Thinking about Blended Learning

Thinking about Blended Learning

Diana Laurillard

The global demand for education

By 2025, the global demand for higher education will double to ~200m per year, mostly from emerging economies (NAFSA 2010)

1,600,000 new teaching posts needed for universal primary education by 2015.

3,300,000 new teachers by 2030 (UNESCO 2013)

Student loan debt in US is higher than CC debt so students will demand new models of teaching and learning

Can we use technology to reduce the current staff:student ratios of higher education and maintain quality?

From blended to open learning? Internet and ICT in Flemish Higher Education:- the purpose of which is the development of a systemic vision on the optimal exploitation of ICT and internet for the new learning of the 21st century and to provide an alternative perspective aiming at formulating long term policy objectives.

The overall programme aim

10 Discussion items on Blended Learning

1. How will blended learning change HE on campus (BA, MA)?

2. Blended learning and the teacher

3. The evaluation, exams and assessment challenge

4. Open and distance learning - Lifelong learning

5. Blended learning and the institution

6. Inter institutional networking (national, European and global)

7. MOOCs

8. Implications for interaction with secondary / primary education

9. Role of government and official bodies

10. Potential for development cooperation

Blended, Online and Open Learning

Blended Blends online and f2f for campus studentsOnline Online only, anywhereDual mode Blended + equivalent onlineOpen Online with open entry (OU, MOOCs)

• Online learning offers opportunity of high fixed costs and low support costs to improve per-student cost

• Teaching costs must be carefully managed and planned• Learning benefits must be designed and evaluated• Technology use should start from problems, not solutions

HE problems and Technology solutionsProblems we know we have• Transition to HE is poor for many

students• Demand for quality HE cannot be

met on the current model• Employers dissatisfied with

graduate skills• Academics interested in research

rather than teaching• Students have a digital life

untapped by their HE course• Alumni need flexible continuing

professional development• Assessment does not motivate the

learning needed• Students lack motivation and

independence in learning

Potential technology solutions Extend access to HE ICT resources

and activities to schools Use large-scale cascade online

courses model to reach out Use online collaboration to enable

employers to influence curriculum Link teaching to online research

methods Use online student collaboration

for sharing digital learning ideas Extend access to HE ICT resources

and activities to alumni Use tech to update assessment as

automated and more challenging Include digital tools for students to

do inquiry, practice, discussion, collaboration, production

Problems we know we have• Transition to HE is poor for many

students• Demand for quality HE cannot be

met on the current model• Employers dissatisfied with

graduate skills• Academics interested in research

rather than teaching• Students have a digital life

untapped by their HE course• Alumni need flexible continuing

professional development• Assessment does not motivate the

learning needed• Students lack motivation and

independence in learning

Models of online learning?Problem/Issue Audience Pedagogy Content Income

Transition to HE Schools InquiryCollaborative

Re-purposed

Free

Large classes Under-graduates

All, pyramid + personal support

New Fee + Govt

High demand Part-time students

All, pyramid + personal support

New Fee + Employer

High level skills Post-graduates

All, high support New Fee + Govt

Workplace updates

Professionals MOOC, peer support

Market driven

Fee

Alumni updates Alumni MOOC, low support

Research driven

Fee/Subscription

Lifelong learning

Open to all MOOC, peer support

Re-purposed

Free

The MOOC as ‘large-scale’ pedagogy

Average student numbers per course - Edinburgh

Statement of Accomplishment

Week 5 asst's

Engaged Week 1

Accessed Week 1

Enrolled

0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000

5500

6000

15000

20500

51500

Completed = 27% of ‘starters’

MOOCs @ Edinburgh 2013 – Report #1

27%

SoA

Week 6

Week 5

Week 4

Week 3

Week 2

Week 1

Registered

0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000

The MOOC as ‘large-scale’ pedagogy

Average student numbers per course - UoL

959211377

1727523367

53250

MOOC Report 2013: University of London

77306747

2211

9%

Completed = 9% of ‘starters’

The MOOC as undergraduate education

Not for undergraduates

Less than high school

School

College

Degree

PG degree

0% 5% 10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%

40%

30%

17%

10%

3%

MOOCs @ Edinburgh 2013 – Report #1

70% have degrees

Enrolled students

Schooling

GCSE

A level

Professional

Bachelors

Masters

Doctorate

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%


Not for undergraduates

Enrolled students

4%

29%

35%

8%

3%

MOOC Report 2013: University of London

68% have degrees

8%

11%


MOOCs: Higher Education’s Digital Moment? 2013: UUK

85% have degrees

The economics of teaching and learning in HE

Preparation of curriculum and resources

Adaptive systems: field trips, lab sessions, simulations, modelsExpositions: lectures, study guides, slides, podcasts, videosFormative assessment: feedback from peers, digital systemsReadings: books, papers, websites, pdfsCollaborations: projects, workshops, role play simulations, wikisPeer group discussion: seminars, discussion forumsFormative assessment: tutor feedback offline, feedback onlineTutored discussion: tutorials, small groups, discussion forumsSummative assessment: exams, essays, designs, performance

Support for students learning

Fixed cost

Variable cost

Conceal answers to questionAsk for user-constructed input Show multiple answers/commentsAsk student to improve answer

