Instead of restating or repeating Derek's blog posting, and the report's Executive Summary, in the spirit of constructive critique there are a number of statements and conclusions that do not sit comfortably with me. For example, arguably one of the most serious flaws in the report is the claim associated with learning styles. The report concludes that “Learning styles are predictors and determinants of learner outcomes” (p.11). As far as I'm concerned the learning styles literature has been well and truly discredited by a number of leading scholars and there is very little evidence supporting this movement. Here is a link to just one report of many in recent years that challenges the validity of learning styles. Indeed some proponents go so far as to totally reject the claim that learning styles exist and in many respects the literature in this area is nothing more than pop psychology. I'm very surprised to see such high level endorsement of learning styles in a Ministry of Eduction report and it raises questions about whether the report was subject to sufficient peer review.

Another statement in the report that raised eyebrows to say the least is the claim that “females prefer a more collaborative, interactive approach whereas males tend to take a more functional approach” (p.14). Such sweeping generalisations are not helpful and this type of conclusion is not as well empirically grounded as common folk knowledge would suggest. Again I'm most surprised to read such a statement in a Ministry report which tends to discredit the validity of other more solidly grounded conclusions.

The other issue I have with this report is a common flaw throughout the e-learning literature in that the use of the term e-learning encompasses a range of practices. Arguably relatively little can be gleamed from studies that do not unpack the different assumptions, pedagogical orientations and tools of e-learning which range from reinforcing the practice of multi-choice tests to supporting media rich and highly complex online scenarios exploring wicked problems. Put another way e-learning is not a stable or fixed entity that can be studied as an independent variable.

At Massey University we intend to devote a forthcoming “Hot Topic” lunchbox session to discussing the major themes and messages in this report. I've already invited the author of the Ministry report to attend this session in order to engender some lively discussion.

Image Source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghholmes2/5426242071/sizes/m/in/photostream

On Friday it was formally announced that I have accepted the positions of Director, National Centre for Teaching and Learning along with the Director of the Distance Education and Learning Futures Alliance (DELFA). The new roles come with a promotion to full professor after an externally contestable selection process. Suffice to say I'm now looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that these directorships offer over the next few years.

In the meantime, a few days ago I came across this video by Corning Incorporated entitled "A Day Made By Glass". It provides a futuristic insight into how lives will be different and potentially transformed through the ways we decide to design, develop and ultimately use new technologies. The video has some stunning examples of new technology applications enabled through glass and it makes you realise that the iPad is just the tip of a new wave of mobile and ubiquitous technologies. The 'class community activity table' looks really valuable as a means of harnessing the social, interactive and collaborative nature of learning. And the large information wall in the Redwood State Park shown during a class field trip is fairly cool.

This is the second version of the original 'A Day Made By Glass' which was a major hit on Youtube with over 17 million hits. I predict it won't be long before this even longer second version of the video surpasses this figure. I'm just a little worried about all the finger marks on the inside of the windscreen as I drive to work reading an electronic newspaper and answering my email... all at the touch of a finger. Sales of Mr Muscle glass cleaner might skyrocket in the future.

The paper argues that research into learning technology is driven by far too much rhetoric and more explicit attention needs to be given to theory. It makes a case for greater engagement with theory through examples from three case studies and goes some way to illustrating the value of creating a more dynamic relationship between theory and practice. Although I'm not sure I totally agree with the sweeping claim that 'theory has had a relatively small role to play in learning technology research to date', there is no question that the field is dominated by 'hype and excitement rather than evidence' (Bennett & Oliver, 2011, p.179). Moreover, a pragmatic interest in exploring the affordances of the latest technological developments is often at the expense of serious theorizing.

Having said that, it's important to recognise that social, economic and educational theories (at least the established ones) can be blinding and rather than 'make sense' of the affordances and possibilities of new learning technologies through our existing theoretical lens, we need to engage in theory building in order to truly imagine alternative learning futures. In particular, I'm talking about futures which are more equitable, socially just and sustainable... for all. Nevertheless, I can't disagree with the following conclusion:

'Research in learning technology has focused on practical, instrumental concerns, to the detriment of its ability to engage with theory. Previous reviews have show that theory has been relatively neglected, with most of those examples that do use theory best characterised as applying it rather than engaging with it in a critical or scholarly way. This situation risks turning the field into a narrow and derivative area of work: at best, only able to draw from other areas; and at worst, only of relevance to those with a vested interest in the specific practical situation currently under study' (p.187).

Let's hope we see more creative and imaginative theories in 2012 as real alternatives solutions to the deep-seated problems we face, which have haunted us over the last 12 months, as our futures really do depend on them. That's probably a good note to sign off for the year as I plan to take a few weeks of much needed rest and relaxation.

Footnote: I need to state for the record that many of our so-called theories are based at best on pop psychology and unsubstantiated sweeping generalizations, so I'm not advocating for more creative theories without supporting evidence. Put bluntly the field suffers from far too much rubbish written in the name of theory, as illustrated by concepts such as the digital native.

