Tom Browne

A Longitudinal Perspective Regarding the Use of VLEs by Higher Education Institutions in the United Kingdom

Between 2001 and 2005 the Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA) and the Joint Information Systems Council (JISC) conducted surveys into issues relating to the acquisition, use, management, and support of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs). A number of other studies provide information on these issues during this period. Together they provide a substantial body of evidence that allows an analysis of the factors that enhance or inhibit institutional take-up and support provision for VLEs within the UK higher education sector. There is clear evidence of increasing use of VLEs but not of widespread change in pedagogic practice. VLE management is increasingly centralized in all matters considered strategic, with dedicated devolvement occurring for a range of support activities. Differences in practice exist between old and new universities. There is in general negligible interest in standards or in institutional collaboration.

The development of technology enhanced learning: findings from a 2008 survey of UK higher education institutions

This article summarises the key findings from a UK survey of higher education institutions, focusing on the development of technology enhanced learning (TEL). TEL is defined as any online facility or system that directly supports learning and teaching. The 2008 survey builds upon previous UCISA surveys conducted in 2001, 2003 and 2005 and for which at each stage after 2001, a longitudinal analysis was undertaken [see Browne, T., Jenkins, M., & Walker, R. (2006). A longitudinal perspective regarding the use of VLEs by higher education institutions in the United Kingdom. Interactive Learning Environments, 14(2), 177–192]. The findings, confirmed by other studies published since 2005, reveal that ensuring the quality of learning and teaching activities is consolidated as the primary driver for using TEL with a committed local champion representing the highest ranked factor in supporting TEL development within an institution. External strategies have been influential, contributing to the rise to prominence of institutional e-learning strategies. The delivery of course content continues to be the most common way in which TEL is used to support teaching and learning. The tools that have increased in prominence are those for podcasting, e-portfolios, e-assessment, blogs and wikis. Regarding new activities, streaming media, mobile computing, podcasting and Web 2.0 are discernibly the greatest. Upgrading staff skills were overwhelmingly noted as the greatest challenge that these new activities would create, with staff development and supportive strategies being seen as the primary remedies. However, the perception of lack of time was identified as the main barrier that needed to be surmounted. Though much of the data remain subtle, clear identifiable differences continue to be discernible between Pre-92 and Post-92 universities.

The challenges of OER to Academic Practice

The degree to which Open Educational Resources (OER) reflect the values of its institutional provider depends on questions of economics and the level of support amongst its academics. For project managers establishing OER repositories, the latter question - how to cultivate, nurture and maintain academic engagement - is critical. Whilst participating in the HEFCE funded institutional OER programme (2009-10), the team at the University of Exeter encountered a range of academic opinions on OER, and followed many as they rode the peaks and troughs of opportunities and challenges that this kind of work entails. This paper discusses the potential motivators for academics in providing OER material, as an understanding of these is helpful when introducing the subject to new contributors, and when informing planning decisions - both procedural and financial - so that key incentives are protected. We will also look at the reasons for some academic scepticism surrounding OER and how these views can be - if not tempered - then at least understood with a view to informing future policy. The enthusiastic advocacy that some academics possess in relation to OER is borne of their vision of its use. It is important to ensure that the high priority objective of obtaining academic support does not overlook instances where there is tension between this vision, and what can be achieved with available resources. We will discuss the key information that OER managers need in order to mitigate this scenario. OER projects do not work in isolation from internal competition and it has been essential to be sensitive to the conflicting pressures that academics have to contend with in their work profile. We will discuss the value of establishing where an OER project sits within an institution’s educational and research strategies, and its financial framework, the questions to ask and the signs to spot to obtain this information, and how managers can use this knowledge to make decisions, avoid pitfalls and garner support. This will involve addressing academic initiatives and reward schemes, including a discussion of how IPR and copyright can not only present challenges but also play an important role in motivating and demonstrating academic engagement. This paper draws upon formal and informal engagement with a range of stakeholders who have been involved in the project, including the many colleagues who attended several staff development sessions.

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.

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...

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.

An appetite for creative destruction

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.

An appetite for creative destruction: should the role of senior academic 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.