Business as Usual But Blended with a Digital Twist

Having supported a successful blended LL.B. programme at Griffith College since 2014, our Digital Learning Department (DLD) were instrumental in proposing, designing and rolling out a similar blended programme as an extension of our Part-time (P/T) and Full-time (F/T) BA Honours Business Faculty offering (BABSH). Currently students are completing the second year of their degree and we have a staggered intake in September and again in January. The numbers have tripled with this year’s stage 1 intake and using the Moodle attendance tool we report strong attendance at both live days on campus and e-tutorial webinars. This paper will showcase evidence for best pedagogical practice through the use of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) analytics, indicating a definite trend in successful completion of Learning Outcomes and higher overall results in this mode of delivery.
The model we designed for this programme consists of a blend of synchronous and asynchronous elements and activities delivered via the Moodle platform. Weekly 20min e-lectures are created in bespoke, e-Learning labs using Camtasia software, quality reviewed and posted to the VLE. Resources and Moodle activities are revealed every Monday including blogs, discussion forums, YouTube clips, academic papers, etc. Lecturers make themselves available for 1:2:1 office hours using Zoom Pro online classrooms. This technology is also employed on a monthly basis for e-tutorials, where break-out rooms, screen-sharing and use of white board graphics make for dynamic interactive Q&A sessions. There are also live face-to-face days scheduled monthly, where learners join their peers on Saturdays for 3 hour “flipped” classroom workshops. Continuous formative assessment is facilitated via Moodle submission points, using Turn-it-in anti-plagiarism software for online feedback made easily available to the learners. When required we also use our innovative Ubicast live lecture capture system which enables bi-annual intake of students and flexible learning pathways.
Learners are supported from induction to graduation by a digitally literate academic team and the DLD staff of experienced and pedagogically aware Learning Technologists. We also mine the Moodle learning data for student engagement and use this information to inform support on the programme e.g. data analysis prompts timely intervention. This resonates with Niall Sclator’s recent findings: “Learning analytics requires bringing people with high levels of technical expertise together with others who understand pedagogical and educational processes”. (Sclator, 2018, p.16). Communication is a key aspect of this delivery mode (Quality and Qualifications Ireland, 2018) and is reflected in the positive feedback annually received from our online evaluations. This research paper will explore the initial programme results, captured since 2016 which indicate a consistent improvement in overall marks, mirrored on our LL.B blended programme. In short the BABSH students are returning better results in all modules when compared to the same validated programme delivered in both F/T and P/T mode – despite high benchmarked results overall. Reflecting on this data leads us to conclude that the quality of the programme content, a considered pedagogical approach and consistent learner monitoring/support has contributed to evident student engagement and success.