Paradoxes and Dilemmas in Managing E-Learning in Higher Education. Research … (original) (raw)
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Center for Studies in Higher Education, 2003
The new information and communication technologies (ICT) affect currently most spheres of life, including all educational levels. Their effects are most likely to grow in the future. However, many predictions in the last few years as to the sweeping impact of the ICT on restructuring the teaching/learning practices at universities and their high profit prospects have not been materialized; and several large ventures of e-learning undertaken by the corporate world, new for-profit organizations and some leading universities failed to yield the expected results. This paper examines eight inherent paradoxes and dilemmas in the implementation process of the ICT in various higher education settings worldwide. The paradoxes and dilemmas relate to: the differential infrastructure and readiness of different-type higher education institutions to utilize the ICTs' potential; the extent to which the "old" distance education technologies and the new ICT replace teaching/learning pr...
Paradoxes and dilemmas in managing e-learning in higher education
UC Berkeley: Center for Studies in Higher …
The new information and communication technologies (ICT) affect currently most spheres of life, including all educational levels. Their effects are most likely to grow in the future. However, many predictions in the last few years as to the sweeping impact of the ICT on restructuring the teaching/learning practices at universities and their high profit prospects have not been materialized; and several large ventures of e-learning undertaken by the corporate world, new for-profit organizations and some leading universities failed to yield the expected results. This paper examines eight inherent paradoxes and dilemmas in the implementation process of the ICT in various higher education settings worldwide. The paradoxes and dilemmas relate to: the differential infrastructure and readiness of different-type higher education institutions to utilize the ICTs' potential; the extent to which the "old" distance education technologies and the
2003
The new information and communication technologies (ICT) affect currently most spheres of life, including all educational levels. Their effects are most likely to grow in the future. However, many predictions in the last few years as to the sweeping impact of the ICT on restructuring the teaching/learning practices at universities and their high profit prospects have not been materialized; and several large ventures of e-learning undertaken by the corporate world, new for-profit organizations and some leading universities failed to yield the expected results. This paper examines eight inherent paradoxes and dilemmas in the implementation process of the ICT in various higher education settings worldwide. The paradoxes and dilemmas relate to: the differential infrastructure and readiness of different-type higher education institutions to utilize the ICTs ’ potential; the extent to which the “old ” distance education technologies and the * Sarah Guri-Rosenblit is a Professor at the Ope...
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Technological innovations have not only brought benefits to business, but to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) where an unprecedented demand for tertiary education has seen students enrolling for courses, some doing so through distance education. This has made the internet a very significant and indispensable learning and business tool for information dissemination for both education purposes and business transactions. The Internet is a technological development that has the potential to change not only the way society retains and accesses knowledge but also to transform and restructure traditional models of higher education, particularly the delivery and interaction in and with course materials and associated resources. Utilising the Internet to deliver e-learning initiatives has created expectations both in the business market and in higher education institutions (Singh, O'Donoghue and Worton, 2005:3). Universities have been faced with the daunting task of having to readjust and re-organise themselves in preparation for the incorporation of e-learning within their institutions. Institutional leaders have also been faced with the challenge of having to align their institutional objectives to meet the needs and demands of the e-learning dispensation. Indeed, e-learning has enabled universities to expand on their current geographical reach, to capitalise on new prospective students and to establish themselves as global educational providers. This article explores the issues surrounding the implementation of e-learning into higher education, including the structure and delivery of higher education, the implications to both students and lecturers and the global impact on society.
IF THERE BE CHANGE NO CHANGE I SEE": THE EFFECT OF E- LEARNING ON TODAY'S HIGHER EDUCATION
This paper addresses some of the important changes that the arrival of e-learning is bringing about in Higher Education today while also posing, and to a certain extent answering, the question as to how much Higher Education can effect the way that e-learning itself is changing. As such the paper is essentially about the confluence of two very different traditions, the first of which is very new and the other which is really extremely old. Few of us in fact, except perhaps those who work in Europe's ancient ivy-covered cloistered universities, realise just how very old our notions of higher education actually are, how unchanged they've remained since medieval times and, or indeed, perhaps beyond that, since the time of the Greek-Alexandrian university. Europe's oldest university, the University of Bologna, founded in 1088, to take a concrete example, continues to offer courses supported by a generic structures of faculties, deans, rectors, chancellors etc 1 in much the same way as it has for over 900 years.
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Teachers and students in higher education are coming to realize that to become competent practitioners there is need to take advantage of up-to-date digital technologies and learning practices. Learning process requires measurement and evaluation of students behaviour. In the case of e-learning, evidence is sought for improvements resulting from the use of online tools and processes desired to achieve a given set of learning outcomes. In this 21st century, knowledge is fast becoming a powerful engine in life. The visions, innovations, and inventions are the building blocks of developing knowledgeable and sustainable society. E-learning has facilitated the use of a plethora of internet and web-based applications as the method of communication with a distributed audience. Therefore, institutions of higher learning are constantly venturing into new and innovative methods and are radically changing the educational practice making it competitive. This paper examines how emerging technologies and e-learning are being used in education to create a major shift in the educational service paradigm that promises major advantages over the traditional distance learning and face-to-face systems. The authors present developments in distance education and e-learning whilst clarifying the similarities and differences between them. We identify factors affecting development of e-learning systems and examine the implementation of some systems in pervasive distributed computing environments. For everyone everywhere, the present developments in e-learning spells more access for learners, cautionary expansion for universities, and accelerated learning and influences for the future. The future directions is such that the higher educational system of the future and especially in Europe must aim to meet human development needs with elearning playing some major parts through promotion of access and widening participation in knowledge and skills acquisition. In order to support learning in evolving dynamic environments, several factors must be taken into consideration. These range from policies, strategies, the current education environments and business needs as well as the specific discipline being studied. Since the advent of e-learning and its eventual implementation in higher education, the world of learning for both the advanced nations and emerging economies have witnessed an upsurge in the number and types of students who are now engaged in pursuit of studies at institutions of higher learning. This paper reports on issues relating to expectations of the university of the future and the future of universities.
The myths about e-learning in higher education
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Proponents have marketed e-learning by focusing on its adoption as the right thing to do while disregarding, among other things, the concerns of the potential users, the adverse effects on users and the existing research on the use of e-learning or related innovations. In this paper, the e-learning-adoption proponents are referred to as the technopositivists. It is argued that most of the technopositivists in the higher education context are driven by a personal agenda, with the aim of propagating a technopositivist ideology to stakeholders. The technopositivist ideology is defined as a 'compulsive enthusiasm' about e-learning in higher education that is being created, propagated and channelled repeatedly by the people who are set to gain without giving the educators the time and opportunity to explore the dangers and rewards of e-learning on teaching and learning. Ten myths on e-learning that the technopositivists have used are presented with the aim of initiating effective and constructive dialogue, rather than merely criticising the efforts being made.