ACTIVITY 3 - Here is the first reply 




Response from:  Judy Buckingham

                                 Senior Lecturer/Course Stream Coordinator BSS Year 2 

How do you incorporate flexible learning into your teaching?

I MAINLY DELIVER THROUGH MOODLE, I USE ExE LEARNING PACKAGES, DICSUSSION FORUM, WIKI DOCS, NEWS FORUM AND ADD ADDITIONAL READINGS AND COURSEBOOK TO MOOODLE

Who are your students? (i.e. Certs, BSS Y1, 2 & 3)

YEAR 2

How do you plan and set up the following for your courses

·         Time

WE HAVE FACE TO FACE TUTORIALS (WE FOUDNTHE ONLINE TUTS LAST YEAR DID NOT WORK, THE STDS DID NOT ENAGE AND THEIR WERE A LOT OF ABSENCES, STDS STRUGGLED WITH THE TECHNOLIOGY DESPITE SUPPORT AND TRAINING).  WE HAVE INTENSIVES WEEKS (WORKSHOPS) WHICH COVER NEW MATERIAL.  STDS CAN CONTRIBUTE TO ONLINE DISCUSSION BUT THIS IS NOT FORMALLY ASSESSED.  I SPEND ABOUT 1.5 HOURS A WEEK ON MOODLE UPLOADING NEW MATERIAL, ERSPONDING TO STDS AND SUPPORTING GUEST LECTUERES.

·         Delivery

AS ABOVE, STDS SEEM TO LIKE THE FACE TO FACE APPROACH FOR TUTS AND INTENSIVE WEEKS, OVERALL THEY SEEM MORE SATIFISED WITH THIS APPROACH IN COMBINATION WITH THE ONLINE MATERIAL

·         Logistics

It’s great for me as it enables me to do more work from home, initially it is labor intensive a lot to prepare and set up in terms of getting all content online, but after the first year of teaching it, it become easier, I find I am often revising and reviewing the courses and making changes.  Sometimes making changes can by time consuming and I may favor adding rather than changing to accommodate the time.  When stds don’t come to class this puts them at a real disadvantage particularly when there are group projects, it means the monitoring of attendance has to be more vigilant and stds need to be followed up very early in the piece.

·         Entry Requirements

WE HAVE COURSES WITH PRE AND CO REQUISITES AS THE PROGRAMMME DOC STATES, STDS WILL COME TO THE Year 2 with experience of online delivery from year 1.

·         Content

ALL CONTENT IS AVAIABALE ONLINE, SO THIS MEANs THAT WE SPEND MOST OF CLASS TIME ON ‘DOING’ THE WORK, THE PRACTICAL ASPECTS, I PARTICULARY ENJOY THIS APPROACH AND OUR CLASSES ARE INTERACTIVE AND ENGAGING AS WE DON’T HAVE TO go OVER CONTENT, JUST FOCUS ON WHAT THE CONTENT MEANS IN PRACTICE.  Stds have to be able to work independently and yet support each other with the content.  Stds need to be motivated and disciplined in order to read and understand the material, this is my preferred way of learning but I understand that some studs struggle to manage their time and aren’t as organized about setting time aside to work on content. I’m not sure how much the stds really do in terms of reading and learning the content, I have added this linking to their assessments to ensure that they are getting to grips with the content, and I will see how this work more this year than last year.

·         Instructional Approaches & Resources

I am still finding out what tolls work for me and the stds online, each year it gets easier as I become familiar with resources that work for me, it would make it a lot easier if I log onto to OP easily from home instead of having to go through Citrix, subsequently I keep a lot of material on my desktop which I worry about losing