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NPT PROJECT 2011 3 rd E-LEARNING CONFERENCE 31 ST OCTOBER & 1 ST NOVEMBER 2011

NPT PROJECT 2011 3 rd E-LEARNING CONFERENCE 31 ST OCTOBER & 1 ST NOVEMBER 2011 An overview and reflective analysis of e-learning and other activities undertaken by the School of Engineering under the Nuffic project

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NPT PROJECT 2011 3 rd E-LEARNING CONFERENCE 31 ST OCTOBER & 1 ST NOVEMBER 2011

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  1. NPT PROJECT 2011 3rd E-LEARNING CONFERENCE 31ST OCTOBER & 1ST NOVEMBER 2011 An overview and reflective analysis of e-learning and other activities undertaken by the School of Engineering under the Nuffic project Presentation by F Gerber: Director: School of Engineering, Faculty of Science, Engineering & Technology, WSU

  2. Content of the presentation • P • Overview • WSU project participants & WSU project partners • FSET project objectives • Review of Project activities: • Situational analysis • Capacity building among staff & leadership • Investment in educational equipment • Curriculum/course innovation • Embedding of good practices in quality assurance policies • Reflective analysis of e-learning strategy implementation in School of Engineering • Lessons learnt & way forward

  3. Overview • Nuffic project participants • Official project partners of WSU • Rijks University of Groningen (RUG) • Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) • Tshwane University of Technology(TUT) • WSU participants • Centre for Teaching & Learning (CLTD) • Faculty of Science, Engineering & Technology (FSET) • School of Engineering (SoE) • Dept of Civil Engineering • Dept of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering • Department of Mechanical Engineering • School of Computing (SoC) • Dept of Computer Science • Department of Information Technology • School of Mathematical & Computational Sciences (SoMCS) • Dept of Mathematics

  4. Overview • FSET project objective The managerial and academic staff of the Faculty of Science Engineering and Technology is, through assistance of the CLTD, able to strengthen the existing programs and to facilitate, develop and conduct academic programs, applying the use of updated content, innovative approaches and applications (e.g. ICT based) in Teaching and Learning.

  5. Project Implementation Activities • Perform situational analysis • Throughput Study • Passrates/ Success rates/ Graduationrates/ Drop out rates • Cohortanalysis • Monitoring & Improvement Plan • Employer Study • Questionnaire/Survey/Analysis • Response Implementation Plan • Tracer Study • Questionnaire/Survey • Student Evaluation [for courses and lecturers] • Questionnaire/ Survey/ Analysis • Improvement Plan • Advisory Board Review • Review methodology/ Analysis/ Implementation Plan • Reports from External Evaluators • Accreditation reports/Analysis/Corrective Action Plans • Outcomes Based Review Survey • Questionnaire/Survey/Analysis • Response Implementation Plan

  6. Project Implementation Activities • Capacity building among staff & leadership • Educational research & staff qualification improvement • With support from the project 3 staff members of FSET are expected to obtain PhD degrees in 2012/13 (research area covers Engineering/ICT education) • 1 staff member of FSET will obtain a Masters degree in 2012 that relates directly to Engineering Innovation • This increases research capacity of FSET in the field of educational innovation Staff teaching skills development • A Professional Excellence Programme (PEP) was developed by CLTD • The main aim of PEP is to improve the professional excellence of academics and strengthen the quality of teaching at WSU • PEP participants are required to compile and submit a Portfolio of Evidence (POE) • PEP consists of 3 Modules • The first module covers Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (LTHE) - piloted in the SoE in Nov 2010 • 51 staff members of SoE trained in Module 1 • Module 2: Curriculum Development - underway • Module 3: Assessment - planned for 2012

  7. Project Implementation Activities • Capacity building among staff & leadership (continued) • Faculty managerial capacity development • Senior managers of SET pilot faculty visited the Dutch consortium partners • FSET managers advised as to the manner in which educational innovation policies are applied within Dutch universities • Further capacity building workshops in areas of Curriculum design and Academic Leadership are planned in 2012 for Heads of Department (HoD’s) and Programme Coordinators (PCO’s) Grass roots presentations • Regular Grass Roots events has been held since the start of the project • The Grass-Root events seek to showcase the e-learning practices taking place at WSU • Event is meant for academic staff who have been trained on e-learning • Staff are provided with opportunity to demonstrate how they have used e-learning for their teaching, student learning and related activities

