Student Data Collection – Update

Following the pre VC experience questionnaire carried out with first year undergraduates in semester 1, a follow-up post VC experience questionnaire is being carried out. The questionnaire was designed collaboratively with staff across academic schools. A post VC experience focus group has also been carried out.

Post VC questionnaire template (N=500)

Post VC focus group schedule (N=5)

Cohort 2 (Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry)

• Student interviews have been completed as part of a study of the impact of Telematic lectures and video streaming on undergraduate student learning. The sample was selected at random from the PCMD register from the four sites (Exeter, Plymouth, Truro and Torbay).· See the PCMD student interview template (N=20)

Cohort 3 (GeoVid)

• A focus group has been carried out with 8 students to find out the impact of this cross-institutional multi-way VC activity on their learning. Please visit the GeoVid blog entry to read about the student focus group: http://www.as.ex.ac.uk/eeu/vcproject/?p=260

Cohort 4 (Great Western Research)

• One student interview has been completed and two further interviews scheduled with Postgraduate Mathematics students who regularly access remote seminars using the GWR Training Network.
• GWR student interview schedule (N=3)

GeoVid

One of Exeter’s Pathfinder Project objectives is to research both large and small group teaching using VC technologies. A mini-project within our research is GeoVid. This is a multi-way VC teaching activity involving the departments of Geography at Exeter, Coventry, Edge Hill and Bath Spa Universities. It comprises of small group VC teaching and enquiry-led learning. A GeoVid pilot activity took place during December ‘07- January ‘08 with students at Exeter, Coventry and Edge Hill Universities. At each site students were given one component from a data set, and worked collaboratively to bring the three components together, using multi-way VC software (iChat), in order to understand the complete data set.

Following the activity, 8 students at Cornwall campus took part in a focus group to discuss their experiences and expectations of using multi-way VC for small group learning. Three interviews have also been carried out with the staff ‘lead’ at each institution, focussing on the impact of videoconferencing this activity on their teaching. This study will form part of a case-study on the use of multi-way VC for teaching and learning.

GeoVid Focus Group schedule (N=8) GeoVid staff interviews schedule (N=3)

Staff Data Collection – Update

The VC project team have been working with staff across the 4 different cohorts of the Pathfinder Project, to survey current practice and experiences of teaching using video-conferencing.

Cohort 1 (academic schools) and Cohort 2 (PCMD): 

·         9 (out of 10) academic staff interviews have been carried out with staff from schools currently and previously using VC for teaching and learning (English, Biosciences, Geography, Law, and History and Politics). Participants have very different experiences of teaching and varying experiences of using VC for cross-campus teaching, and represent lecturers who are new to the institution as well as those with significant experience of working within the instituion.  Four (out of 4) PCMD staff interviews have been completed. See academic and PCMD staff interview schedule (N=13).

·         3 (out of 3) audio-visual support staff interviews have also been completed and transcribed. See AV support staff interview schedule (N=3).

Cohort 3 (GeoVid):·        

·         3 (out of 4) interviews have been completed with staff across 4 HE institutions: Exeter, Coventry, Edge Hill and Bath Spa Universities. Participants were asked about their experience of leading this pilot cross-institutional teaching activity where students used Internet collaboration software (iChat) to communicate three parts of a data set (Exeter, Coventry and Edge Hill each had 1 component). See interview schedule for GeoVid staff (N=3).

Cohort 4 (Great Western Research):·        

·         The first of two interviews has been scheduled with staff who have used the GWR Training Network.

Additional Interviews – School of Education and Lifelong Learning

·         The first of two interviews has been scheduled with staff about their experiences with using recently acquired internet collaboration software, Adobe Connect Professional. Whilst the use of this software for teaching is in its infancy at the University, there is significant interest in the potential of this desktop software for use with PGCE students and others.  It is also beginning to be used to stream cross-campus presentations by members of senior management. 

