[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”on” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ specialty_columns=”4″][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”2_3″][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=”3.17.6″ featured_placement=”above” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n
It\u2019s fair to say that when it comes to teaching and learning, the past twelve months have seen seismic shifts \u2013 developments we might have expected to take close to a decade when we rung in the new year in January 2020 were suddenly compressed into a few months, with colleagues getting to grips with new technologies and rapidly moving their teaching online. It\u2019s important to say that this would have been impossible without our colleagues going above and beyond to deliver high-quality learning, working long hours to ensure our students had the best possible experience. There have been countless occasions where I\u2019ve been amazed at how thoughtfully materials had been designed to suit different mediums, where colleagues drew up new resources and tools and adapted their teaching style to ensure that students were getting the most out of online delivery.<\/p>\n
Note, I said online <\/em>delivery \u2013 while we had hoped that we would be able to offer students a blended learning experience last semester, the reality of the pandemic and government restrictions meant that little on-campus teaching could take place. Now we\u2019re slowly moving out of lockdown (though we\u2019ve also had to plan for remote study options where possible in case we aren\u2019t able to fully return to \u2018normal\u2019 by September), there are new challenges ahead and decisions we have to take together. Once we have the freedom to return to campus, we\u2019ll have to ask ourselves which activities add most value in-person, and which aspects of teaching may actually work better delivered online and on-demand, allowing students to learn at their own pace and build their confidence before they take part in interactive sessions. Given that the ‘Our Future’<\/a> vision that came out in early 2020 set the direction of travel towards increased flexibility through blended and flexible learning, the coming months provide the perfect opportunity to ask how we can successfully move towards this model.<\/p>\n A look back <\/strong><\/p>\n Before I fill you in on our next steps to flexible learning and how colleagues can get involved in shaping our future offer, I want to give credit and thanks to the Online and Blended Tactical Working Group, a great mixture of academics and PS colleagues from across the University, that supported teaching and learning through three national lockdowns and ever-changing government regulations. We made huge leaps in the provision of digital tools, deploying Microsoft365 and Teams to improve online learning, issuing more than 10,000 Zoom licenses and giving remote access to around 5000 cluster PCs for those who needed specialist software. To support the redesign of over 1000 courses, and to bolster local investment in Faculties, \u00a3300,000 worth of equipment was sent to lecturers to aid them in creating engaging online content. In addition, we recruited 22 additional eLearning technologists, who are on hand to advise how best we can break down and present materials in engaging ways and what activities work well in an online environment. We also worked in partnership with our students to ensure that their perspectives are central in the design of teaching and learning materials, recruiting 15 students as partners.<\/p>\n In addition, the Online and Blended Tactical Working Group produced guidance for creating high-quality online content and the delivery of blended learning courses, as well as designing accessible and inclusive materials, and worked with Faculties to help share the fabulous materials that were produced locally. There\u2019s still more work to be done in many of these areas (more on that further down this blog), but I am amazed at how much has been achieved in such challenging circumstances and I want to thank everyone who got involved and helped to keep our University running during the pandemic. BUT- this level of workload is not sustainable and going forward, we need to strike the right balance between delivering the \u2018Our Future\u2019 vision and continuing to innovate and develop our teaching and learning, with more manageable workloads for everyone.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>The road ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n Building on the work of the Online and Blended Tactical Working Group, the Flexible Learning Programme was spun up to explore a path towards increased flexibility in how we teach and learn after the pandemic, and how flexibility over pace, place, time, mode and qualification can support learners\u2019 individual choices. My colleague Steve Pettifer, University Academic Lead for Digital Learning, and I hit the (virtual!) road, attending Department, School and Faculty meetings, holding an open meeting and speaking to students to listen to as many views as possible on how flexible learning should be embedded at our University, and how far and fast we should travel in that direction.