Figure 1. Framework for learning at RMIT University
the experience of one Science Faculty
The institutional level framework for this implementation is shown in Figure 1. Briefly the different levels are:
The aim of the university is to have all courses at level A or B by the end of the year 2002, with some high demand and strategically important programs operating at level C.
The remainder of this paper describes how the Faculty of Applied Science at RMIT has developed and implemented its own program of on-line delivery to support the university strategy and plan. This should be of interest to other educational units, but the general approach should be of interest to other organisations undertaking major change through the application of IT to their core service delivery.
Figure 1. Framework for learning at RMIT University
At one end of the on-line adoption spectrum, the Department of Computer Science routinely delivered lecture notes, assignments and supplementary material through web-sites, generally accessible through the lecturers' home pages. All lecturers were provided with a standard home page, or they could produce their own page. News groups were created for all courses. Publishing standards were not enforced and news groups were only loosely moderated. Some staff developed sophisticated web-based tools to facilitate education. RMIT WebLearn, an automated self-assessment environment, was developed by this Department, as were tools to submit assessment, to allocate tutorial groups, to provide results to students, and to request IT services. At the other end of this spectrum, several departments provided little on-line access to students. Staff and students in these departments used university wide computing resources for their information processing needs.
Within all departments, however, there were (and still are) on-line enthusiasts, so that in a few courses in all departments there was a significant on-line presence, often involving quite sophisticated use of multimedia.
Also, the technology must be usable. Staff need to be able to learn to develop courses easily, and students must be able to access learning material without difficulty and with reasonable response times. The software to develop on-line courseware requires some expertise and considerable training, particularly in the area of science where comprehension of text-based material is assisted by the use of diagrams, animations, simulations and mathematical symbols. Further, some course and learning management tools are complex and offer a range of features. Even though a basic subset of easy-to-use functions can produce useful material, the tools often appear quite complex and are daunting to the inexperienced user. The new technology may disadvantage some staff, with those over 45 years of age being less likely to use technology, as are staff from minorities and some discipline areas (Lawlor, 2000).
A major issue for universities and staff is ownership of material. Staff usually own copyright, with their university employer having the right to reasonable use of the material. There are examples where universities have used material without reference to appropriate academic units (Maloney, 1999). The issue for many staff is not who carries out what function in the teaching process, but that their courses are delivered as intended and the material is regularly reviewed and updated.
Some staff are concerned that on-line delivery will lead to on-line classes being offered to the exclusion of other presentation formats. Fully on-line students miss out on the campus experience, lack opportunity to cultivate friendships and build peer networks, to have fun, and to develop other skills and desirable graduate capabilities (Merakovsky, 1999). There is also concern that students will be unable to cope with the discipline and motivation required to successfully complete their on-line programs.
Underlying the strategy of the Faculty is the view that the long-term quality of web-based programs is based on a high degree of ownership by academic staff. Too often, on-line delivery is seen as a separate exercise to face-to-face delivery, and involving different staff. In developing the Faculty approach, this philosophical underpinning is most important; it does not influence what is done, but rather the manner in which it is done. Retention of the academic's ability to influence the extent to which courses will be delivered on-line, based on pedagogical and market needs, and to determine the rate of progressive on-line developments supports this philosophy and enhances staff commitment to the on-line products.
Once there is motivation and commitment, staff still need practical assistance, such as expert advice, training and skill development, as well as time to do projects. The Faculty has a role in extending the work of LTS in supporting staff, albeit with few resources. A major thrust of the Faculty is to involve academic staff as central members of on-line delivery, in order to build on-line learning around the teaching expertise of the Faculty staff. Teaching staff who understand face-to-face teaching, and learning, in their discipline areas are a valuable resource in on-line delivery.
The contribution of these activities, and the support supplied by the
various Faculty groups, along with those of LTS, are summarised in Table
1: the contributions are listed against the barriers they help to address.
|
|
|
Pedagogical
Barriers/ Lack of Benefits to
Student |
Lack of Resources/ Resistance to Change/Others | |
| LTS |
|
|
|
|
| FLDG |
|
|
|
|
| FLRC |
|
|
|
|
| ITAS |
|
|||
| Flexible Delivery Forums/ Work-shops |
|
|
|
|
| Staff Development/ Strategic Projects |
|
|
|
|
The FDLG is comprised of a representative from every Department and campus location, as well as Faculty, FLRC and ITAS representation. The founding members were the first wave of Learning Technology Mentors (LTMs), partially funded by LTS and were, generally, early adopters of on-line delivery. The role of the FDLG is to provide a direct link between all academics and Faculty flexible delivery planning. The group maintains a focus on pedagogical issues while determining student, staff and IT support requirements across the Faculty, advises on these needs, assists with flexible delivery planning and staff development planning, and act as a communication network for exchanging information across departments and locations, and between the Faculty and staff within departments.
The faculty has implemented its own priority schedule of program renewal, and through the FLRC developed a set of processes to help staff meet this schedule. The FLRC was established with a project manager/instructional designer and a multimedia developer. In 2000, another multimedia developer was added to the Centre. The aim of the Centre is to develop relationships with the staff of the Faculty and to set up resources and processes to support on-line delivery projects. The following support is provided.
The FLRC has developed a rapid development method based around a topic-based approach with supporting HTML templates, and course planning software, based on the following design principles.
A web-site built around these principles, together with discussion forums and the standard documents such as assignments and course guides provided by the DLS, produces a useful educational resource for students (e.g. Laurillard, 1993; Cooper, 1999). Topics provide a framework that can be used to build more detailed learning material. As teaching staff are able, they can embellish this framework with learning and assessment activities and aids, such as visualisation (including interactive visualisation), automated formative assessment, discussion forums, and links to supplementary material. (Courses can be started at level A and moved through to level C.) The template to support these principles (Figure 2) provides the following.
