Transcript Slide 1

NPT PROJECT 2011
3rd E-LEARNING CONFERENCE
31ST OCTOBER & 1ST NOVEMBER 2011
An overview and reflective analysis of e-learning and other activities
undertaken by the School of Engineering under the Nuffic project
Presentation by F Gerber: Director: School of Engineering, Faculty of
Science, Engineering & Technology, WSU
Content of the presentation
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1. Overview
 WSU project participants & WSU project partners
 FSET project objectives
2. Review of Project activities:
 Situational analysis
 Capacity building among staff & leadership
 Investment in educational equipment
 Curriculum/course innovation
 Embedding of good practices in quality assurance policies
3. Reflective analysis of e-learning strategy implementation in School of
Engineering
4. Lessons learnt & way forward
Overview
Nuffic project participants
Official project partners of WSU
• Rijks University of Groningen (RUG)
• Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR)
• Tshwane University of Technology (TUT)
WSU participants
• Centre for Teaching & Learning (CLTD)
• Faculty of Science, Engineering & Technology (FSET)
• School of Engineering (SoE)
• Dept of Civil Engineering
• Dept of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering
• Department of Mechanical Engineering
• School of Computing (SoC)
• Dept of Computer Science
• Department of Information Technology
• School of Mathematical & Computational Sciences (SoMCS)
• Dept of Mathematics
Overview
FSET project objective
The managerial and academic staff of the Faculty of Science Engineering
and Technology is, through assistance of the CLTD, able to strengthen
the existing programs and to facilitate, develop and conduct academic
programs, applying the use of updated content, innovative
approaches and applications (e.g. ICT based) in Teaching and
Learning.
Project Implementation Activities
Perform situational analysis
Throughput Study
 Pass rates/ Success rates/ Graduation rates/ Drop out rates
 Cohort analysis
 Monitoring & Improvement Plan
Employer Study
 Questionnaire/Survey/Analysis
 Response Implementation Plan
Tracer Study
 Questionnaire/Survey
Student Evaluation [for courses and lecturers]
 Questionnaire/ Survey/ Analysis
 Improvement Plan
Advisory Board Review
 Review methodology/ Analysis/ Implementation Plan
Reports from External Evaluators
 Accreditation reports/Analysis/Corrective Action Plans
Outcomes Based Review Survey
 Questionnaire/Survey/Analysis
 Response Implementation Plan
Project Implementation Activities
Capacity building among staff & leadership
Educational research & staff qualification improvement
 With support from the project 3 staff members of FSET are expected to
obtain PhD degrees in 2012/13 (research area covers Engineering/ICT
education)
 1 staff member of FSET will obtain a Masters degree in 2012 that relates
directly to Engineering Innovation
 This increases research capacity of FSET in the field of educational
innovation
Staff teaching skills development
 A Professional Excellence Programme (PEP) was developed by CLTD
 The main aim of PEP is to improve the professional excellence of
academics and strengthen the quality of teaching at WSU
 PEP participants are required to compile and submit a Portfolio of
Evidence (POE)
 PEP consists of 3 Modules
 The first module covers Learning and Teaching in Higher Education
(LTHE) - piloted in the SoE in Nov 2010
 51 staff members of SoE trained in Module 1
 Module 2: Curriculum Development - underway
 Module 3: Assessment - planned for 2012
Project Implementation Activities
Capacity building among staff & leadership (continued)
Faculty managerial capacity development
 Senior managers of SET pilot faculty visited the Dutch consortium
partners
 FSET managers advised as to the manner in which educational
innovation policies are applied within Dutch universities
 Further capacity building workshops in areas of Curriculum design and
Academic Leadership are planned in 2012 for Heads of Department
(HoD’s) and Programme Coordinators (PCO’s)
Grass roots presentations
 Regular Grass Roots events has been held since the start of the project
 The Grass-Root events seek to showcase the e-learning practices taking
place at WSU
 Event is meant for academic staff who have been trained on e-learning
 Staff are provided with opportunity to demonstrate how they have used
e-learning for their teaching, student learning and related activities
Project Implementation Activities
Investment in educational equipment
Improvement of computer laboratories
 Mthatha (Nelson Mandela Drive): Dept of Computer Science
 40 x new desktop computers
 1 x Data projector
 Butterworth (Ibika): Venue shared by Dept of Civil & Mech Eng
 44 x new desktop computers
 1 x Data projector
 1 x DVP Screen
 Buffalo City (College Street): Dept of Elect Eng
 51 x new desktop computers
 1 x Data projector
 1 x DVP Screen
Investment value
 Investment in equipment represents a monetary value of R1 248 000
Project Implementation Activities
Curriculum/course innovation
Promotion of educational innovation
 Extensive efforts were made to promote user involvement in adopting elearning
 A working group consisting of the RUG, CLTD (ETI unit), FSET
coordinator and reps from ICT Services agreed on the hardware,
software and network requirements to establish a functional electronic
Learning Management Platform.
