Dr. Gudrun Bachmann & Dr. Martina Dittler
Integration of E-Learning into Universities: Implementation
of an Overall University Strategy at the University of Basel
Summary
E-learning is expected to have major modernization potential in education. As an isolated measure, however, E-learning can’t fulfil this expectation. Sustainable success of E-learning requires integration at various levels including the educational concept (i.e. teaching and learning concepts), organizational development (service institutions / competence centres), staff development (media competence / qualification programmes), technology (infrastructure / development tools) as well as the marketing potential.
The University of Basel has set itself the goal to integrate E-learning in the sense of a mainstreaming approach into the existing organizational structures, courses of study and measures of qualification. Taking as an example the university’s LearnTechNet (LTN), this contribution is to discuss the integration of E-learning along the different dimensions and how these interact.
Structure
1 Integration at the strategic level ...2
2 Integration at the educational level ...2
3 Integration at the organizational level ...5
3.1 Procedure...5
3.2 Structures...6
3.3 Tasks...7
4 Integration at the level of staff development...8
4.1 Training and qualification programs ...8
4.1.1 Integration into the academic teaching programme ...8
4.1.2 Targeted additional courses...9
4.2 Support ...9
4.3 Incentives ...10
5 Market ...11
1
Integration at the strategic level
Before the introduction of E-learning at the university level can be initiated – i.e. before targets can be defined and a specific implementation strategy can be determined – it must be clarified which overarching strategies have to be taken into account. Only against such a paramount strategic background can the actual E-learning strategy be defined (Binet, Bremer and Hildbrand 2002). The basis for the introduction of E-learning at The University of Basel is the strategic plan of the University Council of 1997 in which the modernization and quality assurance of teaching have been determined as a priority for the coming years.
To implement this strategic plan, the Ressort Lehre (department of Teaching and Learning) has been established as the university’s centre of competence for curricular development, and to promote academic teaching skills and E-learning. The department is responsible for planning modernization projects on the basis of the strategic plan and for implementing them in co-operation with the faculties. This makes E-learning – together with curricular reform and the development of academic teaching skills – a component and an integrative element of the university’s overall drive to modernize teaching. Placing E-learning in the Ressort Lehre further emphasizes its being anchored in university teaching and in addition guarantees close co-operation with several other units and offices, such as University
Teaching and Learning, Curricular Development and Evaluation.
2
Integration at the educational level
Which is the function of E-learning as part of the drive to modernize higher education and what does integration mean in this context?
The term E-learning is used for various forms of teaching and learning supported by information and communication technologies (ICT). This means that E-learning is not exclusively “virtual” teaching and learning but comprises a variety of teaching and organizational forms of using ICT as part of and supplementary to face-to-face teaching. On the basis of this definition and the university’s strategic plan to modernize teaching in higher education, the following guidelines for the introduction of E-learning have been established: • E-learning is integrated into the university’s overall modernization process of teaching
in higher education, and thus goes hand in hand with other modernization measures (e.g. Bologna).
• E-learning is part of teaching and learning in higher education and one of various methods in academic instruction. This means that only E-learning scenarios of clear didactic value are implemented. Technical possibilities are not to the fore.
• The University of Basel plans to modernize on-campus teaching. E-learning is not used in order to replace on-campus lectures with virtual courses.
These guidelines imply that face-to-face teaching and E-learning have an equal function in teaching. This explains why face-to-face teaching always has to be adapted or, respectively, that there is a need to establish an overall consistent teaching methodology when E-learning is introduced. Starting from these guidelines, a classification designed to facilitate the introduction of E-learning illustrated in figure 1 has been drawn up. This classification is based on a range of teaching and learning scenarios (Dittler and Bachmann 2003, Bachmann and Dittler 2003, Arnold 2001, Jechle 2002; Schulmeister 2001, Zentel et al. 2001).
