Discussion Area for INLT Post-IGC Workshop paper on ICT, Distance Learning and the Curriculum
read paper - Internationalising Online Courses and Degree Programs in Geography
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Comments / Threads So Far
- Comments on Internationalising Online Courses and Degree Programs in Geography (from Mick Healey)
- Comments on Internationalising Online Courses and Degree Programs in Geography (from Steve Gaskin)
- Comments on Internationalising Online Courses and Degree Programs in Geography (from Andrea Berardi)
- Comments on Internationalising Online Courses and Degree Programs in Geography (from James Derounian)
- TINA rides again (from Dave Unwin)
- Comments on Internationalising Online Courses and Degree Programs in Geography (from Janice Monk)
- Comments on Internationalising Online Courses and Degree Programs in Geography (from Janice Monk)
- Comments on Internationalising Online Courses and Degree Programs in Geography (from Derek France)
Comments on Internationalising Online Courses
and Degree Programs in Geography
From: Mick Healey - University of Gloucestershire, UK
Date: 14 June 2004
Posting: Just before reading this paper I was browsing the
Times Higher Education Supplement for 11 June 2004 and saw an advert for a
Chief Operating Officer for the Worldwide Universities Network and an article
entitled 'MPs to probe e-uni collapse'. Both these organisations are, or were
in the case of the e-university, concerned, at least in part, with the development
of collaborative international on-line learning. One has been wound up while
the other is continuing to move ahead. Their experiences nicely capture my
mixed and uncertain feelings for the kind of world painted in this well-argued
paper.
On the one hand, there is the danger of the technology-led pedagogy - it is technologically possible therefore we should do it kind of school, which this paper thankfully largely avoids. On the other hand, there is a feeling of excitement and innovation of creating new learning opportunities through international collaboration, if, and it is a big if, the organisational constraints and cultural barriers can be overcome. Much of the paper is concerned with outlining these challenges, particularly those involving accreditation and quality assurance.
For me the most interesting part of the paper is where, in Sections III and IV, various examples of specific attempts to develop on-line communities in learning aspects of geography are outlined. I hope the group with elaborate and evaluate these case studies, though I realise several are at an early stage of development. I think this may be a more fruitful focus for the group to investigate than the largely generic questions the paper ends with, which are probably best answered by looking at experiences outside geography.
I am left with an uncertainty though about the current market for these developments within geography, outside specialist areas such as GIS. Not that this should prevent us exploring the benefits for student learning of collaborative international endeavours as, for example, is happening in the exciting Online Center for Geographic Education. A good sign of our growing maturity in this area is the quality of the proposed evaluation of this project, which as an international adviser on the project I had the privilege to comment on this weekend. It is essential that in this area, as in other areas of curriculum development in geography in higher education, that we are careful to adopt an evidence-based scholarship of teaching and learning approach to evaluating their costs and benefits.
I still wonder though whether the biggest challenge we face is how best to blend on-line learning with on-campus learning. I hope the group will highlight some of the lessons of blending international collaborative learning with more conventional learning experiences that we endeavour to provide to our existing students.
re Comments on Internationalising Online Courses
and Degree Programs in Geography
From: Karl Donert - Liverpool Hope University College,
UK
Date: 24 June 2004
Posting: While in some ways I agree with what Mick Healey
is suggesting in his comment, I think the need for an innovative approach
to promoting and delivering Geography is necessary for the survival of the
subject in the future. It is not a case of we have the technology - let's
do it - but more that a spatial subject such as geography needs the technology
(and so does the workforce of the 21st century!!) ... so I would like to
add the following comments to the discussion:
a) Geography is international, so ways of breaking down barriers ought
to be found - technology is one of these, so Geography must explore opportunities
for inter-cultural connections in student (and staff) - one way is surely
through online activities
b) reaching out to all potential students (including those lost by distance)
is essential - eLearning or better still Virtual Learning offers that opportunity/
possibility (I hate the term eLearning!)
c) the issue/problem may not be willingness - but instead institutional
barriers - especially the complex rules and regulations which are often
different in internaitonal terms
d) technology provides exciting learning, opportunities for 'real' individual
attention to meet the needs of students and above all a student-centred
focus, which realistically is often absent in education worldwide
e) Virtual Learning means we would be working in the world of the learners
... not in the safe ivory towers of the academic!
f) we would also enable learners to take control of their own learning ....
their responsibility - to become learning citizens and responsible citizens
So yes frightening - dangerous but I consider essential for our future.
