Developing Strategic Approaches toE-learning

Rachel Ellaway, Ph.D., Assistant Dean Curriculum and Planning, Northern Ontario School of MedicineTerry Poulton, Ph.D., Associate Dean for eLearning, St. George's University of London

MedBiquitous 2012

Conflict of interest

We have no involvement with industry and have no conflict of interest to disclose with respect to this workshop

Strategy 101

Technology enabled learning

• E-learning and e-teaching• Educational technology• Technology enabled or enhanced

learning

• Now a fundamental part of med-ed but hard for leaders to understand

• We need a strategy …

What is a strategy?

• Operations > tactics > strategies• A plan of action to realize a broad

vision• Predicts future needs• Identifies goals, values and ideals• Plans to be able to meet and/or

realize them• In a particular context, culture,

community

Strategy as activity

Provenance

• Who’s it for?• Who’s it from?• Who gets to tell who to do what?• Authority, legitimacy• Domain authority• Expertise authority• Representativeness• Accountability

Impact

• What happens if it’s enacted?• What happens if it’s not?• What do you want it to do?• What do you expect it to do?

Components

• People• Services• Tools and infrastructure• Projects• Management• Communication

Formal and Informal

• Formal– Academic programs– Research– CME/CPD– Training & courses

• Informal– Learning organization– Projects, pilots– Mentors, networks, SIGs– Research

Cultures

• Clinical vs e-learning• Clinical factors

– Clinical systems– EHR, PACS– Security, confidentiality

• Educational vs e-learning• Administrative vs e-learning

– ERP– Business cultures– Power

PerspectivesInstructional designers

Teachers Managers

Does e-learning exist?

Teaching and learning strategy

E-learning strategy

Technology strategy

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ners

Does e-learning exist?

Teaching and learning strategy

E-learning strategy

Technology strategy

teac

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lear

ners

Does e-learning exist?

Teaching and learning strategy

E-learning strategy

Technology strategy

teac

hers

lear

ners

Everything’s connected

operations

tactics

specific strategies

operations

operations

operations

operations

operations

operations

tactics

tactics

tactics

tactics

specific strategies

projectsinnovations

replacedecommission

replacedecommission

projectsinnovations

operations

strategy

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Everything’s connected

institutionalstrategies

accreditation

Teaching and learning strategy

Technology strategy

E-learning strategy

Finance strategy

HR strategy

policy

funding

legal

social accountability

Everything’s connected

institutionalstrategic plan accreditation

Teaching and learning strategy

E-learning strategy

Finance strategy

HR strategy

policy

funding

legal

social accountability

Technology strategy

Planning it

It all starts to look like PM

Project management:• Deliverables• Timescales• ResourcesPlus:• Vision• Major themes• Priorities• Enablers

Components – all high level

• Vision• Major themes• Priorities• Enablers• Deliverables• Timescale• Resources• Integration• Evaluation and QA

Strategy Components

• Vision• Priorities

• Enablers• Deliverables

• Evaluation• Contingencies

1:

2:

3:

Vision and Priorities

• Vision– Simple clear statements– Cognizant of definition and scope– Cognizant of stakeholders– The way the world should be

• Priorities– 3-8 key discrete themes and concepts– Couched as priorities– Each is itself a clear unambiguous vision

Enablers and deliverables

• Enablers– For each priority

• What exists that enables it?• What is needed to enable it?

• Deliverables– For each priority

• What will be achieved• When will it be achieved

Evaluation and Contingency

• Evaluation– How will you know you’ve succeeded?– How will anyone else know?– What data/process/reporting is

required?

• Contingency– What happens if things don’t work out?– Plans B, C, D etc– Show continuity, impact etc

Where is now?

