E-learning for adult literacy, language and numeracy: a case study of a polytechnic

4. E-learning initiatives within the polytechnic

During our investigation, we worked to gain understanding of what contributed to and detracted from the success of the polytechnic’s e-learning initiatives, especially those aligned with LLN learning. These initiatives are evident across all learning and stage levels of the polytechnic. They relate to the activities involved in coordinating e-learning provision throughout the polytechnic, embedding e-learning in the polytechnic’s courses, and (from our particular interest point) making e-learning part of activities aimed at enhancing adults’ LLN skills.

4.1. The importance of leading from the top

It was evident to us from both the polytechnic’s documentation and the commentary of the institution’s leaders that the polytechnic’s managers are well aware of the responsibility they hold for leading activity required to fulfil the polytechnic’s mission. Polytechnic leaders also acknowledge that this role involves close collaboration with institution stakeholders and partnerships with other providers of education. During our interview with him, the chief executive officer (CEO) articulated these responsibilities as follows:

We are one of the larger institutions of this type in the country, and we see that we need to take on the responsibility for developing and trialling new approaches and learning from these to share good practice. … Due to its size, [the polytechnic] … is more likely to have a critical mass of staff with student experience to enable them to develop good practice and a community of practice. … While this also happens in smaller organisations, such as [private training organisations], with employers and in wānanga, they are likely to find it more challenging.

We also noted, as a result of our consideration of the polytechnic’s documents and commentary from polytechnic leaders, support staff, tutors, and learners, that the polytechnic clearly recognises the need for everyone involved in the institution to take ownership of change processes. The relevant literature confirms that across-the-board ownership of change is necessary for successful change (see Finding 6A below).

The provision of foundation education is one of the polytechnic’s strategic priorities for 2008­­­ to 2010. Early in 2008, the institution set out a strategy for developing its foundation studies programmes in response to the TEC’s Literacy, Language and Numeracy Action Plan (TEC, 2008). During our time at the polytechnic, it was evident that staff had successfully embedded LLN provision within a wide range of vocational programmes. Part of this success could be attributed to the requirement that tutors of these courses undertake professional development. One component of this development requires a literacy or numeracy tutor to work with course tutors to develop and integrate this provision in their teaching and learning plans.

The polytechnic’s embedded approach to LLN began in 2007, when the polytechnic leadership, led by the CEO, renewed its strategic vision in line with changes to its charter. Today, this approach is practised by all staff involved in the institution’s foundation courses (Levels 1 to 3 of the New Zealand Qualifications Framework, and occasionally above), including those courses that are part of diploma programmes.

The trades course that we documented in Section 3.4 of this report was one of the first courses to adopt the embedded approach. The trades programme overall has lent itself well to this approach, in part because the programme underwent revision and restructuring in 2003. One outcome of this process was the appointment of a dean with considerable knowledge of teaching and professional development. “The restructuring,” the dean told us, “permitted a focus on improving foundation-level studies, giving trades more status and better resources.” She continued:

An entrepreneurial approach was encouraged, and the Trades Faculty went for Partnerships for Excellence funding that allowed them to enhance facilities with thirteen million dollars, including matched funding from employers in building and other industries, with in-kind products such as plumbing equipment. … [Investment has included the construction of] a library and learning centre with a wide range of innovative ICT and relatively few book stacks, with links to other locations, including trades workshops, via video.

We also learned that the polytechnic leadership had set up a strategic group within the last few years to “cross fertilise” (as one person put it) innovations in learning and teaching. The leaders considered this development necessary because successful innovations in certain sectors or courses within the polytechnic had not spread to other sectors and courses. One of the initiatives set in place by the strategic group involved faculty deans choosing presenters from the diverse programmes who could effectively share their innovations with leaders, including deans and their staff. These presentations took place at what the dean termed “communication meetings”, held every second month. According to the members of the deans’ strategic group, this approach had achieved the desired result-innovations were spreading. We were given several examples of this development, one of which concerned an online numeracy unit that had been developed five years earlier for use in a trades course (see Section 3.4). Interest in using this unit elsewhere in the polytechnic had arisen only after a presentation on it during one of the communication meetings.