<\/p>\n What has become obvious in these conversations is that our journey to flexible learning has to be about creating the right conditions and support structures to allow us to explore new approaches to teaching and learning, not outlawing any particular forms of delivery. What might work well in my area of engineering, could be the wrong approach for a subject like music. That\u2019s why we\u2019re proposing that a model of blended learning is adopted at programme level in the \u2018first steps to flexible learning\u2019 paper that we\u2019re taking to Senate this week. This leaves room for academic course unit leaders to choose the best method of delivery, depending on where blended approaches can really add value.<\/p>\n Over the past year, we\u2019ve learnt that the flipped model of teaching has worked well in many areas. This means that explanatory material is delivered online and on-demand (asynchronous) so that lecturers create or curate material that students access at their own pace. Activities where students and lecturers are present at the same time (synchronous),\u00a0such as workshops and seminars, can then be used to dive deeper into the material, ask questions, do practical work and have in-depth discussions. Our \u2018first steps to flexible learning\u2019 paper recommends we use these \u2018live\u2019 sessions for active learning where possible, and also suggests that students should be supported with detailed signposting \u2013 clear guidance to show which activities are essential to achieve learning outcomes, recommended to enhance the level of outcome, or optional \u2018for interest\u2019. Timetabling recommended slots for asynchronous activities will be another suggestion. This is not meant to be set in stone, but aims to help students to organise their week and know they\u2019re on track.<\/p>\n How to get involved<\/strong><\/p>\n While the \u2018first steps to flexible learning\u2019 paper sets out our direction of travel, there are lots of questions we have to explore before we can deliver the right infrastructure and resources for successful blended and flexible learning. Just to give you some examples: We\u2019ll have to look at virtual learning environments and tools and how they can best aid digitally-supported learning, which resources will be needed to support academic colleagues to deliver high-quality blended learning in the future (among other things, we\u2019re thinking about creating a \u2018blended learning prototype area\u2019 that colleagues can visit for specialist support and equipment as well as trialling different ways of teaching), how we can ensure accessibility and inclusivity are central in the design of all materials, which training we\u2019ll need to build digital skills for staff and students, what about redesigning assessments\u2026 the list goes on\u2026<\/p>\n Even if our small Flexible Learning team could tackle these issues alone, I know it\u2019s not the right approach. Our colleagues are experienced, ingenious and full of great ideas that we want to draw on to make our next steps a success and create a blended model that really works for staff and students. We\u2019ll be asking colleagues to get involved in network groups over the next few months and we hope many of you will join us to really get to grips with these issues.<\/p>\n Look out for the next announcements on StaffNet to get involved. You can also get in touch with myself and Steve via avp-bl@manchester.ac.uk<\/a>, all suggestions and comments are most welcome and I look forward to hearing from you!<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.17.6″ prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” in_same_term=”off” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#ffffff” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Related posts” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=”Subscribe” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”et_pb_widget_area_3″ locked=”on” \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”sidebar-1″ show_border=”off” locked=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s fair to say that when it comes to teaching and learning, the past twelve months have seen seismic shifts \u2013 developments we might have expected to take close to a decade when we rung in the new year in January 2020 were suddenly compressed into a few months, with colleagues getting to grips with new technologies and rapidly moving their teaching online. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":3414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" [et_pb_section bb_built=\"1\" fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"][et_pb_column type=\"2_3\" specialty_columns=\"4\"][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=\"Row\"][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\" saved_specialty_column_type=\"2_3\"][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" featured_placement=\"above\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"]<\/p> When I\u2019m out and about meeting staff I hear much debate about the why, what, when and how of change in our University. I wanted to share my thoughts on this often contentious topic \u2013 and hear your views too.<\/p> Early in 2020 we will launch our University\u2019s new vision and strategic plan \u2013 Our future. In order to fulfil Our future we need to ensure that we are in a financially sustainable position so that we have the funds to invest in the new staff, facilities and infrastructure which will be needed to bring our plans to life.<\/p> Our Financial Statements<\/a> for 2018\/19, which have been published following approval by the Board of Governors, confirm that more than 95% of our \u00a31.1bn income is spent on our core goals - on our staff and our students - to deliver research, education and social responsibility; with the remainder invested in the long term sustainability of our University. You can find a summary<\/a> of the Financial Statements on StaffNet.