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Attributes done through placements/employers, objectives are agreed and how they will hit targets.

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This mapping document provides a curriculum view on our building digital capabilities: the six elements defined model. It is closely related to the learner profile and asks curriculum teams to assess how a course of study (or smaller unit) will prepare learners with the capabilities and practices outlined.

Try this out:

Review the curriculum mapping for the Jisc 'six elements' framework

Taking elements in turn, consider: where in the course do learners - or could learners - encounter, practice and gain feedback on this.

Buddy up with a colleague to compare your thinking.

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This mapping document provides a curriculum view on our building digital capabilities: the six elements defined model. It is closely related to the learner profile and asks curriculum teams to assess how a course of study (or smaller unit) will prepare learners with the capabilities and practices outlined.

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Surfacing student graduate attributes which pertain to a module. How can students track what they're doing?

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Rethinking curriculum and learning design

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Rethinking curriculum and learning design

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The need for new approaches

Four aspects of beyond blended learning

Four modes of participation in learning and session types

Six pillars for designing 'beyond blended' learning

Six pillars: place

Six pillars: platform

Six pillars: pace

Six pillars: blend

Six pillars: flex

Six pillars: support

Using the beyond blended materials

Strategic approach to beyond blended

Strategic lenses

Curriculum review and design

Curriculum and learning design process

Curriculum lenses

Other established curriculum frameworks

The need for new approaches

In 2022, following the disruptions of the pandemic, we felt it was timely to consolidate our understanding of the different benefits and challenges of online learning, and the value of in place learning (where learners and educators are physically present in the same space). We wanted to align this with existing thinking and research on how best to integrate technology into the curriculum through design, content creation and teaching methodologies.

Higher education (HE) sector experiences during the pandemic offered an opportunity to consider the whole curriculum, the notion of students being in place at university and the value of both online and in place learning, teaching and assessment (LTA). They also presented a chance to highlight what we learned during our wholly online experiences and acknowledge that universities and curriculum teams already have a lot of the expertise they need to navigate and adapt to various challenges.

Our 2022 report on approaches to curriculum and learning design across UK higher education offered a review of learning and curriculum design across the HE sector. It highlighted a pre-pandemic focus on activities and resources, particularly around enhancing and encouraging use of the virtual learning environment (VLE), with learning design focusing on tasks and sequencing. Support for media production (eg lecture recording, video and audio content) was a clear focus, as well as how students and learners were using digital devices to access resources, to produce notes and maybe develop their skills in some generic software.

Post-pandemic, we are looking at a more holistic, whole curriculum approach to design. There's been a clear focus on different modes of participation and on trying to be as flexible as we can for both students and staff.

Going beyond blended learning

Moving forward from previous notions of blended learning, we are now talking about major alternatives that are available to curriculum designers and to students as choices about how to participate in a particular activity or module or part of the curriculum.

Our 2023 beyond blended report offered lessons from the HE sector on post-pandemic curriculum and learning design. It highlighted a need for a shared vocabulary between curriculum design teams. There were a lot of words in that space such as 'hybrid', 'hyflex', 'flexible', 'blended' that were not always being used in a clear enough way to allow the conversation to be student-centred, or to allow that conversation to really centre the curriculum.

Our research identified some increasingly important issues for curriculum design:

In a beyond blended approach to curriculum design we consider the two blends of time (asynchronous and synchronous) and place (in place and/or using an online platform). In addition to the more traditional learning design issues like activity, task, technology and materials. We suggest stepping back and thinking:

The beyond blended report described:

Four aspects of learning

Four different modes of participation in learning

Six pillars or precepts for curriculum design in the four modes

This guide offers a simple vocabulary for describing modes of learning and considers some key questions around how these contribute to student learning and engagement. It is equally important to take these conversations forward from the curriculum space into the institutional space to consider strategic aspects such as platform procurement considerations, what kinds of physical spaces are needed, and what kinds of flexibility should be offered. These wider organisational aspects are critical as organisations adopt more strategic approaches to digital transformation.

Definitions

Curriculum design: reviewing, planning and developing a course of study. This is usually a formal departmental and institutional process, mapping to graduate outcomes, benchmarks and professional standards. It produces formal documentation for the organisation.

Learning design: defining how learning will be supported within each course, module or unit. This is a professional activity that involves defining tasks, tools and technologies, core content, sessions and class groups, assignments and assessments, and opportunities for interaction and feedback. It produces a learning plan and associated materials to support teaching staff and students.

The terms are often used interchangeably in UK HE, and the two design processes in any case overlap or iterate. For example, feedback from learning in practice (how did learners experience these activities or meet the learning outcomes?) should inform the next iteration of development. So we use the term curriculum and learning design to mean all the processes of reviewing, planning and designing a programme of study and how students will learn within it.

Applying the beyond blended resources

If you are already familiar with our beyond blended research and materials you may like to go straight to the section on using the beyond blended materials: alternative approaches for different perspectives. This section offers a series of different lenses on the six pillars, which provide useful prompts around a range of strategic and curriculum approaches.

Let us know how you are using the beyond blended resources at your institution. Fill in our beyond blended resources feedback form.

