Towards understanding institutional readiness for global academic change

Issues, Challenges, Actions

Dr John Couperthwaite,Educational Technology Manager,

College of Medical and Dental Sciences

Towards understanding institutional readiness for global academic change

Background

"...web-based lecture technology has acted as a lens, bringingattention to numerous factors impacting on higher education in the 21stcentury."

Phillips, 2009.

"‘Edgeless cities are… cities in function… but not in form.’

Universities too are experiencing ‘sprawl’. The function they perform is no longer contained within the campus, nor within the physically defined space of a particular institution, nor, sometimes, even in higher education institutions at all."

Demos, 2009.

Towards understanding institutional readiness for global academic change

BackgroundA timeline of lecture recording at the University

• 2006, one Apresso unit in a campus lecture theatre; three Apresso units installed in the CETL for Interdisciplinary Mental Health

• 2008, School of Medicine begin pilot study in live undergraduate lectures (BMedSc)

• 2009, School of Medicine offer recordings to other programmes and events

• 2009, Learning Spaces Team implement consultation for campus roll-out

• 2010, ten Echo360 units to be available across campus, four in the School of Medicine

Towards understanding institutional readiness for global academic change

Issues

Increasing student numbers

Pressures on government funding

Decreasing staff/student ratios

Changing student work / life balance

“Over a ten year period, the number of students at English higher education institutions (HEIs) has grown from fewer than 1.5 million to over 2 million"

HEFCE, 2009.

Student fees and changing expectations

Towards understanding institutional readiness for global academic change

Technology

Open Education

Commitment

Competitiveness

Adaptability

Challenges

How can technology make an educational programme pedagogically stronger, more economically efficient and globally competitive ?

How can everybody share educational resources yet preserve quality, distinctiveness and academic freedom ? What are the benefits to the country,

institution, programme and staff ? Can this be resourced ?

How easy is it for a programme to be modified to integrate web technologies, open resources, etc ?

How can an institution and programme remain globally competitive ?

Towards understanding institutional readiness for global academic change

Technology

Open Education

Commitment

Competitiveness

Adaptability

Challenges

"Learners want and expect to be able to use their own devices in institutional contexts, and to personalise institutional services to meet their own requirements."

HEFCE, 2009.

Technology

Towards understanding institutional readiness for global academic change

Technology

Open Education

Commitment

Competitiveness

Adaptability

Challenges

"National partners should be able to collaborate effectively to share information and provide common points of access for learners and providers"

Becta, 2009

Open Education

Casey, Proven and Dripps, 2007

The relationships within an IPR framework

Towards understanding institutional readiness for global academic change

Technology

Open Education

Commitment

Competitiveness

Adaptability

Challenges

“We should eventually get to the point where we come to realise what it might be possible to do differently, or in new ways. But that requires enormous amounts of support and investment.“

Diana Laurillard in Demos, 2009

Commitment

Towards understanding institutional readiness for global academic change

Technology

Open Education

Commitment

Competitiveness

Adaptability

Challenges

"...for change to occur in university teaching, and for educational technology to meet its potential to support this change, institutional beliefs about university teaching must be addressed."

Phillips, 2009.

AdaptabilityDid the recording affect the

running of the lecture ?

YesNoNot sure

Lecturer responses

Resistant force student attendance, withhold vital information

Neutral no change or stopped having lecture recorded

Supportive change their teaching style and module structure

Towards understanding institutional readiness for global academic change

Technology

Open Education

CommitmentAdaptability

Challenges

University of Birmingham

University of Coventry

University of ???

Competitiveness

Towards understanding institutional readiness for global academic change

Technology

Open Education

Commitment

Competitiveness

Adaptability

Challenges

Towards understanding institutional readiness for global academic change

ActionsGovernment

Institution

Programme

Lecturer

Student

Technologist

Policy

Investment

Infrastr

ucture

CollaborationTraining and support

Incentives

Instructi

onal Des

ign

Research

Towards understanding institutional readiness for global academic change

Review"...web-based lecture technology has acted as a lens, bringingattention to numerous factors impacting on higher education in the 21stcentury."

Phillips, 2009.

"‘Edgeless cities are… cities in function… but not in form.’

Universities too are experiencing ‘sprawl’. The function they perform is no longer contained within the campus, nor within the physically defined space of a particular institution, nor, sometimes, even in higher education institutions at all."

Demos, 2009.

– Rob Jones, VLE Developer, Educational Technology Team– Toni Kelly, Head of Learning Space Development– Martin Jones, Learning Resources and Accommodation Team– James Gormley, Jeffrey Ting, CLIC– Peter Balfe, Brian Martin, BMedSc Module Leads– Steve Partridge, IT Services

Towards understanding institutional readiness for global academic change

Acknowledgements

Dr. John Couperthwaite, College Educational Technology Manager Email: j.couperthwaite@bham.ac.uk

References

Contact Details

http://del.icio.us/couperjo