Eimer Sparham and Sally Gatward

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Eimer Sparham and Sally Gatward

• Distance Learning
• The Centre for Labour Market Studies Approach

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Objectives of this presentation

• Provide a short overview of CLMS.
• CLMS - Pyramid of courses and student numbers.
• Student locations and Agent responsibilities.
• Team organisation and staff roles CLMS ethos.
• Useful practices and resources that work for
  CLMS.
• What do you think? Further discussion.

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Centre for Labour Market Studies Overview.

• CLMS is 100 DL department it is our core
  business.
• Courses developed from research by the founder of
  CLMS-Professor David Ashton back in 1986.
• Davids research examined issues concerning
  labour markets, and all his research and findings
  feed into the course materials that we offer
  today.
• Masters Programme launched in 1990 and they were
  the first of their kind - MSc level and Distance
  Learning teaching mode.
• Growth of our courses has been responsive to
  demand - we have over 1000 active students.
• Head of Department Dr John Goodwin.
• 13 academic members of staff 10 support staff.

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CLMS Mission and Vision

• To consolidate CLMS as one of the leading
  international centres of research and teaching in
  the fields of employment and training.
•  
• To produce research on labour market and training
  issues which contributes to academic knowledge
  and is of practical policy relevance.
•  
• To produce and deliver courses in employment and
  training to the highest academic standards with
  the highest quality of support.
•  

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CLMS Courses and Student Numbers
Doctorate 133 PhD 8 MSc 678 Diploma
134 Certificate 74

• New programmes BSc, MRes, MSc in Skills and
  Performance

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Course Development

• All the DL courses are regularly updated and
  edited with regard to the research expertise of
  the staff who work at CLMS. This has resulted in
  a research-led teaching approach.
• Some of these research-led areas include
• Work organisation and the labour process
• Labour markets and skills
• Learning Technologies and professional
  development
• Work and learning
• Young workers and older workers learning
  transitions
• Balance between delivering high quality,
  transnational distance learning programmes and
  enhancing our reputation for high quality
  research.

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How we Teach

• Course materials.
• Blackboard.
• Teaching events overseas and UK based.
• Tutorials e-mail, telephone, face-to-face and
  Skype.
• Student Support officer.
• Distance Learning Library.
• Assessment process and feedback.

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Agents and Partners

• Caribbean SBCS
• Caribbean EfA
• Cyprus Savvides Institute
• Denmark - Scandanavian
• Business Academy
• East Africa Education for Africa

• Greece Icon Training Ltd
• Hong Kong SPACE
• Malta FHRD
• Nigeria Leadmode Consult Ltd
• UAE Stafford Associates
• Ghana Quality Distance Learning

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Who are our students?Different needs to campus
based

• Mature professionals/worklife balance.
• Senior positions/heavy workloads.
• Lots of travel and working on the move.
• Armed forces issues with access to ICT and
  internet.

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Locations of CLMS students
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CLMS Teams
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CLMS Staff Ethos

• CLMS work is organised via teams that overlap.
• All staff roles are documented.
• Deliver high quality DL to enhance student
  experience.
• CLMS staff have many years service.
• CLMS try to reward staff by making them feel
  instrumental in achieving the departments mission
  and vision.
• CLMS quality indicators include with regard to
  our students
• Low number of appeals and complaints.
• Continuous student feedback and evaluation.

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What our students say about us

• during the degree programme I was impressed
  with the high level of support I received...
• I really think that in no other times in my
  academic work have I received as much
  constructive, specific and valuable feedback
• The centre staff were wonderful to deal with by
  providing personalized support and encouragement
  throughout my studies
• As I work towards my third degree with CLMS I
  have been promoted again
• CLMS customer focus works as we have a high
  percentage of student progressing through our
  pyramid structure of courses. For example,
  starting with Certificate course through to the
  Diploma, MSc and Taught Doctorate/PhD.

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Jim Mc Dermott A CLMS Graduate
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CLMS Staff Ethos

• Empowering staff Organisations can discourage
  their people from bringing their brains to work,
  but at CLMS we try to give staff the opportunity
  to bring their brains to work and their hearts
  will follow.
• Enjoying Work CLMS feel teams should be
  multi-skilled. Get people to do the things they
  like to do in the team.
• Skills CLMS believes that all employees should
  be multi-skilled. With training and the right
  motivation their skill base can be increased.

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CLMS Staff Ethos

• Good Team Leaders - The first quality they need
  is they must be a leader. Our team leaders need
  to be able to develop their teams in order to
  take on more responsibility to achieve the
  company's aim.
• Value Staff CLMS tries to ensure that staff
  feel equally valued. We try to empower and
  support teams by giving them the tools and the
  training so they can give outstanding customer
  service to the students.
• Goals Give teams long term goals which they
  own. Being in control is
  a great motivator. Turn the pyramid upside down
  i.e. students at the top, teams
  looking directly after
  students. Management's role is
  to support the teams in
  achieving their goals.

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Student Support Role
Student Support Officer An additional element
of my role is to provide support and guidance to
those students having difficulties i.e.
withdrawals, outlines, drafts, help and advice
over the phone or by e-mail. Able to empathise
with students due to my experience and
knowledge. Committed to increasing the student
experience the CLMS reputation is very
important.
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Practices that work for CLMS

• Academic Writing Skills (AWS)
• CLMS Filemaker Pro Database.
• Course materials - Module 4 research methods
  materials which engages students in methods
  prior to them embarking on their dissertation.
• Agents follow the CLMS ethos and service model
  i.e. Malta FHRD.
• Customer service at CLMS events i.e. Teaching
  days and Graduation.

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CLMS Blackboard

• What we are doingLets log on!!!

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To Conclude - What do you think?

• Discussion about how this can be pushed forward
  and developed for all University of Leicester DL
  providers
• How can we work together and share practices?

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The End

• Any Questions?
• Email Eimer or Sally on
• ebo1_at_le.ac.uk
• sjg24_at_le.ac.uk