Modelling benefits-oriented costs for technology enhanced learning
Diana Laurillard
CQU Rockhampton Colloquium13 June 2006
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Course Outline
Distribution of resources
Course Schedule/Calendar
Session plans and learning
activities
Public plans
Lecturer’s plans
Data Data
Data
Publish to staff
and students
Data
StudentsData
Learning Design Information Flow
Key
Initial conditions: Course curriculum
ResourcesExperience
Data
Data
Data
Data
Distribution of resources:- Optimal distribution of staff and student time across teaching/learning methods? - Benefits - costs analysis- Is there a role for TEL?
Modelling lecturer practice and learner experience to plan for the ambition of affordable personalised learning
Planning for radical change…
How will lecturers and learners distribute their time?How will personalised learning be affordable?
What proportion of learning should be online?
No consistency in costing new technology methods across institutions
No consistency in the parameters to be used for comparing the costs of new technology with the costs of traditional methods, within an institution
No critical literature: studies do not comment on discrepancies
Costing models give little help in measuring costs for a particular institution, department, or course
No agreement on how best to compare benefits of new technology against traditional methods
Problems in the existing costing literatureProblems in the existing costing literature
Define benefit parameters that can differentiate between old and new methods
Define the cost parameters that can be associated with comparative benefits
Focus on the major cost driver of staff time
Represent value to the learner in terms of use of their time
Support the local exploration of the cost-benefit relationship
Represent technology-specific benefits
Represent benefits in terms of improvements in learning
User requirements for a benefits-cost User requirements for a benefits-cost
analysis of learning design at canalysis of learning design at course level
Provide template with default parametersProvide template with default parameters
- learning/teaching methods- learning/teaching methods
- learning activity types- learning activity types
- student numbers- student numbers
- group sizes- group sizes
and calculation of implied staff resourcesand calculation of implied staff resources
A support tool for A support tool for modelling resource
distribution for a course
Support customisation of parametersSupport customisation of parameters
Generate plan for Course including time and learning activity Generate plan for Course including time and learning activity
requirements and constraints for online componentsrequirements and constraints for online components
Course design 1 shows a possible course, with staff time calculated below.Yellow cells are for user input. Red figures are calculated from these.Use 'Course design 1' to describe a course that is traditional and understood in terms of costs.Use 'Course design 2' to generate and test variations on this.
Course design 1
Print Tutorial Marking Lab etc. ICMA Tools WebR CMC Aud/Gr Total hours
Attending 30 30
Investigating 0
Discussing 10 10
Practising 0
Articulating 10 10
Total 30 10 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 50
Staff days per study hourAcademic 4.00 0.00 0.00 0.53 1.00 0.33 0.33 0.00 0.13Production 2.00 0.00 0.00 2.00 2.00 1.00 0.53 0.40 1.00Presentation 0.00 0.20 0.01 0.20 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.27 0.16
Staff time (days) to develop and present the course above Total days
No. of students = 100Academic 120.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 120Production 60.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 60Presentation 0.0 10.0 8.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 18
Total 180.0 10.0 8.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 198Staff days per student 1.98Break-even fee for teaching component £ 440********************************************************************************************************************
Staff average salary cost £ 40,000 Teaching days p.a. 180 Per diem £ 222
Yellow cells can be altered. Course design 2 is for you to design, with its staff time calculated below
Course design 2
Print Tutorial Marking Lab etc. ICMA Tools WebR CMC Aud/Gr Total hours
Type of learning activity, definitions linked to learning process framework (initially CF); editable
Worked example for traditional course, showing distribution of student time across type of learning activity; editable Default figures for staff time needed for
each type of teaching method, linked to explanations of estimates, case examples, how each method contributes to type of learning activity; editable
Student numbers; editable
Generates resulting cost breakdown and calculates cost per student in terms of staff time
Default figures for staff time costs, group sizes, etc; editable
Blank template for new design for comparison
Course design 1 shows default data for a traditional courseYellow cells are for user input
Design 1: Distribution of teacher and
learner time for traditional
teaching methods
Staff time distributed
over traditional methods
£1.03 per student hour
Design 1: Distribution of teacher/learner
time for traditional teaching
methods
at a cost of ~£1 per student hour
Design 2: Distribution of teacher/learner time for an
increase in personalised learning
higher staff-student ratio
less time in large groups
more individual formative assessment
more learner discussion
more active learning
Staff time redistributed to give less whole class, more active
learningGroups adjusted to
smaller sizes
£1.34 per student hour
Design 2: Distribution of teacher/learner time for
an increase in personalised learning
higher staff-student ratio
less time in large groups
more individual formative assessment
at a cost of £1.34 per student hour
= 30% increase in cost
Design 3: Distribution of teacher/learner time for
an increase in personalised learning
with same conditions
higher staff-student ratio
less time in large groups
more individual formative assessment
but using e-learning to support one
third of the learning experience
Staff time redistributed over traditional and e-learning methods Define amount of
re-use & shared use of resources
Maintain group sizes through use of online activities
and resources
£0.97 per student hour
Design 3: Distribution of teacher/learner time for an
increase in personalised learningwith same conditions
higher staff-student ratioless time in large groups
more individual formative assessment using e-learning to support one third of the
learning experienceand deploying 20% as re-usable learning objects
at a cost of ~£1 per student hour = original cost
Modelling tools:
Do not describe the system.
They are planning tools
to clarify thinking
to help identify the key parameters
to experiment with alternative plans
to define what it takes to realise a plan
They allow us to understand how to deliver
personalised learning in a way that is affordable
Discussion: How useful would such a tool be?
