The teleological reason why ICTs limit choice for learners and learning

The teleological reason why ICT limits choice for

university learners and learning

David Jones & Nona Muldoon

Work in progress

• 1st draft of idea for conference paper• Need and want ideas and suggestions

• LMS/CMS - the same

http://cq-pan.cqu.edu.au/david-jones/

Proposition

The informed use of ICT by institutions and their teachers supports flexibility and choice in what is to be learned, how it is learned, when it is learned and how it will be assessed.

http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/

• Do ICTs support flexibility and choice?

• Teleological design

• How teleological design limits flexibility and choice

• Implications for universities

Overview

• Do ICTs support flexibility and choice?




Overview

• Examine literature for evidence

• Look for it at 4 Levels– Institutional– System– Adoption– Use

Evidence for choice


Evidence for choice

Most Australian universities are the same, or at least aim to be

Back in the late 1980s universities were forced into a one-size-fits-all mould…

The need for diversity is obvious…..

Our system, by contrast, appears almost monochrome….

Institutional

(Bishop, 2006)


Evidence for choice

Everyone is using the same - type of system (LMS)- two or three LMSes

the WebCT and Blackboard brands have a clear market dominance…used at three quarters of Australia’s 39 universities.

no obvious patterns of brand selection in terms of university characteristics

somewhat surprising in a sector which claims to strive for diversity and innovation.

Choice in systems?

(Coates, James, et al. 2005)

(in 2002)

As of 2005 almost every higher education institution (HEI) is planning to make use of an LMS

Despite the majority of the perceived drivers for LMS being contestable, the perceived requirement for a central LMS seems to be entrenched in the mindset of the university sector.

Choice in systems?

(Salmon, 2005)

(Wise and Quealy, 2005)

it is surprising just how quickly the CMS strategy has taken hold of higher institutions, which are usually known for their grip on traditional forms of teaching and for their reluctance towards change.

Choice in systems?

(West, Waddoups et al. 2006)


Evidence for choice

Still somewhat patchy and limited

Vodanovich and Piotrowski (2005)– 74% faculty positive to use of Internet– 70% view e-learning as effective– 47% actually use it

Adoption

Best practice implementations report no more than 55% staff adoption rates

56.7% CQU T2, 2006 courses had course sites

(Sausner, 2005)


Evidence for choice

The vast majority is old wine in new skins

the vast majority of online courses to be taught in the same manner as their traditional equivalents.

with a few exceptions, almost all have adopted an approach where the LMS has been substituted for existing media and where existing pedagogy has been retained

Choice in pedagogy

(Salmon, 2005)

(Twigg, 2001)

universities primarily use LMS for administrative purposes, and have had a limited impact on pedagogy (OECD, 2005)

Use of the LMS for learning, for the most part, seemed to involve fairly unsophisticated use of the tools available, and in some cases it was used primarily to provide access to information, rather than to engage students directly in an online learning environment.

Choice in pedagogy

(Benson and Palaskas, 2006)

Current research has shown that faculty members use these systems primarily to transmit course documents to students in resident courses (Ansorge & Bendus, 2003; Dutton, Cheong, & Park, 2004; Morgan, 2003; Woods, Baker, & Hopper, 2004; Malikowski, Thompson et al. 2006)

Choice in pedagogy

The data suggest CQU is seeking to use LMS technology mainly as a content delivery mechanism.

On average 23.7 documents embedded - max of 165

Choice in pedagogy

(Gonch, 2007)

CQU - T2, 2006

010

20304050

607080

90100

Content Discussion OASM Quizzes Group Work

% Course sites

(Gonch, 2007)

.9 posts/student

• Does ICTs support flexibility and choice?




Overview

Teleological Design

To be teleological is to set and achieve objectives, it is to be purpose driven…

Setting goals and achieving them is the essence of "success" in the teleological society

(Introna, 1996)

Strategic Goals

Operational Plans

Working parties

Quality assurance

• An unnoticed epistemological foundation

What's wrong with that?

By adopting a single domineering concept of method all our thinking…becomes imprisoned by this one concept…..It limits not only our understanding, but our empirical observations….can cause us to ignore activities that do not fit within a methodical frame

(Truex, Baskerville et al. 2000)

• "Herding cats" is a metaphor often used to describe "management" tasks at universities (and elsewhere)

Herding cats

(Brennan, Miller et al. 2001; Butler, 1997; Parise, 2000; Hort, 1997; Bennis, 1998)

Which is more frustrating: achieving institutional change or herding cats?