Four aspects of beyond blended learning

We have many options when designing the curriculum or learning activities, and different contextual aspects affect the choices we make about what, when, where and how we blend these options. These include: subject discipline requirements, teaching frameworks, assessment criteria, teaching approaches, practical considerations, culture and traditions, resources available and student needs and expectations.

We need to draw on both established research and new thinking to understand why a particular session might be delivered live and online rather than self-directed and in place, or how these two sessions might complement each other. It is particularly important to understand how different sessions can be designed to engage students actively in their learning.

We have used the term 'in place' to describe when learners and educators are co-located (usually, but not always, on campus). In contrast, 'online' learning describes when participants come together in the same digital platforms without the need to be present at the same location.

In place and online learning environments come with a range of facilities, functions and materials. These can be encountered synchronously (meaning live, at the same time, in shared or timetabled time) or asynchronously (meaning at different times, usually within a time window such as a teaching week or an assignment timeframe).

Digital modes of learning can blur what were once clear boundaries, creating intermediate settings. Digital media can bend time boundaries as well as offering new experiences of space. This means students and educators must negotiate new choices and trade-offs, as well as situations where expectations may be unclear, and make choices on how to blend these various options. Some can be planned ahead while others may be made as a programme of study progresses or as student circumstances and needs change. We offer a range of practical materials to help consider factors affecting these choices around time, pace, place and platform.

The four aspects of learning

These four aspects of learning can be blended in many ways:

1. Time, pace and timing: synchronous (live, shared time) and asynchronous (independent, own time)

2. Space: place and platform

3. Learning materials: tools, facilities, learning media and other resources (digital, print-based, other materials)

4. Groups, roles and relationships: teacher-led and peer learning, varieties of group learning

In relation to learning content, materials were traditionally print-based (text or graphical). Both live classes and own-time study now involve the use of digital resources far more than print - e-books, e-journals, presentation slides, videos, digital maps and timelines, digital notes and annotations.

Digital environments can change the meaning and the learning potential of interactions in many ways. These can be impacted by many variables such as learner preferences and needs, experience and competence in communicating and/or collaborating digitally, and different curriculum and teaching approaches.

Other aspects can be considered and may even be 'blended': for example student-led and teacher-led learning.

Tips and ideas

Think beyond traditional session types. Rather than trying to 'translate' existing sessions into an online mode, look at how new activities and session types are emerging, and how digital technologies can expand notions of time and space.

Think of time and place as resources that link curriculum needs with organisational processes (room allocation, timetabling...).

Focus on high value space/time combinations for learner engagement - explain the value clearly, in terms that will make sense to students.

Remember to get informal and formal feedback from your students around the space/time combinations that work for them.

Different modes and blends provide settings for different activities and interactions - the modes approach complements, but does not replace, a focus on learning activity.

Four modes of participation in learning and session types

When considering the four aspects of learning the last two, learning materials and groups, roles and relationships can often be decided flexibly and collaboratively as learning unfolds. The first two, time and pace and space and time, shape the overall design of the curriculum and require some forward planning.

The practical resources in this guide illustrate some of the educational reasoning to help you plan a particular blend of modes across diverse sessions and activities.

We have identified four possible modes of participation in learning that shape every session, activity and interaction. They are:

Tips and ideas

Understand the four modes as pedagogic resources when planning activities - what works for your students, your subject area and your setting? Can you share them with students to help them understand your expectations around their participation?

Session types

Each participation mode supports a different set of learning sessions with specific opportunities for learning. Different subject areas will make use of different session types, sequences and blends.

Curriculum design workshop cards

Our PowerPoint slideshow offers more detail for sessions in each of the modes describing features, pedagogical benefits, platform/place, facilities/functions and typical activities and interventions.

These session type 'cards' can be downloaded and used in a curriculum design workshop or course meeting to:

Beyond blended posters

We developed a series of posters to illustrate modes of student participation across different spaces, places and times. They provide a simple, graphical overview of how the four aspects of the beyond blended approach (place, time and pace, learning media resources, groups roles and interactions) work for different types of activities across the four different modes of participation (sync in place, sync online, async in place, async online). The posters offer a range of examples:

The posters have been designed as flexible resources that can be integrated with existing design frameworks. You can use them as starting points for discussions with a range of key stakeholders including students, programme/course design teams, learning space working groups, library, estates, IT and other professional services. They can help to describe, share and develop common understanding of the current context as well as help to develop the 'what will be' in relation to student engagement and the development of beyond blended approaches.

They could be used as starting points for discussions around questions such as:

While they can be used in one-off sessions with groups of students, a more consistent and wide-reaching approach could be achieved if the organisation incorporates them into a programme of activities to support student digital learning capabilities.

Suggestions and contexts for using the beyond blended posters:

Downloadable resources:

We also provide blank versions of the posters that can be adapted and/or expanded on depending on your own context.

Six pillars for designing 'beyond blended' learning

Working closely with our advisory group and workshop participants we have developed a simple set of precepts or 'pillars' for curriculum design in the four modes of participation in learning. These are not intended to replace other principles and frameworks, but to be used alongside them.

