presentation of online assessment and lecture delivery ideas to Southampton University, 6th July 2009

1. Mind the gap…ideas for filling
‘non-lecture’ time
Lisa Harris
l.j.harris@soton.ac.uk
www.twitter.com/lisaharris

2. Two brief themes to discuss…
• Lessons learned as a tutor on University
of Liverpool online MBA
• The “micro-lecture”

3. The Liverpool e-MBA
• Started 2001
• Now has over 2000 students from 175 countries
• Partnership deal with Laureate Online Education
• Run separately from Liverpool’s traditional MBA
programme, though some staff work on both
• Global network of part time Tutors and Module
Managers
• There is a growing package of online MSc
programmes, including topics such as Medicine

4. Assessment
• Students study 8 units plus dissertation
• Each unit lasts 8 weeks
• The course material is a summary ‘handout’ plus specified reading
from core textbook each week
• Each week is assessed as follows:
– 2 x short essays (750 words) submitted Sat and Mon
– Classroom participation (commenting and raising/answering questions
on the work of others)
– Integration paper submitted Wed which summarises the key learning
from the week’s material and subsequent discussions
– Grades and individual tutor feedback given weekly on Sat
• Total assessment per module = 16 x short essays, 8 weeks’
participation, 8 weekly summaries. There are no exams.
• Platform used is Blackboard with integrated SafeAssign for
plagiarism checking

5. Advantages
• Ensures full participation throughout (no
place to hide at the back…)
• Requires excellent time management
(students and tutors…)
• Builds communication, analytic and writing
skills
• Students are required to draw upon at
least one journal article from the Uni e-
library per essay submitted

6. The weekly summary
• Students are encouraged to reflect upon:
– Specific learnings that stand out from their
own work that week and why
– What they have learned from particular
discussions with other students and why
– How they might apply the learning within their
own workplace
– Practical issues of what went well/badly with
respect to time management and the study
process

7. The ‘micro lecture’
• Student attention span in minutes is equivalent
to their age in years….
• Lectures last 1-3 minutes (paired with
assignments and discussions)
• Framework:
– Show them where to dig
– Tell them what you’re looking for
– Oversee the process
• Requires the tutor to be *very* clear about
focusing on the key learning points

8. Modus Operandi
• List the key concepts you would cover in a
‘normal’ lecture
• Write a 15/30 second introduction and
conclusion to top and tail the key concepts
• Record as podcast or vodcast
• Design an assignment that directs students to
summarise/integrate further reading/activities
that develop the key concepts
• Upload to Blackboard
• End result is a series of short but integrated
assignments conducted throughout the module