Wednesday, 26 March 2008
What is the future for HE?
A little while ago I went to a presentation by Martin Williams, Director of HE Strategy at the DIUS.He spoke about the future of Universities at a time when the Government wants to continue to grow numbers in HE – to enable more potential students to benefit from HE.
So far as research is concerned, there is an emphasis on more quality of research – the current RAE exercise is the last of its kind and the future of research funding may be based on linking assessment of research to available metrics such as citations, in some disciplines.
It seems to me that whatever way research is funded some people will lose out. Researchers n the sciences for example may publish less than researches in the humanities because the latter are more comfortable with writing. Obscure mathematical theorems may have huge impact on their field but that field is very small with very few people who can even understand the research, compared with say, a study on internet use which can be more accessible to those outside the field.
Universities and colleges have to adjust to demographic change – start to focus on improving the skills of the current workforce. It's a challenge for the education sector to support acquisition of high level skills by those already in the workplace – and it is a challenge for employers to support their staff in acquiring these skills.
If people are to be upskilled, acquiring new skills throughout their working lives, then there has to be much more of a culture of learning in the workplace and in the community – a perception that learning is part of work and does not stop when one leaves a place of education. There is likely to be a good deal of resistance to this: many people identify learning with a school experience they did not enjoy, and do not want to undertake any further learning.
So how can universities adapt to a student body that will NOT be the traditional 18 year old coming into a 3-year full-time degree? And how will they be funded?
In the FE sector, a lot more of the funding that used to go via the Learning and Skills Council is now going to be distributed through local authorities.
Some scary(?) statistics:
- The average graduate today will have 7 different careers, 3 of which haven't been invented yet. (A Scottish study he quoted which don't have the reference for)
- 70% of the 2020 workforce are already in the workplace...
Labels: FE, HE, learning futures
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:13 AM
Monday, 14 January 2008
Beyond the Campus: Learning Futures Conference at Leicester
The Learning Futures conference at the University of Leicester this year, run by the Beyond Distance Research Alliance (BDRA) had the theme Beyond the Campus. Here are some first thoughts:
Tony Bates emphasised that the most effective model for implementing e-learning in an institution was not a top-down edict (although strong vision, leadership and comitment is vital) nor individual adopters or champions beavering away alone, but a department-based team effort - just as we found in implementing Carpe Diem workshops during the Adelie project.
Phil Candy showed us some great quotes about the Internet, the Web and e-learning including a lovely Buddhist quote (thanks to Lindsay Jordan for the link).
The individual sessions held some gems. I found out all about the Fundacao Bradesco, an educational organisation funded by a bank (more on that later) with some fabulous e-learning going on in deprived areas of Brazil. Also a great project in Leicester's History Department based on the principles of ARG.
One of my favourite sessions was the drama workshop visioning workshop on Wednesday afternoon, led by Paula Salmon. We discussed and played games around three scenarios, My Very Own University, University of the World and University of Earning and Learning. At the end we split into three groups to create a playlet representing each of the three scenarios, which were videoed. Look out YouTube!
A very frendly conference with lots of food for thought and a great standard of participant. I liked the identity badge lanyards which clicked apart to reveal a flashdrive: a great idea that they had at ALT too (from Wimba, thank you). I just wish my flash drive hadn't fallen out at some point, one can always do with an extra one...Labels: BDRA, conference, e-learning, learning futures
posted by Helen Whitehead 2:29 PM
Tuesday, 1 January 2008
The fate of a web prophet
Prophets are not always welcome. It can be difficult to make a great idea stick. In the 1990s I spent years trying to point out to writers and other individuals that the Internet and particularly the Web, was a great place to interact and could revolutionise the way they worked if they just experimented a bit. Mostly people just didn’t seem to “get it”. Yet today, business people, academics, even writers, are online, using the internet and the Web in many ways.
Web guru Don Tapscott started linking computers together in networks in the 1970s and had a vision of a network of managers who would use computers to revolutionise their working lives. However, he says: “The big objection, for years, was that managers would never learn to type … For years, with all these profundities and great visions, my entire life was reduced to me making the case that you can learn how to use a keyboard.”
Yet managers learned how to use keyboards, and in most organisations staff wouldn’t dream of not using email routinely. Change can take some time but it has to happen in the end, and even the most resistant can be brought to see that change can be positive and worthwhile. I really believe that, or I couldn’t do my job.
Ref: Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, Tapscott, Don and Williams, Anthony D, Atlantis Books, 2007
Labels: change, change management, learning futures, prophets
posted by Helen Whitehead 4:37 PM
Monday, 3 December 2007
Advent (of technology) calendar
This December at ELKS (the community of expertise which I manage for the UN's Global Alliance for ICT in Development initiative) we've adapted a December tradition to produce an "Advent of technology" Calendar - with a resource, tool or tip about e-learning for every day of December.There are 30 days to fill - so we need your contributions! Tell us what tool (including software, hardware or gadgets), or what resource (such as website), or what conference, journal, model of best practice, or even person has greatly impacted on your practice as a teacher using technology. What's been the greatest boon? What changed your life? Well - at least what changed your teaching practice, at least a little!
