Taking Care of Business: Enterprising Approaches to Openness and Sharing in

Education

Map Image from the University of Texas at Austin

Authors John Casey,

ALTO UK Project Report – University of the Arts London

John Casey

• Cuts, Cuts, Cuts• Greater student numbers• More diverse students, demanding diverse

learning opportunities• Endangered subjects – a narrowing

curriculum• Slow and fragmented adoption of technology• Work harder? – reaching the limits of the

possible

The State of the Art (HE/FE)

• Massification of an old elite system (HE) – many contradictions…

• Demands for transparency and accountability• Commodification of education (new entrants)• Access to good information no longer a big

deal – undermines much of the old HE model• Simplistic approaches to technology –

Geronimo’s Cadillac?

Longer Term Trends

Technology and Openness – part of a fundamental shift in education

Future Practice(sustainable)

Current Practice(subsistence)

Really About Process Change - think of Open as an enabler

There is a lot that is good about our education systems…

http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2012/04/education-the-language-of-change.htmlMartin Weller

Avoiding the Rhetoric of Crisis

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There is a also lot that is long overdue for change…

Use the Rhetoric of Opportunity – but Deal with TINA!

Picture By Stavros Markopoulos @ http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=447602329&size=o

OpenEd as a Motor of Change?

Impacts on many critical factors simultaneously:

• Pedagogy• Culture (personal, departmental, disciplinary, institutional)

• Tech Infrastructure• Digital Professionalism (aka Digi. Literacy)

• Policy (IPR, HR, PR, Quality, Inclusion)• Strategy (Markets, Efficiency, £Budget)• Management

A Systemic Disruptor – this can be very useful…if you want change

Attempts to implement e-learning reveal underlying problems in structure and and culture (Pollock, N. & Cornford, J. 2000. Theory and Practice of the Virtual University)

Assumptions are often incorrect (UK e-U crash of 2004)

Technologies can carry a strong organisational and pedagogical models Friesen, N. (2004) Three Objections to Learning Objects and E-Learning Standards)

Ineffective without the necessary changes in the structure of institutions and changes to working practices, needs top-down action

Obstacles are philosophical, pedagogical, political, and organisational - the technical issues are comparatively trivial (e.g. Phoenix for profit)

Concentration on technical issues - often a ‘displacement activity’

Tradition, dominant groups and vested interests delay and obstruct new knowledge and practices (Kuhn, T. 1996 The Structure of Scientific Revolutions)

Technology and Change – the soft stuff is the hard stuff!

• Can prepare the ground for the effective introduction of flexible/distance learning (tackles systemic factors)

• A way of introducing the ‘political economy’ of distance/flexible learning into the mainstream

• Benefits include; branding and marketing – ‘try before you buy’, external collaborations. But, the main benefits are internal…

Open Education and Sharing: Opportunities and Benefits