Dr Simon Shurville: Change, Innovation, Education

The Clash

2011-12-24T19:04:00.000-08:00

"The Magnificnet Seven"

The Clash

Over run!

Basil

2008-11-16T15:08:00.000-08:00

"Growing up" - Bruce Springsteen

This week I saved a Basil plant that was dying in my garden by transplanting him. Every day I see new leaves and new life in him. As my wife says "gardening may not be cheap but it saves your soul".

Presenting at ASCILITE 08

2008-11-16T15:00:00.000-08:00

"But I tried to keep the overhead low" - Ryan Adams

I will be presenting 'Employing Educatonal Technologists: A Call for Evidenced Change' at at ASCILITE 08 in Melbourne: "Flexible technology-enhanced learning environments, both educationally and institutionally are key enablers for delivering efficient mass higher education. Educational technologists make significant contributions to the development and organizational embedding of such environments. Their emerging role is complex as it requires current knowledge and skills in learning and teaching, management and information technology. Given the strategic importance of the contributions that educational technologists now make to their institutions, we propose an international program of empirical research to analyze current issues and future trajectories relating to their aspirations, careers, management and organizational locations."

Keywords: educational technologists, flexible learning, management, organizational structure

The full citation is: Shurville, S., Browne, H. and Whitaker, M. (2008) Employing Educatonal Technologists: A Call for Evidenced Change. In Hello! Where are you in the landscape of educational technology? Proceedings ascilite Melbourne 2008. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/procs/shurville.pdf

A Hopi Leader Speaks

2008-10-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

"Gimmie some truth" - John Lennon

"You have been telling the people that this is the eleventh hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the hour. And there are things to be considered . . .

Where are you living?

What are you doing?

What are your relationships?

Where is your water?

Know your garden.

It is time to speak your truth.

Create your community.

Be good to each other.

And do not look outside yourself for the leader."

Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said, "This could be a good time!"

2009 DACeL Conference

2008-09-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

"Back in the highlife again" - Steve Winwood

I am proud to be on the scientific commitee of DACeL 2009, which aims to address the many opportunities, challenges and new directions presented by ICT innovations in Defence-related educational settings.

Its plenary sessions, workshops, and round table discussions enable a sustained examination of how e-learning can be effectively integrated into all facets of Defence and Professional military Education. As such, the conference will provide participants with a forum for intensive interdisciplinary interaction and collegial debate. Those attending DACeL 2009 will leave with an excellent overview of current thinking, strategies, practices, and tools for creating e-learning environments appropriate for twenty-first century Defence education establishments.

Venue: Stellenbosch, South Africa on 25-27th of March, 2009.

Epistemological unification of the disciplines

2008-09-20T17:36:00.000-07:00

"... One too many mornings,

and a 1000 miles behind"

- Bobby D

Here is a paper that Bernard Scott and I wrote called Epistemological Unification of the Disciplines: The Contributions of Socioccybernetics. We presented it at the 6th European Congress on Systems Science in Paris in 2005: "In order to develop transdisciplinary working across the disciplines, clear epistemological foundations are required. Without these, even simplistic approaches to interdisciplinarity are likely to fail. Our proposal is that sociocybernetics promises to provide the required unifying metadisciplinary epistemological foundations and transdisciplinary frameworks. We note that second order cybernetics provides a metadisciplinary framework for discerning the causes and cures for the schisms within the natural and cognitive sciences. The particular contributions of sociocybernetics are to (i) extend the second order understandings to unify the social sciences and (ii) by incorporating extant sociological theory back into the transdisciplinary pursuits of cybernetics and systems theory to enlighten and enrich those pursuits. In order to highlight the power and fruitfulness of these contributions from sociocybernetics, we problematise, deconstruct and reconstruct key concepts concerned with human communication. To do this, we take as central the question, What is a symbol?”.

It is a follow on to my first ever paper: Shurville, S. (1993). “The Symbol Grounding Problem and Machine Learning”, in Proceedings of IASTED/IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Manufacturing, Christ Church, Oxford, September 1993.

The Professors are Revolting Against the High Prices of Textbooks

2008-09-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

"I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind,

got my paperAnd I was free." - The Indigo Girls

Bob Lefsetz runs a facinating mailing list on the e-changes going on in the music buisiness (an old stomping ground of mine). Today he ran the following snippet on a related issue that should interest academics and educational technologists: "The most fascinating story of today is in the "New York Times". Wherein professors are revolting against the high prices of textbooks. And releasing their own works online, for free! In one case forgoing a $100,000 advance. The silver lining? Greater distribution. A wider spread of the information. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/technology/15link.html?ref=business)"

You can visit Tom's archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/--If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1.

EduPunk

2008-09-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

The following is from my mate Asher Rospigliosi's blog:

One of the highlights for me, at ALt-C was the Edupunk debate. My mate (from ICICTE 2007) Steve Wheeler challenged us with a great presentation, and took the table by storm with his funny and poetic stance. Who could not be inspired? Well, it turned out age race and gender might have had a slight impact, as Helen Keegan pointed out "EduPunk: Yes it is a white, male, middle-aged thing. Our students would be ashamed of us". This was the livliest discussion I got to participate in at an inspiring and very lively conference!
Here is PowerPoint presentation for the Edupunk session

More on fanzines

2008-09-15T15:01:00.001-07:00

" .. the kind you find in a second hand strore"

Rasberry Berret - Prince

The British Library runs an interesting site on Fanzines at http://www.bl.uk/collections/britirish/modbrizines.html. I was interested to learn there more about a genre called Women's Zines: "Women's zines are generally independent small-circulation self-published magazines and are characterised by a striking do-it-yourself aesthetic and attitude. They are diverse, covering topics from music, art, politics, parenting, ethnicity, sexuality, class issues, religion, feminism and much more. Distributed at concerts, record shops, and at ladyfests, weekend music and discourse festivals devoted to women performers, they complement and derive from the punk-related feminist rock music scene, particularly the Riot Grrrl movement with its immediate origins in the early 1990s music scene of British Columbia, Canada, and the Pacific Northwest of the United States." I remember meeting Karren Ablze, probably not her real name, at some 90s womens punk concerts where she used to hawk a great womens' music zine called Ablaze. I wonder what happened to her?

Lew Stringer http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2007/10/who-says-comics-fanzines-are-dead.html has written a nice blog entry about modern comics fanzines: "The glory days of numerous self-published comics fanzines may reside in the 1970s and 1980s but the internet hasn't completely killed off these labours of love. At the Birmingham International Comics Show a few weeks ago I picked up two titles that dedicate themselves to two sometimes neglected areas of comics; classic British weeklies and Fifties horror comics." This is ineteresting reading for everyone who wonders about alternatives to Web 2.0. The social networking that comes from hawking a fanzine is incredible (I met some of my best friends through the old comics and punk fanzine culture). It is like playing a gig verses distributing tunes via the YouTube. Both have their place but the web should offer an alternative not the whole enchalada.

There is a good article on how much fanzines can be worth at http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-much-is-fanzine-worth.html. Amazingly the one on the right is going for £325.00. But as Butch Hancock once sang "Who can put a price on what you learn, baby what's it worth to you?".

Fanzines

2008-09-13T05:40:00.001-07:00

"Let's go crazy" - Prince (get it?)

My first experiance of self publishing, which was a distant precursor to this blog, was a fanzine called Planet, which was printed by my mother Shirely Slimane. She worked long and hard on that!

In those days we used Gestetner duplicating printers. A recent visit to Comics Kingdom in Syndey took me right back to the era. There were some fanzines from back in the day. It is amazing that they have survived over thirty years.

The picture at the top of the page is of Bemusing, which was a great fanzine published by Martin Lock. I have a soft spot in my memory for The Comics Times (published by Asher Rospigliosi back when we called him Pel) and the works of Paul Hudson (later emporer of Comics Showcase in Covent Garden and Oxford and now a postman), Guy Lawley and Nick Niocholas. There was also an interesting chap called Andy Polaris who went onto be the singer in the great forgotten band Animal Nightlife (he and his mates were the generation just after us who went around comic conventions dressed rather stylishly as Rick Deckard from Blade Runner when we still dressed like Shane McGowan without the class). In the words of my old mate Si Spannavich "all those blokes came good".

Always Coming Home: Applying Force Field Analysis

2008-09-12T23:13:00.000-07:00

"OOOOHHHH, OOOOHHHH, OOOOHHHH, OOOOHHHH, Can you feel the force?" - The Real Thing

"Always Coming Home: Applying Force Field Analysis as a Structured Approach to Eliciting Ongoing Organizational Contexts and Requirements for Flexible Learning" is a paper I wrote for ICICTE 2007 with Mrs Aurélie Owens of Cranfield University. It is due to see publication in the UCFV Research Review. This paper is about helping academic and professional university staff to engage with flexible learning. We will argue that flexible learning is, in Ursula LeGuin’s phrase, “always coming home” because transformations to flexible learning can never be complete. This notion suggests that flexible learning actually requires a constant personal and institutional commitment to change management and staff development. The paper features a tutorial on applying Force Field Analysis to drive staff development workshops to engage academic and professional staff in the personal and institutional changes heralded by flexible learning. It also includes reflections on the use of Force Field Analysis from a facilitator and a participant observer. This is an example of practice-based research, which enables professionals to make informed decisions about if, where, and when to use a particular method. As The UCFV Research Review is not a specialized educational journal, we will introduce flexible learning, its critiques and some of the burning issues which herald widespread change to individual practice and institutional structure in higher education.

Keywords: change management, flexible learning, force field analysis, institutional change in higher education, personal change, practice-based research, staff development, staff development workshops

ConFigures: The Laptop Bake-Off

2008-09-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

"Baking* rocks in the hot sun"

- The Clash (channeling Bobby Fuller and his fearsome four)

Sarah Elkins, a configuration management specialist and knowledge gardener, runs a very interesting blog at http://configures.sarahelkins.org/about/. Her Laptop Bake-Off is a great idea!

* OK Clash and Fuller fans, you know I cheated with the lyrics there.

Research Communities: A Commercial REAL for Distributed Postgraduates and Professionals

2008-09-12T04:35:00.000-07:00

"Real, real gone" - Van Morrison

Here is a paper called Research Communities: A Commercial REAL for Distributed Postgraduates and Professionals that I wrote with Richard Harding of Harrow Business School, University of Westminster and Dr Sarah Vaughan of Research Communities back at the turn of the century. " ... We then describe the design of Research Communities, a commercial learning environment that augments traditional Rich Environments for Active Learning (REALs) in three ways: (i) by providing AI tools for independent research, (ii) by maintaining a learning portfolio and (iii) by facilitating the formation of self organizing communities of practice. Finally, we describe a formative evaluation undertaken with international MBA students. ... A suitable Rich Environments for Active Learning (REAL) should address the learners’ needs for access to authentic materials and management of limited research time. REALs need not be centered upon pre-designed multimedia or micro-world resources (Grabinger and Dunlap, 2000). However, if REALs are centered upon such resources, they may restrict learners to a predetermined conclusion, solution or opinion. Centering on the World Wide Web contrasts with such closed resources because it offers any number of viewpoints on a given topic. The potential problem is that the learner must spend precious searching time for relevant information. Research Communities applied intelligent tools to tame the web and help learners to optimize their research time ... " (Shurville, Vaughan S. and Harding R., 2001).

Reference: Shurville S., Vaughan S. and Harding R., (2001). Research Communities: a Commercial Research Environment for Active Learning for Distributed Postgraduates and Professionals, Computer Aided Learning 2001, University of Warwick, UK.

Educational Technology: An Ecumenical Stance

2008-09-12T04:20:00.000-07:00

"Get up, stand up" - Bob Marley

Here is the paper Educational Technology: An Ecumenical Stance, which I wrote with Sue Greener and Asher Rospigliosi for ICICTE 2008. (The picture is of Urulua LeGuin, who wrote The Ecumen books).

We examine media & technological determinism in the context of educational technology. We argue that educational technologists cannot take a ‘deterministic stance’ & should practice ethics founded on an ecumenical view of theory & technology. Taking a cue from social cognitive theory, senior educational technologists should also visibly engage in reflective practice leading to ethical outcomes to motivate less senior members of the profession to do likewise. We note the problem that many senior educational technologists are aligned with a particular theory and/or technology, which has helped them to secure their position. They will need to change their outlook in order to address these goals & this is very hard for senior practioners to do. We suggest that action learning might offer a supportive route to personal transformation.

Shurville, S., Greener, S. and Rospiglosi, A. (2008). Educational Technology: An Ecumenical Stance. In the proceedings of the 8th International Conference of Information and Communications Technologies in Education, Corfu, Greece.

Developing collaborative competence in the records managers of the future

2008-09-12T02:42:00.000-07:00

"People have the Power" - Patti Smith

Here is the PowerPoint from my presentation at Adopting & Adapting, the 25th International Convention of the Records Management Association of Australasia, 7th - 10th September 2008, Sydney, Australia. Developing Records Managers with their Mashedup Heads in the Clouds. Be good little PowerPoint.

Oh Maggie, I wish I'd never seen your face

2008-09-11T17:01:00.001-07:00

"Oh Maggie I wish I'd never seen your face ..."

- Rod Stewart only as performed by The Pogues

I'm just back from Syndey. I was staying in the Spanish Quater in Liverpool Street, where the Tapas is good and Comics Kingdom is a trasure trove. I visted Red Eye Records and bought the new Pogues boxed set, which is something magic. Everyone should have one. Their version of Maggie May is 'worth the dying' as James Crumley once wrote of the rockies.

And talking of Liverpool and Maggie, here are some fine words that a certain Pogues producer once wrote about a Maggie I wish I had never seen:

"Well I hope I dont die too soon

I pray the lord my soul to save

Oh Ill be a good boy, Im trying so hard to behave

Because theres one thing I know, Id like to liveLong enough to savour

Thats when they finally put you in the ground

I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down ..." - Elvis Costello

Fair play to you Elvis, fair play!

'cause I've heard so much about it, I don't want to live without it

2008-09-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

"Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes ..."
- Billy Joel (but as sung by Ronnie Spector)

OK, so a small come back; if it's good enough for Bill Clinton, then it's good enough for me.

Say Goodbye to Hollywood

2008-08-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

"Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes,

now it's time for goodbye again"

- Billy Joel (but as sung by Ronnie Spector)

Well, it has been fun; but I am going to retire from this blog as I have more pressing things to do.

Archivin' in Freo

2008-08-10T16:21:00.000-07:00

'And she said "Tell me are you a Christian child?"

And I said "Ma'am I am tonight"... ' - Marc Cohen

I just returned from a few days in Perth for the conference of the Australian Society of Archivists (Archives: Discovery and Exploration). I learnt a fair amount about archiving and its culture in the digital age and was impressed by the organization of the conference. Professor Eric Ketelaar, keynote "Exploration of the archived world: from De Vlamingh’s plate to digital realities” was excellent.

In Perth I encountered some wisdom from Confucius waiting patiently within 78 Records. I also picked up a remastered copy of Rock N Roll by John Lennon for ten bucks. His version of Stand By Me always reminds me of Marian. Being in W.A. meant I got to catch up with Peter Mayall and Barry O'Grady of ICICTE fame (these guys won the friends of the conference award this year). Hanging with Barry and Pete is always a privilege. Pete cooked up a wicked BBQ and Barry went well above and beyond the call over the next few days. I stayed in Fremantle, which offered the opportunity to revisit some old haunts. Clancy’s Fish Pub is still a winner. The buskers in the Fremantle Market Bar did not disappoint. One of them recognized me as an old Freo hand and sang a George Formby classic in honour of my wife and a version of 'Guilty' for me. Most of all, however, it was nice just to recognize faces in the street of people I have never met but know nonetheless. As Frank Sinatra should have sung ‘Fremantle, you’re my kind of town’.

Still, it is always inspireing to come back home to Adealide. To feel the fresh air from the antarctic and see the hills protecting the city. And, in Marc Cohen's words, to touch down in the pouring rain. I swear our lemon tree seems has grown while I was away and the Bougainvillea is winning its battle against the frost. Be brave little plant, as Phil used to sing "The nights are getting warmer, It won't be long, Won't be long till summer comes ..." I dedicate that one to Barry and his good lady Gill.

Exploring style: Enhancing the capacity to learn

2008-08-04T00:08:00.000-07:00

"Unlimited capacity for love" - Grace Jones

A special issue of Education and Training: "Exploring style: Enhancing the capacity to learn"

This special issue features a selection of papers from the 12th Annual European Learning Styles Information Network Conference on the place of cognitive style in enhancing the capacity to learn. These papers discussed articulate various ways through the cognitive/learning style terminology conundrum to help facilitate advancements in educational practice in a meaningful and informed way. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/et.htm. Go to volume 50, issue 2.

