1. Learning and teaching at Northampton: now and at Waterside
Prof Alejandro Armellini
@alejandroa
Director, Institute of Learning and Teaching in HE
University of Northampton, 1 March 2017

2. Learning and Teaching at Northampton
The 52-second video clip!

3. Active Blended Learning (ABL)
A course follows an ABL methodology if it:
Is taught through student-centred activities to develop knowledge and understanding, independent learning & digital fluency.
Has a core, collaborative face-to-face component, explicitly linked to learning activity outside the classroom, typically online.
Helps to develop autonomy, Changemaker attributes and employability skills.
Source: ILT website

4. Active Blended Learning (ABL)
A course follows an ABL methodology if it:
Is taught through student-centred activities to develop knowledge and understanding, independent learning & digital fluency.
Has a core, collaborative face-to-face component, explicitly linked to learning activity outside the classroom, typically online.
Helps to develop autonomy, Changemaker attributes and employability skills.
Source: ILT website

5. Pre-session cognitive exposure to content
F2F session: analysis, discussion, reflection & goal setting
Post-session online work: consolidation & evaluation
Ale
@alejandroa

6. ? Pre-session cognitive exposure to content
F2F session: analysis, discussion, reflection & goal setting
Post-session online work: consolidation & evaluation
Ale
@alejandroa

7. Pre-session cognitive exposure to content
Pre-session asynchronous online tasks
F2F session: analysis, discussion, reflection & goal setting
Post-session online work: consolidation & evaluation
Ale
@alejandroa

8. FACE TO FACE, SMALL GROUPS
Digital resources
Tasks for sense-making
Analysis, discussion, reflection & goal setting
Consolidation & action planning
ONLINE & F2F
ONLINE & F2F
Ale
FACE TO FACE, SMALL GROUPS

9. A course is not taught in ABL if:
It makes regular use of non-interactive lectures, or
The VLE (or LMS) is primarily a content repository, or
Online activity is merely an add-on to the face-to-face sessions, or
There is no evidence of systematic enhancement.

10. To be clear:
ABL is not online teaching. Northampton will not become an online learning university.
We will continue to be a campus-based university, on a brand new campus.
We value face-to-face teaching as much as students do.

11. ABL is our new normal
ABL is not something we do in addition to our regular teaching: it is our standard approach to learning and teaching at Northampton.

12. YES ABL is our new normal
Does ABL mean that we expect students to work hard?
YES

13. CAIeRO: a team-based approach to course design
Creating Aligned Interactive Educational Resource Opportunities

14. @alejandroa

15. CAIeRO review check reality prototype Action Plan storyboard blueprint
@alejandroa

16. Who: size & participants
@alejandroa

17. Why (1): to design a great course, fast
@alejandroa

18. Why (2): to model practice
@alejandroa

19. The Storyboard

20. Student-generated content resulting from the e-tivities
Learning Outcomes
Start
End
Student-generated content resulting from the e-tivities
Assessment

23. Action plan
@alejandroa

24. Student Contact Time
Tutor-mediated time allocated to teaching, provision of guidance and feedback to students, in two parts:
Face-to-face activities (on & off-site).
Activities in online environments: synchronous (real-time) or asynchronous (e.g., tutor-moderated discussion forums, blogs or wikis).
Both are intrinsically connected and characterised by personalised tutor presence and input within a specified time-frame.
Based on the QAA’s definition: page 4 of the Contact Hours document.
For further details, see Student Contact Time on the ILT site

25. Evidence – from students (1)
“Students consistently commented that they felt that they wanted more interactive classes. This was not just so that they could practically learn about their subject area, but also to develop peer relationships with their classmates, which they also linked to good future employability skills”.
Source: NUS Student Experience Research 2012 p.5, emphasis added

26. Evidence – from students (2)
“When asked what would most improve their academic experience, 50.2% of students said that more interactive/group teaching sessions would improve their experience”.
Source: NUS Student Experience Research 2012 p.5, emphasis added

27. Evidence – from students (3)
“I prefer the seminar because I have more chance to talk to lecturers or tutors. In some lectures the tutors just talk and it’s not very efficient”.
Source: NUS Student Experience Research 2012 p.19

28. Evidence – from students (4)
“[…] the traditional model that continues to dominate in UK higher education: teaching through lectures, excessive summative assessment, slow feedback, and students working almost entirely individually. Many student complaints about the quality of their courses can be tracked back to [these]”.
Source: Comprehensive Guide to Learning & Teaching (NUS, 2015: 7), emphasis added

29. Evidence from the literature, as cited by students
Source: Comprehensive Guide to Learning & Teaching (NUS, 2015: 7)

30. Evidence from the literature, as cited by students
Source: Comprehensive Guide to Learning & Teaching (NUS, 2015: 7)

31. Evidence from the literature, as cited by students
Source: Comprehensive Guide to Learning & Teaching (NUS, 2015: 7)

32. Evidence from the literature, as cited by students
Source: Comprehensive Guide to Learning & Teaching (NUS, 2015: 7)

33. Thank you Prof Alejandro Armellini Ale.Armellini@northampton.ac.uk
Director, Institute of Learning and Teaching in HE
University of Northampton, 1 March 2017