Supporting the Net Generation Learner

Professor Eeva Leinonen – Deputy Vice Chancellor

“Supporting the Net Generation Learner”

MySpace

Youtube

MSN

Gadgets

Our Learners

University of Hertfordshire

• 24000 students • 2000+ staff• Global network• £180mil turnover• Diverse population• Leading business-

facing university in the UK

Academic Studies

• Health and Human Sciences• Pharmacy/PG Medicine• Business School• Humanities, Law• Education• Engineering • Information Sciences• Art, Design, Film, Music

• Blended Learning University

• StudyNet – Managed Learning Environment (approx 10 years)

• Strong strategic approach and staff development

• Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CETL) - £4mil +

• Blended Learning Unit (BLU)

• Learning and Teaching Institute

Learning and Teaching

Phase 1: StudyNet – the MLE

• an institutional portal and student intranet, improving access anytime / anywhere to university information

• a virtual space where learning, assessment and interaction can take place

• Fully integrated into and linking all university processes and systems

STUDYNET PORTAL

VOYAGER GENESIS STUDENT

OTHER SYLLABUS PLUS

FACULTY

SCHOOL

PROGRAMME

PATHWAY

MODULE

LEARNING RESOURCES

CAREERS

STUDENT SUPPOR

T

STUDENT CENTRE

STUDENTS UNION

EXAMS

TIMETABLES

StudyNet – the Managed Learning Environment

4000 course modules 25,000 personal portals7 million logins a year

Learning & teachingInformation sourcesCommunicationGraduate skillsDisability support

Stimulus for innovation

StudyNet use• 2003/4 - 3.62 million logins

– 1600 logins on 25/12/03

• 2004/5 - 4.85 million logins– 51% logins from outside UH systems

• 2005/6 - 6.30 million logins– 63000 accesses between 2 and 3am

• 2006/7 - 7.7 million logins– 151 million successful page requests

http://www.studynet.herts.ac.uk/snwebstat.nsf/Logins?Openview

Phase 2 – Blended Learning

• UH awarded a Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning

• HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council England) funding of £4.5M

• The Blended Learning Unit (BLU) established on 1st April 2005

Blended Learning: “Harnessing technology to enhance Learning, Teaching and Assessment”.

• Better use of F2F• Greater flexibility• New ways to

communicate• New ways to

collaborate• Improved

feedback

Minimising barriers - eg

• Enhancing classroom equipment

• Mobile computing initiative

• Wireless campuses

Laptops and tablet PCs for staff

Technology in the classroom

Increasing student engagement with EVS

ORB is the UK’s first student virtual literary magazine.

Virtual Classroom Technology

Using SMIRK for Virtual Lectures (David Kraithman)

• Microeconomics module– Compulsory– 870 students

Lecture+

seminarChanged to:

Virtual lecture+

Participatory workshop+

Seminar

Collecting Virtual Lecture to prepare for class

Outcome in Microeconomics• Referral rate decreased by 40%

• Students with dyslexia scored an average of 2 grade points higher than their other studies

• The international students found the combination of text and narration very helpful for developing their language skills

Harnessing the net generation’s expertise to

change our practice.

Listening to the student view and understanding the needs of the net generation learner

Student feedback on online tutorials

• "WOW, I am a 2nd year student and I failed this module. Why couldn’t we have this help last year?? Basically I love it.“

• “I definitely agree that online tutorials are a good idea because without them I would probably not understand half this subject."

Conclusions• Technology can enhance the student learning

experience– Enhancing the classroom experience – eg using face-

to-face time more effectively– Enhancing the out of class experience – eg better

guided study, better communication– Making the teachers’ experience better – eg

automation, working more flexibly

3rd International Blended Learning Conference on 17th and 18th June 2008

For further details about the University of Hertfordshire Blended Learning activities see:

www.herts.ac.uk/blu

THANK YOU