Does e Stand for Everything? Maggie McPherson University of Sheffield Department Information Studies

Does “e” Stand for Everything?

Maggie McPherson

University of SheffieldDepartment Information Studies

Outline of Session

• Introduction

• eLearning

- Discussion of Issues

• Workshop Debate

- Focus group activity

• Summary & Conclusions

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

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

Definitions of CSFs:

• “Critical success factors are those handful of things that within someone’s 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)

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

HEIs: E-Learning Stakeholders

Organisational Setting

• Organisational Strategists and Policy Makers

• Senior Managers and Administrators

• Dept. Heads and Administrators

TechnologicalInfrastructure

• Computing Services (MLEs, VLEs, CMC)

• Technicians to Support Teaching and Learning

Curriculum Development

• Academic Staff

• Educational Specialists

• Subject Matter Experts

Academic Involvement High Low

Low

H

igh

Inst

itutio

nal I

nvol

vem

ent

Educational Systems Design

• Academic Staff• ICT Specialists• Educational

Specialists • Academic Staff• Researchers• Tutors• Students

Delivery

McPherson & Nunes, 2004

Organisational Issues

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

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”

eLearning Organisational Challenges

Technologies for Learning and

Teaching

eLearning Technologies

• Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs)

• Managed Learning Environments (MLEs)

• Computer Medicated Communication (CMC)

• Specific Teaching and Learning Tools

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

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

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

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

Curriculum Development

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

• 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

Curriculum Design Processes

Select a Suitable Pedagogical Model, e.g.

Nunes & McPherson

(2002)

Explicit Learning MaterialsCourse MaterialsCase-StudiesLinks to relevant Web Sites

Learning ActivitiesIndividual Learning ActivitiesGroup Learning ActivitiesAssessed Activities

The Learner

The Peers

The Tutor

Virtual Learning Environment

Peer

Support,

Socialisatio

n

Self ReflectionIndividual

Construction of Knowledge

Tutoring, Scaffolding and Pastoral Support

Social negotiation. Collaboration, Co-operation

eLearning Curriculum Development

Philosophy

Learning Models

Pedagogical Strategy

Pedagogical Tactics

TasksEnvironment for Course

Learning Activities

Learning Outcomes

McPherson & Nunes, 2004

Pedagogical Model

Curriculum Design

Educational Systems Design

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)

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

Implications for ESD

• The process of design and development is: - one of co-construction and negotiation,

- rather than interpretation of student’s 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

Educational Systems Design

An An ESDESD Framework:Framework:

• Construction not Construction not InterpretationInterpretation

• Framework not a Framework not a MethodologyMethodology

• Based on a Rapid Based on a Rapid Prototyping ApproachPrototyping Approach

• Recursive Design and Recursive Design and DevelopmentDevelopment

• Required for Both Required for Both Individual Individual and Team-based Projectsand Team-based Projects

Curriculum Design

Development of different components

CM

C f

aci

litie

s

Re

fere

nce

ma

teria

ls

Oth

er

Co

mp

on

en

ts

Stu

den

t an

d T

uto

r Feed

back

Evaluation

Course Delivery

General ESD framework adapted from Croft (1993) and Nunes (1999)

Design and Specification of the Learning Environment

E

xplic

it W

eb

Ma

teria

ls

Delivery of eLearning

The eLearning Delivery Design• Must consider:

- target audience- student background- delivery mode

• Often needs a team approach:- Academic staff- Researchers- Tutors- Support staff

Delivering an eLearning Course

• Implementation model needs careful thought

Module One

Module Two

Module Five

Virtual Social Space Alumni Involvement

Tutor Delivery and Support

Online Tutor Training

Module One

Induction Module

Module Two

Module Five

Induction Module

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

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

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

Educational Management Action Research

Evaluation

Tasks

Course Environme

nt

Learning Activities

Learning Outcomes

McPherson & Nunes, 2004

Philosophy

Learning Models

Pedagogical StrategyPedagogical Tactics

Closing Discussion

Any Comments or Questions?

Contact Details:Contact Details:““Maggie McPherson”Maggie McPherson” < <

m.a.mcpherson@sheffield.ac.uk>>

Tel: +44 114 222 2696Tel: +44 114 222 2696

Option 1: Do nothing about it!

(courtesy of Dr Amer Al Rawas,Sultan Qaboos University, Oman)

Option 2: Rush to it !

(courtesy of Dr Amer Al Rawas,Sultan Qaboos University, Oman)

Option 3: Take it seriously!

(courtesy of Dr Amer Al Rawas,Sultan Qaboos University, Oman)