Neil Morris is the Director of Digital Learning at the University of Leeds. The document discusses how the University of Leeds is unbundling and rebundling its higher education provision through digital technologies. It offers online courses, modules, and programs through its Digital Education Service to provide more flexible learning opportunities for both campus-based and online students. Some of its initiatives include MOOCs on FutureLearn, online credit-bearing courses, and online CPD courses developed with industry partners. The goal is to enhance student education and support multiple delivery modes through an unbundled approach.

1. Neil Morris
Director of Digital Learning
Professor of Educational Technology,
Innovation and Change, School of
Education
University of Leeds
© University of Leeds
Email: n.p.morris@leeds.ac.uk
Twitter: @neilmorrisleeds, @unileedsonline
Enhancing student education with digital
technologies

2. Overview
Context Unbundling
Digital
Education
at Leeds

3. Opportunities provided by
digital technology
Learning
Flexibility
Interaction
Collaboration
Digital skills
Employability
Globalisation
Access
Sharing
Inclusiveness
Engagement
Motivation
Enjoyment

4. Flexible pedagogies
https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/resources/npi_report.pdf

5. The Unbundled University
Researching emerging models in an
unequal landscape

6. Definitions
In North America, unbundling is primarily perceived as credit accumulation, credit
transfer and more recently micro-credentials (e.g. Nanodegrees from Udacity and
MicroMasters from edX); as predicted by Selingo a few year ago (Selingo, 2013).
In the UK, unbundling is currently viewed as the disaggregation of learning into
smaller parts which offers, in theory at least, opportunities for HEIs to separate
traditionally integrated components and reimagine new products and services
(Yuan et al., 2013).
For our project (so far):
Unbundling is the process of disaggregating curricula into standalone units often
available in flexible online modes, allowing universities to respond to the pressures
of widening access, increasing student numbers, competition from alternative
providers, and technical change.

7. Types of unbundling
Learning and teaching
(provision)
Student support services
Qualifications

8. Elements of Higher Education provision
being unbundled and rebundled
Learning
materials
Supporting
content
Teaching Tutoring
Learning
pathways
Peer-to-peer
learning
Learning
support
Learning
services
Assessment Feedback Accreditation Qualifications
Learning
platforms
Informal
learning
services
Training /
skills support
Equipment
(generic and
specialist)

9. Unbundling scenarios
School
College
University
Employment
Higher Education
School Employment
Degree apprenticeship (employment and F2F/online study at College / University)
F2F course at
University
Online course
at University
F2F course at
University
Employment
Managed curriculum with College + University + Alternative provider (mixture of F2F,
blended and online only courses) [rebundled]
Online course
with alternative
provider
F2F project
course at
University
Online course
at University
Qualification
through
accreditor

10. Potential benefits and risks of
unbundling
Benefits
Access
Flexibility
Inclusiveness
Student-focused
Market-led costs
Risks
Fragmented curriculum
Quality / regulation
Misalignment with employer
requirements
Cannabilisation of HE sector
Further inequality

11. Evidence of unbundling in the
sector

12. Unbundled degrees

13. Role of external players

14. “Recent developments have spurred critical commentaries,
pointing to a problematic ‘darker side’ of marketisation . This
darker side might include, for example, the ‘selling’ of
pedagogy to the (sometimes) highest bidder; the fragmenting
of the educational offering and the packaging of ‘learning’ into
byte-sized attractions (Nixon, Scullion and Hearn, 2016);
ultimately, this could lead to the trivialisation of the challenge
of learning and the casualisation of academic labour.”
Marketisation of HE
Extract from blog at unbundleduni.com

15. Future of universities?
Clayton Christensen, the Harvard Business Professor termed
the ‘father of disruption’ holds extreme views about the future
of universities as a result of unbundling, marketization and
digital technology:
“Some will survive. Most will evolve hybrid models, in which
universities license some courses from an online provider like
Coursera but then provide more-specialized courses in
person. Hybrids are actually a principle regardless of industry.
If you want to use a new technology in a mainstream existing
market, it has to be a hybrid.” (Christensen 2013)
Extract from blog at unbundleduni.com