Herding cats - Managing higher education

Managing people is like herding cats

Teleological Design

QuickTime™ and aYUV420 codec decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Herding Cats - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7yqlTMvp8

Design process attributes

Attributes TeleologicalUltimate purpose Goal/purpose

Intermediate goals Efficiency

Design focus Results

Designers Explicit designer

Scope Part

Process Problem solving

Problems Complexity/conflict

Management Centralised

Control Master plan

(Introna, 1996)






Scope Part




Control Master plan

Cattle BaronDecides cats have to get to townCattle BaronDecides cats have to get to town






Scope Part




Control Master plan

Get the cattle there as cheaplyas possibleGet the cattle there as cheaplyas possible






Scope Part




Control Master plan

All focus is on getting them totown - ends justify the meansAll focus is on getting them totown - ends justify the means






Scope Part




Control Master plan

The cat herders are the designers - how to achieve purpose?The cat herders are the designers - how to achieve purpose?






Scope Part




Control Master plan

Each will focus on part of the problem - e.g. the cook, out riders etc.







Scope Part




Control Master plan

We're "here", purpose is to get "there"How to solve that problem?We're "here", purpose is to get "there"How to solve that problem?






Scope Part




Control Master plan

Cat's don't agree with purpose.Cat herders must deal with that conflict and the complexity- Seen as heroic

Cat's don't agree with purpose.Cat herders must deal with that conflict and the complexity- Seen as heroic






Scope Part




Control Master plan

All decisions reside with the "boss" cat herderAll decisions reside with the "boss" cat herder






Scope Part




Control Master plan

All decisions reside with the "boss" cat herder.And are made in line with the master plan - get to town.Through application of rational thought.

All decisions reside with the "boss" cat herder.And are made in line with the master plan - get to town.Through application of rational thought.





Overview

Teleological limits





Scope Part




Control Master plan

• BUFD and context mismatch

• Fads and Fashions

• Purpose proxies

• Purpose of a LMS

Purpose limits choice

• Teleological relies on BUFD– Big Up Front Design


(Truex et al. 1999, p119)

• Assumes long period of stable usage to cover BUFD costs

Stable context assumption

(Truex et al. 1999, p119)

In order to teleological development..certain requirements…must be met

• Systems behavior must be relatively stable and predictable

Stable context assumption

(Introna, 1996)

Information technology is in a state of perpetual innovation (Tapscott, 1996)

institutions that can continually change, keeping up with the needs of the transforming economy they serve, will surive. Those that cannot or will not change will become irrelevant (Klor de Alva, 2000)

Uncertainty about the future and other developments highlight the importance of building institutions that are responsive to change. (CRHEFP, 1997)The ever-accelerating tempo of

digital technology poses great challenges to institutions….When the power for a given price doubles every 18 months of less, rapid obsolescence disrupts conventional infrastructure planning processes (Duderstadt et al, 2002)

There can be no doubt that universities operate in a continuously changing environment. It is how they, as an organisation, respond to the changes that determines their legitimacy and relevance going forward.-- CQU Strategic Plan: 2006-2011

Matching needs?

Formationof need

Analysis& design

Implementation Operation

Degree of compliance of IS requirementswith business needs

(Stamoulis et al, 1998, pp 1012)

Matching needs?

Formationof need

Analysis& design

Implementation Operation

Degree of compliance of IS requirementswith business needs



• Purpose proxies



Management fashion is "relatively transitory collective beliefs, disseminated by the discourse of knowledge entrepreneurs, that a management technique is at the forefront of rational management progress”

Amplified by hyperbole…, the fashionable vision may exert a strong, if transitory, normative pull among managers.

Fads and fasions

(Swanson and Ramiller, 2004)

(Abrahamson and Fairchild, 2004)

In providing sweeping legitimacy to an IT innovation, however transiently so, a bandwagon can in effect legitimize the exercise of mindlessness.

Mindlessness can therefore be rendered socially and politically acceptable, to some degree, in innovating with IT.