The pillars can be referenced early in the curriculum design process, when considering the overall shape of the curriculum, the number and type of sessions and the learners' journey through place and platform, live time and independent study. You can also use them near the end of curriculum review to check back that the questions we pose have been asked, even if the answers are still emerging. And, finally, they can be used in dialogue with other strategic processes, to ensure alignment.

The six pillars are:

1. Place: learners and educators are always physically somewhere

2. Platform: learners and educators can always be (virtually) somewhere else

3. Pace: learners experience time and pace differently (synchronous/asynchronous or responsive/reflective)

4. Support: learners and educators need support to engage in diverse modes

5. Flex: learners and educators expect choice and flexibility in mode(s) of learning

6. Blend: most learning has in place and online, synchronous and asynchronous elements

Downloadable resource: Beyond blended guide (pdf)

Our beyond blended guide features the six pillars on one side and on the other side is a wheel describing the different aspects of beyond blended: definitions, session types, process model, modes of participation, strategy and planning. This prints in A3 format.

Six pillars: place
Learners and educators are always physically somewhere.
Learning and teaching are activities grounded in physical spaces. Regardless of the form that education takes, whether it is traditional classroom settings, online learning environments or informal educational contexts, learners and educators both occupy a specific physical location while learning and teaching. This could be a university campus, a home office, a library, a coffee shop or even various outdoor settings.

The physical environment plays a crucial role in the educational experience, influencing factors such as accessibility, comfort, available resources and how conducive the overall atmosphere is to learning and teaching. The physical presence of learners and educators in a shared space can also foster interaction, collaboration and a sense of community.

Some curriculum design questions to consider about place:

Six pillars: platform
Learners and educators can always be (virtually) somewhere else.
Virtual platforms enable learners and educators to transcend physical boundaries and engage with educational content, resources and communities from almost anywhere. The dynamic and flexible nature of virtual presence allows for a diverse range of learning experiences. Learners and educators can connect, interact and share knowledge through formal courses, online events and collaborate with peers globally through digital tools. Educators can reach a broader audience, incorporate a variety of multimedia and interactive resources into their curriculum, experiment with innovative teaching methods and collaborate with peers and experts globally.

Virtual environments can allow learners to explore subjects at their own pace and according to their interests, and they offer potential to enhance the educational experience. This virtual mobility in education fosters a more inclusive and accessible learning environment, where knowledge and learning opportunities are not limited by a person's physical location.

Some curriculum design questions to consider about platform:

Six pillars: pace
Learners experience time and pace differently (synchronous/asynchronous or responsive/reflective).
Learners can engage with and process educational content in a variety of ways. In synchronous learning learners and educators interact in real time, such as in traditional classroom settings or live online classes. This environment is often responsive, requiring immediate engagement and interaction. Learners must keep pace with the instructor and their peers, which fosters a sense of community and immediacy but potentially limits individual reflection and processing time.

In contrast, asynchronous learning allows learners to engage with material at their own pace, in their own time. It offers learners the opportunity to digest information, reflect, think critically and apply knowledge without the pressure of immediate response. Asynchronous learning can be particularly beneficial for those who need more time to understand concepts or who juggle their education with other responsibilities. Both synchronous and asynchronous learning approaches offer distinct advantages and cater to different needs, emphasising the importance of flexibility and choice for learners.

Some curriculum design questions to consider about pace:

Six pillars: blend
Most learning has in place and online, synchronous and asynchronous elements.
The integration of both in place (physical) and online components, along with a mix of synchronous and asynchronous elements, creates a multi-faceted educational environment that can support a wide range of learning preferences and needs. In this approach learners can engage in real-time, in-person interactions during physical classes or lectures, benefiting from immediacy and communal aspects of learning. They can also be provided with online resources and digital platforms where they can access course materials, participate in discussions and complete assignments at their own convenience.

This combination of in place and virtual learning experiences allows for a dynamic and adaptable educational experience. Incorporating both synchronous and asynchronous approaches ensures that learners can benefit from structured, real-time engagement as well as thoughtful, individual exploration and reflection. It is a comprehensive approach to blending that recognises the diverse needs of learners and offers a more inclusive and versatile learning environment.

Some curriculum design questions to consider about blend:

Six pillars: flex
Learners and educators expect choice and flexibility in mode(s) of learning.
Learners increasingly seek options that allow them to tailor their educational experiences to their personal and professional lives, preferring a mix of in-person, online, synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities. This flexibility enables students to balance education with other commitments, such as work or family, and to engage with material in ways that suit their learning preferences and pace.

Educators need to adapt to changing expectations by employing a variety of teaching strategies and technologies that support different modes of learning. They recognise the value of offering choices to enhance engagement, motivation and success across their diverse student cohorts. HE organisations that provide this level of choice and flexibility are better positioned to meet the evolving needs of their learners, fostering a more inclusive and effective educational environment.

Some curriculum design questions to consider about flex:

Six pillars: support
Learners and educators need support to engage in diverse modes.
Both learners and educators need support to navigate diverse modes of participation in learning effectively. Learners, with varying backgrounds, abilities and requirements, require guidance and resources to adapt and thrive in these varied educational settings. This support can include access to digital tools for online learning, personalised assistance for those with special needs, or strategies to develop self-directed learning skills. They need appropriate support at various stages of their course to build on their digital capabilities to become effective digital learners.

