2021 Review: What's the current state of the VLE market in UK higher education?
For many years there have been the so-called big four" in this market - they being Blackboard, Moodle, Canvas and Brightspace. However, whilst in the US the proportion of universities using those products is more evenly spread, in the UK it’s really been a case of the big two - Moodle and Blackboard. These two VLEs are still the most widely used in UK universities and are used by over 70% of the 176 HEIs I looked at. Whilst that tells a story of two dominant players - I’m not sure that’s the true picture, because they used to be much more dominant.
Read More
Is there a skills gap in learning design?
An expert Learning Designer is able to develop processes and continually draw upon conceptual models, theories and research to inform their approach. They are reflective and iterative and are able to effectively document and represent their design work. They are also able to engage supportively and creatively with educators, to question, influence, understand, empathise and design.
Read More
2021: Review of online learning in UK higher education
If I was to sum up this year I’d describe it as one of transition, a year in which the scramble of the pivot to emergency remote teaching was left well behind, but not one in which we’ve seen universities radically transform their educational model. Online education whilst still viewed as suboptimal for some, is now being valued and prioritised by more decision makers in higher education.
Read More
Online Learning isn't better or worse, it's different
If you were involved in the world of online education before the pandemic, then the past 18+ months have been...well….interesting to say the least. The debate and dialogue around the efficacy of online education or the pandemic version often referred to as emergency remote teaching has been at times a little fractious. Much has been lost in the fog of significant and challenging events and the many words that have been generated in light of them.
Read More
5 tips for approaching video in online learning
Video can be a great medium and can serve different educational purposes, but there are also pitfalls with video. We can often unthinkingly default to video when other forms of communication might be better suited. There’s no simple answer to the question of when, where and whether you should use video and what form it should or can take. But there are plenty of things that can helpfully inform the judgement that’s needed for video or that can help you to avoid some common pitfalls.
Read More
Is the university education model forever changed?
If you want to change the teaching and study model then you have to change the organisational model that buttresses it. This is hard, and the pandemic hasn’t necessarily helped as it has led to a conceited sense of organisational agility. When thinking about where universities are at due to the pandemic and gauging this against where they might like to be, we would all do well to heed the words of Irene Peter:
“Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed.”
Read More
The post-pandemic reality for online learning in higher education
As we enter into a somewhat different phase of this period, universities might reflect on how online or distance education is a more robust and resilient mode of teaching and study than the residential model. They might also reflect on what so many of us working in online education before the pandemic knew well - that online education can result in as good outcomes as any other mode of teaching and study. It’s not the mode that makes the difference.
Read More
Why do universities struggle with VLE consistency?
What’s clear however is that the VLE isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. So making the best use of what you have to support teaching and study is the key imperative. Whilst we might want to ensure there is friction or to put it another way ‘desirable difficulties’ when it comes to learning - we should really ask ourselves what the benefit is of creating frictions that just result in frustration and exasperation?
Read More
Are learner personas effective in learning design?
Personas certainly have the potential to be useful, but if we don’t think carefully about their relevance and usefulness to the domain of learning design and don’t fully understand what they’re there to do - there’s a danger of them becoming a hollow transposition, or a kind of vanity addition.
Read More
Learning designers: New fad or new future?
The value of a learning designer role is not as another role type to plug into the academic, educational development/learning technologist space, but rather to work on a portfolio of specific programmes and courses. The learning designer role at its best is one that works as a close partner to teaching staff and teams in designing experiences and a context for learning to result.
Read More
Balancing digital and analogue technologies in learning design
When we consider what technologies to use or recommend - too often we can unthinkingly choose digital technologies over other technologies, without a thoughtful process taking place. Now of course in some cases there are macro factors at play that govern and guide those discussions and decisions, but that’s not always the case.
Read More
What does a growth in MOOC learners mean for universities?
MOOCs are meeting a demand that obviously isn’t being met elsewhere and universities as major education providers would be wise to reflect deeply on that. In reality, there are still only a handful of UK universities strategically engaging in partnerships with MOOC platforms and this has been the case since the start.
Read More
Should we rethink our use of time in higher education teaching and learning?
Have you ever considered, really considered, why we have fairly rigid time divisions for teaching? Who decided upon the unit of time of 1 hour, 2 hours or more and why? When you begin to consider this, you’ll struggle to find a rationale, deep reasons or evidence that substantiates this approach. It actually all feels completely arbitrary.
Read More
Is there an investment mismatch between physical and digital campuses?
The physical campus is being developed and heavily invested in, but that is just one part of the student and staff experience now. The other is, for the want of a better phrase, the digital campus. But, if we were to juxtapose the level of investment in the physical and digital campus, what would we see?
Read More
