Challenges and opportunities for blended learning in research universities

Pip PattisonDeputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)

Sydney Teaching Colloquium: Blended Learning for Engaged Enquiry University of Sydney, October 2, 2013

Outline

1. International context (MOOCs and more)

2. The case for blended learning

3. An institutional approach

4. Other institutional considerations

5. A few final thoughts on ‘unbundling’ in higher education

International context (MOOCs and more)International context (MOOCs and more)1. International context (MOOCs

and more)

1. Global context: some non-ignorable trends in the higher education environment

• The rapid rise of open online resources, in general, and MOOCs, in particular (open access, eBooks, “eBookClubs”, …)

• The slower but consistent rise in online degree enrolments, and the emergence of higher quality for-fee online programs

• Increasingly pervasive and more inclusive mobile connectivity

• Increasing interest in and capacity for learning analytics

• The “unbundling” of higher education

• International and national concerns about cost and access (government and communities) and funding (universities)

• New models: – The Minerva Project – New MOOC sequences: Wharton (Coursera), MIT (edX)– Georgia Institute of Technology: Master of Computer Science online

The rise of open resources and courses

Approximately linear growth in enrolments

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Coursera Enrolments

Coursera Enrolments

Linear (Coursera Enrolments)

US students with at least one online enrolment as a fraction of the total students

*Allen & Seaman (2013): http://edf.stanford.edu/readings/changing-course-ten-years-tracking-online-education-united-states

The state of the internet*

*http://www.businessinsider.com/state-of-internet-slides-2012-10?op=1

An opportunity to:

– gain experience in online course development and delivery at scale (with no direct exchange of funds or IP)

– build data, expertise for new approaches to learning analytics

– develop more effective approaches to automated and adaptive feedback

– explore new pathways to higher education

– support ‘global’ classrooms with international partners

– build high quality resources for blended learning on campus

– offer courses at scale with tangible contribution to a public engagement agenda

– foster a broader discussion on innovation in L&T

Why have universities engaged with MOOCs? Our reasons are likely typical...

Consensus on reason for engaging with MOOCs, from Maturing of the MOOC*

Universities

• Brand extension• Recruitment• Educational innovation• Revenue (or cost reduction) opportunity

Learners

• Satisfactory learning experiences• Curiosity • Learning, rather than an award

*UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills, Research Paper No 130, September 2012

Of course we need to be mindful of who MOOC students are…

Principles of Macroeconomics

20.4% USA

9.2% India

6.4% Australia

4.4% Spain

3.9% U.K

3.5% Germany

3.4% Portugal

3.3% Serbia

3.2% Russia

88 countries in total

Forms of engagement – Discrete Optimization*

*Van Hentenryck, P. & Coffrin, C. (2013). Teaching creative problem solving in a MOOC. University of Melbourne

A new industry: predicting the future of higher education

Positive impacts of MOOCs

Heightened general interest in higher education teaching and learning

Renewed interest in experimentation

Renewed interest in research in higher education (learning analytics)

Serving an engagement agenda, and providing something that a largely educated audience wants

But, divergent views on where MOOCs are leading, from Maturing of the MOOC*

“Strong commitments from top university brands, stoked by large venture capital investments, have cooked up a powerful and frothy brew. A tonic for an ailing education system say some, a poison for Universities say others.”

“The prevalent opinion is that, whatever their faults, MOOCs herald an unstoppable “Napster moment” which will break the old business model of Higher Education...”

*UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills, Research Paper No 130, September 2012

International context (MOOCs and more)International context (MOOCs and more)2. The case for blended learning

*Graham, C. R., Woodfield, W , Harrison, J. B (2013). A framework for institutional adoption and implementation of blended learning in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 18, 4–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2012.09.003

Graham et al, 2013*: Course delivery forms

Technology is supporting an expanding set of Learning and Teaching possibilities

• Online v. face-to-face• Free v. fee• Awards and degrees v.

certificates and badges• Open v. restricted• Self-paced v. in-session• Synchronous v. asynchronous• Group- v. individual-based• Instructor- v. peer-based• Institution- v. student-focused• Generative v. analytical• Immersive and rich v. abstract

and idealised

• Personalised v. standardised• Credential- v. challenge-based

entry• Interactive v. passive • Problem- v. content-structured• Adaptive v. fixed • Experiential v. ‘abstracted’• Reflective v. programmatic• Mobile v. location-dependent• Evidence-based v. tradition-based• Immediate v. delayed feedback• Mastery v. threshold

Question for us all: What parts of this yeasty space to occupy (especially as MOOCs raise the temperature)?

