374120 The Economic Environment
A Pilot Project in Distance Learning at AUT
by
Robin J F Child
Senior Lecturer Auckland University of Technology
Faculty of Commerce, Private bag 92006, Auckland 1
robin.child@aut.ac.nz
ph 917 9999 x 5781 fax 917 9990
Presented at the New Zealand Applied Business Education Conference held at the Christchurch College of
Education 25 – 27 September 2002
SECTION 1: PLANNING
Successful distance learning programmes don’t happen by accident. “Without exception,
effective distance education programmes begin with careful planning and a focused
understanding of module requirements and student needs” (Willis, 1996, WWW).
The first section of this paper explains the ‘careful planning’ that went into this pilot project
which in one sense, started in 1988 with the completion of the first two video programmes in
the Real World Economics series. However it was not until ten years later, with the
completion of the tenth video programme, and the start of work on a set of internet resources,
that the plan began to take shape. Detailed planning started in early 2000. A number of
proposals and budgets were prepared over the coming months as ideas about the exact nature
of the pilot scheme were pondered, discussed and changed, and in November 2000 a final
proposal was ready. This proposal was presented to the New Zealand Diploma in Business
Board (NZDB) of Studies at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) on the 14 February
2001 and accepted.
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Budget
The budget for the project was drawn up to include a charge for the purchase of the
economics video programmes and the use of the internet resources. Since the cost of these
two resources was estimated to be roughly equivalent to the saving of room costs in the
teaching block, the student fee remained unchanged for off campus students.
Rationale
We planned to offer The Economic Environment1 as a distance learning module for the
following reasons:
1.
To provide an alternative learning option for students who are:
a.
Seeking more flexibility in their study due to work or other commitments.
b.
Able to learn a content-rich subject more readily from self-paced rather
than classroom-paced learning.
c.
Geographically isolated from a tertiary institution.
2.
To increase the profile of the Business Faculty and AUT as an Institution that uses
current technology.
3.
To increase the number of students taking NZDB 120.
4.
To provide for an assumed existing demand for on-line learning.
Survey of Interest
To gauge interest amongst students in studying off campus, an informal survey was carried
out at exam hand-back in November 2000. One hundred and two students were given details
of the proposed delivery of the off campus module and asked to indicate their degree of
interest in studying in this way, if they were at the start of the module. The results were shown
in Table 1 below.
Table 1 Survey of Interest in Studying Economics Off Campus
Interest Level
Very Interested
Interested
Neutral
Not Interested
Percentage of
Respondents
12
48
23
17
This seemed to confirm point four of the rationale above, since 12% of a semester’s intake at
AUT would number around 50 students. This issue is treated in more detail in Section 2 of
this report.
Marketing
Marketing for the distance learning module was via a new section written and incorporated in
the Student Handbook and by advertising through the AUT schools’ liaison officer.
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The Economic Environment is a core module of the New Zealand Diploma in Business and approximately 400
students enrol at AUT each semester.
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Personnel
A large number of people were involved in the development of the project, each of whom
made an invaluable contribution. These included the members of the Board of Studies who
read the proposal and authorised its commencement, support personnel who looked after
enrolments and entered them onto the LearnOnline2 internet programme, administrators who
dealt with the practical matters of mailing out information and resources, IT support personnel
and the two lecturers who developed the Distance Learning course.
Internet Resources
These resources were the final key to offering students the choice of studying economics off
campus and were produced in accordance with well accepted principles of learning design as
reported to the NZDB Conference July 2001 in Auckland (Child, 2001).
Module Requirements and Student Needs
Both lecturers involved in developing this project and facilitating students learning have
developed a deep understanding of the module requirements and student needs with over
thirty years combined experience of teaching this module and its precursors.
SECTION 2: OUTCOMES
Students
Nineteen students enrolled. Table 1 shows the highest level of economics studied by this
group prior to Semester 1 2002.
Table 2 Previous Study of Economics
NZDB resits
Never studied Econ before
No information
Class Total
Number
11
7
1
19
This information provided two surprises:
The first was the very low number of students who actually enrolled, given the interest
revealed by the survey at the end of the previous year. Of course, when people who have
completed a module with success are asked to imagine they are starting again and state if they
would consider studying off campus, their answers are unlikely to be reliable. In anticipation
of over fifty students wanting to study off campus, we had consulted with experienced
colleagues and considered very carefully before making the decision to limit enrolments to
twenty-two students per class. This turned out to be wishful, thinking since only nineteen
students in total enrolled. Second semester 2002 enrolments were even lower, with only nine
students committing to study off campus. However, semester 2 enrolments are traditionally
lower for this module than semester 1 enrolments.
2
LearnOnline is a platform developed at AUT, using Lotus Notes, specifically designed for lecturers to develop
modules based on the world wide web. Full details of this platform can be found in Child, R. (2001). Developing
Economics as an Off Campus Module. NZDB Conference, AUT, Auckland.
