Tony+Bates

Tony Bates – Quality and Virtual Learning: the challenge to institutions http://www.tonybates.ca/ Vancouver, BC Via VideoConf


 * Elearning – all the activities …. Missed it
 * There is a continuum of elearning. No elearning, F2F w/ no tech. Very few do that these days. Then the most common use – use the computer to support classroom teaching. PPT, the web. Still regular F2F classes and the teacher determines materials. Some institutions require students to have laptops or computer labs. Still the students come to class and a classroom environment. The most interesting area is a mixture of F2F and online teaching, reducing the classroom time. Instead of 3 classes F2F, have 1 and the rest online. Finally there is distance or fully online learning where everything is done online and not coming to class at all. A continuum.
 * Should I be adding elearning to classroom? Fully online? Where should I be? Who should make that decision? The teacher, the department, the director or the university as a whole. To answer we need to look at the reasons for using elearning.
 * This goes back to economic issues. There are a number of economies working in parallel. Rural, local, based on land, self sufficient, artesanal, possible feudal. Then the industrial, urban, national level, based on factories, division of labor and requires economies of scale, specialized skills and hierarchically organized. Finally the knowledge economy, based on information. Virtual, global, networked, multiple skills ICT and expert area.
 * In industrial economy there have been big changes. Previously depended on massive factory employment and labor was major cost. Industrial economies have been outsourcing their manufacturing. America outsources to China. Can’t compete with the low salaries. Outsourcing to Mexico and Colombia. At the same time they are moving work from manufacturing into the knowledge based society. Biotech, banking and financial services need highly educated people. Developed nations have many in universities who can go into the knowledge based economies that pay higher salaries.
 * All three run in parallel, but shift of imbalance of numbers of people working in these economics. Graph shows how rapid and quick this change has been. Nearly 80 in 1987 were producing goods and 20% in service and knowledge. IN 1991 that changed 20/80. (Misleading slide to lump service and knowledge together. )
 * We have not lost jobs. Lowest unemployment in Canada, but huge shift into knowledge based jobs.
 * What skills are needed in knowledge based industries. Problem solving, communication, ability to use computer and internet, people who can learn independently because work and knowledge base is always changing. Learn without being told to. (Lost Audio)
 * Entrepreneurial way of working, flexible learners, people who work hard to get work done then can take time off to come back and catch up as job changes – flexibility. They want teamworkers. F2F and networked. His son works for Oracle in CA, he lives in UK and his team is in India using audio conferencing and email. On top of generic skills they are all looking for specialized skill. Banking, Biotech. Have to have all the other skills embedded in specific domain work.
 * One of the implications for universities and institutions, we are used to telling people what to learn and do. In the new economy need more independence, more motivation to learn. Moving away from transmission learning to ongoing learning in a fast changing knowledge base/world. How to manage that knowledge. Thinking creatively, critically, problem solving, working collaboratively. How to learn after you leave the university.
 * Because knowledge base is changing, workforce needs flexible delivery to update their knowledge on the job, not going back to uni.
 * Why elearning? Because it supports the development of necessary skills dependent on knowledge and information. How to find, organize, analyze and apply knowledge in your job. (Nancy says it makes it sound like we are all job-robots!)
 * They have to learn through technology, like web 2.0 tools that give the ability to create content prepares them for a knowledge based economy. Supports life long learning, continuous learning.
 * The real reason for elearning in a university is a catalyst for change in teaching and learning. It supports new methods of teaching and learning that meet the needs of an information based society. Therefore the move to elearning is a strategic, not technological decision.
 * The technology on its own is not enough to move people into the skills they need in an information based society. Need to change the method of teaching. Develop students who can find, analyze info and solve problems. New kinds of programs and methods of deliver. Changes to our admin systems to support students learning online. Online registration, more flexible schedules, use rooms differently for those who come on campus.
 * In most Unis there is a natural development of elearning. A set of stages. First is vaqueros solitarios, the lone ranger cowboy who comes in on their own to solve the problem. The second is to provide support to the cowboys. Then rapid expansion as others rush in, and quality declines. Then institution comes in with a plan.
 * In the end have a focused, stable implementation of high quality. Few universities who have reached this last level 5. Many have the strategic plan, but not full implementation.
 * There are reasons why it has been difficult.
 * Why we need a strategic plan for elearning when we experience this sudden expansion? Reason for elearning use is not always clear. The link to the economy is not clear. Trying because it is new and interesting, but reasons are not properly understood. There are questions about quality and duplication as professors work on their own. Not combining their knowledge and resources. Academics are spending time getting things on the web plus their previous F2F workload. The workload for students has gone up. So the costs go up. Instead of research, spending more time on teaching or family life is suffering. Increased disillusionment. More work, low quality and growth stops. Time for a strategic plan.
 * Importance of academic departments bringing about change and innovation. Two models. One is top down. President or government says everyone will do elearning and they try and implement. That doesn’t work well in unis. Unis are like cemeteries. You don’t get a lot of help from the inhabitants when you want to change something. The other method is the lone ranger method. Let them work on their own then support when it works. There is a bridge method at the department level. Academic departments are the place where decisions are made for programs and curriculums. They are bridge between autonomy of professor and overall institutional goals. Problems if you have one professor using web2. and another in the same program giving lectures and ppt slides. No continuity or integration of teaching. Each professor makes own decision. Success has been where academic departments take responsibility for how elearning should be used and used best. Elearning doesn’t work for all kinds of programs and students. Good for those in knowledge based industry – medicine and computing. More efficient than in agriculture or philosophy but they can be used there as well.
 * To determine the role of learning. It is one kind of teaching. How do you integrate it? Ask – what new markets are we trying to reach. The one that elearning serves best are students who are not coming to the university. Continuing education department and topics and areas. What new programs do we need to do. Do we have the right content and delivery method for a changing market. How will elearning change the way we teach. How much in class, how much online. How do we combine. What do we need to sustain elearning
 * If I were a rector and I wanted elearning used well, I would ask every academic department come up with a plan. A vision for how they want to operate, a plan for teaching and learning and where elearning fits – not a separate bit.
 * The process of planning should be inclusive. Involve all key players. Teachers, students, ed tech specialists and the admin departments such as registrar. If you teach online the registry needs to know.
 * I’m going to stop taking notes because it will be just as useful to watch the video because Tony is really just speaking off of the bullets on his slide.