I am interested by the learning styles debate and I am very glad to see this special issue offer an accessable way in to the current debate .

The Library and the Internet: Special Issue of On The Horizon

2008-08-04T00:05:00.001-07:00

"Somewhere out on that horizon" - Joe Walsh (from The Warriors soundtrack)

A special issue of On The Horizon: “The Library and the Internet”

On the Horizon is the strategic planning resource for education professionals in the international post secondary and life-long learning arena. An environmental scanning journal, On the Horizon covers corporate universities, e-learning, private for-profit degree granting institutions as well as the traditional university. Areas include the business of education delivery, content and certification, as well as rules and regulations in areas such as institutions and intellectual property.

This special issue is devoted to new concepts and innovations in higher education, especially online, that may provide impetus for a paradigm shift. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/oth.htm. Go to volume 16, number 1, 2008. The papers include:

Constructing the café university: teaching and learning on the digital frontier by Cornel J. Reinhart
Can we talk? Course management software and the construction of knowledge by Carla R. Payne and Cornel J. Reinhart
Adaptive individualization: the next generation of online education by Nish Sonwalkar

As program director for the MSc in Library and Information Management at the University of South Australia, I am always glad of the chance to keep up to date with progress in this area.

ICICTE 2008

2008-08-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

"These miss you nights ... are the long nights" - Cliff Richard

Sadly we could not attend ICICTE this year as it was impossible to get plane tickets from Australia to Greece due to the Olympics. However, we were pleased to be woken up in the middle of the night by a phone call from Henk, Ken, Nancy and Nicole from the conference dinner. Even though you were eating Greek lamb on a balmy summer evening and we were huddled in a South Australia winter without central heating, we missed you guys.

I also missed my spars Asher and Mitch at ICICTE. However, I was unsuprised to learn that Asher has burned down his house in the country in order to move into a Tipee. Anyway, I hear he did a great job of presenting the paper by Shurville, Greener and Rospigliosi.

This year the ICICTE special issue of Campus Wide Information Systems will be edited by Dr Michael Henderson. Mike is already doing a superb job and I predict he will edit his own journal before we know it.

Some recent papers

2008-08-02T06:18:00.000-07:00

"Now I believe this, and it's been proven by research ..." - Joe Strummer

Here are some recent publications and presentations:

Shurville, S. and Owens, A. (in press). Always Coming Home: Applying Force Field Analysis as a Structured Approach to Eliciting Ongoing Organizational Contexts and Requirements for Flexible Learning. UCFV Research Review.
Shurville, S., O’Grady, T., and Mayall, P. (2008). Educational and institutional Flexibility of Australian Educational Software. Campus-Wide Information Systems,Volume 25, Issue 2, pp 74-84.
Scott, B., Shurville, S., Maclean, P. and Cong, C. (2007). Cybernetic Principles for Learning Design. Kybernetes, Volume 36, Issue 9/10, pp 1497 - 1514.
Browne, T. and Shurville, S. (2007) Educating Minds for the Knowledge Economy. Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change, Volume 4, Issue 1, pp 3-12.
Greener, S., Rospiglosi, A. and Shurville, S. (2007). Engaging from the Inside: Reflections on the Value of Social Cognitive Theory for Learning in Online Discussion. In the proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on e-Learning, Columbia University, New York, USA.
Greener, S., Shurville, S. and Rospiglosi, A. (2007). The Value of Social Cognitive Theory in Online Discussion: Reflection via a Critical Incident repertory Grid. In the proceedings of the 7th International Conference of Information and Communications Technologies in Education, Crete, Greece.
Shurville, S. and Browne, T. (eds.) (2007). A special double issue of the Journal of Organizational Transformation and Social Change on ICT-Driven Change in Higher Education (Part Two). Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change, Volume 4, Issue 1.
Shurville, S. and Fernstrom, K. (eds.) (2007a). Special Issue of Campus Wide Information Systems on Global Educational Networks for the Common Good. Campus Wide Information Systems, Volume 24, Issue 3.
Shurville, S. and Fernstrom, K. (2007b). From Rhodes to Global Educational Networks for the Common Good. Campus Wide Information Systems, Volume 24, Issue 3.
Shurville, S. and Owens, A. (2007). Engaging Colleagues in Personal and Organizational Change via Force Field Analysis. In the proceedings of the 7th International Conference of Information and Communications Technologies in Education, Crete, Greece.
Shurville, S. (2007) Successful ICT-Driven Change in Higher Education. Presented at International Hive User Group 3rd Annual Conference, Perth Western Australia.
Browne, T. and Shurville, S. (2006). Initiating E-learning by Stealth at a Late Majority Institution. In Fernstrom, K. and Tsolakidis, K. (eds.) Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information Technologies in Education pp 101-106.
Luckin, R., Shurville, S. and Browne, T. (2006). Initiating E-Learning by Stealth, Participation and Consultation in a Late Majority Institution. Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change, Volume 3, Issue 3, pp 317-332.
Shurville, S. and Browne, T. (eds.) (2006a). A special double issue of the Journal of Organizational Transformation and Social Change on ICT-Driven Change in Higher Education (Part One). Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change, Volume 3, Issue 3.
Shurville, S. and Browne, T. (2006b). Introduction: ICT-Driven Change in Higher Education: Learning from E-Learning. Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change, Volume 3, Issue 1, pp 245-250.
Shurville, S., Simpson-Horn, G., Scott, B., Lee, M. P. and Harrison, A. (2006) Outcomes of the Periodic Review of an MSc in Knowledge Management Systems Taught via Flexible Learning. In Fernstrom, K. and Tsolakidis, K. (eds.) Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information Technologies in Education, pp 348-352.
Scott, B. and Shurville, S. (2005). Epistemological Unification of the Disciplines: The Contributions of Socio- Cybernetics. In the proceedings of the Sixth European Congress on Systems Science Paris, France, September 19-22, 2005 (CD-ROM only).
Shurville, S., Rospigliosi, A. and Scott, B. (2005). Innovative courses in E-Business Information Systems for SMEs. In Méndez-Vilas, A. , González-Pereira, B., J. Mesa González, J., and Mesa González, J.A. (eds.) Recent Research Developments in Learning Technologies. Published by FORMATEX, Badajoz, Spain, pp 160-164.
Shurville, S. Lee, M., Scott, B. and Harrison, A. (2005). Design, Development and Delivery of an Innovative Blended MSc in Knowledge Management. In Hawamdeh, S. (ed.) Knowledge Management: Nurturing Culture, Innovation and Technology, Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific, pp 537-550.
Shurville, S. and Williams, J. (2005). Managing In-House Development of a Campus-Wide Information System. Campus-Wide Information Systems, 22, 1, pp 15-27.

Where the copyright is kosher, these can be requested from me.

Bose Acoustic Wave® Music System II

2008-07-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

"Wave" - Patti Smith Group

I have just bought an Acoustic Wave® Music System II for the family room. As my wife and I share this room, it had to sound good and be unobtrusive. It also has to rock like Phil Lynott drinking with Alex Harvey in The Speakeasy.

Like many people, I find Bose products over priced (I bought mine from e-bay) and they do not provide what I would call true hi-fi. *But* they make really usable products, that sound great and that you can enjoy in living areas of the house (come round to the music room and I will play you some ugly hi fi that would make Phil and Alex reach for another sharpner). I find that the Acoustic Wave fills the room with enough of the Byrds live at the Albert Hall to fill my chest cavity while working out on the cross trainer, which is important. On the other hand, for a AU$2000 system it is penny pinching not to get the Wave® Music System Premium Backlit Remote Control as standard (I had to order one from e-bay USA): once you get past 40 it is impossible to read standard remotes and who else can afford to buy this stuff? (Rich young people seem happy to use computers as sound sources and Bose make a really nice Companion® 3 Series II Multimedia Speaker System for them.)

Bose are *not* the Apple of hi-fi, which is what I think they aspire to be, but they do make some neat products. On the basis of this system I recommend them. We are already on the lookout for a second hand 5.1 system and I’d love an external system for the new deck.

PS If you want real hi fi for a reasonable price I reccomend Naim of Salisbury, UK. Especially the new HDX Hard Disk player with Burr-Brown PCM1791A digital to analogue converter. Incidentally, if you love pre-loved hi fi and live in the UK, then you cannot do better than visit the nice man at Tom Tom Audio.

'Surely she's noticed that everybody is writing science fiction now?'

2008-07-15T18:39:00.000-07:00

"And it stoned me" - Van Morrison

This is rather off topic but, since I love Ursula K Le Guin and Jeanette Winterson, finding out that Ursula had reviewed Winterson's The Stone Gods was something I just had to share.

I bought a copy of The Stone Gods in Adealide shortly after I moved to Australia. As the first full-price book I had bought in Australia, it will always leave a large hole in my mental wallet! Books are expensive here. In this case it was worth the $. The Stone Gods is a great read.

Always Coming Home - a paper accepted by the UCFV Research Review

2008-07-15T18:15:00.000-07:00

"I left home too young" - Bob Dylan

The UCFV Research Review have accepted a paper I wrote with Ms Aurélie Owens* of Cranfield University, entitled 'Always Coming Home: Applying Force Field Analysis as a Structured Approach to Eliciting Ongoing Organizational Contexts and Requirements for Flexible Learning'.

The paper is about helping academic and professional university staff to engage with flexible learning. We will argue that flexible learning is, in Ursula LeGuin’s phrase, “always coming home” because transformations to flexible learning can never be complete. This notion suggests that flexible learning actually requires a constant personal and institutional commitment to change management and staff development. The paper features a tutorial on applying Force Field Analysis (Lewin, 1951) to drive staff development workshops to engage academic and professional staff in the personal and institutional changes heralded by flexible learning. It also includes reflections (Schön, 1983) on the use of Force Field Analysis from a facilitator and a participant observer. This is an example of practice-based research (Bourner and O’Hara, 2000), which enables professionals to make informed decisions about if, where, and when to use a particular method. As The UCFV Research Review is not a specialized educational journal, we will introduce flexible learning, its critiques and some of the burning issues which herald widespread change to individual practice and institutional structure in higher education.

References

Bourner, T. & O’Hara, S. (2000). Practitioner-centered research, in: Bourner, T., Katz, T. & Watson, D. (Eds.) New directions in professional higher education (Buckingham, SRHE/Open University Press).

Le Guin, U. K. (1985). Always Coming Home. New York: Gollancz.

Lewin K. (1951). Field Theory in Social Science. New York: Harper and Row.

Schön, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Cambridge, MA: Basic Books.

*Aurélie Owens has been active in the plagerism debate.

Upcoming conferences

2008-07-04T22:31:00.000-07:00

"Hey, Eddie, can you lend me a few bucks,

And tonight can you get us a ride?"

- Bruce Springsteen

This year I plan to attend the following conferences:

6-9th August, 2008, Perth, Archives: Discovery and Exploration Australian Society of Archivists (attending)

2-5th September, 2008, Alice Springs, dreaming08 ALIA 2008 Biennial (attending)

7 - 10th September 2008, Sydney, Adopting & Adapting 25th International Convention Records Management Association of Australasia (presenting)

20-21 November 2008, Adelaide, The ATN Assessment Conference 2008 will be held at on 20-21 November at the University of South Australia (representing CWIS)

ASCILITE Melbourne, Deakin University, Nov 30 - Dec 3 2008

Indigenous knowledge management event

2008-06-21T19:19:00.000-07:00

"I'll be courting some disasterWith the Melbourne wrecking crew" - The Indigo Girls (God bless them)

I have just returned from a master class in indigenous knowledge management held in Melbourne.

This is an area I am really interested in partly because I want to learn more about the history of my new home and partly because I think that the desert knowledge, in particular, is going to become really useful as things heat up here and elsewhere. (You can learn more about desert knowledge from the program of the 2008 DESERT INNOVATION FESTIVAL.)

There are many other issues involved in the area of indigenous knowledge management. For example

how western corporations can learn from owners of indigenous knowledge without exploiting them
how IT professionals can interact ethically and professionally with owners of indigenous knowledge.

Our track record in both cases is not good. Looking to the future, I hope to integrate indigenous knowledge management into the BIM and L&IM programs I direct at the University of South Australia.

In terms of e-learning, indigenous knowledge is hard to represent for a good many cultural reasons, not least of which is the permission to use knowledge that developers do not own. Also, within some cultures, representing people with multimedia can mean that the material cannot be used when these people die. I think that all of us will come to rely on a good deal of indigenous knowledge for our future survival. There are many challenges ahead. We need to start thinking about the ethical and educational issues before the sun sets.

Interactive Technology and Smart Education - Call for Papers

2008-06-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

"Baby this a new age ... maybe we can start a new phase" - Ayo Technology, 50 Cent

As an Emerald assistant editor, I am always interested when Emerald picks up a new educational technology journal and they have just made the following announcment.

Interactive Technology and Smart Education - Call for Papers

Emerald Group Publishing Limited is pleased to announce the acquisition of Interactive Technology and Smart Education (ITSE) and invites authors to submit a paper to the journal.

Interactive Technology and Smart Education (ITSE) is a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed journal, which provides a distinct forum to specially promote innovation and human-/user-centred approaches. This is through a passionate emphasis on the need to seriously employ solutions from Human Computer Interaction (HCI) to technology and education. It also encourages combining solutions from HCI with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and/or multimedia and the Web technology to advance innovation in interactive technology generally and its applications in education. The journal also promotes evaluation as a continuous and an integral part of the development cycle of usable solutions/systems (rather than a final stage in the development cycle). By bringing together these specialist fields, the journal aims to bridge an existing gap in interactive technology and educational technology research, which would help advance innovation in these areas.

CoverageContributions are solicited in any of the two main broad themes - interactive technology and SMART education - covered individually or combined. Possible topics include, but are not limited to the following:

Novel approaches
Participatory approaches for design and development
Ergonomics and Human factors
Interaction, usability and accessibility issues
Approaches providing solutions for users with various special needs
Related social and psychological issues
Other cultural issues (e.g. multilingual and multicultural issues)
Pedagogical methods and quality assurance
New emerging technologies (e.g. Multimedia and the Web)
Computer-supported co-operative approaches and Mediated communication
Assessment and evaluation techniques and methodologies
Design (e.g. user interface design, types of interfaces, principles of good design practice)
Interaction and Interaction Styles
Usability engineering methods and concepts
Usability evaluation

Submissions should be emailed to the Editor itse@emeraldinsight.com.

Institute of Change Management

2008-05-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

"Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards" - Bob Dylan

The University of Brighton Business School has announced a formal launch for the Institute of Change Management ™.

When: 18th June 2008
Where: University of Brighton, Sallis Benney Theatre, Grand Parade, Brighton
What time: 5.30pm onwards

This gathering will be the first in a series of networking events, where change management practitioners will be able to mix, exchange experiences, renew old friendships and make new ones. A varied programme of guest speakers, information about the role and activity of the Institute and facilitated networking will be buoyed along by food and refreshments.

If you would like to attend the event from 5.00pm 18 June, please respond to Business.Services@brighton.ac.uk or telephone + 44 (0)1273 643222.

Special issue of Quality Assurance in Education on Assuring Quality in E-Learning

2008-05-23T00:19:00.000-07:00

The Editor of Quality Assurance in Education invites submissions for a special issue of the journal on Assuring Quality in E-Learning, guest Edited by Dr Alistair Inglis.

With growth in the capability of Internet, interest in e-learning amongst education and training providers, and national accreditation and quality agencies has grown exponentially. Delivery of courses is a multi-faceted activity. Consequently, the process of measuring quality in education relies on addressing the range of factors that impact the learner’s experience and measuring those appropriately. While in many countries, moves to measure quality are often controversial, in the developing nations particular difficulties are experienced because of the relative lack of sophistication of governmental and institutional administrative infrastructure.

Over the years, Quality Assurance in Education has carried a number of articles dealing with particular aspects of e-learning. The aim of this special issue is to present in one volume, perspectives on a variety of matters faced by education providers in relation to quality assurance in electronic delivery of education.

Articles are sought on any of the following topics:

Pedagogical and assessment strategies for quality in electronic educational delivery,
Effective strategies for incorporating e-learning into campus-based courses,
Monitoring and improving quality of education in an electronic environment,
Benchmarking for electronic educational delivery,
Optimising systems for electronic educational delivery,
Developing and validating quality frameworks for electronic education, and
Transnational issues and policy development for electronic educational delivery and accreditation.

