Report: Some Outcomes of Flexible Learning At the University of Otago 1996-98 WHAT IS FLEXIBLE LEARNING? In 1998, the University of Otago adopted a definition of flexible learning that focused on learning outcomes rather than on teaching inputs: Flexible learning at Otago University is an approach to education that allows for the adoption of a range of learning strategies in a variety of learning environments to cater for differences in learning styles, learning interests and needs, and for variations in learning opportunities. (University of Otago, Flexible Learning Strategic Plan, 1998.) This definition is reflected in the University's Teaching and Learning Plan (1996), and the Strategic Directions to 2000 document. Both of these recognise the importance of adopting teaching strategies that are student centred and which allow for greater student flexibility in learning through variations in the time, place and pace of study. The flexible learning approach is incorporated into a number of initiatives taken across the University between 1996 and 1998, some of which are described in this report. Flexible learning is not to be confused with flexible delivery. The latter is a process for producing and delivering customised learning packages designed to maximise learners' access to measurable learning outcomes. It is distinguished from flexible learning because it deals only with the delivery of learning, not its philosophical construction. ANDREW HIGGINS UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO What is the difference between open learning and flexible learning? Rumble writes of open learning: "It is an imprecise phrase describing any form of educational provision in which the restrictions p l a c e d on students a r e minimised and in which decisions about learning eire taken by learners themselves" (Rumble, 1997, p. 4). Of flexible learning he says: " [it] is sometimes used more or less synonymously with open learning and also has no precise definition" (Rumble, 1997: p. 4). He compares distance education with open learning and proposes that: "Reflection suggests distance education is a method of education whereas open learning espouses a philosophy of education" (Rumble, 1997, p. 5). He notes that distance education is contrasted with those other f o r m s of education i n classrooms, lecture halls, laboratories o r study groups that are based on contiguity between student and teacher. These methods reflect the paradigmatic nature of the school and its classrooms in p e o p l e s ' experience of education. Race discusses o p e n l e a r ning, distance learning and flexible learning. He describes the circumstances in which they might occur: "Open learning can certainly be done at a distance"; and "open learning can happen in a crowded lecture room" (Race, 1995, p.22). He claims that open learning in its broadest sense and distance learning, as a sub-set of open learning, involve giving learners a degree of choice and control. In other words they introduce elements of flexibility into the learning process. journal of Distance Learning, Vol5, No 1, 2000 ©Distance Education Association of New Zealand - 39 Wade broadly defines flexible learning as "an approach to university education which provides students with an opportunity to take greater responsibility for their learning and to be engaged in learning activities and opportunities that meet their own individual needs" (Wade et al, 1994, p.12). Wade regards open learning as a "term used to describe courses flexibly designed to meet individual requirements". She quotes Lewis and Spencer: "It is often applied to provision which tries to remove barriers that prevent attendance at more traditional courses, but it also suggests a philosophy'' (Wade et al, 1994, p.12). Rowntree, after reviewing a number of alternative definitions of open and distance learning, concludes that open learning is two different things: • a philosophy - a set of beliefs about teaching and learning, and • a method- a set of techniques for teaching and learning (Rowntree, 1992, p. 13). He writes: "Much of the confusion arises because people don't always realise that philosophy can be practised without using the method. And, more commonly, the method can be applied without the philosophy " (Rowntree, 1992, p.13). The arguments for efficiency and effectiveness in education can lead to more open and flexible educational provision. They are, however, dependent on the perspectives of educational providers who constitute only part of the equation. Boot and Hodgson claim: A general feature of discussions in open l e ar ning at p r esent is that it is predominantly seen from the perspective of the provider as though openness were solely a characteristic of formal provision. . . They seem to concentrate on the "open" part and leave the "learning" p a r t in the background, together with assumptions or beliefs about what it is and how it takes place" (Hodgson, 1987, p.S). They go on to make the point that "we are aware of some tendency to talk of open learning as though it were a recent innovation in educational thinking. One only has to look at the work of John Dewey and his followers to see this is not true ... for them, the nature of learning was ce:Q.tral" (Hodgson, 1987, p. 6). O t a g o Univer s i t y ' s approach to and implementation of some flexible learning programmes will now be described. INTEGRATING FLEXIBLE LEARNING AT OTAGO UNIVERSITY Initially, the a p p r o a c h to i n t e g r a t e flexible learning strategies into workplace practices at the University of Otago commenced through the University's senior management. This sought to generate "upport for, examples of, and interest in flexible learning that would diffuse ideas for innovation throughout the whole teaching and