Educators may need professional development and support before they can facilitate diverse learning experiences effectively, incorporating both digital capability and pedagogical innovation. They may also require support in creating inclusive and engaging learning environments that cater to the diverse needs of their students.

Some curriculum design questions to consider about support:
Downloadable resources:
This table lists curriculum and strategic prompts for place, platform, pace, blend, flex and support.

Using the beyond blended materials

Alternative approaches for different perspectives

All the beyond blended approaches and materials can be used in a range of ways as appropriate for different contexts. We have highlighted which materials might be most useful for each stage. The materials can support strategic organisational level conversations and they are useful for different stages of curriculum review and design processes.

Strategic approach to beyond blended

Designing 'beyond blended' learning requires a strategic approach that considers a range of factors and supports informed decision making. The prompts in our strategic lenses align with Jisc's framework for digital transformation in higher education, which offers a structure to support a shared understanding of digital transformation across a higher education organisation. The framework identifies strategic goals for a wide range of activities, as well as examples of how organisations might work towards those aims. The framework is part of a wider digital transformation toolkit that includes a comprehensive maturity model for each area as well as roadmap and action planning templates.

Framework for digital transformation: knowledge creation and innovation, knowledge development, organisational digital culture, knowledge management and use, knowledge exchange and partnerships, digital and physical infrastructure

The knowledge development area of the framework maps directly to curriculum and learning design as it includes four aspects:

Other areas of the framework relate to some of the wider strategic aspects of beyond blended design that need to be considered:

Organisational digital culture includes digital culture and mindset (including digital capability), organisational identity, organisational wellbeing and organisational change

Digital and physical infrastructure includes digital infrastructure, connectivity, cybersecurity, digital support and estates management

Knowledge management and use includes information and data literacy, learning analytics and library services

You may find the digital transformation toolkit useful to help articulate any problems you are trying to address or to identify ways to support developments or investment that might be needed to achieve curriculum and learning design goals. The toolkit may also be useful to help you consider the prompts included in the strategic and curriculum lenses.

Strategic lenses

We have produced a series of lenses to facilitate strategic level or curriculum design discussions involving stakeholders across the organisation. You may choose different lenses depending on your role or the stage of curriculum review and design that you are involved with.

Each lens offers a set of related prompts or questions for each of the six 'beyond blended pillars'. These are not definitive and can be edited to suit your organisational needs. There is some repetition between the lenses as there are some issues that are relevant across all of them. A blank template is also included so you can design a complete lens to suit your project or organisation.

The strategic lenses have been created for those leading curriculum change and those who are designing and implementing it. They highlight specific areas that require a strategic approach to address some of the challenges faced by the HE sector. Each lens provides a series of questions for each of the six pillars.

You can record your own specific strategic organisational questions in the blank template (eg the impact of a new build or refurbishment or expanding course types and student reach).
Downloadable resources:
Each lens starts from our 'beyond blended pillars' and offers a set of related prompts or questions. These are not definitive and can be edited to suit your organisational needs. There is some repetition between the lenses as there are some issues that are relevant across all of the lenses. A blank template is also included so you can design a complete lens to suit your project or organisation. These lenses have been designed to provide a starting point for strategic discussions around blended learning, such as planning and using campus spaces, timetabling and other related agendas.

Curriculum review and design

Curriculum review is an ongoing process that typically occurs on a cyclical basis, but it can also be triggered by wider organisational factors (eg new builds or refurbishments, new platform procurement and implementation, new strategic goals, expanding into new types of courses) as well as external factors (eg disruptive events like the pandemic, National Student Survey, disruptive technologies such as AI, government interventions, changing student demographics).

Curriculum review can take place at different levels and could involve a range of different stakeholders representing teams with different perspectives. Review processes could take place over a period of time, could involve asynchronous activities as well as in person or online meetings or workshops. A review at strategic level could also feed into reviews at programme or module level, or even trigger them. The materials in this guide can support the different curriculum review processes at both a strategic and a more operational level.

Learning and teaching strategy review (organisational level)

Strategic review might take place in a range of contexts and be influenced by organisation-wide activities:

Materials to support strategic conversations and planning:

Programme design review (faculty/school level)

Programme design review might take place in different contexts and may be influenced by strategic review outcomes:

Regular or one-off (formal) programme review meetings involving teaching teams, educational developers, IT team/s, learning designers, estates team, students, quality assurance and compliance teams

Informal curriculum team or teaching team meetings (to inform more formal programme review)

Internal curriculum design workshops or events mediated by specialists (eg educational developers)

Module review (school/department level)

Module review may be needed as a result of strategic or programme level review, but may also happen as teaching teams continue to develop and refine their teaching sessions. Changes resulting from module review will ultimately feed back into programme review and some may require consideration at a higher level (eg changes to assessment):

Teaching team meetings (formal and informal)

Wider meetings with invited specialists (eg library, educational developers, e-learning team, learning designers)

Meetings with students (co-design)

