Developing and Supporting Online Learning in a Traditional UK Polytechnic

University:A view from the middle

Rachel Forsyth, Learning and Teaching Unit, Manchester Metropolitan University

Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)

• approx. 31,000 students • 60% undergraduate, 40% postgraduate • 66% full-time; 34% part-time• 40% of full-time students >21 when they

begin• 2000 staff, of whom about 1200 teaching staff

(mostly full-time)

MMU: Mission

“to provide high-quality learning opportunities for all our students and establish a reputation

for the provision of excellent, varied and innovative teaching and learning”.

Major Issues for MMU

• recruitment and retention• widening participation

Learning and Teaching Unit

Responsible for implementation of Learning and Teaching Strategy

Established September 2000 (Head: Professor Fred Lockwood)

3 members of academic staff

1 web developer

MMU campus

My office

Dispersed Team

First online steps at MMU

• First online course 1996 (Certificate in Open and Distance Learning)

• In-house system for bulletin boards, student home pages, assignment submission etc

• Excellent for small numbers of students and one or two courses at a time

WebCT

• 1998: 3 courses• 1999: 90 courses (most in development)• 2000: 165 active courses, 170 in

development• 2001: (projected) 300 courses managed by

160 academic staff

Use of WebCT at MMU since 1998

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

Sep-98

Mar-99

Sep-99

Mar-00

Sep-00

Mar-01

Sep-01

Mar-02

Sep-02

Mar-03

Sep-03

Mar-04

Sep-04

Mar-05

Sep-05

Date

Nu

mb

er

Course Areas

Staff Developing Course Areas

WebCTWebCT

Reasons for Growth

• internal project: fellowship• ‘zeitgeist’ - the time is right• lack of foresight

Online Fellowship Scheme

• eight weeks, full-time online learning innovation • 24 lecturers over two years• awarded by application and interview• intensive support before, during and after• funding dependent on beginning, completing,

implementing and evaluating.

Open system for access to WebCT

• any lecturer can obtain a “Development Area”• supported by online course and other

materials• internal WebCT developers mailing list• technical support mailing list• developed courses emerge from Development

Area after a quality check

Overview of WebCT usage

9th August 2000 - 18th June 2001• 1.8m pages requested (average 5,778 per

day)• 3.9m data item requests• busiest month: January (317,800 requests

for pages)

How is WebCT used?

• 69% of requests from on campus

• 31% of requests from off campus– requests from 28 international domains

How far have we come?

• 6,000 students, 100 developers• increasing interest from course teams,

moving away from the “individual enthusiast” paradigm

• most staff development takes place online• all technical support via email

Problems: our unit• 1.5 academic staff (2 from

1 September) with other tasks

• 0.4 technical staff • No hardware/software

budget • Academic staff doing

technical jobs

Problems: institutional

• No institutional policy on online learning

• No institutional resources for online learning

• Seven campuses, seven faculties• No integration with management

information systems • Not enough emphasis on student

learning

Strategy

• Persuade the Directorate to adopt a strategy• Put hardware support into central information

systems• Devolve training and technical support to

faculty level• Reorganise existing resources (us)• Work towards a managed learning

environment

What do you think we should do next?

Staff Development Online

1998/99: same workshops offered in two modes:

• face to face - typically one full day (113 participants)

• online - typically one hour per week for six weeks (96 participants)

Outcomes

• face to face: – no change, everyone who turned up completed

everything

• online: – 15% completed everything– 70% completed most tasks– 15% ‘attended’ once then never again

Typical demands: what are your daily priorities?

• Marking• Course administration• Teaching• Paper to be written• Staff Development

• Student with problem• Institutional

administration• Colleague wanting to

discuss something

New Course Design

• 6 hours over 2 days• Compulsory ‘meetings’ at 10am and 2pm

each day• Structured activities• Group work

Sample Course Activities