Critical Success Factors for the Implementation of eLearning in Consortia of
UniversitiesProfessor Paul Bacsich
Director of Special Projects and ResearchUK eUniversities Worldwide Limited
ISEL, Sabah, 20-22 October 2003
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UKeU
UKeU is a broker/demand aggregator between UK university e-learning courses and students, world-wide
See www.ukeu.com Pedagogic model is content plus
asynchronous collaboration with a little spice of synchronous in some
cases
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Special Projects
General: to oversee… Research into e-learning relevant to our mission Educational evaluation of courses Development of policy on Quality Assurance of eLearning International research collaboration including:
European Commission Framework projects links with research labs around the world on relevant topics
Specific studies: Mid-band services including t-learning Off-line working including m-learning Residual role of f2f in “pure-play” e-learning propositions Benchmarking of MLEs, e-universities and HE-focussed
ASPs
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Overview
1. Exemplars (UK focus)2. Critical Success Factors3. Some less critical issues
1. Standards2. Research
4. Other observations5. Recommendations
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e-universities in the UK
Open University
University for Industry
UK eUniversities Worldwide Limited (UKeU)
NHS University
Russell Group consortia
New universities – Virtual Campuses
Scottish consortia
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Oxbridge and Russell Group
World University Network (WUN) Sheffield, Leeds, York, Bristol, Manchester,
Southampton – plus US partners - many of these now are developing programmes for UKeU
Universitas21: Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow,
Nottingham (UKeU programme)
Cambridge-OU alliance (UKeU pilot) Oxford with Stanford, Princeton, etc
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New Universities (post-1992)
Sheffield Hallam (UKeU pilot) Coventry:
first large UK WebCT site
Robert Gordons (Scotland) Early Virtual Campus
Ulster (N Ireland) – UKeU collaborator Glamorgan (Wales) Middlesex (London) – UKeU collaborator Global University Alliance: Derby+
Glamorgan (UKeU) plus others non-UK hosted by NextEd
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Scotland
University of Highlands and Islands consortium of colleges teaching at HE level
Scottish University for Industry: focus on linking learners to learning opportunities a broker and facilitator, providing information,
support, guidance, advice and encouragement to learners
Scottish Knowledge Was a consortium of many Scottish universities Now turned into the Interactive University
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Types of e-university
Green fields/new build – e.g. TechBC (Canada)
Consortium “Orange skin”
– Virtual Campus Those run or serviced
by non-HE organisations
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Purposes behind e-universities
Government initiative: national or regional or local
International initiatives: AVU; ITU; UN VU (environment) several imminent examples in Mid East now
Business opportunity: Publisher Broadcaster IT company
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Critical Success Factors for Consortia - my top four
Binding energy oriented to a real purpose
Organisational homogeneity or managed diversity
Stratification Linguistic homogeneity
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Alternative view: Harasim (Canada)
Bottom up is good Realism Common vision
yet clear differentiation of roles
Management and marketing (funded) Contracts in place and accepted by all Role models of other consortia
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European view (Bavarian VU)
Clear goals Sufficient funds Definition of USP Clear target group and
proposition/programmes High quality Student-centred pedagogy Solid marketing strategy, growth-oriented Common execution of project across partners Common organisational structure Centralised organisational structure,
specified responsibilities
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And a UK view (HE in FE consortia)
Explicit and agreed purpose Written statements from all members of
expectations Finance and student number issues
clear Student progression and access issues
clear Staff collaboration clear also! Periodic review of the contract and its
effectiveness
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Less critical factors: Standards
IMS – good work but early days But major challenge is
co-operative learning EML (Dutch Open universiteit) –
interesting Interoperability still hard: consortia
must solve this or avoid it
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Less critical: Research
Research is not vital to start an e-University But it is vital to sustain it
Look at impact from EU research work Look at impact of work elsewhere
UK TL-NCE Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong….
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Conclusions from Research
European research: FP3 set the scene; FP4 added little, FP5 we shall soon see
Canadian work more integrated, but lacks evidence of scalable approaches and has a discontinuity with TL-NCE
Too much gap between theorists and industrial-strength pedagogic practice theorists are usually in universities and not seriously
active in e-learning services US still too synchronous and transmissive Australia too fragmented but some key
institutions Big players still need convincing that
research is directly relevant
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Conclusions for research
Focus on co-operative learning
Start with basic asynchronous (BBS) model
Allow new models to be supported, especially those with business potential
But be cautious on new models
Develop scalable approaches
More focus on assessment
Support multiple media and devices
including mobile and TV for special purposes
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Other observations 1
National responses still confused many agencies without clear mission or longevity
Increasing consensus on mainstream e-pedagogy and evaluation but big national differences on how seriously
cost-effectiveness issues are addressed
Truly international consortia do not really yet exist
E-learning still growing through DL But many established “open universities” slow to
change
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Other observations 2
IPR is much talked about as an issue But it is not a “show-stopper”
Ethical considerations are starting to inhibit research/evaluation and the situation could get worse
Staff development is an endless and thankless task However much money one spends on it A view formed over 15 years
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Other observations 3
Accessibility issues are starting to inhibit innovation in mass deployment Will get worse if a UK compliance culture spreads
out
Multi-standard services (PC/Mac/Unix) are getting harder to do and more restrictive in functionality
Lack of clear view on “mid-band” is inhibiting service development
Will television return? If so, how?
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A personal view as a researcher
Have plenty of funds, not all commercial Hire staff and some “names” from sector
Your university-facing staff should be academically aware Be cautious about developing your own system Accept the need for sales and sales staff
Not the same as academic staff Be cautious about outsourcing too much IT Keep a close eye on competitors and the market Have an innovation strategy
E.g. in Europe, consider FP6 etc You will end up with more staff and spending
more money than you or your funders first thought
Be pragmatic – survival is the prime imperative!
Thanks for listeningQuestions? Responses?
Professor Paul Bacsich www.ukeu.com
The source material for this is mostly still at www.shu.ac.uk/terg/
But it will soon be at the UKeU Research Centre Web site!
Acknowledgements for funding:Finland, UNESCO, EU, TL-NCE (Canada),
OU, SHUHEFCE and DfES (UK)