HEA Pathfinder Programme Meeting

In February, two members of Exeter’s Pathfinder team attended the two-day JISC/HEA Pathfinder Programme meeting in York. A key part of the event was for cluster groups A-G to give a presentation on their projects. Click on the thumbnail below to see Cluster F’s presentation:

Proposed dissemination activity planned for Cluster F:

• Mini conference/workshop at Wolverhampton on 16th April 2008: Cluster F members will each give a presentation/workshop to showcase their work. The current working title is Technology and staff development for new teaching and learning and pedagogy.
• ALT Conference on 9th- 11st September 2008: a joint submission by Cluster F to ALT as a symposium around the theme of digital divide was proposed. The title is Exploring the Pedagogy of Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic engagement with learning through technology. Themes that could be addressed are:

· Pedagogies of Visual, auditory and kinaesthetic engagement with learning · Models and methods of staff development · Non-text digital literacy · Technical issues · The student experience · Learning activities with evolving VAK input and output · Curriculum design and assessment · Existing, new and emerging technology

• A ‘product’ or output stemming from work as a cluster F: Outputs that could be created as a result of Cluster F’s work were discussed. The Wolverhampton conference may be videoed, and papers / presentations etc may be put on a wiki or a website.
• Discussion on what the cluster F would like to raise as an issue from this event: some concerns were raised about sustainability, continuation funding, and being absorbed into bigger projects. Each project team felt that the HEA Pathfinder Programme branding had enabled them to raise their profile and achieve more within their institutions. However all the institutional reports illustrated that the current focus is very much on text-based materials/products, and therefore the use of the non-textual to support learning and teaching needs to be explored.
• Future collaboration between institutions: Exeter is investigating the potential for future collaboration with the University of Kingston regarding the use of voting systems and/or Internet collaboration software (Adobe Connect Professional) to help facilitate more interactive lectures and student activities, particularly where videoconferencing is being used for cross-campus teaching.

Cluster F Meeting

A second CAMEL meeting was held at the University of Exeter in January. Each institution gave a summary of their latest project developments. Presentations focused on (i) one teaching or other technology idea that was stimulated by the Pathfinder experience, (ii) one main output that we anticipate coming from our project that other institutions will be able to capitalize on, and (iii) some preliminary indicators of institutional impact, including how the projects are feeding into institutional change strategies.

Exeter’s presentation:

In preparation for a group presentation at the HEA Pathfinder Programme meeting on 12th-13th February, each institution shared one PowerPoint slide, showing key points about their project. Internal and external dissemination was discussed, including journals and conference papers. Betty stressed the importance of ensuring regional and institutional dissemination. The next CAMEL meeting (16th April, Wolverhampton), will include an opportunity to give a presentational seminar to the JISC’s regional group. Thanks to Megan Lawton for organising this event.

Steering Group Meeting

The second Steering Group meeting was held in January. Members included Allan Davies (HEA Senior Adviser) and Betty Collis (critical friend). Key points were as follows:

• 2nd HEA Progress Report: discussion focused on dissemination and data collection. Abstracts have been submitted for DIVERSE 2008 and Plymouth e-Learning conference 2008.*   A presentational workshop will be delivered at JISC Regional Support Centre SW HE conference 2008: Innovation Through Partnership. Curriculum design maps have been created to show modes of teaching delivery and where VC fits within teaching timetables. See http://www.as.ex.ac.uk/eeu/vcproject/?p=184  

• Presentation of preliminary project findings: to show student expectations of VC’d teaching, the perceived benefits and drawbacks, and findings surrounding staff experiences of teaching through VC (click on thumbnail below).
  
  
  

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  Multi-dimensional framework: shows Exeter’s position in relation to the current use of VC technologies (usually a lecture-led presentation via VC). It also shows how usage could be broadened to include student led activities/video streaming/podcasting etc (click on thumbnail below).
  
  

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  Case Studies: frameworks for 3 case studies have been developed. 
  
  

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  Continuing professional development - VC workshops: over 50 staff have participated in “VC for beginners” workshops, and positive evaluation feedback received from participants. Key issues are staff time and appropriate spaces for carrying out the training. A valuable development of the training session would be to include newer video and conferencing technologies in order to show staff what is possible.
  
  

• Observations from critical friend: Betty Collis reported that she was happy with the progress of Exeter’s Pathfinder Project.  She welcomed the broadening context of the research (considering other video and conferencing technologies beyond traditional VC teaching). 

