2. 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
3. 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
4. Thank you all
! Albert and Enric
! Cris and Yolanda
! All of you as colleagues and friends
5. 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
10. 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
12. 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
13. 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
19. 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.
20. 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
21. 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.
22. 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?
23. Ideal learning environments
! Learner and problem-centered
! Highly social and interactive
! Very often collaborative
24. Meaningful engaged learning
! Vision for engagement
! Safe and supportive
! Appropriate tasks
community
! Ongoing assessment
! Collaborative inquiry
! Interactive strategies
! Heterogeneous/diverse
! Knowledge-building
groupings
community ! Learner as explorer and
! Teacher as co-learner and discoverer
coach
Adapted from Jones, Valdez, Norakowski, and Rasmussen (1994).
Designing Learning and Technology for Educational Reform. North Central Regional Educational Laboratory.
25. 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
27. 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
28. Strategies for online educators
! 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
29. Strategies for online educators
! 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
30. Strategies for online educators
! 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
31. Strategies for online educators
! 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.
32. The future
! 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”
33. 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
