Case Study

New Zealand

 Massey University Women's Studies Programme  

Research for Social Change: A Third Year Compulsory Course

Prepared by:  Catherine Bray

Brief description of the programme

At Massey University, the Women’s Studies Programme course ‘Research for Social Change’, compulsory in the third year, is designed to present information about feminist research for social change in Aotearoa (New Zealand). It weaves together three strands: explanation of research skills (methods); evaluation of research methods (methodology and epistemology); and description of particular New Zealand feminist research projects. Students are required to conduct research for social change and to evaluate published research.

Problems encountered

Planning and managing distance education

  • This one semester course is based on a similar course developed and delivered at

  • Athabasca University in Canada. 

  • Therefore, the major planning consisted of translating from

  • an open environment in which the students operate on their own timeline and are

  • constrained only by the need to complete the project within six months,

  • to a semestered environment in which a student cohort proceeds together and;

  • intermediate assignment deadlines are enforced. 

  • This translation resulted in changes to the instructional design, described below.

Implementing quality assurance

  • Quality controls consist of normal standards of scholarship, 

  • adherence to university-wide

  • key performance indicators, assessment by colleagues within women’s studies, and

  • student evaluations.

Using and integrating media in distance education

  • Delivery methods include post, telephone, and, where

  • available to the students, e-mail.

Instructional design and production for distance education

  • The most important design element to include in an upper year skills building course

  • such as ‘Research for Social Change’ is the opportunity for the students to 

  • consult with tutors and other students about their projects as they complete their

  • research. Production is print-based, on the Massey campus,

  • using editorial and educational consultants.

Learner support systems

  • Learner support systems include tutors, the international students’ office,

  • regional advisers, chaplaincy, disabilities office, English Language Centre, student

  • counselling service, and the Massey University library. 

  • The Extramural Students’ Society facilitates communication between 

  • students by mail and the Centre for University Extramural Studies organises

  • optional regional gatherings for students and tutors.

The most important issue: Instructional design and production

In 1993 I developed Athabasca University’s course Women’s Studies 444 ‘Feminist Research Methodology’. This course has been successfully delivered to a small number of fourth year women’s studies major Bachelor of Arts students each year. As part of my work at Massey University, I am designing a similar course for the Aotearoa environment. The lessons I have learned through this process include the following.

  •       Some of the classic material in the field of women’s studies seems applicable in ‘western’ countries around the world.

  •       A canon has developed in women’s studies as in other fields.

  •       As a consequence of the need to ground the course in the New Zealand experience,

  •       about 40 percent of the teaching materials are new.

  •       Instructional design is affected by the following differences:

  •       Students usually pay for their phone calls to tutors at Massey but not at Athabasca.

  •       There are intermediate assignment deadlines at Massey but none at Athabasca. There are more international students at Massey.

Therefore, the study and administration guide at Massey must include more assistance with the process of learning (for example, precise information on note taking, sample quiz answers, more explicit grading guidelines).

Massey University is a ‘dual mode’ institution, which delivers its courses both extramurally and internally. Because of the more rapid production and revision of courses at Massey than at Athabasca, as well as on-campus teaching, there is less time for lecturers to devote to course writing, and the study guide therefore includes less by way of commentary. 

Where thoroughgoing synthesis are included in Athabasca study guides, Massey study guides contain shorter questions and commentaries. However, Massey texts and study guides can be more up-to-date because of the more rapid re-development of materials.

The dual mode institution allows the testing of materials in a classroom situation, prior to delivery at a distance, allowing the refinement of commentaries to be included in the study guide. However, distinctive components for extramural delivery must still be created, in keeping with the difference learning process.