Curriculum and learning design process

Curriculum and learning design involve planning and decision making, based on intentional design principles in the context of available information. It leads to outcomes that can be used to communicate and coordinate the curriculum, and shapes learning, teaching and assessment. There are some common processes used across the UK sector in relation to curriculum and learning design. Our research identified that some issues related to curriculum review and design have become more prominent and are prompting the sector to rethink the curriculum design process. These include:

Ensuring coherence and development pathways in programme-level design

The rate of change demands more regular review and more in-built flexibility

A greater variety of courses on offer in terms of time and place creates more complex curriculum designs and portfolio offerings (eg micro, distance)

The need to represent complex curricula to all involved (eg learner journeys, course maps, flexible models, choice points) and the role of data in this

Deciding how to engage students in design (complex, time-dependent)

The impact of organisational agendas on curriculum design (eg EDI, wellbeing, sustainability [use of place and space])

The need to identify gaps between organisational policies/frameworks and design practices

A lack of recognition (time, resource, expertise) for curriculum design

Emerging interest in curriculum analytics - what data in practice is available and is useful, respecting student privacy?

Curriculum and learning design process model

The diagram below illustrates different elements of the design process and how they relate to each other.

Process model diagram showing different elements of the process and how they relate to each other: key information for design, design process, deliverables

Key information for design (purple section on the process model diagram)

Design is informed by a range of internal organisational factors. It can be constrained by operational aspects such as costing models, staff resources, timetabling, allocation of rooms and other available facilities. Design should also reflect organisational values and principles outlined in strategic documents and consider EDI policies. In addition, designers need to understand features of their typical student cohort, their experiences and expectations around the value of the course (through stakeholder insights, alumni surveys) as well as internal quality frameworks and requirements.

External information should inform the overall rationale articulated in the business case for a course. This can include labour market and competitor intelligence or futures-thinking to identify potential demand, including graduate and employer needs. Design must also meet government standards and benchmarks as well as specific requirements from professional and standards bodies and other wider agendas shaping learning, teaching and assessment.

Key information feeds forward into the design process and is fed back as design is realised in practice as data from systems (eg student achievements and destinations), and qualitative feedback from teaching staff and students.

Key information can shape design in several ways:

Design process (orange section on the process model diagram)

Curriculum and learning design may take place as a formal meeting, workshop-style session, a design sprint, or over a longer time frame, coordinated by shared documents or a shared design space. It may be carefully structured and facilitated, for example using established external or internal frameworks, or more open-ended. It is important that protected time/space for collaborative working and co-production is provided.

Design involves making decisions about specific aspects of a course, in accordance with (internal and external) principles or standards, and considering the available information. The principles may be broken down and/or made actionable in the form of prompts.

Aspects

The outcome of the design process is usually shaped by the required documentation or a design prototype (eg course map, timeline, pro forma, VLE instance). The prototype dictates the aspects of the course to be determined in the design process. Overall aims and outcomes for the course will be broken down into specific sessions, activities, experiences or learning periods, which shape the requirements for learning platforms and spaces, media and materials.

Principles and prompts

As previously described, the principles to be applied in curriculum design will be informed by internal or externally imposed factors, as well as the specific pedagogic interests and commitments of the course team. Consensus is needed to ensure that these are being realised through the course design.

The following prompts can help to support design across modes of participation:

How can different modes of participation (in place and online, live and asynchronous) support students to engage?

What modes best support the subject-specialist practices students undertake?

Where will students be studying? How will they work together and alone?

How much time will educators and students spend on different activities?

What choice and flexibility is really helpful:

To allow educators to respond to students' emerging interests and needs?

To keep each student engaged while keeping the cohort 'on track' together?

To provide pedagogically meaningful alternatives?

Curriculum design workshop or design sprint

Key considerations when running a workshop include:

Deliverables (green section on the process model diagram)

Decisions made in the design workshop are usually shaped by the way deliverables are specified, such as conforming to a particular style of documentation or a design prototype. These deliverables are used to communicate the design, to realise it in practice, to coordinate resources and to provide students with a coherent experience of their course overall.

Key considerations for realising a design in practice include:

How will the design and associated expectations be communicated?

How will the design support educators and learners to navigate their roles, tasks and interactions?

What choices and agency will educators and learners have?

What opportunities will there be to give and receive feedback?

Realising a design in practice (example):

Course handbook - decisions made in the design process are clearly communicated with the teaching staff and students who will realise them in practice

Timetable - synchronous and asynchronous session types are planned, allocating staff/student time and providing for different kinds of interaction

Spaces and places - online and real world spaces are made available, affording different interactions (teachers-learners-materials) and activities

Materials - different media and tools with different functions are provided within sessions and spaces to support learning activities and interactions

Design review (represented by the arrows in the process model diagram)

Part of any curriculum and learning design process is the review and refining stage (indicated by the arrows in the process diagram). It is critical to identify how feedback will be gathered from all stakeholders and how you will respond to this. Capturing the student voice is as important as gathering and analysing data around student outcomes. It is also useful to consider how you might respond to changes in teaching teams or cohort parameters. Many improvements can be made to course design without major revalidation, allowing you to respond to staff or student feedback in a timely way.