 In 2009 staff in SoE were advised on the introduction of the Learning
Management Platform (Blackboard, later named WiSeUp)
 Staff were educated and trained on the benefits of e-learning and the
use towards a more effective approach for teaching and learning
 Best practices were made known to trainees through a WSU website
(linked to international websites that host good e-learning practices)
 Staff were made aware of the availability of Open Course Ware
 The adoption of educational innovation practices and active learning
methodologies were promoted through training workshops
 In 2011 the HoD’s and representatives from departments participated in
a workshop on Problem Based Learning
Project Implementation Activities
Curriculum/course innovation (continued)
Capacity development in e-learning skills & knowledge
 The School Identified e-learning “advocates” (team leaders and initial
participants in departments) who acted as front runners in the
departments on the use of e-learning
 Training of “advocates” in e-learning took place at three levels of
complexity, namely Beginner level, Intermediate level & Advanced level
 Team Leaders, as “advocates” were required to assist in training of their
departmental team members (train-the-trainer approach)
 Teaching through video link across multi-campuses was an aim of the
project group and is specifically important for the SoE
 Video link teaching requires network capacity, network reliability as well
as appropriate video conferencing equipment in classrooms
 To ensure that staff could present their work in lecture venues outside of
computer laboratories data projectors were procured for most of the
classrooms used by SoE
Project Implementation Activities
Embedding of ICT and e-learning practices in quality assurance
policies & practices
Quality Management and Assurance Policy
 SoE activities in e-learning supports the objectives and requirements as
envisaged by the QMA policy in terms of:
 Ensuring that all academic goals are explicitly stated in all WiSeUp
courses
 Ensuring that feedback from Advisory Board meetings are electronically
reported
 Ensuring that external programme evaluations, self-evaluation records
& corrective action plans are electronically reported and monitored
 Assessments are subjected to complexity analysis during moderation
process thereby confirming that work being assessed is pitched at the
appropriate level
 The use of WiSeUp to capture and report student survey results
Project Implementation Activities
Embedding of ICT and e-learning practices in quality assurance
policies & practices (continued)
Access procedures
 SoE has placed Standardised Assessment Tests on WiSeUp and plan to use
automated marking in 2012 for assessing first time entry students
Retention and throughput strategy
 Staff in SoE make use of Grading Center in WiSeUp for capturing of marks
and making marks available to students
 SoE plans (with support from CLTD) to use WiSeUp for student tracking and
monitoring in 2012
Academic support policy
 Support courses, e.g. Information Literacy are available to students in
WiSeUp
 Students are provided with formative assessment opportunities through test
opportunities in WiSeUp
Project Implementation Activities
Embedding of ICT and e-learning practices in quality assurance
policies & practices (continued)
Curriculum development and review policy
 Use of teaching forums for providing feedback to CLTD on e-learning
ICT Services policies
 Forums created to provide feedback to ICT Services unit and HEMIS office
Learning Management Platform Administration Procedure document
 Standing forum in place for engaging with CLTD e-learning specialist & ICT
Services office responsible for Learning Management System
E-Learning and its linkage to the mission statement of WSU
E-learning as part of WSU mission statement
 Provide an educationally vibrant and enabling environment that is conducive
to the advancement of quality academic, moral, cultural and technological
learner-centred education for holistic intellectual empowerment, growth and
effective use of information;
 Provide and maintain the highest possible standards in innovative learning
and teaching, applied, basic and community-based research and community
partnerships in cooperation with development agencies, the public and
private sectors
Principles of WSU e-learning strategy
 WSU is a developing university that commits itself to providing
technological learner-centred education, innovative learning and
teaching, and opportunities for life-long learning.
 E-learning is an appropriate tool to support the mission statement of WSU
 ICT will be integrated into teaching and learning in order to promote
computer literacy, digital information literacy and technology integration
literacy among both staff and students at WSU.
