2016
HOW AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES ARE IMPLEMENTING INNOVATIVE
BLENDED LEARNING METHODS TO BOOST STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
Advances in technology have enabled students
with greater flexibility in how they learn, which has
influenced the need for educators to engage students
beyond the traditional classroom environment.
And in response to major changes in pedagogy,
many universities have directed efforts towards
implementing blended learning methods to support
student outcomes.
But the focus on blended learning is proving to
be multifaceted. Improving student engagement
is unquestionably vital in the context of learning
outcomes; but so too is engagement between
educators and learning designers.
Effective blended learning environments can only
be achieved when these stakeholders work closely
together, and are able to coordinate against a
common objective. While it’s far easier said than
done, new approaches are being developed to
establish a culture around blended learning.
INSIGHTS FROM
+61 2 9229 1000 l registration@iqpc.com.au
At the same time, capacity building frameworks
are emerging as a tool to facilitate experiences like
eLearning and mobile learning (mLearning) – this
also extends to supporting students in workplace
environments (or workplace learning).
And then, of course, there’s measuring student
engagement, which is where the ability to scale
feedback takes centre stage to improve blended
learning methods. Some universities are using
dashboards to monitor engagement; while others are
experimenting with newer methods to personalise
feedback.
Ahead of Blended Learning 2016, several specialists
from Monash University, Deakin University, Charles
Sturt University and University of Sydney, share
exclusive insight into how they are supporting student
learning outcomes by creating effective and adaptable
blended learning environments.
l www.blended-learning.com.au
Engaging students in enquiry-driven learning at Monash University
Ms Barbara Yazbeck, Research and Learning Skills, Monash University Library

We’ve developed a Blended Learning module for second-year students

in the Bachelor of Pharmacy to teach information skills in an Evidence-
based Practice.

This represents a key collaboration between the Faculty of Pharmacy

and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Monash University Library,
recently recognised in a Faculty Teaching Citation and a Vice
Chancellor’s Award

The Library has a learning skills program, with learning skill advisors that work with their
librarian counterparts and faculty to embed research and learning skills in the curriculum.

Monash University campus, courtesy of Barbara Yazbeck

And because we take an embedded approach to skill development, we try to be involved in
curriculum as much as possible. In this case, we work with the unit coordinator for Evidence-
based Practice.

Two workshops–A and B –are team taught and form a major assessment for this core unit.
These workshops are three-hour sessions that require significant resourcing, which can be a
challenge, as we’re a small branch here at the Parkville campus.

It’s vital that our teaching is embedded and timetabled into curriculum. In addition, the
workshops are team-taught, with a learning skill advisor, a subject librarian, and a faculty
instructor involved.

We’ve been involved in this unit for more than five years, culminating in the adoption of a
blended learning approach three years ago. This initiative was piloted in 2013, and now exists
as an online module that we use in a blended workshop model.

Montage of screens from Moodle, courtesy of Barbara Yazbeck

Challenges to establishing a culture of enquiry-based learning and practice for

students
Because this initiative is targeted at a second-year Bachelor of Pharmacy cohort, it can take a
while for learners to develop the critical thinking they need to have an enquiry-based approach
to their work.
The challenge is getting them to understand the need to evidence their practice in research, by
referring to quality literature – but also to get them to understand that it’s fundamental to their
lifelong learning and application in the clinical setting.

Being in second year means these students haven’t quite had exposure to the workplace yet, so
the unit is trying to encourage them to embrace a very critical, and lifelong enquiry-driven
approach to learning.

Another challenge is posed by a fairly traditional curriculum, with traditional lectures and
exams. The ability to create an approach to information that’s critical and which triggers
curiosity among students is always tricky.

Using learning analytics to understand student behaviour

It’s been an interesting journey so far, and recently
there has been some evidence to suggest that
students are coming back to our online resources
when they’re in their internship year; or are about
to undertake their internship year.

