Pass the SoLT

The standout theme over the last week has been the importance of communication. This topic has come up in several different contexts from questions about 'why do I blog?' to 'how come students don't seem to know important stuff?,' including how to access their online learning environment.

In a posting a few weeks ago, I mentioned how I regard communication as one of the most important components of good leadership and effective change management. This view is solidly backed up by the academic literature. Unfortunately, it's much harder to apply the principles and practices written about change and communication in large organizations when there are so many stakeholders and competing demands on our time. At best in my own work the art of effective communication remains a work in progress.

I'm certainly no expert on the topic but at a basic level there are two considerations that need to be taken in to account when thinking about developing a communication strategy: (i) the message and (ii) the mechanism. Alignment between the two 'm and ms' of communication (along with identifying the audience) is crucial as too often this is left to chance.

It may seem a bit over the top but in my own case I actually have a Communication Plan for this blog as when I first started 'Pass the SoLT' it was important for me to define what I was wanting to achieve, who was the audience, what was the message, etc. If I was going to devote valuable time to maintaining a blog then I needed to be understand 'why', especially if the initiative was going to be sustainable.

After all, we know the history of innovations in using new technology in education is littered with startup initiatives that people and institutions fail to sustain. In many respects, such initiatives do more harm than good as they reinforce the technology expectation cycle (Cuban, 1986). Put another way, they do nothing to break the cycle of hope and hype and send the message that teaching with technology is a fringe activity for those on the edges.

Importantly, for the record, one of the reasons I continue to blog is that I firmly believe we send mixed or even quite contradictory messages to our staff/students by expecting them to teach/learn in new ways with new technologies when we don't practice what we preach by using the same technologies. Moreover, it's not until you actually use a technology that you begin to better understand how the innovation can be used (or should not be used) for educational purposes.

My experience over the last year in using Twitter has certainly reinforced this point. In a similar vein, knowing how to use a new technology and modeling its use was why we felt it was important to use video to directly talk to potential participants for a research project that I'm currently leading on the experiences of first-time distance learners. This project involves distance students recording video diaries of their stories and experiences using Sony Bloggie cameras; and the following example was my crude effort a few months ago to introduce the project using the same technology.

Stepping down from my soapbox, but extending this theme, this week I came across the following two videos which underscore the value of effective communication and engaging directly with your key stakeholders. The first video is the latest edition of the Vice Chancellor's Youtube series targeted at Massey University students. Note how the message about the digitalization of the learning experience is positive, set in the context and language of students, and the video helps to maintain forward momentum, which is an important factor in John Kotter's principles and eight steps of successful change.

The second video comes from the Open University in the United Kingdom. The point I take from this video is the importance of proactive communication with your stakeholders and building a sense of anticipation around a proposed change or innovation. In my experience the 'no surprise policy' is always a good strategy along with keeping your 'customers' informed and 'on board'. Of course, the challenge is to deliver on any raised expectations as a result of this type of communication but I'm reliably told that institutional branding is more about image than substance.

Click here to view the video...

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11363089/peepz-movie

Finally, on a personal note, the reflective lesson or takeaway from this week is a pledge to think in more creative and innovative ways about how to communicate key information and the meta-level messages we want to convey to staff, students and the wider university community. To borrow an overused quote from Gandhi:

'You must be the change you wish to see in the world'

I intended commenting on The 21st Century Report when it was first released but it slipped off the radar for a couple of weeks. In summary, the report confirms an increasing trend of rising student expectations for teachers' use of technology to enhance teaching and learning. The study found:

• 63% of current college students indicate that technology use was a critical factor in their choice of university
• 93% of current high school students indicate that technology is a critical factor in their university choice
• 95% expect to use technology in some or all of their classes
• 76% say they are using social media as an educational tool
• participants believe that the primary obstacle to further integration of emerging learning technologies is that many faculty do not know how to use them effectively
• Faculty list the same obstacle, ranking it as the second most important barrier (after lack of budget)

Adding some critique to the findings, I would question the strength of the 'not knowing how to effectively use technology' thesis as this overlooks the mediating role of teachers' pre-existing pedagogical beliefs. Effective use depends on both the 'skill' and 'will' of faculty, along with adequate levels of support and infrastructure, and the study reveals little about deeper barriers to innovative technology-enhanced learning. For example, it fails to acknowledge the unwillingness of some faulty to change traditional ways of teaching, the influence of the institutional culture and genuine concerns about the added workload pressures on staff, especially in research intensive universities.