  8. Project Implementation Activities • Investment in educational equipment • Improvement of computer laboratories • Mthatha(Nelson Mandela Drive): Dept of Computer Science • 40 x new desktop computers • 1 x Data projector • Butterworth (Ibika): Venue shared by Dept of Civil & Mech Eng • 44 x new desktop computers • 1 x Data projector • 1 x DVP Screen • Buffalo City (College Street): Dept of Elect Eng • 51 x new desktop computers • 1 x Data projector • 1 x DVP Screen Investment value • Investment in equipment represents a monetary value of R1 248 000

  9. Project Implementation Activities • Curriculum/course innovation • Promotion of educational innovation • Extensive efforts were made to promote user involvement in adopting e-learning • A working group consisting of the RUG, CLTD (ETI unit), FSET coordinator and reps from ICT Services agreed on the hardware, software and network requirements to establish a functional electronic Learning Management Platform. • In 2009 staff in SoE were advised on the introduction of the Learning Management Platform (Blackboard, later named WiSeUp) • Staff were educated and trained on the benefits of e-learning and the use towards a more effective approach for teaching and learning • Best practices were made known to trainees through a WSU website (linked to international websites that host good e-learning practices) • Staff were made aware of the availability of Open Course Ware • The adoption of educational innovation practices and active learning methodologies were promoted through training workshops • In 2011 the HoD’s and representatives from departments participated in a workshop on Problem Based Learning

  10. Project Implementation Activities • Curriculum/course innovation (continued) Capacity development in e-learning skills & knowledge • The School Identified e-learning “advocates” (team leaders and initial participants in departments) who acted as front runners in the departments on the use of e-learning • Training of “advocates” in e-learning took place at three levels of complexity, namely Beginner level, Intermediate level & Advanced level • Team Leaders, as “advocates” were required to assist in training of their departmental team members (train-the-trainer approach) • Teaching through video link across multi-campuses was an aim of the project group and is specifically important for the SoE • Video link teaching requires network capacity, network reliability as well as appropriate video conferencing equipment in classrooms • To ensure that staff could present their work in lecture venues outside of computer laboratories data projectors were procured for most of the classrooms used by SoE

  11. Project Implementation Activities • Embedding of ICT and e-learning practices in quality assurance policies & practices • Quality Management and Assurance Policy • SoE activities in e-learning supports the objectives and requirements as envisaged by the QMA policy in terms of: • Ensuring that all academic goals are explicitly stated in all WiSeUp courses • Ensuring that feedback from Advisory Board meetings are electronically reported • Ensuring that external programme evaluations, self-evaluation records & corrective action plans are electronically reported and monitored • Assessments are subjected to complexity analysis during moderation process thereby confirming that work being assessed is pitched at the appropriate level • The use of WiSeUp to capture and report student survey results

  12. Project Implementation Activities • Embedding of ICT and e-learning practices in quality assurance policies & practices (continued) • Access procedures • SoE has placed Standardised Assessment Testson WiSeUp and plan to use automated marking in 2012 for assessing first time entry students Retention and throughputstrategy • Staff in SoE make use of Grading Center in WiSeUp for capturing of marks and making marks available to students • SoE plans (with support from CLTD) to use WiSeUp for student tracking and monitoring in 2012 Academic support policy • Support courses, e.g. Information Literacy are available to students in WiSeUp • Students are provided with formative assessment opportunities through test opportunities in WiSeUp

  13. Project Implementation Activities • Embedding of ICT and e-learning practices in quality assurance policies & practices (continued) Curriculum development and review policy • Use of teaching forums for providing feedback to CLTD on e-learning ICT Services policies • Forums created to provide feedback to ICT Services unit and HEMIS office Learning Management Platform Administration Procedure document • Standing forum in place for engaging with CLTD e-learning specialist & ICT Services office responsible for Learning Management System

  14. E-Learning and its linkage to the mission statement of WSU • E-learning as part of WSU mission statement • Provide an educationally vibrant and enabling environment that is conducive to the advancement of quality academic, moral, cultural and technological learner-centred education for holistic intellectual empowerment, growth and effective use of information; • Provide and maintain the highest possible standards in innovative learning and teaching, applied, basic and community-based research and community partnerships in cooperation with developmentagencies, the public and private sectors Principles of WSU e-learning strategy • WSU is a developing university that commits itself to providing technological learner-centred education, innovative learning and teaching, and opportunities for life-long learning. • E-learning is an appropriate tool to support the mission statement of WSU • ICT will be integrated into teaching and learning in order to promote computer literacy, digital information literacy and technology integration literacy among both staff and students at WSU.