Articles submitted for consideration should be research-based looking at different aspects of, and approaches to quality in e-learning. An article may take a critical look at the issues from an institutional perspective or in terms of some aspect of educational theory, or alternatively may examine the social and national policy issues involved in developing/monitoring quality assurance systems.

Submissions should preferably be sent as email attachments to jqae@rmit.edu to arrive no later than 15th December 2008. For a general submission guidelines see: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/info/journals/qae/notes.jsp. Manuscripts will be reviewed and a decision on acceptance will be made within 12 weeks of receipt of a submission.

Village Records News Blog

2008-05-08T02:18:00.000-07:00

"Eight miles high ... and when you touch down" - The Byrds

This is off topic but ... Village Records, who are the best online source of CDs for educational technologists of a certain age, now have a blog: http://villagerecordsnews.blogspot.com/. It is a great place to find news about music like that pictured on the right. I just bought some great live albums from them by Gene Clark, Tift Merrit, Southside Johnny and Tom Russell. Plus a great disc of Tom Russell obscurities. Go treat yourselves!

Campus-Wide Information Systems- Special Issue on ePortfolios, employability and lifelong learning in the knowledge society

2008-05-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

This year CWIS will publish a special issue with the highest ranking academic papers from the ePortfolio conference 2007, which was held in October 2007. (cf. http://events.eife-l.org/ep2007). ePortfolio is the key international event for the growing community of professionals interested in, and working with, ePortfolios. It brings together policy-makers, researchers, teachers, trainers, human resource managers and technologists. As a thematic event devoted to one domain, it allows an in-depth and broad exploration of the issues - and results in real outcomes. The special issue will be guest-edited by Professor Rob Koper and Dr Steven Verjans (click here for Steven's blog).

I am managing the issue for CWIS and having seen the papers I know this will be another excellent issue.

CALL FOR CHAPTERS: Online Learning Communities and Teacher Professional Development: Methods for Improved Education Delivery

2008-04-23T19:38:00.002-07:00

Prof. Ken Fernstrom of ICICTE asked me to post this call. He is on the EAB for this project. So you *know* it is going to be interesting!

CALL FOR CHAPTERS

Proposals Submission Deadline: 5/31/2008

Full Chapters Due: 9/30/2008

Online Learning Communities and Teacher Professional Development: Methods for Improved Education Delivery

A book edited by J Ola Lindberg, Mid Sweden University, Sweden and Anders D Olofsson, Umeå University, Sweden

Introduction

In today’s society, teachers need professional development due to the constant change in working conditions and the impact that information and communication technologies have in teaching practices. Teachers must be prepared to adapt to the future demands of their workplace, and consequentially, their knowledge and skills are in constant need of improvement. Teacher professional development (TPD), anchored in participation, collaborative activities and dialogue, allows for such professional development by offering a way to bridge theory and practice. Online communities provide productive arenas for TPD for teachers, teacher trainees, and school leaders. In such enterprise, technology as innovation will have a crucial place both as leverage and catalyst of change, and as a pedagogical tool in itself.

TPD is often constricted by a number of barriers, such as the following: top-down decision making, a lack of ownership of the professional development process, an inaccessibility of professional development opportunities, and the lack of support in transferring professional development ideas to the classroom. Other barriers that have been recognised are, for example, that TPD is arranged and carried out in a single session or in short sessions which the teachers attend in person.

In order to interconnect TPD and the online community, TPD will be discussed in terms of change. Change is understood as a consequence of innovation and pedagogy. In this book, TPD in online communities will therefore be examined in terms of innovation and pedagogy. Teachers from all levels of education, from pre-service to in-service education up to university teachers may be included.

The book’s discussion on the innovations of technology will focus on different aspects of the need for teachers to develop the knowledge and skills for integrating technology into their everyday teaching practices. In particular, the book will discuss how technology itself can serve as an important resource in terms of providing arenas for professional development together with colleagues in online communities. The book will also focus on pedagogy and the intertwining of education, teaching, learning, ethics and morals and how these aspects are affected by technological innovations. The main objectives of the manuscript will be to shed light on different aspects of the continuing need for teachers to develop professionally, to discuss and share with colleagues new knowledge and understandings of the recent pedagogical research in order to inform their own teaching practices, and to investigate the possibilities for teachers to share such knowledge, understanding, and practices in online communities. Overall, these objectives could be seen as an attempt to both understand TPD, framed within online communities, and to understand the design of virtual arenas in which teachers have possibilities to develop into professionals who have the capacity to not only respond to changing conditions, but also anticipate future technologies, and, in the process, re-define their practice.

Objectives, Contribution and Potential Impact of the Book

Three key objectives of this book are as follows:
· To present the most recent advances in TPD in online communities
· To examine the possibilities to enhance TPD by a critical discussion about the role and scope of technology
· To participate in an international dialogue about TPD and ICT

This volume will thereby contribute to a wider and deeper understanding of the potentials of using ICT and internet resources such as online communities in TPD, both at the level of pre-service teachers and in-service teachers and also at the policy-making level as the content will show a way of bridging the otherwise separated groups of professionals concerned with learning to teach and actually teaching.

In this book, ideas will be offered concerning how to move away from TPD-barriers, such as top-down decision making and the little to no support which is provided in transferring professional development ideas to the classroom.

Target Audience

This book is intended for professionals who, on a daily basis, work with issues concerning TPD, ICT and the internet. Teachers, principals, educational researchers, curriculum developers, teacher professional associations, teacher training staff, teacher trainees, universities, colleges and potentially also parents will find that the content of the book is firmly anchored in the inner lives of schools and universities. It will also be helpful for those who will design for TPD through the use of different media and technology. Even though the book will have an explicit focus on teachers and their joint efforts for professional development, the basic ideas in the book are grounded in learning theories possible to apply to numerous adult learning situations and vocations where beginning professionals can be helped by being guided by more experienced peers. The content of the book can also be of interest for a broader, local or national audience of policymakers and politicians.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
· Theoretical foundations of TPD
· Theoretical foundations of online communities
· The theory and practice divide in relation to TPD
· Learning in Networks in relation to TPD
· Models of online communities in TPD
· Different accounts of online communities
· Innovations in the use of technology and TPD
· Different accounts of technological use
· Web 2.0 and TPD
· Pod Casting, mobile learning and TPD
· Pedagogies afforded by technology in TPD
· Case studies and examples on successes and failures of TPD and online communities
· Different accounts of pedagogical use of technological affordances and constraints
· Pros and Cons of the use of technology in relation to online TPD
· Future Trends

Submission ProcedureResearchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before May 31, 2008, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of their proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by June 30, 2008 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by September 30, 2008. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. The book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), http://www.igi-global.com/, publisher of the Information Science Reference (formerly Idea Group Reference) and Medical Information Science Reference imprints.
Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document) or by mail to:
J. Ola LindbergDept. of EducationMid Sweden University, 871 88 Härnösand, SwedenTel: (+46)61186291, Fax: (+46)061186100ola.lindberg@miun.se

From Silo to Assimilation: changing corporate perceptions of records and information management

2008-04-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

I am proud to be presenting a paper at the 25th International Convention of the Records Management Association of Australasia 7th - 10th September 2008, Sydney, Australia. The paper will be writen in collaboration with Professor Paula Swatman and will be based upon Professor Swatman's original abstract, which is available on the conference web site. Here is an extract:

"This paper will discuss the changing perceptions of managing corporate information: from the 20th century’s silo-based approach, where individual specialists jealously guarded the borders of their own territory – to the 21st century perception that information is the most significant in strategic asset of any organisation. Beginning with a brief survey of the drivers which have changed our perception of information and its management, this paper will review the major issues, enablers and obstacles to achieving a unified and effective approach to managing corporate information across the organisation – whether that be a public sector agency or a private corporation."

Presentations at the 25th International Convention of the Records Management Association of Australasiawill discuss the ways in which records & information managers adopt new methodologies and processes as they adapt to new technologies in an effort to maintain their knowledge in a fast changing and dynamic environment and the challenges that face them in doing so.

Fame at last

2008-04-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

"Fame, (fame) what you like is in the limo ..." - David Bowie

James Dalziel wrote in the LAMS Newsletter:

"Why does Australia produce such good educational software? An articleSimon Shurville, originally from the UK, but recently arrived in Australia, has written an article with Barry O'Grady and Peter Mayall of Curtin Business School for Campus Wide Information Systems called 'Educational and Institutional Flexibility of Australian Educational Software'. It is an attempt to answer the question of why Australia seems to produce such good educational software, based on an analysis of LAMS, Moodle and Harvest Road Hive. This is a question I get asked all the time as I travel, so it's great to have a new perspective on this. For details and a link to a copy of the article, see http://lamscommunity.org/dotlrn/clubs/educationalcommunity/lamsresearchdevelopment/forums/message-view?message%5fid=583156."

To subscribe see: http://lamscommunity.org/notifications/manage.

ATN Assessment Conference 2008: Selected papers to be published in Campus-Wide Information Systems

2008-04-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

"96 tears" - Question Mark and the Mysterians

The ATN Assessment Conference 2008 will be held at on 20-21 November at the University of South Australia in Adelaide.

"The theme of engaging students in assessment is an opportunity to explore assessment in the context of an increased focus on student engagement and recognition of the increasing diversity of student cohorts.

The conference provides participants with the opportunity to explore ways to maximise student engagement through effective assessment policies, procedures and practices. Participants will engage with colleagues across disciplines as well as students and employers.

Topics will include:

Transforming assessment and feedback for student engagement
Cultural and academic diversity: designing assessment to engage all students
Discipline-based practices in engaging students in assessment
Using technology to enhance engagement in assessment.

The ATNConference08 committee is calling for for YOUR contributions to what is shaping up to be an exciting conference with some highly-regarded national and international keynote speakers (details soon).

The key dates for papers are:
Call for papers: May 2008
Abstracts due: 1 June, 2008
Notice of acceptance: 20 June, 2008
Full papers due: 18 August 2008

The conference will be held within the landmark new UniSA Hawke Building, City West Campus, North Terrace, Adelaide."*

Campus-Wide Information Systems have agreed to publish a special issue based upon the conference, which will be guest edited by Dr Diana Quinn and myself. The issue will focus on the theme of using technology to enhance engagement in assessment.

* The quoted text is from the conference web page

Australians love of gadgets means they make great educational software

2008-04-01T19:14:00.000-07:00

"Go gadget ..." - Inspector Gadget Theme

In our recent paper 'Educational and Institutional Flexibility of Australian Educational Software', we advanced the thesis that Australia’s historical strength in distance learning has created a culture where academic and industrial entrepreneurs now offer a range of educational software that is well aligned with the demands of flexible education such as the Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) (which we rated highly).

Professor James Dalziel the inventor of LAMS sent me the following: "I agree with your observations, but would add to this a more general factor in Australia culture which is that we love gadgets and new technology, adopt them quickly, and actually use them a lot right from the start ... I think it is some sort of confluence of this rapid Australian tech adoption and use factor together with [our history of] distance learning, etc that have provided fertile soil."

Having lived in Australia a little longer now, I have to say I agree with James' observation. Australians do love and use new technology. Plus the free-to-air HD TV here is great!

ICICTE special issue of Campus-Wide Information Systems is now published

2008-03-31T19:47:00.000-07:00

"He's just a stereotype" - The Specials

The ICICTE 2007 special issue of Campus-Wide Information Systems is now published. This is an Australasian issue and it provides a snapshot of e-learning in Australasia for international readers. It was edited by Ken Fernstrom, Barry O’Grady, Michael Henderson and me. This may be the first special issue in the history of academic publishing to go to press four months early and come out a month late.

Paper on 'Educational and Institutional Fexibility of Australian Educational Software' published by Campus Wide Information Systems

2008-03-31T19:16:00.000-07:00

"Bend me, shape me, anyway you want me,

long as you love me, its all right" - Amen Corner

Campus Wide Information Systems have just published 'Educational and Institutional Flexibility of Australian Educational Software', a viewpoint paper which I wrote with Barry O'Grady and Peter Mayall of Curtin Business School. The heart of the paper is the identification of these categories:

"Well-designed educational software can be a key enabler for flexible education, although embedding it at an institutional level brings its own demands for change management. Here
we define flexible educational software to mean applications that provide both educational and institutional flexibility. Educationally flexible software should enable educators to design and manage effective learning experiences and materials and provide an interface that is appropriate for educating. Meanwhile it should provide students with opportunities to learn at their convenience and provide an interface dedicated to learning. Institutionally flexible software should provide institutions and their developers with facilities to adapt and integrate the product with local administrative processes, IT platforms and teaching culture. It should also help universities to join effective federations and partnerships with other institutions, which requires adherence to open standards and tolerance of diverse coding languages and platforms, including those that are popular in other nations ... The three [Australian] educational software packages we introduce below each match our informal definitions of educationally and institutionally flexible educational software and provide solid support and training to domestic and international clients." (Shurville, O'Grady and Mayall, 2008, p 76-77).

The paper is part of a special issue on Australasian E-Learning which I co-edited with Professor Ken Fernstrom (University College of the Fraser Valley, British Columbia), Dr Michael Henderson (Monash) and Barry O’Grady (Curtin). The papers were sourced from ICICTE 2007.

Reference

Shurville, S., O'Grady, B. and Mayall, P. (2008) 'Educational and Institutional Flexibility of Australian Educational Software', Campus-Wide Information Systems, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp 74-84.

Submission posted by the ALIA workforce summit

2008-03-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

"Do you believe what you read?" - The Boomtown Rats

The ALIA Education and Workforce Summit has accepted my submission entitled ‘The business information management and library and information management programs for the future: a partnership between Fuji Xerox, the State Library of South Australia, State Records of South Australia, and the University of South Australia’. It is available online.

I thank the partners who commented on the document and the original authors of the program documentation, some of which was adapted for the submission.

Campus-Wide Information Systems Indexing

2008-03-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

"Searchin'.... for so long" - Change

Campus-Wide Information Systems is now indexed and abstracted in:

Current Awareness Abstracts
Emerald Management Reviews
ERIC
The Informed Librarian
Information Management and Technology Abstracts
INSPEC

The BIM and LIM programs at University of South Australia

2008-03-09T18:38:00.000-07:00

"Teachers teach that knowledge waits" - Bob Dylan

I am now program director of the business information management and the library and information management programs at the University of South Australia.

The BIM program

The business information management suite of postgraduate programs have been developed to meet the needs of the 21st Century and are offered, together with associated applied research, to educate technically skilled:

administrators

archivists

information system designers

internet/intranet coordinators

knowledge and information officers

librarians

records managers

Click here to see the current program outlines from Graduate Certificate through Graduate Diploma to a fill MSc by coursework or research.

The LIM program

Newly qualified librarians in the 21st century need to be familiar with standards and technologies for information management and also require mature capabilities to collaborate across allied professions, such as archives, information systems and records management, as well as the diverse cultures of business and public service. Ideally they will also bring experience from the workplace. Moreover, understandings of change and innovation management, human resource management, organizational learning and project management are becoming ‘table stakes’ for all knowledge workers. Hence, postgraduate education for librarians must augment the core curricula necessary for ALIA accreditation with key knowledge from multiple disciplines and also encourage networking and teamwork with fellow professionals. Further, due to the rate of change in processes and technologies, it should foster skills for lifelong learning and continuing professional development. The problem is that providing such a range of knowledge and experience is beyond the capability of a single institution. So, the collaborative capability that we seek to foster needs to be a fundamental part of designing, delivering and improving such educational offerings.

Collecting and managing information is increasingly vital in all areas of modern life: from small businesses and multinational organisations, to schools, universities, libraries and museums. Among the many professions that deal with information - record managers, archivists, librarians and information officers - the need for a new type of information manager has emerged!

The library and information management programs are designed to provide replacements for the current, Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA)-accredited programs currently offered by the School of Communication .

All courses will be available totally online, part-time or full-time depending on your circumstances. The choice is yours! To make the programs even more exciting some of the teaching staff are actual industry based lecturers who can bring real-world experiences to your studies.

The new programs provide a continuing path of learning from the Graduate Certificate in BIM (Library Management specialisation) through to a Graduate Diploma or Masters qualification in Library and Information Management.

There is an increase in interest for both the Business Information Management and the Library and Information Management programs from industry sectors. Employers and employees wanting to be retrained to meet industry requirements along with career minded employees.

Now a professional member of ALIA

2008-03-06T17:56:00.000-08:00

"Just can't find the way" - Mary Gauthier

I am proud to say that I have just been accepted as an associate of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), which is the professional organisation for the Australian library and information services sector. ALIA seeks to empower the profession in the development, promotion and delivery of quality library and information services to the nation, through leadership, advocacy and mutual support.

