implementing a new flexi format, the how’s and whyfor’s

Implementing a new Flexi Format, the how’s and whyfor’sAssociate Professor Michael Sankey

Director, Learning Environments and Media

Introduction• As we learn more about how to

sustainably customise our Moodle’sto meet our needs, we’re seeing very interesting examples of practice emerge

• One is the advent of a new course format we call Flexi Format 

• It allows both 'Week' sections and 'Topic' sections to appear in the same course

• But that’s not all, it also has ‘sections’ called ‘Getting Started’ and 'Assessment‘.

• all aligned with our adapted navigation block

• This presentation will demothis new course format

• Explain why it has been done • And why it’s seen as such a great way

forward by many academic staff• Actually its quite simple, it provides them

with the ability to provide a more customised experience for their students

• But allows the university to provide more consistency in how the courses appear

• But first some context

Enrolled students USQ

• All students 28,100+• On-campus 7,600• External/online 20,500 (73%)• International 6,000 (1,100 ONC)

All USQ students access their information onlineCampuses in Toowoomba, Springfield, Ipswich, Stanthorpe and SydneyMost students and staff know what they’re getting themselves in for when they come to USQ

Some current strategies

• Every course has an online presence• Every student has a named person to contact• Minimum standards for all courses• Threshold expectations – a common wireframe• Significant media enhancement R available• Strong focus on the Student Learning Journey

(SLJ) and personal learning environment (PLE)• Increased emphasis on enabling staff

The context – our VLE

USQ StudyDesk

Student facing

USQ StaffDesk

Staff training and playground

USQ OpenDesk

OERs and Community

based courses

Repository (Equella)eLOR and other collections

ePortfolio (Mahara)

Portal (Drupal)

USQ Website (Sitecore)

Accessing the Student Voice

Professor Geoff Scott in his report Accessing the Student Voice (2005) concluded that ‘it is the whole experience that matters to students. Students are not concerned about whether or not a particular interaction is academic or administrative, but they are concerned about the quality of the interaction. In this context, the quality of interactions in the pre-enrolment phase is just as important as the quality of face-to-face and/or virtual interactions in academic study or in completing study (including graduation ceremony and membership of the Alumni Network)’.

Digital fluency

• Many students are not as digitally literate as we would like to think

• The same goes for quite a few staff• But we have told them they must do

everything online• And the students tell us they want

consistency, consistency, consistency

Facilitating consistency

• Consistency is not sameness• But if you want to make your materials

flexible there first needs to be a level of consistency

• Students want to be able to go from one course to the next and know where to find stuff

Flexi Format

• Editing Off• Hidden areas

seen only by the lecturer

• But with editing on• The lecturer can now

set up their course in a logical format

• Assessments all appear together

• Built-in smarts, to draw in data via an abstraction layer from our SMS; 'People Soft', along with other automated features.

• This can be adapted for other systems, such as Student One, Callista, etc.

You are not alone

• We are all part of a global learning community

• Others are very willing to help• Either through the forums, but now

through the Moodle Users Association• None-of-us can do it on our own• ‘No man is an Island, entire of itself, every

man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main’

• John Donne (1624) ‘Devotions upon Emergent Occasions’