[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ specialty=”on” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ specialty_columns=”4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax__hover=”off” parallax_method=”on” parallax_method__hover=”on”][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax__hover=”off” parallax_method=”on” parallax_method__hover=”on”][et_pb_post_title featured_placement=”above” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n
Flexible Learning<\/a> is about providing an ambitious and forward-looking strategic vision for the future of teaching and learning at The University of Manchester. Despite the darkness of the pandemic, I do often talk about the \u201cslivers of silver\u201d that we might glean from the educational experiences we had during that time, whilst also recognising which aspects of in-person teaching and learning we really missed.<\/p>\n The pandemic heavily influenced my own work in developing approaches to hybrid learning and what emerged from that was a framework<\/a> to support the development of mixed-modal learning. The opportunity to join Manchester as Director of Flexible Learning<\/a> was just too good to pass up and so three months into my new role it is perhaps a good opportunity to reflect on those three months and to offer up a viewpoint on the next few.<\/p>\n Almost every university in the UK (and across the world) will be having conversations about what their future teaching and learning approaches look like following the pandemic. The initial knee-jerk reaction of getting back on to campus for everything is now giving way to a more reasoned view of how we balance high value on-campus experiences with the flexibility afforded by online. The recently published results of the Jisc digital experience insights surve<\/a>y show that the majority of students want blended experiences. Add to this the political momentum for change through the Lifelong Loan Entitlement and it is absolutely the time for universities to be challenging norms and seeking opportunities to increase access to higher education and enhance learning. It is clear to me that Manchester is ahead of the game by setting out a bold vision for the future and strategically supporting that vision through Flexible Learning.<\/p>\n Over the past year, the Flexible Learning team has been developing a strategy to achieve that vision for the future with students and colleagues. You\u2019ll be able to read the full strategy very soon, but in the meantime, here are the key areas where we will be increasing flexibility:<\/p>\n Pace<\/strong> While I can\u2019t wait to share our full Flexible Learning strategy with you in early November, there are a few other exciting projects I want to highlight. We\u2019ll soon have a physical location where students and colleagues can drop by and try out new technologies, engage in workshops and meet with the programme team. Initially this will be Prospect Hous<\/a>e, but eventually Booth Street East, so do look out for announcements about those spaces.<\/p>\n For those colleagues and students who want to try out new ideas and really push the boundaries of what might be possible, we will be announcing calls for Flexible Learning pilots. These funded projects will help us to identify what is (and isn\u2019t) possible, as well as giving us insights into how we need to adapt our processes, policies and practices to make the Flexible Learning vision a reality.<\/p>\n One aspect of my role that I am particularly excited about is working with students and colleagues from across the institution and partners beyond the University to understand how we most effectively embed flexible learning into our day-to-day activities. Over the coming months we will be starting to map out ideas for a long-term vision for flexible learning, one that exists beyond the lifespan of the programme, and establishes Manchester as a sector leader in blended and flexible learning.<\/p>\n Will it be easy? Nope! Will it be worth it? Absolutely!<\/p>\n Professor Simon Thomson [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav in_same_term=”off” prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”][\/et_pb_post_nav][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#ffffff” locked=”on”][\/et_pb_comments][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″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax__hover=”off” parallax_method=”on” parallax_method__hover=”on”][et_pb_sidebar area=”et_pb_widget_area_3″ admin_label=”Subscribe” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”][\/et_pb_sidebar][et_pb_sidebar area=”sidebar-1″ show_border=”off” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”][\/et_pb_sidebar][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Flexible Learning is about providing an ambitious and forward-looking strategic vision for the future of teaching and learning at The University of Manchester. Despite the darkness of the pandemic, I do often talk about the \u201cslivers of silver\u201d that we might glean from the educational experiences we had during that time, whilst also recognising which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":3711,"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":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning-and-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534","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=3534"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3778,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534\/revisions\/3778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How we\u2019ll increase flexibility<\/h3>\n
Exploring how we can give learners greater control over how much, at what level, and what kind of intensity they study \u2013 as well as allowing them to stage learning throughout their lifetime.
Place<\/strong>
Giving students greater choice over the physical and virtual spaces in which they learn \u2013 remote, on campus, online, hybrid and transnational \u2013 by drawing on our experiences and expertise to maximise the potential of each teaching mode.
Pathway<\/strong>
We already have some optionality for students, but what about creating new pathways beyond our regular on campus programmes – micro credentials, stackable qualifications, lifelong learning?
Practice<\/strong>
To bring this vision to life, we will need to adapt and make changes to our practices. We\u2019ll allow our colleagues to play to their strengths and balance the demands of research and teaching. We will achieve this through reviewing our existing policies and procedures, as well as giving teaching staff more support in designing and delivering teaching and new ways of recognising excellent teaching practice.<\/p>\nWhat\u2019s next for Flexible Learning<\/h3>\n
Director of Flexible Learning<\/p>\nRelated<\/h1>\n
Related posts:<\/h3>
Prof Ang Davies: What learning do we need to offer our communities?\u202f<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Simon Merrywest: Student Welfare<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Simon Merrywest: Why we're running our first harm reduction campaign<\/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>