Students are enrolled in a Diploma of Practice in

their final year, and from our analytics we see that
they’re returning to the online module just as
they’re about to enter that internship year.

The module has a few guidelines that show them how to break down a clinical question and
then go into the relevant databases to try and find quality resources.

This is the kind of skill not all students necessarily retain unless they need it. At the moment,
they have an EBP assignment to do in their second-year unit, and that’s where we come in.

It’s important to see how we’ve made an impact on student learning. Analytics suggest that
students are returning to the module in their own time, at their own need, which means that
we’ve produced something that’s fit for purpose.

We use the MOODLE platform to capture this data and other related information. The
university is exploring different ways of being able to capture information, because MOODLE
hasn’t necessarily been set up to do that in the best way possible.

By using Google Forms to capture student feed back, we’re able to collect qualitative and
quantitative information at the same time.
Moodle analytics, courtesy of Barbara Yazbeck

Data captured in Google Forms, courtesy of Barbara Yazbeck

The Library is still experimenting with its analytics and the story it wants to tell using this
information. As we have more than three years of activity behind this initiative, we are in a
unique position to examine longitudinal trends and patterns.
For example, some interesting information could be how many students are using specific
resources, and when they seem to revisit those resources. This could be at the beginning of a
semester or when an assignment is due. This type of information tells us a lot about student
behaviours.

In terms of measuring learning outcomes, we try to compare overall scores and identify ‘bell
curves’ for the semesters. But we’re realising that it’s quite difficult at the moment to quantify
score increases or levels of engagement. Having said that, the students are already a very high-
performing cohort, so it could be that that bell curve is a fairly stable one.

This particular unit has always had a very strong collaboration and partnership with the Library ,
but it’s also become somewhat of a driver for more collaboration at our Faculty. To enable
enquiry-driven learning for students through a curriculum, creating curiosity is key. Trying to
find a way to genuinely make students curious about their discipline and involving them in
moving the discipline forward is our long-term aim.
Enabling a blended learning environment for students at the School of
Exercise & Nutrition, Deakin University
Susie Macfarlane, Senior Facilitator, Teaching Excellence and Innovation, Deakin University

University learning management systems have traditionally

been used to host individual files such as study guides and
readings, as well as lecture recordings and synchronous
classroom recordings.

Often the LMS becomes a resource repository, rather than

providing a clear and engaging learning path for students. I
work as an educational developer and change agent in a
school of more than 60 academics in a very technologically
advanced University.

My challenge was – how can we shift our thinking and capacity across the whole school to
design clear learning pathways that motivate and assist students to learn? We have developed
a learning design process and template to guide our academics in developing a learning path
with resources, activities, links to discussion board and formative assessments.

And we are also starting to use eLearning software such as Articulate Storyline, to resource a
high quality blended learning experience.

We make available online some of the resources that were originally delivered face to face by
the lecturer so the students can access them before or after the classroom or seminar
experience.

Therefore, in the classroom we can start to establish more student-centred learning and active
learning approaches, such as team based learning, classroom activities, discussion questions
and so on.

In this way, some of the information transmission and even active learning processes that don’t
require a teacher to be there now occur asynchronously, through online resources students can
access when it suits them.

For example, in our food chemistry labs, students print out and bring along the results of their
e-learning module they completed prior to entering the lab. In this way, we can guarantee our
students are prepared to undertake the lab activities, and they can spend the time more
effectively developing their lab skills.
Articulate Storyline, courtesy of Susie MacFarlane

I’m a learning designer and educational developer, and I work with Simona Cicerale, a
multimedia developer to build staff capacity in a student-centred learning approach to blended
learning. The model of organisation change and capacity building I’ve developed over time
consists of three components:

1) First and foremost: provide academics with choice in the role they play in the blended
learning team, and the extent and pace of change and technology uptake. While we
have those early adopters who are happy to try new software and use it themselves, we
also have those who aren’t interested in developing the eLearning resources
themselves.

