Plantas con hojas suculentas. Ovario pluri-locular

Middlesex University was established as a Polytechnic in 1973 and operates as a university since 1992. In policy documents it describes itself as an institution in a process of transformation from a regional university to a ‘global provider’:

We shall move from being primarily a large domestic regional University, mainly focused on expanding and widening participation at undergraduate level, to being to a greater extent a global university, with a culturally and internationally diverse staff and student body, based in London. While we shall maintain our commitment to widening participation and to serving the higher education needs of our local communities, we shall build on our emerging strengths by expanding substantially places for postgraduate, international and work-based students in London and, increasingly, around the world.

(Middlesex University, 2006: 1) More recent statements reflect a focus on inspiring students to achieve their goals and developing new knowledge and professional skills as well as coping with the challenges of a competitive workplace (Middlesex University Corporate Plan, 2009a). The university is situated on two London campuses and two overseas campuses in Dubai and Mauritius and has some 22,000 students excluding students in collaborative links institutions; approximately two out of three students are enrolled on a full-time basis (QAA, 2009). During the course of this research study the institution was under a restructure of several of its functions:

• significant proportion of international students, entering at two points in

the year.

• multi-site reducing the number of London campuses from seven to two,

with a further reduction to a single London campus.

• widely embedded use of VLE across provision of teaching and learning,

but not necessarily innovative.

• high proportion of students with jobs or other responsibilities.

• a need to be economically efficient in the backdrop of a volatile sector

landscape.

The university is also through a phase of restructuring and readjusting in order to respond to emerging needs. The process is marked by changes in:

• school academic structure. • student support structure.

• an introduction of a Learning Framework which was central to the

University's educational profile; the new framework introduced year-long modules and emphasised formative assessment and feedback; it was hoped that the latter would enhance student learning and improve progression and achievement rates.

• an upgraded university-wide VLE (Jackson & Anagnostopoulou, 2007).

In the area of academic development, the university merged quality assurance [Quality Assurance Service (QAS)] with the central academic development unit which used to oversee e-learning [Centre for Learning Development (CLD)] resulting in a single unit, the Centre for Learning and Quality Enhancement (CLQE) which was later restructured and renamed as Centre for Learning and Teaching Enhancement (CLTE). I was employed as an e-Learning Academic Advisor with CLQE and as an Educational Developer with CLTE. At the last stage of writing up my thesis, I was involved in designing and delivering staff development focusing on appropriate use of technology for teaching, learning and assessment.

Examining the university’s policies on teaching and learning involved a review of a number of documents (e.g. Learning Quality Enhancement handbook, the Enhancing Learning Teaching Assessment strategy) and attendance of staff development events (e.g. VLE training introducing the technology as well as more specialised ones, such as how to facilitate assessments with the VLE). Review of teaching and learning documentation and attendance of staff development events informed my view on how technologies support teaching and learning across the university.

Curriculum design and pedagogic development is provided by CLTE, which is responsible for support to enable staff to meet curriculum design criteria and enhance pedagogic practice across the university. Learning Teaching Strategy Leaders in the Schools along with the Teaching Fellows are the core academics that offer staff support and development regarding learning and teaching at local level. There was evidence of subject-specific and pedagogic research contributing to programme-based teaching. This area was further strengthened by the two Centres of Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs) in Mental Health and Social Work and in Work Based Learning, established for a period of three years (2007-2010) under a HEFCE initiative. The late stages of the data collection of the current study were funded by a grant provided by the CETL in Mental Health and Social Work.

4.1.1 Learning and teaching with technologies

In the university’s mission statement, it was acknowledged that ‘ICT will be increasingly incorporated in teaching, learning and assessment’ (Middlesex University Corporate Planning Statement, 2006: 3). It was affirmed that new technology, globalisation and competition were generating major transformation in the ‘markets’ for higher education and, amongst other manifestations of this process, new approaches to teaching and learning emerge involving ‘web technology’ (Middlesex University Corporate Planning Statement, 2006: 3). The current Corporate plan places less emphasis on the role of technology; on the contrary, it focuses on certain steps taken towards enhancing provision of technology, amongst which was the centralisation of the unit for technology- enhanced learning (Middlesex University Corporate Plan, 2009a). The university’s policy on the use of educational technologies, defined e-learning as:

the use of learning technologies to facilitate flexible approaches to learning, teaching and assessment in ways that enhance the student learning experience. It includes online communication within and between communities of learners and teachers, computer‐assisted assessment as well as the use of online learning materials developed internally or from external sources.

(Middlesex University, 2008: 1) The university used two platforms in the course of this research: Oasis (based on the former WebCT specifications) and Oasis Plus (a similar platform

provided by Blackboard after the merge with WebCT); features of both of those platforms are generally very similar to the features described at section 2.5 of the literature reviews chapter of the thesis. ‘e-Learning’ development—a term consistently used in relevant university policy and practice documents—appears to be evident at a number of levels within the university; since 2003, all modules were required to have online presence on the VLE. A report in 2007 stated that 66% of the official credit-bearing modules were using some form of e-learning, excluding e-learning offerings not included in the modular structures (Jackson & Anagnostopoulou, 2007). However, the use of computer-assisted assessment through the VLE is considerably lower, approximately 37% according to a sample study (Jackson & Anagnostopoulou, 2007) a figure which has significantly increased in the course of the last few years. A considerable degree of local autonomy exists between different schools of the university regarding their teaching and learning strategy and this is reflected on the implementation of ‘e-learning’ across the schools. Most recently, the university has been reaping the advantages of social software and web 2.0 applications (for example, observations on staff development opportunities regarding social media, development of a virtual world space, pilot projects funded by Centre for Excellence Work Based Learning, development of the new student portal ‘Unihub’).

The university sought to support all programmes of study ‘with the intention to improve the quality of the learning experience for diverse students and to provide greater flexibility of study’ (Middlesex University, 2009b: 147). Emphasis in the Learning and Quality Enhancement handbook is given to flexibility, making the right choices as to what material to make available online, issues of diversity and tips for online tutoring, based on the e-moderating model (Salmon, 2004; Middlesex University, 2009b). There is no explicit reference to promoting deep approaches to learning with technology. Various learning technologies are in use across the university to support teaching. The university’s VLE is the core technology, with each school or department ascribing a different degree of importance to the tools in the VLE. A Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) audit reported some frustration at variability in staff usage (QAA, 2009). All newly appointed teaching staff are contractually obliged to complete the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCertHE). I completed the PGCertHE in the course of conducting this study since I considered it an integral part of my Ph.D.

training. The programme generally proposes innovative uses of technology, although it presented less clear strategies of how to support curriculum and assessment development with technology.

In terms of strategy development, the engagement with technology mainly stems from the vision of the university as an institution operating globally rather than a means for the improvement of learning and teaching. Support for students is provided at an early stage through the student web help desk, which deals with students’ inquiries. Feedback is regularly received through annual surveys which provide a monitoring mechanism, although the feedback refers to the technology rather how the VLE is used as part of their studies or whether it contributes to a positive learning experience. Three items of the 18-item module evaluation forms for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes refer to students’ experiences of e-learning. The CLTE centrally and LTSLs at schools organise incentives to promote the use of technology, such as mini conferences, showcases and the Annual Learning and Teaching conference which focused on a technology-related agenda on a number of recent occurrences. Professional development opportunities supporting the use of technology are frequently reviewed, yet the focus appears to be mostly on the technologies themselves rather than on how to instrumentally integrate technology to support learning; staff development offerings exclusively tailored for blended learning are not available. So, the concept is present in university policy and practice documents, yet customised academic support processes do not underpin this.