Email helen.whitehead AT le.ac.uk with your suggestions to add to our calendar, the sooner the better. If you can accompany it with a photo related to your location (as square as possible), that would be even better. You'll see December 2nd is a view up the Attenborough Tower at the University of Leicester, where the Beyond Distance Research Alliance (where ELKS is based) has its offices.
There's also a discussion - please let us know what your tool, resource etc. means to you.
To find the Advent Calendar go to ELKS and click on Showcase in the left hand menu. Click on the Advent of technology Calendar then double-click on today's picture and "view details" to see the resource behind it. You don't have to login to see the calendar.
If you have an interest in the role of e-learning in development, and would like to become a member of ELKS, just get in touch with me and I'll send you a password. helen.whitehead AT le.ac.uk
Labels: calendar, e-learning, elearning, elearning tools, ELKS, learning futures, online communities, UN, UN-GAID, universities
posted by Helen Whitehead 9:39 AM
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Integrating Web 2.0 - some doubts
Here are some issues that have been mentioned to me (by academic staff) about integrating Web 2.0 technologies into institutional VLEs, and how they might be overcome.
- Institutional IT policy can be a barrier - you don't know what's available.
Fear of "what people will say"- How to cope with the student who goes "off the rails"
- Managers fear adverse comments about their services and don't see it as constructive.
- Can cause horrendous" problems in mature learners who aren't familiar with the technology.
- Students (esp. mature students) worry about "breaking" the technology.
Labels: challenges, e-learning, elearning, issues, learning design, learning futures, learning technologies, student expectations, Web 2.0
posted by Helen Whitehead 1:52 PM
Friday, 14 September 2007
The wiki way
Here's an interesting article on "the wiki way" from the Guardian.
"Don Tapscott, the author of an eye-opening new book called Wikinomics, says that we have barely begun to imagine how the internet will change the way we live and work. He tells Oliver Burkeman how everything from gold mining to motorcycle manufacturing is being transformed - and why huge companies as we know them may simply cease to exist."
Hmm. I suppose if you're selling a book you have to make big claims. But having seen how many wiki projects fail, I am more cynical...Labels: collaborative working, learning futures, media, Web 2.0, wiki, wikis
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:27 AM
Saturday, 28 July 2007
Shift Happens
Did You Know 2.0 is a thought-provoking "Shift Happens" video from Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod. This June 2007 update of an original includes new and updated statistics, thought-provoking questions and a fresh design. It even has its own website. Content by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, design and development by XPLANE.,Labels: Fisch, learning futures, Scott McLeod, Shift Happens, shifthappens, Web 2.0
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:58 AM
Friday, 22 June 2007
Embedding?
At a conference I attended recently, there was much discussion about what "embedding" means in the context of e-learning in Higher Education.
I was thinking maybe we should be talking about "Mbedding" because possibly the whole point is to lose the "e"... Technology should be just one of the tools which teachers use to develop, deliver and facilitate learning, no more or less important than any other. To use technology that way, however, there need to be a lot of things in place - infrastructure and support (including availability of IT experts and learning technologists), training and awareness building, piloting of technologies, and research into the pedagogical aspects of using technology (as there should be research into pedagogical aspects of all learning practices).Labels: embedding e-learning, HE, learning futures, learning technologies, universities
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:18 AM
Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Google pitching to Higher Education
According to this story on the BBC today, Google is expanding its empire into universities - with entire campus e-mail networks switching over to using Google's e-mail service. Apparently Trinity College Dublin has switched over entirely to Google's e-mail.
The new Google-based e-mail addresses (which can still be applied to a university domain name, but which can be accessed from any online computer) can be kept by students when they leave. I'm not sure this is a good idea. There are all sorts of reasons (e.g., authenticity and identity) why a university email address should be limited to those actually studying or working in them. Surely it would be better if university email accounts simply automatically redirected once a student leaves, with a notification that "this student has left".
Google says its higher education tools, hosted by them, allow students to work on files from any internet-connected computer, to engage in collaborative work - working together in real-time on the same document - and to use online timetables and calendars.
What's next - the Google VLE?
I would have serious doubts about privacy and security of data by entrusting all to Google - but it's certainly true that Universities can no longer ignore the rise of Web 2.0 applications.
As Michael Nowlan, director of information systems services at Trinity College Dublin, is quoted as saying, "The digital natives will find their own way, make their own discoveries."Labels: collaborative working, email, Google, HE, learning futures, universities
posted by Helen Whitehead 9:56 AM