I think that the importance/function of Virtual Learning should be in establishing lifelong Communities of Practice - with collaboration and cooperation at the top of the list of activities - there should be essential support mechanisms for Geography professionals. I agree one problem is that we keep chasing technology - what we have never done is champion the pedagogical aspects. Large sums of money are invested in so many new ICT (information and communications technology) products. Just visit any trade fair which displays them. This needs to be matched at least in terms of pedagogical research. We need studies that evaluate the long-term impacts of technology-enhanced learning on those who experience it, on society and especially on the workplace.
I also ask the question, why is it that other professions successfully engaging in online learning? In education we remain behind doctors, dentists, nurses, lawyers etc. What is the difference? We still think the teacher is at the centre of the system, when with our hyperlinked world the learner, citizen or person is actually in control. So free the shackles geographers and consider the real world - a free and vibrant international world!
As an aside, interestingly quite a large number of schools in the UK (and in Europe as well) are about to start using MLS (Managed Learning Systems). Businesses in several cases have developed their own, so wouldn't it be also a great advantage to consider and appropriately deal with the transfer from school to higher education, or higher education to the workplace, by integrating technologies into normal practice and use them to enhance the teaching - oops sorry I actually mean the learning that takes place.
Virtual Learning needs also to be integrated in lifelong activities. Too often initiatives and cases are 'special' and then they die. Initiatives are short-lived and rarely sustainable. Technology is partly the cause, but so is our academic society ... so I would argue the need for a more holistic vision of the global environments for learning that we want to create in our Geography community.
So Geography is missing out (and therefore Geographers), a recent survey of 76 Geography departments in European universities carried out within the HERODOT Network (www.herodot.net) demonstrated the low use of (and interest in) the use of technology to promote Exciting Geography, the exceptions were mainly academics who were teaching in the areas of GIS and also in teacher education. So perhaps it is just that Geographers are not really concerned with the great opportunities that technology could provide for their students! Or that Geography and Geographers do not realise their contribution to the professional workforce and thus to the needs of society. Is there a case for Geography as a discipline to consider its role (and responsibility) in society and react accordingly?
Comments on Internationalising Online Courses
and Degree Programs in Geography
From: Steve Gaskin - LTSN-GEES / University of Plymouth,
UK
Date: 17 June 2004
Posting: I thought that paper provided a comprehensive exposition
of the realities facing the internationalisation of online courses. The paper
started with a generic outline of some key issues, which I felt provided an
excellent basis for focussed discussion about geography which then followed.
I think that the authors are well on the way to producing a great paper for
JGHE.
I am able to offer the following observations/comments:
· I like the balance in this article, with respect to the advantages
and disadvantages of technology in learning and teaching generally, and also
in the international education market. In shirt, the paper is very objectively
written and well argued.
· I like the way the paper is structured, from generic to geography-specific
examples. It is a logical sequence and critical evaluation is evident in all
sections.
· I like how the paper ends with a series of suggestions for future
more focussed work, which provides excellent foundation for the rest of the
project. Getting these sorts of questions on paper at such an early stage
is most encouraging. However, I agree with Mick Healey, that although the
end questions are very interesting, it might also be useful to consider if
any of these are discipline-specific to Geography. However, I suspect that,
as with many C&IT issues, many of the questions are generic. Nevertheless,
it might be worth considering some more focussed questions that relate to
Geography, that could then perhaps be addressed as part of the further work.
Comments on Internationalising Online Courses
and Degree Programs in Geography
From: Andrea Berardi - The Open University, UK
Date: 8 July 2004
Posting: I find the use of the term "technology"
very amusing in both the paper and the comments so far. I struggled to find
any in-depth analysis of the use of technology within Geographical teaching
and learning. Although an interesting read if one is curious on policy and
bureaucratic matters, I think a major opportunity was missed in presenting
the significant pedagogical advantages of introducing ICT to Geography teaching.
