AN E-LEARNING STRATEGY FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE

(Version: January 2004)

1 Background

E-learning may be defined as the use of new multimedia technologies and the internet to structure the delivery, and improve the quality, of learning and teaching.

If it is to be implemented successfully, E-learning must:

• be based on reliable technology
• be oriented towards pedagogy
• promote individual development, including training for the professions
• meet accessibility requirements, for example as regards disability
• be a social process that stimulates remote access, collaboration and interaction across the community of users
• stimulate organisational change, and continuing professional development among staff

2 The Current Position

Not so very long ago, all academics required books, and some scientists required computers. The position has effectively reversed. Now everyone working in Higher Education uses the computer, and some academics require books. Moreover, the students now entering higher education will in many cases have been acquainted with computer-based learning since childhood. And following graduation, every student will enter a workplace that makes increasingly sophisticated and pervasive use of IT. If the University is to fulfil its mission of meeting the needs of society and the economy, its investment in IT must be student-centred, and must take student opinion regarding online learning into account. In one sense, E-learning is simply the expression in pedagogic terms of the shift to a computer-based workplace.

3 Change & Choice

Communication and Information Technology (C&IT) is marked by rapid change, and the necessity to make choices, some of which can be expensive. For example, one estimate puts the cost of developing pure E-learning materials at 7 to 10 times the cost of developing traditional courses. The dangers of developing on-line courses for a market that is unstable, or not proven to exist, are therefore obvious. Moreover, it is not yet certain in what ways technological change beyond the workstation or laptop computer will affect the learning environment. For example, no-one can yet say with precision what effect the coming proliferation of handheld and wearable devices will have. However, where reasonable assessments including pilot studies can be made with confidence, and where the development is of manifest practical use to identifiable groups of students, as for example with Wireless Technology, we must be ready to increase investment. C&IT can lead to efficiency gains, as electronic materials are easily updated and disseminated. Moreover, developments in Computer-Aided Assessment or facilities embedded in the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to track student performance provide a service that could not be replicated without the technology.

4 A Campus-based Approach

It follows that the University's strategy needs to be flexible, above all. Where opportunities occur to develop programmes for off-campus students, it needs to act rapidly but responsibly, only encouraging projects where the market has been tested and assessed in detail, and where a return on investment can be predicted with some confidence. E-learning developments are more likely to be campus-based, at least in the short to medium term. The Library, for example, is in process of evolution from a storehouse for books to a multi-purpose learning resource centre, with adaptable spaces to facilitate group work, and a central role for learning technology. More generally across the campus, developments will build on the success of the VLE at Dundee, and on the relative ease with which individual staff members can test new ideas on Blackboard, and respond to student demand. Distance learning and distributed learning projects that carry the Dundee badge will continue to be encouraged, but the embedding of E-learning in University culture goes deeper than that.

Receptivity to the new is part of our brand, and our identity. Indeed, as regards E-learning, Dundee's current position in the Scottish HE sector is strong, and rising. Key to this is an understanding of E-learning as a co-ordinating force which, by integrating course documentation, assessment, timetables, news, feedback, learning resources, student support, records and learner-to-learner contact, helps to create a holistic student experience. The next steps that this document urges could only be undertaken from a firm base of widespread understanding and use across the University community. They have explicit support from senior management, the University Court, and link into a new strategy for Human Resources that will encourage staff to explore new methods of learning, teaching and assessment. These developments will further embed E-learning in the institution, and drive innovation. The guiding principle throughout will be that E-learning should always be driven by pedagogical or other considerations focussed on the student, and not by the technology alone.

5 The wider university context

It is vital that E-learning initiatives within modules and programmes are subject to Quality Assurance, as appropriate, and that they fit departmental and faculty plans, as well as the university's wider agenda in learning and teaching. E-learning developments will enhance, and dovetail with, the objectives set out in the document The Vision: Towards 2007 and approved by Court. E-learning is a part of Objectives 1, 2, 9, 10 and 11, is itself the subject of 3 and 11, and has a potential role to play in Objectives 4, 5, 6 and 7. (see Appendix 1) It is therefore a key factor in the unified nature of the University's Vision, and central to its competitive advantage. It bears increasingly on estates strategy, so as to ensure that the facilities and technology installed when upgrading or building accommodation for teaching, can be used to maximum effect. In short, E-learning is now to be viewed as a normal part of university teaching practice, complementing and enhancing traditional methods and resources.

