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SCOPE Project Lecturer's Report: 47JF Child Welfare Policy and Practice (Prof. Chris Turner) University of Stirling, Autumn 1997

Introduction.

Unit 47JF is an honours option in Sociology and Social Policy.

In Autumn Semester 1997, the unit outline was made available on-line on the Stirling University Intranet. This included the lecture and workshop programme, the coursework requirements, and the examination guidelines. There was a direct ‘click-on’ from this outline to the SCOPE on-line selections. A Bulletin Board for the unit was also operated via the Intranet. The regular updates on the Bulletin Board included all information relevant to the SCOPE on-line experiment. There were 48 undergraduates on the roll.

Unit 47JF is designed to promote student learning. In Autumn 1997, the strategy adopted was to use SCOPE on-line readings as an integral component of the workshop programme, and as a basis for examination revision.

The initial plan was as follows:

• the lecture programme was designed as an introduction to key concepts and arguments and a guide to reading - there were to be two lectures per week;
• the IT laboratory workshops were designed to enable students to enhance their use of IT skills for sociological and policy analysis, and to provide direct access to Scottish child welfare statistics (available on Microsoft Excel), and to comparative child welfare statistics available on the Internet - there were to be five two hour IT workshops during the semester;
• a parallel workshop series was designed to encourage discussion and debate of key conceptual and theoretical issues, and problems in the interpretation of data - there were to be five two hour workshops during the semester - it was intended that students should to make significant use of the SCOPE on-line readings for this workshop;
• the final week of the teaching semester was designated as a reading and consultation week for examination preparation - it was also intended that students should to make significant use of the SCOPE on-line readings during this period.

Initial design.

The initial selection of SCOPE readings for the workshop programme was guided by two different principles.

1. A small set of readings was selected for the purpose of introducing students to basic conceptual and theoretical issues to be addressed during the unit.
2. A core ‘starter’ set of readings consisting of either one or two key substantive articles or chapters for each workshop was selected. The purpose of these core readings was to provide all 48 students on the programme with an opportunity to study the same data on the workshop topic as part of their preparation. In addition, each student was assigned the task of searching library/internet resources for comparative materials from another country or jurisdiction on the same topic, and making a contribution to the workshop from such reading .

The same SCOPE on-line materials were chosen so as to be relevant to, but not sufficient for, examination preparation. Each examination question was set in such a way as to require comparative analysis. Students were informed that the SCOPE on-line readings would not constitute a sufficient basis for providing acceptable answers to any examination question.

Planning issues.

There were several problems during the planning phase for launching a SCOPE on-line selection for unit 47JF.

1. The lead time - from February 1997 to September 1997 - was insufficient.
2. Key contributions were not available either because of publishers’ refusals to participate, or because of delays in getting decisions from publishers.
3. The issue of how students would access the material for printing was not settled.

Unfortunately there were also delays caused by technical problems during the semester, and it was not until after mid-semester break that the 47JF SCOPE on-line experiment began.

Student feedback.

Regular oral feedback was collected from students after the autumn mid semester break. The availability of the selected SCOPE on-line readings was greatly appreciated, despite the initial teething problems. Access to the selections for reading on the screen was judged to be excellent. However, there continued to be a major set of difficulties associated with printing. These difficulties ranged from denial of print access, through failure of print queuing to partial printing of a selection (varying from one to several pages actually printed before printing ceased). Students recognised that this was one of the consequences of being the 'guinea pigs' in this situation, and expressed their appreciation of the efforts of technical staff to identify the underlying causes of the problems, and put them right.

Students were extremely disappointed that the SCOPE selections, unlike the rest of the Intranet and Internet material could not be accessed, even on a read-only basis, from anywhere but the 4Y2 IT laboratory. (N.B. The print facilities promised for the library failed to materialise until the examination period.)

The students felt that the initial strategy for the workshops had been an excellent one, but that it came into operation too late to allow a full and fair trial. They were in no doubt, however, that the SCOPE on-line system had been exceptionally useful for examination preparation - giving them rapid and easy access to key passages which they wished to review or re-consider.

Students contrasted their access to the general range of Intranet and Internet study materials, with the far more rigid approach imposed by the SCOPE on-line system. In particular, they felt that it could often be a waste of time and resources to print out the whole selection, rather than just the passages they wanted. One positive suggestion was that there should be an abstract of each selection which could be printed independently, whether provided via SCOPE or the unit outline.

Students expressed themselves willing to embrace any system which could save them hours of delay and frustration competing for access to study materials in the library. They were in no doubt that ‘warts and all’ the SCOPE on-line experiment had been worthwhile, and could see a vast potential for expansion of the system.

Most students, when confronted with the question of costs, indicated that they would be willing to pay the photocopying rate per page - possibly more if selected pages could be printed rather than the whole chapter or selection. (In this context, it is worth noting that the Donzelot selection was reproduced in four separate sections, and that this was extremely popular with the students.)

Staff comment.

Despite all the teething problems, the SCOPE on-line experiment has to be judged a success. It must also be noted that the potential is much greater than the initial achievements on unit 47JF might suggest.

SCOPE on-line readings are especially useful in the following circumstances:

• where student numbers are too great for the short term mass use of current library holdings,
• where short 'core' or 'starter' readings are identified for to be read by all students on a unit,
• where there are difficult key theoretical or methodological readings which require intense study,
• where groupwork based round common reading is an integral aspect of programme design and student learning.

In summary, one of the major advantages of SCOPE on-line is that it is a more effective means of achieving the aims set out for the reserve book room (RBR) system than RBR as it presently operates.

It fits well with the new mass teaching and learning approach being adopted in under-resourced undergraduate programmes in the University, and makes a contribution to innovative IT based learning strategies for students.

It must be recognised, however, that SCOPE on-line readings can only make a small though extremely important contribution to facilitating student learning. There is still a need for access to a wide range of single copies of books and articles, which may only be used by one student in a class of 50 or more. The range of accessible reading materials needs to be even greater and in more concentrated selections, when project and dissertation work are involved. A significant start has been made in the social sciences in providing Internet access to on-line journals and there is now a small but excellent range of teaching and learning resources relating to research methods available on the Internet.