LTI seminar – June 2009

Jon Alltreej.r.alltree@herts.ac.uk

Session objectives

• Provide an overview of two pieces of research• Highlight some key findings• Discuss some of the implications

Flexible study – what students do and what they want

Jon Alltree and Nuz Quadri

The sample – February 2007

• 2143 respondents• 65% female, 35% male• 6% declared a disability• 86% UG, 14% PG• 93% broadband or UH connection at home -

4% had no home connection

Spread across age groups

40+30-3926-2922-2518-21

Age groups

1,200

1,000

800

600

400

200

0

Fre

qu

en

cy

Students are busy people…

• Family commitments• Employment• Social life• Sport

How much does looking after family/others impact upon the amount of time you allocate to your studies?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

18-21 22-25 26-29 30-39 40+Age

Per

cen

tag

e

None/NA

A little

Quite a lot

A great deal

How much does paid employment impact upon the amount of time you allocate to your studies?

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

18-21 22-25 26-29 30-39 40+

Age

Per

cent

age

None/NA

A little

Quite a lot

A great deal

How much do sports activities impact upon the amount of time you allocate to your studies?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

18-21 22-25 26-29 30-39 40+Age

Per

cent

age

None/NA

A little

Quite a lot

A great deal

How much do social activities impact upon the amount of time you allocate to your studies?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

18-21 22-25 26-29 30-39 40+Age

Per

cent

age

None/NA

A little

Quite a lot

A great deal

Aspects of Study

• Timetabling preference• Use of the VLE for communicating with each

other• Guidance for independent study • Appetite for more/less F2F contact• Wish list for support

Timetabling preference (FT students only)

Interdisciplinary

Studies

Humanities,Law, andEducation

Health andHuman

Sciences

Engineeringand

InformationSciences

Creativeand CulturalIndustries

Business

Faculty

500

400

300

200

100

0

Fre

qu

en

cy

More hours per day,on 2-3 days perweek

Fewer hours perday, on 4-5 daysper week

Preferred pattern oftimetabling

How useful is the StudyNet mediated communication between you and your fellow students?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

FT UG Y1 FT UG Y2 FT UG Y3 PT UG PT PG FT PGStudy route

Pe

rce

nta

ge

NA/ Not used

Not at alluseful

Quite useful

Very useful

Extremelyuseful

Independent study

• 30% report getting no guidance at all

• Of the 70% that do get guidance, 80% rate it as only ‘quite useful’ or ‘not useful at all’

Which two of the following would be the most important to help you study more effectively?

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Betteropportunities toget feedback onprogress made

Greater range ofsuggestedactivities

More multimediaresources to use

as an alternative toreading

Better guidance onhow to work

independently

Smaller range ofsuggested reading

Greater range ofsuggested reading

More ideas forworking with fellow

students duringindependent study

Most important suggestion

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Appetite for flexibility - If changes could be made to your timetable, which of the following would you like to see in place?

(FT students only)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Business School Creative andCultural

Industries

Engineering andInformationSciences

Health andHuman Sciences

Humanities, Lawand Education

InterdisciplinaryStudies

Faculty

Perc

en

tag

e

More hours in class,less independentstudy

Same balance

Fewer hours inclass, moreindependent study

Percentage of FT students agreeing with the following:

• If I had fewer timetabled hours per week, I would lose motivation to study ….62%

• If I had fewer timetabled hours per week, I think I would learn just as effectively ….38%

• I would not like fewer timetabled hours per week ….70%

• It would suit my lifestyle to have fewer timetabled hours ….44%

Conclusions

• Many very technologically aware with equipment and access• Block timetabling preferred• Appetite for F2F strong

– but not universal and less F2F would suit a substantial minority– new technology (eg Elluminate, Skype, Second Life etc) might offer

new opportunities• Potential to enhance various areas eg:

– guidance for independent study– online communication between part time students– new communication/learning environment opportunities

Limitations..

• Online questionnaires skew sample towards students with access and willingness to use the technology

• Respondents not generally familiar with virtual classroom technology (pilots now underway)

Teachers’ use of StudyNet

Jon Alltree

Extending the classroom

Pre-classroom: eg

guidance on preparation, pre-reading

Classroom: interactive, engaging, authentic

Post- classroom: eg wider reading,

discussion and material that

was modified in classroom

Enhancing F2F

Pre-classroom: eg

1) Multimedia engagement with core content in preparation for

class2) weekly worksheets to reinforce

learning and determine the cohort's level of understanding

Classroom activity changed: eg

1) Doing things differently - interactive workshop replaces

lecture2) Doing different things -

intelligence informed review of areas of difficulty

Post classroom : eg

Follow up through discussion forum and repeat cycle for next

week

Extending into virtual space

Pre classroom