Fads and fasions

(Swanson and Ramiller, 2004)

Fads and fasions

Even though the perceived drivers for CMS are contestable, the perceived need for a CMS seems to be entrenched in the higher education sector

(Wise and Quealy, 2006)



• Purpose proxies



Purpose proxies

What's the e-learning question?

How best to do e-learning?

OR

Which LMS is "best"?

Purpose proxies

CQU's answer

Learning Management System Working Party



• Purpose proxies



Technological tools and instruments are never value-neutral but rather teeming with values and potentialities, which may cause unexpected responses.

LMS Purpose

(Westera, 2004)

• Based on USA higher education

• Course offering based

• Closed from outside world

• Web-based

• All applications on uni server

• Only handle courses with 999 students

LMS Values

Rather than being of itself liberating or empowering technology serves whichever goals motivate the people guiding its design and use.

LMS Purpose

(Lian, 2000)

Teleological limits





Scope Part




Control Master plan

• Efficiency limits experimentation

• Encourages "add-on" online learning

Efficency limits choice

Efficiency

(Introna, 1996)

Behaviour that does not directly contribute to the….[purpose]….is inefficient and ineffective.

Efficiency

(Dutton and Loader, 2002)

Even when individual educators embrace new technology institutional arrangements and policies in education such as institutional incentive structures, copyright and intellectual property rights constrain more innovative uses of e-learning.

Prevents experimentation

• Experimentation does not achieve purpose

• Not encouraged

• Means can't expand the scope of actions

• Limits flexibility and choice

• Efficiency limits experimentation

• Encourages "add-on" online learning


By 2005 the dominant mode of e-learning to which higher education institutions (HEIs) aspire is the integration of online components into their traditional face-to-face approaches, often called blended learning


(Salmon, 2005)

• Online "add-on" to f-t-f

• Two problems1. Obstruction of good instructional design

2. Poor skills base

• Obstacle to effective and efficient online learning

Blended is "add-on"

(Teghe and Knight, 2004)

Teleological Limits





Scope Part




Control Master plan



Top-down design

Blackboard

FacultiesDTLSITDStudent admin

Students

Reductionist decomposition is problematic because the isoloation of components is an imaginary process, and the resulting components do not reflect the rich interdependencies in organisational reality.

Top-down problem


Focus on part

Blackboard


Students

Give 1000s SEs/DEs

Focus on part

Blackboard


Students

Can't login to coursesite to study

Focus on part

Blackboard


Students

Complain to coursecoordinator

Focus on part

Blackboard


Students

Mention it to theADL&T

Focus on part

Blackboard


Students

It's a Blackboardproblem, DTLS?

Focus on part

Blackboard


Students

It's a Sys Adminproblem!

Focus on part

Blackboard


Students

No it's withpeoplesoft

Focus on part

Blackboard


Students

It's because of a ruleset by StudAdmin

Focus on part

Blackboard


StudentsCan't wait for thatto be changed

Focus on part

Blackboard


StudentsWe can do thisfix

Focus on part

Blackboard


StudentsMost of the DEs/Seshave been sat

The continued selection of goals and continued convergence of behaviour thus creates a system that loses its ability to understand/comprehend the whole

Top-down problem

(Introna, 1996)

Solve part of the problem

• To hard to solve the whole

• Each part focuses on their purpose

• Contributes to– "Autism" of information technology support– Limited discussion across parts– Divergent systems

A university is defined by the quality of its academic conversations, not by the techologies that service them.(Laurillard, 2002)

Teleological Limits





Scope Part




Control Master plan

We're "here", purpose is to get "there"How to solve that problem?We're "here", purpose is to get "there"How to solve that problem?

…planned change models, with their emphasis on rationality, linearity, and clarity of purpose..

Rationality

(Kezar, 2000)

…planned change models, with their emphasis on rationality, linearity, and clarity of purpose are unlikely to be successful within the higher education system.

Rationality

(Kezar, 2000)

Rather than being a rational, purposive, and goal-driven process, information systems development is subject to human whims, talents and the personal goals of the actors involved.

