uoc presentation bsc_04_22_2011

© Donald E. Hanna University of Wisconsin

[email protected]

Open University of Catalunya April 14, 2011

My research framework and interests

!   Organizational models and frameworks that support innovation and change

!   The importance of organizational leadership and vision !   The importance of social and group interaction in

learning !   Organizational adaptation toward change !   Building quality into learning frameworks

My work at UOC

!  Publication/scholarship !   Chapter on emerging technologies and organisational

models for universities—Michael Moore, Handbook of Distance Education

!   Chapter on organising learning in online environments—Diane Salter book entitled: Lessons from Award Winning Teachers: Implications for Staff Development and Institutional Change

!   Atlantis Proposal—Benchmarking eLearning in the European Union and the USA; funding proposal submitted to EU and USA FIPSE program

!   Also looking at educational model of UOC as a case study for comparison—this has taken more time than I thought it would

Thank you all

!   Albert and Enric !   Cris and Yolanda !   All of you as colleagues and friends

Today’s conversation

!   Fostering a Learning Culture: Strategies Toward Excellence

!   Changing times and contexts !   Changing learners !   Changing teaching and learning !   Changing organisational structures !   Changing services to learners

University of Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin

Where are we going?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2zqTYgcpfg

Changing times

!  “Through education, a person and his or her world come to terms and he or she becomes what he or she is within it.” Russell Kleis

!  “Good teachers possess a capacity for connectedness. To teach is to create a safe place for learning.” Parker Palmer

!  “The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. Plutarch

!  What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.” Aristotle

!  “Life moves pretty fast sometimes. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Ferris Bueller

Weather?

In the United States

!   Currently approximately 38% of adults of working age—25-64 years old—have a 4 year college degree

!   By 2020, it is estimated that 62% of all jobs will require advanced education currently certified by at least a 4 year degree

!   Meeting this challenge will require a dramatic expansion of places in universities, greater efficiency, and new educational models

Changes in context

!   The new context and need for learning !   The importance of education in building democratic

societies !   The knowledge economy !   From standardization to customization !   From isolation of knowledge to connection of knowledge

!   across disciplines !   across organizational boundaries !   across cultures !   across people

The changing cultural context

And our changed conversations

Changes in universities Time Frame: Pre-Gutenberg 1439- 1960- 2000-

Purposes Community Place Technology Network

Knowledge Creation

Isolated Communities

Laboratory Distributed ICT Formation and

Distribution Dynamic

Constraints Limited Expertise Isolated Access Obsolescence

Storage Alexandria Irish Monks

Library Library

Computer Center

Cloud

Constraints Preservation Access Competency Control

Sharing/Exchange

Word of Mouth Classroom Classroom

Internet Worldwide Web

Electronic

Constraints Reach Location Interaction Focus

Application Religious Society Society/International

Global

Constraints Narrow Connections Culture Language

Certification Designated Master

Conferred Degree

Conferred Degree

Competency Assessment?

Constraints Application Limited Standards Recognition

D.E. Hanna, 2011

From: Hanna, Donald E. Emerging Organizational Models in Higher Education: Handbook of Distance Education, edited by Michael Moore, Erlbaum Publishers, 2006. ©

Collegium Bureaucracy Enterprise

Orientation to change

Conservers Pragmatists Originators

Leadership Stewardship Preservation Visionary

Values Faculty/program Administrative efficiency

Client-oriented

Decision-making Restricted/shared internal

Vertical/top-down Horizontal/shared with stakeholders

Support structures

Program-driven Rule-focused Learner-focused

Key messages Quality Efficiency Market-driven

The changing cultures of higher education



Communication strategies

Internal Vertical and formal

External, informal horizontal,

Systems and resources

Duplicated according to need

Stable, efficient, pre-organized

Evolving as needed

Budgets Stable/priority programs

Tightly controlled Fluid/opportunity-seeking

Organizational features

Specialized Segmented and vertical

Integrated and cross-functional

Alliances Value not easily recognized

Unnecessary Sought out and implemented

Key messages Stick together Don’t rock the boat

Seize the day





Actions Evolutionary Targeted Revolutionary

New programs Complement existing programs

Fit existing structures

Make new markets/force new structures

Competition Avoid competition Minimize competition through regulation

Exploit competitive advantage

Strategies Improve quality Improve efficiency Establish new market ‘niches’

Faculty and staff value

Independence Authority and predictability

Collaboration

Rewards Individual Functional Organizational

Changing conversations

!   Our conversations just a few years ago were about institutions, conformity, education as a finished product, and teachers as controllers

!   Now our conversations are focused around communities, diversity, learning, and learners.