The paper goes on to outline how traditional universities are being chiseled away by the rise of the amateur and new business models as a multitude of new higher education providers emerge. The conference reinforced for me how quickly the global higher education landscape is changing in Asia (and beyond) and the role new alliances and partnerships will play in maintaining the relevance, reputation and revenue of both traditional and modern 21st century universities. In particular, the groups and partners that universities decide to associate themselves with will become essential as higher education institutions respond to the challenges of the new global environment. During the conference I was interviewed about these changes although there is only a short extract of this video interview on the conference website.

I was also pleased to collect on behalf of Massey University a QS Award for the Best International Student Recruitment Brochure judged according to the concept, design, layout and content. Massey is currently expanding the number of degree programmes available by distance to international students living overseas and the award recognised the quality of our 2012 Distance Education International Prospectus. Arguably QS is the most reputable of the university ranking systems and Massey recently received 5 stars for the quality of our international programmes (the top ranking) which bodes well for the future of our online and distance education offerings targeting distance learners.

The conference theme for 2012 is: Future Challenges | Sustainable Futures

The theme recognizes that Education is facing a number of significant challenges. Recent waves of global uncertainty coupled with local crisis and government reforms are reshaping the tertiary education landscape. In the backdrop of these challenges new digital technology is enabling new models of teaching and learning. Yet, serious questions remain over the sustainability of these new models and the claims about the potential of new technology, especially in the face of deeper challenges.

The aim of the 2012 ascilite conference is to explore some of these challenges and to better understand the complexity of sustainability—in its widest sense. The basic premise is that what happened in the past is no longer a reliable guide to the future. There are three future-focused sub-themes:

• Learning for the future
• Teachers as future makers
• Leading in a climate of change

Ascilite 2012 will be held on the Wellington waterfront at the iconic Te Papa Tongarewa – National Museum of New Zealand. Enjoy the spectator views of Wellington Habour and take time to discover some of the rich history of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Wellington is an excellent conference venue with lots on offer including a lively nightlife and many tourist attractions within walking distance. Here is a brief and rather amusing video clip of why you need to come to Wellington in November 2012...

The differences between the rankings could reflect regional priorities and the relative evolution and maturity of new developments in different parts of the world. However, we should not rule out questions about the validity of the contrasting selections as they come from experts in the field who should have a local and global outlook.

I have to say the absence of learning analytics is a major omission in the New Zealand report as this area of technological innovation is one of the really 'hot' topics internationally and it has been described as the "next big thing". The second Learning Analytics and Knowledge conference is in Vancouver in May 2012. Arguably, learning analytics has already arrived and I would certainly place the development in the two to three year category.

But then I can hardly complain as I was left off the initial selection process by accident and pressures of work and travel commitment prevented me from participating in the identification and voting process. It is also surprising to see Open Content (i.e. Open Educational Resources) and Digital Scholarship missing from the New Zealand list as I believe these two developments are already reshaping the nature of academic work and the way institutions design and deliver courses.

In terms of scholarship, I encourage you to read Martin Weller's recent book on how technology is reshaping scholarly practice.

Although it seems everyone agrees 'The abundance of resources and relationships made easily accessible via the Internet is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators', I'm less convinced about the New Zealand panel conclusion that, 'The growing availability of bandwidth will dramatically change user behaviours in teaching, learning and research over the next five years'. This claim seems to be very technology-led and overly focused on the supply-side of internet provision. We know from the experience in other countries that more attention is required on the demand-side, especially in tertiary education, as it's naive to think that if we built it, they'll come.

Once again this year I'm a little critical of the failure to acknowledge that new technology is not neutral and more attention could be given in future years to the way technology will impact our lives--for better and worse. Digital exclusion would appear on my list of the major challenges facing tertiary education and New Zealand society at large. We need to be wary of the inherent technological determinism promoted by the annual Horizon Report exercise. But the New Zealand edition of the Report will no doubt generate further discussion and for this reason it serves a useful purpose.

However, it does make me wonder whether we need to start a regular horizon report for predicting the type of new pedagogies that we should expect to see in our tertiary institutions over the next one to five years. Of course the list of pedagogies could be quite short and may not change from one year to the next.

And in terms of pedagogy I'm reminded of the finding in the recent "Going the Distance Report" that less than one-third of chief academic officers believe that their faculty accept the value and legitimacy of online education. This percent has changed little over the last eight years.

The full report is available from the New Media Consortium website.

• 31% of higher education students now take at least one course online

• The 10% growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the 2% growth in the overall higher education student population

• Academic leaders believe that the level of student satisfaction is equivalent for online and face-to-face courses.

• 65% of higher education institutions now say that online learning is a critical part of their long-term strategy.

While the authors report growth rates have declined somewhat from previous years, they "see no evidence that a dramatic slowdown in online enrollments is on the horizon." That said, it is noteworthy that the year-to-year change for the question about long-term strategy was greatest among the for-profit institutions, which increased from 51% agreeing in 2009 to 69% in 2011.