In this case, we develop them for them. We offer this choice so staff don’t feel
pressured, in this time of rapid technological change, to learn software, but are still
participating in developing interactive, engaging resources.

2) Those who are interested in learning the software and producing the material are
strongly supported with training, mentoring and ongoing quality assurance, and
resourced with guides, checklists, exemplars and templates. So, the second component
of this project related to providing templates and a learning design model.
 We moved away from narrated PowerPoint slides by considering the student’s learning
journey, and how these resources can be developed to allow students to engage with
the materials, become motivated and reflect on their learning experience.

3) The third aspect of this school-wide capacity building in eLearning involved ensuring an
agile development process, with rapid progress and outcomes. The multimedia
developer and I would meet with the academic, who often had a research assistant to
help find materials.

We would then plan the work in one meeting, after which the researcher would go and
locate or create the content and learning activities resources guided by myself and the
academic. Our developer would develop these into eLearning resources in our LMS or
Articulate Storyline with guidance from me around the learning design.

Once the first draft is reviewed and iterations are made, the developer would make
changes and the module is completed within three or four weeks. So, there’s a rapid
feeling of progress and also growing capacity that occurs with the pace and success of
this process that is motivating for everyone involved.

Theresa Amabile, a researcher at Harvard University, has written a book called The Progress
Principle, describing her research findings that motivation and a deeper sense of satisfaction at
work comes from people’s sense of progress - small wins are just as important as the
completion of major projects.

This informed our model of early intensive work, with rapid and responsive assistance and
support to ensure rapid progress and success so academics and the rest of the team
experienced a sense of achievement. Academics very quickly realised they could undertake and
successfully produce eLearning materials; that it wasn’t something totally outside their skillset.

Managing change to introduce a new learning approach successfully

The main challenges going into this project were (1)
establishing a sense of need for the change, (2) resourcing
change once the need was perceived, and then (3) going
through the capacity building process.

We were fortunate that the need had already been

communicated clearly by the university, and our Head of
School and Teaching and Learning leadership provided the
resources. At the same time, we had to go about facilitating
academics’ understanding of, and ability to produce
eLearning resources.
It was important to ensure this organisational change process was successful, so the first wave
of projects were success stories and enthusiastic champions who were happy to share their
experience and exemplars. The first step was to choose software that was widely recognised as
a good product that would be around for some time, and was easy to use.

The second step involved choosing a low-profile pilot with enthusiastic early adopters and
completely resource and support them, to ensure the project worked and we had a success
story. For example we had to work pretty hard in the early stages to eliminate some of the
challenges of hosting the files and working out how to serve them up to the students on
different platforms.

In many higher education institutions, faculties go through significant change on a constant

basis, and it can cause change fatigue among academics, so a low-profile pilot was important in
terms of introducing a solution quietly and successfully.

Then, gradually each trimester, we invited staff to join us, or they heard about the pilot and
asked to participate. This gradual stepping up process helped us iron out issues early on
without having to involve too many people.

Having a brave senior champion with an appetite for some risk and hard work helped
enormously. Our Associate Head of Teaching and Learning, Associate Professor Lynn Riddell,
actually put up her hand to be in the first pilot, and she did all the authoring of the eLearning
resources herself.

She had a strong desire to cope with the problems and

to protect other staff from them, so that we were able
to work through all of the various issues and start to
invite others into the next phase that was much
smoother.

For the third step of the change management process,

we wanted to share good practice and have the
academics tell these stories, rather than us. We also
helped to disseminate it by evaluating the students’
experience, their use of the software and their
preferences. The results showed they enjoyed
Storyline resources much more than PowerPoint or PDF.

We adopted a dissemination approach that combined storytelling and data – a combination

that seems to work well in a higher education setting.

In the maintenance phase, I constantly check in with our academics, and our multimedia
developer, Simona, keeps a very close eye on all the resources. She will contact the academics if
any content is out of date and help them update it accordingly, or do it for them.
We continue to build more resources explaining key concepts to students in interesting ways
using tools such as Videoscribe, and screencasting and Infographic software. Taking some of the
workload off our very busy academics often makes them far more willing to engage with a
project.

