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Jake Leith et al.
to bear in mind students’ expectations – to graduate with a level of employability skills that reflect
the investment they have made in the course.
The sector has placed increasing emphasis on the importance of effective eLearning in higher
education. The HEFCE report ‘Effective Practice in a Digital Age’ highlights the current position. “Yet
technology-enhanced learning remains a source of concern for institutions. This finding may reflect
the extent to which supporting such practice makes demands on institutional resources, but also
suggests a need to understand better how to design and support learning involving technology.
Access, especially to the internet and social software, may have increased, but this does not mean
that technology is always used to its best advantage, either by teachers or learners.” (HEFCE, 2009)
4. Course changes and development
During this first year of implementation the focus has been upon the identification of and the
appropriate adaptation of existing content as a practical approach to undertaking learning re-design,
given the limitation of available resources. The project demonstrates how existing materials can be
repurposed to take advantage of some of the recognised benefits of eLearning (e.g. flexibility,
learning at one’s own pace - perhaps particularly important in the case of the cohorts here, given the
high proportion of students with dyslexia). It also acknowledges the findings of the LXP2 final
synthesis report that technology should and can discretely facilitate learning for those with disabilities,
e.g. podcasts for dyslexic students. (Sharpe, 2009)
There was also a deliberate decision taken on the types of technology chosen. For instance, in order
to retain the “personalisation” that exists in face-to-face delivery, regular audio podcasts and screen
cast presentations were developed. The use of Turnitin software for online submission also enabled
the use of formative peer assessment.
Course content was structured around a “week by week” approach. Students accessing the unit were
able to click on a link which would take them to the specific online content for that week, together with
a note of any “live” delivery scheduled. This was supplemented by a traditional full printable academic
year timetable available for download from the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment).
Online content and tools provided included:
Weekly podcasts from the course leader
Staff introducing themselves in short video clips
Videos of previous years’ students talking about the group projects they had undertaken
Online access to previous years’ work submitted
Online lectures in various formats (PowerPoints captured with Camtasia Relay; PowerPoints with
recorded audio, recordings of live lectures)
Online exercises;
Links to online resources (for instance, i-player, Box of Broadcasts, market intelligence
databases, reading lists);
Online group tools within the VLE (email, blog, file exchange);
Discussion boards (for use by students when undertaking group projects);
Online submission and peer assessment (Using Turnitin software).
5. Research methods
Following the delivery of the units, initial questionnaires were sent to each year group studied; non
course-specific questions were based as closely as possible upon those used in the LEaD (Learners’
Experiences Across the Disciplines) project, undertaken by the University of Edinburgh as part of
phase 2 of the JISC Learner Experiences of eLearning Programme conducted between 2005 and
2009. This project had a similar focus, looking at the experiences of students upon entering HE, but
was across a range of disciplines. The intention was to make use wherever possible of baseline data
in order to understand whether there were any identifiable differences that could be explained in the
context of the particular practice-based course focused on in our own project.
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