Digital Higher Education and its Potential for the Innovation of European Higher Education Systems

Digital Higher Education

and its Potential for the Innovation

of European Higher Education Systems

24th October 2014

Director, National Institute for Digital Learning

Dublin City University

Keynote: Professor Mark Brown

Digital Higher Education

and its Potential for the Innovation

of European Higher Education Systems

24th October 2014

Director, National Institute for Digital Learning

Dublin City University

Keynote: Professor Mark Brown

What type of higher

education system do we

want the innovative use of

digital technology to serve?

The real question….

“…We risk being left

behind as other parts of

the world act more nimbly

in garnering the benefits

of technology” (p.6).

Outline…

1. Numbers

1. Narratives

3. Nomenclature

1. What do the numbers tell us?

1. What narratives are being told?

3. Why is nomenclature important?

Outline…

“Who controls the past commands the future.

Who commands the future conquers the past.”

(George Orwell)



Three

Paradoxes


Paradox 1

Blended, On-line and Digital (BOLD)

education is booming but the level

of concern is growing throughout the

world

Growth in US Enrolments…


Allan, I., & Seaman, J. (2014). Grade Change: Tracking Online Education in the United States. Babson

Survey Research Group and Quahog Research Group, LLC.


http://www.openeducationeuropa.eu/sites/default/files/scoreboard_september2014.pdf

2014


Allan, I., & Seaman, J. (2014). Grade Change: Tracking Online Education in the United States. Babson

Survey Research Group and Quahog Research Group, LLC.

66%


Education at a Glance…

Type A

OECD

Average 70%


Guiney, P. (2014). Extramural students’ participation and achievement: Trends, patterns, highlights.

New Zealand Ministry of Education. Wellington



Paradox 2

The public and private benefits of

higher education are clear to all but

there is a growing risk of social and

economic exclusion


Ireland


Poland

NZ



UN

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. (2

01

3).

Ed

uca

tio

n fo

r A

ll G

lob

al M

on

ito

rin

g R

ep

ort

. P

aris.


Almost 13 million people have been unemployed for more than one year

EU Unemployment Rate



Ireland


Paradox 3

While the benefits of higher

education have been quantified we

know very little about the tangible

return on investment for the

subset of off-campus online /

distance learners

“There is also almost no understanding of

the private and social benefits of distance

and online education in comparison with

those of face-to-face education” (Rumble, 2014,

p.208).


Recommendation

6. “National funding frameworks should create

incentives, especially in the context of new

forms of performance-based funding, for

higher education institutions to open up

education, to develop more flexible

modes of delivery and to diversify their

student population.”


Is the money on the mission?


2.7%



Competing

Stories


“An avalanche is coming. It’s hard of course, to

say exactly when. It may be sooner than we think.

Certainly there is no better time than now to seek

to understand what lies ahead for higher education

– and to prepare” (p.8)

Barber, M., Donnelly, K., & Rizvi, S. (2013). An avalanche is coming: Higher education

and the revolution ahead. Institute for Public Policy Research. London.


“An educational change is neither natural nor

normal, constant nor common as it involves a

deeper struggle over who will win control of

the curriculum” (Evans, 1996, p.25).


Selwyn, N., & Bulfin, S. (2014). The discursive construction of MOOCs as educational opportunty and educational

threat. Monash University.


Knowledge Economy

Learning Society


• Open learning

• Online learning

• Anytime, anywhere learning

E-learning •

Digital learning •

Technology-enhanced learning •

Learning Society

Knowledge Economy


• Open learning

• Online learning


E-learning •



Different interest groups and stakeholders borrow the

same ‘language of persuasion’ to legitimize their own transformative agenda

Learning Society

Knowledge Economy


Reproduction

• Open learning

• Online learning


E-learning •



• Mass education

• Quality standards

• Education as commodity

• Increased market competition

Competing Digital Discourses

Learning Society

Knowledge Economy


Reschooling

• Open learning

• Online learning


E-learning •



Reproduction

• xMOOCs

• Learning for all

• Global curriculum

• Education in change


• Mass education




Learning Society

Knowledge Economy


Deschooling

• Open learning

• Online learning


E-learning •



Reschooling Reproduction

• xMOOCs




• OERu

• Un-curriculum

• Opening access

• Unbundling learning


• Mass education




Learning Society

Knowledge Economy


Reconceptualist

• Open learning

• Online learning



E-learning •



Deschooling

Reschooling Reproduction

• xMOOCs




• OpenUpEd

• Digital citizenship

• Socially just society

• Education for change

• Mass education




• OERu

• Un-curriculum

• Opening access

• Unbundling learning

Learning Society

Knowledge Economy



Learning to change and transform

Learning to live together

Learning to do

Learning to know

Learning

to be

Digital

Inclusion

Digital Citizenship

Digital

Identity

(Delors Report, 1972)


How well

is Europe

doing?



Rooted

in Identity



www.dcu.ie/connected



Conclusion

Conclusion

What type of higher

education system do we

want the innovative use of

digital technology to serve?

Off Campus

in Class

Off Campus

out of Class

On Campus

in Class

Acquisition

Participation

On Campus

out of Class

Synchronous Asynchronous

A more inclusive digital learning ecology…

One that

Transforms

Lives and

Societies

And…

Vision…

To be recognised as a world leader at the

forefront of education, research and

innovation in contemporary models of

teaching and learning that help to

transform lives and societies.

International Advisory Board…

• Professor Grainne Conole

• Professor Terry Anderson

• Dr Larry Johnson

• Professor Mike Keppell

• Sally Reynolds

• Professor George Siemens

• Professor Rhona Sharpe

• Professor Peter Shea

• Professor Norm Vaughan

• Professor Airina Volungevicene

• Professor Martin Weller

• Professor Steve Wheeler

International Advisory Board…

2015 Irish Higher Education Horizon Report

Contact Details

[email protected]

@mbrownz

http://www4.dcu.ie/nidl

http://www.slideshare.net/mbrownz