Other considerations include the need to choose an effective evaluation framework to enable improvement and how you can respond to changes to learning environments and resources. New online platforms, tools and learning spaces offer potential to offer different modes of participation and possibly changes in teaching and assessment practices.

Downloadable resources:

Our editable slide deck provides options to adapt and use the process model and associated resources in workshops or strategic review settings.

Process review

If your organisation is reviewing its curriculum and learning design process the following questions can prompt some useful discussions:

How well does the 'process model' reflect your experiences and practices?

Are there things you could be doing differently? Where does resource (time, attention, expertise) need to be added to make things work better?

If you have an existing framework or design principles, how are they realised in your current design process? How do they work alongside the process model and six pillars?

Our curriculum lenses aimed at practitioners can inform a review of curriculum and learning design.

Curriculum lenses

Our curriculum lenses are aimed at people who are supporting teams as they are redesigning or involved in managing the institution's learning design support. These are mapped to the six pillars and offer a series of prompts to consider. The prompts can be added to, or edited to suit course issues and organisational approaches to design.
Downloadable resources:
Each lens responds to our six 'pillars' with a set of prompts or questions for design teams. The prompts can be added to or edited to suit course issues and organisational approaches to design. A blank template is included to allow curriculum teams, departments or organisations to develop their own questions, meeting the requirements of their own curriculum principles and the needs of their own students. These lenses have been developed to support curriculum design for diverse and flexible modes of learning (that we call 'beyond blended').

Other established curriculum frameworks

We reviewed models and frameworks in use (over 30 models from across UK higher education) during phase one of this project. The approaches in this web guide are not intended to replace established frameworks for curriculum design, or to suggest that organisations should change approaches that are working well. To that end, we describe here how 'beyond blended' links to other approaches and can support them in practice.

Design as process

'Beyond blended' is a set of considerations that can be included in a wide range of design processes. It can be used in the sequencing phase of a typical design process to decide what sessions will be delivered and how students will participate in them. In the resourcing phase of a design process beyond blended can support planning for the physical spaces required and any specialist facilities and materials, the platforms to be used and why these are appropriate.

Examples: Co:Lab (2022), Carpe Diem (2020), UCEM module (2020) development process, ABC Learning Design (2015) workshop (process, not content).

Learning activity design

The four aspects of beyond blended learning (place/platform, time/pace, materials and group interactions) are included in most learning activity models. For example, an activity design model developed in previous Jisc projects, as described in our guide to designing learning and assessment in a digital age, has 'time' as an axis running through the middle of the model, from learners' prior state at the left to their achieved outcomes at the right. This time axis can be distributed into a range of sessions and activities within them. At the top of the model is the learning environment (place or platform). The roles that other people play in the learning activity (at the bottom of the model) are partly determined by the constraints of time and place.

Examples: Laurillard's Conversational Framework (2002), ABC version (2015) of Laurillard's activity types, Open University (OU-LDI) (2012) activity design cards.

Central circle: Activity - Interaction of learner(s) with environment leading to planned outcomes supported by other people in specific roles

Top right quadrant: Impact of learning environment on learning outcomes

Reciprocal arrow from central circle between quadrants: Intended learning outcomes - Acquisition of new knowledge, skills and capabilities; evidence of these

Bottom right quadrant: Roles others play in facilitating learning outcomes

Reciprocal arrow from central circle between quadrants: Other people - Peers, tutors, facilitators, mentors, instructors, employers

Bottom left quadrant: Interaction between learners and others involved in the activity

Reciprocal arrow from central circle between quadrants: Learners - Preferences, needs, motivation, skills, knowledge, capabilities; modes of participating

Top left quadrant: Interaction between learners and aspects of the learning environment

Reciprocal arrow from central circle between quadrants: Learning environment - Networks. devices, resources, applications, physical learning space and virtual environment

Constructive alignment

As well as aligning activities with outcomes (for example using Bloom's taxonomy [2001] [revised], the SOLO taxonomy [2019]), activities can be aligned with an appropriate mode of participation in learning. The resources in this guide offer a wide range of activities mapped to different sessions and modes.

Learning cycles

These models describe a preferred order of activities to support and structure learning. Different modes of participation in learning might be more or less appropriate at different phases of the cycle. For example, a flipped classroom approach might typically start with assimilation activities (asynchronous and online) followed by a consolidation session (synchronous, in place) where students can ask and answer questions, share ideas, practice application and get formative feedback, followed by a review phase (online again). A Kolb learning cycle might schedule on-site activities during the concrete experience and active experimentation phases. These activities could be live or asynchronous (eg students collecting data within an allocated time window, with access to a lab or field site).

Examples: Kolb's experiential learning cycle (1984), TREC (trigger, review, expectations/evidence, consolidation) (2021), Merrill's instructional design principles (2002), flipped learning models (2006).

Timeline and storyboarding approaches

Example: ABC Learning Design (2015) (storyboard aspects). The different sessions outlined in our downloadable pdf session types in the four modes of participation in learning can easily be incorporated into a timeline or storyboard approach.

