06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Blended learning at a Doctorate level: the way forward? Cuna Ekmekcioglu, Lindsay Paterson, Ruby Rennie The University of Edinburgh

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Structure Setting the scene Professional Doctorates Methodology Design and development The pilot Evaluation Findings Conclusion

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Setting the scene Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD) running since 2001 Core teaching in four intensive weeks spaced throughout the year Students and tutors use and other correspondence to provide resources and to exchange ideas High academic standards required of participants

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Setting the scene The participants are also busy professionals already established in their field seeking professional enrichment and further development of their knowledge, understanding and skills required to pursue their own academic interests Therefore, the learning environment must be highly supportive and flexible, with an emphasis on collaboration and intensive research techniques

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Professional Doctorates Professional doctorates in UK first appeared in 1992 A rapid expansion of professional doctorates in education has taken place in the UK 37 different universities offering EdD programmes, many of which feature an element of distance learning - Bourner et al. (2001) ESRC (2006) recognises 14 Professional Doctorates in Education including University of Edinburgh

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Professional Doctorates Distance is a disadvantage in a doctoral study; specifically in the absence of an on-campus interpersonal dimension for supporting the acquisition of research skills required for doctoral study - Linder et al (2001) A distance learning professional doctorate can provide a supportive and effective route for part- time professional students through blended learning - Butcher and Sieminski (2006)

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Methodology Question: Would an online support (online learning environment) make studying at doctoral level more effective? Identify the issues, problems with the existing case Improve the existing programme Implement Observe Evaluate

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Design and development WebCT Campus edition 6  Funded from the University’s eLearning fund for 2005/2006 The analysis, design, and development phases of the system were completed in April 2006 The prototype was piloted with the existing EdD students for a month Evaluation of the prototype was carried out between May – June 2006 Modified

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 The pilot Piloted with the existing 35 EdD students in 5 cohorts Of these 35 students only 18 of them regularly used the online learning environment Therefore the evaluation of the pilot involved only these 18 students

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Evaluation Online survey - Bristol Online Surveys (BOS) tool Data was held anonymously Participants were presented 12 questions Response rate: 77.8% (14 responses out of 18)

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Findings 50.0% of the of the participants used the online environment regularly (mostly the participants in the recent cohort) The rest used it occasionally 85.7% found it easy to use whereas the rest had difficulty in using it Discussions, e-reserve, programme information were the most popular sections

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Findings 71.4% - communication with peers will be very useful 78.6% - communication with tutors will be very useful 92.9% - would like to have access to an electronic portfolio

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Issues raised Access to WebCT Lack of IT skills Not enough contributions to discussions by everyone (including tutors) Preference for face-to-face interaction

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 What they said? “As I am at the dissertation stage it would be good to discuss with others at that stage aspects of progress, difficulties etc. I suspect that this facility needed to be in place during the taught element in order for it to work meaningfully…” “I wish more of the other students had used discussion boards... it would also have been nice to see contributions from tutors other than...”

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 What they said? “I find ICT fairly difficult to use, partly through ignorance, partly through incessant glitches. I can however see its potential, and would welcome opportunities to learn more… “It is a great resource and I look forward to having time to use it to support my studies…” “I was not a fan of on-line study resources, but I must say this has converted me…”

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Conclusions Communication is an integral part of blended learning, and community building and maintaining, particularly in distance learning Online discussion could become an important tool in maintaining the communication between the students and tutors as well as between the students themselves When introducing online communication technology, facilitating learning can become more complex

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Conclusions An electronic portfolio would help students to: collect a diverse, multi-media set of items that represent learning and experience reflect on experiences and accomplishments to integrate and enhance learning connect with others for communication, sharing, and feedback

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Conclusions Online support should be built into the system right at the start of the Programme Tutors should be encouraged to be more active in online discussions Students should be encouraged to build a community which they feel they belong to

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 What next? Launch of the modified online support in January 2007 Migrated to WebCT Vista Access to a repository Access to an ePortfolio Built into the taught phase of each cohort as of 2007

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 References Bourner, Tom, Bowden, Rachel, Laing, Stuart (2001). Professional doctorates in England. Studies in Higher Education, 26(1), Butcher, John and Sieminski, Sandy (2006). The challenge of a distance learning professional doctorate in education. Case study. Open Learning, 21(1), Lindner, James R, Dooley, Kim E. and Murphy Tim H. (2001). Differences in competencies between doctoral students on-campus and at a distance. The American Journal of Distance Education, 15(2),

06/09/2006ALT-C 2006 Thank you! Cuna Ekmekcioglu - Lindsay Paterson - Ruby Rennie -