Quality enhancement by use of Educational ITPedagogical week, NHH, Bergen, September 22-26, 2014.

Centre Director, Torben K. JensenCentre for Teaching and Learning (CUL)School of Business and Social Sciences (BSS)Aarhus University (AU)tkj@clu.au.dk; www.cu.au.dk/en

Context

Educational development at Center for Teaching and Learning (CUL), School of Business and Leaning (BSS), Aarhus University (AU), Denmark

Approx. 40.000 students and 9.000 employees

Aarhus University

1. Faculty of Science and Technology

2. Faculty of Health

3. School of Business and Social Sciences

4. Faculty of Arts

School of Business and Social Sciences

Currently, there is approx. 1,180 teachers at 7 departments spread out on the following categories:

Student teachers: 280 PhD students: 236 Postdocs: 38 Assistant professors: 90 D-VIP: 140 Associate professors: 255 Professors: 139

Approx. 14,000 full-time- + approx. 3,000 part-time students

The main academic area consists of the following seven departments:1. Department of Economics and Busines

s2. Department of Business Administration3. Department of Business Communicatio

n4. Department of Law5. Department of Political Science and Go

vernment6. Department of Psychology and Behavi

oral Science7. AU Herning

Centre for Teaching and Learning (CUL)

21 employees

Higher education teaching and learning: 8 employees

Educational IT: 8 employees

Administrative staff: 5 employees

CUL’s main activitiesTeaching

Courses for teachers at all career levels Most courses are mandatory Strong incentives to the heads of department and the individual teacher

The courses are in general evaluated as (very) rewarding

Development Development projects at different levels

Course level Educational-/department level The faculty: BlackBoard, digital exam, digital evaluation University: Analyses every third year of (1) study environment, (2) quality in the

PhD process and (3) psychological workplace environment

Research Practice-oriented research:

Research at an international level where data from BSS always is included and where the aim always is to contribute to better decisions and judgments for managers and teachers at BSS

Research that supports the course activities and the development work

Key figures for the course activities

Numbers of participants in course activities pr. year at BSS: All first year students, 130 TA, 35 70 students, 40 assistant professors,

85 associate and full professors spread over the two courses in supervision and Go Online.

In addition, staff participants in voluntary and required courses

In the course of a few years CUL meets the teachers at BSS 3-4 times

The total mandatory formal educational training corresponds to about 8 weeks

CUL has a yearly budget of 10 million DKK (1,2 million Euro) and costs 1% of the total revenue of BSS and about 15% of the Dean’s strategic costs

CUL has 21 employees, which corresponds to 3 full time positions per department at the school.

Links Center for Teaching and Learning (CUL)

http://cul.au.dk/en/about-the-centre/

Large scale  educational development (practice paper)http://cul.au.dk/fileadmin/CUL/Dokumenter/Om_CUL/Practice_at_BSS_for_the_development_of_teaching_and_teaching_competencies_2014.pdf

BSS's incentive structure for participation in university educational courses: http://cul.au.dk/fileadmin/CUL/Dokumenter/Kurser/BSS_Courses

__incentive_structure_and_course_evaluation.pdf

Investment in Edu-it at School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University

Investment in educational it at BSS

2013: implementation of a new, common LMS (BlackBoard)System integration, support, instruction material

(on line + f2f), training, Entry into service: 14,000 students, 1,200

teachers, 100 course clerks, 2300 courses/semester

2014: implementation of digital examination system (Wiseflow) Workflow without paper: Providing the task,

down- and upload by students, distribution of examination scripts to teachers and censors, marking and filing

written homework assignments + ‘skoleeksamen’ (with and without aids) (Flowlock))

88% of all exams S2014 were implemented digitally; 25,000 have attended more than 300 digital written exams

2015: development and implementation of a new, common digital course evaluation system Course evaluations for the teachers and key figures

(BI) for the directors of study from 2300 courses pr. semester

2012 Medielab facilities

2012 GoOnline course for assistant professors, associate

professors and full professors

Question

Why spend resources on educatioanl IT: Money, jobs, management attention, time?

What are the potential gains?

What are the educational reasons for investing in educational technology at the university?

New words…

Information Technologye-learningLMS (learning management systems)blended learning digitalized learning objectsMOOCs (massive open online courses)blogs, discussion forums, wiki, electronic

conference, video conference, learning paths, clickers; podcasts, screencasts, pencasts, audio slides …

Business as usual…

Research-based teaching

Well-organized teaching

Active students

In-depth learning

The university's job

To deliver research-based teaching DK: The University Act

The Master's degree programmes must ensure that the students master the subject’s theory, empirical knowledge, and method

DK: The Qualifications Framework

Research-based teaching

1. Researcher teaches lectures attentive students? Lecture

2. Research-type teaching activating teaching working, exploring, arguing, communicating students? Exercises, projects, supervision, feedback Methodology, discipline, and thoroughness

= in-depth learning

Didactic implications

Free us from "more chairs in”

A socialization/training during five years, which must succeed

Progression: material, learning goals, material quantity, independence, research-type, academic competences

Progression?

Free us from the “education market”

The university’s conditions

A bit of presence teaching

A lot of independent work between classes

Free us from "number-of-classes-guarantee"

Well-organized teaching

Teaching objectives

In-depth learning

Quality in teaching: That the students learn in-depth (selected parts of) the science society's knowledge (master the subject's theory, empirical knowledge, and method)

Didactics in course planning - a model22

Themes and content

Methods/organization

ExamField ofdidactic decisions

Field ofdidacticframework

Studentpreconditions

Social/culturalpreconditions

Organizational andfinancial framework

Course

In-depth learning

Purpose andlearning goals

Media- including Edu-IT

Entirely new teaching situation?

