Help is only just a click away' What blogging can tell us about the Foundation Degree student experi

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Help is only just a click away. What blogging
can tell us about the Foundation Degree student
experience of Higher Education.

• Julie Hughes, Catherine Lamond, Jenny Worsley,
  Caroline Bastow and Sue Beck.

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Overview

• Introduction to the wider teaching and research
  team
• The context(s) - Foundation Degrees in the
  School of Education at the UoW
• The intervention e-portfolio-based learning
• The stories....

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Foundation Degrees

• Earn and learn qualifications high on the
  DIUS agenda target of 100 000 enrolments by
  2010
• Collaboration and partnership between HEIs and
  FECs
• School of Education
• FDs in Early Years Services and Supporting
  Inclusive Practice 110 students in Year 1, 90
  in Year 2.
• Collaboration with TCAT, City of Wolverhampton,
  Sandwell and Solihull (09-10)colleges.

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Profile of a typical FD student at
UoW Mature In employment in an early years or
educational setting in the region Level 3
qualification Returner to education, many with
dependents Large percentage of women
(99) Spiky profiles.
School of Education
UoW School of Education
Image adapted fromhttp//home.amaonline.com/teache
rstuff/schoolhouse.gif
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Widening participation context

• 36 of UoW students study part-time
• 60 are aged 21 or above
• 67 are drawn from the local region.
• (University of Wolverhampton Strategic Plan
  2006-2012)
• HEA funded CETL CIEL (Critical Interventions
  for Enhanced Learning) cross University 5 year
  project researching the First Year Experience
  (FYE).
• Regional Lifelong Learning Networks (LLN) funded
  project.

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Curriculum context The story so far
thoughtful fusion (Garrison Vaughan, 2008)

• Revalidation 2008
• The need to blend but with pedagogy not economy
  as the driver
• An excitement about the possibilities for
  learning enhanced by the use of technology
• FD students are not more of the same and that
  (t)here is no first-year experience there is a
  multiplicity of first-year experiences. (Harvey
  et al., 2006, p.iv)
• Spiky skill and confidence profiles of teachers
  and learners.

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Why this study, and why now?

• The FYE of FD students is under-examined
• The FYE of students enrolled on foundation
  degrees can often be one characterised by
  insecurity and uncertainty about HEness
• The development of confidence and self esteem are
  linked to belonging and becoming
• Specifically, we were concerned to challenge
  deficit models and discourses of Personal
  Development Planning (PDP) which positioned the
  student as lacking the skills required for
  successful HE study
• We adopted an approach to ePDP which builds on
  their strengths, rather than do things to
  students on the basis of a deficit model that
  emphasises inadequacies (Harvey et al. 2006,
  p.viii).

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How our FD students felt at the start of their HE
study a tag cloud.
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Research frames Emergent ethnographic approach
(Creanor et al, Mayes, Beetham, 2006) suggest
that we need more - stories or narratives that
capture the diversity of how students use
learning technologies in their formal studies and
attempts to elicit beliefs and intentions.
(Mayes 2006, p.4) Interview Plus (Beetham,
2006) (w)e do not 'store' experience as data,
like a computer we 'story' it and (o)ur lives
are 'steeped in stories (Winter et al., 1999,
p.21). it's not beginnings and endings that
count, but middles. Things and thoughts advance
or grow out from the middle, that's where you
have to get to work, that's where everything
unfolds (Deleuze, 1995, p.161).
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The intervention

• Introduced e-portfolio-based learning from
  pre-induction
• Emphasis upon blogging as reflective critical
  thinking (ePDP) exploration of self as
  learner/as practitioner/as group member
• Modelled netiquette
• Aligned the learning outcomes, learning and
  teaching methods and assessment to our commitment
  to integrative learning (Cambridge 2008) and to
  exploring the interface between the delivered,
  experienced and lived curriculum (Yancey 1998)
• Supported colleagues and students in the
  development of the technical skills and in the
  culture shift to an iterative and dialogic
  learning and teaching model.

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(e)portfolio ways of being

• When teachers began developing portfolios over a
  decade ago, we knew what we were about with
  process writing and collaborative pedagogies and,
  not least, portfolios was pretty ambitious it
  was, in fact, nothing short of changing the face
  of American education (Yancey Weiser, 1997,
  p.1).
• Baume (1999, 2003 p.4) conceptualised the
  developmental portfolio as, a compost
  heapsomething refined over time, enriched by
  addition, reduction and turning over.
• Messy, non-linear getting your hands dirty!

