The Interactive University

Prof. Roy Leitch

CEO, The Interactive University

Deputy Principal, Heriot Watt University

Opportunities for partnerships

Influences

The World……

…..is getting smaller

Influences..

From teaching ……

…….. to learning

C&IT

is

re-engineering

education

Influences

Interactivity is

the key

Interactive Learning

Learning involves interaction with:

Teachers => interactive tutorials

Knowledge => interactive materials

Peers => interactive discussions

Oneself => interactive assessments

Seeking the best use of human interaction and automated means

Influences

International

standards

Delivered

locally

Global (e) Education

Infinite demand for

post-compulsory accredited education

Objective

Affordable

internationally recognised qualifications

Why it’s important

The Interactive University

Mission• Establish a leading international education

business

• Centre of Excellence for the Scottish sector

• Catalyst for educational ‘modernisation’

• Development and services for the Scottish university Sector

Distributed Education

Authoring

Pedagogy

Examining

Quality

Universities andColleges Interactive

UniversityStudents

Loc

al A

cad

emic

Par

tner

Development

Distribution

Support

Marketing

Sales

Tutorial Support

Continuous Assessment

Infrastructure

Recruitment

Supported e-Learning

Courseware

Assessment

AcademicSupport

LocalInfrastructure

Students

International standards

and recognition

Local contextualisation

and relevance

Academic Provider

Local Partner

“Best of Both Worlds”

International Standards

combined with

local contextualisation

Quality Assurance

• Equivalent Standards

• Equivalent Structure

• Equivalent Opportunity

Joint Initiative

The Interactive University

The Interactive University

The Interactive University

Born on September 11th 2002

Started walking on 1st October 2002

Legal Status

private company

limited by guarantee

without shares

Function

To provide efficient

business oriented services,

at cost , maximising the income to providers

Membership

All Scottish

(post compulsory)

educational institutions

Recent Members

– The Robert Gordons University

– The University of Stirling

– Heriot Watt University

•

•

Forms of Membership

• Core Members• License core programmes

• Sustainable continuous development

• General Members• ‘club’ members

• Foreign educational institutions with commercial agreements with core members for core programmes

Requires

professionally

produced

interactive courseware

Approach

Incremental development

of a consistent compatible

non-competitive range of scalable programmes

Current Position

3,000 students internationally

45,000 students

nationally

(4.5m on-line learning hours)

30 Local

Learning Partners

15 Countries

Initial Products and Services

• BA in Management Programme

• BSc in IT Programme

• MSc in IT Programme

• SCHOLAR Foundation Programme

• SCHOLAR Forum

SCHOLAR

Raising Standards in Science and Mathematics

throughInteractive Learning

Universal Problems

• Science and Mathematics in decline• Teaching considered to be ‘boring’• Staff shortages• Learning too passive • Need to develop enhanced personal skills• Smooth the transition into Higher Education• Reduce failures• Lack of science/engineering/computing graduates

endangering the K-economy

Proven Solutions• Re-vitalise Science and Mathematics Education• Interactive Student-Centred Learning• Make better use of teachers• Increased standards• More consistent and flexible delivery• Increase motivation through technology• reduce failures through (on-line) continuous

assessment• Integration of curricula

SCHOLAR approach

SCHOLAR Forum• educational change process and interactive

community formation

SCHOLAR Materials• interactive on-line materials, complemented by

printed texts

• Complete resource for programme delivery

Essential Point

Both Forum process

and materials delivery

are necessary for

successful implementation

SCHOLAR Forum• Staff Development Programme

• typically 1.5 days/principal teacher/subject/school• interactive learning plus some subject updating• opportunity for CPD/postgraduate qualifications• train the trainers

• Community Formation• Teacher discussion areas• Materials review and involvement in further developments• Annual conference

SCHOLAR Materials

Learning support

Focus sessions

Formative assessments

Interactiveactivities

STUDY GUIDE

Benchmarking & feedback

SCHOLAR on-line Materials

• Developed in topics (10 student effort hours)

• Textual descriptions with graphics

• Interactive animations and simulations

• Interactive formative assessments

• Progress reporting

• Examination papers

• Frequently asked questions

SCHOLAR subjects

‘AS’ Level ‘A’ Level Higher Advanced

Higher

Mathematics Physics Chemistry iology Computing French

More subjects being developed all the time

Virtual Learning Environment

• Virtual Learning Environment

• Interactive learning materials

• Activity reporting system

• Student discussions areas

• Teacher discussion areas

• Frequently asked questions

• External resources

Web based Environment

• Continual updating/improvement of materials

• World-wide community

• Single reference source

• No version problems as in CDRom

• Basic computer requirements

• Standard web browser + plug-ins

SCHOLAR in Scotland

• Initiated in 1999• Partially government funded• 100% penetration in Schools• 42,000 pupils• 3,500 teachers• 33 Local Education Authorities• 12 Further Education Colleges

SCHOLAR outcomes (Scotland)• On average performance one grade higher• Failure rates halved (16% => 8%) • 22% increase in uptake in Science and

Mathematics at Advanced Higher (‘A’ Level)• Recruitment into Science and Engineering courses

at HWU up by 17%• Extremely positive external evaluation• Consistent high ratings from students and staff

SCHOLAR Evaluation

• 85% of staff would recommend it

• 77% of students would recommend it

• 95% of students said it increased their motivation

• 90% made use of the materials from home 3-4 times per week

World’s largest

interactive e-learning

initiative

SCHOLAR International

• Scotland – national programme (44,000)

• England and Wales – London pilot ( 50,000)

• Norway – converted to Norwegian (5,000)

• Malaysia – Matriculation Colleges (22,000)

• Malaysia – Teacher updating (7,500)

• North India

Summary

Standards can be raised

and opportunities equalised

through

Interactive Learning

Summary

The Interactive University: Looking for partners

to deliver international education

locally