Integration of new media

Media

Books, articles, material collections

Auditoriums, classrooms Furniture, board, projector,

paper, pigeon-holes, notice boards, handouts,

Photocopying, printing, library Organization: Class sizes Etc. …

Digital teaching material, Internet,

LMS - Learning Management System - electronic meeting place AULA, BlackBoard, First Class,

Campusnet, (Group) blog, discussion

forums, wiki, electronic conference, video conference, learning paths, clickers; podcasts, audio slides, screencasts, instruction videos

Blended learning Distance learning MOOCs Etc.

classic digital

Media- including Edu-IT

The challenge - EduIT1. All courses can (should!) have two classrooms in future:

The physical classroom A digital classroom

All courses have their own website From mailbox to educational workshop: a place to organize the students'

learning/work (activate)

2. Make activation and learning among the students more efficient

Use electronic educational technologies to activate students before, during, and after classes

Increase the quantity of feedback

3. Economize the teacher's resources(which may require an investment)

4. Meet/oblige ‘generation www’

% %

Physical classroom

Virtual classroom

Blended learning for activation

Presence teaching- with digital activation possibilities

Students' work between the classes- possible to organize in a digital learning space

Examples of educational technology for increased learning

Activation of the students before classesLearning paths:

Material to be read Podcast (pencasts, screencasts) to be seen:

The teacher's or other's contributions from YouTube etc. Assignments to be solved together with fellow students Assignments to be uploaded to the course website Feedback on fellow students' assignments (on the course

website) Submit questions to the teacher prior to the next meeting

'Flipped classroom': One-way communication and material assessment prior to the meeting with the students

... Activation of the students before

Example of the use of wiki: The framework: an introductory course, which go through the

'list of kings' Political Theory and the History of Ideas: Plato, Aristotle,

Machiavelli, Hobbes … The class is divided into study groups and each produce two

wiki texts during the semester: Study group 1:

Wiki 1: Everything in the semester's material that sheds light on Plato Wiki 2: Everything in the semester that relates to the concept of justice

Study group 2: Wiki 1: Everything in the semester's material that sheds light on Aristotle Wiki 2: Everything in the semester that relates to the concept of forms of

government

The wikis are part of the examination

... Activation of the students before

Example of the use of screencast In the course Principles of Micro and Principles of Macro,

introduction course to Economics at 1st semester of Economics and Business Administration, BSS, AU

Educational challenge: very different preconditions in Mathematics

Activation of the students during classes

Discussion and material assessment on the basis of submitted questions to the teacher

Clicker teaching (responsive systems) and peer instruction

Activation of the students after classes

Feedback in the form of expanded multiple-choice (quiz) Example: The Study of Law at the University of Southern

Denmark

Peer feedback with (or without) electronic support The Lund model Solving a task individually Correcting two assignments in groups with support from a

teaching guide

Preconditions

Technical: A solid Learning Management System (LMS) as the technical basis From post office to learning space

Well-educated teachers: Can make and justify didactic decisions Produce teaching material Organize the students' work

Active students demand a prior instruction Assume responsibility for the students' learning Certain technical skills

Go Online as course and development concept

GoOnline course

Step 1 (20 hours): 1. Introduction to a range of online tools, including

basic and more advanced features in BlackBoard, clickers, wiki, blog, discussion forums, podcasts, audio, slides, screencasts, learning modules, quiz, pencasts, etc.

2. Introduction to the role as E-moderator in theory and practice,

3. Students alternate between the role of a student in a 'blended' course and the role of the teacher, which produces Web-based teaching elements/materials.

Step 2 (10 hours):1. Redesign of own course

Identification of main challenges in the existing course

Analyze of possible digital solutions

2. Supervision from instructors and colleagues

Step 3 (30 hours):1. Implementation of the plan in the next semester's

course.

2. Production of digital teaching material Technical support for production, if necessary, throughout

the entire semester.

3. Writing a report and sharing experience with colleagues

Link to course description: http://cul.au.dk/en/training-courses/go-online-course-on-blended-learning/

(Mild) Educational leadership

On the one hand: The GoOnline course is mandatory for professors

On the other hand: You can choose to say no to the use Edu-IT in your courses

But the choice has to be made on an informed basis.

Main point

Educational IT – must support the students' active learning before, during, and after classes

If new technology does not support the students' active (in-depth) learning, we do not need new technology whatsoever

Educational IT is not about: Filming lectures Distance learning Distribution of teaching material

Potential gains from the use of educational it

1. Increasing quality in learning

i. activate students before, during, and after instruction to

ii. increase student performance

iii. increase the amount of feedback

iv. differentiate teaching

v. variety and dedication

vi. clearer educational choices, more transparencyi. blended learning courses are often better planned a

campus courses

… potential gains from the use of educational it

2. Economising on resources

i. Distribution of teaching materials

ii. reduced needs for classrooms?

iii. Fewer teachers?

iv. Paperless examinations

… potential gains from the use of educational it

3. Economising with teacher ressources More collaboration among lecturer around the learning

management system (BlackBoard) and the individual course sites: subject matter, teaching material and didactic know-how

In-service training of teachers: competencies for distance learning as by-product of blended learning

4. increasing flexibility with regard to access to teaching and learning material: time, place, device

5. meeting generation www

6. preparing students for the upcoming working life Future blended learning environments there

Prerequisites

Technical requirements: a solid Learning Management System (LMS) as the

technical basis From ‘post office’ to ‘learning space’

Well-trained educators who: can make and justify didactic choice can produce (digital) teaching material can and will organise the student’s work Activation of students requires a previous instruction

weeks before assume responsibility for the student's learning possess certain technical skills