Research & Occasional Paper Series: CSHE.7.04STRATEGIES FOR E-LEARNING IN UNIVERSITIESSeptember 2004Research & Occasional Paper Series: CSHE.7.04 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY http://ishi.lib.berkeley.edu/cshe/ STRATEGIES FOR E-LEARNING IN UNIVERSITIES September 2004 Chris Curran Dublin City University Copyright 2004 Chris Curran, all rights reserved. ABSTRACT This paper examines the e-learning strategies adopted by universities, from the perspective of three common objectives: widening access to educational opportunity; enhancing the quality of learning; and reducing the cost of higher education. The discussion is illustrated by drawing on case studies of universities in Europe and the United States. It is concluded that the most striking characteristic of the e-learning strategies adopted by universities is their diversity, and inherent characteristic of adaptability in use and flexibility in application. The implicit compatibility with institutional aims suggests that the e-learning strategies universities adopt reflect, rather than influence, institutional ethos and that by virtue of the capacity to adapt to different contexts, e-learning may be more adaptable – and ultimately less threatening – to academic mores than some observers fear. 1. Introduction E-learning (or online education as it is still commonly termed) has been variously defined, but can be simply described as a learning process in which learners can communicate with their instructors and their peers, and access learning materials, over the Internet or other computer networks.1 It therefore provides a means through which the powerful and pervasive computing and communications technologies can be applied to tertiary education – and to some of the key challenges now facing universities. 1 See definition of asynchronous learning networks by Mayadas (1994), cited in: Oakley, B. (2000). "Learning Effectiveness: An Introduction". In J. Bourne, (ed.), On-line Education:Learning Effectiveness and Faculty Satisfaction. Proceedings of the 1999 Sloan Summer Workshop. Nashville: ALN Center, Vanderbilt University.Curran, STRATEGIES FOR E-LEARNING IN UNIVERSITIES 2 1.1 E-learning and universities Why do universities engage in e-learning? Academics were prominent among the early users of email and the World Wide Web, initially to support their research, access information, or communicate with colleagues, and later to supplement their teaching. As a consequence, many of the diverse strategies now in place in traditional universities can be traced to early, often modest, pilot projects and initiatives by individual teachers. While many of these early applications involved little more than making lecture notes, or other instructional materials, available online, some teachers went further, using online technology to communicate with their students, provide access to external resources and – where interest and opportunity coalesced – to develop and teach Web-based courses. Many of these early programmes were developed by staff in departments of Computer Science or Informatics, where the synergy between research and teaching was strongest, and the essential infrastructure for course development and delivery most accessible; similar synergistic opportunities (in research, marketing, or programme development) stimulated involvement by schools of education, and by departments of continuing education and extension studies.2 As access to the required facilities became increasingly ubiquitous, and experience of using the technologies grew, online-learning inevitably expanded to embrace a wider range of programmes and institutional staff. 1.2 Institutional e-learning strategies With expansion came awareness; as universities became increasingly conscious of the potential of online technologies – and of related demands on staff time and central resources – more and more universities moved to develop institutional strategies for the deployment of e-learning. Initially this process might entail little more than providing the necessary staff and infrastructure to allow application of these technologies to routine tasks (e.g. facilitating student access to syllabi, course readings, and bibliographic services; providing the essential infrastructure for teacher-student communication) – but on a more systematic and centralised basis. As the process of assimilation continued, many universities adopted additional measures to promote the use of online learning (e.g., by providing funding to encourage teaching staff to use online resources in their regular teaching practice; assigning to a dedicated unit responsibility for promoting the use of technology-based teaching; or providing the necessary infrastructural and training support to staff engaged in e-learning initiatives). The effectiveness of these measures inevitably varied somewhat at an institutional level, but overall the speed and pervasiveness of the subsequent spread of online learning among tertiary institutions is impressive. A survey of about one hundred U.S. tertiary institutions (in 1998) showed that two-thirds were already participating in a 'virtual university', or were a partner in an IT-supported distance-education 2 Early examples include: The 'Virtual Lecture' programme in the School of Computer Applications at Dublin City University; the 'Virtual College' initiated in the School of Continuing Education at New York University in the Spring of 1992; and the 'Virtual Course in Educational Technology' at the University of Oulu in Finland. See: Curran, C., and S. Fox. (1999). Telematics in Open and Distance-learning. Weinheim: Deutscher Studied Verlag,. Pp. 7-13. (A study funded by the Commission of the European Communities. DG XXII Education, Training and Youth. Socrates Programme). CSHE Research & Occasional Paper SeriesCurran, STRATEGIES FOR E-LEARNING IN UNIVERSITIES 3 project that benefited non-traditional students.3 A later, more extensive, survey showed that 55% of responding institutions offered college-level, credit-granting, distance education courses; more impressive still, 30% of institutions presented degree programmes to be completed totally through distance education.4 True, this data relates to distance education (rather than e-learning per se) and no doubt reflects the increasing involvement by universities in distance education (an experience common to most OECD countries5); but the (acknowledged) synergistic