e-learning

Over the past few months my role has taken me to several e-learning events, and I've been thinking a lot about the exponential rise in technologies available to educators and what this means for our mission.  Today I've been talking to an Australian who was the keynote speaker at the ITF e-learning and Literacy & Numeracy seminar yesterday, Andrew Bloye.  I asked him how he saw the take-up of e-learning in Australian academic institutions, and he said that in recent weeks New England university has started putting many of its courses online, as has RMIT and a number of others.  We were considering the effect of this on 'open' universities and polytechnics.  It must certainly alter the niche they may have had.  The impact on poor communities was discussed as well, and how learning could be via playstation or CDs on a stereo or DVDs on television, if people did not own a personal computer.

When I asked Andrew what advice we should be giving to providers who contact us for support in order to develop courses online, he told me that taking a practical approach to ensure impact was absolutely key to implementing a successful e-learning strategy.  This rang sweetly in my ears, because one of our concerns in Ako Aotearoa has been to ensure that projects conducted with the support of our funding do have a positive impact on students' learning.  He has developed a Framework which he is willing to share, to ensure uptake, participation, completion and retention. 

One of the sessions yesterday was by Webinar.  I could see that if we had been a smaller group, and had each had a laptop in front of us, presentations by Webinar would be a very good solution to time/cost of travel to opposite ends of the country to present a 30-40 minute session.  As it was, we were a large group and it was hard to see the presenter's face, although we could hear what she had to say, and the diagrams she was using were both on the screen and in handout form in our packs.  Apparently problems with broadband caused a machine-gun effect on her voice from time to time, but on the whole we could hear.

Hearing about an ITO developing online courses made me think about the significant culture shift required at all levels of an organisation, and all the decisions that have to be made for its successful implementation.  It does require a top-down commitment but the benefits are well-known if it is done well.  The importance of having good instructional design was emphasised over and over.

Another thing that interested me was 'agent provocateur' Elizabeth Valentine from the ATTTO.  She dared to suggest that those who have literacy problems might be allowed to use texting language to communicate.  Liz has found that you can engage people who have been significantly disengaged from the system by moving the boundaries!

I heard the word "personalise" many times yesterday. E-portfolios were one way that learning can become personal to students.  A plea was made for flexible assessment too - with all the technologies available there is no need to reduce assessment to pen and paper tests.

Our website contains a report prepared to enable senior executives of education institutions to understand the strategic issues that need to be addressed when moving into blended learning or e-learning.  The document, called "Taking the Lead", is freely available here, and is also to be the basis for a series of workshops being offered through our regional hubs around the country.  We have been in touch with VCs and CEOs nationwide to alert them to this offer and some have already made contact to ensure that their staff can participate.