Bowers, T

Calvert, M

Cope, N

Gorra, A

Harrison, G

Joslin, M

Sheridan-Ross, J

English

Leeds Beckett Repository

Footprint timetable: the next step Nick Cope, Jakki Sheridan-Ross, Tom Bowers, Maurice Calvert, Andrea Gorra, Gill Harrison and Mike JoslinIn a pure footprint model, there are a number ofpre-conditions for implementation. However, it ispossible to adopt the footprint model with a degreeof flexibility in its operation. Indeed, the model usedby Innovation North uses a set of variants thatallows students to interact with more traditionaldelivery models that are necessitated by Faculty-wide timetabling of resources. The implementationIn Innovation North, the full model has beenimplemented in one discipline area where studentsstudy a range of multimedia, including gamesdesign and animation. Here, the footprint model isstructured through the team-based organisation ofthree academic coaches and support staff assignedto three teams of 30 students. The staff team isresponsible for the totality of the studentexperience and assessment pathways within theconstraints of the scheme. The team is multi-disciplined and its members use both their genericand their specialist skills in curriculum delivery. Forexample, re-usable learning objects may be used byany member of the team to support the delivery of atutorial or provide an introduction to a technique,thus allowing specialist knowledge to be impartedby the appropriate member of the team elsewherein the timetable. The timetable for each team is designed at anaggregate level using four three-hour blocks.Within these blocks, the team is responsible fordesigning the learning experience so that thestudents can achieve the learning outcomes of theirset of modules. A synoptic lecture is scheduled atthe beginning of each week, which may either be alarge lecture for briefing sessions linked to the levelof study, or smaller cluster sessions for deliveringthe week’s challenges. Specialist resources aretimetabled as a breakout session equating toapproximately 20% of the footprint timetable. Thisparameter depends upon the nature of the awardand additional specialist resources can betimetabled if required. IntroductionOver the past three years, Innovation North Facultyof Information and Technology has radicallyredesigned its curriculum and has been innovativein its assessment, learning and teaching practices. The Faculty aims to enhance the student experienceby facilitating truly student-centred andpersonalised learning experiences within flexiblelearning spaces (both virtual and physical). Forexample, tutorials take place in so-called baserooms that have on average three tables, each ofwhich can accommodate ten students. The roomsare enabled for wireless networks and students canborrow laptop PCs from nearby reception areas.The following set of delivery models andassessment designs has been developed to guidedelivery teams in the development and delivery ofcourses and modules:• footprint timetable models• team-based allocation of staff• challenge-based assessment with explicitoutcomes (evidence-based assessment)• creative use of learning spaces. Inspiration for the development of these modelswas drawn from the change in modes of socialcommunication among students (Kent, 2004; JISC,2007) and the delivery and assessment models thatare becoming common practice in the school andFE sectors. Edexcel (the UK’s largest qualificationsawarding body) offers a number of assessmentmodels designed to facilitate students’ engagementthrough units (or blocks), which allow them toevidence their achievement both rigorously andflexibly, utilising blended learning styles.This paper presents an overview of how suchradical changes have been used to shapecurriculum delivery for the Faculty. The conceptThe broad aim of footprint timetabling is toconsolidate the student experience in terms of:• time – by providing larger ‘chunks’ of learning• space – by utilising appropriately furnished rooms • staff – with shared team responsibility for a groupof students• flexibility – by allowing greater scope to beresponsive to students’ learning needs.13ALT JOURNAL NUMBER 4: SUMMER 200836257 New ALT Journal:Layout 1  19/8/08  16:28  Page 13ALT JOURNAL NUMBER 4: SUMMER 200814Variations in implementationIn addition to the standard footprint timetable, otherdisciplines within the Faculty have designed aslightly different curriculum to meet their specificneeds and access to resources. The Music andComputing disciplines, for example, requirespecialist studios and laboratory resources. Inthese areas, access to resources has been a majorfactor in constraining the design of the curriculum.While both Music and Computing are able, in themain, to follow the footprint timetable design, thereremains an element of restriction on resources. Thecurriculum delivery largely follows the purefootprint model by grouping tutorials and lecturestogether on separate days, thus reducing thespread where attendance is required throughout theweek. Tutorials are timetabled to be consistentthroughout the year and delivered in three-hourblocked sessions. Small staff teams design thecurriculum around the modules to be deliveredwithin the footprint timetable rather thanholistically across the level. Teaching is timetabledin a seven-week ‘carousel’ around the availability ofspecialist studios and laboratories. A significantdifference is that the curriculum is designed by aspecialist module team who teach and lecture allclasses for each module, whereas in the purefootprint model staff teach all of the subject areasat a given level.  