Focus areas to enhance the blended learning environment for students

There are three areas of focus for us in terms of supporting student learning outcomes. The
first is to continue spreading use of the new software across more units of study. The second is
to continue raising the quality of the resources we have. As we develop our capacity, we revisit
those resources and refine them, because we’re now much better at it producing them – they
look much better and work more efficiently.

The third area of focus for us relates to using our LMS, Storyline and other tools such as
Videoscribe, Kaltura, Explain Everything and Piktochart to develop an entire new online course
from scratch for delivery in 2017. This will be a project involving academics who haven’t
previously developed eLearning resources using this kind of student centred, learning path
approach. That will be an exciting challenge for us.

Culture change strategies

Students are expecting now to have access to resources outside the classroom, and at any time
of day or night. I recently came across some data that showed 53 per cent of our social media
was accessed via mobile device, and only 37 per cent on a PC. These statistics reaffirm our
understanding that learning doesn’t happen only when we’re with students in the classroom.
Deakin University’s leadership did a fantastic job of making that clear to staff across the
university.

They provided more resources in terms of academic developers and software that helped us
shift to online learning. However, our school also invested a significant amount of money in
purchasing licenses and in employing a learning designer and a multimedia developer. So, it’s
about providing the awareness of the importance behind the changes in pedagogy, and then
making a platform available to facilitate those changes.

As I mentioned previously, we have a team model, both across at the university and within my
school, comprising a learning designer, a multimedia developer, an academic and a
researcher/project officer – it’s a model that works really well.

The role of the unit or course coordinator is so complex these days that we can’t expect all
academics to develop online resources themselves. We need teams.

Lastly, there needs to be an element of sharing best practice across the university. We now
have many websites at the school, faculty and university levels in which staff are sharing their
approaches and resources.
Developing a mobile technology capacity building framework to
enhance workplace learning
Professor Franziska Trede, Co-Director – The Education For Practice Institute, Charles Sturt
University

Workplace Learning (WPL) can be defined as student learning

that occurs in authentic workplaces, outside of the university,
under some form of supervision during university studies. WPL is
a learning and teaching strategy that aims to prepare students
for their future work roles, expose them to work demands and
enable them to develop their professional identity and practice
capabilities.

It can be conceived as a blended learning strategy because it

integrates academic with professional learning and connects
theory with practice. WPL enjoys a long tradition in university professional education, such as in
medicine and law.

With the fast and relentless developments of mobile technology, the way we communicate,
relate to each other, pay our bills, go shopping, play and so on, is rapidly changing. Mobile
technology has also impacted on the world of academia and work.

Mobile Learning (mLearning) is often presented as something fitting in with students’ digitally-
enhanced and active lives by providing flexible and personalised online course delivery options.
It would be hard to imagine how we would learn and work today without mobile technology. In
this workshop we explore how mobile technology can enhance WPL.

WPL is a powerful pedagogy that enables students to build their employability and practice
capabilities. With these opportunities also come challenges. We know that WPL can be stressful
and emotional for students and the challenges range from feeling isolated to being unsure what
to do and not receiving the learning support they would like on placement.

This is not surprising because students are newcomers for a short stay. In addition workplace
learning educators are firstly employees and only secondly mentors for students. Mobile
technology could offer ways to address these challenges and help students be connected to
learning groups and their personal support networks.

Most students carry personal mobile devices (PMDs) with them so we wanted to explore how
students are currently using their PMDs for learning on placements and how their practices can
be improved. Students’ use of PMDs in WPL has the potential to develop their digital agency
and enhance their learning.
We also explored what the practices and perceptions of academics and workplace learning
educators are of the role of mobile technology for student learning. The aim of this project was
to better understand how students can improve the use of their personal mobile devices for
learning on placements. To achieve this, we aimed to develop a Mobile Technology Capacity
Building Framework for WPL.

