CONTEXT
Across the Faculty of Arts at York St John programmes demonstrate relatively uneven use of Blackboard. This is not necessarily an uncommon situation, particularly in the area of the arts. Many papers and projects, for example, discussed at the Designs on E-Learning conference in September 2007 (University of Arts, London) revealed a certain reticence on behalf of many working in the arts to fully engage with e-learning. More specifically, there is antipathy towards Blackboard as an interface. The somewhat corporate and rigid style templates of Blackboard pages are the bane of the arts lecturer trying to foster greater creativity and experimentation among their students. Yet, equally, Blackboard is widely subscribed to by HEIs and provides a very robust platform for making teaching and learning materials accessible, timely and secure for students.
The use and development of Blackboard alongside traditional face to face teaching offers what is often termed ‘blended learning’ opportunities. Students, for example, can facilitate learning in spaces and places that can work around work and family commitments and other user and lifestyle needs. This pedagogic approach is central to York St John University’s commitment to widening participation and thus the project was seen as a welcome opportunity to properly research into current practice. However, picking up on Oliver and Trigwell’s (2005) paper ‘Can ‘Blended Learning’ Be Redeemed?’ (E–Learning, Volume 2, Number 1, 2005, p.17-26), the project similarly interrogates the concept. Oliver and Trigwell argue ‘the word “learning” be rightfully returned to the learner’, by shifting ‘away from manipulating the blend as seen by the teacher, to an in-depth analysis of the variation in the experience of the learning of the student in the blended learning context’. The findings emerging from the project at York St John University seem to fit with this argument, but working within the gap, as a pragmatic response, it remains beneficial to understand more clearly what is going on from the ‘teacher side’ – to get ‘blended teaching’ right, with the hope that that can then aid students in blended learning (for more on this issue see e-Learning).
On the BA Media programme at York St John, Blackboard is well developed and student usage is secure whilst in BA Performance (Music) take up has been slower (amongst students and staff). One important consideration is whether the differing levels of provision and take up relates to the differing needs and interests of the students attracted to the two different subject areas. Responses during the various focus groups shed some light on this matter (see Findings - also transcripts of the focus group sessions are available via the Contents listing page). Seeking to explore and enhance Blackboard provision, the project was devised as being both developmental and investigative. Staff worked to share practice and develop new e-based learning materials specific to their own courses (see Materials). Following implementation, student use of blackboard was examined with online statistics, small focus-groups and videoed feedback sessions.
Along with exploring how disciplinary based pedagogic practices impact on the take up of Blackboard, the team looked at specific needs of the student body and drew on specialist expertise from the university’s disability and dyslexia team and e-learning advisors to help build up a rich picture. As mentioned, a specific aim was to enhance student engagement with core theoretical texts and to foster greater critical approaches to study. However, the general ‘experience’ of Blackboard was also of interest (how, for example, it maps out and gives identity to a module and how teaching and learning materials online are used and understood by students). Whilst greater enhancement of the use of Blackboard is highly desirable, there remain initial access barriers; problems not so much to do with physical access to computers or appropriate IT skills, but rather with students being ‘comfortable’ using the VLE, or being able to see the benefits it can offer. As a result students are not necessarily choosing to access the service, despite that fact that lecturers are increasingly establishing it as a critical component of the module being taught.