ICT finally allows us to move away from the linear modes of teaching all too common in oral/text based techniques. The ability to use a visual language, such as iconic, diagrammatic and 2D/3D visualisation (to name a few possibilities) combined with the networked navigational ability of hyper-text/hyper-regions allows teachers to represent the true complexity inherent in geographical disciplines. The historically painful process of getting students to appreciate the multi-disciplinary, interconnected, multi-temporal and multi-spatial contexts is now made much less painful with ICTs.
Comments on Internationalising Online Courses
and Degree Programs in Geography
From: James Derounian - University of Gloucestershire
Date: 13 July 2004
Posting: I wanted to respond briefly to three items from
the above paper:
1. Will employers "value the skills, competencies..." of online courses. One of the benefits arises for employers & their employees in sparsely populated rural areas, where distance learning approaches may be the only realistic means of delivering (higher education) programmes. For example the Scottish University of the Highlands & Islands uses the internet to communicate with undergraduates who are island-based;
2. e-learning provides "networking opportunities for students & academics through virtual communities"; this opportunity also extends to practitioner & graduate contributions back in to degree & other teaching; thus enabling up to date 'live' project contributions;
3. The paper emphasises computer-based "distance education" as a means of eliminating "some of the barriers to higher education". But more 'humble' & 'low-tech' means should not be lost: use of course books, inputs from 'local tutors', residential 'schools' where students may come together for intensive sessions (say over a long weekend) etc.
TINA rides again …
From: Dave Unwin (Retired) (email: 106464.743@compuserve.com)
Date: 13 July 2004
Posting: Can a retired/redundant academic have his say? I
have some experience of pedagogy issues, especially in relationship to GISc,
was once was involved in setting up a web-based Masters course (see www.bbk.ac.uk/gisconline),
and have latterly worked for the recently wound up UK eUniversities Worldwide
Limited. I'd also claim some track record in using what we now call ICT in
my teaching, back to UCW Aberystwyth in 1967 where, using punched cards and
all that heroic stuff, we did with undergraduates statistical analysis of
a sort that not even PhDs seem able to handle nowadays.
Here are four more-or-less random issues that might be of interest:
1. First, a question to the entire group. What is the mandate you are working to? It seems to operate at the intersection of the three things in the group's title, which is perhaps a pity if it leads to neglect of some really exciting curriculum related things you can do with ICT that seem absolutely 'made' for geography. Examples include cell phones, GPS and related position aware devices, digital imagery, wireless internet, very cheap data recorders and so on. It's also easy to forget how learning can be improved using basic technology such as the Microsoft Office suite and/or a basic GIS. I'd love to see a libray of this kind of thing along the lines of the GDN stuff that you'll all be familiar with. or in the JGHE itself ('Resources'?).
2. That much of what has been done is related to GIS doesn't surprise me and I have argued elsewhere that 'GISers' have over the years had an almost exemplary concern for education (try a google search on 'GIS' + 'education'). Like many, I have problems with the identification by others of geography as a discipline with 'GIS', but the fact remains that the bundle of concepts and ideas behind what's in the GI toolkit is very much owned by our discipline (it used to be called 'Quantitative Geography') and is just about its most important recent export to society and other sciences. I will resist the temptation to rant on about this, and simply point out that the real enduring success of the NCGIA can with hindsight be seen not in its research output but through the Core Curriculum. This enabled a rapid rise in teaching capacity (and one assumes learning) globally in what for some was a 'new' field. Those of us who used it as a basis for our teaching still recognise its influence in almost all the standard texts in the field that have followed. Of interest to me is why this sharing a relative small 'interoperable educational objects' hasn't as far as I know developed further and in other branches of the discipline. There are some US examples cited in the discussion paper and in UK the TLT, GDN and related projects tried to do something along these lines. One of my last research projects, the Virtual Field Course, concluded that one of the most powerful uses of ICT for fieldwork was in its capacity to make easy the cumulative growth of resources and their sharing over a network. WWW addicts will have numerous examples of field work sites for which resources can be found.
