1. THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL - SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT & DELIVERY OF BLENDED LEARNING PROGRAMMES Dr. Tom Farrelly & Tony Murphy, E-Learning Development Support Unit (EDSU) Institute of Technology, Tralee Dr. Deidre Ryan & David Moloney, Blended Learning Unit (BLU) Mary Immaculate College, Limerick @TomFarrelly@AjtMurphy @DeirdreRyan1191@DeirdreRyan1191 @daveymoloney@daveymoloney

2. BACKGROUND  Irish Higher education institutions are being encouraged to respond to changing social and economic conditions by being more innovative, creative and inclusive in their teaching and learning strategies.  The National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030: “respond positively to the continuing professional development needs of the wider community to develop and deliver appropriate modules and programmes in a flexible and responsive way” (DES, p.79).  However, “many e-learning initiatives fail. Transient as they are, these projects often exhaust the resources and degrade in their impact—and, therefore, are destined to be unsustainable” (Stepanyan et al. 2013, p.91).

3. PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION An ordinary degree in Early Childhood Practice (ECP) which draws on elements of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). The aim of the ECP programme is to provide a flexible delivery option by which existing early childhood practitioners who wish to acquire a degree level qualification. The programme is delivered through a blended learning format that incorporates face-to-face sessions a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous delivery which is accessed via the respective college’s virtual learning environments (VLE). The ‘classes’ are delivered asynchronously using interactive multi-media content that was created using Articulate presenter. Students spend alternate semester with each institution.

4. SYSTEM CONSISTENCY ISSUES

5. CONNECTIVITY ISSUES  Hi-speed broadband connectivity has been identified as a key enabler of sustainable development in rural areas  However, in rural Ireland, broadband connectivity remains an Issue  Only 69 per cent of Irish homes have broadband that is faster than a very modest 4Mbps (Irish Times, 2015).  Many of the students reported less than ideal upload and download speeds - average download speed was under 3 Mbps

6. RESPONSES Computer services support for brining your own device (BYOD) – “it’s not my job” Intensive preparation of students for synchronous delivery - training focussed on technique not technology Ongoing support to students - face-to-face meets; online & phone support, out-of-hours response commitment. Support to lecturers prior to ‘going live’ on synchronous platforms and when delivering ‘live’ sessions

7. CONCLUSION & SUGGESTIONS Effective quality e-learning takes time to develop and support ; both on the part of the lecturers and those who support them. There is much to recommend cross-institutional collaborative working, but it should be acknowledged that such working arrangements are not without a number of problems which need to be addressed if flexible accessible higher education is to remain sustainable. These problems are of course not insurmountable they do require careful acknowledgment, assessment and planning in order to ameliorate them; after all the Devil is in the Detail.

8. SUGGESTIONS Consistent quality broadband coverage Consider adopting a standard VLEs across colleges in HE Sector National recognition of the time required to develop and deliver online – goodwill is not a basis for sustainability

9. REFERENCES  Department of Education & Skills (2011) National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030. Government Publications: Dublin.  Irish Times (2015) Ireland’s broadband black spots. Available from: http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/ireland-s- broadband-black-spots-1.2103169  Stepanyan, K., Littlejohn, A., & Margaryan, A. (2013). Sustainable e-Learning: Toward a Coherent Body of Knowledge. Educational Technology & Society, 16 (2), 91–102.