Technology infrastructure and new technology: a review

1. Technology infrastructureand new technology: a review Sarah Porter JISC

2. Caveat • Apologies of comments are not correctly attributed to speakers or contributors • Layers of interpretation and re-interpretation! • Feel free to claim ownership or correct points during the discussion session

3. Questions • Complex relationship between people and technology • Is technology changing practice? • Is it improving learning experiences for students? • Do we have the balance right – is technology driving practice or is practice limiting technology?

5. Is technology changing practice? • Practice has been changed: systemic use of technologies • Large scale use of ‘accepted’ technologies e.g. commercial VLEs • Approaches to encouraging use, staff development, sharing practice • Using one system in systemic way has implications for lots of other systems and processes • E.g. SMS server needs to interoperate with library system

6. Questioning current technologies and underlying models • some theoretical and ‘big vision’ – M.O.D.E.L.S • Others practical, focused on adapting and developing current systems • Service-oriented approach to systems • Too soon or too late? (Derek Morrison)

7. Innovation • ‘Technology doesn’t just allow students to answers questions more quickly, but to ask new questions’ (Vijay Kumar) • Mobile technologies allow ‘populist and personal approach’ (Terry Keefe)

8. Influencing practice? • Technologies being implemented by practitioners who are interested in helping their students • Technology encourages teachers and students to be more reflective • ‘technology can make you a better teacher and a more reflective learner’ (David Rowsell)

9. Technology philosophy • Few technologies were designed explicitly for educational use • E.g. phones, PDAs, computers • Software e.g. content management systems • Educational use is bolted on • Technologies have a business focus not educational focus • Is this a problem? • Sessions demonstrate that people are adapting technology to do what they want to • Ann Jones: ‘technology appropriation’ • Interactive classroom technologies

10. People and technology • Technology used to enhance communication between people • Used to engage learners • Interactive classrooms • Used to change learner’s practice • E.g. support reflection (moblogs - Rowsell) • Act as ‘intermediary between student and tutor’ (Michael McCabe) • Want ‘water cooler encounters’ (Heins) • Way we use communication tools hasn’t evolved enough • ‘connecting not communicating’ (Mark Flanagan)

11. Learning through practice • However many examples of good practice there are, people need to learn from their own process of trial and error (Cathy Gunn)

12. Missing question: how do we get organisations to innovate?

14. Cycle of adoption • Innovation occurs at many points in the cycle • Tends to be driven by a specific problem • People try something new to address the problem (or find a problem because they want to try something new) • If successful, innovation may then becomes embedded or systemic • Need to prove the concept (Terry Keefe) • Introducing a new technology can be v difficult, involve many stakeholders e.g. IT support

15. Change processes needed to move towards a new approach, new technology, new process • We don’t yet understand this complex process or how to make it happen • ‘Business case’ isn’t always clear – why change? What is the cost? What will we lose? • Scalability • Things that work in small groups may not work in large groups • Innovation to normalisation • May lose something when technology becomes systemic: ‘dullifying’; sense of ownership and personalisation may go (Peter Sloep).

16. Institution may stifle innovation • E.g. support departments have strict targets for service support • Do not want to innovate Innovation stops as soon as administrators get involved (Richard Elliott)

17. Not generally good at making business cases and thinking through the implications of making a change • Have to do this in a business environment or delivery focused organisation e.g. LearnDirect • Universities becoming more corporate? (Cornford, 2002 – referenced by Morrison)

18. Standards and specifications • Some are needed to increase the potential to link up systems e.g. standards to link a SMS server to a Student Record System, library system or VLE • Do standards help innovation or restrict it?

19. Do we have the balance right?

20. What is the problem that we are using … technology to solve?

21. Issues raised during discussion session • Shouldn’t be embarrassed about discussing business cases • Have to demonstrate why innovation is needed; what the benefits are • Who can help innovation to become standard practice? • Innovators don’t always want to engage with senior managers or know how to do this • Innovators may not be the best people to try to achieve systemic change • Time scales are not easy – will take a long time to convince senior management to authorise change across the whole organisations • Support services are risk-adverse – do not like innovation

22. Need to refer to the literature on organisational change • (refs ??) • In a privileged position in HE / FE to be allowed to experiment with technology • Must demonstrate value for money and business case in order for this to continue • How do we influence senior managers and decision makers? • Student / learner preferences can be used to provide evidence • ‘Bi-directional’ use of survey data as they also influence teachers

23. JISC or other organisations (Academy?) may have a role in helping to spread innovation • E.g. encourage sharing between organisations through secondment scheme? • Need to learn from large-scale, ‘business like’ approaches to learning technology • Learn from the UKeU experience • Lessons about public / private partnerships and the need to be open about goals • UfI was allowed to change its model during development and was allowed to succeed • Plug may have been pulled on UKeU too early?