Session notes: Open teaching and learning (2020/1)
A write up of session 2 held as part of OKHE (2020/1)
PG Cert HE participants: This topic relates the session held on 5 March 2021. You can use this page to catch up/review. Please access the Prepare and Reflect tool in Blackboard to track your progress.
Our featured guests at this session were April McMahon, Vice President for Teaching, Learning and Students at UoM and a small number of current students from undergraduate to postgraduate researchers who work for the University Library.
We are incredibly grateful to our guests for contributing to the session and sharing their viewpoints and experiences.
Introduction
April commenced by presenting the overall agenda for how open is a key part of teaching and learning at Manchester. In particular how the University is responding to the T&L priorities in a post-covid environment, making it clear that despite COVID, priorities have survived, but the order has changed. However there has been some acceleration applied to priorities that relate to lifelong and flexible learning where initially it was thought that we would have to move slowly. There has been much innovation when it comes to inclusive assessment design and welcoming all students and this means that we can be more open to inclusivity and to encouraging students from when they start their journeys.
April then referred to the next challenge as being how the University makes blended learning its own, bringing quality and excellence as the norm. Work has already been done here:
- Dan George appointed associate vice-president for flexible and blended learning
- investment in e-Learning technologists
- student partners to work as co-creators.
The pandemic has influenced what we have done and now it is time to consider how we make use of all of the innovation that has taken place to deliver a gold standard blended, learning experience.
April then described 4 kinds of openness that she feels should be our driving principles.
1. Open to everyone
UoM should be here for everyone from all backgrounds and all places and we should do this as part of our commitment to social responsibility and more importantly, because it is right. April suggested that we need to recognise the distance students travel and their potential as part of our social responsibility goal. To achieve this we have the 5 year Access and Participation Plan with the Office for Students covering an academic career from entry to progression and in between retention and attainment.
April referred to the tensions that arise from metrics and university league tables and providing opportunities for learners who have different qualifications or show potential. She asks the following questions:
If it is more important to make opportunities for learners who is responsible for that statement?
Will the aftermath of Covid make this easier or harder?
2. Open access — equality, diversity and inclusivity
From April’s slide:
Are all our people enabled and supported to used all our resources and facilities?
Does everyone know what is available?
Blended and flexible learning — how does our transition to online learning in March 202 change things?
Online assessments and ‘inclusive by design’.
How do we get the balance of face-to-face, on-campus teaching and online teaching right for different students?
Encouraging experimentation.
This is about ensuring that staff are supported. April gave the example of ensuring that assessment is inclusive from design to ensure that students with disabilities are considered from initiation.
3. Open to different perspectives
How can we address the gender and ethnicity gaps at Manchester moving from undergraduate to postgraduate? April referred to the postgraduate taught bursary for widening participation students that wish to take masters level study. Aiming to increase the diversity beyond undergraduate, to avoid narrowing down those that might go into academic sector.
It is valuable that students see people who look and sound like them and so it is valuable for staff to be open. If we share our experiences then students will feel more comfortable to engage with us.
How does this impact on our curricula, reading lists, and the resources we use?
One thing that we haven’t solved is what does student representation look like in blended learning?
4. Open to ideas
April refers to this as being parity of esteem between teaching and research and equality in reward and recognition. We need to take advantage of the combination and not have teaching and research on opposite sides, what can they bring to each other. Can we spell out why it is better to be taught in a research environment and can teacher- led research be explored?
The most damaging phrase in the language is:
Its always been done that way (Grace Hopper)
Open for discussion — questions from the floor
Do you see the rise of educational pathways outside of the traditional university setting as a threat to our institutions? If online providers can find a way to solve the accreditation problem, will university be a tougher sell for young people?
April discussed two responses to this question. The first was that despite the many benefits that learning online has brought the University is hearing from students who are keen to return to the campus to engage in what she described as high value social learning. April adds that these are not all students who ‘need’ to be on campus to access specific resources. This would indicate that there is still an appetite for the on campus learning experience.
The second refers to how there is potential to take advantage of additional pathways that can support continuing professional development to support a research led environment particularly in the health sector.
Widening participation schemes are offered so that Universities can charge students the full fees. Does the senior leadership team believe that and how can we communicate that the University is doing this because it is right to potential students ?
There is a huge commitment for this and the University is committed to quality and to WP and so we need to balance these. Manchester Access Programme is one of the ways that we support students. Identifying where the genuine worry is about doing the right thing and trying to revise that is a way forward.
Postgraduate courses are often at financial risk because of small numbers and often costs make CPD courses prohibitive despite them contributing to the social responsibility goal. Is open practice a tension for this.
There is a tension and this is where the University could become more creative and zoom out a bit. A potential way to address this might be to work together more and perhaps merge course units and reduce the burden on teaching/admin staff so that we can offer other CPD courses.
Is it okay to call our courses blended right now and charge the full fees?
All of the University’s courses are designed to be blended and our commitment is to having students back as soon as it is safe to do so. there is a lot about adaptation. Trust is crucial.
Discussion with the Student Team
Do you feel there has been a significant change in the nature of the queries/ requests for support that you have received over this past twelve months? Thinking of things like more questions about wellbeing resources, how to use new technology and so on
The student team agreed that through their roles with the Library team and other roles in the university like graduate teaching assistants and peer mentors that questions around wellbeing were increased over the past year. This requires careful conversations that provide support and kindness and knowing what is available.
Can you tell me what it is like to be a student now?
George: I expected my experience as a part-time PGT to be different from my UG, but COVID has made it starkly different. For one, I don’t yet feel like I am fully part of the University community — there is something about physically being in a space which bolsters a sense of belonging. But certain elements of online teaching (like watching lectures from home) have made studying more accessible.
Jade: The student experience now is very different to previous years. At the moment the non-academic side of student life (socialising, sport etc) isn’t a thing, this is tough for those who are settled in their course and have solid friendships, I can’t imagine how tricky it must be for first years who are just finding their feet.
The team were quite honest about how difficult it is to not only feel like they are part of the community but also on the challenges that learning online brings. It is difficult to manage time in terms of watching lectures and then handling reading. Maintaining focus on tasks is particularly challenging and this is affecting the health and wellbeing of students. There were also concerns around the accessibility of materials and resources that could be more carefully selected.
Do you need to use the Library?
George: Short answer: No. Because many resources are available online, I manage to get by without physical books most of the time. But I am in a very privileged position that I have a laptop which runs at decent speeds, can read from a screen unassisted and have space in my house to study. Not every student has these — something that teachers and the University must recognise.
Jade: I think this really varies depending on course type and student preferences. Whilst studying my Masters I have used the Library website and resources a lot, and have visited the Library when I’ve wanted to study elsewhere than at home. For Medicine, I rarely needed to use the Library as the materials needed for my studies were provided through my course.
Have you ever heard of (or used!) websites like Course Hero? Where students upload study materials often in order to view other student’s content. Do you think students use sites like this for innocent or nefarious reasons?
George: Any platform which enables students to share knowledge and access more information is a good thing. Part of a University education should be equipping students with the tools to discern whether sources are reliable or not. If they have this, there is no harm in sites like Coursehero.
Jade: I have heard of similar websites and find them useful for example being able to access revision flash cards rather than making my own. I have always thought that students use these innocently and many people are sharing for the benefits of others (and themselves!), however, I do appreciate that in competitive courses these sites may be used for the wrong reasons
How could value be removed from sites like Coursehero?
Value could be taken from the sites by having central university student generated FAQs and community spaces.