4.2. Learning Services support

The components of the polytechnic’s Learning Services division (including the library, e-learning service, maths and ESOL resource centres, and Disabilities Support Services) are located alongside one another in the institution’s central building. The three services work closely together. According to the Dean of Learning Services, the need to embed LLN provision in courses and support programmes is now strongly articulated throughout the polytechnic. The philosophy behind this development, said the dean, called for “a lot of loop closing … [and had established] a mandate for everyone to be partnering for the whole experience”. Liaison librarians had accordingly made considerably more effort to work alongside tutors by informing or reminding them of the services the library could offer them, suggesting better resources, and letting staff know the areas in which they had seen students in need of LLN help. Learning Services advisors were also working with programme staff. Their particular focus was professional development. The Learning Services dean told us that they were successfully using “an embedded model for staff development”. One message that she said Learning Services was pushing in regard to students’ LLN needs was that online learning for learners with low levels of LLN (including ICT) proficiency is unlikely to be successful unless it is accompanied by tutor support.

When a tutor or advisor refers a student to Learning Services, staff in the division use formal tests to assess that student’s LLN needs. Should the tests confirm the need for assistance, staff work to identify if a specific difficulty, such as dyslexia, underlies this need. Staff then put in place appropriate support, such as provision of a digital recorder or a reader/writer aid. (One of the adults in the trades course that we considered as part of our case study was using an audio-recorder supplied by Learning Services to support his learning.) Learning Services continues to monitor such students and to provide other support should additional needs be identified.

The Dean of Learning Services led development of the polytechnic’s outreach centres, set up as part of the institution’s Computing for Free initiative established some years earlier. The centres cater to adults living in outlying suburbs of the city, or nearby rural towns. Classes typically take place in the evening, and the courses offer additional learning support in the form of online material. Occasionally, the centres hold events such as a careers evening. They also help people decide which courses to attend and assess which level of provision they can manage/need. The centres also act as a recruitment agency for the polytechnic. According to the dean, the centres “help broker that first step of coming to an institution”.

At the time we visited the polytechnic, a working group was trying to revise the goal for these centres, so that they could act as an “umbrella” agency for the polytechnic. The idea is that the centres will not only offer flexible delivery of polytechnic programmes but also act as an intermediary between community and industry needs by “taking learning to the learner” and providing a pathway into the polytechnic. Some trialling of these aims had already taken place through free opportunities for adults to develop their reading and writing skills and the provision of a fee-paying business software course (Mind Your Own Business). The approach taken in these instances was the same as that used for the earlier Computing for Free initiative, that is, some initial sessions followed by self-paced learning. Polytechnic staff told us that, in time, learning support tutors might go out to the centres to offer a greater level of face-to-face tuition and assistance. Alternatively, video-conferencing might be used. Diversification of centre types, including partnering with other organisations, was also being considered.

4.3. Professional and curriculum development

Professional development for embedding LLN

Many of the polytechnic’s teaching and administrative staff are highly qualified, particularly in the field of education, but, where needed, a good number are undertaking additional graduate study. Many of the polytechnic’s managers have extensive experience of professional development in both the school and tertiary sectors of education.

Tutors in higher education in New Zealand are not required to have a teaching qualification. However, since 2004, the polytechnic has required new staff to study for the Certificate in Adult Teaching, which the polytechnic offers. New staff also have to complete a two-year probationary period, during which their teaching load (about 600 hours a year) is lower than the teaching load (825 hours) for longer-term staff. Although the full teaching load leaves little time for study, many staff who have been at the polytechnic for two years or more also study for the certificate; others sign up for a particular course on the basis of need or interest.