Rationality


Cognitive biases

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

Bandwagon effectTendency to do things because many others do the same

Bandwagon effectTendency to do things because many others do the same

Deformation professionnelleTendency to to look at things through the conventions of your profession

Deformation professionnelleTendency to to look at things through the conventions of your professionIllusion of control

Tendency to believe you can control outcomes that you cannot

Illusion of controlTendency to believe you can control outcomes that you cannot

Status quo biasTendency to like things to stay relatively the same

Status quo biasTendency to like things to stay relatively the same

Post-purchase rationalisationTendency to persuade oneself that a purchase was good value

Post-purchase rationalisationTendency to persuade oneself that a purchase was good value

..strongly feels that the Blackboard product has the best overall technical fit and provides the best opportunity available to meet our tactical needs while minimizing support problems and costs.

Rationality at work

(LMS Technical Working group, 2003)

An alternate view

0

28

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

BlackboardWebfuse

Number of terms LMS used on CQU technical infrastructure

..CQU working with a less stable product….software unfortunately became less stable. CQU staff….assumption that the current LMS would only require similar levels of support to the prior one…..the software had persistent problems….As an organisation CQU was unable to respond to the challenge raised.

What happened

(CQU, 2004)

Teleological Limits





Scope Part




Control Master plan

• Loss of complexity

• Starvation - indefinite postponement

• Conflict wastes energy

Central planning limitations

Centralised Management

ITUC


StudentsIT Plan


ITUC


StudentsIT Plan

I have an idea/problem


ITUC


StudentsIT Plan

Tell the boss


ITUC


StudentsIT Plan

She'll tell the boss' boss


ITUC


StudentsIT Plan

Rep will take it to ITUC


ITUC


StudentsIT Plan

At every stage there is a filter


ITUC


StudentsIT Plan

Lot's of competing alternatives


ITUC


StudentsIT Plan

What about the students?





While recognising that the investment in the People Soft ERP system is a necessary pre cursor to expansion of flexible learning to multiple geographies, the significant investment in this system has concentrated attention away from core teaching and learning applications.

The Bottleneck

(CQU, 2001)





In the teleological view the belief exists that if one could select the "right" set of goals then eventually the whole should benefit.

Who judges "right"?

Problem - conflict

(Introna, 1996)

A great deal of the system's energy is spent trying to resolve internal conflict.

Problem - conflict

(Introna, 1996)

A comment by one of the technical group suggesting that we should change people's behaviour because information technology systems are difficult to change..

Change people not tech.

(Sturgess and Nouwens, 2004)

Social systems cannot be "designed" and developed in any teleological or methodological sense, as is possible with technical systems. Social systems can at most be indirectly influenced.

Change people not tech.

(Introna, 1996)





Overview

• Teleological is inappropriate

• There is another extreme

• A happy medium might be better

• It's not a question of which LMS

Implications

The unique characteristics of higher education are in conflict with the assumptions of teleological models, which assume a clear vision, unambiguous plans, a decision-making chain of command, clear delegation of responsibility, decisions based on facts, and rationality

Down with teleological

(Kezar, 2000)

The committee recognized that different campus cultures and the lack of a single, unified vision for online teaching and learning – probably impossible at an institution of this size – work against a single tool being “best” across the board.

Down with teleological

(UF CMSAG, 2003)





Implications

Design Extremes

Attributes Teleological Ateleological

Ultimate purpose Goal/purpose Harmony

Intermediate goals Effect/Efficiency Homeostasis

Design focus Ends/results Means/process

Designers Explicit designer Participant

Scope Part Whole

Process Problem solving Local adaptation

Problems Complexity/conflict Time

Management Centralised Decentralised

Control Master plan Rules/regulators

Related work

Research-based principles for change (Kezar, 2001)

• Promote organisational self-discovery• Focus on adaptability• Construct opportunities for interaction• Strive to create homeostasis• Combine teleological with social-cognition,

cultural and political strategies

Problems

• Teleological design is seen as the only approach

• All professional training ignores alternatives

Adopting a single domineering concept…our thinking…becomes imprisoned by this one concept…[it] is not only our way of thinking about systems development, it is our way of thinking about "thinking about systems development"


Alternatives are dismissed





Implications

• ICTs in higher ed use primarly teleological design

• This limits choice and flexibility for learners and learning

• Adding in ateleological components is required

Conclusions

The teleological reason why ICTs limit choice for learners and learning

Education

choice implications

ict limits choice

unsophisticated use

teleological reason

universities overview

type of system lms

institutional change

australian universities