£2.3 million boost for distance learning
Published: 18 February 2014
The University of Glasgow has launched a £2.3 million initiative to grow online learning and teaching. A University-wide call is to be issued for proposals.
The University of Glasgow has launched a £2.3 million initiative to grow online learning and teaching. The investment will run for five years initially and is expected to pay for itself within eight years.
It is intended that the investment in online courses will strengthen capability and capacity for both distance learning and also campus-based learning. Students will be able to get access to a limited range of wholly online, interactive courses available on campus and offering rich feedback.
Later this month a call will be issued for proposals to develop either full distance-learning degree proposals or for the reconfiguration of current, on-campus courses for distance delivery on campus.
A key focus of the initiative will be to develop a portfolio of distance learning programmes aligned with the University’s strengths, some of which addresses the needs of high-level professionals through continuous professional development.
The proposal was put to the University’s Senior Management Group at the end of last year by Professor Frank Coton, Vice Principal (Learning and Teaching). Professor Coton said: “This major investment in online learning has the potential to improve the student experience here while extending our global reach and strengthening our position in existing and developing markets.
“It will also allow us to grow our student population beyond the current physical constraints on our campuses. A limited number of wholly online courses here could also help to alleviate some of our timetabling pressures.”
The University currently has around eight postgraduate certificates/degrees listed as being distance-learning programmes. Not all of these are currently active. In total there are 192 students registered as studying by distance-learning.
Professor Coton said: “There is a significant lack of expertise within the University in online, distance learning. The issue is not to do with engagement with the underlying technology but rather in terms of our experience with delivery and learning support strategies. Our current engagement with MOOCs will help to address this deficiency but this, by itself, will not be enough.”
The investment of £2.34 million over five years will allow the University to appoint additional academic staff to develop distance-learning courses and programmes. It will pay for local resources to support the online development or enhancement of existing campus-based courses and the initiative would also fund a small, central support team to provide schools with expertise in the design and implementation of distance learning.
First published: 18 February 2014
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