The Dean of Learning Services identified her role as ensuring coherent services across the polytechnic and reducing staff stress at key points. She mentioned, in particular, the stress expressed by programme coordinators, such as the e-learning coordinator. “Many layers of services delivery that we are responsible for,” the dean explained, “have many, many touch points with other things. So it’s absolutely critical that the educational support services are integrally connected with the ones that have been in faculties.” She further stressed the need for support when alluding to the “proliferation of projects across the institution” brought about through the TEC’s LLN Action Plan. One outcome of efforts to provide coherent service and relieve stress had been the recent appointment of an LLN coordinator, who now facilitates the embedding of literacy and numeracy into study programmes.

The Dean of the Trades and Engineering programme said that the TEC’s LLN Action Plan had been “particularly powerful” because the developers had worked with the tutors rather than “imposing it on them and having someone come in to work with the students”. According to the dean, some of the teaching staff sought out involvement and others were “semi-directed” to become involved. She said that it was very exciting to see people become enthused about what they were doing. “You could see this sort of cognitive apprenticeship where they started off listening to what they were being told by the literacy and numeracy expert, and then trying to put it in place … [and then] that balance gradually changing towards them initiating what should be put in place, with a bit of input from the literacy and numeracy expert.”

It was clear the process had worked particularly well, she went on, “when you heard those people who you knew were pretty entrenched-‘no-one can tell me anything more about teaching apprentices’-actually arguing about methodology and the best approach … and pulling other people into the argument, and them starting to think, ‘There’s something good happening here; I want to be involved.’” She considered that the polytechnic workforce had become “more engaged” as a result of seeing the LLN provision working successfully with the students and that a good many tutors had become re-enthused about their teaching.

The dean furthermore reported that staff involved in the project had subsequently become involved in other projects because they had seen the benefits for both the students and themselves. “I would say we’ve got some people here now who would be quite able to go out and evangelise about what they’ve been doing and why … What has also worked well is that it hasn’t been a quick fix. It has been ongoing, and therefore there has been time for people to feel confident in what they’re doing, so the resourcing of it has been important.”

The staff who participated in the initial project had been given release time to undertake the necessary professional development. Although some funding was available to pay for replacement tutors in the classroom, finding people with trades experience willing to work as part-time interim tutors had been difficult. Existing staff had therefore worked above load to take classes for their colleagues. The released staff returned enthusiastic, and the worth of the project became obvious. The staff who had taken on extra work showed no apparent resentment at having to take on colleagues’ work because those who attended the course passed on what they had learned to their team of tutors.

According to the dean, once staff had experienced the value of embedding LLN (“It has turned tutors’ thinking around”), members of the trades and engineering faculty were able to enter a new and integrated approach to curriculum, programme organisation and staff development.  During the time we were at the polytechnic, programme staff were writing a new course for a particular trade, and were designing it with embedded literacy and numeracy in mind. In the past, the dean told us, teaching in the trades had generally been based on assessment, which was prescribed to some extent by the unit standards. However, staff were now prepared to design holistically in line with the programme’s aims, and they were also paying close attention to the most appropriate ways of delivering courses. The need to incorporate LLN and e-learning was very much to the fore. Also, said the dean, staff were developing means of accommodating the prescribed assessment by using the unit standards as a means of checking that student learning was on target rather than as a means of constraining that learning.

E-learning professional development

Polytechnic staff wanting or needing to gain a greater understanding of e-learning and how they could use it in their teaching have available to them various types of support, including one-to-one programmes, school-based workshops, and specific project-related work. “The philosophy is the independence model,” said the Dean of Learning Services, “and that means working alongside them [tutors]. Just in time help, and so on.” Sometimes, she said, all staff within a programme or course need help with a particular area, or a staff member will “get a step up by having that ‘just now’ individualised [support].”

