Critical Success Factors for the Implementation of eLearning in Consortia of

UniversitiesProfessor Paul Bacsich

Director of Special Projects and ResearchUK eUniversities Worldwide Limited

ISEL, Sabah, 20-22 October 2003

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UKeU

UKeU is a broker/demand aggregator between UK university e-learning courses and students, world-wide

See www.ukeu.com Pedagogic model is content plus

asynchronous collaboration with a little spice of synchronous in some

cases

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Special Projects

General: to oversee… Research into e-learning relevant to our mission Educational evaluation of courses Development of policy on Quality Assurance of eLearning International research collaboration including:

European Commission Framework projects links with research labs around the world on relevant topics

Specific studies: Mid-band services including t-learning Off-line working including m-learning Residual role of f2f in “pure-play” e-learning propositions Benchmarking of MLEs, e-universities and HE-focussed

ASPs

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Overview

1. Exemplars (UK focus)2. Critical Success Factors3. Some less critical issues

1. Standards2. Research

4. Other observations5. Recommendations

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e-universities in the UK

Open University

University for Industry

UK eUniversities Worldwide Limited (UKeU)

NHS University

Russell Group consortia

New universities – Virtual Campuses

Scottish consortia

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Oxbridge and Russell Group

World University Network (WUN) Sheffield, Leeds, York, Bristol, Manchester,

Southampton – plus US partners - many of these now are developing programmes for UKeU

Universitas21: Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow,

Nottingham (UKeU programme)

Cambridge-OU alliance (UKeU pilot) Oxford with Stanford, Princeton, etc

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New Universities (post-1992)

Sheffield Hallam (UKeU pilot) Coventry:

first large UK WebCT site

Robert Gordons (Scotland) Early Virtual Campus

Ulster (N Ireland) – UKeU collaborator Glamorgan (Wales) Middlesex (London) – UKeU collaborator Global University Alliance: Derby+

Glamorgan (UKeU) plus others non-UK hosted by NextEd

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Scotland

University of Highlands and Islands consortium of colleges teaching at HE level

Scottish University for Industry: focus on linking learners to learning opportunities a broker and facilitator, providing information,

support, guidance, advice and encouragement to learners

Scottish Knowledge Was a consortium of many Scottish universities Now turned into the Interactive University

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Types of e-university

Green fields/new build – e.g. TechBC (Canada)

Consortium “Orange skin”

– Virtual Campus Those run or serviced

by non-HE organisations

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Purposes behind e-universities

Government initiative: national or regional or local

International initiatives: AVU; ITU; UN VU (environment) several imminent examples in Mid East now

Business opportunity: Publisher Broadcaster IT company

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Critical Success Factors for Consortia - my top four

Binding energy oriented to a real purpose

Organisational homogeneity or managed diversity

Stratification Linguistic homogeneity

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Alternative view: Harasim (Canada)

Bottom up is good Realism Common vision

yet clear differentiation of roles

Management and marketing (funded) Contracts in place and accepted by all Role models of other consortia

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European view (Bavarian VU)

Clear goals Sufficient funds Definition of USP Clear target group and

proposition/programmes High quality Student-centred pedagogy Solid marketing strategy, growth-oriented Common execution of project across partners Common organisational structure Centralised organisational structure,

specified responsibilities

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And a UK view (HE in FE consortia)

Explicit and agreed purpose Written statements from all members of

expectations Finance and student number issues

clear Student progression and access issues

clear Staff collaboration clear also! Periodic review of the contract and its

effectiveness

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Less critical factors: Standards

IMS – good work but early days But major challenge is

co-operative learning EML (Dutch Open universiteit) –

interesting Interoperability still hard: consortia

must solve this or avoid it

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Less critical: Research

Research is not vital to start an e-University But it is vital to sustain it

Look at impact from EU research work Look at impact of work elsewhere

UK TL-NCE Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong….

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Conclusions from Research

European research: FP3 set the scene; FP4 added little, FP5 we shall soon see

Canadian work more integrated, but lacks evidence of scalable approaches and has a discontinuity with TL-NCE

Too much gap between theorists and industrial-strength pedagogic practice theorists are usually in universities and not seriously

active in e-learning services US still too synchronous and transmissive Australia too fragmented but some key

institutions Big players still need convincing that

research is directly relevant

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Conclusions for research

Focus on co-operative learning

Start with basic asynchronous (BBS) model

Allow new models to be supported, especially those with business potential

But be cautious on new models

Develop scalable approaches

More focus on assessment

Support multiple media and devices

including mobile and TV for special purposes

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Other observations 1

National responses still confused many agencies without clear mission or longevity

Increasing consensus on mainstream e-pedagogy and evaluation but big national differences on how seriously

cost-effectiveness issues are addressed

Truly international consortia do not really yet exist

E-learning still growing through DL But many established “open universities” slow to

change

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Other observations 2

IPR is much talked about as an issue But it is not a “show-stopper”

Ethical considerations are starting to inhibit research/evaluation and the situation could get worse

Staff development is an endless and thankless task However much money one spends on it A view formed over 15 years

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Other observations 3

Accessibility issues are starting to inhibit innovation in mass deployment Will get worse if a UK compliance culture spreads

out

Multi-standard services (PC/Mac/Unix) are getting harder to do and more restrictive in functionality

Lack of clear view on “mid-band” is inhibiting service development

Will television return? If so, how?

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Recommendations

what do you think?

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A personal view as a researcher

Have plenty of funds, not all commercial Hire staff and some “names” from sector

Your university-facing staff should be academically aware Be cautious about developing your own system Accept the need for sales and sales staff

Not the same as academic staff Be cautious about outsourcing too much IT Keep a close eye on competitors and the market Have an innovation strategy

E.g. in Europe, consider FP6 etc You will end up with more staff and spending

more money than you or your funders first thought

Be pragmatic – survival is the prime imperative!

Thanks for listeningQuestions? Responses?

Professor Paul Bacsich www.ukeu.com

pbacsich@ukeu.com

The source material for this is mostly still at www.shu.ac.uk/terg/

But it will soon be at the UKeU Research Centre Web site!

Acknowledgements for funding:Finland, UNESCO, EU, TL-NCE (Canada),

OU, SHUHEFCE and DfES (UK)