E-learning for the Academy: challenges and opportunities

1. E-learning for the Academy: challenges and opportunities Margaret Haughey University of Alberta

2. Designing e-learning environments • “Learning cannot be designed. Ultimately it belongs to the realm of experience and practice. It follows the negotiation of meaning; it moves on its own terms. It slips through the cracks; it creates its own cracks. Learning happens, design or no design” (p.225). . . . • Etienne Wenger (1998). Communities of Practice. Learning , Meaning and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

3. Learning cannot be designed: it can only be designed for(p. 229). • Technologies support good design to enable learning.

4. Learning in the e-environment • active learning • resource-rich, supported environment • group work/collaboration • real-world problems/authentic • on-going assessment

5. Teacher’s concept/idea revising information about learners’ knowledge/experience assessing task providing feedback revising/reflecting Learner’s concept/idea revising knowledge based on new information performing task asking questions revising/reflecting Learning together 1

6. Teacher setting learning parameters Monitoring group process Assessing learners’ experience Ensuring knowledge construction Providing feedback Learners choose problem Working in a team Assessing experience Choosing learning options Demonstrating/sharing learning Learning together 2

7. Teacher knowledge • knowledge of • the content & structure of the discipline • the problems learners encounter • the learning process • the learners • the relationship of technologies to the learning process

8. Changing the Academy’s Learning Environment • What are the key challenges?

9. HE Key Challenges • access and infrastructure • championing the change • shifting the culture • addressing faculty concerns • supporting faculty development • providing learning support

10. 1. Access and Infrastructure • Internet use continues to rise • Costs continue to expand • The digital divide among institutions • Technology infrastructure plans • Infrastructure = network, NOT

11. 2. Championing the Change • Leadership • Mission statement • Strategic plan • Continuing funding/economies of scale • Active senior management support

12. 3. Shifting the Culture • Focus on changes in policy & practice • Develop critical mass of activity • Support learners • Explain the innovation • Celebrate successes

13. How far have we come? • Lack of clear commitment • Lack of coordination • Neglect of motivational issues • Individual faculty choice • Varied faculty development levels

14. 4. Addressing Faculty Concerns • Time • Workload balance • Ownership • Rewards

15. 5. Supporting Faculty Development • Partners program • Department level task forces • Decentralised discipline related centres • Student guides/helpers • Pushed mailing lists

16. Less successful strategies • High cost content development • Lone ranger productions • Computer conferences • Print based manuals (to www) • Individual faculty initiatives • Large scale training programs • ?www. contests • ?Unfundable strategic plans

17. Principles for teacher learning • active learning • supportive environment • real-world problem • group/community • ongoing assessment / reflection

18. 6. Providing Learning Support • Integrating support systems • Pedagogical, technical, facilities, management, research services. • Level of focus • Diverse learning design teams • Cutting edge initiatives

19. Designs for Learning • Present options? • Future possibilities?

20. 1. Increasing Access to Information • web pages • course outlines • assignments and dates • FAQs & FGAs • powerpoint lectures • sample tests and answers • additional references

21. 2. Extending Interaction • e-mail • conferencing • discussion, presentation • role-play, debate, panel, expert opinion • collective understanding • synchronous, asynchronous • collaborative knowledge building • Knowledge Forum, Whiteboard

22. 3. Using Learning Activities • simulations • tutorials • mentoring • hypertext • critical analyses of materials

23. 4. Learning Shells and Knowledge Objects • pedagogical design • with or without content • reusable • accessible, retrievable • operable

24. Near Future Realities • Greater diversification • Flexible learning • Differentiated staffing • Encouraging innovation in teaching • Collaboration across institutions • Discipline-specific repositories

25. Tasks to Begin • quality standards • collaboration • research • rewards • workload • partnerships • clarity about our choices

26. The way forward is not to look ahead, but to look around. (Brown & Duguid, 2000, p. 8) Forward-thinking people hold their heads sideways, (Harold Innes, ).