Speaker: Alejandro Armellini, dean of learning and teaching and director of the Institute of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education at the University of Northampton. The new Waterside campus opened in September 2018 to staff and students at the University of Northampton. It's an outstanding space for learning, teaching and research, with no lecture theatres or staff offices. This interactive keynote offers a summary and a critique of the journey so far, including the process of pedagogic transformation, the achievements, the challenges they have encountered and of course, those that lie ahead.

1. London – 11 June
Active blended learning
at Northampton, an
update from the new
campus
Alejandro Armellini, dean of learning and
teaching and director of the Institute of
Learning and Teaching in Higher Education,
University of Northampton

2. Active blended learning at Northampton
- an update from the new campus
Prof Alejandro Armellini
Dean of Learning and Teaching
University of Northampton
Ale.Armellini@northampton.ac.uk
@alejandroa

4. Active Learning
Active learning “…involves
students in doing things and
thinking about the things they are
doing”.
Bonwell and Eison (1991: 19)

6. Dimensions of
the blend?
Face-to-face
+
Online

7. Dimensions of
the blend?
Face-to-face 35%
+
Online 65%

9. Dimensions of the blend
Face to face Online
Online teaching Independent learning
Individual Group-based
Synchronous Asynchronous
“Purely academic” Employability-focused
Campus Mobile
Tutor-assessed Peer-assessed
Placement-intensive Few or no placements
…

10. A course follows an ABL methodology if it:
 Is taught through student-centred activities to develop
knowledge and understanding, independent learning &
digital fluency.
 Has a core, collaborative face-to-face component, explicitly
linked to learning activity outside the classroom.
 Helps to develop autonomy, Changemaker attributes and
employability skills.
Source: ILT website

11. Pre-session
exposure to content
?
F2F session:
analysis, discussion,
reflection & goal
setting
Post-session online
work: consolidation
& evaluation
@alejandroa

12. @alejandroa
Pre-session
exposure to
content
Sense-making
activities
Analysis,
discussion,
reflection & goal
setting
Post-session
consolidation &
evaluation
In and outside the classroom,
individually or in groups
Face to face,
seminar format
In and outside the
classroom, individually
or in groups

13. @alejandroa
Pre-session
exposure to
content
Sense-making
activities
Analysis,
discussion,
reflection & goal
setting
Post-session
consolidation &
evaluation
In and outside the classroom,
individually or in groups
Face to face,
seminar format
In and outside the
classroom, individually
or in groups
scaffold

14. Sense-
making
activities
Analysis,
discussion &
goal setting
Post-session
consolidation
& evaluation
Pre-session
exposure to
content
Face to face,
seminar format
In and outside
the classroom,
individually
or in groups
Scaffold

15. A course is not
taught in ABL
if:
 It makes regular use of non-interactive lectures,
or
 The VLE (or LMS) is primarily a content
repository, or
 Online activity is merely an add-on to the face-
to-face sessions, or
 There is no evidence of systematic
enhancement.

16. Explicit
Deliberate
Evidence-based

17. Capacity building
To redesign the entire
portfolio
Low cost, high value

18. blueprint
storyboard
prototype
check
reality
review
Action Plan
CAIeRO:
a team approach
to course design
Creating Aligned Interactive
educational Resource Opportunities
Based on Carpe Diem
www.northampton.ac.uk/ilt

19. CAIeRO (Carpe Diem): a team approach
to course design

20. www.northampton.ac.uk/ilt

21. www.northampton.ac.uk/ilt

22. Digital literacy
• With support, I can
use some digital tools
to enhance my
teaching
Digital
competence
• I can enhance my
teaching by using a
range of digital tools
mostly autonomously
Digital fluency
• I can lead digital
transformation for
departmental and
institutional growth

23. Digital literacy
• My knowledge and
understanding of
digital
Digital
competence
• My digital
practice
Digital fluency
• Influencing the
digital practices
of others

24. Lectures?
• Spaces, layouts and
technologies may be
conducive to
“information delivery”
• Teacher-centred
components?
Image source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/auditorium-lecture-hall-lecture-theatre-university-730818/

25. Hybrid or blended as standard
vs
Active Blended Learning as the
(new) normal
The ABL pedagogic model shaped
the Waterside Campus

27. The Waterside Campus
24/7 Learning Hub
Flexible use of space
In the centre of the town, by the river
Personalisation: no lecture theatres
No staff offices
Active blended learning as the new normal
Northampton’s new campus for today and the (near) future

28. “Interactive learning spaces”
vs
Practices conducive to
meaningful interactions in
any space

29. De-cluttering teaching rooms
Free from:
• Lecterns
• Fixed computers
• Cables and connectors
• Projectors
• Keyboards
• …

30. Teaching rooms
Wireless collaboration, presentation, and
student activity for knowledge construction

31. • Efficiency
• Flexibility
• Collaboration
• Shared ownership: learning commons vision

33. Learners
Learning
Knowledge
Academics
Teaching
Graduateness
Technology
Learning locations

34. Image by Gilly Salmon, https://www.gillysalmon.com/learningfutures.html

35. Image by Gilly Salmon, https://www.gillysalmon.com/learningfutures.html
?
Education 4.0?

36. Education 4.0?
Partners
Active, augmented, personalised
Co-developed, refined and applied
through collaboration
Partners, learners, enablers,
leaders, mentors
Adaptive, creative, context-
sensitive
Leading to ethical, digitally fluent,
future-focussed citizenship
Negotiated, intelligent, integrated,
normalised
Purposeful, AI-enabled, diverse

37. What matters is not
the content per se
but what students do with it
(sense-making) to achieve
great outcomes
Content is not King.
Context is.

38. What matters is not
the technology
but what students and staff do
and create with it

39. What matters is not
the space
but how we use it

40. The question is not “does X
work?” or “should X be part
of the campus of the
future?”, but
how can we use X
to enable students to
benefit from an outstanding
learning experience

41. Thank you
Prof Alejandro Armellini
Dean of Learning and Teaching
University of Northampton
Ale.Armellini@northampton.ac.uk
@alejandroa