This
case-study discusses the adoption of video-conferencing in the Classics
departments of 3 universities in Wales. Seminars on specialized topics
were alternately organized at each university with students and academic staff
from the other 2 institutions participating in discussion-based sessions.
Video-conferencing
has allowed the 3 departments to improve the quality of their programme by
offering a wider range of seminars from specialized lecturers in a time and
cost effective way.
Student
and lecturer feedback are mainly positive. Students consider the
video-lectures to be complementary to their face-to-face activities, but are nevertheless receptive for a stronger e-learning component. Lecturers appreciate being part of a wider academic team and the academic discussions during the
seminars, which are often attended by academics from several institutions.
Students also appreciate the opportunity to observe these academic
discussions, engaging in a kind of legitimate peripheral
practice (Wenger). Technical
issues with software and difficulties to get bookings for the conference
room proved the main obstacles in this case study.
It's a rather
unremarkable case study in which a technology is used to improve the
quality of the learner experience. As in
other case studies the e-learning component is seen as a complement to the
face-to-face activities in the programme.
Opportunities for inter-university student interaction are passingly
mentioned - the title says only ‘collaborative teaching’ -, but it seems that
there is clearly a lot of potential here for further development of the
e-learning component. I believe that
these kinds of initiatives are probably the only way small universities can
still provide a sufficient quality and survive in the changing HE landscape.
No comments:
Post a Comment