Nurturing Excellence in E-learning Practice Through an Academic Programme (MA Online and Blended Learning).

This paper describes the development of the MA in Online and Blended Learning aimed at colleagues teaching and supporting learning in Higher Education Institutions. We will present information regarding the local context, strategic initiatives which led to programme creation, including an overview of the UEL e-learning strategy, and situate this within recent UK Higher Education Academy (HEA) e-learning initiatives. We present the features of the programme, needs analysis, and the sources of information which were used to inform the curriculum design and the choice of delivery model. This is related to staff development needs in the fields of e- and distance learning as identified in a recent UEL Benchmarking of E-Learning Exercise. Finally, we describe the approach to development utilised and assess this in terms of its strengths and weaknesses before presenting an evaluation of the approach taken. Further developments and opportunities are also discussed

Citation:
Tracy, H., Vyortkina, D. & Belgrove, M. (2008) ‘Nurturing Excellence in E-learning Practice Through an Academic Programme (MA Online and Blended Learning)’ In: Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2008 Chesapeake, VA: AACE pp. 3549-3556..