Whither VLE or not

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Whither VLE or not?
Professor Mark Stiles Head of Learning
Development Innovation Staffordshire University
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The death of the VLE?

• VLEs appear to be in robust good health, but
• How did we all come to use them?
• How have they developed?
• How are we using them?
• Do we actually need them?
• What is the state of the market and change?
• Are there symptoms we should be examining?

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Staffordshire 1996 - 2002

• Transformational Strategy with
• first, seeding change projects by bid
• then, seeding change projects by departmental
  plan

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By 2002

• Significant Cultural Change
• Many modules using e-learning for real
• Successful distance e-learning awards
• Good width of penetration across institution
• Strategies quite well joined-up
• Recognition and QAA success
• Staff getting rewards

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But

• Not learning at an organisational level
• Breadth but not depth (not all parts reached)
• Wheel reinvention
• Not learning from others mistakes
• eLearning not embedded
• Innovations not insufficiently sustained

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So from 2002 2006

• A focus on Policy, Procedure, Role and
  Responsibility
• The integrative approach to course development
• Holistic quality assurance and course development
  planning
• Addressing vertical and horizontal
  organisational coherence
• SURF partnership working

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eLearning Policy

• Designed to address/achieve
• flexible and independent learning informal and
  individual learning
• equity of opportunity and alignment of student
  support
• a learning environment encompassing all of the
  learning experience
• supporting the independent and lifelong learner
  and CPD
• access to eResources from point of need
  repurposing and reuse
• robust quality assurance/enhancement, but with
  scope for innovation and employment of
  professional skills
• encouragement of research, scholarship and
  development in eLearning
• appropriate staff development, to ensure
  understanding of others roles
• practice, policy and strategy are responsive to
  lessons learned and new opportunities removing
  barriers that impede or restrict effective
  eLearning
• resources and support are appropriate to
  requirements and understood

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So, in 2005/6

• eLearning embedded in Strategies e.g.
  Information, LT A
• eLearning Policy should act as change enabler
• Operational Policies, Processes and procedures
  being aligned eg Quality Assurance, WBL

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But a closer look showed

• Rate of increase of use high but mainly
  eSupported or mundane
• Mainstream possibly now less innovative than
  before
• Still problems with processes not aligned
• Policy focus seen by some as Stalinist
• Enthusiasts subverting policy

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The background

• Early drivers into eLearning were
• Widening access inclusion
• Employability skills
• Flexibility for full-time students in part-time
  employment
• Government demands on quality, monitoring etc
• Government policy on working with industry and
  commerce
• Globalisation of HE and new competitors
• Creation of new partnerships new markets

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But, early studies showed

• Whole-institution strategies rare
• Need to build on localised initiatives
• Need to understand MLE vs VLE
• Lack of strategy a barrier to adoption

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In 2002

• Top 10 reasons for VLE selection
• Ease of use in genera l 31
• Ease of use staff 30
• Cost 21
• Flexibility/Versatility 16
• Integration with MIS 15
• Widely used 14
• Functionality/Features 13
• Pedagogic/Educational 13
• Imposed/A mystery 10
• Own system 10

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In 2003

• JISC/UCISA MLE Landscape Study of UK HE and FE
• little evidence of enhancement of learning and
  teaching
• pedagogic issues have not in general been
  addressed
• It could be said that HE has never addressed
  pedagogy its priority has always been, and
  broadly continues to be, research and the subject
  discipline. Until now, pedagogy has
  traditionally barely figured in planning or
  professional development. In FE, where learning
  and teaching have been the prime concerns,
  staffing and resource deficiencies have
  prevented, and continue to impede, a sustained
  focus on pedagogy.
• MLEs not embedded in the institutions strategic
  and operational frameworks.
• MLE activities rarely an integral part of the
  philosophy, policies and practice of the
  institution

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And by 2005?
From 2005 JISC/UCISA MLE Landscape Study of UK
HE and FE the results also show two thirds of
modules of study being web supplemented - which
would seem to indicate that the stuff your notes
into your VLE model is prevalent and increasing
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And since?
From the 2008 UCISA TEL Survey The tools that
have increased significantly in usage are those
for podcasting, e-portfolios, e-assessment, blogs
and wikis. Web supplemented practice remains
the leading activity
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About embedding
Everyone starts out with a eLearning strategy -
either stand-alone or embedded in another
strategy BUT Strategies tend to be about
introducing or extending eLearning
e-Environment not their normal operation - ie
they are Objectives driven Once objectives are
attained, the focus tends to move elsewhere
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Innovation?

• the intentional introduction and application
  within a role, group or organization of ideas,
  processes, products or procedures, new to the
  relevant unit of adoption, designed to
  significantly benefit the individual, the group,
  organization or wider society (West and Farr,
  1990)
• What makes innovation happen and work is
  still not well understood
• Organisations struggle to sustain innovation
  long term

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The University as an organisation
excessive hierarchy and over-heavy bureaucracy,
the comfort of ingrained routines, strong
vertical command structures and weak lateral and
bottom-up communication, unbalanced and
non-integrated authority across professional
domains, conservatism and risk aversion,
territoriality, defensiveness and insecurity as
well as wilfulness (Middlehurst, 1998) The
individual experts may be highly innovative
within a specialist domain, but the difficulties
of coordination across functions and disciplines
impose severe limits on the innovative capability
of the organization as a whole. (Lam, 2005)
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Focus on embedding
Hefce eLearning Strategy 2005 30 Harnessing
Technology Transforming Learning and Childrens
Services 22 Towards a Unified e-learning
Strategy 26 In our ever more successful
attempts to embed technology inlearning Are we
in danger of engineering and regulating
innovation out of our professional practice and
business processes?
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The VLE in this context?