Challenge-based curriculumThese radical changes to the curriculum structuresuggest that new approaches to designing it may berequired. This view is supported by Morgan (2007)who explored past and present changes to thecurriculum in his paper The new basics: changingcurriculum for 21st century skills:“The new economy needs people who areinnovative, flexible, creative and who have highlevels of emotional and social intelligence. Thisrequires a curriculum that allows these skills andabilities to develop.” (Morgan, 2007)In the pure footprint implementation for Multimediadisciplines, the challenge-based curriculum designis supported by the team-based structure of thestaff responsible for three cohort groups ofstudents. The team considers the context of theaward and designs an appropriate series ofchallenges that flow thematically throughout thestudents’ first year. Appropriate learning objects arethen selected or designed with clear mapping to theachievable outcomes for that level. Although thechallenges can be aligned explicitly with individualmodules, this is not a requirement. This is animportant factor to note as challenges can be usedas an effective way of introducing synoptic (orintegrated) assessment, where multiple learningoutcomes are achieved through one piece of work.Synoptic assessment can be useful in reducing theworkload of staff and the burden of assessment onstudents. Challenge-based learning also offersstudents a flavour of real-world experience andindustry practice that may enhance their futureemployability. Examples of challenges are:A 3-hour challengeComputing students have been accessinglearning objects and practical training related tothe installation of a computer network. Theirtutors have designed a challenge to assess theircompetence in network installation.The challenge is to implement and test a smalloffice network in a university lab within threehours. Students are given an appropriate set ofcomputing resources, including hardware, toimplement their objective.The challenge takes place at 1pm. The tutorsmonitor the students’ progress. Feedback isgiven at 4pm.A 1-day challengeMultimedia students have a split day on theirfootprint timetable on Monday, which means thatthey have a timetabled tutorial session in themorning and the opportunity for a breakoutsession in the afternoon. Their tutors havedesigned a challenge that will address outcomesrelating to teamwork, video editing, audio editingand web-streaming. 36257 New ALT Journal:Layout 1  19/8/08  16:28  Page 14ALT JOURNAL NUMBER 4: SUMMER 2008 15The challenge is to produce a 60-second advertshowcasing Headingley campus, the people, theplaces. Students are briefed on the challengeduring their morning tutorial block andintroduced to the technology to be used andtechniques to be applied. They are given twohours to plan their advert and to go out onlocation to capture the shots they need. Theyreturn to their footprint base-room at 3pm. Theyhave two hours to edit their final production andupload the results to a given website.Production is reviewed by peers and tutors.Feedback is given.Challenge-based curriculum allows the deliveryteam to design assessment activities from a varietyof modules. More radically, the model allowsstudents to identify and claim their own mappingfor evidencing their learning outcomes in a flexiblemanner. ConclusionsThe Multimedia discipline has wholly adopted thepure footprint model, while the disciplines ofComputing and Music have adopted the model in itsbroadest sense, contextualising content wherepossible but finding alternative pathways toincorporate and integrate modules. The approach isnow embedded in the first-year student experience,with further modifications to streamline alldisciplines in the same way planned from September2008. While the migration to this new approach is notyet complete, the management of change forteaching staff has been found to be a significantfactor in defining appropriate timescales, as is paringdown the number of modules offered on awards.Staff were supported and encouraged in the adoptionof these new ideas by staff development sessionsbefore the course began, together with ongoingsupport sessions during the course at which theycould discuss any problems or queries. A formal survey of student and staff reactions tothis new approach is currently being undertakenand initial impressions are positive. For example,some staff felt that the attendance seemedgenerally better than under previous systems andthe students appeared to form strong bonds withintheir tutorial groups, gaining a sense of identity andbelonging to their chosen discipline. Thecurriculum seemed to have benefited from theability to arrange sessions in creative and flexibleways and has given staff the opportunity to workclosely with colleagues in designing a responsivecurriculum. A detailed evaluation of this redesignedcurriculum and its innovative assessment, learningand teaching practices is in progress, and furtherdetails will be available later in the year. Future plans for developing the footprint timetableapproach to curriculum design and delivery shouldenable the improved integration of modules tofacilitate synoptic assessment. ReferencesEdexcel (2004) Introducing the 50/50 model. Availableat: http://www.edexcel.org.uk/subjects/a-z/btecschools/ri/curric-des/ [Accessed 28 April 2008].JISC (2007) JISC Learner Experiences of e-LearningRecommendations for IT managers and staff. Bristol:Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).Available at:http://www.jisc.ac.uk/search.aspx?keywords=social%20communication&filter=s [Accessed 28 April 2008].Kent, N. (2004) Different worlds? A comparison ofyoung people's home and school ICT use. JCAL 20,440-455. Available at:http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/publications_reports_articles/external_publications/External_Publication630 Morgan, J. (2007) The new basics: changingcurriculum for 21st century skills. VISION Magazine,January 2007. Available at:http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/publications_reports_articles/vision_magazine/VISION_Article254Nick Cope, Jakki Sheridan-Ross, Tom Bowers,Maurice Calvert, Andrea Gorra, Gill Harrison andMike JoslinInnovation North Faculty of Information andTechnology36257 New ALT Journal:Layout 1  19/8/08  16:28  Page 15

Different worlds? A comparison of young people's home and school ICT use.

Introducing the 50/50 model. Available at: http://www.edexcel.org.uk/subjects/a-z/ btecschools/ri/curric-des/

JISC Learner Experiences of e-Learning Recommendations for IT managers and staff.

Footprint timetable: the next step

Footprint timetable: the next step

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