Extramural President's Blog » Distance Learning

Absolutely Compulsory Contact Courses

ralph — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 01:34:14 +0000

For a start, Absolutely Compulsory is silly; it’s either compulsory or its not. The terminology needs to change for clarity, and this is what Massey is doing. Their recommendation is two categories: Compulsory and Recommended. This proposal also offers an opportunity to consider the purpose of contact courses in distance education

Wake up! Arn't you meant to be at a contact course?

If a contact course is truly compulsory there are consequences: a reduced pool of students willing to take the paper, the need to make the contact course academically essential, and the impact on students’ lives.

Accessibility, the mantra of distance education, should be a key principle on which academic delivery and support are based. Modern distance students are busy people. They are often in a life-transition period where finances are difficult or they have family responsibilities. So accessibility for a distance student means low cost and low impact on routine.

Massey is known for its quality distance provision, so compulsory contact courses that deliver essential learning are important. Students also need to be confident that compulsory contact courses are essential for the learning required. So what are recommended contact courses for, enhancing learning for those who can make it? On the face of it this seems reasonable.

Getting students together to meet is not a reason to have a compulsory contact course. So it must be clear to lecturers that a compulsory contact course must satisfy certain criteria, for example:

The contact course must be essential for the pedagogy – the process of learning – that the paper requires
There should be no exemptions
The contact course should not be able to be reproduced on Stream or the web
The contact course must be fully integrated into the course delivery

The acid test is this – is this contact course environment essential for the process of learning, and can this learning not be reproduced in a web environment?”

I would like to think that there are relatively few contact courses that satisfy this mandate. Creative Processes is one, as may be a Drama paper. If hands-on experience is needed in a laboratory environment then that would qualify.

For students, fewer compulsory contact courses would be better, but will this mean recommended contact course become the norm? With recommended contact courses students will need to be told that attendance will provide advantages, but none that are essential to course completion. For lecturers it may seem inefficient to be delivering to only a portion of the students, and they would likely put the material on the web for all students. So how many students will turn up to a ‘recommended’ contact course?

It seems to me that you either have a contact course or you do not. And if a course controller wishes to run a compulsory contact course they would need to demonstrate its essential nature to someone other than their own department – as well as the students who attend.

So that’s sorted then.

Stream Sites and Study Materials

ralph — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:03:48 +0000

Let's communicate Massey

Stream

Students should expect their Stream sites to be opened in the week before semester. If this has not happened by Friday please contact Ralph@exmss.org.nz and EXMSS will find out what is going on. If EXMSS has its way there will soon appear some sort of notification on not-open sites that tells you when to expect engagement. We struggle to understand why the admin guide could not be available weeks in advance alongside a date for the site to open. EXMSS continues to bring these issues to the attention of the University.

Printed Study Material

Providing printed study material has been messy this year. Massey is in the throes of changing its policy and has struggled to label its papers accurately. Furthermore the web-material is often a batch of PDF’s that Massey seems to be expecting students to print. Many will do so, being unaware that the policy states that material will be provided at no cost. But getting the material has meant spending time on hold with the contact center and then being told to speak with the course coordinator and then waiting for the material to arrive. From the student point of view a pretty poor show.

But Massey does has good intentions. Squeezed financially and looking to develop a better web environment for students, it must change the way it delivers its study material. My point is that this should be a managed process with the students informed at each step. EXMSS will continue to work with Massey to find solutions that do not leave students with poor material and wondering what the hell is going on.

Print Material last resort hotline

EXMSS has brokered a direct line into Massey that can quickly resolve your printed study materials issues. Please try the contact center first, but if you are being pushed from pillar to post then email

student-information-resources@massey.ac.nz

All the best for your study. Don’t forget to join EXMSS and support your voice on campus.

DEANZ Conference 2010

ralph — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:52:15 +0000

DEANZ Conference workshop

After attending the DEANZ conference in 2008 and commenting on the lack of a learner voice I was invited to speak at the 2010 conference. The topic I chose focussed on the relationship students have with their institution and matching student expectations with institution capability. My comments were well received with the keynote speaker, Liz Burge, approaching me after the presentation wishing to discuss these issues further. In essence I said that students need to trust that the institution has their needs central to their delivery and that the institution has communicated the style of delivery well and matched that with the institutions capabilities. It is about integrity and communication. I had one slide with a clear message “Clear communication of intentions and matching student expectations with institutional capacity will improve student satisfaction regarding their blended learning experience.” To hear the presentation in full click here.

The workshops of the conference often supported my views with relevant research, but few used the humanist term, trust. I take strength from the feedback and have made useful connections for advancing the EXMSS project Review It. My presentation may have some impact on a few institutions but my focus with Massey University is to continue to present these issues and ask for concrete commitments driven from the top.