Curriculum 2016+ Briefing Note G: Technology Enhanced Learning
Chris Turnock, Joel Mills, Patrick Lynch and Elizabeth Cleaver, Learning Enhancement &
Academic Practice (LEAP)
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Introduction
As part of the Curriculum 2016+ Change Programme, the University of Hull is drawing on,
adapting and synthesising the insights of a number of existing theoretical and conceptual
frameworks for, and empirically-informed approaches to, curriculum design and teaching,
learning and assessment. Together these create a unique model and framework for
curriculum and pedagogic design at Hull.
This briefing document provides further information on how we can develop our approaches
to teaching and support learning of all students through our use of technology. It forms one
in a series of briefing notes which, together with LEAP-facilitated curriculum development
sessions, will support programme portfolio teams to consider and actively design the content
of their curriculum and their teaching, learning and assessment approaches and practices.
As its starting point, Curriculum 2016+ involves:
a) Thinking outside of the module-box: prioritising coherent programme-level curriculum
design over individual module developments so that there is a programme-level
approach to technology in the curriculum;
b) Including a range of stakeholders: engaging students, staff (from both relevant
academic areas and a range of service areas), employers and professional, statutory and
regulatory bodies in programme-level curriculum design with a focus on what they think
about how technology can be introduced into the curriculum;
c) Making the implicit explicit: developing a shared understanding amongst curriculum
creators and users - teachers and learners - about how and why technology can be used
in the curriculum and associated approaches to teaching, learning and assessment.
d) Starting from the discipline 1: understanding how the epistemic 2 and cultural beliefs of
the discipline form an important starting point for curriculum and pedagogic design.
In the Curriculum 2016+ Briefing Note series, discipline is used as shorthand to describe the subject areas or
areas of practice that are fundamental to each degree programme. We recognise that many degree
programmes do not draw on a discrete discipline per se, but reflect a field of study or area of practice which
draws on a range of disciplinary and practice-based knowledge and understandings.
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The term episteme is used to describe particular understandings and perceptions of what ‘knowledge’ is, how
it is created and how it is best communicated. We acknowledge that these understandings and perceptions
may differ across and even within each programme of study. However, it is expected that the core disciplines
and areas of practice that underpin each programme of study will play a key role in formulating each area’s
understanding of knowledge (its epistemic starting points).
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What is Technology Enhanced Learning and why is it important?
This briefing note explores how a greater use of technology in the curriculum can enhance
student learning. Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL), also known as e-learning, involves the
use of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) in its widest sense to support our
teaching and to improve students’ learning experiences (Gordon, 2014). However, technology
should not replace existing effective practice, and should be used to enhance learning and
teaching where appropriate and practicable. Importantly, students expect technology to be
incorporated into curricula in ways that are relevant to their academic success. While students
often express a desire for consistency in the use of technology, this should not preclude
programme teams from considering using a broad range of technologies to ensure that a
programme's pedagogical delivery model does not compromise the student learning
experience.
Programme teams also need to consider how their use of technology prepares students for
the world of employment. It is important that programme teams engage with relevant
stakeholders in order that the technology used in the curriculum reflects technology used
within work settings. Furthermore, the use of technology should also ensure that graduating
students have developed appropriate skills (sometimes known as digital literacies) to
maximise their graduate employment prospects.
Students are becoming ever more flexible in device use and expect flexibility with regard to
when, where and how they access the University’s ICT systems as part of their learning
experience.
Evidence is also emerging from across the sector of the benefits of certain technology for
students with particular learning requirements. Recordings of teaching sessions, for example,
are listened to by most students in preparation for summative assessments; however,
students with learning difficulties and those for whom English is a second language have been
found to make greater use of these recordings to clarify their understanding of the sessions
they have attended (Leadbeater et al., 2012). A University policy on the ‘Recording of Lectures
and other Teaching Sessions for Personal Use by Students’ outlines the circumstances under
which audio recordings of teaching sessions can take place at the University of Hull.
In short, using technology in meaningful and appropriate ways can:
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free up contact time for face-to-face and interactive learning opportunities;
allow students to study at times which are most conducive to their learning;
provide opportunities for self-testing to reinforce factual knowledge;
facilitate the collection of and feedback on assignments;
encourage peer support and greater participation from all students;
enable effective learning within and across different groups of learners, in learning
from guest experts, and engaging with relevant professional groups;
foster the development of key skills and attributes including collaborative skills,
autonomous learning and digital literacy (Smyth et al., 2011 pp.2-3)
What technologies are available and what support is there for their use?
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The University has a number of core supported ICT systems in place to enhance the student
learning experience, including:
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eBridge and Canvas (our Virtual Learning Environments);
PebblePad (our online portfolio tool);
Lecture Capture tools;
Turnitin (our plagiarism detection tool);
Grademark and Peermark (assessment tools integrated with Turnitin);
TurningPoint (our in-class audience response system).
