1. The dirty little secret of educational technology is that most initiatives reinforce traditional outcomes and the "pump and dump" model of online learning still dominates teaching practice. 2. There are different views of quality including standardized, craft-based, and personal ethos approaches. Quality is contestable, idiosyncratic, context-bound, and a moving target. 3. Frameworks for quality include peer review, guidelines, and tools for design, facilitation, assessment, evaluation and leadership. A quality culture involves understanding teachers, trust, responsibility, and distributed leadership.

1. Professor Mark Brown
Reflections on Quality:
Educational Technology‟s Dirty Little Secret
University of Southern Queensland
Australian Digital Futures Institute
May 2013

2. m.e.brown@massey.ac.nz
Tenakoutoukatoa…

3. • Director, National Centre for Teaching and Learning
• Director, Distance Education and Learning Futures Alliance
• Major leadership role in digitalisation at Massey University
• Contribute to several executive committees (ascilite, DEANZ,Ako
Academy)
• President of the NZ Association for Open, Flexible and Distance
Learninf
• Recipient of National Award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary
Teaching
@mbrownz
m.e.brown@massey.ac.nz
About Mark…
http://www.slideshare.net/mbrownz/

4. About Massey…

5. Palmerston NorthAuckland Wellington
Distance
International
About Massey…

6. About Massey…

8. About Massey…
Over 4000 online environments

9. http://delfa.massey.ac.nz
• Innovation Hub
• Global Think-tank
• Networked Community
• Engine for New Learning Futures
• We Offer International Consultancy
• Leading International Advisory Board
About Massey…

10. http://opac.acer.edu.au:8080/drde/
AboutDELFA…

11. Questions…
“A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.”
Francis Bacon
http://www.slideshare.net/mbrownz/

12. Professor Mark Brown
Reflections on Quality:
Educational Technology‟s Dirty Little Secret
University of Southern Queensland
Australian Digital Futures Institute
May 2013

14. • What is the dirty little secret about
educational technology?
Write your short response and then
fold over and pass tosomeone else in the room
Before we start…

15. “Not everything that can be counted
counts, not everything that counts can be
counted”
My key point…
Albert Einstein

16. 1. Dirty little secret

17. 1. Dirty little secret
“The unexaminedlife is not worth living” (Socrates)

18. http://theconversation.edu.au/
1. Dirty little secret

19. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/pub7203i.pdf
1. Dirty little secret

20. “With the coming of the New Media, the need for
print on paper will rapidly diminish. The day will
soon arrive when the world‟s literature will be
available from The Automatic Library at the
mere pressing of a button”
(Uzanne, 1994).
1. Dirty little secret

21. “With the coming of the New Media, the need for
print on paper will rapidly diminish. The day will
soon arrive when the world‟s literature will be
available from The Automatic Library at the
mere pressing of a button”
(Uzanne, 1894).
1. Dirty little secret

22. 1. Dirty little secret
1935

23. Technology
Expectation Cycle
(Cuban, 1986)
Cuban, L. (1986). Teachers and machines: The classroom use of technology since
1920. New York: Teachers‟ College Press.
1. Dirty little secret

24. High expectations
Growing
support
Subsided enthusiasm
Rebukes
and blame
Cuban, L. (1986). Teachers and machines: The classroom use of technology since
1920. New York: Teachers‟ College Press.
Technology
Expectation Cycle
(Cuban, 1986)
1. Dirty little secret

25. Technology-enhanced learning involves an ongoing cycle of
hype, hopeand disappointment (Gouseti, 2010).
1. Dirty little secret

26. Gartner Hype Cycle
Technology-enhanced learning involves an ongoing cycle of hype,
hopeand disappointment (Gouseti, 2010).
1. Dirty little secret
“The Distal Effects”

27. 1. Dirty little secret
“The meta-analysis found that, on average, students in online
learning conditions performed modestly better than those
receiving face-to-face instruction”
(Means et. al., 2010, p.ix).

28. 1. Dirty little secret
Guiney, P. (2013). E-learning achievement: Trends, patterns and highlights. Ministry of Education, Wellington.

