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Mark Bailye
Blackboard

Caroline Steel
Blackboard

Michael Sankey
Western Sydney University
@michael_sankey

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Tuesday 5 December, 11.40am – 12pm
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Abstract

In recent years, the realisation that technology enhanced learning (TEL) has the potential to transform and improve the quality of learning, teaching and the student experience (Walker et al. 2016; Marshall, 2010) and access new student markets has weighted the priority of TEL more heavily than in the past. While higher education institutions continue to invest heavily in TEL, many still struggle to identify and to address the elements that are essential to enabling institutional success. This paper focuses on the development of a TEL Framework that aims to provide a fast and efficient institutional snapshot of institutional challenges and successes in TEL alongside a set of actionable recommendations so they can respond to challenges in a more agile way.

The motivation to develop the Framework was to create a TEL discovery process, based on conversation and deep listening, that gathered different perspectives on key elements that facilitate the success of TEL and Return on Investment (ROI) especially in terms of academics and students themselves. The Framework itself is based on a set of 8 themes that are positioned as essential to the success of TEL. The themes form the basis of a largely dialogic process of discovery that uses a set of theme cards as a scaffolding mechanism for a 90-120 minute workshop. The decision to adopt a dialogical method and use visuals to stimulate and scaffold conversations was based on previous work undertaken using assessment and feedback artefacts developed by the JISC Viewpoints Project (http://wiki.ulster.ac.uk/display/VPR/Home). The assessment and feedback cards were used effectively as a mechanism to trigger conversations and enabled participants to easily construct and visualise any ideas they came up with. It also encouraged interaction and inclusion that encouraged participants remained on task for much longer periods of time (Nicol, 2012).

These days the focus on user and usage data often excludes important perspectives that represent ‘people’ and ‘culture’. While the hard data offers credible evidence, failure to consider and address cultural assumptions, beliefs and local pedagogical contexts can hamper progress. After all, a cultural framework exists within all organisations that influences how people interpret their views, share assumptions and express their identity (Tierney, 1999) even in relation to TEL. Equally, the local pedagogical context represents ‘the relationship between a setting and how participants interpret that setting, including the meaning of practices’ Moschkovich and Brenner (2000, p.463). For these reasons, the TEL Framework was designed to surface a range of perspectives that encompassed participants’ cultural and pedagogical contexts.

About the authors

Mark Bailye

Mark is a Customer Success Advocate for Blackboard. He is a passionate advocate of TEL, innovation in learning technologies and the pedagogical and andragogical application of technologies for learning, teaching and assessment. He has been involved in online education for more than fifteen years, working as an educator, instructional designer and consultant in K-12, VET, Higher Education and Medical Education. Mark has worked closely with numerous institutions throughout Australia and New Zealand where he has championed the effective adoption of Blackboard products and services to transform and enhance education at an institutional and personal level.

Caroline Steel

Dr Caroline Steel is a Senior Strategic Educational Consultant for Blackboard. She brings significant expertise and experience to institutions and organisations facing complex pedagogical and technological change. Caroline works throughout Australia, New Zealand and Asia to assist institutions and organisations to achieve their educational vision and goals. Her work involves assessing and evaluating institutional needs and readiness around TEL as well as working with institutional leaders to influence and shape strategy and policy and actions moving forward. Before joining Blackboard, Caroline was Associate Professor and Director of Digital Learning at La Trobe University and President of ASCILITE (Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education). She retains an adjunct academic position at The University of Queensland where she continues PhD supervision.

Michael Sankey

Associate Professor Michael Sankey is currently the Director of Learning Transformations at Western Sydney University and is also the Director of the ACODE Learning Technologies Leadership Institute. His research focuses on e-learning pedagogies, leadership in technology enhanced learning and teaching, benchmarking in higher education,the use of social media in learning and teaching and how blended learning environments can enhance student learning opportunities, particularly when studying online. He has worked in higher education for over 26 years and is an active member of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE), the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA), a life member of the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA).