Managing the e-World in Higher Education: WEXDEV Forum 12-13 August 2001
This conference brought together five universities to confront the changes occurring in higher education in response to the evolving opportunities and demands presented by information technology.
It was acknowledged that managing the e-world is arguably the most important issue facing contemporary universities. As Robyn Kemmis said in her introduction 'The ground is shifting. It is important to discuss how e-technologies in learning and management present major opportunities and challenges. We need to consider why e- learning, e-business and the knowledge economy are important for universities. We want to provide an opportunity to consider what could be called the 'hype' in this area and check out what is really happening - and what is really possible.'
In the first session, three speakers from very different perspectives presented - Professor Denise Bradley, a Vice-Chancellor concerned with the management of resources, Professor Shirley Alexander, a specialist in e-learning technologies, concerned particularly with relation between students and teachers, and Ann Whyte, from TMP Worldwide, an executive with a major international recruitment firm, concerned with the relevance of universities to business. Anne Whyte presented a wonderful analogy of a boat, with Robyn Kemmis as the ship-builder, Denise Bradley as the captain, Shirley Alexander as the navigator and herself as the merchant. Interestingly all identified similar critical issues. None was pushing for more rapid introduction; rather all three wanted to make sure that the impact of new technologies was measured.
Participants watch Tim O'Shea's video presentation
In the first session Professor Denise Bradley (VC, UNISA) posed some key questions, such as what the internet means for teaching and learning, and for service to students. She argued that with the growth of online capacity, we are now seeing two significant changes - first, the entry of private providers into what is now termed the lifelong learning market and, second, the competitive opportunity being defined as global rather than local or national. She expressed concern about the role of traditional providers, like universities, and the very real danger of their becoming residual providers - that is, providing a relatively impoverished (in terms of resources) form of education to those who cannot afford anything else. She emphasised that the e-revolution affected much more than teaching and learning, and involved major adjustments to the culture of universities, as well as requiring solutions to questions such as how you incorporate e-approaches into existing business processes and whether the separation of actual and virtual business processes is feasible. She remained positive, especially for partnerships such as the ATN, about grappling with the problems.
Professor Shirley Alexander, UTS, responded and from an academic perspective endorsed many of the points already made by a leading administrator. It is clear that the 'hype' surrounding the possibilities has been recognised and that those involved are now seeking through the e-world a way of implementing organisational change and development. Shirley emphasised the value of looking at the model developed by Diana Laurillard (Open University), which shows the importance of a systems approach with constant attempts to evaluate and alter the processes in relation to feedback from all involved.
Ann Whyte from TMP Worldwide then brought a business perspective - based on a research project which questioned 51 medium to large companies on the nature of their current and planned training, their current and planned use of technology for training delivery and their administration/management of training. A high percentage of the companies surveyed currently, or plan to, offer training in a number of specific subject areas, such as compliance, with the average timeframe for planned courses 1-2 years. These companies appreciated e-learning if it includes appropriate assessment, clear navigation, good instructional design and interaction with a tutor or mentor. She argued that universities had a role as pedagogical leaders, to which business would actively respond.
David Lance, Kate Fry and John Warren
The three speakers then formed a panel as we experienced the e-world, with a live video conference with Professor Tim O'Shea, Master of Birkbeck College, London and Chair of the E-UK consortium, who was in fact holidaying in Montana. From a small community college in glacier country, Tim O'Shea's presentation demonstrated how distance is no longer a barrier to information flow - indeed the point had already been made that time is now the 'new distance.' His presentation was a wonderful traverse through the recent history of computer technologies, as well as an outline of future challenges - maintaining the partnerships, building a sense of community, peer support, navigation and 'the digital divide' with inequities in access. He discussed with great forthrightness the ambitious plan to establish E-UK - an e-university involving all British universities, with massive initial support ($250 million) from the Blair government. Course priorities are established centrally and universities tender to produce materials. The searching questions from the panel asked how the venture would survive when funds were no longer provided from government and how the venture would relate to the Open University, already a respected distance provider. Denise Bradley questioned whether any global providers had been successful and how competitiveness between institutions would be overcome.
The workshops and sessions on the first afternoon involved key representatives from ATN universities - Halima Goss (QUT), Dr Vicki Williamson (Curtin), Associate Professor Rigmor George (UNISA), Professor Shirley Alexander (UTS), Paul Kennedy and Robert Webster (RMIT). Their papers describing the initiatives on the e-world taking place in their institutions were graphic examples of the changes taking place. Halima's in particular was a narrative of change, outlining the responses to the initial negative reaction to 'qut.com'. All institutions now have formal structures overseeing the process of introducing e-learning and all emphasise the key importance of focusing on learner outcomes. Afternoon workshops focused on critical issues such as the need for leadership in the change from traditional methods of learning, the need for articulated and clear vision, questions of quality and the importance of cultural change rather than technological change. Day 2 began with an excellent session from administrators. Anne Dwyer, Director of ITD at UTS discussed the rapid pace of change, the problems posed by obsolescence and the intense resource pressures facing managers. Jane den Hollander, Director of Student and Staff Services at Curtin, discussed how organisational effectiveness could be developed through this revolution in the way we all work. And Anne Maree Payne and Mary Kelly, Equity Directors from UTS and QUT, presented the results of research into equity issues. These issues were further explored in detailed workshops.
In the afternoon, Kate Fry, a UTS academic who has researched emerging e-learning markets and providers, introduced speakers from business who discussed the opportunities posed by partnerships that took advantage of vertical disaggregation, customised content and the different specialities of a range of providers of content, technology and services. David Lance, chairperson of a new Australian-based company partly owned by UTS, i-Global, spoke of plans to offer the corporate sector in Asia and Latin America courses sourced from several universities and private companies, as well as providing e-learning services such as curriculum design, marketing and sales. John Warren from Sapient College challenged universities to 'deal' with outside providers.
The issue of partnerships was explored further in workshops and a final presentation on ATN initiatives, such as RMIT's Austrade university, a partnership between UTS and News Ltd which includes a newsletter for schoolkids and links in library services between QUT and Griffith. Yoni Ryan, QUT, gave examples from her research of the difficulties posed by partnerships, the need for honest exchange of what each party wants and can and will bring to the relationship.
In the final session Colleen Chesterman noted that there were many exciting issues raised for further discussion during the forum. Not the least of these was the emerging question of what universities like ours will be like in twenty years time. A powerful point from one workshop was that in talking about e-learning, we are actually discussing learning.
WEXDEV has prepared a publication Managing the e-World in Higher Education which brings together the many excellent papers and reports on the workshops. It can be ordered from Wexdev using the Order Form.