melville, 2009)
Many of the documents specifically identify Web 2.0 technologies as potentially important
elements in the development of a higher education system that will place particular focus upon
social and collaborative learning and will enable the personalisation of the learning experience
of any individual student, an issue that is particularly important to students as demonstrated in
the 2009 annual report of the National Student Forum (Franklin and van Harmelen, 2007;
Melville, 2009; Armstrong and Franklin, 2008). Another technological development identified
as particularly important is the increased prominence of open content, which provides the
opportunity to institutions and the sector as a whole to develop a set of resources that are more
widely available (perhaps even to the wider public as part of the university‟s „sprawl‟) and more
easily accessible to a diverse range of students and other individuals (Bradwell, 2009; Bone,
2009; Redecker et. al., 2009).
- Opportunities for pedagogical and student-support innovations
Alongside the impact of technological innovations many of the other trends identified above also
encourage institutions to improve their teaching and learning strategies. For example, many of
the reports argue that increasing diversity in the student body creates demand for new and more
flexible course structures and methods of delivery, as well as properly focused support services.
It is believed that this will create possibilities for the reform of support services, and the
introduction of new course structures (particularly modular ones with the possibility of
transferrable credit) and new educational methods, especially “technology-enhanced learning”
(National Student Forum, 2009; Pollard et. al., 2008; Callender et. al., 2010).
- Transnational provision
The globalisation of education can also open up new opportunities by creating a demand for
support (and particularly careers) services that focus upon the specific needs of international
students, which is often done by using the internet to connect with employers and mentors in
their own countries (UKCISA, 2010). Several of the documents highlight the increasingly
important concept of transnational education (education in one country, which is primarily
overseen by an institution in another), which can promote the development of more flexible
courses (for example, two years at a partner institution in the student‟s home country and one at
the central institution in the UK) and more flexible modes of delivery and support (through
distance and online learning) (Bone, 2009; Humfrey, 2009).
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- Opportunities for student empowerment
New forms of education delivery will provide opportunities for the renegotiation of the roles of
both teachers and students, with the student becoming more active in shaping their own, unique
education, and the teacher becoming less of an instructor and more of a guide and mentor in this
process (Sutch, 2010). Similarly, the introduction of technology into education can provide a
stimulus for the development of new pedagogical method. The analysed documents focus on the
development of new modes of assessment and feedback for work that is provided online and is a
collaborative effort (Redecker et. al., 2009). The generation of new modes of assessment and
feedback is particularly important as students, through the National Student Forum, have
expressed a desire for more constructive feedback (National Student Forum 2009).
The opportunities for change described above are further supported by several factors that are
already present in the higher education system. Many of the recommendations made by the
analysed documents put an emphasis on the ability of sectoral bodies, such as JISC and the
HEA, to promote and support change while at the same time highlighting the importance of
enthusiastic practitioners in continuing the progress that has already been achieved (see, for
example, Melville, 2009; Browne et. al., 2008). Since many of the documents reviewed aim to
promote and encourage change are part of government attempts to review higher education
policy, it is reasonable to assume that there is a will at governmental level to bring about change
and to enhance and support the quality of teaching and learning in higher education.
7.1.4. Risks and Challenges
- The digital divide
There are also elements of the current higher education system (and the wider world) that serve
to impede the possible progress described above. With regard to technology-enhanced learning
the foremost of these is what is often referred to as the „digital divide‟. Amongst students (and
staff) there is a wide range of levels of skill, familiarity, comfort with, and access to modern
technology. Not all students are completely computer literate, and many staff do not have the
skills to develop or adopt new, technology-enhanced teaching and learning methods. In fact,
several of the documents note that although most students can use the internet, many of them do
not know how to use it in an efficient and rigorous manner to locate information relevant to their
learning. These deficiencies in skills, access and information literacies must be rectified if the
development of new forms of education is to be successful (see, for example, Sutch, 2010;
Redecker et. al., 2009; Franklin and van Harmelen, 2007).
- Lack of strategic foresight and planning on institutional level
However, many of these documents suggest that the systematic and strategic plans and visions
necessary to eradicate these difficulties and enhance the possibilities of progress beyond the
capabilities of isolated forward-thinking practitioners are not in place at either institutional or
more central levels (Melville, 2009; Browne et. al., 2008; Cooke, 2009). Furthermore, the
strategic plans for teaching and learning that do exist are, in some of the documents, criticised
for failing to take into account the increasingly diverse needs of their increasingly diverse
student populations (National Student Forum, 2009; Pollard et. al., 2008). Progress, therefore,
requires new and better focused strategic plans at both institutional and central levels. In fact, the
development of such plans is a central component of the recommendations of many of the
documents (Melville, 2009; Browne et. al., 2008; Cooke, 2009). Such plans are particularly
important given the technical difficulties of implementing a wide-ranging ICT strategy, and the
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complex ethical and legal issues surrounding open content, attribution and intellectual property
(Franklin and van Harmelen, 2007).
- Inadequate funding mechanisms
Even with suitable strategies and plans, progress may be impeded by a lack of funding. Some of
the documents argue that more funding is necessary if new models of teaching and learning are
to be successfully developed (see, for example, Franklin and van Harmelen, 2007; Mandelson,
2009). In response to potential government policy based on the Browne Report, the UCU even
argue that new models of higher education funding will leave teaching and learning dramatically
underfunded (UCU, 2010). The analysed documents are not united on this point. The Browne
Report itself, for example, suggests that its reforms will actually increase the funding directed
towards teaching and learning as funding will follow student choice, which will create
competition and encourage improvement (Browne, 2010).
- Inadequate incentives for learning and teaching innovation
A final problem identified is that appropriate incentivisation and career rewards are not provided
for those who focus on improving teaching and learning. Although this is in part a problem
related to the lack of sufficient funding for such rewards, it is also identified with inflexible and
research-focused institutional cultures (Browne et. al., 2008). Such cultures may also serve to
inhibit the development of new styles of teaching and learning, as they are often backward-
looking and focused upon traditional methods (Melville, 2009).
7.1.5. Conclusion of the horizon scanning
The meta-ethnography of the analysed documents concludes that certain trends (in particular
those that reflect increasing diversity in the student body and greater use and availability of
increasingly advanced technology) can create significant opportunities to develop innovative
teaching and learning activities in higher education in the UK. The achievement of these
innovations will not be without challenges, and the last section of this analysis identified several
such challenges, among which poor institutional planning, skills gaps and under-funding. With
regard to the latter of these, it is worth noting that opinions, trends, challenges and opportunities
related to financial issues are the least clear amongst the documents.
Many reports do not even mention them beyond the implicit assumption that their
recommendations might be funded. For example, whilst the UCU (2010) fear underfunding,
Browne (2010) sees a bright future with greater private investment creating competition and
more than off-setting the reduction in public funding. Similarly, it is unclear whether any
constraints on funding for the development of teaching and learning would be a change in the
system or provide consistency, as, whilst many of the documents celebrate the world class higher
education system in the UK (Mandelson, 2009; Browne, 2010), others lament under-funding of
teaching and learning (UCU, 2009), and highlight the ways in which the UK is falling behind
with relation to investments in ICT infrastructure (Cooke, 2009).
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7.2. Findings from the student participation component
Since the emerging themes for the future of learning and teaching were articulated for the
purposes of the maximum difference questionnaires, each theme is presented first in terms of its
importance and then discussed in light of the findings from the scenario development and the
cognitive mapping interviews.
Where there is conflicting evidence with regard to a theme from the three different research
approaches the contradiction is highlighted in a discussion. Also discussed separately are
findings from the scenario development or cognitive mapping which do not fall into the themes
studied by the maximum difference questionnaires but which can offer interesting insights into
individual student‟s thinking about the future of learning and teaching.
The analyses of the questionnaire data revealed some interesting results regarding students‟
preferences towards the set of options for the future of learning and teaching, derived from the
previously generated student scenarios and the analysis of policy documents. Table 5 on page 30
shows the ranking according to importance for the eleven possible aspects of future learning and
teaching studied by the maximum difference scaling questionnaire survey.
The items in the table are arranged from the ones which students from both institutions
considered as most important at the top to the ones considered least important at the bottom with
negative scores. The scores are calculated by adding together the questionnaire results for both
institutions. Tables 6 and 7 present the scores for University of Leicester and University College
Falmouth respectively. Graph 1 on the next page illustrates the distribution of combined scores
for all questionnaire items and the preferences of the students from the two institutions.
The scores for the individual questionnaire items comparing the preferences of the students from
the two institutions and the combined importance score are provided in Graphs 2 to 9 together
with discussion and interpretation of the score.
Bars on the graphs positioned to the right of the zero axis indicate the corresponding item has
been ranked as “most important”. Bars on the graphs positioned to the left of the zero axis
indicate that the corresponding item has been ranked as “least important”. The length of the bars
corresponds to the size of the score that item has received – the longer a bar, the stronger the
reported importance of its corresponding item in the questionnaire and the shorter a bar, the
weaker its importance according to the participants in the study.
It is interesting to note the institutional differences illustrated by Graph 1 on the next page, with
particular reference to items 4, 6, 7, 8 and 11. In the case of item 4, which concerns the
importance of quality accommodation, the graph reveals that while for UCF students this item
was among the most important, for UoL students it was among the least important. The data
analysis points to similar conclusions with regard to items 6, 7, 8 and 11 which are discussed in
more detail individually in the following sections of the report.
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-0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Scores
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Qu
esti
on
nair
e I
tem
s Combined UoL and UoF
UoL
UoF
Graph 1 Distribution of combined scores for all questionnaire items and the preferences of the students from the two institutions
1
1 Questionnaire Items corresponding to the numbers in the vertical axis
1. Strong links with leading edge local and international employers for learning on the job and work experience while studying.
2. Learning process personalized and supported for the needs of each individual student, delivered using learning styles, new or
traditional technologies, preferred by the individual student, support provided for the students personal technology.
3. Guided unlimited online access to internationally renowned quality learning resources (e-journals, e-books, e-textbooks) and
constantly updated in real-time archives quality educational content for all subjects studied from leading teachers and
researchers.
4. Quality student accommodation, on-campus student facilities for learning and leisure, library buildings and library collections
of physical books.
5. Personal online access to internationally renowned teachers, practitioners and researchers in online tutorials and computer-
based virtual reality environments at low cost.
6. Courses delivered over shorter period than in 2010 with less living costs, earlier entry into job market and quality degree.
7. Possibility to accumulate course credits from studying abroad or to gain a joint degree with an overseas institution.
8. Courses and institutions recommended by other students from your social network and friends, with possibilities to give
constant feedback for your satisfaction and recommendations.
9. Personal face-to-face tutorials with the institution‟s own local teachers.
10. Environmentally-friendly practices in every aspect of learning and teaching.
11. Strong pastoral student support, institutions with proven record for meeting diversity and special needs.
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Table 5 Ranking according to importance: combined score for UCF and UoL
Scores
Rank Questionnaire Items UCF & UoL
1 Strong links with leading edge local and international
employers for learning on the job and work experience
while studying. 0.620
2
Learning process personalized and supported for the needs
of each individual student, delivered using learning styles,
new or traditional technologies, preferred by the individual
student, support provided for the students personal
technology
0.174
3
Guided unlimited online access to internationally renowned
quality learning resources (e-journals, e-books, e-textbooks)
and constantly updated in real-time archives quality
educational content for all subjects studied from leading
teachers and researchers
0.053
4
Quality student accommodation, on-campus student
facilities for learning and leisure, library buildings and
library collections of physical books. 0.039
5
Personal online access to internationally renowned teachers,
practitioners and researchers in online tutorials and
computer-based virtual reality environments at low cost. 0.029
6 Courses delivered over shorter period than in 2010 with less
living costs, earlier entry into job market and quality degree. 0.021
7 Possibility to accumulate course credits from studying
abroad or to gain a joint degree with an overseas institution. -0.029
8
Courses and institutions recommended by other students
from your social network and friends, with possibilities to
give constant feedback for your satisfaction and
recommendations.
-0.065
9 Personal face-to-face tutorials with the institution‟s own
local teachers. -0.071
10 Environmentally-friendly practices in every aspect of
learning and teaching. -0.109
11 Strong pastoral student support, institutions with proven
record for meeting diversity and special needs. -0.160
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Table 6 Ranking according to importance: University of Leicester score
Scores
Rank Questionnaire Items UoL
1 Strong links with leading edge local and international employers for
learning on the job and work experience while studying. 0.172
2
Learning process personalized and supported for the needs of each
individual student, delivered using learning styles, new or traditional
technologies, preferred by the individual student, support provided for
the students personal technology.
0.133
3
Courses and institutions recommended by other students from your
social network and friends, with possibilities to give constant feedback
for your satisfaction and recommendations.
0.117
4 Strong pastoral student support, institutions with proven record for
meeting diversity and special needs. 0.105
5
Personal online access to internationally renowned teachers,
practitioners and researchers in online tutorials and computer-based
virtual reality environments at low cost.
0.072
6
Possibility to accumulate course credits from studying abroad or to
gain a joint degree with an overseas institution.
0.061
7
Guided unlimited online access to internationally renowned quality
learning resources (e-journals, e-books, e-textbooks) and constantly
updated in real-time archives quality educational content for all
subjects studied from leading teachers and researchers.
