online learning in higher education: contributors to the tipping point in a south african...
TRANSCRIPT
Online Learning in Higher Education: Contributors to the Tipping Point in a South African Institution
Sarah-Anne Arnold
University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business
Presented at e/merge 2012: Open to Change, Cape Town
11-13 July 2012
Increasing ICT adoption in developed economies (Livingstone, 2011)
Challenging tertiary institutions from the inside (Czerniewicz & Brown, 2009)
Hype about disruptive nature of ICT in HE (Christensen & Eyrling, 2011)
Change in Higher Education (HE)
This study addresses the problem of identifying when online learning will move from minority use to the mainstream, and in particular aims to identify the main factors leading to the Tipping Point of online learning adoption in a department at a selected South African higher education institution (HEI).
Tipping Point Framework (Gladwell, 2000)
21st century students 20th century academic staff 19th century institutions
1. Environment: Is the higher education institutions (HEIs) environment conducive for online learning adoption?
2. Properties: What is the attraction of online learning adoption?
3. Messengers: Who are the decision-makers in online learning adoption?
Context of the Study
Country:South Africa
HEI:University of Cape Town, Western Cape
No national policy for ICT in HE (Czerniewicz & Brown, 2009)
Ranked 72nd out of 142 countries in the Networked Readiness Index (WEF NRI, 2012)
Slow broadband speeds (Net Index, 2011)
High connectivity costs (WEF NRI, 2012)
Academic Staff Interviews
Adoption Categorization Sample
One department (located in Engineering
and the Built Environment faculty).
Six academic staff (two full-time lecturers, a
professor, a part-time lecturer, a
programme convener and a head of
department).
Standard semi-structured,
open-ended set of questions.
Interview length 40 – 75 minutes.
Conducted between the 12th October
and the 9th November 2011.
All interviews were recorded and
immediately transcribed verbatim
by the researcher and analysed
for further direction.
Rogers Adoption Categorization on the Basis of Innovativeness (Rogers, 2003, p. 281)
Research Interview Questions
How would you characterize the role of online learning in your department?
What are the benefits of using the online learning tools you use?
What are the disadvantages of using the online learning tools you use?
How are the online learning tools used or integrated into
or with offline learning?
In relation to learning, have you seen any significant changes at UCT?
What will lead to large-scale adoption of online learning in your
department?
Given my interest in online learning is there anything else I should ask you
or you wish to share?
21st Century Students
‘Now this little creature [student] is something different’ (Academic Staff Interview, 2011)
‘So they [students] are putting the pressure on [lecturers] to use [the LMS] as a means of communication with them and for sharing of material and resources’ (Academic Staff Interview, 2011)
Student Survey Results
Preferred channel to address course administrative issues is Vula (the LMS)
Preferred channel to communicate with lecturers is UCT email account
Preferred channel to communicate with classmates is in person
Preferred location to study or learn is at home
20th Century Academic Staff
‘Technology is a tool. It isn’t teaching. It is a tool so if I feel I um, the tools I currently use are fine why should I change? Just because it's a fad, and it’s popular and it’s fast... why use it if you feel your existing tools are fine. Is that a dinosauric approach?’ (Interview Professor, 2011)
‘It is a passion [online learning]… But it didn’t make me an expert.’ (Interview Champion of Online Learning, 2011)
19th Century Institutions
‘But the question as an institution is, what is your potential to attract people like that? What are you doing about developing people like that? Do you fire them if they are not spitting out three papers? There is a point we could say as an institution if we took teaching and learning very seriously we would show more evidence of it in recruitment and promotion processes.’ (Interview HOD, 2011)
Environment
Is the HEI’s environment conducive for online learning adoption?
Global
Local
Institution
• Information Revolution
• Knowledge Economy
• Connected Societies
• Notion of “Modern University”
• Internet speed• Internet cost• Device
ownership• Increasing
student numbers & diversity
• Policy (contact HEI)
• Identity (research HEI)
• Culture (autonomous decision-making)
• Values
Properties
What is the attraction of online learning adoption?