  15. Reflective analysis as to the implementationof the WSU e-learning strategy within the School of Engineering • Embedding e-learning as a learning management strategy • Achieved • Currently there are over 140 courses from School of Engineering loaded on WiSeUp (out of a total of 629 courses) Academic staff and students have a single place to go for questions about e-learning • Achieved • A WiSeUp Helpdesk is operational and deals with all e-learning related issues By 2012, there is a single online spot where students/lecturers can go for information about the university, courses and lesson materials. • Partly achieved • Not all courses are yet loaded on WiSeUp although the plan is to achieve this by the end of 2012 • By 2012, all SoE students and lecturers have access to Blackboard • Achieved for courses that are loaded on WiSeUp • Student access to computer labs during working week and after hours remains a problem • Staff/student access to WiSeUpproblematic at times

  16. Reflective analysis of WSU e-learning strategy and its implementation in School of Engineering(continued) • By 2012, 50% of the lecturers use presentation software (e.g. PowerPoint) in • their classes • Achieved • Currently over 80% of the 73 academic staff in School of Engineering use some form of e-learning (ranging from basic e-learning applications such as presentation of material in PowerPointto full e-learning application, e.g. managing the entire course in WiSeUp) • By 2012, 50% of the lecturers use WiSeUp as a tool • Achieved • Currently there are 140 courses from School of Engineering loaded on WiSeUp (out of a total of 243 courses offered by SoE on all campuses) By 2012, 50% of first year students are introduced to e-learning techniques • Achieved • Currently all first year students in SoE are introduced to e-learning techniques (although not necessarily in each of their courses)

  17. Reflective analysis of WSU e-learning strategy and its implementation in the School of Engineering(continued) • By 2012, multi campus education is always done with use of e-learning (video • conferencing or Blackboard) to promote quality of education on different • campuses • Not achieved • Network speed and reliability of network, electricity supply have all proved to be major obstacles and these problems have not been overcome Active learning methodologies in the classrooms is increased • The training done through PEP has led to an increased awareness and application of active teaching methodologies • The HoD’s and departmental representatives from SoE participated in a workshop offered by external experts on Problem Based Learning • An Implementation Plan has been drafted to incrementally phase Problem Based Learning in as a teaching approach in SoE • Research about effectiveness of e-learning implementation will be conducted • Research being undertaken by some academic staff - Work in progress • By 2012, at least 25% of staff and students can be connected wirelessly to the learning platform • Not achieved • Roll out of Wireless network has not yet taken place

  18. Lessons learnt & way forward • The stability of the academic environment affects performance • Disruption of academic activities result in pressure on academic staff to complete coursework and lessen their appetite for training & adoption of new approaches, such as e-learning • A stable network and reliable servers to host LMS are critical • Staff become despondent if preparation work (e.g. plans to conduct test on WiSeUp) have to be abandoned due to network or system failure Losing competent and trained staff is a set back to continuity in depts • High staff turnover is a set back for the roll out of e-learning activities, particularly where staff involved are the e-learning team leaders Secure computer venues to prevent loss of equipment is critical • Theft of equipment, including desktop computers, laptops and digital video projectors is a major problem • Theft of equipment remains a problem and occurred despite security measures being in place • Closed circuit video cameras where installed has proved effective and should be encouraged

  19. Lessons learnt & way forward (continued) • Dealing with the group beyond the Early Adaptors can be problematic • Staff attitudes towards embracing and adapting e-learning differs greatly • To be successful, you need to be persistent and be able to “sell” e-learning to the Pragmatists and Conservatives

  20. Lessons learnt & way forward (continued) • E-learning and use of WiSeUp can be an effective tool to support part-time • students • WiSeUp is popular among Part Time students, e.g. engineering BTech students who are working full time E-learning and use of WiSeUpcan support under prepared students • Tools provided in WiSeUp are useful to support under prepared students • Integration of HEMIS data, the registration system and other databases • with the Learning Management System • It remains an ideal for the seamless integration of systems, e.g. the automatic uploading of courses into WiSeUp and the automatic enrollment of students into these courses from ITS • The effective integration of databases and related systems will reduce and possibly eliminate time delays and human errors

  21. Closure & Thanks to: Netherlands Government & Nuffic Office Nuffic project partners WSU Management CLTD Director & CLTD staff CCIP Director & CCIP staff QMD Director & QMD staff • Executive Dean: FSET • Directors & Academic Staff: FSET

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