Symposium on e-learning in
tertiary education
Manukau Institute of Technology
2 October 2008
Why tertiary institutions
must change
1
Tony Bates Associates Ltd
Overview
1. Definition of e-learning
2. Changing economies
3. Impact on teaching
4. How to design and develop high
quality e-learning
5. Planning for quality e-learning
6. Conclusions
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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What is e-learning?
(Bates, 2005)
blended
learning
distributed
learning
lap- mixed
face- class- top
mode
to-face room pro- (less face-toface + eaids grams learning)
no e-learning
distance
education
fully e-learning
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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Making choices
For any program:
Where on the continuum of e-learning
should my course be?
What should be taught online and what
face-to-face?
What kind of students benefit most
from online learning?
Who should make these decisions?
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Different economies
Resource-based: agricultural, mining,
fishing: land/sea-based, local
Industrial: manufacturing: urban, factories,
hierarchical, economies of scale, specialist skills
Knowledge-based: financial, biotechnology, ICTs, telecoms,
entertainment: ‘virtual’, global, networked,
multi-skilled
All three economies in parallel
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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Shifting economy
% share of Canadian industrial employment
Services
Goods
1987
1990
1995
2000
2005
Source: Globe and Mail, 27 April 2006, B9
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Skills of knowledge-based workers
• problem solving, critical thinking
• communication skills
• computing/Internet skills
• independent learners
• entrepreneurial, initiative
• flexibility
• team-work/networking
AS WELL AS subject expertise
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Changing views of learning
(epistemology)
How we know what is true, e.g.: Darwin
vs Church
Objectivist: truth exists outside the
human mind: scientific laws that
describe an unchanging reality
Constructivist: all knowledge is
constructed by humans: science is
what scientists generally agree;
knowledge is relative and personal
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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Impact on educational practice
Objectivist:
• a body of knowledge to be learned,
defined by experts
• knowledge transmission by experts
• comprehension, memory, rote
learning
• authoritative, correct, organized,
clear, not to be questioned
• ‘right’ answers; efficient reasoning
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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Impact on educational practice
Constructivist:
• observe, compare, question,
reflect, discuss, assimilate, e.g.
heat
• reflective, social and personal
• questions, problems, discussion,
argument: learners more equal
• quality of argument/thinking
assessed
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Why the shift?
Knowledge explosion: too much to
learn by heart: smarter rather than
more
Skills required in knowledge-based
businesses (and in life):
• critical thinking, creative thinking,
problem-solving, communication,
use of ICTs
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Changing students:
digital natives (Prensky, 2005)
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Under 25 years of age: brought up with
technology: computers, mobile phones
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New models of course development
1. Individual instructors
2. boutique
3. collegial materials
development
4. project management
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Individual instructors
working alone
main model everywhere
early adopters; essential for change
dedicated; no alternative
too much effort: no boundaries
poor interface/graphics/more time
than web professionals
idiosyncratic: no economies of scale
deter other instructors; greater cost
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Boutique model of course design
• on demand technical support
• technology help not educational
design
• high cost
• difficult to manage
• not scalable
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Collegial materials development
instructors work together
learning objects, courses,
programmes
share materials (e.g. MERLOT,
Harvey, CAREO, Ariadne)
collaboration essential
depends on interests of individual
instructors: ‘hit-and-miss’
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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Project management
establish projects
work in a team: instructor(s) +
instructional designer + web designer
schedules/budgets/product
funding linked to project management
not popular with faculty
Would project management work here?
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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Instructional designers
• instructional design
• scheduling/tracking/
commissioning work
• managing budgets
• course maintenance
• course meetings and minutes
• can handle 4-8 courses
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media production
Professionals in media production:
• text design
• A/V media
• web design
• simulations and animation
Quicker and better than students or
professors
In-house or outsource?
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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The continuum of design
face- class- laptop
mixed distance
to- room
promode education
face aids grams
technical help
less
more
change in methods
more up-front money
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The importance of academic departments
in change and innovation
Two typical approaches to change:
• top down: CEOs or governments
decide a strategy then try to
implement it
• bottom up: early adopters;
individual instructors working
alone
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The critical role of academic departments
Administration
Academic
department
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The importance of the academic
department
Academic departments determine
programs and curriculum
Bridge between autonomy of faculty
and institutional objectives
Place where consensus can be built
Academic departments determine the
success or failure of e-learning
BUT: mandate must be clear: how, not
if
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Institutional strategy
Leadership: recognition of
importance of ICTs for economy
Set clear/measurable institutional
goals, e.g.
every MIT student will graduate
with the ICT skills needed in their
trade or profession
Put in place processes to achieve
this
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Planning goal for academic departments
Academic departments:
Each program will develop a
vision and plan for teaching
and learning, including the
appropriate use of e-learning
Plan base for budget decisions
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For each program:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Identify what kind of students
to be taught
Identify basic content
Identify what kind of teaching
approach to take
Describe how teaching will be
delivered and how students will
learn using e-learning
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What teaching roles are suitable for
online learning?