• *On 21st February, we received confirmation that our paper, Using video and conferencing technologies for cross-campus teaching, has been reviewed very positively and accepted to be presented at the Plymouth e-Learning Conference 2008 - Digital Learning: Repurposing Education on 4th April 2008.

Literature Review and Concept Map

Work continues on a literature review on the use of videoconferencing for learning and teaching. A summary was appended to our first HEA Interim Report, to demonstrate the scope of our searches and to highlight key themes and sources:

Literature Review Summary

On the recommendation of Betty Collis, our critical friend, the project team has created a concept map to demonstrate the scope of the literature review. Thank you to Betty and others for their feedback.

The literature review is being further developed following Betty’s visit, and an updated summary will be included with our next HEA Interim Report.

Staff Interviews

To date, the project team have interviewed a number of staff about their experiences of teaching and supporting video conferenced lectures.

We carried out two pilot interviews – one with a member of AV support staff and one with a member of academic staff.

Questions have been refined based on their contribution to achieving the aims and objectives of the project, and in the light of feedback from Betty Collis’ visit. We are continuing to arrange further interviews across academic Schools, starting with those in Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry. Current versions of interview schedules are as follows:

Academic Staff – Interview Schedule

AV Staff – Interview Schedule

Ethics Application – Approval Received

We are pleased to report that we have gained ethics approval from the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, with whom we will carry out a study of the impact of telematic lectures (a form of video conferencing) and video streaming (where the lecture is recorded and made available to students) on undergraduate student learning. Our key research activity will be conducting 20 student interviews. Please see the documentation below, including the student interview schedule:

PCMD Ethics Application

Video Conferencing Project Protocol

Student Interview Schedule

Student Invitation to Participate

Student Consent Form & Information Sheet

Peer Review Feedback

September / October Update

The first “Team F” CAMEL meeting took place at Kingston University during September. Each institution presented its project progress to date. The value of planning ahead for journal articles based on the project was noted and Betty volunteered to help the teams in planning and coordinating their efforts for this, as well as in planning for the reports that HEA will require. The Helga social networking environment was also discussed, along with the timing of the project (it is not aligned with the academic year).

Then came our first Steering Group meeting, where discussion focused on the first HEA interim report. Work to date was presented by members of the core project team: the literature review, planned data collection (questionnaires, student and staff interviews) and staff training were discussed. Talk then centred on:

• The value of video streaming for students: a mini-project is being undertaken with the Peninsula School of Medicine and Dentistry (PCMD), which aims to evaluate the impact of video-streaming of lectures on undergraduate learning. Early analysis of use by PCMD suggests benefit to student learning, though it is not yet used by other academic schools.
• There has been high demand this year for staff ‘training’ sessions, to prepare them for delivering lectures by videoconference. Availability of suitable training spaces to run these kinds of sessions has caused some problems, as have staff changes during the recent restructure of Academic Services, though in most cases sessions have been able to be re-scheduled.

During September the VC project team collected a huge amount of data from new undergraduate students across Exeter and Cornwall campuses. 501 questionnaires were completed by new students in Geography, History, Politics, Law and Biosciences (a 75% return). We also carried out two focus groups with ten students from the Department of English. Both the focus groups and questionnaire enabled us to gain valuable insights into students’ expectations/perceptions about the use of videoconferencing in the context of their programme.

In October we received our first visit from our critical friend, Betty Collis. Betty met with the core project team and others associated with the project, including participants from the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry and the School of Education and Lifelong Learning, the Dean of Undergraduate Studies and the newly appointed Head of the Education Enhancement Unit’s e-Learning team, Matt Newcombe. Preliminary results from new student questionnaires and staff interviews were presented by Research Fellow Ruolan Wang. Betty then visited one of the lecture theatres equipped for video conferencing and we discussed in more detail the VC for Learning and Teaching workshop that, to date, around 50 staff have participated in. Betty and the core project team then discussed possible publications, reports, potential directions for the project and general reflections from the day. Please see Betty’s notes.

We’ve benefitted enormously from Betty’s visit. On her recommendation we have reviewed our overarching research question, and this will have some impact on the kind of questions we cover in staff interviews in particular. We’ve also been asked to present at the RSC’s regional conference in Bristol next spring, but that still seems a long way off! Still so much to do!