This framework is for students, academic

teachers and workplace learning
educators because all three players need
to reach a shared understanding of the
value and appropriateness of personal
mobile devices (PMDs) for learning in
workplaces.

We found that cultural perceptions of

PMDs was an obstacle for many of our
participants which stopped them from
using PMDs for WPL in particular. Charles Sturt University campus, courtesy of Franziska Trede

Perceptions of acceptable practices with mobile devices varied widely across individuals,
disciplinary contexts, and maturity of organisational technological implementation.

Most institutions encourage participation in the digital economy and digital citizenship, and
support responsible engagement with social media for purposes that enhance work and
professional development. However, cultural issues are often the strongest barrier, amplified
by a fear of unprofessional behaviour and misconduct arising from inappropriate engagement
with social media or various (mis)uses of PMDs.

In this workshop we discuss and showcase the seven resources we have developed to build
capacity to use mobile technology gainfully for learning on placements, and they include:

1. Staying professional and safe

2. Considering time and space
3. Initiating dialogue
4. Planning learning experiences
5. Establishing network activities
6. Creating your own learning opportunities
7. Reflecting on learning experiences

Another resource that we call navigating the landscape of WPL was specifically designed for
students. It is a concrete resource with information, tips, quizzes and links to relevant other
sources.
Going beyond the dashboard to personalise student feedback
at University of Sydney
Professor Abelardo Pardo, Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney

During 2015 we explored how to improve the information that is

given to students to improve their learning experience. In previous
editions we focused on the concept of dashboards, and to convey to
students indicators about their level of engagement in the learning
scenario. However, our evaluation results did not show an adequate
uptake of these resources.

Students would consult the dashboard, but not with the anticipated frequency. Our focus now
is on exploring how to scale personalised messages or suggestions that directly address their
approach to learning.

Our results point out that dashboards are resources that still are removed from what students
need. The difficulty is to translate the information in dashboards to something that truly guides
students through their experience and help them to improve their results.

Our approach stems from the observation that students need support to make numerous
decisions while engaging in a learning experience. Some of these decisions are related to
learning tasks; some about the processes required by the experience; and others are related to
self-regulating aspects.

The solution we derived from these observations consisted of an application that provides
personalised (as in, different for each student) feedback messages that contain
recommendations on how to approach specific learning tasks, suggest study techniques, and
point certain actions to increase self-reflection.

These messages have numerous concrete references to tasks that students have been asked to
do. The objective is to provide them with valuable insights, rather than passive information
visualisations.

We relied on two instruments to measure the impact of these measures, and the results we
have obtained are very encouraging. The first instrument was the student satisfaction survey
run at the end of the semester.

The survey showed a substantial increase (effect size 0.5) on the level of student satisfaction
with the provided feedback when the answers were compared with previous editions of the
same course. There have been numerous studies documenting the reasons why students
perceive feedback as inadequate.
They usually have difficulties perceiving the comments as useful, or identifying how to translate
them into concrete actions. In our learning scenario we created the personalised messages,
taking these issues into account. Students identified the personalised messages as valuable
feedback and they reflected this perception in the surveys.

The second instrument we used to measure the effect of

these messages was the score in a midterm examination.

Overall we detected a moderate increase (effect size 0.2)

of academic attainment in a cohort of close to 300
students. The personalised feedback messages were
delivered weekly during five weeks prior to the
examination.

The experiments have also served to identify how to use

the data automatically collected by the learning
environment to personalise and deploy these messages at
scale.

We have identified how to align the pedagogical aspects of the learning design with the
technological solutions, so that the data captured is then processed and used to derive
meaningful indicators.

These indicators are then used to identify different approaches to learning that teaching staff
can use to create the personalised messages with the adequate suggestions. We believe that
this approach offers a very promising avenue, to explore how to scale the results to large and
highly diverse student cohorts.