A web-site can be developed in a relatively short time (a few weeks for a well documented course) by a team that includes academic staff, educational design assistance, and a web publisher. This process is outlined in Figure 3.
Figure 3. On-line Publication Process
The FLRC has created an on-line course to prepare staff for on-line development. DES101: An introduction to on-line course design which is implemented using the standard educational design and templates, and covers a range of on-line delivery issues following the strategy of putting the teachers into the position of on-line learner so that they more completely understand process.
Part of the communication and the practical support have been included in Faculty forums. These forums provide broader perspectives on on-line delivery, and include demonstrations of approaches, celebration of staff on-line achievements, presentations of project outcomes, and staff and student panel discussions.
Early workshop aims were to enhance the IT literacy of all staff, as well as increase staff exposure to the possibilities of on-line delivery and provide some specialist skills. Current workshops include hands-on experience using the DLS and FLRC tools and processes. Often attendees are encouraged to bring their own material and FLRC staff and FDLG members assist them to create web sites for their courses.
The Faculty facilitates projects, assisting in project management and seeking funds. Notable projects include: enhancement of RMIT WebLearn, question editing and Maple (mathematical package), direct funding of the OLA project, and other on-line development projects, together with experimentation with various aspects of on-line delivery.
This group, chaired by the Faculty IT Manager and consisting of the technical support staff of all Departments, was formed with the aim of pooling information and resources in the development of the Faculty's IT resources. Previously, departments had operated in isolation, and had a range of levels of expertise and equipment. ITAP has provided funding for IT infrastructure in all departments, and ITAS helps to ensure that funds are spent wisely, lifting overall Faculty capabilities and services to staff and students.
The Faculty has made significant progress. Within the University, it is seen to be one of the leaders in supporting the Univertsity's on-line delivery strategy. At the end of 2000, the number of courses on the DLS has risen to over 20% of the Faculty's offerings, servicing over 30% of students. Four courses are offered in fully on-line mode to on-campus students. The number of staff involved has increased to around 20%. A significant culture change has occurred amongst staff and, in 2001, the Faculty is poised to renew and deliver 30 of its most important courses in fully on-line mode.
RMIT WebLearn has been incorporated into the DLS as one of its standard tools, and this tool is being further developed to improve usability, and its integration with other DLS tools and a mathematical package, Maple.
A major initiative of the Faculty has been to provide the Information Technology major of the Faculty-wide Applied Science degree available in fully on-line mode through Open Learning Australia (www.ola.edu.au). Recently, this program has been offered in fully on-line mode through the Global University Alliance (www.gua.com). The Faculty will be extending its OLA offering to include Psychology in 2001-2.
Some of the specific conclusions drawn from our experience over the last three years are presented below in terms of how they relate to the initial barriers to adoption of on-line delivery of courseware.
Technological issues
The technology needs to be right from the beginning. Software and hardware problems tend to have an impact long after they have gone, and some staff still refer to the DLS as "the system that students have trouble logging on to", even though the access problems have been resolved for almost 12 months.
Usability of developer tools needs to be continued to be addressed. WYSIWYG tools for entire on-line development of integrated course structure, text and multimedia content, and assessment that suit LTS, the Faculty and a wide range of staff seem to be some way off.
Institutional issues
Development should be staff-centred. If development is staff-centred, then we are confident courses and programs will be student-centred. Staff should be encouraged to have the same sort of stake in their fully on-line courses as in their face-to-face classes. Further, their input is needed and valuable.
The traditional link between research and teaching, and within teaching, between course development and feedback should be protected. On-line delivery should not be used to create assembly line education. (We like craft industries!) This is not to say that different arrangements will not be appropriate, but when these occur they should involve full participation and agreement of staff.
Staff ownership of on-line material needs to be respected. Use of material should be with the permission and knowledge of staff. Different arrangements may be appropriate, but they should involve consultation and agreement from staff, and be conducted with respect for academic freedom and the collegial environment of the university or college.
Pedagogical issues/Benefits for students
On-line courses are well received by mature, self-regulating learners.
Different educational design suit different students.
First year students tend not to be the best audience for reduced face-to-face contact, and perhaps a better strategy might be to start the on-line development of programs in later year courses.
Usage patterns indicate that students are hitting web-sites relatively rarely, seemingly downloading information in a few hits. This may indicate relatively static web-sites, low levels of interactivity in the material, and little use of discussion groups.
Resource Issues.
On-line delivery needs considerable resources, with real market opportunities, real commitment, and real deadlines (such as OLA and Global University Alliance).
The task of quickly developing a great number of on-line courses is a difficult one. The task of changing culture and creating routine consideration of on-line delivery is even more difficult to achieve. We believe that success heavily depends on staff ownership of the programs, and their guidance of the development of on-line courseware. Adequate and appropriate communication, encouragement, support and recognition of effort and achievement are fundamental requirements in achieving progress. There has been good progress in the Faculty of Applied Science, with many positive signs. New staff and courses are involved in on-line delivery, whole new programs are proposing flexible delivery plans, new faces are evident at workshops, and there is generally less negative feedback. Finally, there is a feeling that we have come a long way in 3 years, and are on the threshold of greater progress in the next 3 years.
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Jim McGovern, Linda Pannan and Christopher van der Craats, © 2000. The author assigns to Southern Cross University and other educational and non-profit institutions a non-exclusive licence to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The authors also grant a non-exclusive licence to Southern Cross University to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web and on CD-ROM and in printed form with the conference papers and for the document to be published on mirrors on the World Wide Web.