<\/p> However, this is a testing time for UK universities, due to the many external factors that have an impact on us - current home tuition fees are falling in real terms, whilst our costs (not just pay but non-pay too) are increasing. There are further and even greater tuition fee funding risks outlined in General Election manifestos as well as a range of Brexit-related risks that could affect our operations. The Office for Students (OfS) demands that we demonstrate both value for money for our students and our financial sustainability (in the sense of being able to invest to deliver our ambitious strategy, rather than survival). There are, of course, also ongoing unresolved national issues around pay and the continuing challenges around funding pensions in the higher education sector.<\/p> Our Financial Statements show an improved operating surplus (3.7% of income compared to \u00a324.7m (2.3%) in 2017\/18), with a rise in income from tuition fees, education contracts and research. As I mentioned earlier, we re-invest the surplus we achieve each year in activity in line with our strategy. Recently our funds have been used to create some new academic and Professional Services posts; to invest in key infrastructure including IT; to invest in some new buildings like our student accommodation at Unsworth Park; to improve the student experience by funding more full-time Residential Life staff and to upgrade a range of buildings and research and teaching spaces and resources. Increasingly it is also invested in environmental sustainability and meeting our ambitious carbon targets. So even when we are making difficult decisions in some parts of the University we continue to invest our surplus.<\/p> Whilst we have reported an operating surplus, our Board of Governors expects us to deliver a much larger surplus than this (at least 5%) if we are to be sustainable in the long-term. Our strategic change programme (including IT Modernisation<\/a>, the Student Experience Programme<\/a>, and the Research Lifecycle Programme<\/a>), alongside our continuous improvement plans, will ensure that we create the financial headroom to invest in people and facilities. The strategic change programme will also enable us to embrace new technologies and new ways of doing things that better support all our staff and students to be the best that they can be.<\/p> Yes, this means that some individual roles will change. New roles (some that we haven\u2019t yet identified) will be created and some roles will no longer be required. I appreciate that this will cause some uncertainty and where that is the case we will do everything we can to support staff, but the alternative is that we never change anything. If we fail to take advantage of advances in technology and develop more joined-up ways of working we will ultimately find ourselves outdated in the eyes of future students, funders and other stakeholders. Staff want to work for a progressive and successful institution, of which they can be proud. This means we cannot stand still.<\/p> When I talk to staff and students I often hear their frustrations about how difficult it be can be to get some straightforward things done, grappling with paper-based, manual and repetitive processes, on outdated systems and infrastructure, all of which serves to increase staff workloads. Everyone wants to do a good job, but regularly feel that our world-class status is earned in spite of our internal systems and processes, not because of them.<\/p> To deliver our new vision and strategic plan we will need to embrace new opportunities and face challenges with courage and determination. That will sometimes mean we have to make tough decisions and no-one is claiming it will be easy or that mistakes will not be made along the way. But where we do have tough choices to make we will commit to implementing changes fairly and with compassion to support the wellbeing of all our colleagues.<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" prev_text=\"Previous\" next_text=\"Next\" in_same_term=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" custom_button=\"on\" button_text_color=\"#ffffff\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Related posts\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" locked=\"on\"]<\/p> [related-posts-thumbnails]<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_3\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Subscribe\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"et_pb_widget_area_3\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"sidebar-1\" show_border=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[27,28,26],"class_list":["post-3421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-slt","category-uncategorised","tag-blended-learning","tag-flexible-learning","tag-slt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3421"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3495,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3421\/revisions\/3495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Related<\/h1>\n
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Nalin Thakkar: Decarbonising our investments<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Patrick Hackett: Operations and change\u00a0<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>
Improving our financial performance will help to deliver our ambitious future plans, but we must also increase our capacity to create the funds and time to invest in our core goals. One of the ways we can do this is by changing what we do and how we do things.<\/p>Related<\/h1>