Simon Shurville

Educational and institutional flexibility of Australian educational software

Purpose – This paper aims to provide context for papers in this special issue on Australasian e‐learning. The paper aims to examine the background to Australian flexible and transnational education and to evaluate the educational and intuitional flexibility of three typical products of the Australian educational software industry.Design/methodology/approach – The history of Australian distance education is summarised and drivers for flexible education are presented. A model of flexible educational software is introduced with three dimensions: educational, institutional and support/training. Three educational software products are informally reviewed using this model to establish that the current generation of Australian educational software offers significant educational and institutional flexibility.Findings – The three examples of Australian educational software rate highly in both educational and institutional flexibility and also offer excellent support.Research limitations/implications – The existenc...

Initiating e-learning by stealth, participation and consultation in a late majority institution

Abstract The extent to which opportunities afforded by e-learning are embraced by an institution can depend in large measure on whether it is perceived as enabling and transformative or as a major and disruptive distraction. Most case studies focus on the former. This paper describes how e-learning was introduced into the latter environment. The sensitivity of competing pressures in a research intensive university substantially influenced the manner in which e-learning was promoted. This paper tells that story, from initial stealth to eventual university acknowledgement of the relevance of e-learning specifically to its own context.

The quantitative crunch: The impact of bibliometric research quality assessment exercises on academic development at small conferences

Purpose – Small and specialist inter‐disciplinary conferences, particularly those relating to technology enhanced learning such as International Conference on Information and Communications Technology in Education, provide valuable opportunities for academics and academic‐related/professional staff to report upon their research and development activities, including their insights into teaching practice. However, the existence of such conferences is now under threat due to a global shift towards quantitative research assessment exercises, which favour bibliometrics, such as citation counts and impact factors, over peer review. The purpose of this paper is to contextualise the discussion by describing the nascent qualitative research assessment in Australia and its implications for small conferences. It also aims to present heuristic strategies to ensure that publications are recognised by quantitative research assessment exercises.Design/methodology/approach – The authors draw on a wide literature base as ...

Accommodating the newfound strategic importance of educational technologists within higher education: A critical literature review

Purpose – Educational technologists make significant contributions to the development, organisational embedding and service provision of technology‐enhanced learning (TEL) environments, which are key enablers for mass access to flexible higher education (HE). Given the increasing centrality of this role, it is advocated that institutions investigate sustainable career structures for educational technologists. This paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approach – The arguments are evidence‐driven by the small body of research literature describing the role of educational technologists and contextualized by the experiences as academics and leaders of TEL projects in HE, including managing educational technologists.Findings – The roles of educational technologists are very diverse, requiring competencies in educational leadership, both management and technical. Their career paths, backgrounds, legitimate powers and organisational locations exhibit considerable variation.Research limitations/i...

Cybernetic principles for learning design

Purpose – This paper aims to present an approach from first principles to the design of learning experiences in interactive learning environments, that is “learning designs” in the broadest sense.Design/methodology/approach – The approach is based on conversation theory (CT), a theory of learning and teaching with principled foundations in cybernetics. The approach to learning design that is proposed is not dissimilar from other approaches such as that proposed by Rowntree. However, its basis in CT provides a coherent theoretical underpinning.Findings – Currently, in the world of e‐learning, the terms “instructional design” and “learning design” are used to refer to the application of theories of learning and instruction to the creation of e‐learning material and online learning experiences. The paper examines the roots of the two terms and discusses similarities and differences in usage. It then discusses how the processes of learning design fit into the larger processes of course, design, development an...

From little things big things grow: scaling‐up assessment of experiential learning

Purpose – The new economies of the twenty‐first century require new approaches to learning and teaching from higher education (HE). Accordingly many universities have gradually scaled‐up learner‐centred approaches, including flexible delivery and technology‐enhanced learning, from the domains of enthusiasts towards the institutional level. This paper seeks to argue that these new economies and styles of learning and teaching bring similar requirements for scaling of assessment practices in HE, in particular, that it is now time for many universities to consider change initiatives to scale‐up the assessment of experiential learning to the institutional level.Design/methodology/approach – The need to scale‐up assessment of experiential learning in the Australian and international higher HE contexts is discussed and a variety of change initiatives to scale‐up assessment of experiential learning at the University of South Australia is described. These initiatives are explored in the wider context of change ma...

What is a symbol

Purpose – In order to develop transdisciplinary working across the disciplines, clear epistemological foundations are required. The purpose of this paper is to show that sociocybernetics to provides the required unifying metadisciplinary epistemological foundations and transdisciplinary frameworks.Design/methodology/approach – The authors note that second‐order cybernetics provides a metadisciplinary framework for discerning the causes and cures for the schisms within the natural and cognitive sciences. The particular contributions of sociocybernetics are to extend the second‐order understandings to unify the social sciences and, by incorporating extant sociological theory back into the transdisciplinary pursuits of cybernetics and systems theory, to enlighten and enrich those pursuits.Findings – In order to highlight the power and fruitfulness of these contributions from sociocybernetics, the authors problematise, deconstruct and reconstruct key concepts concerned with human communication. To do this, th...

