Developing a Framework for a Useable and Useful Inventory of Computer-facilitated Learning and Support Materials in Australian Universities

Executive Summary

Focus of the Report

There are two aspects to this report—general issues related to the adoption of computer-facilitated learning (CFL) resources, and specific issues relating to setting up a useful and usable inventory of CFL resources.

The project team began the project with the idea that we could develop a prototype national inventory using ‘snapshots’ obtained from institutional surveys, case studies and literature work. However, sufficient data about existing CFL resources is simply not yet available. The emphasis in this report evolved into the development of a framework about how a successful national inventory could be set up and maintained. As we outline later, we are recommending a system of distributed databases ‘held together’ by metadata standards.

The report relates to key themes which emerged from the five case studies conducted in this study. These themes are Policy, Culture and Support. We have woven these themes into the report because we have been convinced that Australian university teachers will look for and use existing CFL resources only when these policy, culture and support issues are addressed. Otherwise any national inventory system will be used only minimally (and then only by enthusiasts rather than those who might benefit most).

Background

Universities in Australia are currently in an environment of intense change. They are being required to educate more students, from an increasing variety of backgrounds, with decreasing government funding. Universities are required to compete vigorously for student enrolments and external sources of funding. In this environment, universities have had to reassess their fundamental business and the way they go about it. Information Technology (IT) is viewed as an important factor in streamlining their operations.

There has been a great deal of development of electronic educational resources in the last few years. This has occurred together with substantial development of IT systems and infrastructure in all Australian universities. However, there is little evidence of dissemination of these electronic resources and practices. Greater collaboration and sharing of resources is becoming an increasingly urgent issue. There are several existing databases of CFL materials, but these databases do not appear to have significantly increased the take-up of CFL materials and strategies. In order to make the most of the valuable resources which exist, a range of educational, technological and management factors needs to be addressed.

The term computer-facilitated learning (CFL) materials is used to describe materials which use information technology in some way to facilitate teaching and learning, including: educational CD-Roms; online course content materials; and the use of software for computer-mediated communication within a course.

Methods Used

The study used a multi-method approach, employing online surveys of institutional practice (28 Australian universities responded); a literature survey; and a case study of five universities at project, faculty and institutional levels. The data included survey results, interview transcripts, focus group transcripts, institutional documentation and short descriptions or vignettes.

The study explored issues which facilitated or mitigated against teachers being able to work in an environment which facilitates the adoption of CFL, in terms of:

• appropriate policies, infrastructure and supports within the institution;

• access to information about CFL resources; and

• being able to work collaboratively both within and across institutions.

What Information Exists about CFL Resources at Australian Universities?

A substantial amount of data was accumulated from a range of sources about the resources which exist to support CFL at Australian universities. It is clear that many universities are actively engaged in producing CFL resources to enhance the educational offerings they have. There is also a clear commitment to developing appropriate infrastructure to support the use of technology. The diversity in universities’ structural arrangements made it difficult to compare data across institutions. There is also a variation in the stage of adoption of new IT by universities. Precise information about CFL resources may not have been obtained from some universities because the survey was not responded to by the person with most accurate knowledge, or because facilities were devolved and centralised data was not available. The rapid change in the area also means that information provided to the investigators may be soon out of date. Overall the information about existing CFL resources at Australian universities is patchy and incomplete. In particular, there is limited or no information across the sector in general about:

• the educational design of the CFL resources being produced,

• the incentives and support that exist for individuals to produce CFL resources,

• the technical design and access specifications for using these CFL resources,

• the experience of using the CFL resources in actual teaching contexts,

• evaluations carried out to determine how educationally effective these resources have been in practice,

• intellectual property and copyright issues which might affect the use by others, and

• how access can be obtained to these CFL resources from either colleagues in the same university or another institution.

What Major Issues Emerged Relating to Adoption of CFL at Australian Universities?

Three major themes emerged from the case study relating to adoption of CFL at Australian universities. These were Policy, Culture and Support. The considerable overlap between and within these themes is illustrated in figure 1. These major issues were selected from the case studies using three criteria:

• frequency of being mentioned,

• intensity of expression in the interview, and

• who articulated the idea, e.g. senior administration and/or teachers and support staff.

The Policy theme looked at specific institutional policies, such as equity and intellectual property, the alignment of policy throughout the organisation, the direction of policy change (bottom-up or top-down) and a number of strategic processes which flowed on from policies such as grant schemes.

Culture incorporated factors such as collaboration within institutions, and personal motivation of staff to use CFL, as well as particular aspects of funding, staff rewards and time, leadership, teaching and learning models, and attitudes such as ‘not invented here’.

Support incorporated a whole gamut of institutional issues including IT, library and administrative infrastructure, professional development for staff, student support, educational and instructional design support for academic staff, funding and grant schemes, and IT literacy.