We distinguish between three different concepts (see fig. 1):
• Concept of enrichment: Face-to-face lectures will be part of this concept. They will be supplemented with multimedia elements in order to support students’ access to information or to promote their retention of information. In face-to-face lectures, for instance, teaching staff could, in addition to the customary Power Point presentations, also make use of graphics, data banks, animations, simulations etc. for visualization. And, to accompany the teaching sessions, learning and practice materials such as e.g. electronic scripts, interactive tasks and exercises can be created and made available to the students on websites.
• Integrative concept: This concept comprises forms of teaching sessions where the proportions of on- and off-campus studies fulfil specific, co-ordinated tasks. Face-to-face lectures and computer-based self-study sessions represent equal and interlocking methods of learning and together they are directed at achieving optimal learning results. This could, for instance, mean that interactive tasks and exercises or Web-Based-Training (WBT) are made available and have to be worked on in self-study sessions, or that teaching and learning activities with communication and co-operation tools are made possible beyond face-to-face lectures as well. The integrative concept always includes tutorials for the students during self-study sessions and phases; furthermore, on-campus periods are shortened and can be focussed on specific topics and methods (e.g. discussion of selected aspects).
• Concept virtual teaching: This means predominantly virtual sessions together with a small number of on-campus periods (as a rule at the beginning and at the end of a course).
The division into concepts, components and elements illustrated in figure 1 is oriented on the various organizational forms of university teaching and on the different teaching and learning methods, yet it does not reflect them “one on one”. The aim of this classification is rather to render the guidelines of the University of Basel visible in a practice-oriented way with the help of teaching scenarios by presenting the possibilities of E-learning as
comprehensive as possible, without intersection and, above all, making it possible to apply them to actual teaching and learning situations. The Basel E-Learning-Scenarios have been defined in connection with the overall university strategy as well as on the basis of university-specific requirements. That is why the main emphasis rests on the integrative concept to which the largest potential for the improvement of on-campus teaching is ascribed.
Fig. 1: Basel E-learning-Scenarios
However, measures for the integration of E-learning must not be limited to strategic aspects or to the reform of teaching methods and methodology. Changes in the whole organization are required; suitable support centres will have to be developed and the infrastructure required will have to be made available. At the same time, teaching staff will need to be provided with a range of appropriate training and consulting.
Element Component Concept Evaluation enriched integrated virtual Visualization Presentation slides E-scripts
Interactive exercises / tests Self study Communication / co-operation Online-Tutoring Online-courses Virtual seminars Virtual conferences Virtual lectures
Static text, tables, illustrations charts, diagrams, maps Dynamic film / video, animation Interactive animation, simulation
Online-tests Online-evaluation Online communication Online-work groups Teletutoring Telecoaching E-moderation Online-consulting hours Information systema
Teaching and learning materials online Web / computer based training Virtual laboratories / simulations
3
Integration at the organizational level
The implementation of E-learning is often initiated by junior teaching staff on their own initiative. As a rule, this often means that the projects are discontinued when the person responsible leaves or when the promotional period comes to an end; it also means that such projects are not co-ordinated with other modernization measures in teaching, that there is no accompanying evaluation, or that highly specific products are developed which cannot be used in a different context. For the introduction of E-learning it must also be taken into consideration that, in addition to specialized knowledge, the implementation of E-learning also requires advanced computer literacy, as well as media development and teaching skills; it thus needs to be organized by an effective division of tasks (Kerres 2001).
For the professional development of E-learning opportunities as well as for their sustained integration into study programs, appropriate support structures are thus needed in higher education. At the University of Basel, the LearnTechNet (LTN) – competence network for E-learning – meets these requirements. The LTN has also been established with integration as a clear objective, i.e. it has not been designed to be a separate competence centre; rather, existing E-learning competence has been expanded, linked and integrated into already existing structures, thus contributing effectively to organizational development.
3.1 Procedure
The following measures have been taken at the University of Basel as part of the creation of LTN within the framework of the university’s organizational development:
1. