UNIVERSITY OF WOLVERHAMPTON

The University of Wolverhampton’s motto is “Innovation and Opportunity”, and as a provider of both for more than a century, the university continually explores ways that change can advance its pedagogical goals, support its call for wider participation in higher education, and further its reputation for producing highly employable graduates. In the most recent Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) review, Wolverhampton was commended for its enhancement of student learning opportunities.

In the 1990s, Wolverhampton was a leader in technologyenhanced learning, developing a homegrown virtual learning environment (VLE) that was well-liked by students and faculty. Whilst the VLE had a high adoption rate, it was often used as a ‘dumping ground’ or a repository for documentation, meeting management and quality processes. In 2016, the rapid pace of technology prompted the university to seek a new VLE that would support the ever-evolving nature of education, put students first, and help the university return to the forefront of innovation.

In addition, Wolverhampton embarked on a Digital Campus Transformation Programme (part of a £250m “Our Vision, Your Opportunity” investment), a strategy designed to allow everyone on campus to engage with learning resources and each other at any time and from any place - essentially creating a campus without boundaries.

The university needed a partner for the Digital Campus. “The VLE is the hub for all learning and teaching activity. So we wanted to enable the opportunity to change the way people teach, the way students learn,” said Gareth Kirk, senior project manager for the university

More than 70 members of the Wolverhampton community took part in the procurement process for a new VLE. Wolverhampton wanted buy-in from all stakeholders to ensure that the VLE they chose would facilitate a culture change to match the technology change. “It’s easy to just change from one system to another. That’s not what we wanted to do,” said Kirk. “We wanted to engage, we wanted to listen, we wanted to learn from the way we go about things. It was all to change the culture of the university. We had never done this before.” Paul Towers, an educational developer for Wolverhampton further explained: “Technology is just a tool. Academics should drive their teaching and learning.”

In 2016, Wolverhampton chose Canvas as their new VLE and immediately developed a programme for early adopters, who then offered feedback about Canvas. A cross-disciplinary team helped drive adoption by preparing academics and other staff for the 2017 Canvas launch with a ‘pedagogy first’ review of their courses and modules.

They also focused training on the university’s goals and reinforced those goals by reminding them of the capabilities of Canvas. The Dean of the College of Learning and Teaching, Dr. Phil Gravestock, said, “For me, what Canvas is going to do for the university is to provide an opportunity for everyone to reflect on their learning and teaching. We’ve had a system for a long time and I think people have become very used to doing things in a certain way. I think what Canvas does is actually provide a prompt to think about what people are doing and why they’re doing it. For me, one of the benefits of Canvas is the flexible way in which the materials can be structured and organised, and for students to navigate their way through those processes.”

At the start of the term in September 2017, Wolverhampton began delivering courses for all 500 of its degree programmes on Canvas. The university plans to further leverage Canvas by moving from surface changes to deep changes and by being more collaborative, inclusive and transparent. It is putting students first, connecting Wolverhampton, and pursuing electronic management assessment in the coming years. It’s all part of the Digital Campus and other investment programmes to enhance the learning experience, harness education technology, and drive economic growth in the region.

Sally Sturge, a senior lecturer at Wolverhampton who took part in the early adopter programme said, “The benefits of Canvas for me are really about us as academics being able to be really creative and innovative in the way we now deliver our teaching methods. It almost brings a virtual learning environment within the classroom environment as well. It allows the students to engage a lot more effectively, I feel, in terms of their learning styles, their learning needs.” At Wolverhampton, the success stories are just beginning. They say the key elements of successful change have included:

• Strong vision
• Skilled staff
• Stakeholder engagement
• Thorough plan
• Clear benefits
• Leading with pedagogy, not technology

By focussing on these elements, the university is making their way back as a leader in implementing technology, with Canvas supporting that journey. Hannah Cooper, VLE engagement and communications officer, said, “We didn’t want this to be a customer/supplier relationship. We wanted it very much to be a strategic partnership, working together to develop the university’s goals as well as Canvas’.”