Several universal factors in relation to widespread use of CFL were identified:

• coherence of policy across all levels of institutional operations and specific policies which impact on CFL within each institution;

• intellectual property, particularly the role of copyright in emerging online environments;

• leadership and institutional culture;

• staff issues and attitudes: namely, professional development and training, staff recognition and rewards, and motivation for individuals to use CFL; and

• specific resourcing issues related to funding for maintenance or updating of CFL materials and approaches, staff time release and support staff.

Figure 1: Themes and their Relationships Affecting the Adoption of CFL

The tension between collaboration and competition is important. We argue that collaboration can assist healthy competition in higher education, but at present it seems there are few within institutions who are comfortable with or aware of this position.

What Key Features are Needed in a National Inventory of CFL Resources?

Dissemination of information about CFL resources, and the location of CFL resources via databases are fundamental parts of this study. A framework for the development of a national inventory system is proposed whereby the development of national metadata standards will enable teachers and lecturers to search across a distributed set of interest-group-based databases. A number of features were identified which could characterise a well-designed teaching and learning database. The database should:

• have a distributed nature;

• be maintained in an ongoing sense;

• be owned by academics and professional staff;

• contain contextual information about the resource, including a full description of the product; the rationale behind its development; its unique characteristics; the pedagogical approach used; intellectual property details, and how it might be obtained; and evaluation data;

• contain a range of experiential information on how the resource was used in a real-life teaching context, both by the developer and others; and

• return the appropriate level of information to the queries submitted by users.

A key factor was the access to information:

• The data submission and retrieval process should be straightforward.

• Resources should be submitted by people with expertise in CFL and knowledge of the discipline, following a scholarly review process.

• Resource submission should not be by the developer of the resource.

• Resources successfully submitted to the database should attract scholarly recognition.

The size of the Australian education sector does not allow the continual re-invention of the wheel. A collaborative approach is needed towards the development of national metadata standards and web-based search strategies. Only through this synergy will competitive use be able to be made of CFL resources developed at great expense within the sector.

Major Recommendations of this Report

This study found that the issues surrounding the adoption of CFL at university are complex, and no single factor will result in adoption. Instead, there is a range of factors, all of which must be addressed.

Policy

Universities need to have a clearly articulated vision of the changes to teaching and learning that technology brings.

• This vision should have ownership and commitment from all levels of management.

• The Dean or Head of Department/ School should lead and support moves into CFL.

• Vision needs to be supported by policy and institutional culture.

• There needs to be a mixture of top-down and bottom-up policy direction.

• Equity of access to IT for all students needs to be considered, e.g. by safety-net policies.

Institutional Culture

For CFL adoption to become widespread, staff must be rewarded, whether tangibly or intangibly, for their efforts. Motivation is an essential driver to innovation.

• Appropriate criteria for teaching performance need to be developed in order to provide an effective incentive for academic staff to adopt CFL materials and practices. These should apply to promotion and selection processes.

• Schemes to recognise and reward technical staff, e.g. through qualification routes, are needed in order to retain expertise.

Infrastructure and Support

Adoption of CFL needs to be underpinned by funding mechanisms, infrastructure, staff development and technical support.

• All of these are expensive. Funding mechanisms for the sector need to provide incentives to universities to manage these costs.

• Funding schemes need to monitor the progress of initiatives and learn from earlier experiences. Adequate reporting should be built into funding mechanisms.

• Project-based funding is not necessarily effective once the early adopter phase has been reached. More comprehensive models are needed.

• Professional development and training is a complex and multi-faceted area. There is a need for high quality staff developers, for flexible support programs, for using mentors, and allowing adequate time for staff to engage in staff development. Incentives should be given to universities to show demonstrable support services.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property (IP) issues, and copyright in particular, are of crucial importance, specifically in terms of:

• dissemination of information about IP

• access to practical support on IP and licensing issues

• recognising the rightful owner of copyright materials, whether in monetary terms or in kind.

• Universities should have a public IP policy and report on its implementation.

Collaboration

There is a synergy between collaboration and competition. Collaboration can assist healthy competition in higher education because the efficient use of resources can allow institutions to develop their own specialities more effectively.

• Mechanisms which support collaboration, e.g inter-institutional grant schemes, should be favoured.

Databases

Databases of CFL resources are potentially important mechanisms for supporting adoption, once several issues are addressed:

• Databases need to be well-designed and maintained.

• Database owners need to collaborate on the development of metadata standards so that an expanded market for collaboration and competition is created.

• The development of a unified, Australia-wide collaborative framework for interoperable online databases depends on policy support from DETYA.

• Intellectual property issues associated with the emergent use of metadata and metadata standards need to be researched at a national level.