I have three papers accepted by ICICTE 2008

2008-03-06T17:44:00.000-08:00

"We three ..." - Patti Smith*

I have three papers accepted for ICICTE 2008 this year:

Building a Variety of Educational Technology Worth Wanting by Dr Simon Shurville, Dr Sue Greener and Pericles ‘Asher’ Rospigliosi.

Embedding Educational Technologists within University Structures by Dr Tom Browne, Dr Marian Whitaker and Dr Simon Shurville.

The Extended Mind and Learner Generated Contexts by Dr Simon Shurville.

Henk Eijkman and I are also running a symposium at the conference on the philosophy of educational technology. I hope to see lots of regulars at the conference and look forward to co-editing the Campus-Wide Information Systems special issue based upon it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

* "Every night on sep'rate stars, before we go to sleep, we pray so breathlessly. Baby, please, don't take my hope away from me."

If you have not heard We Three sung by Patti Smith (or Bob Dylan), then do yourself a very big favour and buy Patti's Easter album then take out an hour or three to engage with a Rock N Roll poet at the top of her game. Finding the Dylan version takes a bit longer with a torrent search engine but as Stan Lee would say "it qualifies you as a true beliver".

ICICTE 2007 special issue of CWIS gone to press

2008-02-19T20:55:00.000-08:00

"... its a wide open road" - The Triffids

The ICICTE 2007 special issue of Campus-Wide Information Systems has now gone to press. This is an Australasian issue and it provides a snapshot of e-learning in Australasia for international readers. It was edited by Ken Fernstrom, Barry O’Grady, Michael Henderson and me. This may be the first special issue in the history of academic publishing to go to press four months early.

Here is a snippet from the editorial to whet your appetite:

The issue features papers presented at the International Conference on Information and Communications Technology in Education (ICICTE). ICICTE addresses the many challenges and new directions presented by technological innovations in educational settings. Each year academic and professional participants at ICICTE gain an excellent overview of current thinking and practices in applications of technology to education. This was exemplified in 2007 by our keynote speaker Professor Rob Koper of the Open University of the Netherlands, who gave an overview the €10,000,000 pan European TenCompetence project (see Stefanov and Koper, 2007): “The aim of the project is to build a European Network for Lifelong Competence Development by establishing a technical and organizational infrastructure for lifelong competence development. The infrastructure will use open-source, standards-based, sustainable and innovative technology to support the lifelong development of competences by any citizen, team or organization” (TenCompetence, 2007, online). Although TenCompetence is a European Union funded project, it is important that contributions from the accession countries and beyond Europe have been included in the research and dissemination agenda. For example Richards, Donkers, Hatala and Dufresne (2007) have contributed work undertaken in Canada. Such cosmopolitanism shows that the educational technology community is taking strides towards the internationalist goals set by Papandreou at ICICTE in 2006 and practical steps toward global interoperability.

Informal discussions of Koper’s keynote throughout the conference noted that TenCompetence seems to be as concerned with fostering international networks as it is about pioneering new educational technologies. Such multi-cultural activity is also a hallmark of ICICTE. While the conferences are based in Greece, they are co-organized between local universities and the University College of the Fraser Valley in Canada. Throughout the conference delegates can find themselves networking with colleagues from all five continents. Conspicuously, despite the travel costs, Australasian delegates have loyally attended year after year; making sizable contributions to the both academic and social life of the conference. Indeed, it is fair to say that ICICTE just would not be ICICTE without them. So the organizers thought it appropriate to acknowledge the dedication of the Australasian contingent by selecting papers from the 2007 event that offer overseas readers a snapshot of current developments in Australasian e-learning and flexible education. This is a timely decision as Australasian institutions have made considerable inroads into Asian higher education and are now turning their gaze towards China. As a forthcoming themed issue of this journal will attest, the Chinese market for e-learning is set to grow considerably and China’s choice of platforms and partners could decisively affect international standards and technologies. With its new Mandarin speaking prime minister taking a public interest in educational technology, Australia is particularly well positioned to enter this emerging market. Competitors and potential collaborators are therefore advised to follow developments in Australasian e-learning closely.

Homepages at UniSA

2008-02-09T19:00:00.000-08:00

"Home thoughts from abroad" - Clifford T. Ward

Dr Simon Shurville has a new homepage at the University of South Australia. There is also a page about my work on the BIM and LIM programs.

Wanted to study in Australia and thought you couldn't?

2008-02-05T15:41:00.000-08:00

"Your kind of country; good as it gets" - Shane Howard

International students wishing to study Business Information Management and Library Information Management at University of South Australia can now apply! The CRICOS codes for the Master of Library and Information Management program have been approved - Fast Track - 062517B OR Standard Track 062518A

Depending on student background, the program may be completed in either the Standard track option (4 study periods over 2 academic years) or fast track option (3 study periods over 1.5 academic years). The standard option requires students to complete 13.5 units of courses per study period over 4 study periods or part-time equivalent. The fast track option requires students to complete 18 units of courses per study period over 3 study periods or equivalent.

Find out more about international application!

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business is now online

2008-02-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

"I found her diary beneath a tree ..." - Bread

The first issue of the International Journal of Managing Projects in Business has just gone online. It provides broad coverage of all aspects of project management, from strategy to planning and implementation. With a unique and practical focus on project management in business, it is an essential resource for all those involved in the field of project management. I think that e-learning could stand a robust infusion of project management knowledge!

I am a member of the editorial board for this journal and I am currently working on a book review and a paper for submission to it.

Started at Uni SA today

2008-01-28T20:42:00.000-08:00

"... it will be a start!" - The Jam

I have started work a Senior Lecturer in Information Systems in the School of Computer and Information Science at the University of South Australia.today! I am based at the City West Campus and my new e-mail is Simon.Shurville at unisa.edu.au. My home page at Uni Sa is http://people.unisa.edu.au/Simon.Shurville. I am program director of Business Information Management and Library Information Management.

I flew in from Perth a couple of weeks ago to start the reno on our house in Brighton. I have lifted a lot of dusty carpet so far. Marian flew over a few days later and has been busy stripping wall paper. The reno is going well and our furniture from Brighton, Enfgland and Fremantle arrived this morning. Fairly soon we will be able to relax in the pool and watch Skippy the cat slide on our newly polished floors into our newly painted walls. Bliss.

ICICTE 2008: Call For Papers

2008-01-07T19:14:00.000-08:00

"Call me, call me any anytime ..." - Blondie

The call is now open for papers for plenary sessions examining the theoretical and practical applications of technology in education at all levels in both the public and private sectors. All proposals and papers are peer reviewed by members of the Scientific Committee. If you wish to present at ICICTE 2008 and have your paper published in the conference proceedings submit your proposal to Nancy Pyrini at nancypyrini@icicte.org by February 21, 2008. Papers from the conference will be published in special issues of Campus-Wide Information Systems (here is the 2007 issue), the UCFV Research Review and Interactive Learning Environments. Conference papers will be considered by each publication’s editorial board and authors will be invited to submit journal-length articles.

Proposals should be in MS Word and include title, purpose/objective section, and a 250–300 word summary. Papers must be suitable for a 15–20 minute presentation at a plenary session. Please include name, position and department, institution and contact information (mail, phone, fax and e-mail).Each proposal will be double-blind reviewed by the Scientific Committee. Notification on whether the proposal has been accepted will be sent by February 28, 2008.Completed manuscripts must be submitted by April 15, 2008 and will be double-blind peer reviewed by the Scientific Committee. Comments will be forwarded to the authors, and final manuscripts, with editorial changes, must be received by May 26, 2008.

Papers presented at the conference will be published in the proceedings under the title Information Communication Technologies in Education. Papers received after the deadline will not be included in the proceedings.Papers must not exceed 10 pages (including abstract, references, tables, figures and diagrams). Papers exceeding the stated limits will be returned to the authors for revision. Please consult the Manuscript Preparation Guidelines at the conference web site before submitting the final version of your paper.

On linked in

2008-01-06T23:17:00.000-08:00

"Are you in or are you out?" - Ani Difranco

You can find me on linked in by following the linked button at the right. It has been great fun finding some old friends and colleagues. I would really like to track down Stephen Pantlin from Hampton Court if he is around. I suspect he moved to Australia a long time ago. Also David Wilshin from Epsom.

Paper on Learning Design Published in Kybernetes

2008-01-06T20:05:00.000-08:00

"Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake" - Bob Dylan

Ranulph Glanville has just edited a special issue of Kybernetes: The International Journal of Systems, Cybernetics and Management Science (voume 36, isue 9/10) on Cybernetics and Design. The hard copy arrived in the post today and it is a very interesting read. I have a paper included co-authored with Bernard Scott, Piers MacLean and Chunyu Cong called 'Cybernetic Principles for Learning Design'.

Title: Cybernetic principles for learning design
Author(s): Bernard Scott, Simon Shurville, Piers Maclean, Chunyu Cong
Journal: Kybernetes
ISSN: 0368-492X
Year: 2007 Volume: 36 Issue: 9/10 Page: 1497 - 1514
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to present an approach from first principles to the design of learning experiences in interactive learning environments, that is “learning designs” in the broadest sense. Design/methodology/approach – The approach is based on conversation theory (CT), a theory of learning and teaching with principled foundations in cybernetics. The approach to learning design that is proposed is not dissimilar from other approaches such as that proposed by Rowntree. However, its basis in CT provides a coherent theoretical underpinning. Findings – Currently, in the world of e-learning, the terms “instructional design” and “learning design” are used to refer to the application of theories of learning and instruction to the creation of e-learning material and online learning experiences. The paper examines the roots of the two terms and discusses similarities and differences in usage. It then discusses how the processes of learning design fit into the larger processes of course, design, development and delivery. It goes on to examine the concept of a “learning design pattern”. Originality/value – The paper contends that, whilst learning design patterns are useful as starting-points for individual learning designs, learning designers should adopt the cybernetic principles of reflective practice – as expressed in CT – to create learning designs where received wisdom is enriched by contextual feedback from colleagues and learners.
Keywords: Cybernetics, Design, Learning
Article Type: Conceptual paper
Article URL: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/03684920710827445

There are a wide range of papers in this special issue that should appeal to anyone with an interest in cybernetics or design. I hope that the cross over between design theory and learning design will be investigated by other researchers. There is too much good design research to be ignored by learning designers.

The Extended Mind

2008-01-01T17:53:00.000-08:00

"Keep on playing those mind games together ..." - John Lennon

My old mate Matthew Knight recently turned me on to some interesting work by Philosopher Andy Clark (who taught us both back in the day) and David Chalmers. The extended mind is a radical extension to situated cognition that sprang from Clark’s research into cognition (Clark, 1989) and Chalmers’ (1996) research into consciousness. It postulates an “active role of the environment in driving cognitive processes” (Clark and Chalmers, 2003, p 7) to the extent that “if, as we confront some task, a part of the world functions as a process which, were it done in the head, we would have no hesitation in recognizing as part of the cognitive process, then that part of the world is (so we claim) part of the cognitive process. Cognitive processes ain't (all) in the head!” (ibid, p 10).

References

Chalmers (1996), The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Clark, A. (1989), Microcognition: Philosophy, Cognitive Science, and Parallel Distributed Processing. Boston, M.A.: MIT Press.

Clark, A. and Chalmers, D. J. (2003), The Extended Mind, Analysis, 58, pp 10-23.

ICICTE 2008 Web Site Launched: Clear July 10-12 in Your Diary

2008-01-01T02:09:00.000-08:00

"Moonlight in Vermont" - Bill Evans' version played here for Ken

This year, ICICTE 2008, the best and most intimate e-learning conference in the history of civilisation, will be held on July 10-12 in Kanoni, Corfu (see below).

Papers from the conference will be published in special issues of Campus-Wide Information Systems (here is the 2007 issue), the UCFV Research Review and Interactive Learning Environments. Conference papers will be considered by each publication’s editorial board and authors will be invited to submit journal-length articles.

If you have not been to ICICTE before then, as the Aussies say, 'give it a go' --- you are in for a treat!

The new web site

Heroic action by new web master Ġorġ Mallia means that ICICTE 2008 has a handsome new web site.

Most of what follows is cribbed from Gorg's site. Hey Gorg, I'm sure there will be a beer in it for you in Corfu!

The conference

ICICTE 2008 will seek to address the many challenges and new directions presented by technological innovations in educational settings. Following in the tradition of previous ICICTE conferences, ICICTE 2008 will bring together an international community of scholars and practitioners in a forum setting. Opportunities for discussion on current thinking and practices in applications of technology to education are enhanced by the limited number of participants. The key note will be professor Gilly Salmon. Conference themes include:

Institutional and national responses to technological change

Political economy and educational technology: Intersections

The architecture of learning; accessibility; the evolution of the classroom

Pedagogy in the evolving tech environment

Informal and formal adult education

Multi-grade education

Instructional design and delivery; evaluation and assessment

Strategies and tools for teaching and learning, simulations and gaming

Effects on training institutions and industry

Impacts on educational institutions: effects on faculty, staff, administration, and students; curriculum and program development

Intellectual property

Ethical considerations in the use of information technology in teaching and learning

The internationalization of institutions and of education

Open/Distance learning

Building communities of teachers/educators; cooperative learning

Teacher training

The use of technology in education to promote democratic ideals, freedom, equality.

This year the conference will be held at the Corfu Holiday Palace Hotel in Kanoni, Corfu. Located in Kanoni, 4km from Corfu town and 4 km from the airport, the location of the hotel is one of outstanding beauty with elevated panoramic views of the Ionian sea.
On one side overlooking the picturesque Convent of our Lady Vlacherna, the fully renovated hotel is the only one with a direct view to the famous “Mouse island”, the trademark of Corfu island. On the other side, a beautiful view of Lake Halikiopoulou and distant hills.

Organizers

ICICTE is lead by Professor Ken Fernstrom (above right) the Canadian with the best jazz appreciation out of B.C. if you are ever stuck in the Greek countryside without a ride home, Ken is your man. The conference director is Nancy Pyrini (above right) who could manage a moonshot for half what NASA would charge. Nicole Levinsky is the conference registra (somewhere above on the left!). Nicole could get mankind to Mars and then fish for salmon to feed everyone once we got there!

P.S. I am proud as punch to be named a friend of the conference alongside Ġorġ Mallia (a talented cartoonist) and Marcie Boucouvalas.

The Design-Based Research Collective

2007-11-26T19:08:00.000-08:00

"Black skin, red skin, yellow or white ... Everybody needs to read and write ... Everybody needs an education" - The Kinks

I came across The Design-Based Research Collective through Jan Herrington's excellent keynote at AARE 2007. They are "... a small group of researchers who engage in design-based research, often in technology enhanced learning environments. In our own work, we have come to recognize the need to better define the nature, methods, and outcomes of design-based research so that we may more easily share our own research and build on the work of others." You can read more at their excellent web site. You can read more about design-based research, "which blends empirical educational research with the theory-driven design of learning environments, [and] is an important methodology for understanding how, when, and why educational innovations work in practice." in their paper "Design-Based Research: An Emerging Paradigm for Educational Inquiry".

New Job in a New Town

2007-11-24T23:03:00.000-08:00

"We live in the city of dreams ..."
- Talking Heads

I have been offered and have accepted a post as a Senior Lecturer in Information Systems in the School of Computer and Information Science at the University of South Australia. Marian and I love Adelaide and I am chuffed to bits to be working for Uni S.A. It looks like I am going to be leading a program this year, which is really exciting.

I flew over from Perth to Adelaide this week to view a house and spent a sunny afternoon on Brighton beach swimming around the pier and reading a science fiction novel. It would be fun to move from Brighton, England to Brighton, South Australia. I can only hope that Mike Harvard will ome over and open the Full Moon, Brighton, S.A.!

My Better Self

2007-11-10T18:17:00.000-08:00

"Everybody Knows This is NOWHERE!!!! La, La, La, La, La, LAH"

- Dar Williams and Marshall Crenshaw

I don’t usually write about music here but I am making an exception as I have been astounded by two comeback albums. Spookily, as Dame Edna would say, they are both by singers called Willams.

Dar Williams was a favorite of mine back in the mid 90s. She sang great folk pop that invariably made me feel glad to be alive and had me jumping from Brighton pier into the English channel on hot days. Change is inevitable though and her last album ‘The Green World’ dragged a lot. So I grew up and lost interest. The other day I was shopping for second hand cds in Fremantle and came across her 2005 album ‘My Better Self’. It features Marshall (oh cruel world why was he never mega) Crenshaw on vocals and guitar and an astounding version of Neil Young’s ‘Everybody Knows this is Nowhere’. There is also a surprisingly good version of ‘Comfortably Numb’ featuring Ani DiFranco. It is not often that I play imaginary mandolin to folk pop and wake up the cat but there is a time and a place and this album is definitely it.

