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Learning & Teaching in the Digital Era – Challenges Ahead

Professor Martin CarrollPro Vice-Chancellor AcademicNovember 2013

OUTLINE1. About CDU

2. About Modality and Affordances

3. About MOOCs

4. Predictions

About CDU

• NT is 1.42M km2 (sizeof Texas, New Mexico, California combined).

• But has a distributed population of <1/4M.

• CDU is the only uni home-based in the NT.

• Dual-sector (≈9,000 HE and ≈14,000 VET).

• ≈75% HE students are mainly online.

• Multicampus + partners.• THES Top 400 ranking.

What isCDU

doing?

WHAT IS CDU DOING?• (Almost) all HE units use Learnline (our Bb LMS)• Learnline unit templates based on best practice.• Pre-populated by the accredited unit information.• Learnline sites (risk-proportionally) quality assured by

academics and professional staff.• OER policy, but also investing in the production of high

quality interactive digital learning resources (not just content – also activities).

• Unit information, content and many activities available to students via the LMS irrespective of modality.

OUR LEARNLINE JOURNEY (TO DATE)

• Started 2003 with Bb LMS & Content (initially, voluntary uptake).

• Now Learn 9.1 SP13 (and around 90% HE unit sites).

• Use SafeAssign, Community and Outcomes modules.

• Bb Managed Hosting since 2009 (and BCP since 2012).

• Learnline Mobile (since 2012, for iOS and Android).

• Bb Collaborate 12.

• Bb Student Services (24x7 for students; a/hrs for staff).

OUR LEARNLINE JOURNEY (NEXT STEPS)

• Bb Analytics4Learn (recognising LMS is not just a content repository, but an activity repository that can inform retention and success strategies).

• Bb Social (recognising students want social media methods, but don’t want to conflate formal education with personal social spaces).

• OER Policy and Rich Media Content Management (recognising that rich resources can be interactive and engaging).

• xpLOR (in order to facilitate collaboration with other unis, including non-Bb unis)

About Modality

“Online courses are those in which at least 80 percent of the course content is delivered online.

Face-to-face instruction includes courses in which zero to 29 percent of the content is

delivered online; this category includes both traditional and web facilitated courses. The

remaining alternative, blended (sometimes called hybrid) instruction has between 30 and 80

percent of the course content delivered online.”

“Online courses are those in which at least 80 percent of the course content is delivered online.

Face-to-face instruction includes courses in which zero to 29 percent of the content is

delivered online; this category includes both traditional and web facilitated courses. The

remaining alternative, blended (sometimes called hybrid) instruction has between 30 and 80

percent of the course content delivered online.”

From “Changing Course, Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States”, Babson Survey Research Group, 2013.

Used by ICDE in a 2013 survey on MOOCS.

MODE OF ATTENDANCE• Internal: unit of study for which the student is enrolled.... is

undertaken through attendance at the HEP on a regular basis; or where a student is undertaking a HE unit for which regular attendance is not required, but attends the HEP on an agreed schedule for the purposes of supervision and/or instruction.

• External: unit of study for which the student is enrolled involves special arrangements whereby lesson materials, assignments, etc. are delivered to the student and any associated attendance at the institution is of an incidental, irregular special or voluntary nature.

(HEIMSHELP Glossary)

MODE OF ATTENDANCEMulti-modal: a unit of study is undertaken partially on an internal mode of attendance and partially on an external mode of attendance.(HEIMSHELP Glossary)

MODE OF ATTENDANCEMulti-modal: a unit of study is undertaken partially on an internal mode of attendance and partially on an external mode of attendance.(HEIMSHELP Glossary)

(CGS Guidelines No.1)

Multimodal students are those undertaking the multi-modal mode of attendance

MODE OF ATTENDANCEMulti-modal: a unit of study is undertaken partially on an internal mode of attendance and partially on an external mode of attendance.

(HEIMSHELP Glossary)

(CGS Guidelines No.1)

Multimodal students are those undertaking the multi-modal mode of attendance, where at least one unit of study is undertaken on an internal basis and at least one unit of study is undertaken on an external basis.

WHAT ARE MODES REALLY?Student cohort management mechanisms that maximise organisational efficiency by sorting students into groups with prescribed and limited ranges of engagement methods and timelines.

Is this student-centred?