Although teaching at the polytechnic is still predominantly face to face, more and more courses are blending this traditional mode of teaching with e-learning measures. We learned that all tutors within the polytechnic had or were taking aboard e-learning, but were not implementing it in their courses until they felt confident to do so. Some tutors were undertaking this development alone; others were working in groups. Tutors, we were told, are most likely to embrace e-learning after completing the ICT course within the Certificate in Adult Teaching. “That usually starts to give them not only ideas but also confidence,” said the Dean of Trades and Engineering. “I think so often it’s the confidence factor that makes the difference.” The ICT component of the certificate, which is taught by the polytechnic’s ICT coordinator, is available not only to polytechnic staff but also to industry-based trainers. The number of tutors attending the ICT course is usually 20 to 25.

When we spoke to the e-learning coordinator, he reminded us that completing the ICT course and the Certificate in Adult Teaching is only part of the “bedding in e-learning” process. “Building a community of practice is important, with people helping and supporting each other. The germ of an idea can be sown that participants can take away, adapt and use in their own context. You can show and model, but even then it takes time for people to make the connections and have the internal dialogue to make that shift for themselves.” All polytechnic staff working to make e-learning an integrated part of their tuition have access to ongoing instructional design and professional development. This and other measures, such as the requirement to attain the Certificate in Adult Teaching, have resulted, said the ICT coordinator, “in a rapid increase of courses using e-learning, with hundreds of courses and very active staff development”.

4.4. E-learning development and maturity

As noted earlier, staff in Learning Services, including those responsible for digital library-supported resources, work together to provide polytechnic staff and students with e-based teaching and learning initiatives and activities. The polytechnic decided to place its unit for e-learning (originally set up in 2000 under the polytechnic’s former Information Technology Services) under the joint oversight of Learning Services, because of the need to closely integrate ICT resources and their platforms with e-learning-related organisational and professional development.  

The e-learning coordinator told us that he, on behalf of the polytechnic, had contributed to Massey University’s study of e-maturity in tertiary institutions (Marshall, 2006; Massey University, 2008; see also Appendix B). He provided us with a brief summary of the findings of this study relevant to polytechnics. “All polytechnics,” he said, “are strong in the delivery dimension, such as making sure the infrastructure is in place to support the students and tutors; for example, the provision of Help Desk support and pedagogical support for tutors. However, there are gaps in other dimensions, for example, in the processes surrounding the evaluation and quality control of e-learning through its entire cycle.” He described his own polytechnic as one that is building upon solid foundations, but “it will take time, as people don’t change overnight”.

We asked several leaders at the polytechnic to indicate the institution’s stage of e-maturity according to a simple schema (see Table 1 below and the e-maturity model in Appendix B). As is the case with most institutions not set up to offer e-learning (Davis, 2010), the polytechnic had reached maturity Stages 2 and 3 by 2008, which means that e-learning is embedded within the institution. Although several of the polytechnic’s externally funded innovative projects include e-learning projects that involve joint development of materials and teaching in partnership with external agencies, including other polytechnics, e-learning within the polytechnic has yet to reach the stage where it can be offered in partnership with such agencies. Table 1 sets out the detail of this situation in relation to e-learning in general and e-based LLN support in particular at the polytechnic.  

The e-learning coordinator told us that, from his perspective, the process the polytechnic’s tutors use to make changes necessary to accommodate e-based innovations is similar to the professional development model espoused by Sherry and Gibson (2002) (see Appendix B). He set out the e-innovation process as follows:

• Learner stage: Talk about technology-what is it? What are the tutor’s attitudes to it?;
  
• Adopter stage: Expose the tutor to new technologies-“Have a bit of a play.” Guide him or her towards embedding ICT skills in a learning activity, rather than teaching the skills separately;
  
• Leader stage: Invite tutors who show a passion or an ability in an aspect of the use of e-learning in teaching and learning to lead a workshop and/or speak during a Certificate in Adult Teaching session.