6 Qualifications and Points of Transition

Students will arrive with ever higher expectations of access to technology, and will graduate into a workplace with ever increasing demands for technology-related skills. The University must engage with these moments of transition when planning its IT training. We will continue to provide comprehensive and cost-effective induction in IT for new students. While IT training for students must be equally available across the campus, its emphases and nuances must meet particular needs, such as tuition in the use of software which it is known a student will encounter on entering his or her chosen profession. The Vision document commits us to graduating the most IT-literate students in Scotland, and it is important to refine the forms of discipline-specific training that students receive when they are about to leave, as well as when they have just entered, the University. Where appropriate, the question of benchmark standards in IT training and/ or testing will be met by the provision of training for the European Computer Driving Licence. (ECDL) As part of the University's emphasis on lifelong learning, the role of E-learning in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) will be enhanced on a discipline-specific basis, particularly in the vocational subjects such as Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Law and Accountancy. We will also explore the use of the VLE to support articulation between the University and institutions of further education with whom agreements exist.

7 The E-learning Steering Group

In order that surveys, audits and so forth are useful, ensure the sharing of good practice on the ground and inform strategy at the highest level, it is imperative that a small group with high levels of experience and expertise takes E-learning as its focus. The E-learning Steering Group now oversees both policy formulation and implementation in the area of E-learning. It will share information from government, funding council and other sources, keep abreast of what our competitors are doing, and offer guidance and informed opinion, as required. Primarily, the group will seek to identify and offer support for the fast-tracking of sound, and in the broad sense, profitable, ventures in E-learning. In due course it will bring forward suggestions on such issues as staff development. It reports to Learning and Teaching Committee, and exchanges minutes with the Distance Learning and C&IT Committees.

To establish flexibility while maintaining institutional autonomy in E-learning developments, it has been concluded that the University should not enter into any exclusive agreements with outside providers. Rather, it should share the experience gained through such initiatives as IVIMEDS, IVINURS and the Thistle Project, plus the knowledge gained from dialogue with external agencies, so as to increase awareness of the different models that might inform a business plan for a new e-venture. For example, colleagues considering the development of new course materials in electronic format could consider creating those materials in-house, outsourcing the purely technical aspects of the process to a commercial firm, or engaging in regional or other collaboration. The E-learning Steering Group exists partly so as to advise on these kinds of choice, and disseminate any useful knowledge gained, across the University. To do this effectively, it is vital that departments bring their proposals to the E-Learning Steering Group first, so that standards are maintained across the University.

8 Staff Development

If colleagues are to undertake new projects, particularly ones that utilise new skills, there are issues of career development, and reward. It is hoped that the University will be able to support a system of internal secondment, focussed on the Learning Enhancement Unit. This system will make full use of the skills that staff members may not have had time, need or opportunity to develop, but from which the University at large can benefit in its drive to be known as the foremost provider of E-learning in Scotland. It will build on the bespoke training sessions for departments that the LEU has already developed, and which will be refined further. The E-learning strategy does not imply that staff will be forced to adopt new practices against their will, or with inadequate training. As what was once esoteric becomes embedded, we suggest that those members of staff who cannot draw benefits and stimulus from the use of new learning technologies will be few indeed. The Learning Enhancement Unit explicitly takes the stance of offering to help colleagues, rather than forcing the pace of change against the grain of University culture. In fact, all the available statistics indicate strong staff support for the VLE and related developments. The University supports initiatives and creativity emerging from the ground up, rather than through top-down diktat.

