2009 Day3 Tony Bates: Is E-Learning Failing Higher Education?
From OUCEL Wiki
[edit] Indicators of failure
- lack of return on IT investment
- costs of HE continues to rise in EU and USA
- lack of innovation / transformation of education (WEF, Sangra (Phd, Spain), CCL, Anderson (10 wasted yrs in Canada)
- technology absorbed into traditional model (Tierney & Heihkel)
- how good are these indicators
- perceptions rather than realities
- lack of both qualitative data and qualitative case studies on technology in HE
- based very little on hard data
- lots of little stuff on the ground, very little recorded/measured
- goals/expectations not clear
[edit] Goals/expectations of technology in HE
- what are we trying to achive by using ICTs in teaching and administration use
- how would we know whether we have met our goals
- different stakeholders/different goals
[edit] Possible goals for elearning
- votes(x)
- increase access/flexibility (12)
- enhance quality of teaching (8)
- develop skills needed in 21st century (4)
- improve cost-effeciveness of HE (2)
- meet learning style of 'millenials' (8)
Linda's contribution
- increase student engagement
[edit] Good data (Sloan, ITSC, UBC)
- Online DE: 14% increase per annnum for 7 years for online course, 2%p.a. overall
- Blended learning: we don't know
- BC flexible training for trades
- Most successful elearning goal
[edit] Enhance the quality of learning
- most common with instructors
- clickers, ppt, multiple screens, etc.
- enhance not imporove; i.e. teaching is already good
- same goals, same students, same teacher-student ratios, mover work
- current model does NOT work well
- More WORK, mass education, industrial model of education
[edit] Why current teaching model is inadequate
- Examples given by Aldo & Patrick
- historical model not adapted to needs of mass higher education
- lack of interaction/engagement
- old model not based on research on how students learn, or on potential of technology
[edit] Goal: develop skills needed in 21st century
- ensure students have intellectual and digital skills needed in their profession/occupation
- skills for knowledge-based society (communicating, independent learning, entrepreneurial, problem-solving, KM, collaborative, digital literacy)
- skills embedded within discipline
- use of ICTs in teaching essential
[edit] Implications for assessment
- assess ability to know and do
- enable students to use digital media to demonstrate competence- e portfolio
- thus needs changes in curriculum + teaching methods + technology
- (not doing well with this goal)
[edit] Can we do more with the same or less
- reduce overheads: 53% non-teaching costs at UBC, e.g. more buildings - or more distributed learning
- student services: better, quicker, cheaper with IT
- can we do more?, more students, with less instructors
- reduce overhead -53% of non teaching costs at UBC are not related to teaching
- student services, better, quicker , cheaper with IT- Alberta 20,000 more students with less instructors, students register themselves at U of A
[edit] Millenial students
- digital natives
- danger of stereotyping and false assumptions
- research suggests digital divide is not necessarily age-related
[edit] What would innovation look like?
- need new visions for teaching and learning in HE
- vision should combine:
- skills development embedded in content
- flexibility and access
- learner empowerment and differentiation
- integration of digital technologies
- success measures
- abolition of semester system, requirement for full-time attendance on campus? (why do we require full time access on campus)
- courses/programs designed to acommodate f2f, blended distance and DE students
- collaborative international online programs with foreign universities
- assessment by challenge, eportfolios, peer assessment, project work
- work and study programs between industry/university
- full cost-recovery models for lifelong learners, to hire new faculty
- team teaching within department, between subject areas, between universities
==Barriers to change== So why not
- No incentives to change
- faculty untrained in modern teaching methods
- research more important than teaching
- poor IT governance, management: no input from the instructional side- manage for making sure system is working -but not what it can do or could do for teaching. (I think this is very important problem, Kim Holland)
- no vision for the future
[edit] What can be done to encourage innovation in elearning?
- Federal:
- link elearning to national devlopment knowledge-based society
- collect statistics/performance measure for use of ICTS in HE
- earmarked funding for research into ICTS in HE, linked to productivity
- national standards for teaching in HE
- Provincial:
- funding linked to innovation in teaching through annual plans
- province-wide accreditation for teaching in HE (tenure req)
- leadership in setting goals for ICTs
- training programs for senior administrators
- Institutional
- develop vision, strategies and performance measures
- Individuals
- lobby tenure/prmo
- work to developm
- get trained
[edit] Conclusion
Elearning has not failed higher Ed. Higher Ed has failed elearning
How / Where will change occur? ICT at the program or department level