Using SAGE Campus to Support Hybrid Learning at University of Massachusetts Boston
We spoke to Dr. Bala Sundaram, the Vice-Provost for Research & Strategic Initiatives and Dean for Graduate Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, about why SAGE Campus was a good fit for their institution and how students were using online courses.
Students’ Individual Learning Needs Were Not Being Met
Bala explains how the initial consideration for a new resource began before the pandemic and the introduction of hybrid learning. Program directors were already concerned about the differences in content and difficulty level between each of the courses, and the effect it could have on students’ future learning.
“Every program had their own take on qualitative and quantitative research methods. One of the things we were considering was whether there was a way to sift through basic material and advanced material and put all the basic material into a smaller subset of classes that everybody could take commonly, before going off to explore specializations within their own silos.”
Bala felt as if some students were not receiving sufficient amount of introductory learning in some courses to enable them to progress to a higher level in their study without struggling. Creating this subset of classes for foundational material proved a lot more difficult than imagined, and so the university began to look into resources for flexible and self-paced learning.
The Challenge to Find Appropriate Resources for Foundational Skills
Before discovering SAGE Campus, the university had struggled to find appropriate resources for foundational skills. Bala gives us an example of a central statistical methods resource that the university has, run by a PhD researcher who holds workshops on a range of specialist topics.
The students participating in the workshops were all at different stages of learning. As a result, the PhD researcher found themselves having to constantly go back and reinforce some introductory skills before moving on to more advanced material.
“This resource was quite often not meeting the needs of students on one end, or the researchers on the other end because researchers wanted more advanced skills for the students in their groups, however the students themselves didn’t necessarily have the background to move as quickly to advanced skills.”
Bala felt that having a common mechanism to cover the introductory or foundational material would be beneficial and would allow for consideration of more advanced topics sooner.
Hybrid Approach to Developing Classes with SAGE Campus
“The primary issues were across the humanities and social sciences – we really needed something. SAGE has brand recognition in this community, something that both faculty and the community trusted in terms of content.”
Since the requests for additional support came primarily from the humanities and social sciences programs, Bala’s choice of SAGE was principally influenced by the name recognition in the publishing space that SAGE enjoys in these communities.
During the pandemic and remote learning, SAGE Campus helped greatly in developing two required classes for their international students. The first one was a course titled “Research Methods using R” and the next semester was “Data Analysis with Python”. Each class included 2-3 SAGE Campus modules supplemented with supervised programming sessions and an individual project. This hybrid approach was well received, and the university is continuing to develop similar structures in other areas.
Unlocking the Full Benefits of SAGE Campus
The use of SAGE Campus as an institution-wide resource has proved to be an invaluable mode of supplemental learning across the humanities and social sciences department. Program directors can now focus on discipline-specific skills in the courses they offer, rather than backtracking to cover introductory material throughout the course.
Bala states how the completion of the modules by all students in both courses speaks to the accessibility of the material. The initial subscription was only for graduate students, but SAGE Campus was so well received that the institution extended access to undergraduates as well.
“They came out of that class clearly thinking it was relevant to their work and would improve their quantitative skills.”
Students agree that “The SAGE course Intro to R is efficient, user-friendly, easy to understand, and clear”.
Watch the webinar recording with Dr. Bala Sundaram
This webinar will give you a brief introduction to the SAGE Campus platform and an overview of the new online courses launched in January. Dr Bala Sundaram spoke about how UMass Boston is using our online courses to support graduate students and faculty, and the best practices within the platform.
SAGE Campus is a digital library product, so you can only access it via your institution. Librarians can request a full 30-day free trial and faculty/researchers can recommend us to your library or request a trial if you are an administrator via this form.
If you are interested in the course for yourself or for use at your institution, try a free module on our demo hub!