Case 4: Multi-campus teaching to large student cohorts: Social Research Methods
Professor Evan Willis, Sociology; Pam Wallace, Social Sciences.
Introduction to Social Research Methods is taught to second and third year students at both Bundoora and Albury-Wodonga campuses, to about 400 students in 2008.
The Challenge: To offer an equivalent experience for students on each campus. The program has sought to teach one unit over two campuses with a minimum of duplication of teaching arrangements between campuses.
The approach: Evan and Pam designed an approach which offered one 2-hour lecture per week to each campus, and a weekly workshop which alternated between a face-to-face tutorial and an online presentation with activities:
- Lectures are given each week by the on-campus lecturer.
- Face-to face workshops: A two hour face-to face workshop is given each fortnight per campus.
- Online overview: In alternate weeks, a 45 minute audio-visual overview is available through Lectopia (using Camtasia to provide spoken word with presentation material), followed by exercises to complete for the next week’s workshop.
In the following week this cycle is reversed, so that when Albury-Wodonga receives the face-to face two hour workshop, Bundoora receives the online overview and exercises.