I thought I gave up on Lucinda Williams a few years ago when she changed styles from narrative to chant. In fact I sold her last two albums before I left the UK. So I was surprise d to find myself buying a second hand copy of her new album ‘West’. Genius. Yes sheer wanton Genius with 300 kinds of hot sauce to spare. The album is worth buying for the opening track ‘Are You OK?’ and it builds and builds. It is not often I lift an imaginary bourbon glass in an equally imaginary after hours Antone’s in Austin but there is a time and a place and this album is definitely it.

The other unexpected soundtrack to my back yard this summer is a compilation by the Flamin Groovies which just oozes the grease like the cheese from a chilli dog. Go buy some mirrored aviators and 'Shake Some Action'!

Launch of the International Journal of Project Management in Business

2007-11-10T00:43:00.000-08:00

"Through the mirror of my mind ... Time after time ... I see reflections of you and me" - Holland, Dozier, Holland

Emerald are now publishing a new journal called the International Journal of Project Management in Business. The journal is edited by Dr Derek Walker who is Professor of Project Management at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. I am very proud to be on the editorial board.

Derek describes the journal’s mission as follows “The International Journal of Managing Projects in Business (IJMPiB) is a peer reviewed journal that is focussed upon stimulating improved project management (PM) knowledge generation, transfer and practice. Its content will appeal to reflective PM practitioners and academics interested in current PM theory and leading edge empirical work. PM has moved beyond being a narrow technical speciality to a way of conducting business—be that for commercial enterprises, not-for-profit organisations or for government and administrative support agencies (Crawford, Morris, Thomas and Winter, 2006). The journal embraces the study of how these organisation currently manage portfolios, programs and projects, and more importantly it offers insights into how PM may be better undertaken to generate value (in its broadest sense) to stakeholders who should gain benefit from project outcomes. … This journal arose out of recognition of the need to extend available sources of published peer-reviewed project management theory and practice. Two well established and well respected journals (the International Journal of Project Management and the Journal of Project Management) are widely available to academics and practitioners in electronic and hardcopy form through library electronic data bases. The International Project Management Association (IPMA) also publishes an annual volume of peer reviewed papers through its member organisations e.g. the Project Management Association Finland. While these existing publications provide a current outlet for the serious review of project management theory and practice, it lags other disciplines in the general management and engineering arena where there are literally dozens of journal titles that are accepted and valued for their knowledge supporting contribution. Further, many of these journals rarely address the practical issues of how scientific, engineering, public policy, health services, and the entertainment for example, actually deliver benefit through projects. Delivering beneficial change through projects lies at the core of value generation and so the aim of this journal is to focus on how a range of industries undertakes and directs the business of project management in delivering its programs of projects within its portfolios of strategic activities. This broadens the business of managing projects well outside its traditional engineering and business ‘home’ disciplines.” (Walker, forthcoming).

I am really exited to be able to read (and be associated with) a project management journal where Argyris and Schon are foundational references.

References

Argyris, C. (1977). “Double Loop Learning in Organinizations.” Harvard Business Review. 55 (5): 115-125.

Argyris, C. (1982). “The Executive Mind and Double-Loop Learning.” Organizational Dynamics. 11 (2): 5-22.

Crawford, L., Morris, P., Thomas, J. and Winter, M. (2006). “Practitioner Development: From Trained Technicians to Reflective Practitioners.”. International Journal of Project Management. 24 (8): 722-733.

Schön, D. A. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner - How Professionals Think in Action. Aldershot, UK BasiAshgate ARENA.

Walker, D. (forthcoming). “Introduction to the first issue of the International Journal of Project Management in Business”. International Journal of Project Management in Business. 1(1).

Deezer: Free Music You Can (almost) Embed on a Teaching Page

2007-11-09T11:25:00.001-08:00

"Nice one ... Geezer!" - Pulp

The promise: http://www.deezer.com/ is a *legal* site that enables you to listen to free music on demand. In theory it should enable users embed tunes on web pages. If this worked then it would be a *great* teaching and learning tool. For example, my partner recently wanted to play her students "Joe Hill" by Joan Baez as part of a lecture on the history of American unions. Theoretically she could then embed the song on the course web page so that the students could listen to it at their convenience. Students could also embed songs for in presentations and personal / shared learning environments. Yes, I know you can do this from You Tube but … see below.

In practice: Deezer generates code that you can insert onto a web site or blog. I tried (see the embedded player below) and cannot get it to work yet but I am going to investigate further as this is such a great idea. I will edit this post if I can work our what went wrong.

Reflection: Of course you can do this with You Tube but I remain skeptical about the morality of You Tube and I think we have to set a digital rights management example to our students. This is a very grey area. I would claim that the quotes and pictures used on this site are examples of ‘fair use’. But I am not a lawyer. However, I was recently struck by something one of David Mamet’s characters said on ‘The Unit’ to advise someone with a moral dilemma: “If you knew the answer, then what would it be?”. My answer is that You Tube is built on shakey ground, I realize that the law and the younger generation think otherwise.

Susan Bull and Open Learner Models: Special Issues of IJAIE

2007-11-05T21:19:00.000-08:00

"Turn the pages you didn't open ..." - Gene Clark

I shared an office with Susan Bull at the University of Brighton in the late 1990s. Susan, who has now moved to the University of Birmingham, is one of the most imaginative and hard working people I ever met and she has produced umpteen trillion papers on Learner Modeling and in particular Open Learner Models. I wish I had thought of open learner models myself but at least I was lucky enough to co-author a couple of papers with Susan (Bull & Shurville, 1999a, 1999b).

So what are open learner models? Over to Susan and her co-authors ...

"The learner model is central to an adaptive educational system, as it is the model of the learner’s understanding (and possibly also other attributes such as their goals, motivation, learning preferences, etc.), that enables a system to adapt to the individual user’s current learning requirements. Traditionally, the learner model has been closed to the learner since its primary purpose, as indicated above, has been to allow a system to adapt to the individual’s needs. For several decades now, the Artificial Intelligence in Education community has been developing methods for modelling learners, and dealing with the dynamics and potential inaccuracy of learner models. One promising approach to improving the accuracy of the learner model is to open the contents of the model to the learner it represents, to allow them to suggest additional information, or to propose corrections to entries, thereby helping to maintain the accuracy of a system’s model of the user’s knowledge and other attributes relevant to the specific educational context. A second benefit of this interactive approach to learner modelling is that the learner model now plays a new role – not only can the learner contribute information to help increase the accuracy and therefore the utility of their learner model for adaptation purposes, but the model can also become a learning resource for the student in its own right. Such an open learner model (i.e. a learner model accessible to the learner modelled) offers the learner a perspective on their understanding that is not usually available to them, which can facilitate reflection on their knowledge and on the learning process more generally, as students must carefully consider their knowledge state before suggesting changes to their model. Furthermore, even non-interactive open learner models (that is, learner models that are inspectable but not changeable by the user) have the potential to prompt learner reflection and metacognition in a similar manner, as they confront the learner with information about their understanding which is likely to provoke some kind of cognitive reaction from them." (Bull, Dimitrova, and McCalla, 2007).

That more or less says it all. My only comment is that open learner models herald a way for artificial intellgence in education to embrace constructivist and student-centred approaches. To my mind reflection and metacognition have to outshine passive grazing of knowledge. It would be trendy to mention that open learner models have potential in personal learning environments and connections to learner-generated contexts. As Lyn Pemberton used to tease, I'm so a la mode that I'm going to do it anyway.

Susan has just co-edited a pair of special issues of the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education that introduce the state of play and current research issues in open student models. I recommend that anyone with an interest in AI and education should read the first and second parts of the introduction (Bull, Dimitrova & McCalla, G, 2007; Dimitrova, McCalla & Bull, 2007). Susan's has a paper in the issue with Judy Kay of the University of Sydney 'Student Models that Invite the Learner In: The SMILI
:-) Learner Modelling Framework' , which takes us toward a common framework to compare and contrast open learner models. Phil Agre argues that research in AI goes through neat and scruffy phases and both are necessary to make progress. It is good to see the emergence of a neat framework to tie the field of open learner models together. Now people can get on with some wild and scruffy research!

With further progress in mind, I notice from her home page that Susan has some PhD opportunities available and is particularly interested in supervising PhD students interested in open learner modelling, adaptive learning environments, mobile learning or computer-assisted language learning. If you are setting out in educational technology then having Susan as a supervisor would be a grand way to start. I certainly learned a lot sharing that office.

References

Bull, S., Dimitrova, V. & McCalla, G. (2007). Open Learner Models: Research Questions (Preface to Special Issue of the IJAIED Part 1), International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education 17(2), 83-87.
Dimitrova, V., McCalla, G. & Bull, S. (2007). Open Learner Models: Future Research Directions (Preface to Special Issue of the IJAIED Part 2), International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education 17(3), 217-226.
Bull, S. & Kay, J. (2007). Student Models that Invite the Learner In: The SMILI Open Learner Modelling Framework, International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education 17(2), 89-120.
Bull, S. & Shurville, S. (1999a). Cooperative Writer Modeling: Facilitating Reader-Based Writing with Scrawl. In Morales, R., Pain, H., Bull, S. and Kay, J. (eds), Proceedings of Workshop on Open, Interactive and Other Overt Approaches to Learner Modeling, International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education 1999, pp 1-8.
Bull S. & Shurville S. (1999b). Online Reader, Writer and Student Models to Support the Writing Process. In Kay J. (ed.) The Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on User Modeling 1999, Banff, Canada, pp 295–297.

Ranulph Glanville on cybernetics, design and education

2007-11-04T17:25:00.000-08:00

" Who will provide the grand design? ... What is yours and what is mine?" - The Eagles

Ranulph Glanville kindly sent me a couple of very interesting columns he has written for Cybernetics and Human knowing on second order cybernetics and education. I find myself a fellow traveler on Ranulph’s shirt tails on the importance of design disciplines and practice to the construction of knowledge. I am also in agreement that studio-based learning should be imported from design education to mainstream education. I just wish that he had not thought these thoughts ten or twenty years before I did. So I recommend tracking down his columns from Cybernetics and Human Knowing on ‘A (Cybernetic) Musing: Cybernetics and Human Knowing’ and ‘A (Cybernetic) Musing: Some Examples of Cybernetically Informed Educational Practice’. The second paper features excellent descriptions of studio-based and problem-based learning.

Asher Rospigliosi and I applied elements of the studio-based approach when teaching Digital Entrepreneurship, i.e. embedding information systems within SMEs, to entrepreneurs at the University of Essex iLab. We integrated the studio-based approach with action learning / research. So there *were* consequences to the learner's actions. Working together and ‘pinching’ ideas certainly seemed to help the learners to combine experiences in tasks such as authoring change and innovation plans and thus avoid reinventing wheels. My learning from the experience was that eclecticism is important in learning design. Although leaning designers should not be dilettantes, they should select the most appropriate aspects of the available approaches. This requires staying in contact with developments in learning and teaching and being a reflective practioner. As Van Morrison sang “No guru, no method, no teacher …” but perhaps that over states the case. Some of Ranulph’s advice from A (Cybernetic) Musing: Some Examples of Cybernetically Informed Educational Practice’ quoted below can help a learning designer/teacher to remain grounded.

"Treat students as you would be treated yourself: show concern for them and for their vulnerability. Thus we relearn generosity.
Remember, if we have to present in “preaching” modes (e.g. lectures), at least to entertain. Lecturing, especially “educational” lecturing at university, is a performance art (that’s why it’s so hard). Tell a good story well!
If you wish to be interesting, you must be interested.
Education is involved in helping others learn. It is concerned with the learner, first and foremost. It is not an opportunity for a teacher to display his/her knowledge/authority.
We, as teachers, are also learners. There is an endless conversation to be had between us all." (Glanville, 2002, p 8).

Further reading

You can download both columns from Ranulph's web site.

Postgraduate Courses in E-Learning at Brighton and Sussex

2007-11-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

"Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name ..." - Theme from Cheers by Lance Mannion

As there is a dearth of education and training opportunities for e-learning specialists, I would like to mention a course that I always hear good things about. The University of Brighton and Sussex University have joined forces to offer a Post Graduate Certificate in E-Learning Design. The following information is quoted from the course web site at Sussex:

“The PGCert in E-Learning Design is a part-time programme aimed at those working in or intending to work in the e-learning industry. Two potential awards are available: a 60 credit and a 90 credit version. The 60-credit PGCert in E-Learning Design is suitable for students with a background in education, multimedia or computing. This programme provides a means of augmenting their skillsets to fit the needs of the e-learning industry. For those already working in the industry, the 90 credit PGCert in E-Learning Design (Professional Practice) offers opportunities to strengthen and expand existing knowledge and skills, and to demonstrate proficiency in a professional setting. Areas covered by the programme include e-learning design, learning technologies, project management, and theories of learning (60 and 90 credit versions). The full 90 credit PGCert in E-Learning Design (Professional Practice) provides an opportunity to develop effective reflective practice in the workplace. Successful graduates from either version may choose to use credits gained in this course towards an MSc in Learning Technologies offered by the University of Brighton.” (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/publications/pgrad2007/areasofstudy/Computing,%20artificial%20intelligence%20and%20IT/16376)

The Brighton MSc offers the following topics: User-centred Design and Development, Research Design and Evaluation, Project Management, New Media Applications Development, Theories of Learninge, Learning Development, and a Major Project.

As an ex-employee and graduate of both universities I know many of those involved in teaching these courses and can thus highly recommend them. If you are looking for a qualification in E-Learning then these are great courses to investigate. Of course if I have my way they will soon face some additional competition from down under ...

Learner-Generated Contexts

2007-11-01T18:26:00.000-07:00

"Mercy, mercy me ... the ecology" - Marvin Gaye

Should we conceptualize learners as tourists in zoologicalgardens curated by educators or as explorers in open environments fraught with danger and reward? In other words do we see ourseves as Johnny Morris or our learners as Steve Irwin?

Rose Luckin and her colleagues Jon Akass, John Cook, Peter Day, Nigel Ecclesfield, Fred Garnett, Matt Gould, Tom Hamilton, Andrew Whitworth have published some interesting and much needed theoretical work to frame discussions of education and web 2.0 grounded in ideas of self-organization and ecology. I think they would opt for Steve Irwin!

In 'Learner-Generated Contexts: Sustainable Learning Pathways Through Open Content' they write: "The proposal of a Learner Generated Context arose initially from the suggestion that an educational context can be described as a learner-centric ecology of resources and that a learner-generated context is one in which a user or group of users collaboratively marshal the available resources to create an ecology that meets their needs (see Luckin, R. 2006; Luckin, du Boulay, Smith, Underwood, Fitzpatrick, Holmberg, Kerawalla, Tunley, Brewster & Pearce, 2005; Luckin, Shurville & Browne, 2007 for more detail on the learnercentric ecology of resources framework and for more detailed examples). Through the discussions of the Learner Generated Context group fresh perspectives on thiscontention have developed. For example, both spatial and process issues emerge. These could be described as Changing the learning context and generating learning spaces, and Changing the learning process and the learning context.” (Luckin et al, 2007 p 90).

Elsewhere writing as the The Learner Generated Contexts Group, Luckin et al provide a nice pithy definition: "“A Learner Generated Context can be defined as a context created by people interacting together with a common, self-defined or negotiated learning goal. The key aspect of Learner Generated Contexts is that they are generated through the enterprise of those who would previously have been consumers in a context created for them." You can find out more and add to discussion at the wiki.

I think that the concept of a Learner-Generated Context helps us to start thinking about personal learning environments from a learning and teaching perspective rather than a purely technical one. Supporting approaches like mode two, participative action learning / research and enquiry-based learning with web 2.0 will require its own ecology of models and frameworks. For example, second order cybernetics becomes a useful tool to study and reflect upon Learner-Generated Contexts once we start to view learners as conscious modelers of their own learnings and learning environments. As educators we can teach reflective practice, perhaps using some form of scaffolding, to help learners to become second order cyberneticians in their own right.

Turning to materiality, I think that the ecological metaphor helps to make it clear that virtual learning environments, personal learning environments and other forms of technology mediated learning are part of a wider and more tangible world of books, museums and coffee bar conversations etc that learners inhabit and animate. Sometimes ‘hidden learning environments’ are only hiding in plain sight. Perhaps learning technologisits should get out more ...

Further reading: You can download a great powerpoint on learner-generated contexts. A smart addition to anyone's ecology.