9 An E-Strategy for Dundee

This is not a strategy for all e-related activities, that would include e-commerce, e-procurement, and so on. However, the Vision document proposes 2007 as the next major milestone for the University's educational, estates and other strategies. Over the next three years, we should therefore make coherent and measurable progression in E-learning across the following areas:

• VLE. We have already moved from low to widespread use, across the disciplines. This suggests that near-universal badging of programmes as having a VLE component is arising from the ground up. There must be a decision at what point over the next few years to bring use up to universal levels. The VLE will be extended to include ePortfolios or online Personal Development Portfolios which utilise department-specific templates. Increased collaboration between the Medical School and the Centre will ensure that aspects of good practice are shared, and that IT-related innovations harmonising with the Vision objectives can be rapidly progressed.
• Managed Learning Environment. We will support the continuing programmes of network improvement and systems integration across the campus, and develop support mechanisms and resources for the e-learning infrastructure. A student portal will be progressively deployed that will extend single sign-on links from the VLE and webmail, so as to include personal library access, Student Records, eVision and network filestores. A learning content management system will be developed to permit co-ordination and integration of learning resources between various internet-based systems. Online systems to support a generic quality standard of module evaluation will continue to progress.
• IT Services. We will seek to ensure that adequate arrangements are in place to support the development of the necessary infrastructure for E-learning, for example through the Network Improvement Programme.
• Library. As the principal provider of access to externally produced eResources, the Library will continue to search for and license appropriate eBooks, eJournals and other materials to support E-learning. The Library's well developed liaison role vis-à-vis the integration of eResources into the University framework will be extended to cover a wider range of services. The plans for an extended and remodelled Library offer the potential for further integrating new technology and learning resources.
• Liaison. We will observe and encourage a meetings structure that ensures close liaison and the sharing of information relevant to the integration programme. Closer liaison between the Library and the Learning Enhancement Unit over learning resources issues presents one example.
• Access. We will press for improved student access to E-learning technology, so as to enhance reliable, high speed, off-campus access. On campus, we will press for increased flexibility and resource in the work environment so as to support these activities. Provision will be made for access by students with special needs.
• Laptops. We will conclude a decisive comparative survey of different brands and different schemes for equipping student users.
• New technologies. We will encourage an awareness of new technology as it emerges, and where potential benefits suggest themselves, conduct pilot studies with a view to investment. These areas may include wireless hubs, video streaming, simulations, virtual reality systems and handhelds. We will seek to publicise research in new technologies, for example in the Applied Computing Department, across the wider community, and seek funding for such research where the opportunity arises.
• Appropriate Classroom Technologies. We will use our links across the University's committee and planning structure to ensure that technology appropriate to E-learning, including wireless technology, is factored into new builds and upgrading of current facilities, to keep pace with student demand.
• New programmes. All new modules and programmes go through a validation process that ensures both academic quality and the commitment of adequate resourcing. In the E-learning sphere, it is hoped to make a comparative evaluation of low-risk projects conducted according to differing models of structure, cost and technical aspects, e.g., making learning materials in-house; engaging with the Interactive University, or similar groupings; outsourcing.
• Student Training & Development. We will support the University's aim to graduate the most IT-literate students in Scotland, through training in general IT-competence, and where appropriate, through the provision of training and testing for the ECDL and its sucessors. In developing IT across the campus, we will intensify our focus on student need, and pay heed to student evaluation and opinion.
• Computer Aided Assessment. We will build on our premier position in the utilisation of CAA as a resource for enhancing learning and assessment. We will enrich the quality, depth, and design innovation in the CAA we offer. Seamless integration of the VLE, assessment systems and the developing skills base of academic staff will be central to this endeavour.
• Plagiarism Detection. As part of the University's strategy for dealing with the problem, we will help ensure the spread of best practice in the detection of plagiarism, so that technology can be used with confidence to deter as well as identify fraud and misuse.
• Staff Development. In collaboration with Human Resources and others, we will promote internal secondment relevant to E-learning, to the benefit of individual colleagues and the University as a whole. We will urge the inclusion of significant achievement in this area as a criterion for promotion, and for the granting of periodic leave.
• Finance & Organization. The developments listed above relate to the University's chief activities, the support of high-level teaching and research. Funding will derive from income streams intended for these purposes. There will need to be continuing investigation of the costs and benefits of E-learning provision, and how these can be factored into the University's financial arrangements. We will press for the recognition that E-learning forms an increasingly natural aspect of core University activity, from which it may soon become indistinguishable. It is more than just an aspect of IT, and for the University of Dundee it may well prove crucial in terms of brand. The University must be ready to accord E-learning priority status, where appropriate, in contexts where there is internal competition for funding.
• Next Steps. A supplementary document containing a more detailed timescale for the developments reported above, and for indicating milestones in achievement, is in preparation.

Geoff Ward

5.1.04