• Online databases
  
• Scholarly and peer evaluated journals
• Industry websites
• Company websites

What key words may help narrow your search?

• Generational gap
• e-Learning program design
• Demographic influences on e-Learning

Which UTS Library databases or journals may be useful?

• I have always found the Proquest database as useful as it locates articles from a number of sources
• Other journals of use from a range of disciplines:
  - education
  - business
  - IT

How do you distinguish points of view from facts? Points of view are usually written in a manner that is subjective. Most of the time they contain an opinion in which the author would write in first person. I find that they are usually longer in response and often presents information from a number of angles. Facts on the other hand are clear cut and well defined. They present no sign of bias or judgement.

Are your resources: reliable? Credible?? Authentic?? They are if they can be traced to a recognised or academic source. By recognised I mean if it is coming from a renowned commentator on the issue that I believe it would be reliable, credible and authentic. Also the date of publication should be considered because in e-Learning sources dating before 2000 are considered out of date

Are your resources bias in any way? What do you do about this? Being bias doesn’t necessarily mean that a resource is unreliable or false but it does mean that facts and figures may be exaggerated. This is particularly the case with company websites as of course as companies always present themselves in a positive light. In situations like this being aware of the bias and then taking into consideration the views of other sources will balance your judgement.

She highlights four main areas of concern in innovating ODL:

1. Resource availability
2. Organisational issues/aspects
3. Human resource capacity
4. Use of technology

As with most new initiatives, change will occur in:

• organisational practices
• new kinds of work groups and relationships across specialisms and administrative boundaries
• the use of technology and additional media for teaching courses formerly provided face to face
• creation of new curricula and methods of assessment
• adoption of new pedagogical approaches, to maximise the potential of new technology or media, or to fit new kinds of learners
• new value and belief systems
• the skills and expertise of individuals, roles, job descriptions and the creation of new specialisms
• resource allocation and financial decision making (p.19)

The most important factor in determining successful implementation of ODL was the design of the students’ learning experience – addressing a specific need, enhancing learning in ways not previously possible, using a soundly based design strategy integrated with learner support and appropriately designed assessment. There are also numerous other factors to consider but the students’ learning experience should be the organisation’s primary concern as substantiated by findings from studies undertaken by Alexander and McKenzie (1998, cited in Robinson, 2001, p.19).

Robinson continues the chapter with a discussion of the research on innovation. She presents two broad models:
1. the linear – which reflects rational planning and a one way view (usually top down) of communication. Most favoured by bureaucratic societies and institutions, it has been criticised for ignoring the social and political realities of project implementation.

2. the convergence – views planning as a participatory activity, with shared decision making. In practice, it can appear messier and more adhoc than the linear model and runs the risk of losing direction through generating wider ownership of the change. (p.21)

These models were paralleled with the rational planning and dynamic change approaches to educational change.

The discussion on research continued to encompass adoption patterns. The typical pattern of adoption of innovation reveals an S-shaped curve. It is said that for an innovation to gain a momentum of its own, the rate of adoption needs to reach 10-20%. From the curve, different categories of adopters can be identified:

1. Innovators
2. Early adopters
3. Early majority
4. Late majority
5. Laggards (p.22)

In regards to adoption. when enough people have taken on board the innovation to make the further rate of adoption assured or self sustaining, it is said that the innovation has reached critical mass (p.23). Robinson then goes on to propose strategies to achieve this and lists five factors that affect the rate of adoption:

1. Relative advantage
2. Compatibility
3. Complexity
4. Trialability
5. Observability (p.24-25)

Specific features of an organisation that influence its take up of innovation were also mentioned:

1. Size
2. Degrees of centralization (the level of power concentrated in a few strong leaders)
3. Formalization (the extent of rule-following in the organization)
4. System openness ( the extent to which is exchanged with the external environment) (p.25)

Robinson ends the chapter with a brief discussion of three broad conclusions of the problems and research into innovation:

1. the organisational dimension and quality of planning need more attention
2. problem-solving is an integral component of the process
3. innovation in education and ODL is not a simple exercise

Overall I found this reading quite challenging as it covered a lot of material. It was very informative and helps us understand the place of e-learning in organisations and the factors that affect how organisations view it and why organisations use it.

Rather than dwell on what an e-learning strategy is, De Vries emphasizes the importance of having one. She highlights as the main purpose of an e-learning program is to “define the goals for your e-learning program and then logically explain how you will prove that the goals have been met” (http://www.learningcircuits.org/2005/aug2005/devries.htm).

Setting goals requires:

1. a needs assessment;
2. a review of the training team’s readiness; and
3. management direction (whether it be top down or bottom up).

I think an important thing to note here is the third activity as without direction and buy in from management e-learning programs will lack resources and support which will inevitably lead to its failure. This is true of most business initiatives particularly those that relate to innovation.

Once the goals are defined an e-learning strategy needs to be formulated. The elements of an e-learning strategy are technology, content, administration and support, communication and financial analysis. For each of these elements the one thing that stood out about e-learning programs is that is highly integrated in all aspects of the organization and hence an immense amount of cooperation is necessary. For example, De Vries notes the invaluable advice of IT, Marketing and Financial departments in the areas of technology, communication and financial analysis respectively. Furthermore, this cooperation extends to the trainers and learners as without the encouragement and support of one another through communication and feedback, the e-learning program will not be effectively implemented.