Blended learning and the broader role of technology in Learning & Teaching

eLearning

• Digital technologies to enhance interaction, engagement, learning

• New learning tools that capitalise on the distinctive possibilities of digital technologies

Online subjects and courses

• Adding diversity and flexibility for on-campus programs

• Online and blended pathways to and through higher education

• Open offerings for broad online engagement

The on campus component of blended learning

(blended) on campus = online + more

• Balancing the distinctive advantages of online and face-to-face

Understanding and enhancing the “more”?

• A scholarly community within a richly resourced (human, physical, virtual) learning environment, and the opportunities for learning, interaction and creativity which it supports

• A wealth of opportunities to support broader personal development (especially for 18-22 year olds)

Blended learning: the ‘in class’ component

• Online v. face-to-face• Free v. fee• Awards and degrees v.

certificates and badges• Open v. restricted• Self-paced v. in-session• Synchronous v. asynchronous• Group- v. individual-based• Instructor- v. peer-based• Institution- v. student-focused• Generative v. analytical• Immersive and rich v. abstract

and idealised

• Personalised v. standardised• Credential- v. challenge-based

entry• Interactive v. passive • Problem- v. content-structured• Adaptive v. fixed • Experiential v. ‘abstracted’• Reflective v. programmatic• Mobile v. location-dependent• Evidence-based v. tradition-based• Immediate v. delayed feedback• Mastery v. threshold

A further question for us all: How to build effective ‘in class’ activities that realise engaged enquiry in a blended learning environment?

Challenge #1

Challenge # 1

• What will blended learning look like in 2030? (And who will be offering it in what types of institutions?)

Blended learning: better student learning outcomes through Engaged Enquiry

Broad empirical support for the effectiveness of:• “active” learning• activities that bridge learning and practice• activities requiring student-student interactions

Learning experiences need to be:• well designed• effective• and often also creative and innovative

Feedback on effectiveness for learning is vital:• for teachers: rapid improvement and adaptation • for students: guiding learning• for stakeholders: broad assurance of outcomes

Challenge #1

Challenge # 2

• What type of information would you like (but don’t currently have) to help improve learning outcomes for your students?

The student voice

Responses from a representative sample of 10,000 US students in 226 colleges & universities (Feb-April, 2013)*

Type of course in which college students say they tend to learn most:

Courses with no online components 22.1%

Courses with some online components 57.7%

Courses that are completely online 7.8%

No preference 12.4%

*The Chronicle, 2013-2014 Almanac, 23 August 2013

International context (MOOCs and more)International context (MOOCs and more)3. An institutional approach

Making blended learning work

Our approach

• Strategic framework developed by Director, eLearning

• Implementation:– Design in the hands of staff members– $$ to create affordances (time, help, resources)– Engagement at all points of the technology adoption curve– Mechanisms to foster and disseminate innovation (an eLearning

Incubator)– Context: broader teaching and learning objectives, including

increased experiential learning opportunities

• Measures of success: outcomes for students

Learning and Teaching Initiatives ($5K-$50K )

Focus on Collaboration, Interaction and Engagement

• Promoting Interaction in large and small group lectures

• Increasing interaction between staff and students and among students through peer-based learning and social networking

• Improving feedback to students and assessment

• Innovative learning design in technology based learning environments

• Mobile learning on and off campus

• Connecting distributed learners with rich media & virtual classrooms

• Some fully online/blended subjects for increased flexibility

The eLearning Incubator

PBC BidStudents

eLI

Centre for the Study of Higher

Education

InformationTechnology

Services

Academics in faculties

Learning Environments

Library

Some current projects

Project Faculty

eField Trips, ePracticals Land & Enviroment

EDUtopia (design and simulation platform) Engineering

apps@Melbourne (software development lab) Engineering

Saving the Earth, Organising Mars Engineering

iiNurse Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences

Mobile learning Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences

Sociospatial databases for immersive learning Architecture, Building & Planning

Construction Unwrapped Architecture, Building & Planning

Musicians’ Drones (pitch perception and tuning app) Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

PeerTutor Business and Economics

Collaboration tools Arts

Scaffolding and rubric-based marking interface Education

Do-your-own-experiments-kit Science

Our initial seven Coursera subjects

Course Instructor Level WeeksExercise Prof Mark Hargreaves 3rd year UG 6Physiology

Generating the Prof Jeff Borland 1st year (breadth) 10 wealth of nations

Discrete Prof Pascal van Hentenryck Graduate 8Optimization (NICTA)

Epigenetic control Dr Marnie Blewitt (WEHI) Graduate 6of gene expression

Principles of Prof Nilss Olekalns1st year 8Macroeconomics

Animal Profs Raoul Mulder & 3rd year 6Behaviour Mark Elgar

Climate change Prof Rachel Webster & 1st year (breadth) 9

colleagues

Dedicated studio

The Learning Analytics Research Group

The focus is large data sets of staff and students' interactions in electronic learning environments