Changes in learners

!   From basic skills to more advanced skills !   From drill and repetition to problem-solving and

assessment !   From “tell me what to do and how to do it” to: “How

to do it and how to share with others how to do it.” !   From reliance on institutions to self-reliance and

collaboration with others !   From individual content mastery to group and

organizational learning

Changes in teaching and learning

!   What we know from learning theory !   Learning starts from what the individual already knows !   Learning is a social activity (Vygotsky; Dewey) !   Creating a safe space for learning is essential (Palmer) !   Effective learning requires the learner’s engagement (Jonassen;

Kiersley) !   Dewey: knowing is literally something we do! Cannot be separated

from the person and the person’s context, culture, and experience !   Not only adults, but children also

!   The idea of life-long, but also life-wide, and life-deep learning !   Banks, et.al.

How do children learn?

!   Constantly interact with their environment !   Seek out new information !   Learn immediately from their experiences !   Ask a lot of questions !   Look for every opportunity to interact with other people !   Make lots of ‘mistakes’ !   Use their ‘mistakes’ to learn (no fear)

Why can’t we create this in adult settings?

Ideal learning environments

!   Learner and problem-centered !   Highly social and interactive !   Very often collaborative

Meaningful engaged learning

!   Vision for engagement !   Appropriate tasks !   Ongoing assessment !   Interactive strategies !   Knowledge-building

community !   Teacher as co-learner and

coach

!   Safe and supportive community

!   Collaborative inquiry !   Heterogeneous/diverse

groupings !   Learner as explorer and

discoverer

Adapted from Jones, Valdez, Norakowski, and Rasmussen (1994). Designing Learning and Technology for Educational Reform. North Central Regional Educational Laboratory.

Changes in learner services

!   Services must be customized and responsive to the learner’s needs

!   Learner services are emotional, not mechanical !   The importance of learner services as a valuable

element of quality learning environments !   Herzberg’s Hygiene Factor Theory

Strategies for Excellence

Strategies for online educators

!   Educate leaders about the changing needs of learners !   Develop rewards for the ‘scholarship of teaching’,

(Boyer, 1990) !   Build opportunities for teachers and learners to

collaborate !   Support development of citizen, professional and

personal learning in social situations !   Encourage teachers who provide opportunities for

learners to teach in low-risk situations


!   Focus on building an entrepreneurial, ethical, and collaborative culture

!   Establish partnerships and alliances across organizational boundaries

!   Build wherever possible external and internal problem-solving strategies that involve key stakeholders

!   Expand outreach to important communities !   Develop linkage strategies that enable new innovations

to enter our organizations !   Facilitate the diffusion of innovation !   Increase paths of access to learning


!   Integrate team-building, problem-solving, and critical thinking systematically throughout the curriculum

!   Develop strategies for engaging learners in teaching what they are learning

!   Connect learners with each other !   Connect learning with the learner’s previous

experiences in every way possible !   Invest in developing teaching skills in the creative use

of technology


!   Conduct research regarding effective administrative and academic support functions !   responsiveness to diverse and individual students needs as a primary

measure of overall quality of programs

!   Build remotely accessible 24 hour, 7 days per week services in every way possible: !   computing support, library support, registration and records access,

institutional information; handbooks and governance processes, etc.

!   Develop personalized learning services accessible to all !   Create points of access and advocacy for learners


!   Consider “appreciative inquiry” as an overall strategy for organizational change (Coopenrider; Watkins; Mohr)

!   Discover !   Dream !   Design !   Deliver

!   Appreciative inquiry is based on a deceptively simple premise: that organizations grow in the direction of what they repeatedly ask questions about and focus their attention on.

!   Emerging Trends !   Benchmarking, Collaboration, Modular Degrees, Need-based

Planning

!   Indicators of Excellence !   Alignment, Leadership, Assessment, Curriculum, Support

!   Indicators of Problems !   Poor Planning, Disconnection with Mission, Lack of

Communication, Poor Financial Model, Poor Learning Model, Teachers and Students “on their own”

The future

Final thoughts

!   Multiple levels of planning for quality !   Ie course, programme, institution

!   Multiple perspectives of assessment !   Ie learners, faculty, employers, administration, society

!   Assessment outcomes built into programme decision-making

!   Broad-based planning and communication !   Continuous improvement built into the culture at

every level

knowing is literally something we do.

John Dewey

uoc presentation bsc_04_22_2011

Education

learning frameworks

organising learning

learning culture

changing cultural context

organizational models

importance of education

hanna university of

organisational models