0.038
8 Personal face-to-face tutorials with the institution‟s own local
teachers. -0.133
9 Environmentally-friendly practices in every aspect of learning and
teaching. -0.161
10 Courses delivered over shorter period than in 2010 with less living
costs, earlier entry into job market and quality degree. -0.161
11
Quality student accommodation, on-campus student facilities for
learning and leisure, library buildings and library collections of
physical books.
-0.189
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Table 7 Ranking according to importance: University College Falmouth score
Scores
Rank Questionnaire Items UoF
1
Learning process personalized and supported for the needs of each individual
student, delivered using learning styles, new or traditional technologies,
preferred by the individual student, support provided for the students personal
technology.
0.219
2 Quality student accommodation, on-campus student facilities for learning and
leisure, library buildings and library collections of physical books. 0.153
3 Courses delivered over shorter period than in 2010 with less living costs, earlier
entry into job market and quality degree. 0.111
4 Strong links with leading edge local and international employers for learning on
the job and work experience while studying. 0.108
5
Guided unlimited online access to internationally renowned quality learning
resources (e-journals, e-books, e-textbooks) and constantly updated in real-time
archives quality educational content for all subjects studied from leading
teachers and researchers.
0.068
6
Personal online access to internationally renowned teachers, practitioners and
researchers in online tutorials and computer-based virtual reality environments
at low cost.
0.013
7 Personal face-to-face tutorials with the institution‟s own local teachers.
-0.052
8 Possibility to accumulate course credits from studying abroad or to gain a joint
degree with an overseas institution. -0.076
9 Environmentally-friendly practices in every aspect of learning and teaching. -0.100
10
Courses and institutions recommended by other students from your social
network and friends, with possibilities to give constant feedback for your
satisfaction and recommendations.
-0.161
11 Strong pastoral student support, institutions with proven record for meeting
diversity and special needs. -0.283
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7.2.1. Employability
The combined ratings of the most important and the least important characteristics of future
learning institutions for all participating students from both institutions suggested that the most
important one was:
Graph 2 illustrates the distribution of scores ranking this option as most important or least
important across the two institutions and compares it with the combined score for this item.
Graph 2 Distribution of combined scores for the preferences of the students from the two institutions regarding employability
The above finding was perhaps not surprising given the current climate of economic insecurity,
rising unemployment and perceptions of a manifold increase in the cost of higher education, as
evidenced by the meta-ethnographic analysis of policy reports. It suggests that while academic
literature rarely emphasises preparation for the workplace as an essential function of higher
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7Importance
Strong links with leading edge local and international employers
for learning on the job and work experience while studying.
“Strong links with leading edge local and international employers for learning on the job and
work experience while studying.”
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education, students adopt a realistic view of not only the future of higher education but the future
after higher education. Students appreciate the importance of finding routes into employment
while still at university and hope that their institutions will facilitate the development of
employability skills, work experience and connections with employers.
The results regarding this option differ between the two participating institutions. Students from
the University of Leicester rate this option as first in their preferences but it comes fourth in the
preferences of University College Falmouth students. Further research is necessary in order to
reveal the reasons underlying this divergence in results.
Possible explanations are differences in economic status between students of the two institutions
or differences in the expectations towards the employability outcomes of creative practice-based
courses compared to the courses delivered at the University of Leicester. In particular there may
be differing expectations towards the role of the higher education institution as an employability
gate-keeper where the nature of a creative practice discipline encourages individualism and
independence, also with respect to finding employment while a course like medicine as offered
by the University of Leicester has significant work-based components, perhaps encouraging
students to expect their institution to widen their access to employment after graduation.
In addition, maybe students from the two institutions have differing experiences of the practical
implementation of this characteristic by their own institution. Perhaps if the institution is already
providing connections with employers, learning on the job, etc. students take it for granted and
therefore do not rank it very high. An alternative explanation is that they rank it as the most
important precisely because of positive experience with the career services at their institution
which make them appreciate the importance of help in obtaining work placements, etc.
The difference between the two institutions with regard to employability was interesting also
because it was not supported by the evidence from the cognitive mapping study. Employability
concepts were present in all 8 cognitive maps of University College Falmouth students and in 6
of the maps employability concepts had a high centrality score, meaning that these concepts
were directly and indirectly related to a large number of other concepts in the map. Possible
explanation is the individual students‟ characteristics in the two institutions. The maximum
difference scaling questionnaires were completed mainly by BA students in their first year while
the cognitive mapping interviews were conducted with BA students in their final year, i.e., the
cognitive mapping students were near the completion of their degrees and were perhaps more
motivated to think of their next steps after university. In conclusion, this finding again
emphasises the need for further research with a larger, representative sample of participants from
University College Falmouth using a research tool specifically refined to capture nuances of
opinion with regard to future employability.
7.2.2. Personalisation and flexibility
The second most important characteristic of learning and teaching in the future according to the
combined results of the questionnaire was:
“Learning process personalised and supported for the needs of each individual student,
delivered using learning styles, new or traditional technologies, preferred by the individual
student, support provided for the students‟ personal technology.”
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There was almost complete agreement regarding the importance of this option between the
students of both institutions, with University College Falmouth students ranking it first in
importance and University of Leicester students ranking it second in importance. The result is
illustrated by Graph 3 below. The discussion of this finding will benefit from highlighting its
connections to a number of other ideas emerging from the cognitive mapping interviews and the
scenarios prepared by the students.
Graph 3 Distribution of combined scores for the preferences of the students from the two institutions regarding personalisation
In 7 of the 15 cognitive maps concepts related to personalisation were part of loops involving
concepts of flexibility of learning and teaching provision. The loops mean that personalisation
was seen as a causal factor, enabling flexibility in learning provision and at the same time as its
consequence, meaning that flexibility in learning provision leads to personalisation of the
learning process.
Loops in cognitive mapping (where a number of concepts are linked in such a way that concept
A leads to concept B and concept B in turn leads to concept A) are often sign of “muddled
thinking” and always require closer examination. It was necessary to check whether the loop
represents a genuine self-reinforcing feedback mechanism between two concepts (as for example
when a market signal for increase in the price of a stock leads to further increase).
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25Importance
Learning process personalized and supported for the needs of each
individual student, delivered using learning styles, new or traditional
technologies, preferred by the individual student, support provided
for the students personal technology.
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The feedback loop identified between personalisation and flexibility in the cognitive maps of the
CALF project appears to be genuine, i.e. students believe that the personalisation of the learning
process leads to increased flexibility which in turn reinforces further personalisation. A quote
from the student scenarios illustrates this finding:
“I worked with Abel from Argentina and a Katya from Russia on a task that
Glaxo Welcome had posted on the examination discussion board on
Facenote. We used translation software for the online discussions so all
three of us could speak our native languages and still understand each
other.”
Quote from the student scenarios (UoL students)
Related to the finding about the importance of personalisation is evidence from the student
scenarios that there is an expectation among students that the use and importance of technologies
for education would increase and that the role of user-generated content, social-networking, peer
assessment and referencing, and the use of interactive and participative approaches to teaching
would also grow. For example, some of the student scenarios said that:
“One of my Facenote contacts also has an interest in Shakespeare; we got
in touch after we discovered we had tagged the same course components on
Youtube.”
Quote from the student scenarios (UoL students)
“Anybody can add to and change educational resources. You can check
their quality by the number of times they have been favourite, tagged and
recommended.”
Quote from the student scenarios (UCF students)
As part of this process students expected a rise of learning technologies, which instead of
becoming outdated with use will become more valuable as more user-generated content is
invested into them, and that the technologies will become “truly learning” in that they learn
about their users and constantly morph / adapt to their users‟ needs - the way that Amazon,
iTunes or Youtube recommendations work today. One student gave his iPod as an example of “a
technology that learns” because he had invested time, effort and resources to personalise it and
now the device “knows” about his preferences and style, thus becoming more valuable with use.
7.2.3. Open access and visibility
Third in importance in the ranking of future characteristics for learning and teaching in the
combined results from the two institutions came the questionnaire item:
“Guided unlimited online access to internationally renowned quality
learning resources (e-journals, e-books, e-textbooks) and constantly updated
in real-time archives quality educational content for all subjects studied from
leading teachers and researchers.”
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Graph 3 Distribution of combined scores for the preferences of the students from the two institutions regarding openness
The importance of openness both as open access to resources as well as to people was
emphasised by the fact that the other option for the future related to openness in the
questionnaire came a close fifth in the combined ranking results of the questionnaire:
The questionnaire results from University College Falmouth supported the association in a
common theme between the two characteristics, with open access to learning resources coming
fifth in importance followed immediately by technology-facilitated access to teachers, ranked
sixth as visible is in Graph 1 with the comparison of all scores calculated for the questionnaire
items.
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07Importance
Guided unlimited online access to internationally renowned quality
learning resources and constantly updated in real time archives
quality educational content for all subjects studied from leading
teachers and researchers.
“Personal online access to internationally renowned teachers,
practitioners and researchers in online tutorials and computer-based
virtual reality environments at low cost.”
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Graph 4 Distribution of combined scores for the preferences of the students from the two institutions regarding access
There are a number of components to both these ideas for the future, highlighted in the cognitive
maps and the student scenarios. Openness and access to learning resources was closely related in
the maps to a desire by students to be more involved and informed about their lecturers‟
research:
“I want to know what research they are doing at the moment, what
happened today in their lab for example, or interesting research article they
have come across, even if it is not directly relevant to today‟s class, I think it
definitely helps me learn more and better.”
Quote from the student scenarios (UoL students)
The cognitive mapping interviews revealed that students are attracted to the potential of online
learning to enable them to interact with students from different backgrounds and countries and
break away from the “bubbles” of their own physical institutions. Openness was a “potent”
concept in the cognitive maps, closely related to learning technology which in turn was seen as
causally linked to the concept of visibility. In the scenarios students gave examples of learning
from the visibility of their lecturers‟ research and previous experience with lecturers‟ podcasts,
Twitter feeds, Facebook pages (not profiles) or blogs.
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08Importance
Personal online access to internationally renowned teachers, practitioners and researchers in online tutorials and computer-
based virtual reality environments at low cost.
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In terms of the openness of learning the cognitive maps showed that students expected it to work
both ways – not only allowing students to access educational resources but creating
opportunities for students to make products of their learning visible outside of the institutional
environment and to be guided and supported if they wanted to take these opportunities:
“I want to be able to show what I have learnt, not just my degree certificate…”
Quote from the student scenarios (UCF students)
Many students feel comfortable and even expect that significant aspects of their lives are and
will be visible and shared through social networking, etc. Participants felt that there exist
opportunities for “learning networking” (student quote) which should not be missed and that if
their social lives are visible, their learning lives should not be hidden. Cognitive mapping
showed that students from both institutions felt that in the future they will need more
opportunities to “see learning and show learning” (student quote). Examples given were the
need for more opportunities for students to showcase their work beyond the institutional
boundaries, using a variety of platforms (including technology). Supporting this finding is the
finding from the cognitive maps of perceived strong causal connections between the openness of
learning resources, leading to an increased visibility of the learning process, linked in turn to
expectations for enhanced employment opportunities.
Interestingly, the questionnaire results showed that in terms of access to teaching and resources
in both institutions students valued excellence and quality in teaching and learning as more
important than the mode of delivery. The questionnaire options emphasising quality in online
teaching and learning ranked higher (third and fifth in the combined results, fifth and sixth in the
results for UCF; fifth and seventh for UoL) than the option “Personal face-to-face tutorials with
the institution‟s own local teachers” which was ranked as unimportant both in the combined
results as well as the results of the two institutions.
7.2.4. Diversity
The cognitive maps showed that the openness and accessibility of learning, facilitated by
technology, were seen as causally linked to increased diversity both in terms of educational
content, student profiles and participation in education. Some of the scenarios developed by the
students suggested that the increased flexibility in the provision of education will lead to
increased accessibility and participation in higher education which would lead to an increase in
the diversity of the available educational content and the student demographic profile.
“80% of the population today is enrolled in a programme of study and since
all learning content became free, producers receive their income from
advertising and donations.”
Quote from the student scenarios (UCF students)
The finding regarding the importance of diversity is in agreement with the projections
of the policy papers analysed in the meta-ethnography for increased participation and
increased diversity of the student population. In contrast to the visions of the policy
reports however students envisaged that the stake of non-traditional providers in HE
would grow and the competition between higher education institutions (HEIs) would
increase, leading to a fall in the cost of education.
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7.2.5. Quality of the physical environment for learning
The results on this questionnaire item were quite interesting because of the discrepancy between
the results from the two institutions. The option was worded as follows:
The combined scores from the two institutions placed the quality of student accommodation and
campus facilities as the fourth most important characteristic for future learning and teaching. In
the rankings according to institution UCF students ranked it second in importance while UoL
students ranked it last, i.e., the least important of all options listed in the questionnaire.
Graph 5 Distribution of combined scores for the preferences of the students regarding quality of the learning environment and facilities
The discrepancy in the importance ranking for this item merits investigation in future research.
