1 DUT e-Learning Project Pathfinders Review Symposium 5 March 2015

Main purpose – embed e-learning as a core practice – Increase adoption by lecturers and leverage well- established staff expertise – Promote digital learning environment to encourage innovation, student engagement and student success – Embed real-time learning analytics system to identify at-risk and high performing students to make interventions 2 DUT e-Learning Project

The e-Learning Project is a DUT-wide project driven by the office of the Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic). DUT’s strategic direction to scale up the use of e-learning is underscored by the 2013 White Paper on PSE&T that that calls on HE institutions to use digital technology where appropriate “to enhance access, improve communication and generally optimise student engagement”. The university is already investing significantly (from the TDG and other sources) in pursuing the aims of the e- Learning Project, including IT and network infrastructure, project management costs, wireless coverage on all campuses and residences, and support for student mobile devices. 3 E-Learning Project Context

4 DUT Strat Plan innovative teaching and learning using; technology for active learning White Paper for PSE&T universities to expand online and blended learning; contribute to OER design and production QEP ICT infrastructure and access; technology- enabled tools and resources and library facilities. Educause top 10 IT HE issues 2015 Optimizing the use of technology in teaching and learning in collaboration with academic leadership. Providing user support in the new normal—mobile, online education, cloud, and BYOD environments Alignment with strategic plan and policies

Pathfinders’ findings – sharing achievements and lessons learnt with a wider audience. Pathfinders projects were high risk, trailblazing projects where technology was used to support teaching and learning. Findings will contribute to the better use of technology in teaching and learning. 5 Trailblazers

Moser’s 2007 insight into the most critical requirement for a university to shift its core teaching and learning practice online reverberates through our own institutional approach to this question: “If an institution’s stated strategy is to promote the use of educational technology, that institution must establish an adequate framework for faculty to use technology successfully. This includes not only formal incentive structures but also the development of a sufficient educational technology infrastructure and a satisfactory framework for educational technology support.” (Moser 2007: 67). 6 Shifting our core teaching and learning practice online

Moser’s five behavourial characteristics underlie the DUT strategy: – Time Commitment, – Competence Development, – Course Re-design, – Teaching/Learning Experience, and – Reflection. In a comment last year in Educause, Morrison (2014) reflects that in the seven intervening years there are still only a handful of institutions that have taken Moser’s model seriously. 7 Moser’s model for going digital

The Pathfinder Projects were intended to follow Moser’s principles and we have now reached the final point – Reflection. The Pathfinder Projects have been central to the DUT e- Learning project and integral to the university’s exploration of the benefits that online learning can bring to students. Pathfinders were built around online modules to serve as test- beds for one or more of the e-Learning Project focus areas (IT Infrastructure, Business Processes and Integrations, Teaching and Learning, and Support and Training). Pathfinder project leaders were asked to run their online modules as “live” classrooms and to call on members of the e- Learning Project Working Groups to work alongside them, providing support and resources for the implementation of the new components. 8 Pathfinders and Trailblazers

In April 2015, dividends of the e-learning project need to be delivered to Faculties. – Qualifications with an online component July 2014: 33% (90 of 269 qualifications) – Core Project Team e-Learning Community of Practice bridging academic/support/admin divide – Pathfinder Projects Testing capabilities of new online TL&A space – Vanguard Programmes Exemplars of sound TL&A, and learning management practice 9 E-Learning Indicators: Faculty Engagement

10 Qualifications with online component – July % 33% (90 of 269 qualifications)

11 How far have we got? Abel, R., Brown, M. and Suess, J A New Architecture for Learning. Educause Review, 48 (5): 88.

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