Universal design for learning

One of the benefits of exploring modes of participation in learning from an educational perspective is that it reveals differences in how students respond to place and platform, the different paces of learning students prefer (reflective/responsive) and whether they prefer tasks to be live or undertaken in their own time, structured or relatively open-ended. Programme teams can consciously use different modes to ensure students all have some learning experiences that suit them, or that challenge them to try new approaches. Within modes, teaching teams can provide multiple ways for students to interact by exploiting different configurations and functions.

This is highly compatible with the first UDL principle of offering students multiple ways to engage and the third principle of offering multiple means of acting and expressing ideas.

Example: UDL Guidelines (2018).

Co-production/co-creation

Attention to modes of participation in learning does not create any new opportunities to involve students in curriculum planning. But it does help to engage students meaningfully if there is a clear vocabulary that describes different sessions and kinds of learning and also puts student learning centre stage. Talking about responsive and reflective time, or the difficulties of learning in transit, or the way certain resources can cross time and place, all allow for new and productive conversations with students. The same is true of communication among professionals involved in the curriculum.

Principles-based models

Many universities use a set of principles to guide curriculum design. Designing for different modes of participation in learning is compatible with a wide range of curriculum principles such as equity, diversity and inclusion, sustainability, digital capability, citizenship, student-centred learning and more. Our strategic lenses (described above) have mapped our six pillars to some of these agendas and the same could be done for other principles identified at HE provider level or by a programme team.

Examples include these from the University of Liverpool (2023) and University of Portsmouth (2018).

Resources feedback

Are you finding the resources in this guide useful? Fill in our form to let us know how you are using the resources at your institution. Your feedback is really important to us and helps us develop more guidance.

Fill in our beyond blended resources feedback form.

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Beyond blended: rethinking curriculum and learning design - Jisc

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The need for new approaches Four aspects of beyond blended learning Four modes of participation in learning and session types Six pillars for designing 'beyond blended' learning Six pillars: place Six pillars: platform Six pillars: pace Six pillars: blend Six pillars: flex Six pillars: support Using the beyond blended materials

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How are international students being supported with digital?

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How are international students being supported with digital?

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Researching international students' digital experience - Jisc

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Getting anything on a timetable - because that's for credit bearing activity. Why? Should digital be included?

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More focus on pre- arrival support and induction for students

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More focus on pre- arrival support and induction for students

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More needs to be done before the students arrive. Pre arrival acitivities.

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'My Digital Induction', outside of blackboard. Before they come to uni.

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Lots of student voice taken.

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Importance of working together and breaking down silos

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Importance of working together and breaking down silos

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Joining everything together. Difficulty with nobody to lead. Need to be more holistic.

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Study well stay well - digital wellbeing programme

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Study well stay well - digital wellbeing programme

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Bootcamps. Identifying what students actually need help with (ie Blackboard, not Teams)

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Training staff on VLE going very well.

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Maybe looking at University values and relating digital transformation to that

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Developing toolkits and off the shelf workshops

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Digital experience insights survey findings for staff and students 2024

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Digital experience insights survey findings for staff and students 2024

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2023/24 UK higher education students digital experience insights survey findings

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The digital experience insights survey for higher education students took place between October 2023 and April 2024. Participating organisations were able to select their own survey period within these dates, typically a three to four week window.

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Staff understand through students that they need to be digitally fluent, that's the incentive.

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If we're encouraging colleagues to develop their digital capabilities, then they need the time, opportunity and incentive to do so. Collaboration is crucial if we are to equip our teaching staff with the skills they need to prepare students for the future.

Chris Melia, an educational developer at the University of Central Lancashire and one of our 17 community champions, has been instrumental in fostering a community of practitioners sharing educational practices across the UK and beyond. Here he shares how the team at the University of Central Lancashire's Centre for Collaborative Learning set about it.

Staff digital capabilities

"We're very proud of DigiLearn, our internal development programme for staff, and the DigiLearn Sector, our externally facing community, in which Jisc has been a valuable partner.

"Over the last few years, we have been involved in developing communities of practice relating to technology-enhanced learning, initially at a faculty-level. This was about encouraging colleagues to talk to one another about teaching and learning, to share experiences and to informally identify those acting in the role of "champion".

"We also collected and published case studies and examples of best practice, as resources that colleagues could incorporate into their CPD. We facilitated opportunities for them to share their experiences at a variety of events, which started our thinking about how we could build an initiative that incorporated staff reward and recognition."

Encouraging good practice

"Something that came out of the 2020/21 Jisc digital experience insights survey, was that only 6% of higher education teaching staff felt they had received any reward or recognition relating to their development of digital skills.

"To us, this was particularly alarming, and further supported our decision to incorporate more reward and recognition within our development offer. The report findings suggest that these factors may often be overlooked by the sector.

"The UCLan DigiLearn programme is structured around a tiered framework with three levels (practitioner, advocate and champion). The starting point is a self-assessment tool built around the six themes of the Jisc digital capability framework - and designed to help staff with identifying skill gaps. Based on the outcome, colleagues are then guided to a variety of related resources - including online courses, case studies, blogs and webinars."

Continuing professional development

"Throughout the three award levels, staff are encouraged to expand their sphere of influence and share what they have developed in their practice. There is a key emphasis on personal development, but also the mentoring of others - which makes for a more effective peer support model.

