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

[email protected]

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

[email protected]

CUC conference, Falmouth 6th April 2006