RetroFitting WebCT A Blended Approach

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Retro-Fitting WebCT A Blended Approach

• Stuart Allan/Keith Jones
• University of Greenwich

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Distance Learning

• Offered by the UoG School of Architecture and
  Construction (and its predecessors) since the
  early 1990s
• Centres in Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Australia
• Trinidad comes on stream late 2004

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Course Delivery

• Students are provided with
• Course guide
• Study guide
• Relevant textbooks
• Study schools
• Library and information services including
  electronic journals collection

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Why Go Online?

• Competition
• Increasingly fragmented market
• eLearning is part of the future of education
• Everyone else is doing it!

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Research Methods

• A 20 credit course, compulsory for all students
  studying Built Environment masters programmes
• Delivered to distance learning students during
  study schools held at the various centres

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Research Methods Rationale

• designed to introduce students to the range of
  research methodologies and techniques of data
  collection and presentation that may be used to
  explore a given research topic. It is an
  essential course for a student to complete in
  order to write a dissertation.

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eLearning
Garrison, D.R. and Kanuka, H. (2004) Blended
learning Uncovering its transformative potential
in higher education Internet and Higher
Education 7 (2004) 95105
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A Blended Approach

• Birkbeck College defines blended learning as
• a blend of the use of ICTs alongside traditional
  face-to-face learning.Birkbeck College (2003)
  Glossary of terms (accessed online 11 June 2004)
  http//www.bbk.ac.uk/ccs/elearn/glossary.htm

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Why Retro-Fit WebCT?

• Facilitates a blended learning approach for
  Research Methods
• Offers a range of online tools
• Doesnt require anything from students other than
  an internet connection
• Supported by the University

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WebCT

• Course management software
• WebCT's vision is to deliver innovative
  e-learning solutions to help institutions improve
  educational outcomes for students around the
  world. WebCT The WebCT Vision (accessed online
  8 June 2004) http//www.webct.com/vision

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What We Did

• Using Ryan and Walkers eLearning Approaches
  Grid, the Research Methods course was analysed
• This analysis indicated how eLearning could be
  applied to the course to achieve our intended
  blended approach

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Research Methods Matrix

• A matrix was then produced focussing on the WebCT
  tools and the teaching process
• The matrix was used in a number of different ways
• Each WebCT tool was scored in terms of its
  perceived usefulness

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Scoring WebCT

• Results come as no real surprise
• Communication and assignment tools scored highly
• Slightly surprised at the high score achieved by
  Calendar
• Couldnt understand how Search scored so highly!

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A Research Methods WebCT Course

• Initial focus on communication, calendar and
  assignment tools
• Course outline, information and study guides
  uploaded as Word files
• PowerPoint files uploaded into Study Material

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Study Material

• Quickly became clear that PowerPoint slides
  failed to satisfy Accessibility Guidelines
• Decision taken to review material and develop
  HTML pages
• Not a serious problem since students are provided
  with this material during the Study School

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Communication

• Time zones became an issue for synchronous
  communication tools (Chat Room)
• It was decided that communication between
  lecturers and students should be asynchronous,
  ie, Discussion
• Students would be encouraged to use Chat Room

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Calendar

• More useful than originally anticipated
• Relationship between Study Schools and
  Assignments clearly illustrated
• Links between Calendar and Assignment difficult
• Would be useful to view year

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Assignment

• Similarly proved more useful than originally
  intended
• Can require students to use specified submission
  arrangements
• Automatically receipt students on submission
• Copy of original submission held on server

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Does it Work?

• We think so!
• A blended learning approach has been developed
  for Research Methods using WebCT
• We have tested it and it seems to work
• We will be trialling it this September with UK
  distance Learning Students

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Issues

• WebCT
• Clunky interface
• Irritating to use
• Creating hyperlinks within WebCT can be awkward
• Expectations too high?
• Using existing material
• Support from senior management
• Time

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The Future

• Build it and they will come. Field of Dreams
• But unless they have a good experience they might
  never return!