The impact of e-learning on organisations, individuals and the curriculum
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Transcript of The impact of e-learning on organisations, individuals and the curriculum
The impact of e-learning on organisations, individuals
and the curriculum
Professor Gráinne ConoleThe Open University
CUC conference, Falmouth 6th April 2006
Outline
• E-learning– Characteristics – Impact– Perceived benefits and disadvantages
• A six-step framework for e-learning1.Why use e-learning2.Review of tools 3.Understanding the context4.Curriculum design5.Evaluation6.Embedding
The demise of UKeU
“It is clear that virtual learning is an industry which is striding forward all around us”
(Blunkett, 2000)
Five years later, Sheerman suggested the investment had been “a disgraceful
waste of public money” (Sheerman, 2005)
ICT promises
Q What technological promises were made 10+ years ago?
Q How many have come true?
Q What’s arisen that was unforeseen?
Promises, promises….
A Predicted– paperless office– distributed university– universal on demand
access– home workers, tele-
cottages– ‘sage on the stage’ ‘guide
on the side– artificial intelligence and
personalised agents– e-books
A Not predicted– rise and impact of
the Internet– mobile technologies
- mobile phone, text messaging
– Singing cards!– Standards and
interoperability– nintendo generation – PDAs
Impact of e-learning
Organisational level
Tutor skills & changing roles
Virtual learning environments
Interactive &engaging materials
Unintendedconsequences
Communication tools
Email, discussion boards, chat
Assessment tools
TOIA, QuestionMark
Integrated learning environments
Blackboard, WebCT
Online information tools
Gateways and portals
Growth of e-learning tools
ICT as mission critical
Increasing impact of ICT
National initiatives ICT catalysts - VLEsFunding drivers
Drivers
Organisational structures
Roles, skills and practice
Teaching and learning
Impact
New methods of online
data collection
Adaptivity
Virtual networks
Intelligent tools
International collaboration
Information explosion
The Grid
Beyond the web…
Learning by doing
In the companyof others
Through experience
Through dialogue
Socially situated
Through reflection
Mercer
Vygotsky
Laurillard
Papart
Kolb
Dewey
LaveJarvis
Paiget
Wenger
Theories of learning
Key characteristics
of learning
Policy and practice
Early ’90sKennedy and Dearing reports
Late ’90sEmergence of VLEs
RecentlyDfES and HEFCE e-learning strategies
Mobile and wireless technologiesEmergence of designing for learning
PLEs and focus on the student experience!
The holy grail of e-learning
To what extent is this true?What is the link between the pedagogy and the technology?
New forms of learning
Pedagogical re-engineering
A global connected society
Learning anywhere anytime
Rich multimedia representation
Smart, adaptable, personalised
Patch use of communication toolsStilted collaborations
VLEs for admin and as content
repositories
Information overloadNot pedagogically
informed
-ve
Negative aspects
Critical mass of mediating
tools and resources
Shift from individual to socially situated
Learning in context or through problem solving
New innovative uses of e-learning
+ve
Positive aspects
Framework for e-learning
Reasons for using e-learning Choice of tools and resources Understanding the context
• The wider context• Organisational context• Skills and perceptions of staff and
students
Effective curriculum designEvaluationEmbedding
Why use e-learning?