Reflective analysis as to the implementation of the WSU e-learning
strategy within the School of Engineering
Embedding e-learning as a learning management strategy
 Achieved
 Currently there are over 140 courses from School of Engineering loaded on
WiSeUp (out of a total of 629 courses)
Academic staff and students have a single place to go for questions about
e-learning
 Achieved
 A WiSeUp Helpdesk is operational and deals with all e-learning related issues
By 2012, there is a single online spot where students/lecturers can go for
information about the university, courses and lesson materials.
 Partly achieved
 Not all courses are yet loaded on WiSeUp although the plan is to achieve this
by the end of 2012
By 2012, all SoE students and lecturers have access to Blackboard
 Achieved for courses that are loaded on WiSeUp
 Student access to computer labs during working week and after hours remains
a problem
 Staff/student access to WiSeUp problematic at times
Reflective analysis of WSU e-learning strategy and its implementation in
School of Engineering (continued)
By 2012, 50% of the lecturers use presentation software (e.g. PowerPoint) in
their classes
 Achieved
 Currently over 80% of the 73 academic staff in School of Engineering use
some form of e-learning (ranging from basic e-learning applications such as
presentation of material in PowerPoint to full e-learning application, e.g.
managing the entire course in WiSeUp)
By 2012, 50% of the lecturers use WiSeUp as a tool
 Achieved
 Currently there are 140 courses from School of Engineering loaded on
WiSeUp (out of a total of 243 courses offered by SoE on all campuses)
By 2012, 50% of first year students are introduced to e-learning techniques
 Achieved
 Currently all first year students in SoE are introduced to e-learning techniques
(although not necessarily in each of their courses)
Reflective analysis of WSU e-learning strategy and its implementation
in the School of Engineering (continued)
By 2012, multi campus education is always done with use of e-learning (video
conferencing or Blackboard) to promote quality of education on different
campuses
 Not achieved
 Network speed and reliability of network, electricity supply have all proved to
be major obstacles and these problems have not been overcome
Active learning methodologies in the classrooms is increased
 The training done through PEP has led to an increased awareness and
application of active teaching methodologies
 The HoD’s and departmental representatives from SoE participated in a
workshop offered by external experts on Problem Based Learning
 An Implementation Plan has been drafted to incrementally phase Problem
Based Learning in as a teaching approach in SoE
Research about effectiveness of e-learning implementation will be conducted
 Research being undertaken by some academic staff - Work in progress
By 2012, at least 25% of staff and students can be connected wirelessly to the
learning platform
 Not achieved
 Roll out of Wireless network has not yet taken place
Lessons learnt & way forward
The stability of the academic environment affects performance
 Disruption of academic activities result in pressure on academic staff to
complete coursework and lessen their appetite for training & adoption of
new approaches, such as e-learning
A stable network and reliable servers to host LMS are critical
 Staff become despondent if preparation work (e.g. plans to conduct test
on WiSeUp) have to be abandoned due to network or system failure
Losing competent and trained staff is a set back to continuity in depts
 High staff turnover is a set back for the roll out of e-learning activities,
particularly where staff involved are the e-learning team leaders
Secure computer venues to prevent loss of equipment is critical
 Theft of equipment, including desktop computers, laptops and digital
video projectors is a major problem
 Theft of equipment remains a problem and occurred despite security
measures being in place
 Closed circuit video cameras where installed has proved effective and
should be encouraged
Lessons learnt & way forward (continued)
Dealing with the group beyond the Early Adaptors can be problematic
 Staff attitudes towards embracing and adapting e-learning differs greatly
 To be successful, you need to be persistent and be able to “sell” e-learning
to the Pragmatists and Conservatives
Lessons learnt & way forward (continued)
E-learning and use of WiSeUp can be an effective tool to support part-time
students
 WiSeUp is popular among Part Time students, e.g. engineering BTech
students who are working full time
E-learning and use of WiSeUp can support under prepared students
 Tools provided in WiSeUp are useful to support under prepared students
Integration of HEMIS data, the registration system and other databases
with the Learning Management System
 It remains an ideal for the seamless integration of systems, e.g. the
automatic uploading of courses into WiSeUp and the automatic
enrollment of students into these courses from ITS
 The effective integration of databases and related systems will reduce
and possibly eliminate time delays and human errors
Closure & Thanks to:
Netherlands Government & Nuffic Office
Nuffic project partners
WSU Management
CLTD Director & CLTD staff
CCIP Director & CCIP staff
QMD Director & QMD staff
Executive Dean: FSET
Directors & Academic Staff: FSET