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Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Should Organisations for Learning be Learning Organisations?
Sandy Britain
Centre for Learning TechnologyUniversity of Wales - Bangor
March 2002
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Structure and Aims
• Outline a model of the current situation for HE/FE
• Describe our approach to examining the organisational issues with MLE development
• Outline some of the issues
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
the Comantle project
• Developing an MLE presents both technical and organisational issues and challenges
• A systems approach can help understand the organisation better and thus assist with :
–diagnosing areas for organisational change
–designing an appropriate MLE strategy
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
The comantle project
• Collecting formal data on the institution
• Collecting perspectives
• Modeling the organisation
• Compare the model with perspectives
• Note: the role of the researcher as a participant in change process
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Components of a viable system
Environment
Management
Viable System
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
The university system External Environment
UniversityInputs
Outputs
Graduates
Potential Students
Funding
New Research
?
Internal Environment
Knowledge
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Background• HE and FE institutions have a well
elaborated structure...faculties departments student services
staff development personnel library
computing admin computing committees
governing board management hierarchy
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Background• HE and FE institutions have well
elaborated processes
course publicity admissions registration
timetabling accommodationlibrary access
learning materials teaching assessment
certification course design validation
Adapted to manage environmental complexity
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Managing Complexity - the key to
viability
Environment
Viable System
Management
Ve Vs Vm
Ve >> Vs >> Vm
But viability demands that variety is matched
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
New Environments for Learning
• The drivers for E-Learning adoption –The Environment in which HE / FE is situated is
becoming more unstable
–Those involved in education are looking for ways to manage increased variety in the environment
–Technology (V/MLEs) are seen as a way to manage that variety
• But technology is de-stabilising:–Are existing structures and processes capable of
supporting eLearning?
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
The context at Bangor• Part of the university of Wales
• Arts, Science, Health and Education faculties
• Wants to expand local recruitment
• Welsh language important
• Some successful resource-rich departments
• Some specialised distance learning courses
• Dept. of lifelong learning
• New student records system
• Centre for learning Technology - Colloquia
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
A Functional Institution Model
Faculties
Departments
Academic Structure:
Senior management
Committees
Support Structure:
Registry
Information servicesEstates
Library
Staff Development
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Disclaimer
The material that follows is based on true stories. However the characters and organisations depicted are entirely fictional and any resemblance to real persons or institutions either living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
The Social Institution
Informal Communications Network
Myths
Missions
Norms and values
Personalities
FiefdomsRumours
Anxieties
Power-play
Invention
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
What is an MLE for? There are multiple different perspectives
• Enhancing Teaching and Learning
• Enabling distance learning
• Widening access
• Improving Institutional Image
• Improving quality of data
• Improving communications
• Not getting left behind
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
• Tools for enhancing the primary activity - teaching and learning (VLEs)
• Tools for improving management of the internal environment (MLEs / Intranets)
• Tools for improving functioning with relation to external environments (Website /MLEs Portals)
What is an MLE for? Systems view
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems CommitteeUnfolding complexity – teaching and
learningUniversity
Course
Department
Student listsGrades
Pedagogicaltools
TrackingAssessment
MLE
MLE
VLE
Avoid confusing levels!
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Organisational Learning: Application of Viable Systems theory
• Institutions exist in a changing environment and resources are scarce
• Institutions must constantly adapt to survive
• Departments also exist in a changing environment and must be able to adapt
• Courses exist in a changing environment and must be able to adapt
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Issues – pedagogic tools
• Learner, dept, or institution-focussed development?
• Replication of what we do now or new approaches?
• Staff and Student development issues
• Variety,specificity, flexibility
• Vs
• Consistency, simplicity, ease of support
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Issues – Self Regulation
• Centralised vs de-centralised data
• Channels for resource negotiation
• Channels for coordination
• Channels for monitoring
• Capacity for self-organisation
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Issues – Balancing Outside and Inside
• Strategy - The outside and future
• Control – The here and now
• Need to balance often conflicting demands and inform policy-makers
• Example: Interoperability questions!
• Strategy and control functions should be tightly connected
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Issues – design questions
• To what extent do we design technical systems around current structures and processes?
• How do we future-proof our developments?
• How much do we let current technology limitations influence the way we work?
Supporting Further and Higher Education
Joint Information Systems Committee
Some Reading• Birnbaum R. How Colleges Work (1988) Jossey-Bass
• Checkland P. & Scholes J. Soft Systems Methodology in Action (1999) Chichester, Wiley
• Enid Mumford – The Ethics Method
• Espejo, R et al., Organisational Transformation and Learning
(1996) Chichester, Wiley
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