Further studies are needed to confirm or exclude possible relationship between the importance
attached to the learning environment and facilities and the percentage of students living in
university-provided or private accommodation, student social background, mix of international
and home students, number of courses requiring specialised facilities such as media, design,
medicine, engineering, etc. It will be informative to examine the extent to which this finding
corresponds to the results of surveys on student satisfaction with IT facilities and support as well
as library services in their respective institutions, if such surveys have been conducted.
-0.2 -0.15 -0.1 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2Importance
Quality student accommodation, on-campus student facilities for learning and leisure, library buildings and library collections of
physical books.
“Quality student accommodation, on-campus student facilities for learning and leisure, library
buildings and library collections of physical books.”
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7.2.6. Length and cost of study
Another item in the questionnaire where there was difference between the two institutions was:
It ranked as sixth in importance in the combined results, third in importance in the results from
UCF and was the second least important item in the UoL results.
Graph 6 Distribution of combined scores for the preferences of the students regarding length and cost of study
A possible interpretation of the discrepancy is that the questionnaire item lists a number of
factors, course duration, cost, quality and employability, each of which individually is important
for decision-making when embarking on a higher education programme. Asking students to
judge the importance of a particular combination of all these factors may have been seen as a
complex task, deterring some students from making a decision. Cognitive mapping data
confirms the complexity of concepts like course duration, cost, quality and employability, with
all of them having high centrality scores in all analysed maps, with a lot of outgoing and
incoming perceived causal relationships, linking them to most of the other concepts on the maps.
-0.2 -0.15 -0.1 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15Importance
Courses delivered over shorter period than in 2010 with less living costs, earlier entry into job market and quality degree.
“Courses delivered over shorter period than in 2010 with less living costs, earlier entry into
job market and quality degree.”
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Students perhaps felt unsure of the likelihood of this option becoming reality in the future. The
student scenarios reflected the complexity of the issue, with some students describing a future of
life-long learning and an expectation that education will be a continuous process with the
concept of “completing education” disappearing. Interestingly, the driver for this disappearance
was not only the pressure of ever-increasing amounts of information that will come in the future.
The desire “to always learn new things” was also identified as a driving force, coupled with the
expected low cost of learning and the enabling power of technology to deliver learning
conveniently to meet the individual needs of the students:
“I found my grandmother‟s graduation photographs today. I keep thinking what
a funny thing this “graduation” must have been. How could they have assumed
they could “graduate” and finish “education”? If I want to be employable, I
need to spend at least ¼ of my week in learning new things, otherwise I will fall
behind.”
Quotes from student scenarios (UoL students)
“It is fun, learning new things. People like learning something new, always, so if
you can learn anything, I mean with technology, why stop learning? People will
learn more in the future.”
Quotes from student scenarios (UCF students)
Cognitive mapping data revealed that students were unsure of the future impact of technology on
the duration of study programmes, i.e., whether technological advances will lead to possibilities
to reduce the duration of study or whether technology will actually increase the length of studies
because it will allow the seamless integration of learning activities with all other aspects of life:
“The university will become like the Open University, students will complete first 2.5
years by virtual lectures, podcasts, group online discussion and virtual wards and
skills lab. The university will make more courses like the Open University today with
distant learning being the primary teaching manner.”
Quotes from student scenarios (UCF students)
The student scenarios showed an expectation for an increase in the future role of
interprofessional, interdisciplinary education, driven by the future expansion of knowledge,
emergence of new professions and technology-enabled collaboration. The cognitive maps
demonstrated that students were unsure of the effect that these developments will have on the
future cost and duration of education, with the maps showing associated concepts appearing in
feedback loops and unfinished causal chains (where nodes containing options for action are
neither connected to underlying values, nor to overarching objectives).
7.2.7. Student services
The question about the expected nature and level of provision of student support services (other
than career services) in the future of learning and teaching was another one where the views of
students from the two institutions diverged. The questionnaire item was formulated as follows:
“Strong pastoral student support, institutions with proven record for meeting diversity and
special needs”
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It ranked as the least important option in the combined results as well as in the results from UCF.
Students from UoL however ranked it top fourth most important consideration for the future of
teaching and learning.
Graph 7 Distribution of combined scores for the preferences of the students regarding student support services
The discrepancy may be due to the differences in the student body in the two institutions, with
UoL having a highly diverse campus. Valuing diversity consistently came among the top
institutional values UoL students included in their scenarios when describing the future identity
of their university. Ensuring there is support for a diverse community of learning to thrive in
educational institutions was seen as a distinctive characteristic relevant to learning and teaching
in the future. The cognitive maps revealed that participants from UoL felt that their learning and
teaching are supported by the interaction of two factors – diversity and community.
Community implies common values and beliefs, i.e. the opposite of diversity, yet participants
believed that UoL will be identified in the future by its model of “celebrating diversity” and by
using diversity as a resource to build a “learning community of diversities” (student quote)
which students felt would promote learning. Examples of diversity given by students usually in
contrasting pairs were: international students – home students; distance learners – campus-based
students; students from different cultural and religious backgrounds, research students and
taught-course students, students and staff, Students‟ Union and university administration.
-0.3 -0.25 -0.2 -0.15 -0.1 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15Importance
Strong pastoral student support, institutions with proven record for meeting diversity and special needs.
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Diversity as a factor facilitating learning came up prominently in the cognitive maps by UCF
students as well but they referred to it as disciplinary diversity. Based upon their experiences
with the interdisciplinary collaborative CALF creative events that the students had attended,
UCF students‟ cognitive maps highlighted their beliefs in the importance of future opportunities
to instil disciplinary diversity in learning and ensure opportunities exist for students to connect
and learn together across disciplines.
The analysis of the cognitive maps of the students from the two institutions therefore sheds light
upon the contrast in the questionnaire results. UoL students associated student services with the
support for enhancing and benefiting from the diversity brought by international students,
students from different religious and cultural backgrounds, etc. The maps revealed that
participants felt there is a strong causal connection between student services support for diversity
and learning and teaching benefits. The causal maps of UCF students showed equal appreciation
of diversity but diversity which was interpreted as interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary rather
than one referring to the student body. The cognitive map demonstrated that UCF students
believed this kind of diversity is to be supported academically which perhaps led to the low
rating they gave to the importance of pastoral and other services. Possibilities for further
research into student preferences are opened up by this finding.
7.2.8. International mobility and greening of learning
The questionnaire items referring to international mobility and the greening of learning both
scored low in importance in the combined ratings.
Graph 8 Distribution of combined scores for the preferences of the students regarding greening of education
-0.2 -0.15 -0.1 -0.05 0Importance
Environmentally-friendly practices in every aspect of learning and teaching.
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The importance of environmentally-friendly practices was ranked as the third lowest in the
results from both UCF and UoL. Student scenarios in both institutions however did include
elements demonstrating concern for the impact on the environment of teaching and learning and
in particular the impact of technology, for example:
“All learning is now done [partly] on campus since computers were banned
after the UN Commission on Climate Change discovered that computers
contribute greatly to global warming. “
Quotes from student scenarios (UoL students)
“I transferred my studies from Kyoto University to the Sorbonne after Kyoto
failed their recycling targets for 3 consecutive years.”
Quotes from student scenarios (UCF students)
A possible interpretation of the questionnaire illustrates one of the key advantages of the
maximum difference scaling methodology. It enables the articulation of preferences which
would have remained hidden if participants were allowed rank all options as important or
desirable. Instead, participants were forced to make a choice and articulate and rank their
preferences. Thus, while students are concerned with issues for the future environmentally
responsible practices of their institutions, as evidenced by the data from the scenarios, the
importance of these practices is perceived as less than the importance of support for
employability, personalisation of learning, high quality facilities, etc.
The questionnaire item regarding preferences towards international mobility was:
Graph 9 Distribution of combined scores for the preferences of the students regarding international mobility
-0.08 -0.06 -0.04 -0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08Importance
Possibility to accumulate course credits from studying abroad or to gain a joint degree with an overseas institution.
“Possibility to accumulate course credits from studying abroad or to gain a joint degree with
an overseas institution.”
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In both institutions as well as in the combined questionnaire the item was ranked in the middle
of the scale and the first of all questionnaire items to have a negative importance score. It meant
that while it was seen as unimportant, it was the least unimportant characteristic. Again, a
possible explanation is the forced choice imposed by the questionnaire instrument where while
students value international mobility if they have to choose they would prefer their institution to
prioritise support for employability, personalisation of learning, high quality facilities, etc. Some
of the scenarios suggested that students believed that advances in learning technologies and
virtual reality in particular might make redundant the need to physically travel to different
learning locations which offers another explanation of the low importance ranking of this option.
7.2.9. Risks and threats
Finally, in line with the framework for analysis of policy and research reports used in the meta-
ethnography, data was collected though cognitive mapping and scenario development on the
factors which students consider serious threats and risks for the future of learning and teaching.
The most central themes according to evidence from the cognitive maps, supported by the
scenarios, were as follows:
- Lack of vision (vision for the future which is not in line with new developments, vision
for the future which is too general/not updated regularly/too ambitious)
- Breakdown in communication between administration, staff, lecturers and students (not
targeting the needs of students/staff).
- Weak implementation of any vision for the future at the grass-roots or patchy
implementation.
- Lack of commitment to the implementation of ideas for the future at all levels (weak
leadership).
- A vision for the future of the institution which doesn‟t take into account the differences
between subject disciplines.
- Under-resourced implementation of changes (financial resources/inadequate time to
implement).
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Objective 1
Surface and capture signals which may influence the future of student learning by
undertaking trend analysis about the potential impacts on higher education and
emerging issue analysis about the potential impacts on HE.
Achievement/Deliverable
24 research and policy reports relevant to the future of learning and teaching were identified
from a large range of published sources – academic journals, government department
websites, think-tanks. A framework for synthesis and analysis of the documents was
developed, aimed at uncovering signals, trends and emerging issues. The analysis revealed 15
emerging issues which are likely to influence the future of teaching and learning. The results
of the analysis were published on the project website:
http://bit.ly/kT6JCa
Impact
The understanding of factors which are likely to influence the future of learning and teaching,
delivered by the comprehensive analysis of trusted multi-disciplinary sources, provides a
valuable background for making decisions and judgements about goals, strategies and plans
in educational contexts.
Benefit
For the teaching community:
Awareness of emerging issues in learning and teaching delivered by the analysis performed
by CALF can help educational practitioners to identify possible future drivers of change in
their own context and to discover opportunities for innovation and improvement in their own
practice.
For the research community:
Awareness of emerging issues can help educational researchers challenge assumptions about
existing realities in learning and teaching, and point researchers towards questions about the
future which merit further investigation.
For the learning community:
Awareness of emerging issues in learning and teaching can help learners to make informed
decisions about the direction of their future educational and career development.
8. Outcomes
In this section, assess the value of the project work. List project achievements against the
aims and objectives set. Summarise project outcomes and their impact on the teaching,
learning, or research communities. Indicate who will benefit from the work, how, and why.
Also comment on what you learned that may be applicable to other projects, e.g. whether the
methodology worked.
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Objective 2
Engage student voices and surface and articulate views about the future of learning in
higher education at University College Falmouth and the University of Leicester.
Involve a wide variety of CALF contributors in developing, understanding and
examining possible, preferred, viable and achievable futures for learning in HE.
Achievement/Deliverable
The research findings of the project provide insights into the ideas of students from
University College Falmouth and the University of Leicester of the possible directions in
which teaching and learning may change in the future. The findings are specific to the
experiences and visions for the future of the participating students. They were used to inform
workshops for the wider learning and teaching community and provided the platform for
discussions of pedagogic vision, values and institutional missions.
Students from University College Falmouth and the University of Leicester participated in
CALF creative events about the future of learning and teaching. The students shared their
ideas through 102 questionnaires, 15 cognitive maps and future scenarios.
Total number of participating students - 320
Total number of student workshops - 31.
Involvement of a larger community of interest in the future of learning and teaching was
achieved through dissemination of the CALF research model and organising CALF events for
education practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds:
1 CALF workshop for 30 participants at the HEA Annual Conference in June 2010;
1 CALF workshop for 15 participants of the World Future Conference in Chicago, USA, July
2009;
1 CALF workshop for 40 participants at the Online Educa Berlin 2009 conference in
December 2009;
2 CALF workshops for 10 participants at the international online Learning Futures Festival
2010;
4 CALF workshops for 50 practitioners and decision-makers in the Civil Service in March
2010;
1 CALF workshop for 9 participants from the University of South Africa, October 2010;
1 CALF workshop for 10 participants from the University of Bahria, Pakistan, October 2010;
1 CALF workshop for 15 participants at the international online Learning Futures Festival
2011;
1 CALF workshop for 30 participants at the Project Management Institute Forum May 2011;
Total number of contributors from the wider teaching and learning community – 209
Total number of workshops - 13
Impact
Outcomes of the research conducted by CALF had significant impact on a number of
developments within the two partner institutions.
An interactive research space for graduate students at the University of Leicester, The
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Student Media Zoo, was launched during the second year of the project. The concept for the
Student Media Zoo was created by integrating the ideas of the Learning Innovation Strategy
of the university and the findings of the CALF project regarding students‟ expectations
towards a growing role of technology for teaching and learning in the future.
The CALF research model was converted into a three-week training module for medical
students at the University of Leicester, where the research process was aligned with training
students to apply the scenario building and foresight methods. The positive feedback from the
students who participated in the first training resulted in the doubling of the number of
students selecting the module in the next year.