The following video clip is a trailer for a longer film entitled 'We are the people we've been waiting for'. The clip makes powerful viewing and contains a number of salient messages about the future of education. At the core of the film is a message that we need to shift the current focus from 'education in change' to an emphasis on 'education for change'. The latter is about building a better education system which produces critical and creative thinkers capable of addressing some of the fundamental and deep-seated issues confronting the world.

Although the video has a strong compulsory schooling flavour, the message is equally appropriate at the tertiary level as it reminds us of the role and importance of university-level education in developing transformative knowledge. It follows that discussions about the role of technology-enhanced learning needs to be framed around a much bigger conversation concerning the nature and purpose of education in the 21st century. In this regard, teaching with (and without) new digital media has an ethical and moral dimension and educators have a professional responsibility to employ new learning technology where there is a clear transformational advantage.

This is a brief entry to flag a recent BBC podcast on the future of distance learning and the use of new technologies in education. The broadcast reminds us that distance learning is not new and has a long history dating back to the 17th Century.

Notably, the work Antony Pelosi from Massey University is doing gets a mention as Martin Bean, Vice Chancellor of the Open University, UK, is interviewed. Later on in the broadcast the role of m-learning is explored in the developing world with an example of an English in action programme. An example of the use of the so-called $100 laptop is also provided from Brazil. As a born sceptic I still wonder whether these technology lighthouse projects will ultimately address the deep structural problems between the developed and developing world. That said, the first principle of technology-enhanced learning is that you can't explicit the potential if you don't have access to the technology. In many ways, the show doesn't offer anything new but it reminds us that the new learning spaces operate on a global level.

It's rewarding to see early fruits of our efforts to promote the scholarship of teaching in the area of blended learning. In the last year or so Massey University has invested in a number of central initiatives to support innovation and a stronger community of practice in technology-enhanced learning. Although John Kotter and other change theorists warn of the dangers of celebrating success too early, there is a sense of progress and real momentum throughout the University.

The forthcoming ASCiLiTE Conference in Auckland is evidence of our initial success as Massey staff will have a strong presence. ASCilITE is the major Australasian event on using technology for teaching purposes in tertiary education. On last count approximately 25 staff from across a range of academic disciplines and Colleges along with those in ITS and the Library will attend ASCiLiTE.

Impressively, at least 15 staff will be presenting either a poster, symposium or refereed conference paper on some aspect of their work. The conference provides a valuable opportunity to benchmark Massey's progress and contribution to the field against other university and tertiary-level providers. My prediction is that Massey will have the largest presence of any institution in Australasia, including the host institutions. It's not too late to register if you want to join the large Massey team attending this year's ASCiLiTE conference.

The benefits of attending conferences like ASCiLiTE as a professional learning experience are difficult to quantify. In many respects, the immediate value can be measured by whether participants change some aspect of their course or implement a new idea or innovation into their teaching practice after the event. Of course, we rarely follow up to see whether people make such changes. One thing is for certain, nevertheless, the literature is highly supportive of the type networks and professional conversations which occur before, during and after such events, especially when several colleagues join together from one institution.

The longer-term challenge for the Massey group will be to implement any new ideas gathered at ASCiLITE and other such events in sustainable ways which truly promote benefits for learners.

In this brief entry, I report two notable developments.

First, last week the title of my position at Massey University officially changed from 'Director of Distance Education' to 'Director, Blended and Distance Education'. The obvious implication of this change is that my role now extends beyond just distance learning to relevant aspects of campus-based teaching.

I have spoken at length in previous postings on the topic of blended learning which can apply to all delivery modes. In the literature, the definition of blended learning remains open to debate, but at Massey we have been trying to more precisely define what this concept means, in our context, as we develop an institutional-wide Teaching and Learning Framework. The current working definition reads:

“Blended learning at Massey University is about purposely integrating different resources, environments and delivery modes to provide an exceptional and distinctive experience for all students.”

Of course, the definition is far less important than how we enact it and work has already begun on an Operational Plan with specific initiatives aligned to the University's Strategic Plan - The Road to 2020. The intention is to launch a draft of the new Teaching and Learning Framework, which contains key initiatives related to Blended and Distance Education, at a university-wide professional development event in early December.

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