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• E-portfolio-based learning (JISC 2008)
• Behind any product, or presentation, lie rich and
  complex processes of planning, synthesising,
  sharing, discussing, reflecting, giving,
  receiving and responding to feedback. These
  processes referred to here as
  e-portfolio-based learning are the focus of
  increasing attention, since the process of
  learning can be as important as the end product.

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Research design

• Methods
• Blogs individual and group
• Interim evaluations of experience post it notes
  and verbal feedback
• Videoed debate
• Video interviews semi structured focus groups.
• Online anonymous survey March - April 2009
• 110 students on the pathways 85 response rate
• Methodology not methodolatory
• Interview plus, process, narratives.

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E-portfolio-based learningthe student perspective
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Differentiated model (one size does not fit all
in the first iteration) developmental but all
blogging from the beginning

• City of Wolverhampton College
• Individual blogs, whole group blogs and
  reflective practice blogs.
• Raises issues with offsite provision FD
  experiences (staff and students) so pushing
  part-time, off-site issues into a larger arena
• Blogging to support community, peer learning and
  praxis. Harnessing the personal and the
  professional beginning to reflect and beginning
  to theorise .

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What they said _at_ CoWC.

• I'm feeling a little nervous - entering into the
  unknown! Worried how on earth I'm going to fit
  everything in, as at the moment there isn't
  enough hours (sic) in the day! Once I start
  though I know it will all be fine and I am inside
  quite excited about the challenges that lie
  ahead. (RF 30/9)
• I have always wanted a good education, family
  circumstances stopped me in my teens, but now in
  my thirties with my own extended family and kids
  I am determined to finish what I always wanted.
  (BB 2/10)
• End of semester 2 - anon
• have become more organised through planning time
  more effectively. Journals have helped in
  reflective practice for both work and college.
• On reflection I should have used them (blogs)
  more

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Sharing the journey _at_ TCAT.

• Our homepage the importance of modelling
  e-portfolio-based learning personalised, social
  and community directed.

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What they said_at_ TCAT building and sustaining
peer-learning and enquiry-based learning
communities - group research and presentation

• A.. don't stress. We will pull together and do
  fine. I am looking at the power point this
  morning and will post it up for you to see and
  amend, or agree to. Just have a look in those
  books and do what we talked about last night in
  the LRC. When you are done, post them on here or
  send them to L and I. We can then comment on each
  others stuff and start to amalgamate (not sure of
  that spelling) together. Did you see Liz's
  comment about using our team as an
  example?Please don't stress, just try your best
  and we will pull together.
• (NS 7/10)
• End of semester 2 - anon
• confidence grown a great deal, did not have much
  confidence to start now i feel comfortable in
  talking to others, thnaks to pebble pad and
  blogging and tutor support

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But did the blogging make a difference?

• 85 of the cohort responded to the anonymous
  online survey when asked to rank and compare
  their development they responded

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Which specific pedagogic interventions were
valued?

• The feedback on blogs from tutors was important
  to my Personal and Professional Development
• 98.58 agreed or strongly agreed
• Having the opportunity to reflect ongoing on my
  PDP was important
• 92.4 A/SA
• The feedback on blogs from peers was important to
  my PDP
• 87.37 A/SA
• Having blog contact with my tutors supported my
  transition into university
• 95.03  A/SA
• Having blog contact with my peers supported my
  transition into university
• 88.35 A/SA
• The online blogging activities have contributed
  to my achievements in semester 1
• 82.53 A/SA

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How our FD students feel at the end of their
first year of HE study a tag cloud.
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What we have learnt from engaging in reflective,
evaluative dialogue with our FDs

• One size does not fit all and differentiated
  support is required when moving to a blended
  curriculum
• Some students (and colleagues) may feel out of
  their depth initially (and not just with the
  technology) this is a culture shift to a
  dialogic learning and teaching approach
• The rapid, personalised feedback from tutors is
  highly important to students transitions and to
  their perceptions of their development and
  achievement
• The ePDP activities support the becoming and
  belonging needs of year 1 FDs
• Being able to share experiences with others in
  the cohort and receive feedback and support form
  peers similarities and differences - is key to
  FDs development as HE students
• The collaborative enquiry-based learning model
  supports integrative learning and there is
  substantial evidence of transferability to
  work-based learning.