Talk given at the 19th international Association of Learning Technologies Conference in Manchester in September 2012 summarising Manchester Metropolitan University's project to transform the undergraduate curriculum and enhance student experience

1. Transforming curriculum
Mainstreaming learning technology
Improving student experience
ALTC2012 | Manchester | Sept 2012
Professor Mark Stubbs
Head of Learning & Research Technologies
m.stubbs@mmu.ac.uk http://twitter.com/thestubbs
http://slideshare.net/markstubbs
Thursday, November 22, 2012 1

2. An interesting place to work!
• Large, popular, multi-campus university
– 36,000+ students | 1,000+ courses | consolidating from 7 sites
• Pursuing an ambitious transformation initiative
– New Buildings, New Curriculum, New Admin Processes & Systems,
New Learning & Mobile Tech, New Quality Processes…

3. Student Experience: mixed? varied?
36,000+ students
1,000 + courses
1,500+ tutors
7 sites

4. Student Experience: flat-lining, declining..

5. Doing something about it…
1. Listening
• Recurrent messages from diverse experiences
– Focus groups: consistent, easy to find info
– NSS analysis: course organisation determines Q22
– Mobile surveys: deadlines, timetables… (m-admin)
• Great (and not-so great) expectations
– “engaging, well-organised courses”
– “tutors who know me”

6. Doing something about it…
2. Planning a response
In the current climate
Diminishing unit of resource
Everything depends on everything else
>DVC “Out of patience”
error at line 1 We are large and risk averse

7. “Who dares wins”
 In the current climate
?
vc Diminishing unit of resource
θ
Everything depends on everything else
We are large and risk averse

8. EQAL
In the current climate
• A coordinated strike for step-change improvement Diminishing unit of resource
New Curriculum Everything depends on everything else
• designing new units, … We are large and risk averse
New Admin Systems & Processes
• personal timetabling, …
New Virtual Learning Environment
• Moodle & myMMU web/mobile, …
New QA & QE Processes
• facilitating curriculum transformation

9. MISSION:

10. Cut-down Unit (module) web form

11. Getting the experience back
Learning
Environment
Admin Systems
New Systems,
Processes & VLE
Admin Systems

12. This work is licensed under a Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
Our Core+ DVLE model
Learning technologies not isolated :
interaction with personal and
administrative systems and underlying
infrastructure are major determinants
of the quality of the overall experience
Recognised: watch & learn how staff
use tech
Recommended: staff set up & we train
to integrate
Arranged: we set up & train staff to
use
Core: we set up & train staff & tell
students it’ll be a consistent front door
http://lrt.mmu.ac.uk/ltreview

13. This work is licensed under a Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
Wrapping the institution around the learner
13

14. This work is licensed under a Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
Wrapping the institution around the learner
Student ID
Timetable
Sync to
personal
device
14

15. This work is licensed under a Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
Wrapping the institution around the learner
Student ID (+ Unit code)
Hand-in dates / extensions / marks
Personalised submission sheet
15

16. This work is licensed under a Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
Wrapping the institution around the learner
Unit code
Resource list
Relevant resource
16

17. This work is licensed under a Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
Wrapping the institution around the learner
Unit code
Past exam papers
Past exam paper
17

18. Are we in a better place now?
2011/12 NSS
going in the
right direction Engaging our
students
Automating Providing
our business
processes intelligence

19. Listening carefully to the student voice
• Personalised online survey on portal homepage
– Nov 2011: 10,716 left 58,000+ comments
– Mar 2012: 7,106 left 33,000+ comments
– All data tagged with unit / course codes
• Unit/Course leaders see their anonymised feedback
– Statistical analysis ranked predictors of overall
satisfaction
1. Course organisation
2. Building confidence
3. Teaching quality (explanation, feedback, advice)
4. Learning resources
5. Age

20. Lessons learned…
Engaging our
students
Automating Providing
our business
processes intelligence

21. Find out more …
• Our initial drive for responsive curricula
– http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com/w/page/29224166/Supporting%20Responsive%2
0Curricula%20%28SRC%29%20project
– http://www.celt.mmu.ac.uk/src/
• MMU’s EQAL curriculum transformation
– http://www.celt.mmu.ac.uk/eqal/index.php
• Our review of learning technologies
– http://lrt.mmu.ac.uk/ltreview
• How we built our integrated VLE
– http://lrt.mmu.ac.uk/w2c
• Where we’re going next with Assessment & Feedback
– http://lrt.mmu.ac.uk/traffic/
• UCISA Mobile presentation
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X17yrTbdTHs