4.5. Māori- and Pasifika-related initiatives

The polytechnic perceives that it has relatively few Māori (indigenous people of New Zealand) and Pasifika (people living in New Zealand who have migrated from the Pacific Islands or who identify with the Pacific Islands because of ancestry or heritage) students. Māori make up 7 percent of students and Pasifika 2 percent.  The staff we interviewed noted that most students from these groups in the locality prefer to attend the local wānanga (a tertiary institution that caters for Māori learning needs). Those Māori and Pasifika students who do study at the polytechnic are mostly involved in the Māori degree programme, Te Reo (Māori language).

The literature on e-learning and LLN recognises that Māori and Pasifika learners may require specific consideration. The Dean of Māori and Pasifika, whose role is to provide programmes and initiatives to support Māori and Pasifika students, told us that the polytechnic does not have a teaching model specific to these learners. However, she said all programmes strive to offer elements of provision known to motivate these learners. The staff of these programmes therefore worked to:

• Inculcate in students “a sense of belonging to the institution, a sense of comfort”;
  
• Have culturally appropriate and relevant exemplars within the content;
  
• Guide learners to consider, understand and appreciate their own legacies of literacy;
  
• Help learners develop a sense of appreciation of the personal benefits of increasing their literacy skills;
  
• Support Māori and Pasifika students to “own’ literacy”-to take aboard the attitude that literacy is something that is theirs and that “they’re not just ‘doing English’”.

We talked for some time with the Dean of Māori and Pasifika about her belief that, across time, Māori have developed the misconception that they are not academic, or essentially literate, but are an oral people. “We ended up not just inheriting the negative expectation; we ended up living up to it,” she said. “This has become almost endemic within our society. It was fed by the European assimilation strategies and governments’ prescribed expectations of Māori within the education system, from as early as the first Native Education Act, back in the 1800s, where the expectations were clearly set that Māori weren’t to be academic and that Māori were to be pretty much manual workers.”

The dean went on to explain that teaching academic subjects and the classics was prohibited in Māori Native Schools. “After one and a half generations of success … [that strategy] wiped out any [Māori] success for the next 70 years. … Helping Māori to own literacy requires learning to deconstruct those perceptions and present bits of our [Māori] literary past, which is exceptional. From the 1850s to early 1900s, we had 47 Māori newspapers written in Māori, and Māori debating topics from Shakespeare to animal husbandry in Argentina.”

The polytechnic’s Te Reo degree programme begins with a foundation course called Preparation for Academic Study, which helps determine if students need assistance with the basic literacy requirements, including ICT skills, required to study successfully within the institution. The polytechnic soon found that this foundation class for Māori students did not work well if students lacked confidence with general literacy, let alone computer literacy. The tutors involved in the course, said the dean, came to realise that students could not progress because of the classroom set-up. Students, she said, are “almost on display when they can’t cope, so that will become known. It’s not like you can hide away or deal with it at your own pace. Therefore, in such a class, there is a level of whakamā or embarrassment that can be quite intimidating for some”. She said tutors had found that successful literacy skills development, including e-literacy, was more likely to occur in a community of learners, such as that developed with the apprentices using m-learning to produce and present e-portfolios of their achievements.

According to the dean, modes of e-learning particular to the needs of Māori students were “on the radar”. Anticipated provision included content in Māori dialects and blended learning for groups of students dispersed geographically but able to learn about their culture using online methods. We also learned, from the polytechnic’s CEO, of a course for Māori kaumātua (elders), conducted in their own dialect and through which they had developed e-learning skills and produced a book of Māori stories and culture.

When we asked the CEO if the polytechnic offered particular support for Pasifika, he told us that the polytechnic had joined with other partners, including the local wānanga, to develop a proposal for funding an initiative aimed at developing e-learning programmes for Pasifika in the city and on their home islands. One of the partners would have the specific role of providing the e-learning platform and helping the polytechnic work through the instructional design stage of the e-learning content.