Interviews: members of university eLearning strategy groups

3/7- ‘Russell group’4/7- middle–ranking universities

All had very similar over-arching aims:

•Embed eLearning, as standard ‘pedadogic’ tool •Raise staff awareness of eLearning, provide support•Foster a culture of innovation and seek out good practice• Create appropriate infrastructure •Increase student satisfaction•Create a sustainable system for guiding investment and deployment of eLearning service and infrastructure

The story so far:Russell group universities:- • Clarity in the implementation plan, with an adequate level of detail• Implementation plan developed reasonably quickly. • The focus has been more on staff (rather than students) but ..• in general students are “more satisfied than not”, but “only time will tell”• Strategic decisions require staff to comply with the ‘plan’ • Already regard themselves as ‘global’ universities, so without the same

drive to ‘create’ an international presence• Adequate funding • Investment in infrastructure

The ‘rest’• Less clarity, more confusion between ‘technology’ and ‘eLearning’• Implementation plan developing slowly. • Focus on student experience• Concern at the challenge of obtaining Faculty ‘buy-in’ • Strong remit to increase their international presence • A primary aim, to remove ‘all that paper!‘-attachment feedback, sign-offs• Budget position unclear• Strategy appeared more defensive

Hidden agendas?4/7 middle–ranking universities, examples

• Strategic aim:To enable technology to be used effectively, creatively and confidently for the enhancement of the student learning experience

• Pro-Vice Chancellor strategic aim: We need to increase our National Student Survey scores - urgently

• Strategic aim:• Investing in innovation in teaching to drive xxx’s reputation internationally

• Pro-Vice Chancellor strategic aim:I want the university to expand its reputation for innovation as soon as possible - before I move to my next, more prestigious university.

• Pro-Vice Chancellor strategic aim: We need to attract more lucrative overseas students to improve our bottom-line

• ‘It will remove thousands and thousands of pieces of paper’

• ‘It will solve our problems of integration between services’

• It will break the stranglehold of IT!’

• ‘We don’t seem to need the new/proposed library building’

Common features /agreements

• ‘Service’ led programmes concentrated on technology not eLearning, and introduced more technologies that students didn't or couldn’t use.

• Successful implementations were more frequently home made technologies!

• The off-the-shelf ‘Learning Management Systems’ /VLE e.g. Blackboard, Moodle were difficult to adapt for medicine.

• The ‘slickest’ successful implementations tended to be ‘non-generic’, despite the national guidance.

Edinburgh vs NOSM

Big fish, small pond:Technocratic, tertiary, traditional

Small fish, massive pond:Distributed, innovative, community-engaged

Activity 1: flip

Activity 1

• Develop a strategic plan for “Medbiq University”

• Work in groups of 5• Steps:

– Create an institutional profile (HT)– Develop a vision, 3-5 priorities– Identify enablers, deliverables etc– Present vision and one critical priority

Strategy Components

• Vision – 1 sentence• Priorities – 3 to 5

• Enablers• Deliverables

• Evaluation• Contingencies

1:

2:

3:

Activity 1

• Develop a strategic plan for “Medbiq University”

• Work in groups of 5• Steps:

– Create an institutional profile (HT)– Develop a vision, 3-5 priorities– Identify enablers, deliverables etc– Present vision and one critical priority

Activity 2: roll

Activity 2

• Change your strategic plan for “Medbiq University”

• Steps:– Identify disrupters – roll the dice– Redevelop a vision, 3-5 priorities– Identify new enablers, deliverables etc– Present revised vision and one critical

priority

Strategy Components

• Vision – 1 sentence• Priorities – 3 to 5

• Enablers• Deliverables

• Evaluation• Contingencies

1:

2:

3:

Activity 2

• Change your strategic plan for “Medbiq University”

• Steps:– Identify disrupters – roll the dice– Redevelop a vision, 3-5 priorities– Identify new enablers, deliverables etc– Present revised vision and one critical

priority

Developing Strategic Approaches toE-learning

Rachel Ellaway, Ph.D., Assistant Dean Curriculum and Planning, Northern Ontario School of MedicineTerry Poulton, Ph.D., Associate Dean for eLearning, St. George's University of London

MedBiquitous 2012