LMS implementation & e-learning maturity:

Are we there yet?

Presented by Irina Elgort28 September, 2005

Presentation structure

1. Models of diffusion of innovations and

studies of e-learning adoption

2. Adoption of LMS and e-learning maturity

3. Teachers’ adoption decisions

4. Professional development for e-learning

5. Further direction in the LMS design

Diffusion of innovations

• Rogers’ Model – Diffusion of innovations– Categories of adopters

• Moore’s Model– Adoption of high tech innovations– Marketing of innovations

Adopter categories

Innovators 2.5%

EarlyAdopters13.5%

EarlyMajority34%

LateMajority34%

Laggards16%

based on Rogers, 1995: 262

Moore’s model of adoption

InnovatorsEarlyAdopters - Visionaries

EarlyMajority - Pragmatics

LateMajority -Conservatives

Laggards - Die-hards

based on Moore, 1999: 17

E-learning adoption

• FLLinNZ study 2004-5– 22 universities (NZ, Australia, UK) - all had one or more LMS– Over the initial stages of LMS adoption

– NZ Universities • 100% of Universities use an LMS• over 40% of courses in 4 Universities

• UK JISC & UCISA Study 2003– 86% of HE Institutions use a VLE

• NZ ITP Study (Mitchell et al., 2005)– 18 ITP with 100% use an LMS

• Australian NCODE survey 2002– 33 Universities used an LMS

Are we there yet?

• LMS is now a widely adopted technology in the tertiary sector.

• The main context of LMS is teaching and learning (cf. MLE, CMS or ERP).

• Tutors’ utilisation of LMS is highly correlated with their levels of adoption of e-learning.

Does the high levels of adoption of ICT tools (LMS, in particular) in tertiary courses mean that e-learning is close to fulfilling its potential in the tertiary sector?

E-learning adoption studies

FLLinNZ project interviews show

the majority of e-learning specialists interviewed were concerned about often poorly thought through approaches to using Learning Management Systems.

E-learning adoption studies

E-learning Adoption Cycles1. Enhancement to traditional course/programme

configuration2. New course management tools (course

management systems)3. Imported course objects4. New course/programme configuration - faculties

and their institutions re-engineer teaching and learning activities to take full and optimal advantage of the new technology

(Zemsky and Massy,2004)

1. Enhancement to traditional course configurations

2. New course management tools

3. Imported learning objects

4. New course configurations

Stage of innovation

Time

E-learning Adoption Cycle

E-learning adoption studies

New Zealand Studies• Report on the E-Learning Maturity Model

Evaluation of the New Zealand Tertiary Sector.

Marshall, 2005

• Investigation into the Factors Affecting

Teaching Staff’s Adoption of Web-Based

Teaching in Higher Education.Butson, in progress

Discovering the e-learning chasm…

E-learning chasm

The e-learning innovation as a multidimensional process located in two planes: the plane of technology the plane of pedagogy (or teaching

and learning).

E-learning innovationsCumulative number of adopters

E-learning Technology Innovation Teaching and Learning Innovation

Cumulative number of adopters

Time Time

E-learning innovations

Cumulative number of adopters

E-Learning Innovation

E-learning Technology Innovation

Teaching and Learning Innovation

Time

• learning activities designed to take full and optimal advantage of the new technology

• teachers value the learning management approach, as opposed to the academic expert one

• new roles for teachers and students• independent learning is encouraged• active learning • learner freedom to pursue topics of interest• learning objectives and tasks are negotiated• opportunities for reflective learning• use of formative assessment

E-learning maturity characteristics

Teacher and Learner Role

• Apprentice• Builder• Listener• Mentor• Peer teacher• Publisher• Team member• Writer

• Architect• Consultant• Expert• Guide• Lecturer• Resource• Reviewer• Role model

Student Roles Faculty Roles

Oblinger, 2005

Challenges of e-learning• personal theories about teaching are formed early in life

(often implicitly), and do not change easily (Kember, 1997; Ramsden, 2003)

• teachers use ICT tools only if they are aligned with their beliefs about teaching, and in the way that aligns with these beliefs

(Robertson, 2004)

• teachers continue to teach in the way they always taught, whether in the context of e-learning or not

(Zemsky & Massy, 2004)

• the majority of teachers tend to prefer to use a variation of a teacher-centred model

(Scrimshaw, 2004)

PD for e-learning

PD has a crucial role to play in achieving e-learning maturity:Create opportunities for teachers to

articulate personal beliefs about teaching and learning

Assist with evaluating e-learning needsBroaden teachers expectations about

e-learning in a pragmatic wayEnable teachers to construct better

e-learning environments

Recommendations

• Integrated approach to PD for e-learning• Initial PD for e-learning interventions should

take place outside the context of the University LMS

• Academic developers need to assume the role of flexible learning advisers, as and when required

• The “scholarship of teaching” approach to using e-learning environments

Direction in the LMS design

• Enable learning activities designed to take full and optimal advantage of the new technology

• Develop technologies that enable teacher and learners to take full advantage of pedagogical innovation

Enable the adoption of the learning centred approach to teaching (when teachers are ready for it)

Pedagogical Framework

Primary aims for using LMS1. Enhance the quality of teaching and

learning by allowing teachers to use pedagogies that are not possible with large numbers in a face to face environment.

2. Manage the delivery and administration of programmes of learning through an electronic on-line medium.

Britain and Liber, 2004

LMS success stories

LMS are making good progress in meeting the second goal: resolving complexity in the HE sector through attenuation.

• high numbers of students in HE (Oblinger, 2005)– access to HE: 60% in the developed countries– projected needs: 160 million in 2025

• larger numbers of students per course• limitations of the physical space• complexity in enrolment, course and learning

administration• complexity related to time and location constraints• multitude of systems

Future success stories ?

LMS are starting to move toward an amplification approach to resolving complexity in the field of HE

•Resource negotiation•Adaptation•Self organisation•Monitoring•Individualisation

Learning centred approaches to teaching require technologies that support the amplification route.

Self Organisation

• What can students do on their own, without the teacher involvement?

• What opportunities are there for students to

– self-organise into study groups based on• background knowledge and skills

• topics of interest

– initiate interactions• self-select into discussion / reflection / project groups

• self-select for peer-work, peer-assessment, peer-reviewing)

Learning space

… certain kinds of spaces make it too easy to teach by “delivery” - broadcasting knowledge from the instructor’s mouth towards the student’s brain - while making it awkward to teach in ways that, research suggests, can produce deeper, more lasting learning.

Long & Ehrmann, 2005

Typology of learning spaces

1. thinking/converging (deliberating)

2. designing (putting structure to idea)

3. presenting (showing to a group)

4. collaborating (team activities)

5. debating, negotiating

6. documenting

7. implementing / associating (to accomplish a task)

8. practicing (for specific disciplines)

9. sensing (monitoring)

10. operating (controlling systems / tools / environments)

Long & Ehrmann, 2005

E-learning space

1. Designed for people, not technologies (‘comfortable’ for human activities, easy to use)

2. Can be optimised for certain learning activities (not just stuffed with technology)

3. Enables technologies to be brought into the space (rather than having them build into the space)

4. Provides small- and large-group learning spaces, as well as spaces for individual study

Based on Long & Ehrmann, 2005

LMS evaluation

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Innovating Together• E-learning has not yet reached

its potential in HE• Wider adoption of the teaching

and learning innovation is needed

• PD interventions can facilitate innovative approaches to teaching

• E-learning technologies (including LMS) need to be designed to make teaching innovation possible, rather than focus on the mainstream teaching practices.