During 2008–2010, the JISC Transforming Curriculum Delivery through Technology programme investigated in conjunction with Becta, how technology can best support flexible and creative models of curriculum delivery in further and higher education. 15 projects were funded: 12 from higher education institutions, 3 from further education colleges. The programme has run in parallel with a sister programme, Institutional Approaches to Curriculum Design, which runs until 2012. The outcomes and outputs from both programmes are presented in the Design Studio through a range of different contexts to enable users to access the resources in multiple ways. See the different ways you can explore these below.
What do we mean by 'curriculum delivery'?
In this context ‘curriculum delivery’ is understood to mean the many ways by which a curriculum enables learners to achieve their learning goals. Teaching, learning support, advice and guidance, coaching, mentorship, peer and collaborative learning, feedback and assessment, personal development planning and tutoring, skills development and practice, and access to resources are processes encompassed by the term ‘curriculum delivery’. Curriculum delivery is part of dynamic interrelationship with curriculum design and as such can be seen as a component of a curriculum development 'lifecycle'. Within this process 'delivery' is defined as the point at which learners interact with the designed curriculum.
Organisational, curriculum and learning challenges
The starting point of the project teams was to identify challenges in their contexts which might be addressed by the intervention of technology. Some of the most significant issues facing post-16 education at the current time were represented among those challenges: enhancing assessment and feedback, facilitating skills development and addressing employability needs, achieving personalisation within the context of large, diverse student groups, making efficiency gains, creating more flexible and accessible learning experiences. Improved engagement, retention and achievement were also seen as major drivers for the remodelling of curricula. By applying technology to its best advantage, the programme has helped effectively address some of these challenges.
Enabling Technologies
The technologies trialled included many that are already familiar – podcasts, e-portfolios, VLEs, blogs and wikis, for example – but the programme has also overseen innovations such as a curriculum-mapping tool, and use of immersive worlds and semantic web technologies. In fact, nearly 60 different technologies and standards were recorded as being used throughout the programme’s lifecycle. In its entirety, the programme provides a rich insight into the ways by which institutions and individual curriculum areas can use technology to improve the quality and efficiency of their delivery, and respond more robustly and with greater agility to the demands of a changing world.
Evidence of benefits and impact
A strong body of evidence has emerged from the projects about the benefits of different technologies in supporting new pedagogies and delivery models. These can be grouped under 3 key themes:
A benefits table summarises evidence from the project benefits for students, staff and institutions around these broad themes. There is also early evidence of benefits to wider communities (employers, local communities, other further and higher education institutions). The interventions appear to be highly transferable to similar contexts, to those working within the same subject disciplines, within similar institutions or those adopting similar pedagogic approaches (for example problem-based learning).
Synthesis and Dissemination
Exploring project resources in the Design Studio
All project resources and outputs are contextualised within the Design Studio. You can:
Project Summaries
College of West Anglia
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SpringboardTV enriched learning and teaching at the College of West Anglia by remodelling media courses around production and management activities for the college’s internet TV station. Student motivation and achievement improved sharply, enabling the college to be the recipient of the 2010–2011 LSIS Award for Leadership of Innovation in Curriculum Development.
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| Coventry University |
Coventry Online Writing Laboratory (COWL) aimed to extend current face-to-face support for academic writing at Coventry University by developing a model for personalised remote delivery. Using widely available technologies, choice and flexibility have been improved and a seamless blended learning support environment is now in place.
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| Kingston College |
Kingston Uplift for Business Education (KUBE) explored the potential of technology to promote engagement and interactivity on higher education business courses at Kingston College. Outputs such as a blended learning planning tool, Curriculopoly (a board game to promote creative use of blended learning tools and techniques) and KU Chat (a learner-led pre-induction networking site) helped embed the KUBE approach more widely across the college.
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| Kingston University and De Montfort University |
Mobilising Remote Student Engagement (MoRSE) combined mobile technologies, social networking tools and a VLE to enhance learning on placements and fieldtrips. The project, which involved employers, staff and students, set up a laboratory in the field to make learning beyond the institution more authentic, rewarding and efficient.
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| Lewisham College |
As a result of Making the New Diploma a Success, Lewisham College has developed a learner portal to give access to online tools and course management processes from different locations. Initially designed for the 14-19 vocational diploma, the portal has subsequently revitalised the wider curriculum, enabled more efficient use of staff time and increased student motivation, retention and achievement.
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Middlesex University and City University
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Information Spaces for Creative Conversations (ISCC) addressed a recurrent challenge for design education – engaging students in creative conversations. Technology-rich information spaces which support students in presenting their designs, then capturing and replaying the ensuing discussions, may hold the answer.
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| Newcastle University |
Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) aimed to provide students with a dynamic tool to help them navigate their way through modular or complex curricula such as medicine. While largely based on pre-determined curricular requirements, maps can be personalised by adding extensions, reflections or notes, and by drawing in content from data sources such as RSS feeds.
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| Open University |
Achieving Transformation, Enhanced Learning and Innovation through Educational Resources in Design (ATELIER-D) harnessed Web 2.0 technologies to develop an innovative online environment for art and design education known as the ‘virtual atelier’. Project outcomes have since informed the development of a radically new level 1 Open University course called Design Thinking.
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| St George's, University of London |
Generation 4 (G4) used virtual patient generation software to support problem-based learning in medical education. Students found branching online scenarios that incorporate multiple-choice questions ideal for testing their knowledge and clinical decision-making skills. Virtual patients also have the potential to be used in assessment.
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| University of Bristol |
eBioLabs responded to the challenge of preparing students with different levels of experience for laboratory-based practice in bioscience. Online interactive resources were found to increase student achievement and satisfaction while staff workload has been addressed through automating coursework submission, marking and feedback.
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| University of Exeter |
In response to challenges posed by rapidly increasing numbers and an internationally diverse student body, Integrative Technologies project (INTEGRATE) successfully trialled a range of technologies to create vibrant learning experiences and more efficient administrative practices at the University of Exeter’s Business School.
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| University of Hertfordshire |
Effecting Sustainable Change in Assessment Practice and Experience (ESCAPE) responded to national and institutional concerns about assessment and feedback by using an appreciative inquiry approach to curriculum change. The project generated a toolkit to help curriculum teams adopt more learning-centred assessment practices.
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| University of Leicester |
Delivering University Curricula: Knowledge, Learning and INnovation Gains (DUCKLING) investigated cost-effective, high-impact uses of technology to enhance delivery of Master’s courses to work-based distance learners. Without adding significantly to staff workloads, the project team identified advantages in podcasting and e-book readers, but also trialled resources in Second Life.
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| University of Oxford |
CASCADE harnessed technology to respond to challenges posed by a reduction in funding for continuing education. Tutors are now supported in course design by VLE-based exemplars, while students can enrol, pay fees and submit their assignments within a streamlined online environment.
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| University of Westminster |
Making Assessment Count narrowed the gap between student and staff expectations of assessment by means of a 3-stage feedback process first introduced in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Westminster. Managed online by students, the process prompts deeper reflection on feedback and can lead to clearer dialogue between students and personal tutors.
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