Introduction: ICT-driven change in higher education: Learning from e-learning

Early in 2006, drawing greatly upon personal experience, we identified the need for the Higher Education (HE) community to identify and share much more transparently the growth pains of developing institutional e-learning cultures, with all the concomitant challenges of managing consequential organisational transformation. A proposal for a special issue was made to the editors of this journal, which was enthusiastically accepted. The following editorial sets the contemporary context and then identifies the unifying thread and different themes throughout the peer-reviewed contributions. It is often stated that HE is key to creating and supporting the knowledgebased economies of the 21st century but also that the raised expectations are simultaneously under funded by governments (Evaline 2004). Ironically, however, while the sector specialises in creating and imparting knowledge, and while the prevailing expectation is that it must do more with less, our first-hand experience is that HE is often less agile and strategic than its industrial counterparts in applying knowledge or new technologies in response to threats and opportunities within its ecosystem (see Browne et al. 2006). In fact, as Duke (2002) shows, universities are often highly resistant to change. A complicating factor is that HE has a unique set of cultures (see Becher and Trowler 2001) – including the chasm between academic and academic-related staff – which makes it reluctant to learn from accounts set in other sectors. Moreover studying the sector from within is quite nuanced and problematic (see Watson and Maddison 2005). So while published examples of change management and organisational transformation in HE are not abundant, they have become increasingly necessary both to HE itself to and to those interested in studying change in unfamiliar cultures. The papers in this special issue share evidence of and reflections upon projects where universities have demonstrated themselves to be adaptable and responsive to the varied threats and opportunities presented by ICT in general and by e-learning in particular. These reflective case studies complement more prescriptive resources such as those available from the Higher Education Academy (HEA 2006) and Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC 2006). However, they also

Editorial: Educating minds for the knowledge economy

Welcome to the second part of this double issue exploring ICT-driven change in higher education (HE). The prevailing theme of our papers, which were summarised in the editorial to volume 3.3, is accounts of transformational projects that leverage ICT to help HE offer affordable, high-quality mass education via e-learning. Now, one might think that affordable, high-quality mass education should align well with the envisioned role of HE within industrialised nations that competitively chase growth via knowledge-based economies (Evaline 2004). Unfortunately, we argue, while e-learning can support mass education, it can also replicate existing HE systems that are over reliant upon teaching which aims to transmit knowledge (cf. Adler 1996). This approach risks failing to equip graduates with the requisite skills to solve novel problems set by fast moving knowledge-based economies. Although approaches to redress this balance by incorporating research have long been available, for example action research (Lewin 1948; Dickens and Watkins 1999) and mode two (Gibbons et al. 1995), so far their impact in mainstream undergraduate teaching has been rather marginal. Recently, however the family of ‘enquiryand research-based’ approaches is starting to unify under the banner of enquiry-based learning (EBL), which is starting to gain traction in HE ( Jenkins 2007). Here, we acknowledge that the e-learning community have already played a substantial role in the seeding of EBL. However, we suggest that, as part of a sector-wide transformation, e-learning now needs to generate radical innovations in process and technology (see Rossiter this special issue) and thereby develop capacities for affordable, high-quality mass EBL. The World Bank acknowledges that knowledge-based economies require knowledge workers: ‘in industrial countries, where knowledgebased industries are expanding rapidly, labour market demands are changing accordingly’ (The World Bank Group 2005). Drucker’s concept of a knowledge worker (1959) is quite familiar (although we suggest it is something of a misnomer). Kelley summarises the term succinctly: knowledge ‘workers are hired for their problem solving abilities, creativity, talent and intelligence’ (Kelley 1990, p. 109). While knowledge is requisite to knowledge work, the creative application of that knowledge to research and solve new problems is the hallmark of the successful knowledge worker. In the sciences, we are already reasonably certain that human environmental impact will be an economic imperative throughout the 21st century (Stern 2006). Addressing such issues will require

An appetite for creative destruction: Should the role of senior academic technology officer be modeled on a CIO or a CTO?

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine the emerging role of the Senior Academic Technology Officer (SATO) in higher education. It aims to consider two existing templates for this professional role derived from mainstream information management and information technology: the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Characteristically, CIOs and CTOs might be expected to have different appetites for creative destruction. The paper seeks to focus on the match between a SATOs own appetite for radical technological change and innovation – that is, for creative destruction – and that of their institution. The paper concludes with some observations concerning role design and appropriate recruitment and selection criteria for SATOs in higher education. Design/methodology/approach – The paper informs its discussion with a micro case study and the outcomes of a virtual anecdote circle comprised of 20 senior academics, administrators, and educational technologists from higher education institutions in Asia, Australia, North America, and the UK. Findings – The research suggests that the preferred model for a SATO is closest to that of a CIO with a leaning towards innovation and change. However, the paper finds that a SATOs personal appetite for creative destruction may be in conflict with the institutions culture, norms and values, resulting in poor outcomes for both. In order to avoid extreme mismatch the paper recommends a realistic approach to the recruitment and selection of SATOs that is aligned with the organisations tolerance for innovation and change. Research limitations/implications – The paper contributes to the body of research‐based literature concerning the strategic management and development of professional scientific and technical staff. Originality/value – Given the strategic importance of SATOs to ICT‐driven transformation, university leaders will require evidence to formulate appropriate human resource and performance management strategies for these key academic‐related/professional staff. The paper brings together evidence from a highly informed group of stakeholders with active interests in the field using a virtual anecdote circle.