These core technologies are supported by the TEL team, who are able to provide help and
guidance on their use. TurningPoint ‘clickers’ for use in classroom settings are available for
hire from the TEL team and enquiries should be placed by emailing [email protected].
The team will also be able to provide advice on the use of non-core technology tools including
social media tools (e.g. Twitter), bookmarking tools (e.g. Diigo), screencast/capture tools (e.g.
Jing and Camtasia), wiki tools (e.g. Wikispace), blogging/web tools (e.g. Wordpress), online
presentation tools (e.g. Prezi) and podcast tools (e.g. Audacity).
The TEL team have developed quick-start and more detailed guidance materials on each of
these various platforms, tools and systems to support their effective use by programme teams
and their students. Please visit the TEL Support Canvas pages.
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What does this mean for curriculum and pedagogic design?
At the programme level, teams are asked to consider how technology can be used to enrich
formal teaching sessions and to create social and informal learning opportunities beyond the
classroom. Teams may wish to use technology for a variety of purposes such as programme
development and management (using learning analytics), the creation of digital content,
communicating with students, creating opportunities for online collaborative learning and
classroom interactions, and for the setting and submission of assessment tasks. TEL advisors
will work with teams using the 3E Framework (Smyth et al., 2011); a framework developed by
staff at Edinburgh Napier University to support the meaningful incorporation of technology
into learning, teaching and assessment. Depending on the stage of technological adoption
that teams are currently at, they can:
Stage 1: Enhance: adopt technology in simple and effective ways to actively support
students and increase their activity and self-responsibility; and/or
Stage 2: Extend: employ technology further, in ways that facilitate key aspects of student’s
individual and collaborative learning and assessment through increasing their choice and
control; and/or
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Stage 3: Empower: develop students’ use of technology that requires higher order individual
and collaborative learning, and which reflects how knowledge is created and used in
professional environments.
Examples of technologically supported teaching and learning activities using this approach
may include:
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student briefings prior to a formal teaching session;
the flipped classroom: a classroom where content and detail is provided prior to
teaching sessions and teaching time is focused on facilitating group learning and the
practical application of ideas;
games to motivate students in learning related activities; for example, team based
learning where teams compete in producing learning outputs;
online student discussions to engage students in social learning beyond the classroom
environment;
online quizzes and tests to check students have achieved expected learning thresholds
and to highlight where problems in student understanding may be occurring. These
may be ‘adaptive’; for example, the nature of assessment activity can be based on
performance on previous exercise(s);
the provision of peer assessment opportunities and instant student/peer feedback;
awarding digital badges for achievements mid-module;
opportunities for group and individual collation of information and critical reflection
using blogs, wikis and the online portfolio tool. These can be used to enable students,
for example, to collate digital assessment feedback to inform future learning;
multi-media student presentations;
the management and assessment of placements;
the creation of assessment submission points and provision of online assessment
feedback that can be accessed by students on or off campus; and
the evaluation of student performance and engagement through analytics.
What should programme teams do?
With the ideas outlined above in mind, we recommend that programme teams work with the
TEL team to address the following questions when designing their programmes of study and
associated pedagogies:
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Which technologies can be meaningfully incorporated into curriculum design and
learning, teaching and assessment approaches?
Do programme and module aims and outcomes explicitly reflect the use of technology,
if appropriate and useful?
Are the technologies used relevant for the future work that students are likely to
pursue beyond university?
Are students actively encouraged to use technology to record, reflect on and share
their experiences as part of their learning?
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Do all students on the programme have equal opportunities to take part in technologybased and online activities? How might you support particular student groups?
What support is available?
The TEL team in LEAP is available to work with programme teams to develop curricula,
assessment, teaching and learning approaches with a focus on the use of technology to
enhance student learning. Please contact [email protected] for further information.
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References and further reading
Gordon, N. (2014) Flexible Pedagogies: technology-enhanced learning. Higher Education
Academy. [online] https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/resources/tel_report_0.pdf
Accessed 11.11.15
Jisc (2010) Effective Assessment in a Digital Age.
[online] http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearning/digiassass_eada.p
df Accessed 11.11.15
Jisc (2014a) Developing Digital Literacies.
[online] http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/digital-literacies/ Accessed 11.11.15
Jisc (2014b) The Digital Student. [online] http://digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org/wp/ Accessed
11.11.15
Leadbeater, W., Shuttleworth, T., Couperthwaite, J. and Nightingale, K. (2012) Evaluating
the use and impact of lecture recording in undergraduates: Evidence for distinct
approached by different groups of students. Computers & Education. 61(2): 185-192.
Smyth, K., Bruce, S., Fotheringham, J. and Mainka, C. (2011) Benchmark for the use of
technology in modules. Edinburgh Napier University.
[online] http://staff.napier.ac.uk/services/vice-principalacademic/academic/TEL/TechBenchmark/Documents/3E%20Framework.pdf Accessed
11.11.15
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