1. E-Learning: Quality means effective learner control
Staffordshire University May 2007
E-Learning: Quality means effective learner control
John Stephenson
Emeritus Professor, Middlesex University, London, UK
Most of these slides are available on the internet at:

2. Some Dimensions of Quality
Macro - Micro?
Purpose
Design
Efficiency
Relevance to users
Return on investment
Stakeholders
Pedagogy
Marshall MacLuhan…..?
What about quality as relevance to learners’ development?

3. Ongoing powerful forces for change, including WEB 2-0 Convergence

4. WEB 2.0? Diversity, responsive, culture. QUALITY? Bottom up Democratic
Participative
Massively growing
Communities of interest
Dominated by younger contributors
Diversity, responsive, culture. QUALITY?

5. Plus the blog and podcast
Material via iPods etc - learning materials and resources
- direct, bespoke
Blog
Online diary, increasingly used in HE
reflections on own learning and experience
initiating discussion around propositions
organic learner led communities of interest
public, shared (eg with tutor) totally private

6. Is ‘Web 2-0’ a relevant resource?
Plethora, un-authenticated, unfiltered
- but widely used, culture of participation
Raises issues of
Quality
Relevance
Control

7. TECHNICAL CONVERGENCE!! Affordable, portable, ‘street cred’
Sony PlayStation Portable
Games Plus WiFi, web, built-in material, streaming pods, 1 to 1, 1 / groups live video Web 2.0 into the classroom
Affordable, portable, ‘street cred’
Ownership

8. Stop Press Tutorial support
Exams in UK ‘will be overhauled in a bid to eradicate pupils cheating by using the Internet…’
The Observer,
If you cannot beat them, help them.
Internet use is a fact of life so learn to do it well
Focus on intelligent use of the internet
Judging provenance and relevance
Proper citations; Critiques of source materials
Develop independent engagement with materials
Assess the process - not just the outcome
Tutorial support

9. Why not in education? The end of the “pre-planned course”?
The Internet has transformed our lives….
Travel Music News Business Work….
Traditional intermediaries are changing roles, even disappearing - clients are more in control
Why not in education?
The end of the “pre-planned course”?

10. Other dimensions of quality
Relevance to longer term needs

11. Lord Dearing’s Report on Higher Education
On leaving HE, all students should have developed the practice of
taking responsibility for their own learning

12. Oh Thank God, here comes a border collie
‘Henry! Our party’s total chaos. No one knows when to eat, where to stand, what to .....
Oh Thank God, here comes a border collie
Acknowledgements to Larson

13. Collusion with
Dependence

14. If these sheep were capable they would have three extra attributes:
ability to learn for themselves, and quickly suss out the new environment ;
belief in their personal power to perform in new situations (they would have the confidence, having spotted the pasture discretely left by the host, to do something about it) and
powers of judgement (they might even question whether it was appropriate for sheep to be at the party and simply leave).

15. Capability and competence
Unfamiliar
context
Familiar
A way of looking
at the world
of actions
Unfamiliar
problems
Familiar

16. Capability and competence
Unfamiliar
context
Familiar
Position Y
Competence:
Reliable delivery;
Performance
standards;
Error elimination;
Technical expertise;
Established
procedures;
TRAINING
Unfamiliar
problems
Familiar Y

17. Capability and competence
Position Z
Exposure, Autonomy,
Networks peers
Problem formulation,
Courage, risk,
Imagination, intuition,
creativity;
Responsibility
LEARNING
Unfamiliar
context
Familiar Z
Unfamiliar
problems
Familiar

18. Research on e-learning: key words
ownership
responsibility
flexible
personalised
self-managed
help when needed
recognition

19. Challenges for Education
Pedagogical coherence

20. Communication via a common understanding
Key Actors in E-learning
Researcher
Teacher
Designer
Manager
Learning model
Communication via a common understanding
Technician
Supplier
Learner

21. UfI/learndirect’s pledges to learners
Offer the time, place, pace and style that responds to your needs
Clear information to enable personal choices and control
Materials relevant to your interests that actively involve you
Help to monitor your own progress and record your achievements
To give you easy access to the specialist support you need
To put you in touch with other people studying the same topics
To help you relate your learning to your longer term ambitions

22. Communities of practice
Constructivist
Pedagogy Jargon
Post Industrial
“Let’s KISS!”
Learner Centred
Instructivist
Authentic
Keep it so simple
Industrial
Experiential
Situated
Problem- Based
Learning styles
Teacher Centred
Tacit Learning
Communities of practice
Learning Cycles