29. 1. Dirty little secret

30. 1. Dirty little secret

31. 1. Dirty little secret

32. 1. Dirty little secret

33. 1. Dirty little secret

34. 1. Dirty little secret
In sum, the inconvenient truth is…

35. 1. Dirty little secret
In sum, the inconvenient truth is…
Most educational technology initiatives reinforcetraditional
outcomes…

36. 1. Dirty little secret
And the„pump, pump,dump‟
model of online learning still
dominatesteaching practice.
Most educational technology initiatives reinforcetraditional
outcomes…
In sum, the inconvenient truth is…

37. “The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same
things and expecting a different result”
1. Dirty little secret
(Stephen Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Successful People)

38. “A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.”
Francis Bacon
http://www.slideshare.net/mbrownz/
Thoughts…

39. 2. Different Views of
Quality

40. Three different metaphors…
2. Different Views of
Quality

41. Quality is Standardized
(a) Mass production metaphor…
2. Different Views of
Quality

42. 2. Different Views of
Quality
(b) Boutique craft metaphor…

43. 2. Different Views of
Quality
(b) Boutique craft metaphor…

44. 2. Different Views of
Quality
Quality is not to everyone‟s taste

45. Who defines quality?
… and for what purpose?
2. Different Views of
Quality

46. (c)Personal ethos metaphor…
2. Different Views of
Quality
Quality is Relative

47. 2. Different Views of
Quality

48. • Contestable
• Idiosyncratic
• Context bound
• Discipline specific
• Always a moving target
• An ethos we must continually strive for
Basic assumptions…
2. Different Views of
Quality

50. “A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.”
Francis Bacon
http://www.slideshare.net/mbrownz/
Thoughts…

51. 3. Frameworks and
Tools for Quality

52. 3. Frameworks and
Tools for Quality

53. 3. Frameworks and
Tools for Quality

54. 3. Frameworks and
Tools for Quality

55. By analogy what type of cheese do you
want to make and how will you judge its quality?
3. Frameworks and
Tools for Quality

56. institution individual
clear standards creative flair
externally imposed requirements internally owned commitments
central quality police local professional responsibility
quality compliance quality culture
Key Tensions…
3. Frameworks and
Tools for Quality

57. • Understanding teachers matter most
• Promoting a high level of professional trust
• Giving responsibility for quality back toteachers
• Building distributed leadership for teaching and
learning
A quality culture involves…
3. Frameworks and
Tools for Quality

58. Scholarly
Peer
Review
Effective Practice
Guidelines
Academic
Development
Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning
Grants
and Awards
Designs for
Learning
Resources for
Learning
Facilitating
Learning
Assessment for
Learning
Evaluating
Teaching
Professional
Leadership
Learning
Design Tools
Teaching
Evaluation
3. Frameworks and
Tools for Quality

59. http://peerreview.massey.ac.nz
3. Frameworks and
Tools for Quality

60. Principles of peer review
- owned by academics
- confidential to participants
- encouragesformative feedback
- promotes pedagogical conversations
- focuses on continuous development
- has stronginstitutional alignment
3. Frameworks and
Tools for Quality

61. We want them to learn how to make
their own uniquecheese that students can truly savor!
3. Frameworks and
Tools for Quality

62. Conclusion…

63. Conclusion
Conclusion…
“What‟s wrong with education cannot be fixed with
technology”
(Steve Jobs; cited in Oppenheimer, 1997, p.61).

64. Conclusion
Conclusion…
It depends on…
- high quality teachers
- a culture of quality enhancement
- winning the hearts and minds of people
“What‟s wrong with education cannot be fixed with
technology”
(Steve Jobs; cited in Oppenheimer, 1997, p.61).

65. Conclusion…
But people are easily fooledby the hype…

66. And greater critique is required of the competing
discoursesto better understand the digital futures we
are making and taking.
Conclusion…
But people are easily fooledby the hype…

67. Reconceptualist
Knowledge Society
Knowledge Economy
Deschooling
Reschooling Reproduction
Ed - Tech
Different interest groups and stakeholders borrow the
same „discourse of persuasion‟ to legitimize their own hegemonic agenda
• Being glocal
• Active citizenship
• Socially just society
• Education for change
• Un-curriculum
• Personalization
• Life-long learning
• Messiness of learning
• New pedagogies
• Skills for employment
• Learning for the real world
• Higher education in change
• Mass education
• Universal standards
• Education as a commodity
• Increased market competition
• Online learning
• Blended learning
• Anytime, anywhere learning
E-learning •
Open Learning •
Technology-enhanced learning •
(Mark Brown, 2012)
Major competing discourses…

68. Final remark…

69. Final remark…
Put more simply, the digital future is a bit like the question…

70. “What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?”
(Bertolt Brecht)
Final remark…
Put more simply, our preferred digital future is a bit like the question…

71. • What is the dirty little secret about
educational technology?
Oh one more thing…

72. “A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.”
Francis Bacon
http://www.slideshare.net/mbrownz/
Discussion…