The research outcomes pointed to possibilities to align the involvement of students in
consultations for the future of their universities with the provision of skills and knowledge
which can increase students‟ employability. As a result, programme for student employability
at the University of Leicester was developed, where students participating in CALF activities
could receive the institutionally accredited Leicester Award for employability.
The CALF Project influenced elements of the new Learning and Teaching Strategy of UCF,
in particular the designing of new academic courses and incorporating learning technologies
into the curriculum.
A new Learning Futures unit was established within Academic Services at UCF as part of the
institutional restructuring towards the aim of becoming Arts University Cornwall in 2015.
The project findings informed the conception and design of a new postgraduate course in
Innovative Education and Training at the Beyond Distance Research Alliance which has been
approved by the University of Leicester and was ready to launch in 2010. The course is being
currently revised to reflect changes in the Beyond Distance Research Alliance and will be
resubmitted for programme approval by the university in 2012.
Benefit
For the teaching community:
Increased awareness of the problems, intended interventions, anticipated outcomes and
expected impacts of possible future developments in learning and teaching so that they are
sufficiently well defined and meaningful to current students and staff.
Explicit discussion of pedagogic vision, values and institutional mission.
Revision of pedagogies and learning materials and approaches, to serve better the student
learning experience.
Improved capacity of groups of students and staff to imagine and assess the potential of
decisions made now to create a future for their institutions by putting values into practice.
For the research community:
Participation in the Learning Futures events fosters creative dialogues between educational
researchers, learners and practitioners which leads to an examination of a range of possible
futures that can generate new ideas and directions for research. The output of the research can
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help in the defining of future research questions related to impact on student learning of
emerging technologies.
Use of the CALF model developed as an outcome of the CALF workshop puts an emphasis
on planning from the future, where users of the model create a vision for the future of their
institution and systematically develop a strategy for creating this future.
Applying the CALF model facilitates a focus on the long-term preferred future. It balances
out the short-sightedness of many strategic and organisational plans in HE, which cover short
time periods, thereby often losing their innovativeness, narrowly restricting their options and
setting too-easily achieved goals.
For the learning community:
Encouraged ongoing self-reflection and dialogue in order to increase accountability for the
achievement of individual development goals. Participating students acquired knowledge and
skills necessary for applying futures-oriented thinking for managing their day-to-day
learning, and for the advancement of their future education and career plans. They identified
skills and attributes they needed to develop in order to support their future aspirations.
Increased visibility and transparency of planning for the future at both partner institutions by
incorporating the student voice. The use of the CALF model ensured that students were given
a highly participatory platform for sharing their views on the future of their institution and
enabled them to play a role in the decision-making processes of their respective universities.
The collaborative creation of scenarios promoted the establishment of networks among the
participating students, allowing them to share awareness of each other‟s knowledge
resources, ideas, and visions of the future.
Objective 3
Interpret, model and represent ideas emerging from all CALF activities and secure feedback
on ideas.
Involve a wide variety of technological and pedagogical partners, together with forecasters to
interpret results.
Publish to the sector usable ideas and pathways for the future of pedagogy and learning
design.
Achievement/Deliverable
Five models of how learners can be involved in the planning, re-shaping and assessment of
learning and technologies were developed, using the generic CALF model of Hindsight,
Insight, Foresight and Oversight:
Model of consulting learners through an illustration competition:
http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/beyond-distance-research-
alliance/projects/calf/downloadable-resources
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Model of using social networking technologies for envisioning the future:
http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/beyond-distance-research-
alliance/projects/calf/downloadable-resources
Model of using design principles for envisioning the future:
http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/beyond-distance-research-
alliance/projects/calf/downloadable-resources
Model of aligning medical education with activities for envisioning the future:
http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/beyond-distance-research-
alliance/projects/calf/downloadable-resources
Model of aligning employability skills development with activities for envisioning the future:
http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/beyond-distance-research-
alliance/projects/calf/downloadable-resources
Innovative adaptation of collaborative web-based tools such as wikis and Google Maps for
encouraging creative thinking about the future of learning.
The innovative application of cognitive mapping and maximum difference scaling methods
for futures research.
CALF findings and activities were represented through more than 42 key note speeches and
addresses by NTF Prof. Gilly Salmon at national and international academic and policy
forums, impacting directly on institutional understanding and practice.
CALF findings and outcomes were represented by NTF Prof. Salmon through her
appointments as Vice-Chair of the Association for Learning Technologies in 2009 and to the
HEFCE Online Learning Task Force in 2009. The HEFCE Online Learning Task Force used
emerging findings from the CALF project and its Learning Futures model to inform its work
on supporting UK higher education.
The project activities and findings were presented in 7 papers accepted at international
conferences as well as 2 posters.
The UCF and UoL websites that allows dissemination of the findings of the project
highlighted events and provided information to students and staff.
http://learningspace.falmouth.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=644
www.le.ac.uk/beyonddistance/calf/
Publicity for the project was achieved through the University College Falmouth and the
University of Leicester newsletters.
The learning futures model of the CALF project and its findings were discussed with
academics from the University of Southern Queensland, the University of Manchester, the
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University of Liverpool and Deakin University in Australia during their visits to the Beyond
Distance Research Alliance.
Views of the CALF events and the story of the CALF learning futures were presented in
regular blog posts by the writer-in-residence throughout the duration of the project.
http://calfproject.falmouth.ac.uk/
The research blog of the project provided information for upcoming CALF events as well as
emerging findings.
http://calfutures.wordpress.com/
Other dissemination channels where the project maintained presence were Twitter and
Youtube, where the project has got its own dedicated channel with videos prepared by
student participants, commentaries from project partners, etc.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/CALF_Project
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/CALFProject
Impact
The dissemination activities generated „thought leadership‟ in the area of learning futures,
with contributions on the need for learner engagement and the pathways and change
processes needed to achieve this in HEIs of the future.
Benefit
For the teaching community:
The involvement of a wide variety of partners in the activities of CALF fosters the exchange
of knowledge, teaching approaches and strategies for creating informed visions for the future
of higher education.
For the research community:
Representing and disseminating the outputs of the project enables the reduction of the
existing fragmentation in the approaches to the study of the future of HE by promoting
collaboration and open learning.
For the learning community:
Appreciation of what may happen in the future of teaching and learning in higher education
and ideas for developing of skills and knowledge which are usable and actionable for the
students in planning their own future in and after university.
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The process of designing and carrying out the implementation of the CALF project suggests that
the application of its research model has a number of benefits for decision-makers, policy-
planners, practitioners and learners in the area of higher education:
- The model encourages its users to plan from the future, i.e. create a vision for the
future of their institution, with a strong emphasis on the long-term preferred future
and work from there towards evaluating specific strategies in the light of their
existing mission or organisational imperatives.
- The model ensures stakeholder participation and empowerment. Its process is highly
participatory, involving learners, teachers, lecturers, learning technologists, managers
and experts in a structured dialogue and decision-making process.
- The novel combination of research methodologies such as cognitive mapping and
maximum difference scaling, together with scenario development proved to be a
useful platform for discovering trends and emerging possibilities. The outcomes of
the application of these methods help participants recognise opportunities and threats
that are invisible to traditional planning.
Reflection on the CALF approaches for motivating students to participate in the project suggests
the conclusion that articulating the activities for imagining the future of learning and teaching,
where students will acquire new skills and knowledge relevant to their studies or future career
aspirations, can act as an excellent driver for student participation and acknowledges in an
ethical way the importance of their contributions. Integrating learning futures activities into the
curriculum through securing the support of teachers leads to high rates of participation, student
involvement in the process and awareness of its outcomes across the institution.
Finally, the research findings provide evidence of the richness of students‟ expectations for the
future of learning. The most prominent ideas were:
- Learning and teaching in the future will make use of institutional strong links with
leading edge local and international employers. It will provide greater opportunities
for learning on the job and work experience while studying.
- Personalisation of the learning process and institutional support and guidance for the
students‟ personal choice of learning technologies.
- Increasing openness of learning resources, sharing of learning resources and
networking across disciplines.
- Provision of high quality learning environments, in terms of access to learning
resources, on-campus student facilities and student accommodation.
In conclusion, the Creating Academic Learning Futures project created, explored and presented
for discussion a variety of plausible „alternative futures‟ for learning and teaching. The process
involved analysing emerging issues which may influence the future of teaching and learning,
engaging students and other contributors in the development of ideas for the future and
interpreting and presenting the results for discussion within a wide community of interest. These
achievements ensured that the project met its planned aims and objectives and delivered its
expected outcomes.
9. Conclusions
Briefly summarise any conclusions that can be drawn from the project work.
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Interpreting, modelling and representing ideas emerging from all CALF activities has been one
of the key deliverables of the CALF project. The learning, teaching and research communities
can benefit from adopting and implementing the project deliverables in their own contexts.
Leveraging the outcomes of the CALF project can be done on a number of levels:
- Implement the CALF frameworks of research activities for exploration of possible
futures for learning into institutionally-supported sustainable practices for collaborative
strategic planning, involving staff and students. It will enable a wider community of
higher education stakeholders to benefit from capturing and communicating effective
designs for the future of learning and enhance knowledge management and knowledge
transfer about best practices.
- Undertake further research into the spectrum of possibilities for application of these
methods for studying the future of learning and teaching. CALF adapted and tested novel
methods for student participation, creativity and research into the future of learning. The
research findings revealed a number of benefits of the application of these novel methods
but as innovations they are still in need of careful assessment by academics, practitioners
and learners. Insufficient availability of data and lack of a substantive theoretical
framework regarding both future studies and the pedagogical use of Web 2.0 tools are
major constraints for the wider application of these interesting approaches in educational
research and practice.
- Develop the model for creating academic learning futures through group work and the
use of web-based collaborative technologies has the potential into a tool for self-
assessment for future learning readiness. Indicators for future learning readiness can be
generated from the scenarios for the future of learning developed by the CALF project.
The tool will guide users – institutions, practitioners, researchers and students along a
process for identifying any gaps between current processes, technologies, practices and
capabilities in their institutions and the future scenarios resulting from the CALF project.
Use of the tool will contribute to the identification of future goals and aspirations at
institutional level as well as at the level of individual practitioners or students. It will
facilitate the development of plans and strategies for change in creative and collaborative
ways and generate evidence to support reviewing, comparing and evaluating possible
future directions for development of an organisation or an individual in higher education.
The availability of the tool will meet the recommendations from the external evaluator of
the CALF project for incorporating lessons learnt from the project into curriculum design
and planning processes and future learning strategies and policies.
- Collect and present the project findings and deliverables will enable collecting and
analyse feedback on the CALF research findings from students, practitioners and
researchers. The feedback will provide an evidence-based understanding of how adoption
of the practical recommendations of the project for HE policy and strategy can take
place. It will ensure sustainability and visibility of the best practices identified by CALF
in formats readily understandable and usable by higher education practitioners and
students.
10. Implications
Consider the future implications of your work and how others can build on it. What are the
implications for other professionals in the field, for users, or for the community? What new
development work could be undertaken to build on your work or carry it further?
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The findings of the CALF research project informed the formulation of a set of
recommendations for the teaching, learning and research communities. These guidelines can be
used to incorporate students‟ ideas about the future of learning and teaching into present
practices and also to replicate the CALF model for creating academic learning futures in other
institutional and organisational contexts.
11.1. Recommendation 1:
Identify pathways for the development of employability skills which can be aligned with
existing academic courses and programmes. Encourage articulating and raising awareness of the
development of employability skills through established academic courses and programmes.
Establish a scheme for institutional recognition of time and effort that students put in activities
similar to the Learning Futures model where their involvement in strategic planning for the
future of their institutions develops employability skills. The scheme will represent a cost-
effective way to increase student participation in planning, strengthen the sense of ownership of
students of institutional strategies and visions for the future, encourage uptake and acknowledge
the importance that students place on the development of their employability.
11.2. Recommendation 2:
Students‟ preferences change fast – ensure there are channels in place for continuous
institutional learning from students about learning and teaching which maintain the institution‟s
ability to flex and change rapidly without loss of quality, ensuring personalisation of the learning
process and institutional support and guidance for the students‟ personal choice of learning
technologies
11.3. Recommendation 3:
Identify possible resources, activities and outcomes of increasing the openness of learning
resources, sharing of learning resources and networking across disciplines. There exist
opportunities for “learning networking” which should not be missed. Many students feel
comfortable and even expect that significant aspects of their lives are and will be visible and
shared through social networking - if students‟ social lives are visible, their learning lives should
not be hidden. Recognise the significance of promoting students‟ learning profiles (similar to
Facebook profiles), support opportunities for students to create resources and outputs of their
learning which they can share and demonstrate outside of the classroom, VLE or campus in
ways similar to those in social networking. Ensure student ownership of the resources (so that
they can be used and accessed after degree completion) but foster the sense of institutional
identity and belonging.
11.4. Recommendation 4:
Developing the capacity of students and staff to imagine and analyse the potential of the present
and the past for the future and to create, rather than observe, the future. Increase the visibility
and transparency of strategy-making and planning by incorporating the student voice. Build an
awareness of the problems, intended interventions, anticipated outcomes and expected impacts
of institutional plans and strategies for the future so that they are sufficiently well-defined and
meaningful to current students and staff. Clarify students‟ and staff‟s ideas about the essential
logic and assumptions of the future strategy, linking strategic goals to possible interventions and
then to results. Finally, generate strategic insight without prejudicing the autonomy of future
students and staff to choose different options and adopt different values.