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The second surprise was the high number of students (58% of the total) who were NZDB 120
repeaters. When the survey was carried out, it was my strong impression that those who
showed the most interest in studying off campus were predominately the students who had
passed with a high mark (the majority of whom would not have sat NZDB120 before). For
this reason I expected a large proportion of the enrolments to be high calibre, high achieving
students.
Delivery
Both lecturers involved in facilitating the off campus classes were keen to provide a rich
learning experience for the students, and on 21 February 2002 the following resources were
sent out to those enrolled:
1. A weekly topic guide giving suggestions on how to effectively use the resources
in a step by step list,
2. Nine purpose-built video programmes, together with detailed question banks to
provide interactivity,
3. Access instructions to eight purpose-built internet programmes with questions,
immediate feedback and explanations,
4. Weekly homework assignments;
5. Work book of questions and answers;
6. Instructions for purchasing the module text book.
The LearnOnline internet platform also provided discussion topics and a ‘café’ facility.
Students were also encouraged to get in touch with their lecturer via email and phone if they
needed help with any aspect of the module material.
In late December 2001, we had made the decision that we would not ask the students to come
into AUT at the start of the module for an orientation meeting. We both felt that having opted
to study at home, the students would be reluctant to give up a Saturday morning to learn how
to access the internet programmes, use the discussion forums, email the lecturers and be told
how important it was to keep at the work week by week, particularly when many would feel
that they already knew enough about computers to work these tasks out for themselves. In
retrospect this decision was probably a mistake and we held just such a meeting at the start of
Semester 2 for the new enrolment of students.
Tutor Workload
This was a pilot project, so the two tutors involved had only second hand information on how
much work would be involved. As stated above, the enrolments were much lower than we
anticipated. The main area of work once the resources had been prepared, lay in marking their
homework exercises, answering their queries via email and writing letters to the students to
remind them of key dates for tests and collection of scripts and to encourage them to continue
with their studies. The first two tasks are likely to be very variable semester by semester,
depending on the needs of each group of students. Experience shows that even with a
relatively small number of students, answering queries and marking work, does take a great
deal of time.
LearnOnline, the platform for internet resources, has a ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ facility
that will be very useful in allowing us to deal with a large number of similar questions should
the need arise. Because of the relatively small classes so far, this facility has not yet been
used.
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Overall Pass Rate of Students Completing
The pass rate on completion of the off campus delivery was very satisfying with nine out of
the eleven completing students gaining a pass; an 82% pass rate on completion. This
compares with a 76% pass rate on completion for the whole module.
Spread of Grades
The grade percentages for the off campus and whole-module classes are shown in Table 3.
The rates compare favourably with those achieved for the whole group, particularly the
overall pass rate. However there were a high number of withdrawals from the off campus
classes (8 students or 42% of enrolment). However of these eight, five either did not begin
the module or participate in any way.
Table 3 Comparison of Results between Off Campus and Whole Module – Percentages
based on Enrolment
Class
Off
Campus
Whole
Module
Compltn
11
students
317
students
Pass
82%
A
B
C
D
18% 27% 37% 9%
E
9%
76%
22% 32% 22% 10% 13%
Pass Rates of Students Repeating the Module
It was mentioned earlier that a large percentage (58%) of the total enrolment in the off
campus classes were students who had previously failed NZDB Economics at least once. It is
a reasonable assumption that most of them decided to study at home thinking that they had a
better chance of passing. If this was so, their decision was mistaken, for as Table 4 shows
only 3 out of 11 re-sits (27%) gained a pass. In comparison, those who had never studied
economics before obtained a 100% pass rate.
Table 4 Results compared to Previous Study of Economics
Previous Study of
Economics
NZDB resits
Never studied before
No information
Totals
Total
11
6
2
19
Completed
5
6
1
11
Passed
Failed
Withdrew
DNC
3
6
1
6
1
1
2
1
7
1
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Module Appraisal
A detailed hard copy, Module Appraisal form, designed specifically for off campus students,
was sent out before the final test. Ten students completed and returned these forms.
The appraisal consisted of sixteen questions; six requiring students to indicate a response as
shown in Table 5 on the following page; ten requiring a written response.
The total figures in Table 5 give an overall view of a group of students well satisfied with the
delivery and assessment of the module, with 78% in the High and Top classifications and
93% in the Middle to Top.
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Looking at the responses in detail, the highest level of satisfaction was given to the internet
programmes, with seven out of ten students giving them the top mark and two the next
highest mark (1 did not use them at all). One student who gained a B+ said about the internet
programmes – ‘the most helpful resource I have ever used’.
Almost as high was the satisfaction from the weekly guidance sheets. Comments from two A
grade students were ‘Excellent structure; excellent material’
Almost all other responses were very positive, with marks between middle and top, except for
one student who didn’t enjoy the text book.