Carrying out a Special Commissioned project to build a platform for

personalised feedback
As a consequence of these results we recently obtained a Special Commissioned project from
the Office for Learning and Teaching of the Australian Government to trial this technology.
Together with four other institutions from Australia and overseas, we will be testing these ideas
in various scenarios and identifying the main requirements to foster their adoption at
institutional levels.

The project has two objectives. The first one is to provide a framework and tool to support
academics to provide these personalised messages to students at scale. The second is to
identify the main guidelines and institutional structures required for widespread adoption.

I am coordinating this project together with a team of five additional universities, including
University of New South Wales, University of Technology Sydney, University of South Australia,
and two international institutions – the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, and the
University of Texas at Arlington in the United States.
Focus areas over the next 12 months to progress the special commission project
Our key focus area from here is to move beyond the prototype phase that we achieved so far.
We plan to:

• Describe and define the architectural solution and the usage scenarios;
• Build a methodology on how to collect analytics with feedback that goes together with
the platform; and
• Create a set of guidelines for institutional adoption of this platform.

At the end of next year we count on having a comprehensive dissemination kit for these areas.
We also plan to include some outlining of the type of institutional stakeholders that are
required; their different contributions to the overall problem; and the philosophy that needs to
be conveyed at the leadership team level.

These are the elements we’ve identified that are preventing the adoption of this type of tool.
We believe that this type of technology has a very large potential to create a positive impact in
higher education.

We found that these specific aspects of providing students with feedback, and improving their
perception and their overall learning experience, are outcomes that will resonate both with
academics and upper management.

Unless we have a very convincing narrative, these types of

initiatives will not be comprehensively acknowledged. The
analogy of this situation with the past is the situation for
students at risk. Five or six years ago this issue gathered
significant traction in upper management, but students at
risk only address part of the problem.

We feel now that technology has matured to start

addressing improvements to all the students in the
institution, not just the ones that are at risk.

Providing personalised feedback using learning analytics requires the alignment between the
academics, the data management team, technological support, and the leadership team. The
values and objectives of these stakeholders need to be properly aligned for these initiatives to
have impact.
BE SURE
TO JOIN US AT THE
CONFERENCE! DOWNLOAD THE AGENDA

FEATURED SPEAKERS:

Dr Chris Thompson Dr Abelardo Pardo Dr Panos Vlachopoulos Cindy Davis Gina Saliba
Associate Dean Senior Lecturer School of Senior Teaching Fellow Associate Dean of Blended Learning
(Education) Electrical and Information in Learning Innovation Learning & Teaching, Advisor,
& Senior Lecturer, Engineering, - Faculty of Medicine University of the Western Sydney
Monash University University of Sydney and Health Sciences, Sunshine Coast University
Macquarie University

FURTHER YOUR BLENDED LEARNING WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND BLENDED

EXPERIENCE WITH THESE LEARNING 2016:
4 INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS l 20+ expert speaker panel from top universities and institutes
including University of Sydney, Monash University, Macquarie

A
Capacity Building Framework to Enhance Workplace University, University of Queensland and many more
Learning through Mobile Technology for Increasing
Engagement throughout Placement
l Pre conference Master Class on Blended Learning 101 and 4
interactive workshops

B Developing a Digital Literacy Tool Kit for Staff to Assist

with Blended Teaching l Interactive discussion sessions such as Solutions Clinic &
Hackathon specifically targeted at solving practical
real life problems

C Increasing Technology Enhanced Learning on Whole-of-

University Unit LMS Sites for Improved Engagement l Learning Innovation Week: Co-located with Innovation in
Assessment and Credentials and Campus Development.
sessions from all 3 events interchangeably

D Applying Critical Thinking to the Development

of Blended Learning
l Platform for exchanging insights and ideas with peers
and industry leaders in blended learning

Keep up to Follow us on Be part of the

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our blog @HigherEdIQ on LinkedIn

+61 2 9229 1000 l registration@iqpc.com.au l www.blended-learning.com.au