11. Recommendations
List any specific recommendations for the teaching, learning, or research communities.
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standards), and any explanatory notes. Provide URLs for any materials available on the
web.
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Technical terms
Future Scenario
“A quantitative or qualitative picture of a given organization or group, developed within the
framework of a set of specified assumptions” (MacNulty, 1977) which are then “presented in
coherent script-like or narrative fashion” (Schoemaker, 1993).
Learning Futures
Learning futures is a methodology which helps make sense of an uncertain future. Its focus is on
making informed and democratic decisions. It assumes there are possible possible futures - what
“might” happen (future knowledge); plausible – “could” happen (current knowledge); probable
- “likely to” happen (current trends); preferable - “want to” happen (value judgements).
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Appendix 1
List of Documents Analysed for the Horizon Scanning
Armstrong, J. Franklin, T. A review of current and developing international practice in the use
of social netoworking (Web 2.0) in higher education (Franklin Consulting, 2008)
Bone, Drummond, The Internationalisation of Higher Educatio,n Report Submitted to John
Denham MP, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills (Department of
Innovation, Universities and Skills, 2009)
Bradwell, Peter, The Edgeless University: Why Higher Education Must Embrace Technology
(Demos, 2009)
Lord Browne, Securing a Sustainable Future for Higher Education (Independent Review of
Higher Education & Student Finance in England, 2010)
Browne, Tom; Hewitt, Roger; Jenkins, Martin; and Walker, Richard, 2008 Survey of Technology
Enhanced Learning for higher education in the UK (UCIA, 2008)
Callender, Claire; Jamieson, Anne; and Mason, Geoff, The supply of part-time higher education
in the UK (Universities UK, 2010)
Carpenter, Julie (co-ordination), Researchers of Tomorrow: Annual Report 2009-2010
(Education for Change, 2010)
Cooke, Ron, Online Innovation in Higher Education Report Submitted to John Denham MP,
Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills (Department of Innovation,
Universities and Skills, 2009)
European Commission, GREEN PAPER: Promoting the learning mobility of young people
(European Commission, 2009)
Franklin, Tom; and van Harmelen, Mark, Web 2.0 for Content for Learning and Teaching in
Higher Education (Franklin Consulting, 2007)
HIGH LEVEL EXPERT FORUM ON MOBILITY, Making learning mobility an opportunity
for all (European Commission, 2008)
Humfrey, Christine, Transnational Education and the Student Experience: a PMI Student
Experience project report (UKCISA, 2009)
Johnson, L; Levine, A; Smith, R; and Stone, S, The Horizon Report 2010 (The New Media
Consoritum, 2010)
Learnovation Consortium, The Foresight Report (European Commission, 2008)
Mandelson, Peter, Higher Ambitions: The future of universities in a knowledge economy (Dept.
for Business, Innovation and Skills, 2009)
Melville, David (Chair), Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World (CLEX, 2009)
National Student Forum, Annual Report 2009 (National Student Forum, 2009)
National Student Forum, Annual Report 2010 (National Student Forum, 2010)
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Pollard, Emma; Bates, Peter; Hunt, Will; and Bellis, Anne, University is Not Just for Young
People Working Adults‟ Perceptions of and Orientation to Higher Education (Department of
Innovation, Universities and Skills, 2008)
Ramsden, Paul, „The Future of Higher EducationTeaching and the Student Experience‟ Report
Submitted to John Denham MP, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills
(Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills, 2009)
Redecker, Christine; Alla-Mutka, Kirsti; Bacigalupo, Margherita; Ferrari, Anusca; and Punie,
Yves, Learning 2.0: The Impact of Web 2.0 Innovations of Education and Training in Europe
(European Communities, 2009)
Sutch, Dan, Education futures, teachers and technology (futurelab, 2010)
UK Council for International Student Affairs, Prime Minister‟s Initiative for International
Education: Reports from Pilot Projects and Overseas Study (UKCISA, 2010)
University and College Union, Education for the Future: UCU‟s Manifesto for Post-School
Education (UCU, 2010)
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Appendix 2
Main themes of the documents analysed for the CALF Horizon Scanning
Prepared by Robert Cane
Reference Summary of Content Quotations
Higher
Ambitions -
Mandelson
This report seeks to establish how the UK can maintain the success of its
Higher Education sector and, in doing so, foster excellence in teaching and
research and encourage participation across a broad spectrum of society.
The recommendations of the report focus on:
Expanding access;
Maximising the contribution of Higher Education to the UK‟s
economic growth;
Strengthening the research capacity of higher education institutions in
the UK and ensuring that they contribute, economically or socially, to
the wider society;
Promoting excellence in teaching and allowing students to make
informed choices on the basis of such excellence;
Ensuring that UK universities remain both at the centre of
communities and key players within the wider world;
Enabling them to do all of this within the constraints of fiscal
tightening in the public sector.
With regard to the benefits e-learning, the report makes a number of points:
Firstly, the use of e-learning techniques improves the quality of
teaching and availability of content and information;
Secondly, it allows for a greater level of flexibility in and
personalisation of the learning experience, particularly by increasing
the opportunities for two-way feedback between teaching staff and
students;
Thirdly, the use of online techniques in teaching expands the reach of
a higher education institution to both those within the UK who may
“The continuing development of
e-learning is a vital element in
supporting improvement of
teaching and the student experience
and in enabling the personalisation
and flexibility that students and
employers expect. We will empower
our universities to be world
leaders in the growing market in
transnational education based on
e-learning.” P. 92
“Chapter one stressed the
Government‟s commitment to
greater flexibility in access to higher
education. That includes making the
best use of digital technology and
elearning.
This can also play a role in
improving quality and the overall
learning experience.” P. 78
“The potential of
communications technologies to
extend the reach of our universities
is one of the most exciting aspects
of our higher education today.
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struggle to access higher education through traditional routes (for
example, through scheduling constraints imposed by a job) and those
outside of the UK who ought to be targeted in the drive to increase
the international presence of the UK higher education sector.
Given such benefits, and the impressive potential of the UK with relation to
e-learning, the report suggests that UK higher education policy ought to:
Take advantage of the opening provided by a rapidly expanding
global market and encourage the expansion of UK higher education
(in partnership with other public and private bodies) into more
diverse forms of education across the world;
Encourage university leadership to put in place policies to drive
forward innovation and to ensure that existing pockets of „leading
edge‟ practice do not remain isolated;
Provide seed funding, and enable existing structures (such as the
HEFCE taskforce) to foster and co-ordinate innovation across the
sector;
Ensure that universities accurately inform students about the forms of
technology used in teaching particular courses before they sign up for
them, in order to encourage informed choice making on the part of
students.
Students should leave university
with a competent mastery of these
modes of communication and
information transfer.” P. 78
Ron Cooke,
Online
Innovation in HE
The report, part of a government debate on the future (next 10 to 15 years) of
HE in the UK, argues that the UK has a world-class reputation with regard to
innovation, infrastructure and the use of many aspects of ICT in HE. These
areas of the HE sector can:
drive economic growth, wider learning, and competitiveness in the
global market;
dramatically improve the student experience by, for example,
facilitating access to learning materials and allowing students to
“The UK is seen as world class, and
often world leading, in networking, content
and digital libraries, access
management, and many areas of e-
learning. Until recently the UK was world
class
in providing e-infrastructure for research
and in e-science.” P. 3
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interact with peers and teachers in a less temporally and
geographically dependent manner.
However, the UK‟s leading international position are threatened by several
factors, including:
a lack of training for teachers and students, who may be comfortable
with computers and the internet without actually knowing how to use
them well;
a failure to generate and make available high quality, modern
learning and teaching resources, and a failure to adequately exploit
existing online resources;
a lack of strategic management of ICT by HEIs;
the fact that the UK is gradually falling behind in attempts to meet the
ICT needs of research.
To facilitate recommendations to address these core concerns, the report
attempts, in a suitably circumspect manner, to predict the course of
development for both ICT and the UK higher education sector over the next
15 years:
Although it is impossible to predict specifics about the future of the
rapidly advancing field of ICT, several things are clear from our
experience of innovations that have already come to pass, and the
present integration of the internet and interactive Web 2.0
technologies in the lives of the younger generation. ICT will be more
powerful and interactive in 15 years time and there is likely to be a
generation gap as younger generations continue to adapt to new
technology more readily than their elders.
The future of HE in the UK is more easily determinable. Its
expansion will continue based on an diversity of tailored models of
education ranging from traditional models from research-led
institutions to skills-based courses provided by, amongst others, FE
“A step change is required. To exploit ICT
it follows that UK HEIs must be flexible,
innovative and imaginative. A good ICT
infrastructure is essential but not sufficient
and similarly funding for innovation is
essential but not sufficient. The UK enjoys
the former but the latter is only just
adequate and is under threat: just at the
time
when HE must provide leadership and
exploit its expertise.” P. 9
“In particular the UK is not doing enough
to provide a more or less complete online
educational experience to students who,
for a variety of reasons (economic,
lack of time, geography) cannot enjoy a
conventional campus based learning
experience. This is especially true of
students where demand for higher
education
outstrips supply such as the emerging
economies of South East Asia and South
America and those developing countries
that are likely to become increasingly
more important over the next 15 years.” P.
10
“In the UK most online material should be
openly available to all, free of charge at
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colleges, big businesses and private providers. This growth will also
see a particular focus on expansion into global markets as
demographic factors prevent any significant expansion of the
domestic student base. Alongside this, the HE sector will move
further away from public funding models and become more „private
sector‟ in their operation.
The report argues that, for the UK HE sector to adapt these innovations in
ICT to the needs of an increasingly diverse HE framework, certain
recommendations ought to be followed:
A corpus of open learning resources ought to be established.
Institutions must develop their own integrated strategies towards the
use of ICT in teaching and research.
E-infrastructure must receive suitable investment. Most of this ought
to come from individual institutions through sound management
strategies that take suitable account of ICT needs. Central funding,
however, must also be maintained, to support, in particular,
collaborative and national projects.
A small number of national centres of excellence ought to be
established to spear-head innovation in the UK.
the point of use. This will encourage re-use
of materials by other teachers, make
available high quality resources to
students that they can have confidence in,
and
provide a valuable marketing tool to
potential overseas students (whether they
learn in the UK or in an overseas
campus).”
P. 14
Horizon Report
2010
The annual Horizon Report seeks to identify emergent technologies, trends
and challenges that will effect higher education over the following 5 years.
The 2010 report identified the following „Key Trends‟:
The internet provides an abundance of resources and opportunities for
forming relationships, which challenges educators to rethink their
roles in favour of an increased emphasis on helping students to make
sense of and assess the credibility of the information that is out there,
and on mentoring them to prepare them for the world that they will
enter upon graduation. This is particularly important as traditional
role of universities (providing credentials) is being impinged upon by
„Over the past few years, the emergence of
a raft of new (and often free) tools has
made collaboration easier than at any
other point in history.‟ P. 4
„People expect to be able to work, learn
and study whenever and wherever they
want to.‟ P. 4
„The portability of mobile devices and their
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other organisations.
People expect to be able to study whenever and wherever they want
to. In a busy world, faster approaches are often perceived as better.
This places an emphasis on „just-in-time‟ and „found‟ learning, as
well as informal sources of education.
Technology is increasingly cloud based. This is changing not only the
way that we use technology, but also how we conceptualise it, with
physical location taking a back seat to functionality. Although there
remain some concerns about privacy and control over data, drives
towards cost cutting will push us further towards cloud computing.
Students‟ work is becoming increasingly collaborative, and across
campuses multi-disciplinary initiatives are being undertaken.
Although this trend is not as pronounced as the others, new tools are
making such collaboration easier.
It also identified the following „Critical Challenges‟ facing educational
organisations:
The role of tertiary education is changing, and institutions must adapt
to meet the needs of students. They must focus on encouraging
critical inquiry and mental flexibility, and encourage problem-solving
approaches.
With new forms of scholarly publishing (particularly through social
media) old forms of assessment no longer apply. Citation-based
metrics, for example, cannot take account of reader comments,
tagging, being referenced in blogs etc. The academy must adapt to
these new media.
Digital literacy skills are increasingly important in every discipline,
but the teaching of such skills does not meet this need. The challenge
is only increased by the rapid pace of technological development.
Cost-cutting means that institutions are increasingly focusing their
finances into narrow areas. The importance of research into emerging
technologies must be emphasised in such considerations.
ability to connect to the Internet almost
anywhere makes them ideal as a store of
reference materials and learning
experiences, as well as general-use tools
for fieldwork, where they can be used to
record observations via voice, text, or
multimedia, and access reference sources
in real time.‟ P. 10
„Open content shifts the learning equation
in a number of interesting ways; the most
important is that its use promotes a set of
skills that are critical in maintaining
currency in any discipline – the ability to
find, evaluate, and put new information to
use.‟ P. 14
„An obvious draw for students is the
advantage of having a single handheld
reading device that can easily
accommodate the entirety of the readings
involved in one‟s study, as well as all the
essential reference texts.‟ P. 18
„Augmented reality has strong potential to
provide both powerful contextual, in situ
learning experiences and serendipitous
exploration and discovery of the connected
nature of information in the real world.‟ P.
