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Innovation in Distance Learning? I Can’t Define It, But I Know It When I See It!

Innovation in Distance Learning? I Can’t Define It, But I Know It When I See It!. Fredric M. Litto Brazilian Association of Distance Education Gdansk, Poland 13 June 2009. “I Know It When I See It!”. 1964 – United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart

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Innovation in Distance Learning? I Can’t Define It, But I Know It When I See It!

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  1. Innovation in Distance Learning? I Can’t Define It, But I Know It When I See It! Fredric M. Litto Brazilian Association of Distance Education Gdansk, Poland 13 June 2009

  2. “I Know It When I See It!” • 1964 – United States Supreme Court • Justice Potter Stewart • Jacobellis v. Ohio, regarding possible obscenity in The Lovers • “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it!” • Became one of the most famous phrases in the history of the Supreme Court • The user attempts to categorize an observable fact or event, although the category is subjective or lacks clearly defined parameters

  3. My Personal Interest in Innovation • Post-Doctoral Year Stanford, 1987-88 • New ideas in Cognition/Learning & ICTs • Upon return to Brazil, a new research laboratory at University of São Paulo 1988— . • The School of the Future

  4. My Personal Interest in Innovation • Prohibited from creating distance education through courses (the University only starts DE in 2009!) • The laboratory did the next best: activities to support the DE of others: • Virtual library • Learning objects • Virtual learning communities

  5. Group of Learning in Science and Technology with Internet Support http://darwin.futuro.usp.br

  6. Virtual Science Lab Group REPOSITORY OF REUSABLE LEARNING OBJECTS http://www.labvirt.futuro.usp.br

  7. SIMULATIONS Absorption of Colors Ions Force (Animation) Area of the Circle Conservation of Energy Electric Power Force (Simulation)

  8. 2000 – 2009

  9. PARTICIPATING STATES • • 483 public schools • • 29,941 participants • 23,365 students • 6,091 teachers • 682 community members

  10. Sistema Solar Trairi - CE

  11. The Virtual Library of the Portuguese- Speaking Student http://www.bibvirt.futuro.usp.br

  12. The Price of Innovation • Central Administration never gave support; merely tolerated the lab • Self-sustaining—all funding external • In years 2003-2006, US$ 2 million entered annually • Supported staff of 75 researchers

  13. The Price of Innovation • Since we brought in our own funds, we had independence in choosing and running our own projects • So which is more crucial- • freedom to invent, or • sacrifice freedom and be part of the regular university budget? • The lab is currently “coasting along....”

  14. The Study The opinions of some of DE’s most experienced leaders A sort of pre-Delphi survey E-mails of request sent to 70 friends around the world 33 responded (49.1%) From 1 to 3 pages

  15. The Study Today’s report is a preliminary summary of the results I plan to submit the final paper, with further details, to the EURODL-European Journal of Open, Distance & E-Learning

  16. The Questions Oslo Manual – Guidelines for Collecting & Interpreting Innovation Data. 3rd ed. Paris: OECD, 2005 Products Processes Marketing Organization

  17. The Questions • What are your choices for the most significant innovations in DE 1988-2008? Cite no more than 10 examples. 2. What do you believe were the real or possible factors affecting the high or low number of innovations? 3. What is the single most important challenge that confronts DE over the next decade?

  18. The Restrictions • Please refrain from citing innovations initiated by yourself or by the institution for which you worked, or are working at the present time. • Although there was no restriction as to the citation of specific brands, institutional names or trademarks, so few were in fact mentioned that these were not included in the conclusions

  19. The Kind Respondents • Europe: Ulrich Bernath Domingo Gallego Brenda Gurley Helmut Hoyer François Marchessou Brian Sayer David Sewart

  20. The Kind Respondents • Africa: Narand Baijnath Bakary Diallo • Asia & ME: Mahmood H. Butt Zhang Deming Toufic Houri Pranee Sungkatavat

  21. The Kind Respondents • Europe: Andras Szucs Antonio Moreira Teixeira Mathy Van Buel • Oceania: Lalita Rajasingham Jim Taylor

  22. The Kind Respondents • North America: Susan Aldridge Nicholas Allen Tony Bates John Daniel Kay Kohl Gary Miller Takashi Utsumi

  23. The Kind Respondents • South America: Gilda Helena Campos Andrea Filatro Marcos Formiga Edith Litwin Carlos Longo Jaime Ricardo Valenzuela

  24. Question 1 - Products Greatest number of citations: • Web 1.0, 2.0 & 3.0 • Internet 1 & 2 • Open Educational Resources • Learning Management Systems • Social Networking • Mobile Learning

  25. Remainder (in no special order): Use of IT PDAs Microcomputers Miniaturization Hypertext Voice over Internet Sound over Internet Multimedia Virtual Classrooms Virtual Universities Virtual Learning Communities Immersive Learning Environments Networked Learning Blended Learning Question 1 - Products

