What comes to mind when you think of ‘learning at university’? Sitting in a big lecture theatre? Group discussions in classrooms? Perhaps working in a quiet library? Or in your room swimming through an ocean of online resources, videos, quizzes, and chat forums in time for the next class? Learning at university does typically involve all these ways of learning, and many others, as Tim Vincent, Senior Learning Technologist at BSMS writes.
Most courses have an important combination of two broad elements: live contact time with educators and fellow students (lectures, classes, practicals); and self-directed study (digesting, exploring, applying). This has been the model at university for hundreds, if not thousands, of years but the recent explosion of computer and internet technologies has raised an important question: how can universities, educators and students make the best use of these two elements to reach the educational goals of the course and give students as good an experience as possible?
Blending and flipping
“Blended learning” is a term that studies this question. There is no formal definition (and you can Google it to explain more than I can here) but it is all about how educators design and deliver courses using a blend of ‘traditional’ teaching (which usually means in-person) and all the digital tools and technologies available to support studies outside the classroom. Effective blended learning is more than just sticking some materials online for students to look at between classes; it requires a deliberate re-design of how the course is delivered and taught. An example: a tutor records a video lecture on the basics of a new topic for students to watch along with a couple of patient experience videos. Then in the live session, the tutor uses live polling software to quiz the students on their knowledge of the topics in the video, focusing additional teaching on the knowledge gaps. Then students study real life case scenarios in small groups to report back to the class how they would manage the situations. The tutor then sets those same groups a task to complete using a digital resource and share it with the group on the online learning platform. Passive lecture no more.
This example above illustrates one common type of blended learning: The “flipped classroom”. Or, as I like to think of it, the ‘better use of everyone’s time’ model. Instead of the traditional model (sit in a passive lecture, digest and apply the information on your own hoping you’ve got it right, take the end of year test), ‘flipped classroom’ uses digital tools (often video) to provide the information from the lecture in advance of the classroom time so the live teaching time can be spent exploring the meaning through activities with facilitators guiding students. Then students can also use online communication tools to continue the social learning element between classes. Research suggests that this can result in better educational outcomes and can provide a more engaging and participatory experience for students. It also has benefits for tutors and universities, not least using time and resources more efficiently. However, it is difficult to measure and the jury is still out, as this article suggests.
Sounds obvious and great, right? Yes, but you might be surprised at how challenging it is: it means tutors must redesign their teaching, change their teaching practice, and increase their digital skills (on top of existing demands); it means universities have to provide many more classrooms for small group work and also provide digital infrastructure (which can take years and lots of money); it also assumes that students have access to personal computers as well as possessing the digital skills to use them effectively, which is a big assumption.
Lockdown turns the heat up
The COVID-induced lockdown in March this year suddenly raised the pressure. While blended learning has been around for many years and was gradually being adopted, the enforced shutdown of all in-person teaching meant that digital technology was suddenly the saviour of education. With unprecedented rate of change, course teams suddenly had to adapt to teaching fully online, learn new tools and technologies, and adjust their teaching practice fundamentally. Institutions had to rapidly expand their digital infrastructure and support both teachers and students with new tools. And, of course, students had to adjust, too, while trying to achieve the goals of their course.
Here in BSMS, we had to make the same adjustments with additional challenges: most of our teachers are healthcare workers under pressure from a global pandemic and some course requirements just can’t be achieved online: anatomical dissection, clinical procedures, and real practice on placement. The course teams have worked extremely hard to enable students to achieve the necessary course requirements as safely as possible while moving all other teaching online. Classes are now live (‘synchronous’) online teaching sessions, lectures are recorded video presentations along with other resources for self-directed (‘asynchronous’) learning, and a whole range of other digital tools are being adopted to support an engaging learning experience for students while most in-person teaching is not possible. Whatever happens with the global pandemic and rapidly changing technology, quality of teaching will remain our top priority, helping students to reach the learning goals of the course so they can be competent and confident trainee doctors.
A new blend?
As we approach the end of the first term in this unprecedented year and there are hopes of a vaccine programme, focus is rightly shifting to what university courses will be like in the post-pandemic world. How much will continue online? What will be taught in-person? Will there be “hybrid learning” with some student in class and some online? One positive in this difficult time is the new level of digital competencies of course teams and the rapid adoption of blended learning practice. This opens up opportunities for students, educators, and universities to deliver courses with more efficient use of resources and much greater flexibility. This recent report from JISC (an advisory body on technical solutions for education) recommends a fundamental adoption of blended learning and all that this requires. There is no doubt that there are still challenges and uncertainties ahead, especially for medical schools, but there is also no doubt that we are now in position to deliver courses with a new, better blend.
Tim Vincent is a Senior Learning Technologist at BSMS