22
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Finally, it identifies six key technologies „to watch‟:
It suggests that within the next 12 months the following technologies
will be increasingly important:
o Mobile computing (e.g. through smart phones or netbooks) is
already taking off, and provides significant opportunities for
new teaching activities on and off campus, particularly those
focused on communication and collaboration.
o Open content is also expected to reach mainstream
importance. This allows students the choice of how and when
to learn, and allows access to educational resources in areas
when such access was previously too expensive.
The report suggest that within 2 to 3 years the following technologies
will be increasingly important:
o E-books are already popular commercially and a number of
pilot studies suggest that they may come to dominate campus-
life as well. They are easy to annotate, store and transport, and
will reduce the costs of education, as well as the amount of
paper used.
o Simple augmented reality is increasingly accessible without
specialist equipment as applications for laptops and smart
phones can overlay digital information onto the physical
world.
Finally, it suggests that within 4 to 5 years the following technologies
will be increasingly important:
o Gesture based computing already has a strong consumer base
and a growing number of prototypes for educational and
research purposes suggest that its importance to the academy
will increase. Such technology is changing our understanding
of what it means to interact with computers.
o Visual data analysis is currently used to discover patterns in
large data sets (particularly in the sciences) through
„The kinaesthetic nature of gesture-based
computing will very likely lead to new
kinds of teaching or training simulations
that look, feel, and operate almost exactly
like their real-world counterparts.‟ P. 26
„The promise for teaching and learning is
further afield, but because of the intuitive
ways in which it can expose intricate
relationships to even the uninitiated there
is tremendous opportunity to integrate
visual data analysis in undergraduate
research, even in survey courses.‟ P. 30
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visualisation and it is likely to grow in importance as new
tools make it easier to adapt models in real-time and become
more accessible, allowing anyone to examine data and display
complex relationships within it.
EU Report –
Higher Level
Expert Forum on
Learner Mobility
In the light of a declining population of young people across the EU, the
need to ensure the continued success of Europe as a knowledge intensive
society, and the need to deepen the sense of European identity and
citizenship amongst Europeans, the report suggests that it is important to
ensure that learner mobility (in higher education, vocational education, adult
education, volunteering and civil society programmes, and secondary
schools) is promoted across the EU and across its borders. This would
require making such mobility the rule rather than the exception through
changes in regulations, the standardisation of educational systems, increased
funding to relevant programmes, and an increased focus on language
learning.
Although the deepest and most complete form of mobility is physical, the
report also mentions the benefits of „virtual mobility‟. That is, of using ICT
to access educational resources and opportunities physically located
elsewhere. This can be both mobility in its own right, and a means by which
to prepare for, enrich and follow up on physical mobility.
Indeed, in a scenario constructed to demonstrate a positive vision of the
future, the ongoing ICT revolution has meant that such technologies are
widely available and cheap and easy to use. Europeans are, therefore,
connected to networks that allow for significant virtual mobility. This sits
alongside a vision of significant physical mobility, with portable benefits and
loans, Europe-wide initiatives, extensive language tuition and common
qualifications frameworks allowing for easy movement across Europe.
The report also constructs a second scenario in which learner mobility is
limited. In this scenario, ICT has left Europe‟s youth isolated and cut off
from the rest of the world, impeding, in particular, physical mobility.
„Mobility is both physical and virtual. Due
to the ongoing revolution in ICTs,
most citizens are connected, networked,
equipped with several wireless and
intelligent
devices to get and process information.
Virtual mobility is widely available, quick
and cheap.
Nevertheless, physical mobility provides a
more intensive and deeper experience and
is, therefore, irreplaceable. Developing the
synergies between virtual and physical
mobility is a
central art of a new way of life.‟ P. 11 (Part
of the first scenario)
„The technologies which can facilitate
virtual mobility and greatly enhanced
networking,
which forms an integral part of the positive
vision outlined here, also have the
potential to fuel an increasing isolation
and atomisation among young people.‟ P.
12 (Part of the second scenario)
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EU Green Paper
Re: Learner
Mobility
Following the report detailed above, this green paper, calls for policies to be
implemented to increase learner mobility amongst young Europeans.
Although this mainly focuses on physical mobility, it does recognise the
value of virtual mobility in two ways:
As a supporting structure, before, during and after, periods of
physical mobility.
As a form of mobility that can connect together Europeans that are
either unable or unwilling to physically mover across the EU.
The green paper gives two specific examples of virtual mobility practice that
can be used to great effect:
The Comenius e-twinning programme promotes the use of ICT to
connect schools together, and facilitate networking, the sharing of
resources and pedagogy, and collaborative learning. The programmes
does not fund individual projects, but rather provides the background
expertise, support and advice to facilitate e-twinning between the
50,000 schools (approx.) that had signed up when the green paper
was written. http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/index.htm
The Virtual Campus for Digital Students initiative involves a network
of providers of distance and online education who are creating a
virtual campus through which open resources and tools can be shared,
and the compatibility of e-learning environments can be ensured.
www.vicadis.net
„Virtual mobility, i.e. the use of the internet
and other electronic forms of information
and
communication, is often a catalyst for
embarking on a period of physical
mobility…
it does enable young people to prepare a
stay abroad
and can create conditions for future
physical mobility by facilitating
friendships, contacts and
social networking etc…
It can also provide an international
dimension to those learners
who, for different reasons, are not able or
willing to go abroad.‟
P. 18
„Within the Comenius programme,
eTwinning is being developed to
mainstream the use of
Information and Communication
technologies to promote collaborative
learning, the
European dimension, the sharing of
resources and practice and the
pedagogical use of ICT in schools Europe-
wide.‟
P. 18
DIUS, Working This report covers the attitudes and intentions of working adults towards „… only 13 per cent said they would prefer
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 69 of 94
Adults and HE higher education, and the potential that they may pursue it themselves.
The research conducted for the report revealed that, for the majority of
working adults, higher education is perceived as something that is open to
all, and only a small proportion (15%) of them would not consider applying.
They believe it that it will improve career prospects, although many of them
did not feel that they has the knowledge to access or find financing for it. In
terms of the method of delivery, they preferred non-traditional forms of
delivery. In particular, the flexibility of part-time study at an institution close
to home (which allows them to keep working) was judged to be very
important.
In terms of distance learning and digital delivery of tuition, the respondents
were considerably less positive. They favoured face-to-face teaching
methods, with only 13% saying that they favoured distance or online
learning. Crucially, though, only 2% said that they would like to study with
the Open University, suggesting either a lack of understanding regarding
what the OU does, or that many respondents would prefer to study online,
but with a local university. The report also suggests that more flexible
delivery methods (such as online learning) may simply need further
promotion, as many potential adult learners do not know enough about them.
Additionally, the report argues that the internet ought to be used to provide
accessible information that specifically addresses the concerns of working
adults considering entry into higher education. This would solve existing
problems caused by the fact that most available information concerning
university entry is currently aimed at traditional, non-mature students.
distance learning or study online…Yet this
is still considerably higher than the
proportion who said they would prefer to
study with the Open University when
looking at preferences for study location
(only two per cent). This suggests that
there are some individuals who would like
to study virtually but perhaps through a
local university or it could suggest that
there is a lack of awareness about the type
of opportunities afforded through the Open
University.‟ P. 88
„Face to face delivery in an institution is
considerably more popular than distance
learning…but this may reflect a limited
understanding of the range of ways HE
can be delivered.‟ P. 93
UK Council for
International
Student Affairs
„Prime Minister‟s
Initiative for
International
This is a series of reports on pilot studies and overseas visits funded by the
PMI. These projects were conducted as part of a scheme designed to help
those who seek to provide greater support for international students in the
UK.
Most of the projects included ICT in some way (e.g. through a Facebook
„This resource will encourage
international students not only to develop
the knowledge and skills to succeed
academically in another country, but also
to take advantage of
the extra-curricular activities provided in
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Education:
Reports of Pilot
Projects and
Overseas Study
Visits‟
(September,2010)
group), but many of the projects used ICT as the primary medium through
which to support the educational (and personal and social) experiences of
international students:
Lancaster University sought to create web-based resources to
promote awareness of mental health issues. The project led to the
design of an online quiz („Mind Map‟
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/sbs/counselling/mindmap.php ) allowing for a
degree of self-assessment regarding mental health (about which many
felt uncomfortable talking), and providing details of support services
for those that might feel that they need them.
Leicester University sought to construct a multimedia resource to
inform them about the range and benefits of extra-curricular activities
available for higher education students in the UK. This could be used
by international students prior to arrival in the UK. The project
demonstrated the need to be aware of other context in which
information produced may be used and the need to provide broad
content that can be used flexibly across many formats.
The University of Manchester piloted a scheme in which a number of
online functions were used to help international students in their
attempts to find employment in their home country. The project
generally proved successful, although some employers preferred
traditional face-to-face recruiting trips and time zones were a
challenge to work around. The activities included:
o Online webchats were held between students and experienced
international recruiters.
o Video conferences were held between students, alumni and
intermediary agencies.
o Private one-to-one chats were held between students and
advisors.
o International alumni were encouraged to network with
students through, for example, forums.
o An e-mentoring scheme was piloted between Chinese students
order to enjoy a fuller and more
rounded experience.‟ P. 8 (the University
of Leicester project)
„Time zone
differences can significantly impact when
dealing with international
recruiters and students. Student
attendance did suffer during early
morning sessions.‟ P. 12
(the University of Manchester project)
„The main learning point from our
experience has been the quality of
international students and graduates
as an exceptional resource as role
models for others.‟
P. 16
(the Newcastle University project)
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and Chinese alumni.
Newcastle University produced a number of videos (that are on their
careers service website) with international students discussing issues
surrounding the search for employment (or further study).
Universities UK,
The Supply of
Part-Time Higher
Education in the
UK (July 2010)
This report investigates the supply and growth of part-time study in higher
education and the various factors that inhibit it. It identifies three models of
part-time study:
Fully integrated with full-time education.
Mixed, with some integrated and some provided separately.
Separate part-time provision, often provided by a separate school or
department.
This separate provision also takes place in a variety of ways:
In partnership with other institutions (e.g. FE colleges)
Work-based provision.
Electronically, through distance learning.
The development of part-time education in general is inhibited by many
factors:
The size of existing provision, and the cost of expanding
infrastructure.
Additional teaching demands placed on staff by expansion.
The local demand for part-time education.
The willingness of employers to participate in or fund such education.
The geographical accessibility of the institution.
Inadequate government funding.
„There was a general consensus that a
greater
and better use of ICT would facilitate the
expansion of flexible and distance
learning. The barriers to such greater
utilisation were
resource constraints and an unwillingness
by staff to engage with such
developments.‟
P. 44
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With regard to the use of ICT, although the majority of provision of part-
time higher education in the UK is face-to-face (with the obvious exception
of the Open University) many courses contain e-learning elements and
modules, and the use of VLEs is widespread. There is a general consensus
within the higher education system that ICT can facilitate the development of
flexible and distance learning, and many universities said that they would
expand such provision were funding levels greater and staff could be
encouraged to engage with such developments.
This along with several other changes, such as providing greater support to
students and staff involved, would help to increase the level of part-time
study in the UK HE sector. In particular, the report suggests that a credit-
based, modular funding system would be useful in allowing the more
efficient use of resources and blurring the distinction between part-time and
full-time education.
National Student
Forum Annual
Report 2010
This is the final report of the NSF, and it argues that universities ought to
focus on certain core policy areas:
Widening participation.
Flexibility and innovation in the delivery of education, including in
the method of that delivery (e.g. through distance learning)
Improving pre-entry information.
Ensuring environmental sustainability, through national and
institutional policy, and through the promotion courses and modules
related to such issues.
A significant focus on the student, including through well designed
student support, responsive financial and administrative services,
high-quality and well supported teaching, and a customer focused
accommodation service.
Benchmarking of institutional performance against the concerns of
the NSF, and the promotion of future student listening exercises.
„technology is used to enable innovative
methods of assessment, where this adds
value: e.g.
• I can respond to questions orally using
audio-recording software in supervised
rooms
• group work is tracked using
technology which enables the assessor to
see what individual students have
contributed‟ P. 40
We recognise the change in demand for
higher education amongst mature and
part-time students in particular …We see
this as a need for increased flexibility
across the sector as a whole, rather than
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Alongside a recognition of the need for good IT services and facilities, the
report makes several explicit suggestions of how ICT may be used to
improve the student experience, particularly to create a more innovative,
dynamic, diverse and student-centred learning experience:
Having a significant amount of administrative information online
allows for 24 hour access.
The use of technology, such as podcasts, can enhance and
complement traditional teaching methods.
Technology can enable innovative methods of assessment and
feedback (including, for example, recording oral answers to questions
and audio feedback). Specifically, it can help to track individual
contributions to group work.
Technologies, such as e-books, can also help disabled students.
necessarily expecting all universities to
immediately offer all kinds of provision.
