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University of Hull - Delivery of MA in Legislative Studies Online (MALSO)

Author: Cristina Leston-Bandeira (c.c.leston-bandeira@hull.ac.uk)

JISC e-Learning Activity Area: technology-enhanced learning environments 

Higher Education Academy Subject Centre: sociology anthropology and politics

 

Case study tags: online learningan effect on learningan effect on student personal developmentstudent satisfaction with e-learninginnovation in learning and teachingstaff satisfaction with e-learning,a positive effect on recruitmentuse of resourcestangible benefits of e-learning,university of hulltechnology-enhanced learning environmentssociology anthropology and politics

 

Background & Context

 

Why did you use this e-learning approach?

 

The MA in Legislative Studies Online (MALSO) is entirely taught online. It was created to respond to the needs of potential students: staff working in or with parliaments. Typically mature students located in dispersed places and with work and family commitments. Online teaching offered the flexibility of time and space for these students to undertake the course. MALSO stems from the MA in Legislative Studies which had proven to be difficult to access for many potential students.

 

Merlin, a virtual learning environment developed by the University of Hull, was chosen because it fosters the development of an online community thanks to its interactive and personalised features. Merlin was also very simple to use and did not require sophisticated technology or infrastructure. The simplicity of the system was an important factor to take into account, as some students would be doing the course from countries with poor infrastructures.

 

The development of MALSO is part of the department's strategy of fostering an e-learning option for all Master's level students.

 

What was the context in which you used this e-learning approach?

 

The Politics and International Studies department at the University of Hull provides a variety of courses aimed at students interested in the study and practice of politics. MALSO stems from the on campus MA in Legislative Studies, which has been delivered for more than a decade under the direction of Professor the Lord Norton of Louth. The teaching of the on campus programme is based around weekly two hours long seminars for each module. The change of the mode of delivery to online allows the department to offer this course to students from all over the world, particularly to those working with or in parliament. The online course is delivered part-time over two years. The MA in Legislative Studies was and still is taught like all other MAs within the department by seminar teaching at the Hull campus.

 

The group consists currently of six first year students and four second year students with one administrator and two academic staff members. Additional members of the group consist of other staff with an interest in legislative studies, as well as former students and some prospective students. All students work with or in parliaments.

 

Once the structure of the online MA modules were in place and the precise mode of teaching was prepared and outlined, the next challenge was to ensure that online students had access to the same university resources as on-campus students. Namely, the course tutors had to ensure that the library's electronic short loan service had relevant texts for each of their modules. This was both time consuming for the tutors and expensive for the department. In addition, the University's student registration procedure was not set up with off-campus students in mind and administrative staff involved therefore had a significant challenge in overcoming problems arising from this. Administrative staff also had to ensure that the information provided on the VLE was both up-to-date and relevant.

 

What was the design?

 

The main tools of the selected VLE were already set up as default, but the design had to incorporate several criteria. To facilitate the online discussion of individual seminar topics as well as providing important information on each seminar such as required background reading. To provide extensive resources, such as the University Library Service, important internet links, examples of past work, departmental policy etc. To provide an area for anonymous submission of assessed work. To provide an area of discussion outside the regular course framework, between students, tutors and administrators alike. To provide a section where individuals can supply an online profile. To provide an internal email service where administrators and tutors can send important messages with the function of seeing who has and who has not read messages. To enable administrative staff to add/remove and amend members details with ease. Teaching was designed as a combination of instructional tasks, reading and online discussion. Each module was organized around 10 seminar topics; each seminar lasting two weeks. Most of the teaching follows a work-based learning approach. The staff involved in developing this process were, the Programme Coordinator, Dr Cristina Leston-Bandeira, as well as Professor the Lord Norton of Louth.

 

How did you implement and embed this e-learning approach?

 

The programme coordinator undertook training in online teaching to prepare to deliver this programme (topical seminars and a 20 credits MA module taught within the University). Support was also given by the University's e-learning team. A contact at the library was essential to setting up an Electronic Short Loan Library with digitised texts.

 

As Merlin is very simple to use and a Hull based VLE it meant that 'rolling out' the MALSO information was straightforward from a technical point of view. The pedagogical elements required departmental and university approval and were then applied to Merlin according to the MA taught on campus, but adapted to the characteristics of the online students and mode of delivery.

 

The process that proved the most challenging was the adaptation of university and departmental regulations and processes to the online programme. Considerable work had to be done to ensure that the online programme rules and processes were in line with the on-campus ones, but that they also still fit with the specificity of the online students. This process was not always straightforward because the MALSO was only a minority cohort within the department, and indeed within the University.

