Transforming distance learning

Righty-ho… been focusing on my MA blogs – Assesslog and Metablog – over the last ten months. I think it’s time to get going again!

I’d like to kick off with some thoughts I’ve had about getting feedback from distance learners. If anyone else has any ideas on this I’d be delighted to get a conversation going The issue I suppose we have with getting feedback from distance learners is that they still pressured for time even after their modules have finished, and motivation to participate can be low – similar problems to getting feedback from (e.g.) full-time undergraduates, but the physical distance and part-time mode of study exacerbates the issues.

The University of Bath has standard unit evaluation questions, but in order to get good quality data for ongoing development we also design online feedback surveys through the Bristol Online Surveys tool (we used to use SurveyMonkey but BOS has better data reporting features). The standard unit surveys often focus on issues that aren’t as relevant to distance learners, and as we’re undergoing constant, intensive programme development we have particular things that we need good-quality feedback on. We may also from time to time want to sneak in a little diagnostic question to inform future developments that we’re thinking about – last time it was the SMS pilot, this time it’s about personal learning networks and what web tools the students currently use to find and maintain/manage contacts and information related to their work and studies. Questions like these not only help us figure out what direction to take, but can also serve to surreptitiously raise students’ consciousness of concepts like personal learning networks and how they already relate to their own practice.

Our surveys focus on which learning activities students use and value, and to glean constructive comments from them about the various activities, means of assessment and sources of feedback. A month after the surveys are completed, we respond to all students to summarise what they’ve told us, and what we’re going to do about it (and by when) – we’ve found that this is crucial for fostering an environment where students are motivated to spend time giving us feedback.

In addition to the formal module feedback surveys, we also encourage students to feed back openly through the module forums. Often we ask for immediate feedback in this way after a particular activity has run, especially if it’s the first time we’ve tried it out. We make an effort to engage in positive & constructive dialogue with any student who contributes; this has a motivating effect on others to join the discussion, and also serves to create an atmosphere of transparency & trust.