"We want to encourage colleagues at all stages of their digital capability journey, and to recognise and share innovative examples of practice from across our communities."

Recognising achievement

"We wanted to instil a sense of pride and offer something tangible as recognition, which is why we developed our own bespoke badges for each level of the framework.

"Once a colleague has compiled their evidence for a particular level, they are asked to submit a portfolio for review. If all criteria have been met, they are awarded a digital badge which can be added to their email signature and online profiles.

"In addition to digital badges, staff are also issued with physical pin badges. The response to this 'gamified' approach has been extremely positive, with photos of badges regularly being shared amongst community members.

"For us as a Centre, including the authentic voice of our academic colleagues has been crucial. Their contribution has become increasingly important and directly informs many of our internal developments. We want to help colleagues to feel valued, and that is where the recognition comes in."

"Another core part of the process is that colleagues at champion level are asked to annually revalidate their achievement. Each year, they must reflect and demonstrate how they are fulfilling their champion role. For example, they may have given a presentation, contributed a blog post or acted as a mentor to other colleagues."

Widening the circle

"Building on this effective model, our next step was to invite in other institutions. This is where the DigiLearn Sector comes in, our award-winning initiative and hub for collaboration and knowledge exchange. We took the concept of our internal initiative and developed a diverse community of practitioners from across the sector.

"The DigiLearn Sector is not just for universities, but also for colleges, schools and other organisations/sector bodies. The community continues to be mutually beneficial, as we learn from others and facilitate that learning between organisations. Once a community like this has been established, most of the day-to-day activity - the actual collaboration - looks after itself.

Further information

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Sparking a passion for digital skills: a tried and tested approach to developing staff confidence - Jisc

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With more being expected from educators, are they getting the support and recognition they need for developing their digital skills?

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A growing list that staff need to learn and develop. Staff engagement is hard.

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BDC mandated. High percentage of staff participate (92%?) Need to evaluate impact. Taken three years to get there though.

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Graduate attributes. Dig Capabilities integrated in to it.

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Climate change. Inclusive principles. How design things into curriculum ie race equity, employability, digital pedagogy. Every new programme requires a workshop where these are designed in to the curriculum. Objectives are not too bolted down though because could be discipline specific. On the whole it's positive.

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Self funded students are, naturally, motivated.

Distance learning students need seamless integration ie induction, can see all notes. A tracker.

Lots of WhatsApp groups.

Lots of ecosystems. Making ease of access very important.

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Everything is designed so it's always available and promoted as such.

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Used the BDC role profiles as a starting point.

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Appointing staff facilitators who knew the Framework to work with other staff in order to produce the mapping. Then can identify what happens next and how they can work together.

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Constantly monitoring and reinventing depending on the cohort. Have to be flexible.

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Student engagement: Some students engage and some don't. International always engage. Female students will. Males don't. Commuter students when on campus.

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Seeing the whole picture of the student

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Lots of student surveys. Ideally would unify all.

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See examples of how universities are using the discovery tool 

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See examples of how universities are using the discovery tool 

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See how other organisations are building both individual and organisational digital capability

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Finding the right time and place to deliver a growing list of essential co-curricula activity for student success from pre-arrival onwards

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Finding the right time and place to deliver a growing list of essential co-curricula activity for student success from pre-arrival onwards

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How to assess, enhance, and make consistent digital capabilities in the curriculum

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Working with student skills partners to evaluate the use of the discovery tool as a co-design project

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Working with student skills partners to evaluate the use of the discovery tool as a co-design project

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An empowering first step for staff and students to reflect on and develop their digital capabilities

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Jisc digital capabilities framework and role profiles

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Jisc digital capabilities framework and role profiles

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The following short animation from the University of Derby explains why it is important for people to think about developing their digital capabilities ( download animation transcript) (pdf).

Building digital capabilities framework: the six elements defined

What it means to be digitally capable will vary for each person. It will depend on the requirements of their role, their subject specialism, career choice, personal and other contextual factors. Our Digital capabilities framework looks more closely at what this means for individuals.

The six elements of this framework are:

Digital proficiency and productivity (functional skills)

Information, data and media literacies (critical use)

Digital creation, problem solving and innovation (creative production)

Digital communication, collaboration and participation (participation)

Digital learning and development (development)

Digital identity and wellbeing (self-actualising)

Download our individual digital capabilities framework

Role profiles

In addition to our overall digital capabilities framework: the six elements defined, and to recognise the different needs and ambitions of individuals, we have developed a series of role profiles for roles typically found in colleges and universities. These role profiles are used in the customised versions of our discovery tool. They provide a useful tool for reviewing skills individually or across teams.

See our role profiles for:

Find out more

See also our briefing papers for senior leaders and practitioners on digital wellbeing

Our series of narrated PowerPoint presentations provides a more detailed overview of the digital capabilities framework for individuals, how it came about, how it has evolved, how it is structured and our focus on how digital capabilities relate to educational settings.

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The following short animation from the University of Derby explains why it is important for people to think about developing their digital capabilities ( download animation transcript) (pdf). What it means to be digitally capable will vary for each person. It will depend on the requirements of their role, their subject specialism, career choice, personal and other contextual factors.