16. Research questions
Where does the discourse of unbundling come
from and how is it used by the research literature,
the policy literature, the media and the
interviewees?
How do different role players in HE understand
unbundling and rebundling?
How is unbundling happening in practice in SA
and in England?
How does the intersection of unbundling,
marketisation and digital technology change the
pedagogies available in the HE system?
Which aspects of pedagogy and provision can be
and are being unbundled and / or marketised?
What is the nature of the educational provision
currently available in UK/SA HE at the
intersection of marketisation/unbundling/digital
technology?

17. Initial findings from South Africa
context about unbundling
• Interviewees’ lack of knowledge/control/uniformity around the processes, but
evidence of on-going activity
• Government regulation & policy described as constraining, indifferent and non-
sustainable
• Mix of positive and negative positions on the value of unbundling
• Market forces acting on a HE system in crisis
• Partnerships with private companies developing for third stream income to
relieve financial pressures
• Unlikely to realise ambitions of widened access and reduced inequality
• Strong influence of university ranking on ability to partner and to raise third
stream income
• Value misalignment between public universities and private companies
• Technology access divided and difficult, accompanied by lack of digital literacy
• Concerns around efficacy of blended / online provision

18. Web: http://unbundleduni.com/
Twitter: @unbundledHE
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unbundledHE/
Email: Laura Czerniewicz (laura.czerniewicz@uct.ac.za), Neil Morris
(n.p.morris@leeds.ac.uk)
Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (UK) and the
National Research Foundation (South Africa)

19. Leeds’ journey to unbundled and
rebundled Higher Education provision

20. Supporting campus-based and
work-based blended learning
In-room
multimedia
capture
At-desk / mobile
media creation
Interactive and
collaborative
tools
Flexible and
technology
enabled learning
spaces
Digital
Education
Service
Mobile tools and
apps

21. Digital Education channels
Available to Registered Students
Available to all learners
Online Courses
Individual Learning objects
Learning objects complementing face-to-face provision (Blended Learning)

22. Supporting multiple cohorts and
delivery modes
Campus-based blended learning
(UG/PGT/PGR)
Work-based blended learning (UG
degree Apprenticeships, Continuous
Professional Development)
Online Distance Learning (courses,
modules and programmes)

23. Supporting a wide variety of
online learners
General
interest
Continuing
Professional
Development
Credit-bearing
University
taster
Academic
skills
General public
Prospective students
Current students
Working professionals
Research
focused
Specialist audience

24. Digital Education Service
The Digital Education Service has a defined strategy which aims
to:
• Provide added-value to campus-based blended learning in
every Faculty.
• Develop and deliver high quality online distance learning
programmes.
• Develop externally facing taster courses, skills courses,
credit-bearing modules and online Continuing Professional
Development courses.
• Improve flexibility and access for campus-based learners
through development of online modules.
• Deliver excellent support and administration services to
academics and students for digital education courses,
modules and programmes.
• Deliver high quality digital education systems, in
partnership with suppliers, other Services and our partners.
• Support Faculties to meet their strategic ambitions in the
areas of international student recruitment and widening
access.
• Support academics to disseminate their research findings
and demonstrate research impact, via use of digital education.
• Support our corporate partners to create excellent digital
education opportunities.

25. Massive Open Online
Courses

26. Online standalone credit-
bearing courses
10 credits
awarded by
University of
Leeds
Over 75,000 joiners on these ‘programs’ since September 2016
First credit awards issued February 2017 from learners around the world
Available on FutureLearn for registered Leeds students (part of discovery module)
and for FutureLearners as open courses and credit-bearing ‘program’.

27. Online CPD courses with
industry partners
Key facts:
Three online courses
Eleven weeks of learning
50,000 joiners
Recognised by Government

28. Summary
Context Unbundling
Digital
Education
at Leeds

29. © University of Leeds
Email: n.p.morris@leeds.ac.uk
Twitter: @neilmorrisleeds