Starting
with our learners’ needs
Crucial
aspects for implementation
In this paper I profile learners registered on the
I make the case that given the isolation of the students, their reasons for choosing ODL and the print-based delivery model, there is room on the course for greater levels of collaborative, context-specific activity – ideally on-line. Based on the global nature of the student body, I propose ‘threading’ proven learner support interventions through the programme.
Due to the fact that access and attitudes to learning on-line are a crucial unknown quantity, I am implementing a survey into these issues. Dependent on the results of this survey, I propose the development of collaborative on-line activities for the Health Management and Evaluation module (HS2), a cross-disciplinary unit comprising financial, organizational and HR management and health service evaluation.
The checklist of characteristics below is based on that of Rowntree (2003).
The average student age is 40, with most being between 34
and 48. The student body is truly global;
of 264 registered students, there are numbers in double figures for the
In its web-based marketing, LSHTM constructs an ‘ideal’ learner who is likely to:
“enjoy studying, have experience of organising..time, ...open to new and different ideas, highly motivated and disciplined…willing to make short-term sacrifices”
(LSHTM, 2002c)
I appreciate that motivations will be varied. For example, does a health practitioner
commit to CPD (Susan Smith, “Activity 3-Susan’s learners”
Mason argues that, currently, a global student body will be
‘self-selecting’ and therefore tend to an elitism based on access to
technologies, employment status and level of education (Mason,1998,pp.55-56). This is borne out by the LSHTM intake. Most students have well-established careers in health practice or laboratory
science, and hold a degree in a scientific subject (predominantly biology,
medicine, veterinary science, or pharmacy); many will have attended additional
work-related training.
Cultural contexts are important in the analysis of learning style. I am investigating where students’ undergraduate experience was gained – and whether there are culture-cum-locale specific differences in the learning styles and strategies associated with these qualifications in different parts of the world (Koul,1995,p.30). For example, the predominant conception of learning for European science undergraduates may be memorizing and understanding (Rowntree,2003); but Richardson (2000, pp.47-49) reviews research in Nepal and China revealing different conceptions of learning related to differing value systems.
Marton et al argue that perseverance in education to advanced levels such as a Masters degree depends upon a highly developed conception of learning. Given the level of study here, I have therefore inferred that students have a deep approach to learning (Marton and Säljö,1976;Marton et al, 1993).
In any case, the HS2 course demands a variety of learning
styles – activist/pragmatist for project work, theorist/reflector for the
synthesis/analysis tasks of health care evaluation (Honey and Mumford,1986). It will be key to activity design to help
learners develop appropriate learning styles in their approach to on-line
activities (Susan Smith,”Re:Lisa’s (theoretical) learners”,
If there is some cultural diversity in terms of undergraduate experience, students’ grounding in financial, organizational and HR management as covered by the HS2 modules has been gained in a far greater variety of contexts –work experience, work-based training possibly grounded in a health practice specialty, continual professional development (CPD) and personal interest learning/research. All will have their own cultural and contextual specificity. At present, in their work with relatively univocal, print-based materials, students are not fully utilizing and reflecting on these contexts.
The total cost of the MSc is £7544, which can be spread over five years. Learners in health practice will have limited
time for study, usually Sundays and evenings (Paul and Williams-Green,2001). Access to other resources such as a reliable postal service will
colour students’ perceptions: for example, Treloar (1998,p.75)
found that MSc health practice students in
I know that 214 students have e:mail, but not their
attitudes to learning with ICTs. I am
implementing a survey, along the lines developed by
A student guide as described by Mason (1998,p.61) will be developed: including sections on ‘hidden’ study costs and assistance on time-management strategies (Simpson,2002,p.56) .
As I have shown, this truly global student body is extremely widely dispersed. Students are isolated in terms of both geography and culture. And, given the flexible, student-managed timetabling of the course, they often work isolated by time, too.
This has clear implications for implementation. In terms of course design, Treloar (1998,p.75) finds that modules for such a student body must utilize “a variety of settings” to avoid charges of “educational colonialism”. The implication for study design is that a collaborative teaching model, with tutors from the learners’ locations, is desirable.
In a
multi-cultural environment, there is a need for support materials that make
explicit the assumptions of course design.
The LSHTM FAQ web site states that students have only an academic, not a
personal tutor (LSHTM,2002a). It is
necessary to amplify for students what is meant by this. Firstly because Simpson (2002,p.13)
demonstrates that student problems are rarely ‘purely’ academic or personal,
even in a mono-cultural setting. Secondly,
Koul (1995) makes the point that terms such as “counseling” can have very
elaborated meanings in certain cultural contexts and no local meaning at all in
others.
Similar
ambiguities pertain in a multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary study context with the
use of terms like ‘strongly-developed study skills’ (LSHTM,2002c). It might be impossible, for example, for
Masters students to succeed with only those strategies that worked for an
undergraduate science degree in a local, campus-based university. Student should be able to ‘self-test’
specific study skills in accessible support materials.
Students learn separated from each other by time, because of
the ‘semi-cohort’ system: they take between two and five years to complete the
Masters Programme, selecting one to nine units per year. Course registration, start and end dates and
exams for each year are synchronised, but the submission of assignments and
organization/order of units taken is self-managed (LSHTMa). This leads to several design issues: the building
of a-synchronous learner activities; the presentation of different points of
view and construction of dialogue, beyond that of dialogue between learner and
text (Simpson,2002,p.10); and the provision of student support. Given that students will be working out of phase, support will be
delivered in document form, but proactively.
Simpson (2002,pp.52-66) gives examples of e:mails, personalised letters,
leaflets, structured activities and voicemail/ SMS messaging that could be
adapted for LSHTM distance learners.
Here I draw on studies of similar learner groups (health
professionals in developing countries) to make assumptions about why LSHTM
students choose ODL. Reviewing barriers
to learning for health practitioners in the
Treloar (1998) found that medical practitioners are
concerned their skills will become ‘out of date’ if they leave their practice
to study on-campus. Confirming the
benefits of maintaining close contact with local work environments, learners in
It is possible that LSHTM course organizers underestimate the importance of such benefits of ODL to their learners. Web-based marketing and student guidance (LSHTM,2002a) make prominent mention of the cost savings offered by the External Programme, but in unit outlines (LSHTM,2002b) localized content, the building of communities of practice (Lave and Wenger,1991) and situated learning (Brown et al,1989) are not being optimized.
We do not know enough about learner access to ICTs, and their attitudes to mediated learning with them; and in this area survey findings are contradictory enough to justify the implementation of research directly into these learners’ views and experience.
As well as physical resources, Susan Smith (
There are both push and pull motivations to provide greater levels of collaborative, on-line, context-specific situated learning activites for the LSHTM Health Management course. While this approach responds on one level to the ‘problem’ of student isolation and addresses issues of cultural diversity, on another, it stands to realize benefits that are unique to open and distance forms of education.
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