proformac: a systemic conceptual framework for learning with technologies carol russell
TRANSCRIPT
ProForMaC:
a systemic conceptual framework for learning with technologies
Carol Russell
eLearning use in UNSW
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Academic session and year
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arn
ing
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total student seats/100
total active online course modules
Universities• supercomplex (Barnett)• internally diverse disciplinary
departments with different ways of thinking and organising (Becher)
• more like complex organic life than like a machine …
In HE, environmental change can bring systemic adaptation, or homeostasis, or often both at the same time.
The map is not the territory
life as a self-generating system
form(pattern of
relationships)
matter(material structure)
life process(self-directed
structural changes)
based on Capra, F. (2002) The Hidden Connections, Flamingo, London, p61-65
… forming part of an environmental context
form
material
process
context
applied to the organization of university teaching
form (patterns) of teaching strategies
material constraints and individual
resources
how teaching is developed and
maintained
relationship with university context
Ideas from research on organizations as complex
adaptive systems
The J-curve: If you change something in a complex and interconnected system, things get worse before they get better.Complementarities:Doing more of one thing increases the returns from doing more of another.
… in other words, any coordinated change will work better than an isolated intervention
ProForMaC model of university learning and teaching
contextual influences
for individual teachers
A metaphor
Plans for e-learning in UNSW (2004)
L & T
Appli-
cations
IT Tech-
nology
& C
omm
s
App
li-ca
tions
Infr
a-st
ruct
ure
UNSW wide consistency and governance
University widetechnology & communications
IT s
yste
ms}
Se
rvice
s
Enabling
ServicesS
ervi
ce
Sup
port
Improved support for L&T services
L&T
Services
Cou
rse
Dev
elop
-m
ent Improved
interactions with students }}
UN
SW
Visio
n
& G
uid
elin
es
L&T
GuidelinesIn
nova
tions
En-hanced student learning
Con
cept
ualis
e &
Des
ign
Build &
Implem
ent
Copyright © University of New South Wales
?workarounds, problems,
compromises with admin. and IT support systems … continuing
continuing negotiation over technical change management processes
training and support consultations
some evaluation
early adopters
pilot
The process …in practice
Copyright © University of New South Wales
templates and new educational tools in use … in
places
continued growth in use … but
evaluation still individual, patchy
local admin support in place … central
support being restructured
the urbanization of university learning and teaching?
1st year physics labs
example
Implications• The ProForMaC framework can be used to build models
at the individual, department or at the institutional level• These models can inform strategies for developing
learning technologies, evaluation processes and forms of learning and teaching as a coordinated whole.
• Changes that do not allow for mutual adjustment across all four of aspects of a learning and teaching system will provoke a homeostatic (change resistant) response.And most importantly …
• Find out from people working on the ground what is influencing their decisions about adopting new learning technologies. What maps are they using?