References

Luckin, R.; du Boulay, B.; Smith, H.; Underwood, J.; Fitzpatrick, G.; Holmberg, J.; Kerawalla, L.; Tunley, H.; Brewster, D. and Pearce, D. (2005). Using Mobile Technology to Create Flexible Learning Contexts, Journal of Interactive Media in Education, Special Issue on Portable Learning .
Luckin, R. (2006). Understanding Learning Contexts as Ecologies of Resources: From the Zone of Proximal Development to Learner Generated Contexts. In T. Reeves & S. Yamashita (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Elearning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2006 (pp. 2195–2202). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Luckin, R., Shurville, S. and Browne, T. (2007) Initiating elearning by stealth, participation and consultation in a late majority institution, Organisational Transformation and Social Change Volume 3 Number 3 and Volume 4 Number 1 pp. 317–332.

Further reading

Judy Robertson attended the recent London Knowledge Lab event on learner-generated contexts (I missed it as I was busy migrating) and her reflections on the event can be found on her previous blog. Judy has now moved her blog to typepad. It looks like an interesting platform. http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~judy/blog/2007/09/learner-generated-contexts.html

Call for papers for themed issue of CWIS on e-learning in China

2007-10-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

"Let the day begin ..." - The Call

Dr. Qiyun Wang, Prof. Zhiting Zhu, Dr. Li Chen, and Dr. Hanbing Yan have offered to edit a themed issue of Campus-wide Information Systems on E-Learning in China. The issue will be managed on behalf of the journal by the associate editor Dr Simon Shurville (s.shurville@bcs.org). The call for papers is now available from the journal web site.

This themed issue will reflect upon progress in Chinese e-learning and will address topics including, but not limited to, the following:

Case studies of Chinese teachers’ professional development in e-learning
Discussion of issues, challenges and future trends of e-learning in China
Evaluations of the effectiveness of e-learning courses in China
Experiences of web-based course development and evaluation in China
In-depth analysis of e-learning technology standards in the Chinese context
Issue- or results-focused case studies of e-learning for Chinese primary, secondary schools and tertiary education
Research articles illustrating and critiquing educational technologies and new uses of technology in Chinese education
Perceptions and views on e-learning from various Chinese stakeholders

Academics with experience of e-learning in the Chinese context are invited to contribute case studies, conceptual papers, research papers, technical papers and viewpoint papers on the above topics for peer review.

The envisaged timeline is as follows:

Authors should submit abstracts in English (about 300 words) and Chinese (about 150 words) to the editors by 15 Dec 2007
Notification of acceptance will be sent by 31 Dec 2007
Authors must submit the first drafts of their full papers in English by 31 March 2008. To speed up the process, authors with English as a second language are advised to have these proof-read by an English speaker prior to submission. These full papers must include structured abstracts as specified in the guidelines for authors. The full paper including its abstract should be 4000 words or less
Authors will receive final reviewers’ comments by 31 May 2008
The final manuscript must be submitted to the editors by 31 July 2008

Authors need to send a copy of their manuscripts in the form of an MS Word file attached to an email to the following:

Dr. Qiyun Wang
Learning Sciences and Technologies Academic Group
National Institute of Education
Nanyang Technological University
1 Nanyang Walk
Singapore 637616
Tel: 65-67903267
Fax: 65-68968038
E-mail: qiyun.wang@nie.edu.sg

And cc to:

Prof. Zhiting Zhu
Distance Education College
East China Normal University
3663 North Zhongshan Road,
Shanghai, China
Email: mailto:ztzhu@dec.ecnu.edu.cn

Action Learning / Research, Mode Two and Web 2.0

2007-10-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

"This is the time ... the time for action" - Secret Affair

I think that action learning and action research are natural partners to web 2.0. I have also found action learning/research to be really useful for mode two knowledge production in higher education. So here is a small introduction for people who have not come across the terms.

Action learning is a radical style of collaborative learning defined by The International Foundation for Action Learning as follows:

“Action learning involves working on real problems, focusing on learning and actually implementing solutions. It is a form of learning by doing that provides a well-tried method of accelerating learning to enable people to handle difficult situations more effectively.”[http://www.ifal.org.uk/nutshell.html.]

While that definition describes the technical side of action learning, its inventor Professor Revans interwove philosophical/religious threads into the practice. The following quote from an interview with Revans illustrates some of these threads:

“Though it runs against conventional educational wisdom, action learning's ancestry is ancient. Revans peppers his papers and conversation with an array of inspirations - from Buddhism to the bible. He can trace his advocacy of action learning to the sinking of the Titanic when he was nearing his fifth birthday. His father was a navel architect who was on the enquiry into disaster. ‘He said to me years later that what the enquiry proved was that we must train people in such a way that they understand the difference between cleverness and wisdom’[http://www.tafe.sa.edu.au/institutes/para/ftf/facnet/Article%202.doc]”.

The group or the society rather than the individual, one can argue, is the appropriate yardstick for wisdom. Hence a social practice like action learning encourages the individual to accommodate and respond to the group’s wisdom. And vice versa.

Wadsworth has a nice definition of Participatory Action Research, which can be found on Wikipedia: "Essentially Participatory Action Research (PAR) is research which involves all relevant parties in actively examining together current action (which they experience as problematic) in order to change and improve it. They do this by critically reflecting on the historical, political, cultural, economic, geographic and other contexts which make sense of it. … Participatory action research is not just research which is hoped will be followed by action. It is action which is researched, changed and re-researched, within the research process by participants. Nor is it simply an exotic variant of consultation. Instead, it aims to be active co-research, by and for those to be helped. Nor can it be used by one group of people to get another group of people to do what is thought best for them - whether that is to implement a central policy or an organisational or service change. Instead it tries to be a genuinely democratic or non-coercive process whereby those to be helped, determine the purposes and outcomes of their own inquiry." (Wadsworth, 1998).

Gibbons et al (1995) have described a new way in which research is being conducted in the global economy and dubbed this ‘mode two’. Mode two research carries the following hallmarks: “it is trans-disciplinary, problem-oriented, application-based, team-driven, multi-site, partnership-based, socially useful, heterogeneous, quality controlled, reflective and responsive, and less hierarchical than disciplinary knowledge of the kind produced in universities” (Jansen, 2000 p113). Mode two can be contrasted to mode one, which is the traditional approach that universities—and other academies—have taken to research.

In mode one, problems are set and solved in a context governed by the interests of a largely academic community. The primary customers are the researcher herself and her community of practice. Other customers may come to use the research for their own purposes e.g. industry, government or society generally.

In mode two, research is carried out within the wider community. It is intended to be useful to someone other than the practitioner and his or her community of practice. Likely customers include industry, government or society in general.

Mode two knowledge production has been widely embraced as a burning issue for academic debate and an ingredient for policy makers (c.f. Clark 1998, Kraak 2000, Starkey 2001). Some major foreseeable consequences of this dash for mode two should include:

The set of venues where ‘kosher’ research can be conducted should change and expand e.g. science parks
The ‘kosher’ ways that research results can be disseminated should also change and expand e.g. internet-mediated corporate white papers
The multidisciplinary approach characterized mode two should blur the boundaries between disciplines and institutions. This will likely have profound consequences for the power and constitution of what Beacher and Trowler (2001) call ‘academic tribes and territories’
New reward and recognition structures for academics and researchers should emerge e.g. well-paid industrial sabbaticals.

I am impressed by the Australian government's attitude that research needs to be meaningful to the community and disseminated in formats other than academic journals. Of course some research must remain ‘pure’ and mode one and should be published in refereed journals. I just like the idea of a bit of biodiversity in what constitutes research.

Asher Rospigliosi and I used action learning and action research in a blended mode 2 environment when we taught courses in 'digital entrepreneurship' at City University (Shurville, Rospigliosi and Scott, 2005). These courses applied action learning and research to authentic work-based e-business projects. They were accredited by and delivered from City University’s Department of Continuing Professional Development and built upon previous undergraduate level courses developed and externally examined by the authors. Bernard Scott was the external examiner.

To compete in increasingly hostile climates, entrepreneurs need to implement innovative yet realistic solutions that maximize productivity, broaden reach, manage customer relationships and control costs. In larger firms such competitive advantage is often won by incorporating Information Systems (IS) for Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or Knowledge Management (KM). Our recent experience of intervening with entrepreneurs in SMEs indicates that, given appropriate support and training, implementing such technologies is becoming feasible for SMEs. For example, one learner recently use the course to upgraded a Chamber of Law’s web site from an information source to an IS with full CRM capability. Another transformed an office leasing company into a provider of virtual office services by introducing call centre services using voice over IP integrated with an online KM system.

Personal development was core curriculum throughout the courses. The curriculum also included a range of businesses topics, such as change and innovation management, as well as traditional IT related topics, such as rapid prototyping and project management. Formative assessment was via a sequence of mini-project reports, presentations and peer critiquing. Summative assessment was via a substantial report on a work-based project where evidence of critical thinking and reflection were key assessment criteria.

During each module, work-based reflective learning was assured because the learners authored personal development plans, learning journals, project plans and other artifacts. These were peer-critiqued by members of the action learning sets and checked by the tutors to provide business-focused reality-checks. The assessment was a mixture of radical ‘critique and be critiqued’ and traditional ‘submit and mark’. Learners first delivered a presentation on their progress for each module. Next they placed this presentation online where it was peer critiqued.

Passing a module required writing a minimum of two substantial peer critiques. Each assessment had broad guidelines about appropriateness and format with the details being negotiated between tutor and learner. Learners received formative feedback on each assignment before the assignments were resubmitted together in the form of a plan or research report. In the summative assessment the tutors utilized academic and business expertise to formally accredit the learners’ construction of knowledge and their personal development.

The Certificate and Diploma have provided around a hundred entrepreneurs with access to education and training in both ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ skills associated with embedding IS in SMEs. The outcomes indicate that taking work experience into account to provide relatively open access to blended learning supported M-level courses is rewarded by ample evidence of critical thinking, personal reflection and business transformation. In our experience, entrepreneurs can be highly motivated by an M-level qualification and will often produce reports of genuine work-based projects that surpass our assessment criteria.

When we taught these courses we were 'faking' web 2.0 using an institutional virtual learning environment. I think we might have engaged the learners more with social networking software like Elgg. Asher is busy editing a special issue of Campus-Wide Information Systems on long term use of Elgg at the University of Brighton. Always more to do and more to be done ...

References

Becher, T. and Trowler, P. (2001) Academic Tribes and Territories: Intellectual Enquiry and the Cultures of Disciplines. Open University Press.
Bruffee, K.A. (1999) Collaborative Learning. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press
Clark, B. (1998) Creating Entrepreneurial Universities: Organizational Pathways of Transformation. Oxford: Pergamon/Elsevier Science.
Eijkman, H. and Clarke, B. (2007) How you can start using participative Web 2.0 social
technologies today for powerful and sustainable assessments for real world
learning and performance. In the proceedings of the 7th International Conference of Information and Communications Technologies in Education, Crete, Greece.
Gibbons, M., Limoges, C., Nowotny, H., Schwartzman, S., Scott, P., and Trow, M. (1995) The New Production of Knowledge. Sage, London.
Jansen, J. (2000) Knowledge and Institutional Life: Taking Gibbons on a walk Through a South African University. In Kraak (2000).
Kraak, A. (2000) Changing Modes: New Knowledge Production and its Implications for Higher Education in SA. HSRC Publishers.
Shurville, S., Rospigliosi, A. and Scott, B. (2005). Innovative courses in E-Business Information Systems for SMEs. In Méndez-Vilas, A. , González-Pereira, B., J. Mesa González, J., and Mesa González, J.A. (eds.) Recent Research Developments in Learning Technologies. Published by FORMATEX, Badajoz, Spain, pp 160-164.
Starkey, K. (2001) In Defence of Modes One, Two and Three: A Response. British Journal of Management Volume 12 Issue s1 Page S77.
Wadsworth, Yolanda. 1998. What is Participatory Action Research? Action Research International, Paper 2.

Henk Eijkman added the following, which I agree with completely (so much so that I expanded the original post):

I really like the Action Learning dimension but in the extension to our ICICTE 2007 paper (Eijkman & Clarke) I'm proposing what is in effect an extension of this idea as well as another dimension linked to the pedagogy 2.0 concept. First, in keeping with the participatory ideal of Web 2.0 I use a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach. I have in fact used this to teach a unit in UNE's Grad Cert. in Higher Education last semester. PAR predates action learning (in fact one could apply nearly the same definition) is widely used in a range of community and educational settings. it takes action learning further by specifically focusing on the participative dimension - a key design feature of Web 2.0.

Personally I think PAR is Mode Two knowledge production per excellence.Also, and again following the ICICTE 2007 paper (Eijkman & Clarke) I would argue that Web 2.0 invites a social constructionist reframing of learning in which academics are no longer the guardians of second order (abstracted) knowledges.

Web 2.0 takes us irrevocably into transcultural learning because it enables individuals anywhere to easily form rich and decentralised social networks based on common interests and to collaboratively create, distribute, share and recreate content from multiple sources. While this does not mean that we ignore psychological theories of learning, it does mean that we are invited to come to grips with a decidely social theory of learning to challenge the hegemony of eurocentric psychologism in educational thinking and practice.

To fully utilize the educational potential of Web 2.0 we need a new paradigm one that takes us beyond individual atomistic theories of learning and even beyond social constructivism. The key point is that social constructionism is based on a non-foundational epistemology which enables us to recognise and negotiate more equitably with multiple knowledge systems. The latter are ignored or overwhelmed by the dominant Western take in international higher education while our student base, and others using Web 2.0 increasingly come from culturally and linguistically diverse social groups. For instance it questions the traditional notion that academics are the arbiters of true and tested (usually meaning Western, urbanised white, middle/upper class) knowledges.

See Bruffee, K.A. (1999) Collaborative Learning. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press for an interesting introduction to social constructionism, or my PhD thesis University of Canberra (but I wouldn't inflict that lengthy tome on anyone). {co-incidentally this one of my all time favorite books - Simon}

Our Man in Canberra: Henk Eijkman

2007-10-19T16:40:00.000-07:00

"Move on up ..." - Curtis Mayfield

Dr Henk Eijkman, all round good guy, ICICTE fellow traveler and non-foundationalist epistemologist supreme, has just moved to be Academic Learning and Teaching Fellow (Senior Lecturer level) at the University of NSW at the Australian Defence Force Academy. So Henk is officially now Our Man in Canberra. Henk is also one of the authors for the upcoming special issue of Campus-Wide Information Systems on Australasian E-Learning. Congratulations Henk and good luck in the new job!

Second-order cybernetics, learning design and design theory

2007-10-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

"She was lovelier from learning ... And from living, loving more" - Gene Clark

I am interested in the relationship between second-order cybernetics, learning design and design theory/methods. In the future I would like to see more programs to support reflective learning design and for these to be based on sound design theory and ethical practice (see below). LAMS is a great beginning and I would like to see further programs with repositories and technologies such as case-based reasoning to help educators make best use of existing resources. The following paragraphs are an adapted extract from a paper by Bernard Scott, Simon Shurville, Piers Maclean and Chunyu Cong, which is due for publication in Kybernates.

In the discourse of second-order cybernetics, von Foerster coined the term ‘metaphysical’ to describe domains whose navigation requires participant observers to perform value judgements in selecting a problem-setting framework and a set of guiding principles (von Foerster, 1991). Such metaphysical domains contrast to more trivial domains where apparently objective agents can navigate via deterministic problem-solving methodologies (von Foerster, 1991). This distinction has a parallel in design research, where Rittel and Webber (Rittel and Webber, 1973) drew a distinction between ‘tame’ and ‘wicked’ domains. In tame domains, problems come pre-framed such that an apparently objective agent can apply deterministic procedures to solve them. In wicked domains, the framing of a problem by participant observers is a fundamental part of addressing it. Further, a genuinely wicked problem contains irreducible moral, political and professional dimensions which participant observers must take into account. This distinction between tame and wicked problems was re-invented by others working in adjacent domains, such as the systems thinkers Ackoff (1974) and Checkland (1981).

Design researchers such as Archer (1979), Broadbent and Ward (1969) and Jones (1977) appreciated the distinction between tame and wicked problems. They also recognized that the majority of design methods that had been developed during a well-funded period of research following the Second World War were aimed at tame domains (Cross, 1984). These researchers rose above these highly procedural first-generation design methods and began to develop second-generation design methods, which were structured yet acknowledged the personal values and histories of socially situated designers (for further history, see Cross, 1984). Hence, we suggest that there are many design-domains, which can, depending on the observer’s context, equally well be described as metaphysical or wicked. This is useful because it provides a cross-disciplinary bridge and enables research and praxis to be ported to and fro between cybernetics and design.