Six themes:• Student motivation and autonomous learning in MOOCs• Gamification and game based learning environments • Modelling student interactions in open curriculum

structures • Data mining, machine learning and predictive analytics • Social network analysis and network modelling • Feedback and adaptive learning environments

A framework for professional development in eLearning

PD Opportunities

‘Innovations in T&L’ seminars

LMS Workshops

‘Practical pedagogy’ seminars

Centrally supported faculty workshops

Grad Cert in University Teaching

CSHE Orange guides

‘Online Teaching’ online modules

Learning Technology matrix

Online showcase of good practice

eLearning Incubator showcase

Network of Learning technology educators

eLearning consultations

ePeer Review

International context (MOOCs and more)International context (MOOCs and more)4. Other institutional

considerations

Institution-wide adoption of blended learning: what works?

• Special issue (March 2013) on blended learning policy and implementation

• Strategic framework includes:– Technology and infrastructure– Intellectual Property– “Seat time” (contact hours) and credit points– Incentives and staffing (tenure, promotion, value, salary)– Funding for change– Evaluation of outcomes, including peer review– Professional development and support for staff

• Whole of institution case studies, including: – Maastricht University– University of Central Florida

Technology and infrastructure

• Pervasive wireless?• Collaborative learning

spaces• Informal learning spaces

Staffing

• Figlio, Schapiro & Soter: Are tenure track professors better teachers? National Bureau of Economic Research, September 2013

• Data: 8 successive cohorts of students at Northwestern (2001-2008; 15,662 students)

• Outcome: “consistent evidence that students learn more from non-tenure track professors in their introductory courses”, across a range of subject areas, and most pronounced for average and less-qualified students

On outcome measures

It is important to focus on meaningful measures of student outcomes, not just on what we have available...

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Group of Eight (Go8) Quality Verification System (QVS)

An expert/peer judgment system designed to provide light-touch review of learning outcomes, assessment tasks, assessment standards

• demonstrate the appropriateness of the standards of learning outcomes and grades awarded in Go8 universities, without compromising curriculum and pedagogical innovation

• maintain and improve the academic standards of Go8 universities

• enable comparisons of learning outcomes in similar subjects across Go8 universities

• promote discussion on good practice in teaching and learning in the Go8 universities

Distinctive features

• designed to be as ‘light touch’ as possible and hence both systematic and sustained

• timing is flexible

• focuses on assessment in a sample of final year subjects in undergraduate fields of education (must cover a minimum of 25 percent of final year assessment requirements);

• conducted by senior discipline-relevant academics (Level D and above) who will have an understanding of academic standards in leading universities around the world

Challenge #1

Challenge # 3

• If you had to nominate a single measure of success for a blended learning initiative, what would your preferred choice be?

International context (MOOCs and more)International context (MOOCs and more)5. A few final thoughts on

“unbundling” in higher education

Why and how does peer review of standards work (best)?

• Universities co-locate researchers and research infrastructure, affording creative interaction

• Research networks connect researchers worldwide

• These networks support a shared culture of open and critical enquiry and knowledge discovery and exchange, and peer review processes underpin shared views of academic standing and academic standards

• Research networks are more extensive, more open and more far-reaching than teaching networks

Co-publication among co-authors of Erdös and their co-authors (http://www.math.ucsd.edu/~fan/graphs/gallery/)

The value proposition of (blended) teaching and learning in research-intensive universities

The co-location of research and teaching allows:

– higher education to draw distinctively on and pass on its culture of open and critical enquiry and discovery

– student learning and interaction within a rich environment for learning and discovery

– convenient and often efficient synergies (or cross-subsidies) in funding of research and higher education

– benefits for teaching and learning from depth of expertise

– benefits for research of expertise in learning and teaching and student flows

The co-location of research, teaching and practice allows:

– open and critical engagement of higher education and research with public life, professional practice and industry

What must our blended learning environments be careful not to “unbundle”?

• The research networks and culture

• The (human, physical, virtual) learning environment and the opportunities for learning and creativity which it supports

• Interaction-rich opportunities for learning and assessment

• The partial overlap among research, teaching and engagement activities

• Specific forms of interaction-rich experience:

– Programs with broad, skills-rich learning outcomes and/or broader developmental aims

– Research-teaching-practice partnerships for entry-to-profession programs

– Research training programs

Challenge #1

Challenge # 1

• What will blended learning look like in 2030? (And who will be offering it in what types of institutions?)

Challenge #1

Challenge # 2

• What type of information would you like (but don’t currently have) to help improve learning outcomes for your students?

Challenge #1

Challenge # 3

• If you had to nominate a single measure of success for a blended learning initiative, what would your preferred choice be?