Table 5 Student Responses to Module Appraisal Questions
Lowest Low Mid
Overall, I found this entire module very
effective
The textbook was excellent for this module
The weekly guidance sheets were helpful
The nine video programmes were helpful
The eight internet programmes were helpful
The assessments were based on the learning
outcomes
Totals
Percentage of Total Response
1
1
1
1
2%
2
3%
2
2
1
2
2
9
15%
High
Top
N/A
7
1
4
4
2
1
5
5
3
7
1
5
23
38%
3
24
40%
1
2%
Answers to Written Response Questions
Homework Exercises
The topic guidance sheets provided weekly homework exercises and students were given the
following instruction in the ‘Letter of Welcome’ to the module:
‘There will be regular tasks to send by snail or email to your tutors for marking and
return. Make sure you cover these by the due date, so that you keep on track with your
studies.’
This follows normal educational procedure and allows feedback to be given on a regular
basis. However, only two students sent in homework exercises regularly. When asked in the
appraisal sheet, seven students said they did the homework exercises but didn’t send them in,
(thus not identifying any mistakes made in their work, since no answers are provided in the
text book), two were too busy and one was late with enrolment and found all suitable classes
full.
Choice to Study Off Campus
Seven students choose to study off campus to avoid having to waste time travelling in or
waiting between lectures, one to avoid parking problems and one found no suitable on
campus times.
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Overall Satisfaction Levels
When asked if they were satisfied with their choice to study off campus, seven students said
‘yes’, including the comment: ‘the best thing I ever did’, and two said ‘no’, due to lack of
motivation and missing the interaction with an on-campus class.
Time Spent Studying Off Campus
The Letter of Welcome included these words about study time:
‘Full time students on campus spend six hours a week in the classroom plus time out of
class, recommended at a further six hours.’
The survey results shown in Table 6 have some remarkable information if the student
responses are to be believed. One student claims to have done no work on a regular basis and
merely ‘looked at the books a day or two before hand’ and achieved a B pass. Another
achieved the same grade on the basis of two hours study a week.
Apart from these two very unusual results, the hours spent studying on a regular basis
correlate very closely with the results.
Table 6 Average Weekly Hours Spent Studying
Number of
Students
Completing
1
2
Average Weekly
Hours Spent
Studying
0
2
1
2
4
5
1
2
6
8
1
Totals 10
Students
10
Pass/Fail/
Grade
Pass
B
Fail
D
Pass
B
Pass
C
Pass
C
Pass
C
Pass
C
Pass
B+
Pass A
Pass A+
9 Passed
SECTION 3: AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT
The experience gained with this pilot project allowed us to identify a number of areas for
improvement.
Homework Exercises
Students were required to email weekly home-works to their lecturers and a number of these
required them to draw graphs as an essential part of the answer. Early in the planning we
foresaw that this could cause a problem and had thought of various ways to solve it.
One was to provide an electronic bank of every graph that could possibly be needed and get
the students to cut and paste it into their answers. However the logistics of achieving this by
the start date were just too difficult.
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Another was to make the assumption that students would know how to draw graphs in
Microsoft Word. Of course they didn’t. This problem was addressed in semester 2, 2002, by
holding an orientation session where this skill was taught and an instruction sheet provided.
However drawing graphs in Word is very time consuming and requires sharp hand- eye coordination. Even with this most satisfying level of control, there are still problems, for while it
improves co-ordination it increases the task time. It has to be said that this area is a problem
for getting completed homework exercises sent in and thus providing off campus students
with regular feedback.
Café and Discussion Forum
Although the LearnOnline platform provided café (informal ‘chat’)and discussion (formal
opinions) facilities to students, they were hardly used. The appraisal form responses gave
reasons for this:
1. Students didn’t know how to use them, in spite of instructions in the programme.
2. They didn’t have time for them.
3. They didn’t see them as necessary, given that there were no marks for them and
that they could get good explanations by emailing their tutor.
4. They didn’t want to expose their learning problems to a public forum of
unknown peers.
These issues were also included in the orientation programme at the start of Semester 2.
Delivery of Module Resources
We had unexpected problems with the delivery of the learning materials. AUT’s courier
system requires the addressee to sign for the package; we only had home addresses and many
students were at work.
This problem was resolved for semester 2 by getting students to email an address where they
could sign for the package, or a request to pick up their package at AUT.
Summary
The overall results were very satisfactory and confirm our decision to develop and offer The
Economic Environment off campus.
References
Child, R. (2001). Developing Economics as an Off Campus Module. NZDB Conference, AUT,
Auckland.
Willis, B. (1996). Distance Education: An Overview Guide #1. Retrieved August13, 2002
from the World Wide Web:http://www.uidaho.edu/evo/dist1.html
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