Face-to-face or online?
• transmitting information
• collecting data/finding information
• preparation for lab work
• designing experiments
• doing experiments
• discussing best ways to do things
• problem solving…….
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A decision matrix for teaching
Identify teaching activities
Activity
Information transmission
Lab experiments
Lab preparation
Data collection
Data analysis
f2f online
x
x
x
x
x
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Learners and their differences influence
choice and use of technology
who are your learners?
• straight from high school?
• working students?
• international or multicultural?
• part-time, unmotivated?
• independent graduate students?
Who will benefit most from online
learning? Why?
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A decision matrix for markets
Identify best delivery method:
Market
f2f
online
Undergraduate
70%
30%
Graduate: academic
50%
50%
Graduate:
professional
10%
90%
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Vision: 2000
UBC: public research university
(35,000 students)
new strategy for e-learning
workshops for professors
how do we want to teach?
scenarios
summary video
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Mandate for video (2000)
fit academic plan: goals:
• learner-centred teaching
• research into u.g. teaching
• inquiry-based learning (PBL)
• collaborative learning
• community-linked
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Mandate for video
include lifelong learning
assume large classes
exploit existing campus
use ‘known’ technology
realistic about cost
8 minutes length
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UBC (end of 2003)
70 fully online courses
joint global Masters in
Educational Technology
(English and Spanish)
whole MD content web-based
Office of Learning Technologies
Faculty LT centres
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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Change and stability
technology will continually change
learning processes are stable: read,
observe, think, discuss, practice,
receive feedback, be assessed
technology requires teaching to be
re-organized: increased flexibility,
new outcomes, more learnercontrol
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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Conclusions
• link technology to student needs,
teaching methods and project
management
• choose projects carefully; go for
major benefits
• strengthen collegial planning of
courses and programs
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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Further information
Bates, A. and Poole, G. (2003)
Effective Teaching with
Technology in Higher
Education San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass
http://tonybates.ca
tony.bates@ubc.ca
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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Changing technologies
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Tony Bates Associates Ltd
Online learning 1995-2006
Main driver: Internet + learning
platforms:
• WebCT, Blackboard, Moodle,
Virtual Campus
• integration of teaching and
administration
• proprietal vs open-source
• institution/teacher-focused
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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What is Web 2.0?
Definition (Wikipedia):
second generation of Internet-based
services—such as social
networking sites, wikis,
communication tools, and
folksonomies—that emphasize
online collaboration and sharing
among users.
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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Google
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MySpace/Facebook
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Student portals
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iTunes podcasts Higher Education
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Second Life
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Flickr
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YouTube
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New technologies: 2005 -
user-created content: blogs, YouTube
social networking: MySpace
mobile learning: phones, MP3s
virtual worlds: Second Life
emerging publication: wikis, e-Portfolios
multi-player games: Lord of the Rings
simulations: MyPhysicsLab.com
synchronous: Skype, Elluminate
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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What is Web 2.0?
Educational implications
• learners have powerful tools
• learners create/add/adapt content
• personal learning environments
• power shift from teachers to
learners
• ‘open’ access, content, services
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What is Web 2.0?
Educational implications:
• social networks; peer-to-peer (P2P)
• institutional shift to service, speed,
and market response
• issues of quality, IP and
accreditation
• others?
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How to mobilise Web 2.0 in online
teaching
Within programmes:
• group work
• projects and cases
• outside experts and content
• field work
• language teaching
• multimedia assignments/e-portfolios
• ………
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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Dangers of Web 2.0
‘Instead of a dictatorship of
experts, we’ll have a
dictatorship of idiots’
Andrew Keen, ‘The Cult of the Amateur’
© Tony Bates Associates Ltd
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Dangers of learner-centred
Web-based learning
• ‘democratization’ of learning: threat
to expertise/authority/reliability?
• undermining of scientific thinking?
• dependent learners: need for
structure/guidance (teachable)
• didactic teaching sometimes best
• trustworthiness and security
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The educational benefits of Web 2.0
• lot of hype: much of Web 2.0 is social
not educational
• BUT there is educational potential:
meets many lifelong learning needs
• change in philosophy as well as
technology
• will lead to power shift to learners
• needs more experimentation/
evaluation
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