However, we do urge all universities to
commit to a systematic review of provision
to identify which courses could
appropriately and effectively be adapted
for other modes of learning (e.g. for
distance learning and part-time learning).‟
P. 15
Browne Report This reports aims to provide a model for the sustainable financing of HE in
England that would allow English universities to increase their funding,
provide excellent teaching, and maintain as broad a participation base as
possible. This will allow the maintenance of a world class, and diverse
higher education sector that can contribute significantly to the UK economy,
which cannot happen without significant extra investment.
Given the assumption (held by employers, HEIs and the NUS) that students
ought to contribute financially for the benefits that they receive from HE (i.e.
dramatically increased earning potential), the heart of the report is a new
funding scheme in which the cap on fees is lifted and students essentially pay
for the cost of their education (using student loans the repayment of which
beings when the graduate starts earning over £21,000) with some central
subsidies being provided for the more expensive STEM subjects, which are a
government priority. This would exist alongside a system of grants to avoid
discouraging students from poorer backgrounds. The report claims that this
would:
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 74 of 94
Allow student choice (which must be aided by greater information
being provided by HEIs prior to application) to dictate the financing
of higher education, forcing universities to respond to what students
want, and, thus, increasing the quality of teaching and, potentially,
diversity of HE provision.
Provide more funding for higher education, whilst allowing for
reduced expenditure from public taxation. This, in turn, should allow
more students to access HE as numbers are no longer constrained by
what the government can afford.
Through merging the funding of part-time study into this system
(rather than forcing such students to pay upfront as is currently the
case), encourage greater numbers of students to pursue HE by
increasingly diverse delivery methods.
Such a system will be overseen by a new HE Council, which will take over
functions from OFFA, the OIA, the QAA, and HEFCE. This body will
protect the public interest in HE by monitoring the quality of teaching and
course provision, ensuring that competition between institutions remains
beneficial to students, adjudicating in disputes between students and
institutions, and targeting centralised funding to promote the priority STEM
subjects, which are crucial to UK economic growth and the knowledge
economy.
This will be accompanied by efforts to increase the diversity of higher
education providers, with private institutions and further education colleges,
in particular, being encouraged to provide higher education.
UK Council for
Transnational
Student Affairs,
Transnational
Education
In seeking to raise awareness of and support for transnational education in an
internationalised higher education sector, this report provides an overview of
existing transnational education programmes run by universities in the UK,
and provides some reflections upon how the success of such programmes can
be maximised.
„Transnational education (TNE) covers, in
the words of the Organisation of
Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD):
“All types of higher education study
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Transnational education is, literally, education that occurs across national
borders. That is, education undertaken in one country, but provided by an
awarding institution in another. The report identifies six forms of
transnational education:
E-learning, with the entirety of the course offered online (e.g. the
Universitas 21 Global Network MBA).
„Brick and Click‟ provision, whereby part of the course is taken
online and some is provided at a physical location, potentially one in
the home country of the student rather than the awarding institution
(e.g. the MBA at Singapore‟s PBS Academy).
Overseas campuses where all, or part, of a degree is taken.
Partnerships with foreign institutions that will deliver a programme
for an awarding institution.
Partnerships where foreign institutions will deliver part (usually at the
beginning) of a course, and the rest will be delivered by the awarding
institution.
Partnerships where ad hoc students can progress from overseas
institutions to the home institution for part of the course.
The report explicitly states that it does not directly consider e-learning,
however, from its consideration of the latter forms of transnational
education, it draws some conclusions about how an institution might best go
about educating students in a country other than its own. According to the
report, the most successful institutions are those that:
Have a clear and long-term vision for their transnational educational
activities, with support from those in leadership positions within the
institution;
Have a champion for the scheme, who is prepared to work on both
the wider vision and the minutiae of the project, and is capable of
engaging with others within the institution, and ensuring that
ownership of the scheme is taken by the entire institutional
programmes, or sets of courses of study,
or educational services (including those of
distance education) in which the
learners are located in a country different
from the one where the awarding
institution is based. Such programmes may
belong to the educational system
of a State different from the State in which
it operates, or may operate
independently of any national system.”
(Council of Europe 2002 and quoted
by the British Council in the paper
“Education UK Partnerships:
Transnational
Education”, February 2008).
The British Council defines it more simply
as “education provision from one
country offered in another”.‟ P. 4
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community;
Ensured adequate resourcing (both funding and staffing), and ensured
that such courses remain of the same quality as the rest of the
qualifications offered by the institution;
Designed partnerships to suit the specific natures of the institutions
involved.
UCU, Manifesto
for Post-School
Education (2010)
Responding to the Higher Ambitions report (and anticipating an election),
this UCU report argues that any post-school education system ought to be
based on the intrinsic value of education to enhance lives, liberate talent and
help to realise a truly civilised society. Given this, it argues that education
must be given significant investment, even in hard economic times.
The manifesto rejects the tone of the Higher Ambitions report and the ending
of public investment in higher education that is implicit within it. The UCU
believes that high levels of fees are regressive and hinder equal access, which
is very important.
Crucially, the manifesto also laments the lack of investment in teaching in
the sector, despite the fact that it is universally acknowledged that it is
underfunded. They argue that extra funding is needed (even just up to the
OECD average) in order to reduce class sizes, properly reward high quality
and innovative teaching, and move teaching staff onto proper contracts.
Finally, with regard to research, the manifesto rejects the stifling of academic
freedom that is associated with selective and targeted government funding
and assessment of research. Instead, the UCU argues that research quality
should be assessed by means of peer review, selectivity of funding
(especially in the arts, humanities and social sciences) should be reduced, the
importance of the dissemination of research through teaching ought to be
recognised, and a longer-term vision of intellectual development should be
adopted rather than the current short-term focus on immediate economic
gain.
„That vision is founded on a fundamental
belief in the intrinsic value of education as
a
force for the enhancement of the lives of
individuals, the liberation of their talents
and
the realisation of a truly civilised, socially
responsible, fair and
prosperous society.‟ P. 1
Franklin and van This report, funded by JISC, seeks to examine the ways in which Web 2.0
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Harmelen, Web
2.0 for Content
(May, 2007)
technologies might be used in the creation and distribution of content for
higher education. It argues that Web 2.0 will have a significant impact upon
the future of higher education (including formal, informal, work-based and
life-long learning), including learning and teaching activities, widening
participation, staying in contact with alumni, potential students and the wider
community, and interfacing with industry.
The report recognises that other factors (such as the need for greater
economic efficiency, demographic trends and an ongoing push for higher
standards of learning and teaching) will work alongside technological
changes to drive forward higher education. However, it argues that Web 2.0
technologies can benefit higher education by:
Allowing greater student autonomy;
Allowing increased levels of collaboration;
Increasing pedagogic efficiency.
Such technologies are increasingly used in higher education institutions, both
in module specific senses and more broadly, but they do present some
difficulties, which institutional policies and strategies will have to face,
including:
The choice of systems used, their hosting location, and how
accessible they are;
Issues surrounding privacy, data ownership and intellectual property;
Control over content and its longevity;
Ensuring that staff and students have appropriate skills and strategies
(including assessment methods) for the new learning environments.
As such, the report makes several recommendations regarding direction in
which JISC ought to focus its funding in the future (all 21 recommendations
are summarised on pp. 2-3). These include:
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Ensuring that guidelines are not so strict as to stifle the
experimentation that is necessary to fully exploit Web 2.0
technologies;
Funding studies to examine issues related to the accessibility of
content created and distributed using Web 2.0 technologies (including
copyright issues, accessibility of the technology, and extending
student access beyond graduation);
Funding research into and building a bank of case studies relating to
teaching methods using Web 2.0 technologies, particularly relating to
assessment methods;
Funding projects to consider legal and policy issues surrounding Web
2.0 technologies, including intellectual property, plagiarism,
university control over content, risk associated with the use of
externally hosted services, and the appropriate balance between
openness and safety;
Funding projects to develop methods for the integration of Web 2.0
technologies into institutional ICT infrastructures and for the
assessment of group work.
Learnovation,
Foresight Report
(2008)
This report and the associated foresight activity are designed to build a vision
of the future for technology enhanced learning (particularly life-long
learning) through use of the DELPHI methodology, whereby emerging
paradigms are examined through means of the iterated surveying of the
opinions of experts, whose input can examine and validate existing analyses,
whilst introducing new areas for consideration. The ultimate goal is to
construct a vision of the future based upon a consensus constructed between
experts.
The priorities for change identified suggest ways of steering existing ongoing
changes towards a situation in which learning has a greater impact upon
societal development, and knowledge, learning and human capital are treated
as important elements of a desirable future. Such a process focuses primarily
on two objectives:
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 79 of 94
Making the individual learner to focus of the learning experience to
improve the strategic management of human capital in the knowledge
economy;
Engendering a shared vision of education that promotes openness and
includes significant elements of informal education, in order to
encourage a grass-roots „blooming‟ of education supported by a top-
down focus from governmental levels.
The constructed vision of the future suggests that these two elements can
come about through the focusing of education policy on several key areas:
Building a learner-centred, cradle-to-grave learning ecosystem to
encourage every individual to take ownership of their unique
education within a community (learning ecosystem) of diverse
educational identities, where diversity and innovation are actively
encouraged. Notably, this will involve the universalisation of distance
learning;
Recognising the value of the full range of learning spaces (work-
place and informal, as well as traditional formal learning spaces),
which will both promote a wider and more diverse learning culture
and open up previously underexploited sources of innovation;
Redirecting traditional processes to promote innovation through
learning, and embedding innovative mechanisms into the everyday
lives of individuals, institutions and policy-making bodies.
Particularly important examples of this are:
o The redirection of ICT strategy away from the old hardware
approach, towards one that recognises the potential for
technologies to support specific processes in a learning
environment, through increased flexibility, cooperative
knowledge construction, the creation of communities, virtual
mobility, blended learning, and innovative distance learning,
which can increase access and exploit all opportunities for
learning and innovation;
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o The refocusing of assessment and benchmarking procedures
away from repetitive procedures towards processes that
directly recognise creativity and innovation and the
environment necessary to promote them;
Reorganising learning solutions in order to support decentralisation,
localisation and bottom-up learning environments, which can
promote individualised learning and encourage the individual to take
more responsibility for the contribution to society that can be made
through their learning and innovation. However, owing to the
significant, global economic divide, and vested interests that may
oppose the democratisation of learning, this may well be difficult in
many parts of the world. The use of ICT to decentralise learning may
not be sufficient to solve these entrenched problems, but it can help
by favouring growth (through the promotion of technological
innovation), and providing a location for discussion of the existing
order.
Futurelab,
Education
Futures,
Teachers and
Technology
(April, 2010)
This discussion document arose from an expert seminar on the changing role
of teachers in the future of education and the challenges faced whilst moving
into the future (towards 2025 and beyond).
The document begins by identifying social and technological trends that will
continue into the future. These trends include:
The exponential rise in computing power (and the ability to process
large amounts of information quickly) will continue.
A new personal information landscape will emerge, particularly given
the trend towards cloud computing and increasingly mobile access to
information and resources. In this landscape, the boundaries of
various (geographical, temporal and institutional) sites of learning
will be blurred as the cloud offers new choices, opportunities, and
responsibilities with regard to how and where learning takes place.
This technology will still prove unable to provide a quick fix to
„There is one large issue which a meeting
like this was not going to tackle, but could
still highlight: the need for this discussion
to be underpinned by a vision of
education: What is education about, from
birth to 18? What do we
actually want pupils to learn, and to be
able to do? Can we have a common view
of that? How will that change? This vision
needs to be co-created by those who have a
stake in education: education
professionals, parents, employers
and learners.‟ P. 8
„One
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complex educational problems, and a strategy will need to be
developed to make the most out of the new mix of provision. That
being said, this shift towards mobile and cloud computing still
represents one of the once a decade shifts in technology that have
such a great impact upon our lives. Education must be remade in the
light of this, and teachers prepared for their part in the new
educational world.
The document suggests that these trends will lead to a number of challenges,
including:
The development of new roles for teachers and the abandoning of
other traditional ones. As the classroom changes from a fortress
providing scarce knowledge to a location within a society with
abundant knowledge and new technologies that can be used outside
of the classroom, teachers will have to develop (or enter the
profession) with the skills necessary to make use of and provide
pupils with access to new information networks, rather than simply
imparting subject-specific knowledge.
Teachers will need to be supported in developing the skills and
practice necessary to teach in such a society. Older teachers, in
particular, may lack the technical skills necessary, and new methods
will need to be developed to deal with technological have-nots and to
embrace the idea that, in a networked educational environment,
individuals planning their own lessons and teaching practice no
longer makes sense.
Centralised standard setting must be avoided in order to promote
localised innovation. This must recognise that this new flexibility
requires teachers that can develop curricula (a skill that the National
Curriculum has eroded) and develop truly collaborative learning
within the classroom (and in the lives that they have outside of formal
education).
strong message overall is that one set of
things to expect
is changes in how, what and when people
learn, and who they turn to for help. In
that case, teachers‟ professional
development would do well to mirror the
changes
expected in other kinds of learning. They
will both benefit from this immediately,
and discover how to approach the shifting
demands and roles of their work in
different
contexts in future.‟ P. 8
„Teachers, it
was suggested, will need to be not just
digitally literate,
but fluent in a variety of modes and media.