SELT (2012) RESPONSESStudents differ extensively on expectations of modality:

• Some expect or want “external” mode to mean solo and asynchronous. They believe group work or synchronous engagement is antithetical.

• Some want internal & external students to mix.

• Some on-campus students (and staff!) are confused about how Learnline fits into an internal modality.

• No-one wants their modality to be inferior, but some external students – particularly adults – are more forgiving / tolerant.

Video conference

2nd Site

Main Site

Bb CollaborateMobile devices

Learner

Teacher

Room

AFFORDANCES AND MODALITY 1/4

• We need to respond to how students want to engage.• Time to refine modality. Consider modality as a

“designed collection of affordances.” • Affordance: any support, mechanism or resource for

facilitating student learning (may be sociocultural or technical).

• A unit may have different unit offerings, differentiated as modalities with different affordances, but this gives rise to concerns about equivalence.

• Moreover, new affordances arise all the time, enabling innovations in curriculum design and delivery.

• However, students have uneven access to affordances, raising equity concerns.

• It is vital to understand student markets by their affordances.

• So how do we innovate while maintaining equity and equivalence?

• By differentiating between reliant and augmenting affordances.


• Reliant affordance: one (or a choice of one from a selection of alternatives) which a student must access in order to achieve some or all of the required learning outcomes.

• Augmenting affordance: one which a student may, but is not required to, access in order to enhance their learning experience.

• Note: the Internet (and a Learnline Unit Site) is not a single Affordance; it is also as a vehicle for many other affordances, not all of which are universally accessible (e.g. due to bandwidth, cost or platforms).


• Understanding affordances drives good curriculum design and alignment with student cohorts.

• And enterprise-wide systems policy (e.g. Learnline Templates, preferred pedagogies, centralised purchasing and support decisions).

• Vital that we:– develop modalities with suitable choices of

affordances for students; and– communicate them clearly to students, in advance

of unit enrolment.


Mode A

Mode B Mode C

Mode AAugmenting Affordances(mainly learning activities)

Mode BAugmenting Affordances

(mainly learning activities)

Mode CAugmenting Affordances


Reliance Affordances(mainly unit information,

access to content, and summative assessment)

Mode AAugmenting Affordances(mainly learning activities)

Mode BAugmenting Affordances


Mode CAugmenting Affordances


M CS

Let’s talk about

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT MOOCS• Delivered online, usually free.• Almost always short courses – not whole programmes.• Mostly not for credit (insufficient academic controls).• Typically require no formal pre-requisite education.• The range and quality of affordances varies

tremendously (really no such thing as a MOOC).• Retention rates are generally very low – but most

registrants are MOOC tourists, not “serious” students.• Used to promote brands (often of on-campus unis!).• Recognition via badges and other social tokens.

MOOC MYTHS 1/2

• MOOC is synonymous with online higher education (the course is the same as the on-campus version).

• It doesn’t matter what knowledge and skills the student has upon entry.

• Students are better off accessing the course run by the world’s leading luminary.

• Enough good quality content is out there – just grab it and use it. Production costs are therefore low.

• MOOCS are massive.

• Online education enables greater staff:student ratios.

• Online units (not just MOOCs) are cheaper to run than on-campus courses.

• A 100% final exam is sufficient for assessment purposes.

MOOC MYTHS 2/2

MOOC BENEFITS• Enables free price (but high cost!) access to organised

uni-level content.• Helps push the boundaries of rich educational media

and learner analytics.• Helps to promote brands (but some ethical challenges).• Appeal to people wanting short courses and JIT

courses.• Useful for informal online learning.• May help universities transition into online education

methods.

PREDICTIONS• Some MOOCs will convert from informal to formal by

introduce academic controls (e.g. accreditation, student authentication, entry standards or prerequisites, invigilated assessment and moderation) to get credit.

• Informal learning will grow in volume and importance, through universities and other providers.

• Badges will grow in social currency and may become regulated.

• Regulators may accept a limited proportion of degree credit for informal MOOCS as a form of RPL.

Professor Martin CarrollPro Vice-Chancellor Academic +61 8 [email protected]

Try our new MOOC “Charles Darwin, Evolution and the Tropical Australia” at https://cdu.coursesites.com/

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.cdu.edu.au/

https://cdu.coursesites.com/