learning environment of the U n i v e r sity. T h e f o u r Assistant Vice­ Chancellors (Humanities, Health Sciences, Commerce and Sciences) nominated one p a p e r each they t h o u g h t suitable for conversion to a flexible learning approach. They chose papers based on student numbers a n d on whether they had or might have difficulties in their current delivery. Funding came from the Vice-Chancellor and from divisional budgets. Of the papers discussed here, four were large class first year courses and one was a second year course that caused difficulties for students. Following these nominations, staff employed in the Flexible Learning Section of the Higher E d ucation Development Centre (HEDC) contacted the relevant Heads of Departments and academic staff to begin the conversion of their papers to more flexible delivery. The academic staff members involved received documents outlining the main characteristics of flexible learning, and ideas for the processes involved in developing papers in this mode. These documents explained the various roles the supporting staff would have, and stressed the need for eff�ctive project management. The He.ad of the Fle x i b l e L e a r n i n g Section journal o f Distance Learning, Vol5, No I , 2000 ©Distance Education Association of New Zealand 40 developed project teams for each paper, consisting of the coordinator, other academics involved, a project manager, an educational advisor, and late� other staff members who would be involved in the production of materials (Flexible Learning Section, internal document, 7 October 1996). Staff from the Flexible Learning Section began the process of conversion by working with the project teams to establish learning objectives for each course in accordance with the University's Teaching and Learning Plan (1996). This required the academic staff to rethink their courses in t e r m s of the knowledge, skills, attitudes, understanding, ethical and social implications of the subject, and the life-long learning skills their students could achieve. Having set these objectives, the project team proceeded to design and develop teaching strategies to suit these needs. This included the creation of written materials, lecture strategies, computer-based instruction, small group activities, a n d assessment strategies. Teaching and learning strategies were also chosen based on the availability of time and resources as well as their suitability to the chosen objectives. RESEARCH QUESTION The develop­ ment of any new teaching or learning strategy attracts the inevitable question, "Has it made a difference?" While sounding innocuous, the question is very complex because of the range of individual differences among students and because of the variety of teaching strategies that may be used. Establishing a 'control' and 'experimental' group in such circumstances would be ethically a n d e d u cationally questionable. Therefore a more appropriate question to ask in these circumstances is: "Have student attitudes towards the teaching of this course changed over time?" In order to answer this question, a survey was designed which asked a range of questions to which students responded using a five point Likert scale (5 = strongly agree, 4 = agree, 3 = undecided, 2 =disagree, 1 =strongly disagree). All students participating in papers where flexible learning approaches were adopted, were given the questionnaire to complete both before they undertook the course and after they completed the course using flexible learning strategies. The same questions were asked each time. Thus a pre- and post- test m e t h o d was u s e d a n d the scores w e r e subjected to � Chi Square analysis t o test for significant differences. This enabled the research question to be answered. A research assistant monitored the progress of the projects, including measuring student learning o u t c o m e s , a n d was responsible f o r administering t h e tests. In addition staff opinion was sought about changes in student performance compared to previous years in the same course. The resul4l from the five papers that were part of this initiative will now be discussed. HISTORY 102 History 102, The Twentieth­ Century World, was a first semester paper taught by four academic staff in the History Department. Previously, each staff member taught one section of the course covering his or her area of interest (United States history, Asian history, Russian history, and European history). The course consisted of three lectures and one small group tutorial each week. Approximately 120 students enrolled in this course each year. The resources available to students were several computer-assisted learning programmes (one staff member had placed his lecture notes on a hypercard stack), lecture handouts, and the textbook. Staff in the Flexible Learning Section worked with the coordinator to help establish a set of learning objectives for this paper expressed in terms of the University Teaching and Learning Plan (1996). Based on the learning outcomes in the Plan, redeveloping the course in a flexible learning approach involved the lecturers redesigning not only the course structure, but also each lecture. The team decided to combine their areas of interest within each lecture to give the students a more coherent, integrated introduction to world history. The'course was redesigned to include journal of Distance Learning, Vol5, No 1, 2000 ©Distance Education Association of New Zealand 41 two lectures, and one tutorial a week. They reserved the third lecture time for showing videos to interested students. I The resources created by the team for this course were: • a comprehensive, interactive coursebook • an internet website • an email discussion list • further computer-assisted learning (CAL) programmes • lecture activities • videos for use in lecture and student's own time • interactive tutorial exercises • suitable assessment strategies. Initial work on this project commenced in August 1997 with academic staff preparing written n otes for the coursebook. This necessitated not only the staff writing this material, but holding weekly meetings to e n s u r e t h a t e a c h member had a good understanding of each unit of work being developed by the others. The HEDC (Higher Education Development Centre) instructional designer worked with staff to ensure clarity of content and consistency of format. The instructional designer also desktop published the f i n a l a n d agreed text to create an interactive, student-centred coursebook. As t h e w r i t i n g progressed, t h e course coordinator identified video sequences that would illustrate the historical detail in the unit themes. The Educational Technology Support Services (ETSS) staff acquired rights to use the video sequences and assembled these in the same order as the units. Other ETSS staff crea te d a suitable web page from which students c o u l d access a d m i n i s t r a tive information, electronic handouts, and the hypercard stacks. Staff completed the project in February 1998 well in advance of the time the students needed the materials. RESULTS FRO M THE S TUDENT SURVEY Questions sought information on student expectations of enjoyment, stimulation, increased know ledge, development of specialised skills, communication skills, exploration of topics in depth, understanding wider implications of the themes, developing computer skills, general research skills and help in passing the final examination. The questions also, sought information about students' views on the teaching strategies used. In addition to the resources listed above, tutorials, textbooks, class discussions, informal discussions, com pu ter-assis ted learning p r o g r a mmes; s tudy ing i n the student's o w n time, assignment sheets, worksheets, reading, regular assessment, and group learning were included. The data showed no significant differences between pre- and post-test groups for the traditional teaching methods. In the new categories for the flexible learning strategies, students responded well to the coursebooks, 83% rating them either highly effective or effective. In fact students responded that the coursebook, which allowed them to access materials easily, and the videos, were the most effective teaching tools introduced into History 102 as part of the flexible learning package. They responded negatively to the textbook, with only 33% rating it effective or highly effective. However, the course did improve students' skills in using computers. One important finding was that students' responses to the range of teaching strategies did not quite live up to their expectations displayed at the start of the course. This may be due to the fact that these were first year students not accustomed to university work. It is noteworthy that those students and teache r s who were familiar with the course book/ video technology, did not display comfort w i t h the emerging electronic technologies. An analysis of these results, based on the null hypothesis that the flexible learning strategies would have no effect on whether student expectations were met, shows that the null hypothesis is disproved and that this approach to teaching Hisf'ory 102 had made a difference. journal of Distance Learning, Vol5, No 1, 2000 ©Distance Education Association ofNew Zealand 42 . SURVEYING 111 The Department of Surveying in the Division of Sciences sought assistance from the Flexible Learning Section to devise a cour\5ebook for students and to redesign the learning objectives and teaching strategies of Surveying 111. Staff in Flexible Learning prepared pre-course and post-course questionnaires. Similar to those of History 102, they s o u g h t g e n e r a l information on expecta t i o n s , outcomes, a n d preferred teaching strategy. This paper was well suited to flexible development because it needed updating and because surveyors identified a large number of surveying technicians working in the profession who would benefit by access to such a paper, even if not in degree structured study. On this basis, the Flexible Learning staff developed a project plan, made linkages to the University Teaching and Learning Plan and helped redevelop a curriculum scope and sequence chart to cover all the required topic areas. RESULTS OF STUDENT SURVEY An analysis of data about student expectations demonstrates that the null hypothesis proved to be false. However, while the strategies did make a difference, there were issues arising from the data. It would appear that the course substantially increased students' interest in surveying. While it did not enhance students' computing skills as was expected, it did develop t h e i r s k i l l s i n g r o u p work, an important e l e m e n t i n the professional development of surveyors. A closer analysis of the teaching strategies used in Surveying 111 showed that students expected tutorials and practicals to be of greatest benefit. After the course they reported that practicals and assignments helped them the most. Important among the teaching strategies in Surveying was the implementation of a coursebook. The Department of Surveying has made its own further evaluations of the programme and concluded that it can be taught in part off site and supplemented with summer school studies for surveying technicians. ENGLI S H 121: THE CHAUCER MODULE An area of concern at t h e University over a number o f years had been English literature and writing skills of first year students. English 121 is the introductory paper for students doing English Literature. It c o m m en