They, as mentors, and their own mentors
as developing teachers,
need to be confident users of Web 2.0
technologies.
They also need to be aware of, and
knowledgeable about local contexts. There
must be a professional approach
to lifelong learning, perhaps using a
portfolio approach.
E-portfolios would fit with the general
increase in
knowledge sharing as well as support the
continuing
professional development from ITT
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In response to these challenges, the document suggests that:
Initial teacher training (ITT) and continuing professional
development (CPD) must train teachers to both use and create digital
resources effectively. It cannot simply be assumed that new teachers
are „digital natives‟ as technology is a moving front and they are
likely to have significant experience only as consumers of the digital
world.
ITT and CPD must change to include the use of these technologies in
the support of teachers. For example, teachers musts make better use
of the online environment for mentoring purposes, and the example
of the „virtual schools‟ (to which student teachers are assigned, and in
which they can explore teaching roles in a realistic environment) set
up by UEL for their students could be followed.
Personal learning networks involving both digital and non-digital
elements and linking teachers to other teachers, classrooms, experts
and members of other fields should be encouraged as CPD activities.
Links to other fields, in particular, may help to generate innovation.
through to retirement.‟ P. 8
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Appendix 3
Questionnaire for CALF in association with
BA ENGLISH WITH MEDIA STUDIES AND ENGLISH WITH CREATIVE WRITING
University College Falmouth
Creating Academic Learning Futures (CALF) is a joint research project between University
College Falmouth and the Beyond Distance Research Alliance at the University of Leicester.
CALF aims to engage student voices and understand student ideas about the future of learning in
higher education. More information about the project can be found at
www.le.ac.uk/beyonddistance/calf/.
Would you take a few moments to read and answer the questions below based on your ideas and
experiences as a student? Your thoughts and ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Imagine that it is the Year 2025. Imagine that you have just finished secondary school and you
are considering studying further. Which of the features described in the questions below would
MOST make you want to choose a university or a college for your further studies and which
would LEAST make you want to enrol?
Question 1
How important will be different features in 2025 when you are choosing where to study for higher education
in 2025?
Of the options below, which one will be the MOST important and which will be the LEAST important in
2025?
Which feature will
matter LEAST to you
in 2025? (tick ONLY
ONE box)
Which feature will
matter MOST to you
in 2025? (tick ONLY
ONE box)
Strong links with leading edge local and international employers
for learning on the job and work experience while studying.
Guided unlimited online access to internationally renowned
quality learning resources (e-journals, e-books, e-textbooks) and
constantly updated in real-time archives quality educational
content for all subjects studied from leading teachers and
researchers.
Courses and institutions recommended by other students from
your social network and friends, with possibilities to give
constant feedback for your satisfaction and recommendations.
Possibility to accumulate course credits from studying abroad or
to gain a joint degree with an overseas institution.
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 84 of 94
Question 2
How important will be different features in 2025 when you are choosing where to study for higher education
in 2025?
Of the options below, which one will be the MOST important and which will be the LEAST important in
2025?
Which feature will
matter LEAST to you
in 2025? (tick ONLY
ONE box)
Which feature will
matter MOST to you
in 2025? (tick ONLY
ONE box)
Courses delivered over shorter period than in 2010 with less
living costs, earlier entry into job market and quality degree.
Personal online access to internationally renowned teachers,
practitioners and researchers in online tutorials and computer-
based virtual reality environments at low cost.
Guided unlimited online access to internationally renowned
quality learning resources (e-journals, e-books, e-textbooks) and
constantly updated in real-time archives quality educational
content for all subjects studied from leading teachers and
researchers.
Strong pastoral student support, institutions with proven record
for meeting diversity and special needs.
Question 3
How important will be different features in 2025 when you are choosing where to study for higher education
in 2025?
Of the options below, which one will be the MOST important and which will be the LEAST important in
2025?
Which feature
will matter
LEAST to you in
2025? (tick
ONLY ONE box)
Which feature will
matter MOST to you in
2025? (tick ONLY
ONE box)
Quality student accommodation, on-campus student facilities for
learning and leisure, library buildings and library collections of
physical books.
Possibility to accumulate course credits from studying abroad or to
gain a joint degree with an overseas institution.
Environmentally-friendly practices in every aspect of learning and
teaching.
Personal online access to internationally renowned teachers,
practitioners and researchers in online tutorials and computer-based
virtual reality environments at low cost.
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 85 of 94
Question 4
How important will be different features in 2025 when you are choosing where to study for higher education
in 2025?
Of the options below, which one will be the MOST important and which will be the LEAST important in
2025?
Which feature
will matter
LEAST to you
in 2025? (tick
ONLY ONE
box)
Which feature
will matter
MOST to you in
2025? (tick
ONLY ONE
box)
Strong links with leading edge local and international employers for
learning on the job and work experience while studying.
Personal face-to-face tutorials with the institution‟s own local teachers.
Personal online access to internationally renowned teachers, practitioners
and researchers in online tutorials and computer-based virtual reality
environments at low cost.
Learning process personalized and supported for the needs of each
individual student, delivered using learning styles, new or traditional
technologies, preferred by the individual student, support provided for the
students personal technology.
Question 5
How important will be different features in 2025 when you are choosing where to study for higher education
in 2025?
Of the options below, which one will be the MOST important and which will be the LEAST important in
2025?
Which feature will
matter LEAST to
you in 2025? (tick
ONLY ONE box)
Which feature will
matter MOST to
you in 2025? (tick
ONLY ONE box)
Courses delivered over shorter period than in 2010 with less living
costs, earlier entry into job market and quality degree.
Courses and institutions recommended by other students from your
social network and friends, with possibilities to give constant
feedback for your satisfaction and recommendations.
Environmentally-friendly practices in every aspect of learning and
teaching.
Learning process personalized and supported for the needs of each
individual student, delivered using learning styles, new or traditional
technologies, preferred by the individual student, support provided
for the students personal technology.
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 86 of 94
Question 6
Of the options below, which one will be the MOST important and which will be the LEAST important in
2025?
Which feature will
matter LEAST to you in
2025? (tick ONLY ONE
box)
Which feature will
matter MOST to you in
2025? (tick ONLY ONE
box)
Quality student accommodation, on-campus student
facilities for learning and leisure, library buildings and
library collections of physical books.
Personal face-to-face tutorials with the institution‟s own
local teachers.
Courses and institutions recommended by other students
from your social network and friends, with possibilities to
give constant feedback for your satisfaction and
recommendations.
Strong pastoral student support, institutions with proven
record for meeting diversity and special needs.
Question 7
How important will be different features in 2025 when you are choosing where to study for higher education
in 2025?
Of the options below, which one will be the MOST important and which will be the LEAST important in
2025?
Which feature will
matter LEAST to
you in 2025? (tick
ONLY ONE box)
Which feature will
matter MOST to you
in 2025? (tick ONLY
ONE box)
Quality student accommodation, on-campus student facilities for
learning and leisure, library buildings and library collections of
physical books.
Courses delivered over shorter period than in 2010 with less living
costs, earlier entry into job market and quality degree.
Personal face-to-face tutorials with the institution‟s own local
teachers.
Guided unlimited online access to internationally renowned
quality learning resources (e-journals, e-books, e-textbooks) and
constantly updated in real-time archives quality educational
content for all subjects studied from leading teachers and
researchers.
Learning process personalized and supported for the needs of each
individual student, delivered using learning styles, new or
traditional technologies, preferred by the individual student,
support provided for the students personal technology.
Strong pastoral student support, institutions with proven record for
meeting diversity and special needs.
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 87 of 94
Question 8
How important will be different features in 2025 when you are choosing where to study for higher
education in 2025?
Of the options below, which one will be the MOST important and which will be the LEAST important in
2025?
Which feature will
matter LEAST to
you in 2025? (tick
ONLY ONE box)
Which feature will
matter MOST to you
in 2025? (tick ONLY
ONE box)
Quality student accommodation, on-campus student facilities for
learning and leisure, library buildings and library collections of
physical books.
Strong links with leading edge local and international employers
for learning on the job and work experience while studying.
Strong pastoral student support, institutions with proven record for
meeting diversity and special needs.
Environmentally-friendly practices in every aspect of learning and
teaching.
Guided unlimited online access to internationally renowned
quality learning resources (e-journals, e-books, e-textbooks) and
constantly updated in real-time archives quality educational
content for all subjects studied from leading teachers and
researchers.
Learning process personalized and supported for the needs of each
individual student, delivered using learning styles, new or
traditional technologies, preferred by the individual student,
support provided for the students personal technology.
Question 9
How important will be different features in 2025 when you are choosing where to study for higher education
in 2025?
Which feature will
matter LEAST to
you in 2025? (tick
ONLY ONE box)
Which feature
will matter
MOST to you in
2025? (tick
ONLY ONE
box)
Strong links with leading edge local and international employers for
learning on the job and work experience while studying.
Courses delivered over shorter period than in 2010 with less living
costs, earlier entry into job market and quality degree.
Possibility to accumulate course credits from studying abroad or to
gain a joint degree with an overseas institution.
Environmentally-friendly practices in every aspect of learning and
teaching.
Personal face-to-face tutorials with the institution‟s own local teachers.
Strong pastoral student support, institutions with proven record for
meeting diversity and special needs.
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 88 of 94
Question 10
How important will be different features in 2025 when you are choosing where to study for higher education
in 2025?
Of the options below, which one will be the MOST important and which will be the LEAST important in
2025?
Which feature will
matter LEAST to you
in 2025? (tick ONLY
ONE box)
Which feature will
matter MOST to you
in 2025? (tick ONLY
ONE box)
Quality student accommodation, on-campus student facilities for
learning and leisure, library buildings and library collections of
physical books.
Strong links with leading edge local and international employers
for learning on the job and work experience while studying.
Courses delivered over shorter period than in 2010 with less
living costs, earlier entry into job market and quality degree.
Possibility to accumulate course credits from studying abroad or
to gain a joint degree with an overseas institution.
Personal online access to internationally renowned teachers,
practitioners and researchers in online tutorials and computer-
based virtual reality environments at low cost.
Learning process personalized and supported for the needs of
each individual student, delivered using learning styles, new or
traditional technologies, preferred by the individual student,
support provided for the students personal technology.
Courses and institutions recommended by other students from
your social network and friends, with possibilities to give
constant feedback for your satisfaction and recommendations.
Strong pastoral student support, institutions with proven record
for meeting diversity and special needs.
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 89 of 94
Question 11
How important will be different features in 2025 when you are choosing where to study for higher education
in 2025?
Of the options below, which one will be the MOST important and which will be the LEAST important in
2025?
Which feature will
matter LEAST to you
in 2025? (tick ONLY
ONE box)
Which feature will
matter MOST to you
in 2025? (tick ONLY
ONE box)
Possibility to accumulate course credits from studying abroad or
to gain a joint degree with an overseas institution.
Environmentally-friendly practices in every aspect of learning
and teaching.
Personal face-to-face tutorials with the institution‟s own local
teachers.
Personal online access to internationally renowned teachers,
practitioners and researchers in online tutorials and computer-
based virtual reality environments at low cost.
Guided unlimited online access to internationally renowned
quality learning resources (e-journals, e-books, e-textbooks) and
constantly updated in real-time archives quality educational
content for all subjects studied from leading teachers and
researchers.
Learning process personalized and supported for the needs of
each individual student, delivered using learning styles, new or
traditional technologies, preferred by the individual student,
support provided for the students personal technology.
Courses and institutions recommended by other students from
your social network and friends, with possibilities to give
constant feedback for your satisfaction and recommendations.
Strong pastoral student support, institutions with proven record
for meeting diversity and special needs.
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 90 of 94
Question 12
How important will be different features in 2025 when you are choosing where to study for higher education
in 2025?
Of the options below, which one will be the MOST important and which will be the LEAST important in
2025?
Which feature will
matter LEAST to
you in 2025? (tick
ONLY ONE box)
Which feature
will matter
MOST to you in
2025? (tick
ONLY ONE
box)
Quality student accommodation, on-campus student facilities for
learning and leisure, library buildings and library collections of
physical books.
Strong links with leading edge local and international employers for
learning on the job and work experience while studying.
Courses delivered over shorter period than in 2010 with less living
costs, earlier entry into job market and quality degree.
Environmentally-friendly practices in every aspect of learning and
teaching.
Personal face-to-face tutorials with the institution‟s own local teachers.
Personal online access to internationally renowned teachers,
practitioners and researchers in online tutorials and computer-based
virtual reality environments at low cost.
Guided unlimited online access to internationally renowned quality
learning resources (e-journals, e-books, e-textbooks) and constantly
updated in real-time archives quality educational content for all
subjects studied from leading teachers and researchers.
Courses and institutions recommended by other students from your
social network and friends, with possibilities to give constant feedback
for your satisfaction and recommendations.
Thank you for your participation!
If you have any questions or would like to be informed about the outcomes of the survey, please
contact Sandra Romenska at:
sr224@le.ac.uk
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 91 of 94
Appendix 4
Screenshots from Googleopoly Game
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 92 of 94
Appendix 5
Examples of a cognitive map
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 93 of 94
NTFS Projects Final Report Template Page 94 of 94
Appendix 6
CALF Project Research Model
Hindsight, Insight, Foresight, Oversight
Recommended