 

The registration process is a good example of the difficulties in integrating this online programme with University procedures. University registration was set up with on-campus students in mind, expecting for instance the attendance of on-campus events for registration. This caused a huge amount of difficulty in obtaining finance from individuals and also the relevant registration paperwork to register the MALSO students and therefore ensuring they all received access to the full resources available.

 

Student feedback has been monitored very closely with regard to using Merlin and the programme in general. After the programme had been promoted and we started to obtain interest in the degree it was decided to provide applicants with a free two week trial in Merlin. This gave applicants an idea in advance of how the course was to be taught, get a feel for Merlin, as well as the opportunity of raising any queries academic or otherwise about the practicalities of the course.

 

At the beginning there were also difficulties associated with the amount of literature that could be digitised in view of the very restrictive and costly licences. However, this has improved dramatically from year to year as the terms of digitisation licences have been widened.

 

Technology Used

 

What technologies and/or e-tools were available to you?

 

Merlin was used, as it satisfied both institutional and departmental considerations. Blackboard is also available, but lacks the simple and user friendly approach that Merlin has. Blackboard does not promote the sense of an e-learning community through the discussion and exchange functions that Merlin operates. Besides this, Merlin is a highly effective tool for communication purposes, as it is very personalised and interactive, something that Blackboard did not offer. Communication was to be one of the key uses of the VLE. These considerations were important when thinking of the ease of use that was required from a teaching point of view, an administrative view and a student view. It also had to be capable of integrating the University's other resources, and where applicable making clear what was and was not available to them. An example of this, was the Library services for distance students. The costs of using the technologies available outside the University's existing VLE resources would have been too high for the department to sustain.

 

Tangible Benefits

 

What tangible benefits did this e-learning approach produce?

 

Offering this programme online has brought many benefits:

 

  • It allows reaching out to students who, if it was not for the online mode of delivery, would not be able to take the degree due to their work commitments.
  • It allows bringing together students who have a very wide range and unique experiences relating to parliament. Students include parliamentary clerks, officials working for international organisations who provide international assistance for parliamentary development (such as the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, or the OSCE), politicians, journalists, civil servants at local and regional level, from Britain (from Westminster to Scotland), elsewhere in Europe (Germany and Finland), and elsewhere in the world (from Canada to Kyrgystan). If it was not for the online mode of delivery, it would not be possible to bring together such a wealth of experiences. All of these students have full-time jobs and therefore taking the programme online and on a part-time basis suits their needs.
  • It allows the exchange of experiences from around the world. Students share their own experience working in or with parliament. This enhances the students' learning experience as each student is able to perceive their own reality with a different (comparative) outlook as well as finding out about other parliamentary realities. This brings a richness to the course that would not be possible if the programme was not taught online.
  • It allows a very effective development of a work-based learning approach. Many of the instructional tasks included in the teaching programme include references or activities that relate directly to the students' work environment. As the online mode of delivery allows students to do the course whilst remaining at work, it fosters a better integration of the work experience with the course. Besides this, most of the students taking the programme have the explicit support of their employer in order to strengthen their own work performance. The course's syllabus is highly relevant to anyone working in a parliamentary institution, or an institution that works with parliaments, hence the support from employers, be it a civil servant in the Scottish parliament, for instance, or an official working for a pressure group who needs to know the ins and outs of a parliament.
  • It allows time and flexibility of access to the course for both students and staff. One of the members of staff routinely travels between two cities. Teaching online allows him to fit teaching into his busy schedule.
  • It allows improved student performance, as it recruits students with very high levels of academic ability, as well as providing the flexibility for students to fit course work around their own busy lives. Some of the work produced has been of publishable standard with one research project currently being prepared for publication in a refereed journal.
  • It allows the integration of a wider community of students, including the PhD students and other on campus students who may be interested in parliamentary studies.
  • It allows a more straightforward inclusion of students without the worries of visa/immigration paperwork that might affect students' decision or ability to participate on the course.
  • It has allowed the department to enlarge its recruitment pool. The on campus MA in Legislative Studies used to (and still does) recruit an average of one student per year. The MALSO has increased this pool to an average of 6 students per year and this is still on the increase.
  • It is also a more cost effective way of studying for the students as they save in accommodation and travelling costs.
  • It has made a significant contribution to the success and reputation of the department, nationally and internationally. The experiences staff have undergone to ensure the success of the MALSO means that the department has a pool of tutors and administrators able to pass on their knowledge to others in the department, University and elsewhere wishing to provide online versions of postgraduate courses.

