UK Government policies on higher education emphasise that the learning experience will be a key measure of universities' and colleges' success. This continues an emphasis on student perspectives and the learning experience begun under the previous government, expressed through initiatives such as the National Student Survey, and the 2009 Debate on the Future for Higher Education.
Background
The JISC Learners' Experiences of e-Learning programme, the HE Academy's work on learning experiences, and JISC research into student expectations, have all advanced our understanding of how digital technologies are shaping the learning experience. Key to students' individual experience of the curriculum are issues such as their existing digital literacy, their use of personal and social technologies, their previous experiences of learning, personal goals and pathways to learning, and habits of study.
At the start of the JISC CDD programme, all projects attended a workshop on engaging learners, and many have done innovative work in this area, especially by treating students as agents of change in the process of curriculum transformation.
What learners were saying
During consultations as part of the CDD baselining process, learners highlighted that:
-
They are time-poor and need ways of engaging in learning that they can fit into complex lives
- They would like to be able to gather evidence of their achievements in a variety of formats, and to reuse it (e.g. for job applications, professional accreditation, academic assessment).
- Feedback and assessment are the issues over which learners feel least satisfaction with their programmes of study. They would like feedback, and discussion of their development (academic or professional), to be at the forefront of their course experience.
- Learners have their own ideas about the curriculum, which are often innovative e.g. through experiences of placement and of learning in other contexts, and would like these to be taken seriously.
- They are sometimes uncertain about what 'employability' means and how their studies will help them achieve their goals in life: for example they find it difficult to relate their learning experience to the skills requested in job advertisements.
- Learners want more flexibility and choice over e.g. elective modules, placement options, technologies in use, with opportunities to 'try out' or get a clear understanding of what they are choosing.
-
Not all learners are interested in academic credit: work-based learning means that learners have a variety of motivations and goals.
Projects identified evidence that the student experience is compromised when programmes are designed without sufficient thought to how they will meet learners' longer term goals, their diverse pathways and preferences for learning, or their learning experience in the broadest sense. One project defined a problem with 'distributed' curriculum design, in contract to the 'holistic' experience that learners should have.
Not highlighted by students themselves, but understood to be critical to their experience, is the need for engaging and 'authentic' representations of the curriculum to support informed choices and help learners understand clearly what kinds of learning will be involved. It is widely recognised that formal, text-based representations such as module descriptors do not serve the needs of many learners well. For example, baseline surveys conducted by Newcastle University for their Dynamic Learning Maps Project revealed a roughly, 50/50 split between students who preferred a textual and those who preferred a visual representation of the curriculum.
Addressing the issues
1. Enhancing the role of assessment and feedback was seen by many projects as having a direct impact on the student experience and ultimately on satisfaction and retention (COWL, ESCAPE, Duckling, Making the New Diploma a success, Atelier-D, MAC, ISCC)
‘There is strong evidence that the Making Assessment Count Process can help some students engage with, and make more of their feedback. It seems that a quite straightforward technology can be used to encourage students to think more about the feedback written on their work.'
2. Projects have fostered a culture of providing a responsive flexible curriculum and of listening to the learner voice in designing appropriate experiences (Springboard TV, KUBE, Duckling, SRC, UG-Flex)
The DUCKLING interventions resulted in improved learner engagement, more flexibility in the curricula to accommodate the needs of time-poor, work-based distance learners, and the reduction of learner isolation.
3. Helping students to map their own pathways through learning, and mapping competences across institutions, gives learners more control over their learning and allows them to develop an integrated view of their progress (Dynamic Learning Maps, ENABLE, Co-Educate, PC3). Other projects improved personalisation and choice in different ways (COWL, Making the New Diploma a Success)
4. Several projects have focused on issues around 21st century graduate attributes and capabilities (ISCC, Atelier-D, SpringboardTV) while others focused on enhancing student literacies that would improve their lifelong learning opportunities (COWL, Making the New Diploma a success)
5. Some projects focused on developing and improving access to materials to support learners (G4, COWL, Duckling, CASCADE) while others had their learners producing content for others (KUBE, SpringboardTV)
6. There is evidence that learners prefer to use familiar technologies, especially personal technologies, in learning contexts, but there are also issues of digital inclusion if study relies on these too heavily. Projects have found ways of being sensitive to these issues while maximising the value of personal technologies and integrating them into course delivery
'All fieldtrip cohorts appreciated the role that personal technologies could play in enhancing their participation in learning activities, and there was significant engagement with the GIS Collaboratory mashup.' (MoRSE)
When given the choice, students are resourceful in the way they adapt the technologies they are familiar with, and that they use regularly, to support new activities. In our experience, allowing this choice was much more effective than providing new technologies, even when the new technologies were, on the surface, better suited to the task. (PC3 project)
7. Enhancing interaction in the learning experience and supporting dialogue (Making the New Diploma a success, KUBE, Atelier-D, SpringboardTV, PC3 project)
‘Students expressed high levels of satisfaction with the PBL branched web virtual patients. Benefits cited included interactivity, increased engagement, better group discussion and greater realism.' (G4)
We have evidence of students carrying on structured learning conversations (peer coaching) using technology such as Facebook groups and Blackberry messenger, together with video and paper diaries to record their experiences and progress. The use of technology enabled the students to continue the coaching at a distance during their work placement. (PC3 project)
8. The learning experience is greatly enhanced by improving administrative and support mechanisms, to save students time and give easy access to course information. Different projects dealt with issues such as assignment handling (MAC, COWL, ESCAPE), timetabling and attendance data (Making the New Diploma a Success), online enrolment and payment (CASCADE)
9. Supporting new students and enhanced induction (Making the New Diploma a Success, KUBE, CASCADE)
The Design programme has focused on how transparent curriculum design processes, and highly informative, student-centred communications about the curriculum, foster student engagement in their learning experience. Students need a view of their programme of study that makes sense in terms of their own aspirations and development pathway.
There are strong links between their learning experience and engagement, and the learning outcomes achieved by individuals. Individual learning experiences also have an impact on institutional issues such as graduate employability, widening participation, and the flexible curriculum. Projects have also commented on the need to consider and support students' digital literacies when embedding technologies into the learning experience:
We have further evidence that our assumptions about the digital literacy and confidence of students were unfounded. When planning online delivery we would suggest minimising the number of different technologies used and providing students with as integrated experience as possible. (PC3 project)
Resources
Learners Experiences of e-Learning wiki
Committee of Inquiry into the Changing Student Experience findings including link to the final report: HE in a Web 2.0 World
National Student Forum Annual Report 2009 (findings from the student juries on learning and teaching)
Dimensions of Quality report
Curriculum Delivery Benefits Table
Case studies
Evidence from the Psychology podcasting study suggested that the students‟ learning experience improved as a result of four key benefits associated with the integration of podcasting into learning design: (1) personalisation, (2) an additional and different format for providing and presenting clear and engaging guidance, support and feedback, (3) increased flexibility and mobility within the curricula, and (4) „design once, deliver many times‟ with minimum adaptation. (Duckling Project)
Search HEA EvidenceNet for resources tagged 'Student experience'
Resources on the Design Studio tagged with 'learner experience'
Resources tagged 'learners'
Resources tagged 'students'
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.