• Is the VLE the right place for everything?
• Is incorporation of new features necessary?
• Integration and interoperation are subtly
  different?
• What ARE the essential features of a VLE?

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The future?

• Tutors and learners will build their own toolsets
  from
• what is provided by the institution
• what they have on their own (personal) computer
• what is available on the Web
• Learners will
• opt out of systems institutions and tutors
  might prefer them to use for formal learning
  activities
• initiate sharing and community activities
  outside of formal learning using tools they have
  chosen
• engage with wider and more diverse communities

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Learner expectations?

• Implicit understanding of technology its use
• Technology a core part of social engagement
• Ubiquitous internet access is norm
• Make widespread use of social networking and Web
  2.0
• Few part of online communities like Second Life
• Cautious of publishing/sharing coursework online
• Know when technology is being used for its own
  sake
• Use it as means of doing other things, not as end
  in itself
• Perceive personal f2f interaction as backbone of
  their learning
• Provisional findings from JISC/Ipsos MORI,
  Expectations of ICT at university June 2007 (501
  16-18 year olds)
• http//www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/e
  learningpedagogy/expmarch08charleshutchings.ppt

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The challenge

• Practitioners will need to
• cope with a diverse range of approaches taken by
  learners
• guard against making stereotypical assumptions
• consider how their chosen learning strategies may
  be interpreted by learners
• Institutions will have to consider what and how
  they need to controland/or influence and what
  might be let go or exploited.

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What we decided to do in 2005/6

• Loosening the bonds
• Evolving Staff Development Strategy
• Explicit embedding of TSL in PgCPHE
• Integration of development with accreditable
  bespoke opportunities
• Models of good practice
• Develop and share good practice, promote uptake
  and quality
• Successful local and national community
• Representations and case studies
• How to guides and Ask the experts
• Embedded in Modules and Integrative Approach
• (Theory to practice and practice to theory)
• (Thanks to Jenny Yorke and Helen Walmsley)

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What we decided to do in 2005/6

• Loosening the bonds
• Diversifying delivery
• Repository based
• Extraction of QAed resources
• Promote reuse and repurposing
• Include novel resources
• Delivery to VLEs, Portals, Portfolios and Web 2.0
  tools
• Tested by JISC Projects (SURF WBL-Way)

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An opportunity arose!

• University Executive Business Plan 2007-2012
  includes
• To take a new approach to course and product
  development
• Increase engagement with employers on work-based
  learning and other workforce development
  initiatives
• Establish a robust new product development
  process that is market-facing and
  customer-focused
• To grow and sustain alliances, networks and
  partnerships
• Further develop SURF college network and other
  appropriate FE partnerships
• To enhance customer experience
• Increase the number of students who stay and
  successfully complete their courses
• Integrate systematic customer feedback
  mechanisms into a robust framework for the
  measurement and improvement of customer
  satisfaction
• To exploit technological advances
• Develop a technical infrastructure (networks,
  mobile technology) that supports integrated
  business systems, administration, formal,
  informal and flexible learning
• Implement new and existing learning and teaching
  media to support effective e-learning and
  delivery

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I was empowered

• University Technology Supported Learning (TSL)
  Plan includes
• Implement effective management of learning
  resources and course related information XCRi
  built into Hive
• Expand TSL for Flexible Learning, WBL and BCE and
  the strengthening of SURF and other partnerships
  Hive linked to WBL Portals and facilities for
  partner colleges
• Put in place a system of learner-focused Quality
  Enhancement for TSL and diversify the delivery of
  TSL Validation outputs in Hive linked to CoP,
  all VLE content moved to Hive
• Disseminate good practice and build effective
  staff development in TSL Hive linked to POOT,
  ELearning Models and other CoPs
• Improve the administration of TSL
• Implement a technical infrastructure to allow
  TSL applications to be introduced/removed in a
  flexible and responsive way

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From the TSL Plan

• need to respect the need for appropriately
  distinct andindividual approaches by Faculties
  and course teams
• policy should be sufficient to guide practice but
  apply the minimum level of control necessary and
  avoid needless bureaucracy
• It is all about sustaining innovation

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Whither VLE?

• We dont need monoliths any more
• Corporately initiated processes will be dealt
  with by interoperating our choice systems
• Student initiated processes will be done on the
  web using their choice of tool
• Tutor initiated processes will be done HOW?
• We need to focus on what we NEED that a VLE
  provides
• uniquely

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The real problem
The last revolution, the one before that, and the
one before that, all failed because we made the
same non-technological mistakes each time.  It's
time to notice those repeated errors, learn from
them, and escape the cycle of failure. Ehrmann,
Stephen C.,  (2000) "Technology and Revolution in
Education Ending the Cycle of Failure," Liberal
Education, Fall, pp. 40-49
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Thanks