  26. Fibre-based highways Satellite systems Production/Construction of Teaching Resources Asynchronous Learning Environments Worked-based products Transactional Distance Wi-fi Online Videoconferencing Digital Libraries Remote & Virtual Labs Learning Objects eBooks Open Source Software Mega-universities Meta-universities Search Engines Question 1 - Products

  27. Question 1 - Processes • Innovations in the psychology of learning • Paradigm shift from teacher-centered to student centered approaches • No-classroom teaching (self-study) • Opportunity to operate globally • Opportunity for non-traditional sources to start their own educational programs • Interactivity • Complete disappearance of the element of distance in learning – “any time and any place”

  28. Question 1 - Processes • Shift from “artesenal” education to an “industrialized” education • Shift from radio & tv to internet & multimedia • Shift from textbooks to multimedia • Shift from printed material and postal delivery plus tutoring (by correspondence or F2F) to online (materials, delivery, return—all in one) “Unthinkable before the mid-1990s!” • Mobility/portability of the process—people, content, and tools

  29. Question 1 - Processes • Learning processes: • Virtual learning environments (wikis, blogs, etc.) • Collaborative learning strategies & communities • Collaborative writing tools • Customization around individualization, around individual abilities, learning styles, and cultural traditions • Administrative processes: • More student/customer focused (CRM) • “Unbundling” of individual processes in value chain and outsourcing to private providers • Using e-business processes to streamline “our medieval ways of working”

  30. Question 1 - Processes • “Disambiguation” of intellectual property • in wikis, web publications, student assignments, recycling • represents a loss of ownership, of QA and of control • but gives greater democratic access to content • Web 3.0 • assembling ideas and information into bodies of knowledge by mapping data semantically • semantic searches based on word meanings

  31. Question 1 - Marketing DE earlier seen as a palliative or supplementary educational solution for those with little prior learning experience, now with the status of privileged adults involved in the job market

  32. Question 1 - Marketing • Investing in the development of brands • Paying attention to rankings • Using ICT for student recruitment, especially non-traditional students • Using agents (and paying a fee per student) • Market now expects more flexibility, interaction, and immediacy from the learning process • Greater outreach for less cost and effort

  33. Question 1 - Marketing • The public expects recognition by the market of DE degree and courses • Philanthropic foundations which served as catalysts for improvement and growth of online DE

  34. Question 1 - Marketing • A skeptical view: Promises of instant change and fast skills acquisition made in the late 1990s (start of Web courses) have proved deceitful, counterproductive, and ill-founded. They never attracted a sufficient number of students and led to abysmal failures and loss of public money. “Politicians announce a revolutionary scheme, inexperienced and timid civil servants hurriedly draw up a tender…

  35. Question 1 - Marketing • and award it to the lowest (not necessarily the most competent bidder. Political pressure causes the specification to change, so costs spiral and disillusion grows” (The Economist, February 16, 2008, referring to “e-administration,” and could be applied to e-learning in the last decade.

  36. Question 1 - Organization Entry of for-profit degree-granting organizations New players (publishers, TV producers, world library of digital resources) Multiple collaborative authorship of content

  37. Question 1 - Organization • Inter-institutional sharing of educational programs and resources • Automation, at a distance, of the processes: enrollments, learner resources, exams, tutoring, notification of grades, data mining • Greater emphasis on professional management processes and practices • Greater emphasis on evidence-based practice and analytics

  38. Question 1 - Organization • “Organization seems to be better in traditional DE institutions—efficient, smooth-running; but still awaiting the ideal template for Web-based organizations” • “Most institutions have organizational processes and values about learners which still await modernization” • “There’s little real innovation in the world of DE – institutions are ossifying and becoming risk-averse”

  39. Question 2 – Causes & Innovation Evolution of the technological environment + changes in the kinds of learning appropriate for the 21st century Industrial era required 25% of all high school graduates to get higher degrees Information era: 80%

  40. Question 2 – Causes and Innovation • Pressures of competition • Greater access to ICT • Need to implement a QA system • Increased government support • Government demanding more for its money • Growing confidence of DE faculties to show the results of academic activities • Growth of teleworking, telecommuting

  41. Question 2 – Causes and Innovation • Public no longer automatically regards universities as a public good • Needs and demands from individuals (increase income), employers and society (better trained employees) • Possibilities for updating knowledge and skills parallel to work • Greater market/business orientation • “Push/Pull of student demand” • Possibility of DE professionals in developing countries to be on a par with the latest strategies

  42. Question 3 – Greatest Challenge Language barriers blocking access to data and information – no common language, cultural differences; automatic translation unreliable Transactional distance – its manifestation in the digital world

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