 

MALSO has been a breakthrough in departmental policy, as there are only two MAs in the University of Hull that are taught entirely online. This is therefore a good starting point to future e-learning endeavours that the department aims to pursue. The department aims to roll out the MALSO experience into new programmes, namely an MA in Security Studies Online. The potential is significant in savings in areas of space saving, the costs of computer equipment for the University generally, also departmentally in terms of the duplication of paper for seminars and other administrative matters. Logistically the programme could handle more students, with each still receiving the same attention. MALSO is the only politics MA entirely taught online with an ESRC recognition - a sign of its quality.

 

Did implementation of this e-learning approach have any disadvantages or drawbacks?

 

Although a significant amount of reading texts have now been digitised for the Electronic Short Loan Library, students do not have the same access to the University's library as on-campus students. Although there is nothing stopping them coming to Hull and using the library, this usually is not possible or practical. In view of the current licences terms it is not possible to digitalise all texts needed for the MA, however, as with all MAs certain core books need to be purchased, in particular for the dissertation part of the degree.

 

Tutors received more messages within Merlin that had to be dealt with on an individual basis. Administratively e-learning requires constant updating as new information arises - new term guide information etc, which can be time consuming on occasion. Many standard university or departmental forms had to be adapted to create an online version. Also although email is an excellent form of communication, it can take some time to explain something complex that might only take a few minutes over the telephone.

 

Although there have not been any significant technical problems, if there were it could potentially cause significant problems to the MALSO. If the University decided to change or alter its VLE arrangements, this could potentially cause a significant amount of additional administration in terms of migrating information as well as the problems associated with students and staff used to the previous set-ups. Another factor affecting the stability of the MALSO could be changes in staff personnel. New staff may approach e-learning in an entirely different way to outgoing members, which may in turn give confused signals to students.

 

How did this e-learning approach accord with or differ from any relevant departmental and/or institutional strategies?

 

As Merlin is a university supported VLE it accorded well with the University's strategies. The MALSO brings together different parliamentary experiences and perspectives from around the world in a much more convenient way for practitioners, resulting in less theoretical examination. Improving parliamentary practice could therefore be one of the results of studying the MA. However, due to work obligations many practitioners have found that committing to a full MA is too much work for them to take on, but that they would like to be involved in legislative studies online. The department has taken these comments on board and has recently divided the MA into more manageable teaching sections, by adding Postgraduate Certificate and Diploma qualifications. The Certificate has already had significant interest and we are hoping that this will add to the Legislative Studies Online community.

 

To ensure that discussions in particular are well attended the department monitors the logons and contributions that each student makes to ensure not only that they receive all the support they need, but also that they understand the flexibility of the course should not be taken advantage of and does not mean that minimal work has to be carried out or tolerated.

 

Whether or not e-learning becomes embedded in the department is largely dependent on whether particular members of the academic staff (mainly MA programme coordinators) decide to undertake the e-learning option for modules or postgraduate degree courses. Generally speaking e-learning is still the exception rather than the rule and it may take some time to develop e-learning on particular courses within the department. Given that current e-learning covers only a few modules, that are compulsory on those courses, it would be more problematic from an administrative and academic view to create e-learn for courses where there are a number of optional modules in addition to the core modules.

 

Lessons Learned

 

Summary and Reflection

 

The learning process develops through the reading of relevant material and the discussion of set topics under the guidance of a lecturer - just as in face-to-face seminars. Students have access to an array of support material, from lecture notes, to online articles and digitised literature. Merlin is particularly effective for this kind of postgraduate teaching, because it has a number of features that promote the creation and maintenance of a learning community. The environment is highly personalised and allows for a high degree of interactivity. It enables effective interactive communication, is simple to use and provides the right tools to give online support for academic work.

 

In summary we have created and offered students a new approach to teaching legislative studies that fits in with what practitioners in the field have been requesting. A lot has been learned from the experience of setting the MA up and from the e-learning carried out so far. We hope to make further improvements to the existing MA and use this to roll out further online MA courses within the department. In future it is important to integrate the relevant departmental research centres to the related online MA programme as this consolidates and enhances the prestige and background. In deciding whether there is a case for further online MAs the department should be aware of the demand from practitioners in the specialism considered as this is likely to provide the majority of students interested in e-learning.

 

Further Evidence

 

Some comments from the course tutor:

 

'It allows time and flexibility of access to the course for both students and staff. One of the members of staff routinely travels between two cities. Teaching online allows him to fit teaching into his busy schedule.'

 

'It allows improved student performance, as it recruits students with very high levels of academic ability, as well as providing the flexibility for students to fit course work around their own busy lives.'

 

'MALSO has been a breakthrough in departmental policy, as there are only two MAs in the University of Hull that are taught entirely online.'