In a forthcoming paper Bernard Scott, Piers Maclean, Chunyu Cong and I argue that learning design for TEL constitutes a metaphysical domain which yields wicked problems that require second-order sensibilities and second generation design methods. We have two reasons to make this claim. First, learning design for TEL is extremely complicated. It requires “interdisciplinary collaboration across the disciplines of learning, cognition, information and communication technologies (ICT) and education, and the broader social sciences” (TLRP, 2006) and hence requires diligent professionalism (MacLean and Scott, 2006). Second, since learning design ultimately involves the education of real people, its moral, political and professional dimensions cannot be eliminated. So addressing problems in learning design for TEL in an ethical fashion (c.f. von Foerster, 1991) requires learning designers to recognise that they are socially situated, participant observers who need to tame problems with well-founded and appropriately structured methodologies.

I explored design theory and artificial intelligence in depth in my thesis (Shurville, 1998) and would like to return to the area in the context of information systems to support learning design.

References

Ackoff, R. (1974). Re-defining the Future. London: John Wiley and Sons.

Archer, B. (1979) Whatever Became of Design Methodology, Design Studies, Volume 1. Number 1, pp 17-18.

Broadbent and Ward (1969) Design Methods in Architecture, London: Lund Humpheries Publishers Ltd.

Checkland, P. (1981). Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Chichester Sussex: John Wiley and Sons.

Cross, N. (ed.) (1984) Developments in Design Methodology, New York, John Wiley and Sons.

Jones, J.C. (1977) How My Thoughts About Design Methods have Changed During the Years. Design Methods and Theories, Volume 11, number 1, pp 50-62.

MacLean, P.J., and Scott, B.C.E. (2006) Learning Design: Requirements, Practice and Prospects. In: K. Fernstrom and K. Tsolakidis, eds. Readings in Technology in Education: Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Communications Technologies in Education 2006, 6-8 July 2006 Rhodes. Abbotsford, BC: UCFV Press, 152-156.

Rittel, H.W.J. and Webber, M.M. (1973), “Dilemmas in a general theory of planning”, Policy Sciences, Vol. 4, pp. 155-69.

Shurville, S. (1998) Method Oriented Design Environments in Knowledge-Aided Design. Unpublished PhD Thesis. University of Brighton.

Teaching and Learning Research Programme, (2006) Announcement of Forthcoming ESRC/EPSRC Call for Research on Technology Enhanced Learning: Understanding, creating, and exploiting digital technologies for learning. Retrieved January 19, 2007 from: http://www.tlrp.org/tel/.

von Foerster, H. (1991) Ethics and Second-Order Cybernetics. In Rey, Y. and Prieur, B. (eds) Systemes, ethiques: Perspectives en therapie familiale (Paris: ESF Editeur, 1991) 41-54.

Themed issue of Campus-Wide Information Systems on Australasian E-learning

2007-10-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

"I'm happy just to sit here round a table with old friends ... and see which one of us can tell the biggest lies" - Flame Trees by Cold Chisel

Ken Fernstrom, Barry O’Grady, Michael Henderson (who now seems able to fly) and I are editing a special issue of Campus-Wide Information Systems on Australasian E-learning including expanded versions of papers from ICICTE 2007. We hope to publish five papers form Australia and one from New Zealand.

A special issue that Ken and I edited based upon last year's conference entitled 'Rhodes to Global Educational Networks for the Common Good' is now available. It is a good idea to stay on the right side of Ken as he seems to be toteing a wolf these days. Flax the husky who is Ken's new room mate can be seen on the right. Bring some fresh Moose.

Hope to see you all at ICICTE 2008!

The Green World

2007-10-15T18:59:00.001-07:00

"It's the end of the summer ... You can spin the light to gold" - Dar Williams

In this somewhat preachy post I want to make a case for considering the environmental impact of e-learning and other university systems and for including the environment as a stakeholder in our projects. In the past year or so I have watched the environment move from a left wing / green trope to become a mainstream topic of political debate in Australia. For example, The Green Building Council of Australia has released a new rating tool for schools and universities across Australia (see: http://www.gbcaus.org/). So I admit that I'm a latecomer and I hope that some readers will be able to offer more radical views and actions. If you read nothing else on this topic then please try and find a copy of McDonough and Braungart's Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, which really changed my way of thinking.

We are already reasonably certain that human environmental impact will be an economic imperative throughout the 21st centaury (Stern, 2006). McDonough and Braungart (2002) argue that our current economic paradigm is unsustainable as our systems of manufacture are relentlessly harming our collective health and that of our eco-system. They show that an ecologically effective paradigm, founded on systems that aim beyond zero waste, appears feasible. They also accept that significant research and cultural change will be required. In the longer term, the HE sector is well-situated to research, develop and transfer ecologically efficient processes and technologies. For now, despite current economic pressures, HE still enjoys a modest license to put critique into action and could therefore implement cultural change as a precursor to effecting modest ecological transformations.

Naively, we might expect a dash for e-learning to significantly reduce HE’s environmental footprint. Unfortunately, while paper-based distance learning seems to offer significant reductions, current e-learning practice offers scant improvements over commuting to campus. A recent report for the UK Open University by Roy et al highlighted that “on average, the production and provision of the distance learning courses consumed nearly 90% less energy and produced 85% fewer CO2 emissions (per student per 10 CAT points) than the conventional campus-based university courses.” … however … “e-learning courses appear to offer only a small reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions (20% and 12% respectively) when compared to mainly print-based distance learning courses. This is due to high student use of computing, consumption of paper for printing off Web-based material, and additional home heating.” (Roy et al 2005: 4). So an ethical HE sector might perform an ecological audit on its e-learning programs and incorporate environmentally effective learning materials printed on substances such as polypropylene, which can be easily recycled (McDonough, 2007). Such a cultural change could be seeded by adding environmental auditing to the curricula of staff development courses hosted by learning and teaching departments.

In the case of blended and traditional learning, a well intentioned institution might want to reduce the carbon footprint of its campus. Indeed, a recent survey, reported in the UK Guardian (Lipsett, 2007), showed that some HE institutions are making good progress with transforming their campuses into energy efficient systems. For example “Leeds Met gets 85% of its energy from renewable sources and recycles 36% of its waste” (op cite). Unfortunately the survey also revealed that the majority of UK campuses have yet to respond to the ecological imperative. We think that needs to change. The Higher Education Funding Council for England, think so too. They are funding the Higher Education Environmental Performance Initiative (HEEPI) (HEEPI, 2007) whose web site explains the relevance of the International Standards Organisation's standard, ISO 14001 scheme and the Eco-Management and Audit (EMAS) scheme of the European Union to HE institutions. The HEEPI web site represents a good entry point to learn about these standards and the roles they could play in HE transformations.

Problematically, the ubiquity of ICT on campus is contributing heavily to HE’s energy usage and emissions. In the United States, green campus initiatives are starting to raise consciousness on this issue. For example, Harvard University maintains a green campus web site which warns staff and students that “one desktop computer left on all day for one year can result in more than 1500 pounds of CO2 being released into the atmosphere. It would take 100 to 500 trees to offset that amount of extra CO2.” (Harvard, 2007). The web site also contains a purchasing guide which offers useful information such as “laptops use 1/4 the energy of desktops” (Harvard, 2007) phrased in straightforward language. Accessing such information could easily be included as an activity in staff and student inductions performed by information technology services and libraries.

ICT can be applied to support environmentally effective practices including as video conferencing and online billing (Pamlin and Szomolányi , 2006). Conference travel can be regarded as a pleasant aspect of academic life and it might be painful to give up. However, various organizations such as the UK Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), have realised that academic conferences incur a high carbon footprint and have started to organize online events (JISC, 2007). Pamlin and Szomolányi (2006) estimate that replacing paper telephone bills for 100 million EU citizens would save 109,100 tonnes of CO2 per annum. I recently managed implementation of an online registration project for the University of Sussex as part of the Sussex Direct project. The sub-project was straightforward and cost effective. Moreover, the requirement for organizational change was minimal. However, although ecological concerns were an explicit driver, it is regrettable that an ecological audit was not performed at any point in the project. It would require a very minor organizational transformation for HE institutions to establish cross-functional teams to routinely address such issues. I advocate that an ecological audit should be included within the due diligence and evaluation for all transformational projects and especially those requiring significant new ICT platforms. If HE is to avoid inflicting ‘remote ecological tyranny’ upon future generations (c.f. McDonough and Braungart 2003), then HE needs to make the environment a driver and stake holder in its transformations.

References

Lipsett, A. (2007), Leeds Met tops Green University League Table. The Guardian Friday June 15, 2007. http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2104028,00.html. Accessed 22 June 2007.

Higher Education Environmental Performance Initiative (2007), Higher Education Environmental Performance Initiative. http://www.heepi.org.uk/. Accessed 22 June 2007.

Joint Information Systems Committee (2007), Innovating E-Learning Online Conference 2007: FAQ. http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning_pedagogy/elp_conference07/faq.aspx. Accessed 22 June 2007.

McDonough and Braungart (2002), Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. New York, NY: North Point Press.

McDonough, W. (2007), Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way we Make Things. http://www.mcdonough.com/cradle_to_cradle.htm. Accessed 22 June 2007.

Pamlin, D. and Szomolányi, K. (2006), Saving the Climate @ the Speed of Light: First Roadmap for Reduced CO2 Emissions in the EU and Beyond. A joint initiative of ETNO and WWF. http://www.etno.be/Portals/34/ETNO%20Documents/Sustainability/Climate%20Change%20Road%20Map.pdf. Accessed 22 June 2007.

Roy, R., Potter, S., Yarrow, K. and Smith, M. (2005), Towards Sustainable Higher Education: Environmental Impacts of Campus-Based and Distance Higher Education Systems. Milton Keynes: The Open University. http://www3.open.ac.uk/events/3/2005331_47403_o1.pdf. Accessed 22 June 2007.

Stern, N. (2006), Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. HM Teasury. Available at: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/stern_review_economics_climate_change/stern_review_report.cfm. Accessed 22 June 2007.

Themed issue of Campus-Wide Information Systems: Community @ Brighton: a year in the life of Web 2.0 at Brighton

2007-10-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

"An' when some punk comes a looking for sound ... Rastaferi goes to ground" - The Clash

I am working with well-known Brighton Business School yardie Asher Rospigliosi who is editing a themed issue of Campus-Wide Information Systems on 'Community @ Brighton: A Year in the Life of Web 2.0 at Brighton'. During the academic year 2006/7 the University of Brighton made the Elgg Social Networking platform available to all 33,000 staff and students as an institutional platform. So Brighton now brings a year’s experience of ubiquitous social networking, which has generated technical data and grounded pedagogic reflection. The proposed issue will draw together a range of pedagogic, social and technical perspectives, to explore the opportunities and problems of nurturing and supporting campus wide social networks.

Community@Brighton – implementing a institution-wide social network by Stan Stanier

See what I’m saying by Patrick Letchska and Jill Seddon

Who spoke first by Asher Rospigliosi, Simon Shurville and Sue Greener

Supporting alternate reality games with Elgg by Katie Piatt

Using C@B for PDP by Deshinder Gill & Stan Stanier

Defining the Field by Glenn Longden-Thurgood & Stan Stanier

Reflections on a year of Community by Sue Greener

The issue should be hot off the press in 2008.

Themed issue of Campus-wide Information Systems on E-Learning in China

2007-10-15T04:55:00.000-07:00

"On the continent of dreams you'd be with me ..." - T'Pau

Dr. Qiyun Wang, Prof. Zhiting Zhu, Dr. Li Chen, and Dr. Hanbing Yan have offered to edit a themed issue of Campus-wide Information Systems on E-Learning in China. A call for papers will be issued soon and will be available from the journal web site.

Campus-Wide Information Systems publishes cutting-edge research and case studies relating to administrative, academic and library computing, as well as other educational technologies (sample papers can be found at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/info/journals/cwis/sample.jsp.). The journal analyses the latest theories, applications and services relating to planning, developing, managing, using and evaluating information technologies in higher education. Campus-Wide Information Systems is increasingly focussing upon international and transnational approaches to educational information systems and e-learning. We are therefore proud to announce our first themed issue on e-learning in China.

The wALTer project and the Online Learning Knowledge Garden

2007-10-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

"While preachers preach of evil fates ... Teachers teach that knowledge waits " - Bob

Piers MacLean and Bernard Scott from Cranfield University have started the new JISC funded wALTer project. Apparently "wALTer is designed to produce a single web service to support e-learning professionals in practice and in achieving professional recognition. The creation and maintenance of a repository to support e-learning professionals is coincidentally an objective of each partner organisation. The On-line Learning Knowledge Garden at Cranfield University, OLKG, (http://olkg.rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk/) and ALT-J pre-prints and post-prints' will be incorporated, developed and extended in this resource. I have to admit I am fond of the OLKG as I was involved in its first incarnation a fair few years ago.

wALTer will also investigate how Web2 technologies can be in-built to support professional communities and to build knowledge resources as the sector adopts new ways of working with network technologies." Others involved are Gayle Calverley and Jim Petch of the University of Manchester, Rhonda Riachi and Seb Schmoller, The Association for Learning Technology, Oxford Brookes University.

Excellent change management text book by Mark Hughes

2007-10-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

"... please tell me you all - why does good change take so long?" - Greg Brown

Projects are synonymous with change. Hence the project management community has learnt that managing a significant project entails managing concomitant change on behalf of the project team and the stakeholders. Problematically, however, the rational and teleological approaches that dominate project management (Pollack, 2007) are more suited to directing technical processes and logistics than to the subtleties of wrangling complex emotions and politics. Worse, the change dimension of significant projects is inherently ‘wicked’ (Rittel and Webber, 1973). This means that identifying and characterising the potential change issues, selecting approaches to ameliorate them and identifying metrics to evaluate progress are irreducible parts of each particular project. Consequently project managers must accept the lack of steadfast algorithms for planning, implementing or evaluating change. Hence, when managing change hard nosed, logical positivist project managers need to learn how to interweave softer, less deterministic mindsets into their professional practice. Realising this, as a working project manager, I decided to update my skills and sought a course that would address the non-algorithmic people side of projects and change.

So I recently completed a two year part time M.A. in Change Management at the University of Brighton taught by Mark Hughes and Steve Reeve. The course was great as it used action learning/research to share experiances between experianced managers. A perfect learning design for the target group. Mark has now published the excellent text book 'Change Management: a Critical Perspective'. Mark's text is a blessing to educators because it presents rigorous arguments against reifying positivist approaches to change, together with sober alternatives, and contextualizes these arguments within a first rate evidence-base. This approach sets a radical agenda squarely within the workplace while opening the floodgates for critical and reflective debate in the classroom. I am currently reviewing the book and hope to publish the review in the journal Project Management in Business.

Mark also recently published ‘When Faculties Merge: Communicating Change’ in the recent special issue of Organizational Transformation and Social Change that Tom Browne and I edited. In the paper he brought his extensive subject knowledge of change management to bear in the context of his personal experience of a radical change to his faculty. Mark suggested that ‘the storytelling approach may be regarded as an antidote to the often prescriptive/normative nature of the change literature’. This provided a worked example to back up the assertions in this book. Anyone interested in change management in higher education would be advised to read the paper and the book.

Mark is also interested in 'Encouraging and Supporting Postgraduates Who Wish to Publish Work from Their Studies'. I think his approach works well with enquiry based learning, mode 2 and could be adapted to web 2.0.

References

Pollack, J. (2007). The Changing Paradigms of Project Management. International Journal of Project Management. Volume 25, Issue 3 pp 266-274.
Rittel, H.W.J. and Webber, M.M. (1973). Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning, Policy Sciences, Vol. 4, pp. 155-69.

Representing Campus-Wide Information Systems and Multicultural Education and Technology Journal at AARE

2007-09-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

"That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes ..." - Haile Selassie

I will be representing Campus-Wide Information Systems at the Australian Association for Research in Education conference in Fremantle in November and hunting for quality papers for the journal and its sister the Multicultural Education and Technology Journal.

I will present a paper called "Accomodating Culture within ICT-driven change programmes in Higher Education" I argue that Higher Education (HE) is key to creating and supporting the envisioned knowledge-based economies of the 21st century. Ironically, however, while the sector specialises in creating and imparting knowledge, it is often less agile than its industrial counterparts in applying knowledge media and ICT in response to threats and opportunities within its ecosystem. A complicating factor is that HE has a unique set of cultures. These include the chasm between academic and general staff. Moreover, collegiate traditions and ideals are now in competition with new financial realities and personal reward structures, which is generating a high level of resistance to change. Such cultural issues make it imperative to plan change carefully but hard to learn from change narratives set in other sectors. So, while there is a clear need within HE for ICT-driven change and change management, traditional approaches to embedding ICT must accommodate academic culture. The presentation will appeal to academic and general staff who are interested in embedding ICT within HE's unique culture.

