Does e Stand for Everything

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Does e Stand for Everything?

• Maggie McPherson
• University of Sheffield
• Department Information Studies

2
Outline of Session

• Introduction
• eLearning
• Discussion of Issues
• Workshop Debate
• Focus group activity
• Summary Conclusions

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Introduction

• Background
• Personal experience of e-Learning
• Involved in Distance Ed for over ten years
• Currently doing ongoing research in e-Learning
• Collaborative work with Dr Miguel Nunes

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Issues to be addressed

• Define Critical Success Factors in Context
• Organisational and Management Issues
• Technological Issues
• Curriculum Development Issues
• Educational Systems Design Issues
• eLearning Delivery Issues

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Definitions of CSFs

• Critical success factors are those handful of
  things that within someones job must go right
  for the organisation to flourish. They are
  factors that the manager wishes to keep a
  constant eye upon.
• Robson (1997 p.155)
• Critical success factors are those components
  of strategy where the organisation must excel to
  out perform competition.
• Johnson and Scholes (1999 p.192)

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Critical Success Factor (CSFs) Analysis

• An established management research method,
  first proposed by Rockhart in 1979, as a means
  of identifying the factors that are required for
  an organisation to thrive.
• In this session, however, this means looking at
  CSFs for eLearning identified by participants in
  previous workshops and attempting to reach a
  concensus on what the key factors might be

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HEIs E-Learning Stakeholders

McPherson Nunes, 2004


High

















Institutional Involvement



























Low


Academic Involvement

High

Low

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Organisational Issues
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eLearning Organisational Challenges

• Strategic Issues at Cultural/Managerial Level
• Decisions for positioning of university
• Need for explicit eLearning strategies
• Lack of expertise in creating strategies
• Human resources - opportunities and constraints
• National funding - competition vs. co-operation
• HE competition worldwide (e.g. US, Australia)
• Corporate eLearning providers emerging

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eLearning Organisational Challenges

• Implementation Issues
• Staff motivational issues need to be addressed
• Customs and practice - barriers to change
• HE Reward systems not aligned with teaching
• Overcome academics wariness of new methods
• Academic contracts may impede innovation
• HE systems slow to change
• Senior staff may lack change management skills

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Technologies for Learning and Teaching
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eLearning Technologies

• Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs)
• Managed Learning Environments (MLEs)
• Computer Medicated Communication (CMC)
• Specific Teaching and Learning Tools

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Learning Environments

• Learning Environments are developed to
• address an identified learning need
• resolve a particular educational problem
• Learning Environments should be
• linked to the solution of the problem

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Learning Environments

• Learning Environments are essentially constructs
  that promote learning by supporting interactions
  between
• the tutor
• the learner and her/his peers
• the subject matter, and the
• learning materials
• These interactions may, or may not, be computer
  mediated

15
Virtual Learning Environments

• VLEs should be conceived, designed and
  implemented using an appropriate Educational
  System Design (ESD) framework that ranges from
  curriculum design to course delivery

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Considerations for Development of VLEs, MLEs, and
e-Learning Tools

• In designing and developing these environments
  you need to consider
• Information, Communication Technology (ICT) vs.
  Face-to-Face (F2F) components
• Technical issues, e.g. security
• Educational and subject matter specialisms
• Staff and support issues, e.g. IP
• Strategic needs of the Institution

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Curriculum Development
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Curriculum Development

• A curriculum can be defined as a planned
  educational experience
• It is likely to involve
• Academic Staff
• Educational Specialists
• Subject Matter Experts
• Designing a curriculum involves
• doing a needs analysis
• deciding on initial team
• analysing all stakeholders
• deciding on learning objectives
• allocating resources

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Curriculum Design Processes

• Designing an e-Learning curriculum involves
• doing a needs analysis
• assessing suitability for eLearning
• deciding on initial team
• analysing all stakeholders
• deciding on learning objectives
• allocating resources

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Select a Suitable Pedagogical Model, e.g.

• Explicit Learning Materials
• Course Materials
• Case-Studies
• Links to relevant Web Sites

• Learning Activities
• Individual Learning Activities
• Group Learning Activities
• Assessed Activities

Self Reflection Individual Construction of
Knowledge
Virtual Learning Environment
Social negotiation. Collaboration, Co-operation
Tutoring, Scaffolding and Pastoral Support
Peer Support, Socialisation
The Tutor
The Learner
Nunes McPherson (2002)
The Peers
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eLearning Curriculum Development
Pedagogical Model
Curriculum Design
McPherson Nunes, 2004
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Educational Systems Design
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Educational Systems Design

• ESD must focus on
• identifying and implementing a learning
  environment combining pedagogical, subject matter
  and tutoring issues
• (Moore, 1991 Croft, 1993, Nunes, 1999)

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Implementing ESD

• Recognize that complex e-learning environments
  means more than
• designing a few screens
• specifying their sequence
• Key to development of successful e-learning
  environments is
• recognising both technical and pedagogical
  components of educational design
• integrating them in a coherent framework

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Implications for ESD

• The process of design and development is
• one of co-construction and negotiation,
• rather than interpretation of students needs
• Rapid prototyping is thought to be an ideal
  approach, which
• facilitates the integration of different agents
  in educational software development, i.e.
  subject matter experts, designers students

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Educational Systems Design

• An ESD Framework
• Construction not Interpretation
• Framework not a Methodology
• Based on a Rapid Prototyping Approach
• Recursive Design and Development
• Required for Both Individual and Team-based
  Projects

Curriculum Design
Design and Specification of the Learning
Environment

Development of different components









CMC facilities
Reference materials
Other Components
Explicit Web Materials
Student and Tutor Feedback

Evaluation

Course Delivery
General ESD framework adapted from Croft (1993)
and Nunes (1999)
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Delivery of eLearning
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The eLearning Delivery Design

• Must consider
• target audience
• student background
• delivery mode
• Often needs a team approach
• Academic staff
• Researchers
• Tutors
• Support staff

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Delivering an eLearning Course

• Implementation model needs careful thought

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eLearning Delivery Issues

• Particular consideration to be given to
• Tutoring and counselling processes
• Prepared self-study learning materials
• Readily available learning resources
• Student group activities

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Time for some interaction!

• This workshop forms part of on-going research at
  the University of Sheffield
• At this point, you are invited to join this
  co-operative inquiry and to carry out a eLearning
  Critical Success Factor (CSF) Analysis

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Concluding Reflections

• ICT offers great potential for HE, however
• challenges must be faced if eLearning
  implementation is to be effective
• Policy-makers must decide and support strategy
• Managers, technologists and educationalists must
  work together
• Academics need training to implement changes to
  best advantage
• Research to incorporate all stakeholder views

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Educational Management Action Research
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Closing Discussion

• Any Comments or Questions?
• Contact Details
• Maggie McPherson ltm.a.mcpherson_at_sheffield.ac.ukgt
  
• Tel [phone]

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Option 1 Do nothing about it!
(courtesy of Dr Amer Al Rawas,Sultan Qaboos
University, Oman)
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Option 2 Rush to it !
(courtesy of Dr Amer Al Rawas,Sultan Qaboos
University, Oman)
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Option 3 Take it seriously!
(courtesy of Dr Amer Al Rawas,Sultan Qaboos
University, Oman)