This document discusses Donald Hanna's research interests which include organizational models that support innovation and change, the importance of leadership and vision, and social interaction in learning. It provides an overview of his work at the Open University of Catalunya including publications and funding proposals. Hanna thanks colleagues at the university and outlines his interest in fostering a learning culture through strategies toward excellence such as changing organizational structures and services to support learners.

1. ©
Donald E. Hanna
University of Wisconsin
dehanna@wisc.edu
Open University of Catalunya
April 14, 2011

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

6. University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin

7. University of Wisconsin

8. Where are we going?

9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2zqTYgcpfg

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

11. Weather?

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

14. The changing cultural context
And our changed conversations

15. Changes in universities D.E.
Hanna,
2011
Time Frame: Pre-Gutenberg 1439- 1960- 2000-
Purposes Community Place Technology Network
Distributed ICT
Knowledge Isolated
Laboratory Formation and Dynamic
Creation Communities
Distribution
Constraints Limited Expertise Isolated Access Obsolescence
Library
Alexandria
Storage Irish Monks
Library Computer Cloud
Center
Constraints Preservation Access Competency Control
Classroom
Sharing/
Word of Mouth Classroom Internet Electronic
Exchange Worldwide Web
Constraints Reach Location Interaction Focus
Society/
Application Religious Society
International
Global
Constraints Narrow Connections Culture Language
Designated Conferred Conferred Competency
Certification Master Degree Degree Assessment?
Constraints Application Limited Standards Recognition

16. The changing cultures of higher education
From: Hanna, Donald E. Emerging
Organizational Models in Higher
Education: Handbook of Distance
Collegium Bureaucracy Enterprise
Education, edited by Michael Moore,
Erlbaum Publishers, 2006. ©
Orientation to Conservers Pragmatists Originators
change
Leadership Stewardship Preservation Visionary
Values Faculty/program Administrative Client-oriented
efficiency
Decision-making Restricted/shared Vertical/top-down Horizontal/shared
internal with stakeholders
Support Program-driven Rule-focused Learner-focused
structures
Key messages Quality Efficiency Market-driven

17. The changing cultures of higher education
From: Hanna, Donald E. Emerging Organizational
Models in Higher Education: Handbook of Distance Collegium Bureaucracy Enterprise
Education, edited by Michael Moore, Erlbaum
Publishers, 2006. ©
Communication Internal Vertical and External, informal
strategies formal horizontal,
Systems and Duplicated Stable, efficient, Evolving as needed
resources according to pre-organized
need
Budgets Stable/priority Tightly controlled Fluid/opportunity-
programs seeking
Organizational Specialized Segmented and Integrated and
features vertical cross-functional
Alliances Value not easily Unnecessary Sought out and
recognized implemented
Key messages Stick together Don’t rock the Seize the day
boat

18. The changing cultures of higher education
From: Hanna, Donald E. Emerging
Organizational Models in Higher Collegium Bureaucracy Enterprise
Education: Handbook of Distance
Education, edited by Michael Moore,
Erlbaum Publishers, 2006. ©
Actions Evolutionary Targeted Revolutionary
New programs Complement Fit existing Make new markets/
existing programs structures force new
structures
Competition Avoid competition Minimize Exploit competitive
competition advantage
through regulation
Strategies Improve quality Improve efficiency Establish new
market ‘niches’
Faculty and staff Independence Authority and Collaboration
value predictability
Rewards Individual Functional Organizational

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

26. Strategies for Excellence

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

37. knowing is literally something
we do.
John Dewey