De Vries’ Article was very helpful in understanding e-learning strategies and shows the complexity of delivering a successful program however the difficult of this task can be easily addressed with the main message she is trying to convey – that cooperation is fundamental.

• Cost
• Equipment
• Technology infrastructure
• Learner Readiness
• Trainer Readiness
• Management Readiness
• Support staff
• Venues or Learning Centres
• Buy or build courses
• Maintaining Records – LMS or LCMS
• Keeping material up-to-date / editing or tailoring to specific needs
• Copyright of content
• Scalability
• Trainer contact – or not
• Collaborative environment – synchronous or asynchronous
• What courses / content will be offered online
• Measuring Return on Investment (ROI)
• Measuring outcomes and effectiveness

Reading: Jennifer de Vries “e-Learning Strategy: A Framework for Success”
http://www.learningcircuits.org/2005/aug2005/devries.htm

(See separate posting for summary and reflection)

Reading: Robinson, B. 2001, “Innovation in open and distance learning: some lessons from experience and research”, in Innovation in Open & Distance Learning, eds Lockwood, F. & Gooley, A., pp15-26, Kogan Page, London

(See separate posting for summary and reflection)

Only 5% of enrolments across 13 countries were fully online.

Yet 30 – 50 % claimed a “high online presence” in their teaching and learning strategies.

“Tertiary education institutions generally feel that e-Learning has a broadly positive effect on the quality of teaching and learning, although few have been able to offer detailed evidence. There is much indirect evidence, including student satisfaction surveys, but these may not be enough to offset the prevalent doubt about the pedagogic value of online learning among students and academics.” (p.4)

“e-Learning has not really revolutionized learning and teaching to date… ” (p.4)

“For some institutions, and in some countries, key barriers remain. Infrastructure and funding are among the important ones, but scepticism about the pedagogic value of e-Learning and staff development are probably the most challenging.” (p.5)

OECD (2005), e-Learning in Tertiary Education, Policy Briefing, December.

The Australian picture:

• In 2003-04, 3-4% of VTE (vocational and technical training) activity involved e-Learning.
• In 2005, 6 – 8% of VTE involved e-Learning.
• In 2006, that has increased to 17%.

(Statistics from the e-Learning Indicators 2006 Report from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework available at
http://e-learningindicators.flexiblelearning.net.au/survey_results06.htm)

The Corporate picture:

The figures available in the corporate training market are less easily determined.
Bersin & Associates (http://store.bersinassociates.com/lms.html#) current (2008) report on Learner Management Systems (LMS) state the US market is valued at US$600 million – an increase of 21% from 2006. And that’s just the LMS market, that doesn’t account for vendors of authoring software, off-the-shelf products, or consultancies.

Reading: Australian Flexible Learning Framework “e-Learning Indicators 2006 Report”
http://e-learningindicators.flexiblelearning.net.au/survey_results06.htm

WRITE: What is the current status of e-Learning? Relate the general findings and comments to your industry. How does your industry rate against the overall results?

As mentioned above, e-Learning is currently involved with 17% of vocational and technical training (VTE). The status of e-Learning has definately increased over the years and continues to receive positive reports from both trainers and learners.

“The uptake of e-learning is increasing. Students find e-learning convenient and fun, and believe their increased confidence and skills in using technology will deliver better employment outcomes. Teachers have more confidence in using e-learning applications, and are expanding their use of online, mobile and voice technologies to deliver more engaging vocational and technical education (VTE) programs.”

http://e-learningindicators.flexiblelearning.net.au/pdf/benchmarking_report2006.pdf, p.3

The problem however is that the delivery of e-Learning is not consistent across the entire VTE sector. It has been recorded that 51% of registered training organisations (RTOs) and 70% of small private, industry and community-based training providers do not deliver any e-learning which raises concerns as demand for more flexible training is on the rise.

In regards to e-learning and industry, it was shown in the report that 31% of RTOs surveyed delivered vocational training in the traditional trades (Building and Construction, Metal, Electrical and Automotive, or Engineering and Technical) of which 46% used e-learning as part of their delivery of training. Clearly, there was higher use of e-learning in larger organisations and for those that did not use e-learning the reason given was being that “training packages were practically based” (http://e-learningindicators.flexiblelearning.net.au/docs/2006_elearn_trad_trades.pdf, p.4).

Now looking at the use of e-learning in specific industries, the report showed that e-learning among trades teachers was lower than in other teaching areas. Around 70% used e-learning in some way in comparison to an average of 85% across all teaching areas. In my industries of Business and Education, 91% of teachers used e-learning.

“The challenge for providers of traditional trades training, as is the case for the entire VTE system, is to continue to provide quality training and the flexibility needed to meet the training needs of individual students and employers.”

http://e-learningindicators.flexiblelearning.net.au/docs/2006_elearn_trad_trades.pdf, p.8