Paper Presented at: The Next Generation: Digital Learning Research Symposium 1st November 2016, http://dlsymposium.dryfta.com/en This paper will present a snapshot of the findings from my recently submitted doctoral research, a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of thirteen e-learning policy texts published in the UK between 2003 and 2013. Via thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2006) I identified recurring themes across the 138, 900 word corpus. These were then clustered around a trinity of neoliberal ‘Master Narratives’ (Jessop 2004; Fairclough 2006): Marketisation, Instrumentality, and Modernisation. The themes and narratives were then subjected to an ‘Ideology critique’ (Held 1980) in order to expose evidence of myths, contradictions, biases, hegemonies, and omissions. CDA sees the wider context as essential to making sense of a text (Bloor and Bloor 2007; Van Dijk 2008), thus I also examined each text within its historical and socio-economic context. Furthermore, since ideologies can be enacted and obscured by language (Bloor and Bloor 2007; Henriksen 2011), my analysis also examined the role of visual presentation, lexical choices, and rhetorical techniques in communicating the policies. My findings demonstrated that, overall, the policies considered were predominantly motivated by neoliberal imperatives aimed at placing HE within the realm of the market and enhancing the UK’s economic competitiveness. Furthermore, the policies persistently reflect a deterministic and uncritical perspective towards technology, while many of the claims made about the supposed characteristics and capabilities of e-learning are exaggerated, unsubstantiated, duplicitous, or justified via reference to contested discourses. I contend that this problematic framing of e-learning is exacerbating the negative impacts of neoliberalism on HE’s social, cultural, and intellectual role as a public good, and is intensifying social inequalities. It is also channelling e-learning into a restricted form that limits any possible pedagogical or egalitarian opportunities that the judicious application of digital technologies in HE teaching and learning might support.

1. Morag Munro
Maynooth University
@MunroMo
morag.munro@nuim.ie
Image by David Castor (dcastor) - Own work, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11575876
The Next Generation: Digital Learning Research Symposium 1st November 2016

2.  Disconnect between e-learning rhetoric and
reality (Selwyn 2014)
 Damaging impacts of neoliberalism on HE
(Olssen and Peters 2005; Hill and Kumar
2012; Giroux 2014)
 Policy a means through which neoliberalism
is articulated and implemented (Fairclough
and Fairclough 2012)
 Limited critical commentary on e-learning
policy
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3. 1. What ideologies and claims underpin e-learning policies issued by
government departments and non-departmental public bodies in
England, Scotland, and Wales between 2003 and 2013?
2. Are the claims made valid? Are other ideologies and perspectives
omitted?
3. What are the implications for constructions of e-learning in HE?
4. What are the implications for HE?
5. What are the implications for the professional practice of Learning
Technologists?
6. What might e-learning look like if it was framed by an alternative
vision for HE?
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4.  Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
• Grounded in Critical Theory
• Examines how societal power relations are
established/reinforced via language (Foucault
1980; Van Dijk 2009; Fairclough 2010)
 13 UK e-learning policy texts, decade 2003-2013
 138, 900 word corpus
 Thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2006)
 Trilogy of neoliberal “Master Narratives” (Jessop
2004; Fairclough 2006)
 Ideology critique (Held 1980)
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5. Linguistic analysis:
• visual presentation, lexical choices, and rhetorical
devices
• language can reify and reinforce values and
ideologies (Edelman 1985; Jones and Stilwell
Peccei 2004)
Analysis of each text within its socio-
economic context
Policy divergences and convergences
across the UK

6. Policies underpinned by a trilogy of neoliberal Master
Narratives:
 Marketisation: assumes the free market is the most
appropriate mechanism for funding and organising HE.
 Instrumentality: frames HE as having a primarily
utilitarian purpose, concerned with growing the economy,
and as the key to individual employability, wealth, and
success.
 Modernisation: the incessant pursuit of HE reform, often
manifest via the application of technology.
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7.  Ideology Critique:
• identify claims presented as obvious, inevitable, ‘matter-of-fact’
• highlight contradictions and inconsistencies
• uncover social, cultural, and political motivations underpinning ideological
claims (Held 1980; Friesen 2009)
 Claims made frequently problematic/flawed:
• “Essentially, e-learning is about improving the quality of learning.” (DfES
2003d: 7)
• “[e-learning technologies] offer huge opportunities that we must exploit.”
(DfES 2005: 2)
• “[e-learning] provides students with the flexibility to study at their own
pace, in their own time and at a location convenient to them.” (HEFCE
2011: 10)
• “Young people who are disaffected, or disengaged, can re-engage with
education when they experience an approach to learning through
technology.” (DfES 2005: 27)
• “[I]t is very important to place learning and learners (or, in other terms,
markets and customers) at the heart of our thinking.” (SFEFC/SHEFC
2003: 11)
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8.  Claims frequently justified via reference to
unstable/contested discourses:
• “We recognise the role technology-enhanced learning
may play in ensuring that HEIs in Wales maintain
competitiveness in the global marketplace and
contribute to the knowledge economy.” (HEFCW 2008:
2)
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9.  Triple Structure (Rule of three):
• pleasing rhythm makes three-part lists persuasive and memorable
(Thomas et al. 2004; Bloor and Bloor 2007; Mooney and Evans 2015)
• “Technology has a central role to play in enabling services to be more
innovative, responsive and coherent.” (Becta 2008: 3)
 Metaphor, analogy, simile:
• "[F]ew are sure, notwithstanding much experimentation and
practice, how the technology will evolve and how it can best be
harnessed to support learning.” (SFEFC/SHEFC 2003: 2)
• “Imagine what our education system could do, fuelled by e-
learning.” (DfES 2003d: 5)
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10.  ‘Cascade of change’ (Clarke and Newman 1997):
• “[T]echnology has revolutionised the way we communicate,
collaborate and do business. Major advances supported by
technology have taken place in public services such as health
care. Information and communication technologies are now
fast, cheap, easy to use, widely available, increasingly mobile,
personal, and above all, powerful. These trends reinforce the
need for a continuing system-wide approach to technology
use in education.” (Becta 2008: 8)
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11. The leaders of the Greeks, opposed by
the Fates, and damaged by the war,
build a horse of mountainous size,
through Pallas's divine art, and weave
planks of fir over its ribs: they pretend
it's a votive offering: this rumour
spreads. They secretly hide a picked
body of men, chosen by lot, there, in
the dark body, filling the belly and the
huge cavernous insides with armed
warriors. […] Trojans, don't trust this
horse. Whatever it is, I'm afraid of
Greeks even those bearing gifts.
Virgil, Aeneid, II. 13-49. Image by after the Vergilius Vaticanus -
Internet Archive, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?c
urid=36252106
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