Jacquie McDonald, Distance Education Centre, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. 4350. mcdonalj@usq.edu.au
Glen Postle, Distance Education Centre/Faculty of Education, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. 4350. postle@usq.edu.au
The aim of this paper is to investigate the consequences of an apparent shift in the pattern of teaching and learning in a higher education institution following the introduction of online teaching. The theoretical framework for the study is derived from a paper by Imershein (1976) which analyses organisational change in terms of Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolutions (1970). This framework focuses attention on the notion that knowledge in institutional settings is ordered or coherent (paradigm-like in Kuhn’s terms) and it is this order and patterned activity which must be altered if change is to occur. The higher education sector is changing rapidly mainly as a consequence of its response to the various pressures associated with widening access, commercialism and developments in information and communication technologies. The adoption of the concept of flexible delivery has been a key initiative in many institutions although this concept has been interpreted in many ways. One interpretation has been to initiate web-based design and delivery of courses. Teaching online, a consequence of this, has accompanied the adoption of web-based courses but the models of teaching and learning being used to teach online are as yet unclear. There are some who would suggest a need for new models of teaching and learning (eg. challenging paradigm). There are others who suggest a reinterpretation of existing models (reigning paradigm). This paper will present the findings of a study at The University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia, aimed at gaining an understanding of how the adoption of web-based design and delivery of courses has influenced (if at all) the models of teaching and learning being used to teach online. The framework used for this study is derived from the Imershein framework.
The paper will describe how the introduction of a post graduate course, Graduate Certificate in Open and Distance Learning, that is offered exclusively on the Internet, challenges the existing paradigm.[HREF1] The paper will analyse how the delivery of education using different delivery modes requires a fundamental shift in the way teaching and learning is designed and delivered.
Organisational change, higher education, teaching online, flexible delivery, web-based courses, models of teaching and learning
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