Concealed MCQs

The (virtual) Keller Plan

The vicarious master class

Pyramid discussion groups

Pedagogies for supporting large classes

Introduce contentSelf-paced practiceTutor-marked testStudent becomes tutor for creditUntil half class is tutoring the rest

Tutorial for 5 representative studentsQuestions and guidance represent all students’ needs

240 individual students produce response to open questionPairs compare and produce joint response60 groups of 4 compare and produce joint response and post as one of 10 responses...6 groups of 40 students vote on best responseTeacher receives 6 responses to comment on

What it takes to teach with technology

The teaching workload is increasing in terms of Planning for how students will learn in the mix of the physical, digital and social learning spaces designed for themCurating and adapting existing content resourcesDesigning activities and resources for all types of active learning Personalised and adaptive teaching that improve traditional methodsProviding flexibility in blended learning optionsGuiding and nurturing large cohorts of studentsUsing learning technologies to improve scale AND outcomes

BUT: Institutions and teachers do not typically plan for the teaching workload implied by these learning benefitsnor for the need to collaborate to innovate with technology

Browse Adopt

Adapt Develop

Self review

Redesign

Test

Publish

The design cycle for teaching

Building teaching community knowledge

Make links to existing content

resources

??

Build on others’ tested designs

Browse Adopt

Adapt Develop

Review

Redesign

Test

Publish

The design cycle for science

Building scientific knowledge

What is the teaching design

equivalent of the journal paper?

A tool for learning design: browsing

The Learning Designer: Adopt(interpreting Tudor portraits)

Details of: learning context, topic, aims, outcomes, student numbers, duration

Details of the pedagogy: types of learning activity,

group size, teacher presence, attached urls, duration,

student guidance

Analysis of the learning experience calculated

dynamically

The Learning Designer: Adapt(experimental design for Psychology)

Note the designed time is much greater

than the allotted time

Every section of the learning design can be

edited, and new resources attached

Analysis of the learning experience adapts to

your edits

Share to submit for review

The Learning Designer: Review(Business planning for engineers)

Notes for additional comments

Reviews and comments could be student

evaluations

Additional pane for Reviewer to add comments according to criteria ‘Test of outcome?

Alignment? Feedback? Technology?

Reviewer Feedback

Browse Adopt

Adapt Create

Review

Redesign

Test

Publish

Teaching as a design cycle

Building learning technology knowledge

Question: What is the teaching design equivalent of the journal paper?

Answer:A learning design that can be reviewed, adapted, improved, published, reused…

Balancing the benefits and costs

It’s important to understand the link between the pedagogical benefits and teaching time costs of online learning – especially for the large-scale

What are the new digital pedagogies that will address the 1:25 student guidance conundrum? How to shift variable cost support to fixed cost support?

Can we develop a viable business model that will make HE more effective and affordable for undergraduates?

Analysing teacher workload(the Course Resource Appraisal Model CRAM)

Run No. of studentsRun 1 15Run 2 20Run 3 20

Details of: credit hours, cohort size, income,

teacher costs, types of learning and teaching, online and f2f, time for prep and for support

Learning experienceTeacher preparation time

Teaching support time

Analysing teacher workload(the Course Resource Appraisal Model CRAM)

Run 1 Run 2 Run 3Students 15 30 60Profit -£27k £11k £38k


Analysing workload for a Basic MOOC(the Course Resource Appraisal Model CRAM)

Assuming £20 (?) income for Signature Track

Run 1 Run 2 Run 3Students 2000 2000 2000Profit £21k £35k £35k


What if only 500 complete?

What does it mean for our online courses?

• The high visibility teaching in MOOCs will improve the presentation quality of UG and PG courses

• The need to design well-orchestrated groups and peer support activities will promote pedagogic innovation and better VLE functionality

• We can improve the variable costs of teaching support if we explore methods like – pyramid collaboration groups: from many students to few

outputs for tutors to inspect– cascaded tutor: from one teacher to many tutors– vicarious master class: from one small group to all

• They will only flourish if we demand, and get, improved pedagogic design functionality on VLE platforms

THEN perhaps UG/PG education can achieve high quality and reach that is more affordable

What does this mean for the future of blended learning?

• We need large student numbers to offset the high production costs of the ‘flipped classroom’ (and high visibility teaching)

• We must understand the variable costs of teaching support, as scaling up UG/PG teaching could be unmanageable

• Our current CPD model fits the MOOC pedagogy:– Good presentation of latest thinking and ideas– Peer discussion, debate, exchange, and challenge– Certification of attendance

What might we do? A systemic approach

• Build a learning system: legitimise, incentivise, fund the lecturers to take innovative pedagogy as a part of their professionalism

• Engage the whole community in the current educational challenges - What are they? – and how technology can help.

• Fund the leading innovators (activist groups) to develop and share, and the leading followers to adopt then lead

• Fund further development of a pedagogically sound online platform – beyond current functionality – lecturers specify

• Launch a project on the modelling of high quality, large scale, flexible, affordable HE

Innovation Leaders (ILs) funded for developing promising practice

Leading adopters (LAs) funded to get help to transfer

LAs become ILs; Increase in ILs and LAs

All universities act as both ILs and LAs

Phase 1: 2014-15

Phase 2: 2015-16

Phase 3: 2016-17

Phase 4: 2017-19

Timeline and milestones to enable all departments/universities to integrate ICT in a sustainable way

Documents

Thinking about Blended Learning