Can online teaching technologies help UK universities to face the challenges of the future?

9 January 2012

A recent open letter in ‘The Washington Post’ blog, “Eight thoughts on higher education in 2012” (12/22/2011) highlighted some of the pitfalls facing the higher education sector in the US; these may also have high relevance for UK universities. Blog author, Daniel de Vise, contends:

Many of our current challenges are long-term and will, if anything, become more serious. These include the decline in federal and state support of higher education, the practical ceiling on tuition created by household income levels, and the advent of technology that fundamentally reshapes the teaching and learning processes.

The easy-to-make arguments don’t advance our cause. Two of the most tempting of these are the arguments that education is invaluable and that the for-profit sector needs tighter regulation. Policy makers accept these points, and they’re responding accordingly. But their efforts to regulate the for-profits and to preserve higher education funding in the face of health care and pension demands only remind them of the real elephant in the room, the growing per-student cost of higher education.

This would seem to be borne out by evidence in the UK: the number of UK students who have applied to start university in 2012 has fallen by 15%, according to official figures from the university admissions service. Autumn 2012 is when fees at many universities will rise to £9,000 a year.

Of course, all of the advantages of a university education, both in academic terms, earnings-potential and the wider learning and life-experience still exist, however it seems increasingly important for universities to offer, and to be seen to offer, the best possible range of services, teaching methods and ‘assurances to success’ as possible.

Within the Faculty of Health at Birmingham City University these concerns are just as acute however the faculty has taken a far-sighted view and already has in place several solutions advised in the Daniel de Vise article. Some now form part of normal course delivery across many healthcare modules and are therefore proven demonstrating a measurable increase in skills and knowledge acquisition.

One of these, the Virtual Case Creator, allows pre-registered health and social care students to practise their decision-making skills within virtual environments that closely resemble those they’re likely to experience in the real world. Developed over the past eight years, VCC now fields an array of over 30 case studies and is so flexible that its use has been extended to post-registered staff training and as a component of continued professional development training: the technology has already been adopted by several other Universities and an NHS Trust.

The ethos of VCC is very much in accordance with solutions offered in the Washington Post blog:

Technology and innovation make it possible to grow our way out of financial trouble and organizational resistance to change. In the purely brick-and-mortar, scholarship-driven university model, growing the student body means growing the operating deficit (absent unconscionably large class sizes). However, online learning allows for profitable growth. The financial surplus generated is just one benefit. The other is the growth of the student body, which decreases the need to cut under-enrolled programs and allows others to expand. Growth, with its prospect of new opportunities, fosters openness to innovation and change.

VCC offers Birmingham City University students a new, hands-on way to learn and practice their skills which suits those who may respond less well to more conventional class room teaching. In terms of the student experience, VCC encourages students to think holistically about the decisions they make and continually reinforces those essential, but more elementary skills that are sometimes ‘front-loaded’ into healthcare education. VCC is available on demand 24/7 and can be revisited whenever required.

BCU has recently undertaken a set of commercialisation processes to make the Virtual Case Creator more affordable and easier to integrate with existing training developed both by other universities and within the healthcare sector generally. In some instances this has taken the form of a partnership so that teaching modules are constructed that present students with the most current and pressing challenges found in modern healthcare environments.

If you would like to find out how VCC can help your institution prepare for the challenges facing providers of healthcare training in 2012 please contact:

Derek Hopper

Business Development Manager

Birmingham City University

Seacole 357, City South Campus

Westbourne Road, Edgbaston

Birmingham B15 3TN

Tel: 0121 331 6188

Mob: 07969 252 132

Email: derek.hopper@bcu.ac.uk

Web: www.vcc.uk.com

www.bcu.ac.uk/health/business-and-innovation/e-learning-education-and-training/virtual-case-creator