Stage 2: Persuasion (Rogers, 2003)
Relative Advantage
Compatibility
Complexity
Trialability Observability
Time Values Understand Access Visibility
Costs Practice Learn Projects Discussion
Effectiveness
Needs Use Interest
Convenience
Past Experience
New skills Uptake
Quality Social norms
Social prestige
Online Learning Attraction
Greatest adoption (and motivation to adopt) was seen when lecturers experienced a relatively high state of dissatisfaction with their current situation.
Dissatisfaction with a current state seemed to consistently originate from three key variables: increasing student numbers, increasing diversity in the student population and decreasing student interactionand engagement.
The perceived advantages of the LMS and its value to academic staff and students were attracting lecturers to take up online learning. Relative advantages included: time saved on administrative tasks and increased quality of communication and interaction in teaching.
Relative advantage and compatibility seemed strongest in persuading adoption.
Messengers
Who are the decision-makers in online learning adoption in relation to the environment?
Indirect Drivers
Student Drivers
Lecturer• Past experiences• Perceptions• Beliefs, Values• Interests / Motivations• Needs (unsatisfactory)
• Course evaluations
• Collective requests and pressure
• Increasing workloads• Increasing student
numbers• Widening diversity
amongst undergraduates• Regaining student
engagement and interaction
• Notion of a 21st century HEI
Conclusion
The environment has a significant influence on individuals within any system. These pressures are forceful in that they are complex and uncontrollable. The HE landscape is becoming increasingly competitive as individuals and organisations keep up on the treadmill of technology, information and progress.
Epidemics occur when a system in equilibrium receives a particular sort of jolt (Daynes, Esplin & Kristensen, 2004). Referring to the three HE environments – global, local and institutional – it would appear institutionally individual efforts have jolted other lecturers into action, resulting in pockets of innovation across the HEI. As individuals are susceptible to their immediate surroundings and nearby personalities (Gladwell, 2000) it would seem a jolt in the local or global HE environment (for example entry of an acclaimed international HEI into the South African HE market) would have greater force in pushing senior leadership/management into addressing online learning and its role in a university.
… continued
The attractive properties (Gladwell, 2000) of online learning in the South
African context look as if they are helping academic staff service a
changing student body. The current ‘Mavens’ (Gladwell, 2000) or
champions of online learning in HEIs have started the epidemic by
providing the message of innovation. However ‘Mavens’ do not make
‘Salesmen’ (Gladwell, 2000): the latter who are essential for online learning
to reach critical mass. The strongest persuaders in the current context (HEI
culture and policies) are most likely to be the ‘relative advantage’ (Rogers,
2003) that online learning offers lecturers as they struggle to fulfill the
increasing demands of their three roles – administration, teaching and
research.
References Czerniewicz, L. & Brown, C. (2009) A virtual wheel of fortune? Enablers and constraints of ICTs in higher
education in South Africa. In S. Marshall, W. Kinuthia, & W. Taylor (Eds.), Bridging the knowledge divide: Educational technology for development. Colorado: Information Age Publishing.
Christensen, C. M., & Eyring, H. J. (2011) The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Daynes, G., Esplin, P., & Kristensen, K. (2004) Learning as an epidemic: The tipping point, Freshman Academy, and institutional change. Perspectives, 8(4), 113-118.
Gladwell, M. (2000) The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. London, Abacus.
Livingstone, S. (2011) Critical reflections on the benefits of ICT in education. Oxford Review of Education, DOI:10.1080/03054985.2011.577938.
Net Index Statistics. (2011) Available from: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadband/28756- best-broadband-speeds-in-south-africa.html [31 August 2011].
Rogers, E. (2003) Diffusion of Innovation. New York, Free Press.
WEF NRI (2011). Global Information Technology Report, Retrieved August 31, 2011 from http://www2.weforum.org/site/homepublic.nsf/Content/Global+Competitiveness+Programme/Global+Infor mation+Technology+Report.html
WEF NRI (2012). Global Information Technology Report, Retrieved June 30, 2012 from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GITR/2012/GITR_OverallRankings_2012.pdf