3. Sorry to use the acronym, but, where eLearning is concerned I think it is a matter of TINA ('There is no alternative'), and my experience at UKeU convinces me that there is far more of it, in various degrees of 'blending', actually going on in UK HEIs than our lords and masters know about. Further, and to be just a tad over the top, I am prepared to argue that in some sense and circumstances, elearning can be 'better' (whatever that means) than F2F. All who read this discussion will I hope accept that learning is more than what is taught, and it is the facility of well-designed elearning units to support many learning styles and to deliver any required teaching at any time, anywhere, that would be the basis for my case. It's also my experience that most use of ICT in teaching is being produced by people who show greatest concern for their teaching, which makes it hard to disentangle the effects of the medium from those of the message.
4. Finally, over the years in almost all the initiatives that I have seen in UK related to elearning (and there have been many of them!) the target audience seems to have been the large class, typically at first year level. Presumably, the logic is that with such classes the gains will be proportionately greatest and that, since we all teach much the same stuff at this level (yes, we do ...), the gains from resource sharing via ICT will be greatest. I'd dispute this and argue that maybe the most fruitful areas for collaborative curriculum development and delivery via WWW is at the advanced option level. It is at this level that maintaining curriculum diversity (and hence student choice) can prove most difficult, where the ability to 'lever' international expertise (staff and student) would be most valued, and where the 'market' is truly international. An example I would give is in the teaching of advanced climatology. Despite - or because of - concern for 'global warming' and as a wonderful example of our discipline's ability to throw out baby and bath water (think 'earth system science', remote sensing , survey and cartography, even GIS), almost nobody now teaches any climatology per se beyond Level 1. Yet if we had shared web equivalents of the NCGIA core curriculum in, say, synoptic, urban, etc., climatology, I am convinced they would be used and valued.
Isn't this something to promote within IGU?
Comments on Internationalising Online Courses
and Degree Programs in Geography
From: Janice Monk (University of Arizona, USA)
Date: 23 July 2004
Posting: This raises an array of important issues, from the
technical to the politics of implementation. But I would like to see some
attention to the concerns that students coming from different contexts will
have different world views, assumptions about their own and other cultures,
and thoughts on how intercultural communication will be part of the context.
Toni Luna from Pompeu Fabre Univ. (Barcelona) for example, has spoken at meetings
of how he has to adapt his content and discourse when dealing with local students
and those who are taking the same (classroom-based) course in Barcelona. Distance
ed. can serve both to foster intercultural, comparative explorations or communication
can also breakdown.
Comments on Internationalising Online Courses
and Degree Programs in Geography
From: Janice Monk (University of Arizona, USA)
Date: 25 July 2004
Posting: As I work my way through the papers, I am struck
by the extent to which the issue of the changing context of higher education
in relation to the state,permeates or at least is raised, across most pieces.
Perhaps we should have some space for reflection on the cross-cutting themes,
as well as discussion of individual papers.
Comments on Internationalising Online Courses
and Degree Programs in Geography
From: Derek France (Chester College of Higher Education,
UK)
Date: 2 August 2004
Posting: After reading the discussion paper and the array
of subsequent comments and observations posted I can reiterate a number of
issues / questions which I regard as essential to underpinning Online course
and Degree programmes. In essence there is a need for a more innovative approach
to deliver the subject which is necessary for its survival, but pedagogic
research is needed to evaluate the long term impacts of technologically enhanced
learning. More over the current experiences of using online learning examples
need to be reflected upon further. The use of technology must be appropriate
and be fit for purpose, with definite pedagogic benifts, rather than just
a technology driven framework. Remember low tech approaches hightlighted by
James Derounian must not be forgotten!
Establishing communities of practice for virtual learning is not necessarily discipline-specific but is crucial not only for the students but for the geography professionals to allow the development and support of online courses. How will this be achieved? Do you adopt a PBL approach for exaxample? At the centre of all this are the students and their experience. Will the virtual learning experienced by online geography students be better or worse than tradtional campus based students or will there be a blend between the two cohorts?