E-learning, Academic Culture, and Human Capital

Prof. Dr. Charles Elerickcelerick@utep.edu

The University of Texas at El PasoThe University of Texas TeleCampus

There are regulatory, economic, technical, and cultural factors that will determine the appropriate extension of e-learning in Indonesia. Of these, the cultural----issues involving academic culture and strategies for the continuing development of human capital----will require the most careful attention.

I. HUMAN CAPITAL AND POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION

Challenges in post-secondary education in Indonesia include:

Increasing demand for 1st accessPressure on existing capacity (facilities/faculty)Highly dispersed populationConcentration of capacity on Jawa, in a few citiesIncreasing demand for access to post-graduate programsDifficulty for adult post-grads to manage work-family-study

No conventional resource solution

Physical facilities ?

Instructional Personnel/Top Content Experts ?

Additional human capital development needs

Mid-level technical training

Post-graduate continuing professionalization

In-service teacher training

Expanded E-Learning Part of the Solution?

Is e-learning an effective medium that supports learning?

Can it be a substitute for traditional in-class instruction?

“In a well-designed e-learning course there is no place for the student to hide from engagement with the learning objectives and the activities that support the mastery of testable outcomes.” (Charles Elerick, 2008)

100% Online vs.Blended Learning

Both are important

Blended mode excellent for resident students

100% will be needed for national access initiative

Current E-Learning Initiatives in Indonesia

Good initial efforts

High level of interest

Resourcefulness

Momentum

II. E-LEARNING IN POST-SECONDARY DEGREE PROGRAMS

How can Indonesia employ e-learning appropriately and effectively in the Indonesian context to extend access to post-secondary education?

Standard Planning Questions:

Regulatory

Environmental

Economic

Technical

Cultural

Regulatory issues

Credit/contact time requirements• Cyber-time/F2F-time equivalence

Faculty workload and in-office requirements

Accreditation and quality-assurance

Accreditation

Independent, international

UAE seems to be a leader

http://portal.etqm.ae/en/home/latestNews/15-Jul-06.htm

http://aei.dest.gov.au/AEI/CEP/UAE/

Quality Assurance

Prelude to accreditation

Resources abound

Researcher(s) Study / Research Area

Allen, I. E. & Seaman, J. "Sizing the Opportunity: the Quality and Extent of Online Education in the US, 2002-2003"

Brewer, Laura C. "Is More Better? Assessing the Effectiveness of Online Learning Environments"

Center for Digital Education

"In the Arena, 2002"

Ramage, Thomas "The 'No Significant Difference' Phenonmenon: A Literature Review"

Reuter, Ron "Introductory Soils Online: An Effective Way to Get Online Students in the Field"

Russell, Thomas "The No Significant Difference Phenomenon"

Sloan, Alfred P. "Elements of Quality Online Education, Vol. 3"

Sloan Consortium Sloan Consortium Website

Twigg, Carol "Innovations in Online Learning: Moving Beyond No Significant Difference"

Twigg, C. & Jarmon, C. Center for Academic Transformation

Warner, Cathy "The Online Journey”

A quick impression of online courses

Robust instruction

Clean and consistent look and feel

Functional and dynamic

Extended and complete

Support interactivity and a community of learning

Object 4

1

Object 5

2

Object 6

3

Object 7

4

5

6

7

8

9

Economic issues

Standard cost/benefit questions– complicated by

Up-front costs/deferred payback

New funding or diverted resources?

Public-good/private-good pricing

Technical issues

Need for reliable Academic IT

Access and Bandwidth

Licensed CMS or extended open source?

Digital Library; Tutorial, and other Support Services

Cultural issues

These will be the most difficult to resolve

IT Initiative?

vs.

IT-enabled Evolution of Academic Culture?