• Reasons cites for needing e-learning are wide ranging – Pedagogical benefits– Improved administration– Political aspects
• Fundamental impact at all organisational levels– Cutting across and effecting
• existing structures• teaching, research and administration
– Changing• roles and functions• support and administration processes
ICT affordances
Access to wealth of resources Information overload, quality issues
New forms of dialogue Literacy skills issues
New forms of community Learner identity and confusion
Speed of access, immediacy Lack of permanency, surface
Virtual representations Lack of reality, real is fake
AccessibilitySpeed of changeDiversityCommunication & collaborationReflection
MultimodalityRiskImmediacyMonopolisationSurveillance
Conole and Dyke, 2004
Understanding the context
• Large-scale technological implementations common in Business– E-Business– Transformation of banking– Tesco’s online– E-tickets– Consumer expectation of online shopping
• Education sector has been slower– Will explore why and consider importance of
organisational context
Understanding organisations
• Understanding organisational context– External environment and current drivers – Current institutional drivers and initiatives – Alignment of e-learning developments with
other institutional activities
• Institutional profile and culture• Changing functions and roles• Organisational interventions
External context
• External drivers – National policy and funding opportunities – Accountability– Funding opportunities– Competition– Globalisation– Local context– Changing technologies
• Current agendas– Accessibility – Widening participation– Lifelong learning
External factors
A Changing nature of education – lifelong learning– widening participation
A Changing nature of work – multiple career histories – growth and increased importance of ‘new
professionals’
A Increasing impact of globalisation– Knowledge dispersal– Information integration
A New emergent issues– Standardisation/surveillance– Digital and economic divides
Research Practice
Strategy
Mapping external factors to
the local context
Funders
Policy
Widening participation
L&T
HR
Catalysts
Institutional profile
A Mission, focus, values
A Strategies and policies
A Stakeholders and their perspectives
A Current initiatives
A Range of factors– Size, sector, management style, profile
of students, funding, subject areas, culture, partners
Organisational structures
Collegial Bureaucratic
Enterprise Corporate
Loose
Tight
Policy definition
Loose Tight
Control of implementation
McNay 1995
Widening Participation
Audit and quality
assurance
Local and regional agendas
Globalisation
Partnerships
Innovation
Consultancy
ICT
Research
Institution with a primary
focus on teaching and learning
Profiling an institution
“No one representation alone provided a complete
description of the domain” Holyfield (2002)
MachineStructural aspects
OrganismLiving, ecoystem
BrainInformation processing
system
CultureMini-society, different
social realities
PoliticalConflicts and power
Morgan’s metaphors
Students and staff
• Changing roles – Traditional roles and structures are
changing– New support units– Emergence of ‘learning technologists’
Q How have staff roles changed?Q How have students changed?Q What new skills do staff and
students need to utilise e-learning?
Students
A Students have a changing skills baseA New forms of e-literacy neededA Students need ICT support and guidanceA Employers see ICT skills as basic requirementsA New forms of communication and collaborationA Students expect
access to quality e-learning resourcessimilar standards across coursestutor available online mobile and wireless connectivity
A Emergent issues– plagiarism, copyright– impact of monitoring and surveillance
Staff
A Conflict between teaching and researchA New forms of e-literacy neededA Students need ICT support and guidanceA More collaboration in teaching and
researchA Shifting roles and institutional structuresA Link between teaching and research never
more important!A New forms of academic discourse and peer
validation
Interventions
EducationalFunds for experimentation
Staff development
TechnicalVLE and MLE implementations
Wireless and mobile
OrganisationalStrategic
Top-down and bottom up
Design
Assessment
Resources
Activities
Approach
Integration
Evaluation
Quality Assurance
The curriculum lifecycle
The gap between potential & reality
Plethora of tools and resourcesEnormous potential
but underused
Wealth of knowledge about learningDidactic/behaviourists
models predominate
Gap between thepotential of the technologies
(confusion over how they can be used)and
application of good pedagogical principles(confusion over which models to use)
Selecting
ValidatingImproving
Researching
Justifying
Monitoring
Evaluation purposes
Evaluation process
Reasons
QuestionsData analysis
Dissemination
Data collection
Stakeholders
Evaluation benefits
Reflection and identifying areas for improvement
Way of documenting and providing evidence
Makes process explicit: part of quality
assurance processes
Understanding the teaching and learning process
Embedding
Process for project
to institutional embedding
Integrate with institutional strategies
and policy initiatives
Pedagogical and organisational issues not just technical one
Align e-learningwith external funding
Future gazing….
New forms of media
Increasingly mobile and ubiquitous
More sophisticated tools and resources
Increasingly global and interconnected
References
Conole and Oliver (Eds) (forthcoming), Contemporary perspectives on e-learning research, Routledge FalmerConole (forthcoming), ‘An international comparison of the relationship between policy and practice in e-learning’ in Andrews and Haythornthwaite (Eds), Handbook of e-learning research, SageConole (2006), ‘What impact are technologies having and how are they changing practice?’, in McNay (ed), Beyond Mass Higher Education: Building on Experience, The Society for Research into Higher Education, Open University Press/ McGraw-Hill Education, 81-95.Conole, Dyke, Oliver, and Seale, (2004), ‘Mapping pedagogy and tools for effective learning design’, Computers and EducationConole and Dyke, (2004), ‘What are the affordances of Information and Communication Technologies?’, ALT-J, 12.2Conole (2003), ‘Understanding your organisation’ in the ‘Creating a Managed Learning Environment infoKit’, www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk
The impact of e-learning on organisations, individuals
and the curriculum
Professor Gráinne ConoleThe Open University
CUC conference, Falmouth 6th April 2006