Invited presentation at Aston University, UK, April, 2013.

1. The Quality Challenge:
An Inconvenient Truth About e-Learning
Professor Mark Brown
Director, National Centre for Teaching and Learning
Director, Distance Education and Learning Futures Alliance

2. Quick pop quiz…
• Who has been to New Zealand?

3. Quick pop quiz…
• Who has been to New Zealand?
• Has anyone been to Massey University?

4. Quick pop quiz…
• Who has been to New Zealand?
• Has anyone been to Massey University?
• Who is this person?

5. Quick pop quiz…

8. About Massey…

9. Palmerston NorthAuckland Wellington
Distance
International
About Massey…

10. About Massey…

12. About Massey…
Over 4000 online environments

13. 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…

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

16. 1. How has e-Learning enhanced the quality
of teaching in your institution?
Write your short response and then
fold over and pass to someone on another table
Big question…

17. Quality under fire…
“We use to talk more
before someone
invented fire”

18. 1. Dirty little secret

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

20. Reconceptualist
Knowledge Society
Knowledge Economy
Deschooling
Reschooling Reproduction
e-Learning
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
Open learning •
Distance education •
Technology-enhanced learning •
(Mark Brown, 2012)

21. The inconvenient truth is that…
1. Dirty little secret

22. The inconvenient truth is that…
Most technology-enhanced learning initiatives reinforce
traditionalpractices…
1. Dirty little secret

23. … ande-learning is part of the problem.
The inconvenienttruth is that…
Most technology-enhanced learning initiatives reinforce
traditional practices…
1. Dirty little secret

24. … ande-learning is part of the problem.
The inconvenient truth is that…
Most technology-enhanced learning initiatives reinforce
traditional practices…
There is a danger that the „e‟ is nothing more
than an „add on‟ to learning and we are too
easily fooled by the language of persuasion.
1. Dirty little secret

25. “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

26. “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

27. 1. Dirty little secret

28. 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

29. 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

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

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

32. What will be the legacy after the hype?
1. Dirty little secret

33. “Thirty years from now the big university
campuses will be relics. Universities won‟t
survive. It‟s as large a change as when we
first got the printed book.”
(Peter Drucker, Forbes, 1997)
1. Dirty little secret

34. Sadly the lesson is that…
1. Dirty little secret

35. …the additive or „pump, pump,dump‟ model of
e-learning still dominatesteaching practice.
Sadly the lesson is that…
1. Dirty little secret

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

37. 2. What is the single most important factor
which influences thequalityof e-Learning
in your institution?
Write your short response and then
fold over and pass to someone on another table
Big question…

38. 2. Different Views of
Quality

39. • Three different views…
2. Different Views of
Quality

40. Acontextualised view…
2. Different Views of
Quality
Quality is Relative

41. Quality is Standardized
A decontextualised view…
2. Different Views of
Quality

42. 2. Different Views of
Quality
A boutique view…

43. A boutique view…
2. Different Views of
Quality

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

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

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

48. 2. Different Views of
Quality

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

50. Big question…
3. How is the quality of e-learning determined in your
institution?
Write your short response and then
fold over and pass to someone on another table

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. Quality Assurance
Quality Enhancement
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. Learning
to be
Learning
to know
Learning
to do
Learning
to live together
Learning to changeandtransform
PillarsofLearning
3. Frameworks and
Tools for Quality
But…

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).

66. http://opac.acer.edu.au:8080/drde/
New research database

67. The big questions…
Your responses…
1. How has e-Learning enhanced the quality of teaching
in your institution?
3. How is the quality of e-Learning determined in your
institution?
2. What is the single most important factor which influences
thequality of e-Learning in your institution?

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