III. EVOLVING A NEW ACADEMIC CULTURE

New Vertical and Horizontal Integration and Relationships

Challenges to autonomy

Challenges to professional comfort

New emphasis on vertical integration

Ministry of Higher Education|

Universities|

Faculties and Programs|

Individual faculty and academic staff|

Non-faculty professionals and support staff

New modes of Horizontal Integration

Possible new Inter-institutional relationships

Jointly offered online degree programs?– Most online degree programs (MPA, etc.) (doubtful)

– Some online BA in Hospitality/Tourism (motivated)

– Some online degree programs (MPH, etc.) (necessary?)

– Leadership with Inclusiveness and Partnership

Difficulties and limitations of Inter-institutional collaboration

Coordination and alignment of academic programs Cooperation in deployment of programsWho teaches what?Which institution gets credit?

• Shared effort-distributed institutional compensation

Role of national universitiesRole of regional universities

Inter-institutional students

Admission to a degree-granting institution

vs.

Admission to an online degree program

Additional Critical Horizontal Integration

New Faculty and academic staff cooperation on campuses– Build courses– Coordinate content in courses in sequence– Maintain and revise courses

“Collaboration Matrix” for Course Development

Faculty as content experts

Faculty and technical support staff

Faculty, library, learning specialists

It takes a team

E-learning and the Collaboration Matrix promotes the New Pedagogy

Active/inquiry learning

Emphasis on learning objectives

Emphasis on mastery

Student Centered

“Collaboration Matrix” produces high-value courses

It takes 100’s of hours of effort to build a high-value course.

Economic note: Wide utility justifies development costs.

The Preeminent role of Faculty as Content Experts

An Opportunity for Faculty to:– Construct high-value editions of courses– Teach in their special areas of expertise more

often.– Function as a Course Leader

Emphasis on a new professional/faculty culture

Faculty remain the arbiters of course content and excellence

Critical input in all decisions regarding academic IT

New accountability for excellence

A new measure of faculty excellence

Excellence in Pedagogy-The New Gold Standard

Refereed Publication-The Traditional Mark of Professionalism

Refereed Instruction- A Second Standard of Academic Excellence

A new instructional configuration

High-value/”refereed” e-courses used in multiple sections

Course leaders mentor/support junior faculty and adjuncts

Course leaders oversee maintenance/revision of course

Potential online degree configuration

A few (> several) complete degree programs

Many (> more) Instructional Support Centers– MoE?; not institution-specific

Implementation schedule to be determined

The Big Picture

Clear and Consistent Public Policy

Institutional Participation and Partnership

Strong Academic IT

New network of collaboration

Faculty at the Center

IV. E-LEARNING FOR NON-ACADEMIC CREDIT

Critical role

Complements and extends academic efforts

Non-academic human capital development

Applications of non-academic e-learning

Practical occupational

“Training” courses

Post-grad professionalization

Teacher in-service

Moderated vs. non-moderated courses

Academic courses instructor-moderated

Non-academic are very focused and may be self-guided

Functional characteristics of non-moderated courses

Accessible presentation of material with robust tutorial and self-tests.

Summative test of mastery of objectives with redirect learning loops.

Unique user access with database recovery of successful course completion

Specific course types and utilities-a few scenarios - 1

Large retail corporation needs to insure employee compliance with cash handling procedures. Contracts with a univ. to construct a course for a fee. Course online or on CD.

A university constructs a course for technical personnel on preventive maintenance and makes it available for a per user fee to industrial and engineering firms.

Specific course types and utilities-a few scenarios - 2

A medical school builds an online course to teach medical term attack skills and requires completion of admitted students before they begin classes.

Ministry of Education modifies math curriculum-constructs and deploys two-hour equivalent online wksp course.

Specific course types and utilities-a few scenarios - 3

Additional examples-healthcare personnel updates; effective e-mail communication; new govt. agency procedures; computer applications

The economics of e-learning non-academic courses

Govt. and corporate entities extend resources

Universities develop and derive contract or user revenue

V. TWO CRITICAL HUMAN CAPITAL QUESTIONS

Can e-learning be employed as part of a strategy to significantly increase access to value-added post-secondary education in Indonesia and to facilitate additional critical expansion of human capital?

Would the failure to implement programs that are in fact feasible represent an unacceptable loss of opportunity?

Thank you for your attentionQ & A