School of Informatics

Semi-remote learners Peter Osmon, Lucia Baillie, Virginia Williams and John Knight Professional Liaison Centre School of Informatics

Industrialisation of HE UK is developing a mass HE system with Departments of Computing at the sharp end Explosion in IT student numbers –Citys intake increased from 50 to 100 over ten years –then doubled again to 200 over the past three years Caused by –the boom in IT applications –the corresponding IT skills shortage –a vocational attitude to HE

Models of New millenium undergraduates Commuters: living in the family home –Typical City University Computing student Residents: living away from home (in halls or flats) –Typical York University Computing student (?) Many universities populations are a mix of these two types, together with International students

Properties of Commuter students –live at home and commute into classes –have all year-round part-time jobs –very goal-oriented: the goal is the degree certificate –expect a degree course to teach a set of skills This is a model: a simplification –many City students exhibit these properties –but they are all individuals!

An instructive exercise Write down the characteristics of Residential students A significant distinction between –Commuter students –Residential students Commuters have all-year part-time jobs –for reasons of financial survival the job may take priority over the course

Commuter students: a new species Where did they come from? See Causal Graph Most relevant characteristic: short of time –Part-time employment –Living at home and commuting into Uni

The Professional Pathway A version of Citys computing courses –4-year degree –offered in all-year part-time mode to match the students part-time job pattern the students –have approved 4-day-a-week jobs in IT –come into University 1-day-a-week

Commuter students Their time is precious –Part-time employment –One-hour (average) commute into University They want block timetabling –so they only have to come in 3-days-a-week Typically they have a PC at home and an ISP account They want the option of doing their coursework at home (including labwork where this is feasible) –submitting it from home –having it returned to them at home But they still want face-to-face classes: –learning from their tutors and their peers

Computing Academics Two roles –Teacher & Researcher –Career development depends on research success Rising SSR Commute into the University Time is precious –Typically a PC at home and an ISP account So we should understand our students needs!

e-Technology to save time for students and academics? Web –course administration –publishing handouts –Electronic submission and return of coursework –FAQ trees VLE –MCQs –Chat for Group Project work Plagiarism detectors Courseware is software –expensive to to develop, cheap to run –So only worthwhile for very large classes