Middlesex University T&L Conference 2012

1. Teaching & Learning Conference
Dr. Simon Best & Dr. Kristian J. Sund
26 June 2012

2. Agenda
11.15-11.20 Welcome
11.20-11:25 Programme Structure and Student Profiles
11:25-11:35 Experience and Student Feedback
11.35-11.45 Research Project and Initial Exploratory Results
11.45-12.00 Wrap-Up. Q&A.

3. Welcome
• Who we are
• What we do
• What we aim to achieve
today

4. Agenda
11.15-11.20 Welcome
11.20-11:25 Programme Structure and Tutor Role
11:25-11:35 Experience and Student Feedback
11.35-11.45 Research Project and Initial Exploratory Results
11.45-12.00 Wrap-Up. Q&A.

5. Programme Structure
• MBA in Shipping & • MBA in Oil & Gas
Logistics • "Spin-off"
• Collaboration with • Collaboration with IBC
Lloyd's Maritime Global Academy
Academy (Informa) (Informa)
• Launched 2009 • Launched 2011
• 70-80 students per • 20-40 students per
cohort cohort
• Online distance learning
• Average participant age
is 40. Mature learners.

6. Learning Process
Ind Mod 1 Mod 2 Mod 3 Mod 4 Mod 5 Mod 6
Mod 7 BTP
Sequential Ind Mod 1 Mod 2 Mod 3
modules over 2
years

7. Module Tutors
Syndicate
Module 1
24 students
Tutor 1 Syndicate
2
Syndicate
Module 3
Module 24 students
Tutor 2 Syndicate
Leader
4
… … 12 students
10-15 students per … …
syndicate group

8. Tutor roles
• Initial introduction prior to the start • Best Practice:
of the module
• Monitor syndicate discussion forums at
least once every 48 hours
• At least 1-2 interventions on
discussion boards per week, even • Based on activity reports, identify and
if not solicited by students contact by email any student who has not
been online for the past 2 weeks
• At least 3 visits each week to
discussion boards to review and • Respond to any student email or queries on
discussion forums within 48 hours
monitor postings
• Mark any assessment within 3 weeks
• Response to a reasonable degree
of questions from students, within • Provide enough feedback to allow students
48 hours to understand the strengths and
weaknesses of their work, and how they
• Marking of coursework and exam could improve

9. Agenda
11.15-11.20 Welcome
11.20-11:25 Programme Structure and Student Profiles
11:25-11:35 Experience and Student Feedback
11.35-11.45 Research Project and Initial Exploratory Results
11.45-12.00 Wrap-Up. Q&A.

10. What the students have told us about their experience
FEEDBACK RECEIVED

11. General Satisfaction
O&G: O&G:
100% 85.7%

12. Comments: Positive
• "The research material supplied was very interesting"
• "Really enjoyed working on this module"
• "I rate the over-all experience excellent thus far."
• "In general, I can say nothing but THANK YOU to all
the staff involved in the MBA."
• "I am enjoying the course and learning a great deal."

13. Comments: Negative
• "Disappointed with the contribution to syndicate
discussion from module tutor and module leader. Was
expecting some contribution in terms of critical
comment on discussion. Had the impression that we
were "flying solo"."
• "I would prefer that our tutors got more involved in our
discussions and activities"
• "The beginning of the module was devoid of full
syndicate activity participation and interaction."

14. Comments: Negative (2)
• "Lack of structure, quality of feedback or weekly
discussion"
• "Very minor input from tutors"
• "The tutor was very timely with the introduction of each
unit, but feedback in discussion and activities was
limited."
• "Unfortunately the tutor was rarely around and was
very slow in responding to any questions that myself or
other members of the group had."

15. Key Success Factors
• Tutoring
• Quantity, Quality, Timeliness
• Administration
• Timeliness, empathy, "customer focus"
• Materials
• Variety, up-to-date, multimedia
• UniHub/VLE
• Accessibility (down time), ease of use and navigation, login
• Learning Resources
• Accessibility, ease of use, availability of resources ©

16. Agenda
11.15-11.20 Welcome
11.20-11:25 Programme Structure and Student Profiles
11:25-11:35 Experience and Student Feedback
11.35-11.45 Research Project and Initial Exploratory Results
11.45-12.00 Wrap-Up. Q&A.

17. Research Project
• Explain student satisfaction and achievement
(dependent variable) by looking at quality of tutoring
(set of independent variables)
• Number of online discussion posts
• Total words (sum of tutor posts) and average words per post
• Regularity of posts
• Response time to questions asked online
• Type of post
— Simple task/informative posts
— Active tutoring (proactive in response)
— Passive tutoring (reactive in response with simple answer)

18. Initial Results: example O&G
Module Active Total Longest Shortest Average Passive Total Longest Shortest Average
posts words post post post Posts words post post post
1 22 12307 868 92 559 4 130 48 4 32
2 32 2783 101 4 86 71 2555 100 2 35

19. Task 52 Task 46 Task 129
Active 12 Active 85 Active 51
Passive 86 Passive 392 Passive 165
Words 7105 Words 24297 Words 22953

20. Next steps
• Finish compiling and verifying the data, including
student grades
• Construct variables
• Run multiple regression analysis to test for significance
of independent variables
• Look at actual posts

21. What do you think would explain student satisfaction and
achievement in the case of online learners?
QUESTIONS?