23. Online Pedagogy Grid Gives Presents learners control over
style, location, pace,
duration, sequence but not task
Presents
traditional training
and teaching by
innovative means
Open ended, strategic learner directed
Teacher Specified
tasks NW NE SW SE
Learner managed process
Teacher
Controlled
Process
System liberates and
supports learners to
decide and
control own direction
and process
Process predetermined
- learners explore
content and direction.
Coomey,M Stephenson,J 2001, It’s all about Dialogue, Involvement, Support and Control, in Teaching and Learning Online, Stephenson, J, Kogan Page London

24. Online Pedagogy Grid Learner managed learning environment;
Teacher Specified
tasks
Learner managed learning environment;
Customised intuitive tools
Wikis podcasts and blogs
Google and other open sources
online mentoring. NW NE
Learner managed process
Teacher
Controlled
Process SW SE
Open ended, strategic learner directed

25. Online Pedagogy Grid
Vast majority of cases in research literature were in NW, some in NE and SW, few in SE
Learner managed process
Teacher
Controlled
Process
Open ended, strategic learner directed
Teacher Specified
tasks NW NE SW SE
The SE quadrant is where e-learning in work/life can be most effective
(Coomey,M. & Stephenson,J. 2001)

26. Learning Through Work Degree Programme
The UfI/Learndirect
Learning Through Work Degree Programme
See at

27. Learning Through Work Degree Programme (LtW)
The UfI/Learndirect
Learning Through Work Degree Programme (LtW)
An opportunity for individuals and work-based groups to get university qualifications without leaving the workplace.
Customised programmes built on existing skills and knowledge and focused on work-related learning.
A partnership between work and university negotiated by individuals
See at

28. Learning Through Work Degree Programme
Individualised, developed by learners themselves
Work provides
projects and opportunities for learning;
Internet LtW platform provides
materials to support the learning process;
The WEB provides
specialist materials, networks etc;
University provides
online tutor, quality assurance, final award
See at

29. Structure of Learning Through Work Programme
Exploration Online tasters, is it for me, what’s involved
Design Examples, level statements, procedures, ideas, expert advice, content areas, activities
Negotiation Registration of personalised programme with a university
Implementation Pursue registered programme with university support
Demonstration Show achievements against agreed criteria to gain award
2,700 successful negotiations, 650 completions

30. The future - user managed portals?
Awards and qualifications - help with levels, assessment
Activities - ongoing - recent
John’s
Control centre
Personal log - goals - achievements - credit bank - private - reflections
Pooled experience - knowledge bank, specialist help
Resource library - RSS assembled in response to stated / inferred interests
Networking - peers, employer, wider specialist community
Plans - strategic, - immediate, progress priorities

31. Learner Managed University Awards
Imagine a course where the University does NOT provide the content
The student ENGAGES with resources,
issues,
problems,
opportunities
from the Web, in society, at the work-place,
libraries and
life.

32. Roles of participants in Learner Managed university awards
Learners Articulate plans, Justify proposals
Negotiate approval
Demonstrate achievement
Teachers Help learners in the above
Support, feedback
Advise on sources, progress
Universities Clarify level criteria for qualifications
Quality assurance

33. Learner Managed Programmes
Tutoring online for
Learner Managed Programmes
Based on analyses of student / tutor online exchanges, students raised issues related to:-:
Control seeking, asserting, taking, assuming
Relevance of activity to course, self, aspirations
Affirmation am I doing the right thing
Reassurance am I good enough to do this
University culture is this what is expected, level?
Clarification possibilities, plans, constraints

34. Learner Managed Programmes
Tutoring online for
Learner Managed Programmes
Based on analyses of student / tutor online exchanges, tutors are helpful when their responses are:-
Empowering yes, it really is up to you
Enabling this will help you
Reassuring yes, you can do it
Facilitating I’ll see what I can do for you
Extending have you thought of taking it further
Confirming you are on the right track
Explaining procedures, levels, requirements

35. Financial arguments usually prevail!
Content is cheap and widely available.
Feedback and guidance are essential.
Academic support is expensive.
So……
Use the most expensive resource on the most valuable service

36. E-Learning: Quality means effective learner control
Staffordshire University May 2007
E-Learning: Quality means effective learner control
John Stephenson
Emeritus Professor, Middlesex University, London, UK
Most of these slides are available on the internet at: