Digital By Default

DR DAVID GLANCE DIRECTOR OF INNOVATION

FACULTY OF ARTS

VERSION 1.0 06082014

The University of Western Australia

The Challenges

Budget pressures• 2015 half cohort whilst introducing new untested Cycle 2 courses

Possibility of deregulation• Plus: we can increase prices• Minus: we face greater competition

Stalking horse: MOOCs The more real threats:

• Moving to offering online education• Student engagement (our students changing faster than we are)

The University of Western Australia

Baumol’s cost disease

Universities will face ongoing problem with • Increased costs (wages)• Insufficient increase in productivity

Challenge is to find ways of increasing productivity

The University of Western Australia

Digital by Default

Based on the idea of other industries facing disruption: News, Music, Government

In news, organisations becoming “digital first”• All news is produced for digital consumption, then analogue

UK Government has adopted a Digital By Default approach – slow in coming but some successes

We are doing some of this already – the aim is to make it systematic

The University of Western Australia

We are all digital natives

The expectation from staff, students and the public is to facilitate and mediate through digital means

The only difference between generations is that we remember a time when there were analogue alternatives

Every time we ask someone to resort to analogue, we increase friction and create dissonance

Using digital means flexibility, personalisation and consistency

The University of Western Australia

Digital by Default: Contact

All contact with the University will be digitally mediated• Online forms and online processes for student enquiries, enrollment, etc

Applies to staff as well as students Systems currently are unintelligent e.g. course offerings, research options We still have limits on email, no collaborative tools, different systems to the

students

The University of Western Australia

Digital by Default: Teaching

Creating content that is capable of supporting online courses Creating online courses Effective use of the LMS

• Consistent use of outcomes, online assessment, rubrics• Online submission and marking/feedback• Use of discussion forums, social media• Powerpoints and video content

Production of Video• Purpose-developed video content

The University of Western Australia

Digital by Default: Community

Students don’t feel engaged with sense of community on Campus Lots of reasons for this

• Travel• Parking and transportation• Availability of alternative options

Increasing part of their community is online through social media If we want to engage on their terms need to do this online as well as face-to-

face

The University of Western Australia

Digital by Default: Challenges

Skill levels of staff Confidence in being able to do this Infrastructure (=money) Appropriate technology for appropriate tasks Senior management wanting to change

The University of Western Australia

Faculty of Arts

Creating a support team (MMC and IT staff) Setting goals:

• Consistent LMS experience• Online submission of assessments• Evaluation by Turnitin• Online marking and Feedback• Rubrics

Leading the University