The presentation incorporates ideas I have developed with Tom Browne of Exeter University and which we published in our special issues of the Journal of Organizational Transformation and Social Change.

Ten years ago today

2007-09-17T07:29:00.000-07:00

“You say your not nostalgic … then give me another word for it, you who are so good with words and keeping things hid” - Joan Baez.

It is a decade ago today that Lyn Pemberton and I hosted Writing and Computers 10. Out of nostalgia I’m going to include some of the original call for papers which appeared on a news group. Does anyone remember them?

Subject: Writing and computers 10 - call for papers
From: sjs16@itri.bton.ac.uk (Simon Shurville) [long gone!]
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 1997 15:52:30 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.ai.doc-analysis.misc
Sender: -Not-Authenticated-[3483]
Xdisclaimer: No attempt was made to authenticate the sender's name.
Xref: cfar.umd.edu comp.ai.doc-analysis.misc:361 Writing the Future:Writing and Computers 10 September 18th and 19th 1997, University of Brighton, UK http://www.itri.brighton.ac.uk/events/WandC97/ [long gone!] The Tenth Annual Writing and Computers conference will be hosted thisyear by the University of Brighton in the lively seaside town of Brighton, 60 miles from London. The conference regularly brings together an international community ofpeople concerned with all aspects of computers and the writing process, including psychologists, software designers, educational researchers, teachers, journalists, authors and technical writers. The theme for this year's conference will be Writing the Future-potential developments in writing with computers as we enter thenext millenium.

The conference led to a special issue of the journal Text Technology and the book Words on the Web, both edited by Lyn Pemberton and myself. Stand out academics included Illana Synder (author of Page to Screen, which is still a great book) and Pamela Gay. The man of the match was Steven Marcus, who sadly died not long after.

24 hours after all conferences one should be listening to Sleepy LaBeef delivering the Jim Beam Small Batch of rockabilly in a café with buffalo burgers and 300 kinds of hot sauce! So, on a whim, I fled the UK to Memphis to avoid Diana mania. In those days you could still vacation without a laptop. So I spent some great twilights on Beale Street soaking up the blues without e-mail or football scores. Later Erin Stanfill drove us slow and lost down to New Orleans with nay a Blackberry in our world. As an old New Orleans hand Erin showed me an Anne Rice of a time. As Lucinda Williams sang "my brother knows where the best bars are" and Erin is one hell of a brother. Then a lot happened in America that shouldn't and look what went down in New Orleans in the intervening years! I miss the deep fried oyster po' boys and the widest lake I ever saw. "You say your not nostalgic … then give me another word for it ...".

Migrated to Australia

2007-09-17T06:38:00.000-07:00

"Thousands are sailing ..." - Shane McGowan

I migrated to Australia this month to settle with my wife, who has lived here for a couple of years. It is great to be in my new home and to start learning all about Australian culture. I have been here a few times before but it is a very different oppertunity to live here! The best part is finaly being with Marian full time. We married here a year ago in McLaren Vale and being apart has been very painful.

It is curious how many Brits are migrating these days. I suppose I have become sensitized and notice the news stories etc. The main reason people seem to give is the M25.

I am sad to have left Cranfield University and the UK higher educational scene in general. I really enjoyed teaching Information Systems and Knowledge Management at Cranfield. It will be really interesting to see how Australian academia compares. The good news on a work-related front is that Campus-Wide Information Systems are happy for me to carry on as assistant editor from here. I am planning to manage themed issues on Australian e-learning, Chinese e-learning, ELGG and Web 2.0 in the USA.

Postcript: my cat Skippy has now arrived from England and is mousing like a good un. Marian and I are loving Frematle and especially the Frematle Arts Centre. We have tickets for Dave Hole and the Indigo Girls.

Special issues of Organizational Transformation and Social Change on ICT-Driven Change in Higher Education

2007-09-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

".... and you can't see tomorrow with yesterday's eyes" - Ryan Adams

Dr Tom Browne and I have co-edited two special issues of the Journal Organizational Transformation and Social Change. Early in 2006, drawing greatly upon personal experience, we identified the need for the Higher Education (HE) community to identify and share much more transparently the growth pains of developing institutional e-learning cultures, with all the concomitant challenges of managing consequential organisational transformation. A proposal for a special issue was made to the editors of OTSC, which was enthusiastically accepted.

The special issues, which have now been published, contain twelve papers:

In ‘Technology Supported Learning – Tensions between Innovation, and Control’, Stiles and Yorke apply the longitudinal perspective gained through early adoption of e-learning at Staffordshire University to explore ways to overcome the barriers of introducing new technologies and maintaining innovation thereafter.
In ‘Implementing Web-Assisted Learning and Engaging Academic Staff in the Change Process’, Marek, Sibbald and Bagher present a change narrative based around the ‘fast and forced’ introduction of an MLE/VLE to facilitate blended learning at Napier University.
In ‘Effecting Institutional Change Through E-Learning: An Implementation Model for VLE Deployment at the University of York’, Beastall and Walker report a flexible approach to change management that varied in pace to suite the needs of individual staff, students and departments during the introduction of a VLE.
In ‘The Cultural Impact of an In-Depth Consultation on the University of Nottingham: A Bottom-Up Approach’ Wilson, and Grimshaw focus upon the details of designing an effective consultation exercise with stakeholders in research at the University of Nottingham as a precursor to establishing a virtual research environment.
‘Initiating E-Learning by Stealth, Participation and Consultation in a Late Majority Institution’ by Luckin, Shurville and Browne recounts how a grass roots initiative was effectively transformed into a top down programme. The extent to which opportunities afforded by e-learning are embraced by an institution can depend in large measure on whether it is perceived as enabling and transformative or as a major and disruptive distraction. Most case studies focus on the former. This paper describes how e-learning was introduced into the latter environment. The sensitivity of competing pressures in a research intensive university substantially influenced the manner in which e-learning was promoted. This paper tells that story, from initial stealth to eventual university acknowledgement of the relevance of e-learning specifically to its own context.
In ‘Facilitating Organizational Change: Some Sociocybernetic Principles’, Scott reflects on the role of a senior learning technologist as change agent.
In ‘When Faculties Merge: Communicating Change’, Hughes brings his extensive subject knowledge of change management to bear in the context of his personal experience of a radical change to his faculty. He suggests that ‘the storytelling approach may be regarded as an antidote to the often prescriptive/normative nature of the change literature’ and provides us with a highly emotional worked example to back up the assertions in his recent text book.
In ‘Laptops For Students: Understanding And Evaluating The Drivers For Change’ Coen et al apply the MIT90s Model for Institutional Change to evaluate a project to provide students at the University of Strathclyde with personal laptops.
In ‘Implementations, Change Management and Evaluation: A Case Study of the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Reusable Learning Objects’ Cook et al evaluate a large scale project involving three institutions with very different organizational structures and cultures: the University of Cambridge (an ancient university), London Metropolitan University (a new university), and the University of Nottingham (a member of the Russell Group).
In ‘Technology at the planning table: Activity theory, Negotiation and Course Management Systems’, Benson and Whitworth apply a blend of Cervero and Wilson’s (1994) negotiation of power and interests model and activity theory to compare approaches to negotiation during innovation in HE in the UK and the US.
In ‘Whither E-Learning? Conceptions of Change and Innovation in Higher Education’ Rossiter widens her lens further to evaluate change management practices across the Australian HE system. Rossiter shows that substantial development of capabilities for change and innovation is still required across the sector.

In the first editorial Tom and I introduced these papers. In the second editorial, 'Educating Minds for the Knowledge Economy', we argued that while e-learning can support mass education, it can also replicate existing HE systems that are over reliant upon teaching which aims to transmit knowledge. This approach risks failing to equip graduates with the requisite skills to solve novel problems set by fast moving knowledge-based economies. Although approaches to redress this balance by incorporating research have long been available, for example action research and mode two, so far their impact in mainstream undergraduate teaching has been rather marginal. Recently, however, the family of ‘enquiry- and research-based’ approaches is starting to unify under the banner of enquiry-based learning (EBL), which is starting to gain traction in HE. We acknowledged that the e-learning community have already played a substantial role in the seeding of EBL. However, we suggested that, as part of a sector-wide transformation, e-learning now needs to generate radical innovations in process and technology and thereby develop capacities for affordable, high-quality mass EBL.

You can find the special issues online:

Volume 3, Issue 3 (2006)

Volume 4, Issue 4 (2007)

Research Communities

2007-09-12T04:42:00.000-07:00

Research Communities was a business unit of iDesk which was lead by Pernille Rudlin.

Research Communities applied intelligent tools to tame the web and help learners to optimize their research time. Specifically, it contained Research Assistant, an AI tool with the following functions:

A wizard to help the learner construct an appropriate research question in one or more natural languages.

An agent performing deep stochastic searches across the web to locate relevant documents.

A multilingual summarizer providing a personalised precis of each document thus enabling the learner to assess which documents to retrieve and read in full.

A highlighter facilitating rapid scanning of documents by generating hyperlinks to content that matches the learner’s interests.

A report generator that collated the research findings in a learner specified language and ranking.

The output of these tools seamlessly integrated with a learning portfolio and collaborative learning tools.

The Research Communities portfolio could be customized to meet the specific needs of learners, educationalinstitutions and professional bodies. The portfolio enabled the learner to:

List actions and due dates they have generated or agreed with a tutor, mentor or peers.

Integrate completed research and evidence of reflection into a formal report for a tutor, mentor or processional body.

Upload personal documents and relate these to particular action points or existing learning materials.

Entries in the learning portfolio could remain private or be shared with other learners.

Reflecting on reflection

2007-08-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

"have you any dreams you'd like to sell?" - Fleetwood Mac

"The mirror stares you in the face and says baby, uh uh it don't work" - Earth, Wind and Fire

I love reflective practice. The paragraph below is from 'Engaging from the Inside: Reflections on the Value of Social Cognitive Theory for Learning in Online Discussions' by Susan Greener, Asher Rospigliosi and Simon Shurville. We have been invited to upsize the presentation into a journal article.

Why should we reflect? We reflect as part of our natural thinking behaviours (Hall’s “everyday reflective practice” (1997)) as part of what makes us human. From a pedagogical perspective, Schon (1987) emphasizes the ideas of “reflection in action” and “reflection on action”, distinguishing between that which is done in the midst of action and can alter our responses and behaviours in real time, and that which takes place after an action is completed, where new views of reality can be made, producing post facto learning. Here reflection takes on a purposive flavour, a tradition, which includes Dewey and Habermas advocating a deliberate and systematic approach to reflection (Dewey 1997; Morrison 1995). It is this purposive approach to reflection, which can underpin transformational learning (Mezirow 1978; Moon 2000) and develop knowledge (Dewey 1997).

I think reflection is a really important part of 'Critical Technical Practice', which is my prefered mode of work. I was introduced to this concept through Agre (1997a, 1997b) who writes extensively on establishing a critical-technical practice in computing.

Critical-technical practice has four parts:

1. Once a problem presents itself, the practitioner searches the literature—formal, informal, printed, e-published, blogs etc—for insights
2. The practitioner applies insights to the problem in a practical setting
3. The practitioner evaluates and reflects upon the solution and any changes in methodology
4. The practitioner may share the results with their community of practice in the literature.

There are some potential pitfalls for this approach:

Since the literature in question might originate from an associated or foreign discipline, colleagues in one’s own discipline might not take it seriously or feel offended and threatened by its introduction.

Some practical colleagues do not see any advantage to bringing ‘book learning’ to the work place
Public reporting on failure or success can be seen as damaging to an organisation or wasteful of the manager’s time.

Somehow, then, the practitioner either needs to ensure that this method is applied in a way that is non-threatening to their colleagues and their own career or to plan a career change in the immediate post critical-technical practice future.

References

Agre, P. (1997a) Toward a Critical-technical Practice: Lessons Learned in Trying to Reform AI. In Bowker et al (1997).
Agre, P. (1997b) Computation and Human Experience. University of Oxford Press.
Also available at http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/critical.html.
Bowker, G., Les Gasser, B., Leigh Star, S. and Turner, R., (1997) (eds.), Bridging the Great Divide: Social Science, Technical Systems, and Cooperative Work. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Dewey, J. (1997). How We Think.Dover edition reprint of 1910 edition. New York, Dover Publications Inc.
Greener, S., Rospiglosi, A. and Shurville, S. (2007). Engaging from the Inside: Reflections on the Value of Social Cognitive Theory for Learning in Online Discussion. In the proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on e-Learning, Columbia University, New York, USA.
Hall, S. (1997). Forms of reflective teaching practice in higher education. in R. Pospisil and L. Willcoxson's Learning Through Teaching. Proceedings of the 6th Annual Teaching Learning Forum, Murdoch University, Perth, Murdoch University.
Mezirow, J. (1978). "Perspective Transformation." adult education 28(2): 100-109.
Moon, J. (2000). "Reflection in Learning & Professional Development ".
Morrison, K. (1995). "Dewey, Habermas and reflective practice." Curriculum 16(2): 82-94.
Schon, D. (1987). Teaching artistry through reflection-in-action. Educating the reflective practitioner. Translated by D. Schon. San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Journal of Learning Design

2007-08-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

"I didn't know it would be so long ... Learning how to love you " - John Hiatt

I'm impressed by "The Journal of Learning Design [which] is a new educational journal which moves beyond a focus on technological applications in educational settings, to encourage more critical analysis of approaches to the design of learning environments and the extent to which they result in enhanced learning outcomes for learners. Traditional, didactic, delivery-focussed models of teaching in higher education still prevail, whether in the lecture theatre or in the online environment." from http://www.jld.qut.edu.au/. There is a full text archive online.

ICICTE 2007: 12-14 July 2007

2007-07-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

"So now I walk in the midday sun, I never thought that my saviour would come, I think it's amazing, I think you're amazing" - George Michael (tenuous I know but George is Greek)

ICICTE 2007 was a great conference as always. I really enjoyed meeting the familiar faces as new making some new friends. The organization was superb as always and Crete was a welcoming destination. I was very proud to receive an award for being a friend of the conference (which made me so proud that I turned up in a socceroos replica strip). Cheers Ken! I also enjoyed introducing the keynote Rob Koper of the Open University of the Netherlands, who gave an inspiring overview of Learning Design. It was great to catch up with Rob who I met in Bulgaria last year as part of a TenCompetence based special issue I was organizing for Interactive Learning Environments (where I used to be Associate Editor).

My old spar Asher Rospigliosi and I contributed to a paper presented by Sue Greener called ‘The Value of Social Cognitive Theory in Online Discussion: Reflection via a Critical Incident repertory Grid’, which was invited for publication in Interactive Learning Environments. Asher needs a haircut and a shave as always. Aureli Owens and I presented ‘Engaging Colleagues in Personal and Organizational Change via Force Field Analysis’, which was invited for publication in the UCFV Research Review. I think this will be Aureli's first publication. But watch out I think she is a rising star.

The man of the match was definitely Barry O’Grady of Curtin University who presenteda great paper on finance and e-learning co-authored with his colleague Peter Mayall. The best bar conversation was with Steve Wheeler of the Faculty of Education at the University of Plymouth. Steve is the book reviews editor of Interactive Learning Environments. He is something of a rival now of course but as he invited our paper I guess we can live and let live! You can check out his views on ICICTE here.

Piers MacLean was in great form, although rarely seen at the bar, and his paper with Bernard Scott 'Researching Requirements, Practice, and Prospects for Learning Design: Some Results and Conclusions' is part of a research program that is really useful to anyone interested in training the next generation of learning designers. Check out their expanded paper from ICICTE 2006. It is good to see these old muckers from Cranfield have started the new JISC funded WALTER project. The future of learning design education is in safe hands!

We stayed in the Creta Sun apartments about 1/2 an hour from the action. The girls did a fine job of controlling the pool and the beach (Michelle did this by remote from her bed until around 4pm each day) while we were hard at work. Our host Dennis was a man in a million and generous with the four roses. I wish we had the time to nip back later in the summer for another dose of fine Greek hospitality. We eat nuff times at a local Greek lunch wagon that served the best dressed chicken in town for a couple of Euro. Nice! No them belly full but we hungry.

Wackies and Studio One was the boys music of choice in the Creta Sun apartments (except when Marian treated us to early morning Robbie Williams or Michelle went for some serious deep Brixton House) where we entertained Emory and Mina Craig from New York. Barry and Peter provided the most exciting taxi service on the island. Next year I hire a Hummer.