What the survey doesn't discuss is the move by the Federal Government to force online and distance providers to comply with local accreditation requirements for each State in which courses are offered. This change is widely reported as an attempt to address concerns about retention and quality amongst the for-profits and student abuse of the federal loans scheme.

Of particular interest in the report is that less than one-third of chief academic officers believe that their faculty accept the value and legitimacy of online education. This percent has changed little over the last eight years. It begs the question:

• How much progress has really been made in linking online learning to contemporary forms of pedagogy?

In this respect the survey avoids the tough and deeper question of whether the growth in online learning is actually reinforcing rather than challenging the traditional 'dump, dump, pump' model of higher education. Should we be concerned that while student uptake is increasing faculty have yet to be convinced of the benefits, especially in traditional institutions? In this respect the survey notes that "the proportion of chief academic officers that report their faculty accept online education varies widely by type of school."

This last observation raises a serious question of whether online learning can really go the full distance. Arguably, the real test of online learning going the distance is when it becomes central to the mission of ivory league institutions; and by this comment I don't mean simply putting lecture notes online. After all the case of the MIT Open Courseware initiative can be read as a statement in other providers that online learning has no value. A real education still occurs on-campus! Of course not everyone has this luxury and it would be good to see future surveys explore who is studying online and why.

The review was undertaken within a tight timeframe and was in the context of a major business case to expand the digital recording of teaching and learning at Massey University. Key snippets from the Executive Summary include:

• Digital recording of rich media (mainly lectures) is commonplace in many universities.

• Although the recording of lectures can reinforce traditional forms of teaching, there is strong evidence that students want rich media, and use it when it is available and well integrated within the teaching and learning experience.

• That said, students need help to effectively incorporate rich media into their learning and help to relate it to other resources and activities. It can even be counter-productive to effective and efficient learning when used as a standalone resource.

• The most frequent use of rich media is currently to provide a digital recording of what happens in a lecture. Research suggests that recording traditional lectures adds relatively little pedagogical value to the student learning experience. Indeed, there is some evidence that this type of media rich learning can actually increase student workload and lead to more passive forms of learning.

• Innovative case studies illustrate how staff can use rich media to provide active learning for students such as providing feedback on student presentations, allowing students to interact with the rich media so they can share summaries and have further opportunities to discuss and ask questions.

• Put simply, the real value of rich media learning depends on how it is used by staff and students. The principles of effective teaching apply to the use of rich media learning and the digital recording of content should be fully integrated with other learning experiences, particularly the learning management system.

• Ideally there should be a follow up activity which relates to the digitally recorded content so that students are required to engage with the material in a manner that is constructively aligned with the learning intentions and course assessment. In other words, rich media must be fully embedded in course design rather than ‘added on’ to an existing paper as an optional extra.

• Most effective use of media rich learning is when recorded content is packaged as small learning objects or nuggets which have been carefully edited or selected to scaffold the student learning experience. Such objects also have the advantage of potential reuse in related courses.

• The pedagogical benefits of rich media learning depends on the way it is used by staff and requires appropriate professional development. In addition, some teachers are resistant to digital recording due to ethical and professional concerns. Therefore, it is essential to support digital recording initiatives with appropriate policies and procedures.

• An increasing abundance of rich media is now available for learning and teaching as open educational resources (OER). Some of this material is high quality content and more universities are actively promoting the use and repurposing of OERs rather than investing in producing their own rich media.

Within the body of our synthesis we identify many of the methodological problems with research in this area, including potential Hawthorn Effects and the danger of relying on research funded by key suppliers. A list of publications that informed the synthesis appears at the end of this posting but one of the most valuable reports in this area comes from Maree Gosper and colleagues in a study funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council. Entitled The Impact of Web-based Lecture Technologies on Current and Future Practices in Learning and Teaching the report comes to the following conclusions:

• Students appreciate the flexibility in access and support for learning - staff have concerns

• WBLT have contributed to a blurring of the boundaries between internal and external students

• Introducing WBLT will change lecture attendance patterns and may raise questions about the role of lectures

• Using WBLT demands changes in the way students learn and teachers teach

• Introducing WBLT is more than a teaching issue – it will affect the design of the whole curriculum

• Introducing WBLT has professional and organisational development implications

In the conclusion to our own report we acknowledge that research in this area lags behind the technological innovation, as evidence takes time to accumulate. The fact that students appear to value rich media cannot be ignored. However, there is a need for further research to identify how digitally recorded rich media enhances the quality of teaching and influences student learning outcomes. In this regard, the key to effective rich media use is student engagement and future research should focus more on this dimension as opposed to latest technical innovations in digital recording. While the technology has an important role it is how it is used by teachers (and students) that will influence the benefits for learners. With this last point in mind we conclude that investing in staff development is essential to increasing the quality of teaching that leads to increased student satisifaction and outcomes for learners. No surprises here as this point remains a salient lesson about the effective use of any new digital technology for educational purposes.

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