schoms : technology enriched community

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) is responsible for the delivery of the University’s Education Strategy, which aims to deliver a premium educational experience for all students that meets diverse needs and ensures future success.

Alan joined Durham University in January 2017 from the University of California, San Diego, USA, where he most recently served as Senior Director, International Initiatives. He previously served as Director, Academic Strategic Initiatives; Interim Vice-Chancellor, Student Affairs; Provost of Eleanor Roosevelt College and Director of Graduate Studies in Political Science.

Alan is an award-winning historian of political thought, specialising in early-modern Britain and America.

Alan holds an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Political Philosophy from Oberlin College, Ohio, and a Master’s degree and a PhD in Government from Harvard University.

10:00

Teaching Modality in Blended Learning Environment

Simon Thomson - BA, MSc, FAETC, NTF, SFHEA, ADE - Director, Centre for Innovation in Education - University of Liverpool

With a track record for developing and supporting digital pedagogic practice in Higher Education through project-based and action research, his academic career has been dedicated to advancing teaching excellence (even before it became fashionable) and his work is entirely focussed on improving the staff and student experience in a learning and teaching context, often in relation to “digital”.

He has led on a number of funded learning & teaching research projects including a JISC/HEA funded OER project as part of the Phase 1 UKOER programme, an institution-wide pilot of tablet devices evaluating the impact of 1to1 tablet device use, a HEFCE funded project exploring the next generation of digital learning environments and more recently as principal project lead working with the British Council supporting six Peruvian Universities to ‘pivot’ to online teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Simon was awarded an HEA National Teaching Fellow in 2014 in recognition of his work in Open Education and Digital Pedagogy. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, SEDA accredited in Embedding Learning Technologies and an Apple Distinguished Educator.

We find ourselves in an emerging post-pandemic landscape where a “new normal” is not quite as clear as we might have presumed and is still very much part of sector and institutional discussions. The OfS has launched a review of blended learning with a report due in the Summer of 2022. Nicola Dandridge (OFS CEO) states:

There are many ways for blended courses to be successfully delivered and it will be important to harness the lessons learned by the shift to online learning during the pandemic.”These are indeed important discussions for Universities and yet despite the pandemic demonstrating the value and importance of digital environments and tools there is still a lack of uncertainty around the extent to which institutions will be move towards a “blended by default” position and even some criticism of them doing so.

This session will draw upon an emerging framework for discussing and developing hybrid/blended education. The SPaM framework is an intersection between three core domains of Subject, Pedagogy and Modality and in this session we will specifically examine the role of expertise and tools in learning environments and technologies in relation to teaching modalities.