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
teac
hers
lear
ners
Does e-learning exist?
Teaching and learning strategy
E-learning strategy
Technology strategy
teac
hers
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