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Jake Leith et al.
opportunities blended learning can provide through a variety of new media resources to enrich the
student experience, described by Littlejohn and Pegler (2007).
2. Introduction to the project
The two practice-based design courses examined in this project are the Fashion & Textiles and 3D
Design & Materials Practice undergraduate courses run within the School of Architecture and Design
at the University of Brighton. Both courses have contained a “Business and Professional Practice” unit
- in varying forms - for over fifteen years.
Students studying on these 2 courses are predominantly taught in studios and workshops for the
practical aspects of the course and these facilities do not have access to computers. Professional
Practice is one of the academic components of the course that requires students to produce written
work for assessment that requires IT.
The make-up of the first and second year cohorts (who are the focus of this research to date) is
similar to previous years, with a high percentage of females (86% across both year groups) and a
high percentage of students with dyslexia (23.5% across both year groups, compared to what is
already considered a high level of around 6.5% within the School of Architecture and Design as a
whole).
Delivery and assessment of the first year unit is based on a “Business Case Study”: students work in
groups (of 6 or 7) developing a business case study by observing a local creative business.
Delivery and assessment of the second year unit is based on a “Group Marketing and Finance
Assignment”: students again work in groups to investigate either a high street retail brand or a design
practitioner, and use the results of their investigations to propose a priced and costed range/body of
work which could be produced and sold by the brand/practitioner they have examined.
In the academic year 2010/11 new online content delivery was introduced into these Business and
Professional Practice Units. The aim was to provide an online enriched environment for both students
and staff that would also have the potential to significantly streamline the 2009/10 programme, in
terms of delivery, co-ordination, the volume of assessment-related administration and in handling
increasing sizes of cohorts.
This paper is intended to illustrate the impact of such an approach in the context of a practice-based
design course; clearly the methods and technologies used are not new, and have been used in other
non practice-based design courses both within the University and further afield, for some considerable
time now.
Whilst there has been some individual engagement with online learning tools for some final year
students on the courses referred to (e.g. e-portfolios and the online submission of assignments), the
programmes studied here represent the first strategic shift towards a fully blended learning
programme within the School of Architecture and Design, with specific online learning activities for
students and online support tools for teaching staff.
3. Reasons for adopting a blended learning approach
The change to a blended learning approach had three main drivers:
A recognition that this was an opportunity to provide an enriched learning environment for both
students and staff.
A decision to break the assessment process down into more “manageable chunks” across the
academic year, thus avoiding the problems associated with a heavy assessment burden on staff
at one time of year, but without adding to the overall time spent by staff on assessment related
administration.
Socio-economic conditions: in particular the need to streamline resources and reduce HPL (hourly
paid lecturer) staffing whilst handling increasing student numbers. We have yet to see the full
impact of funding changes upon the University, but this change in approach should enable us to
respond as flexibly as possible, whilst maintaining the quality of the courses we deliver. We need
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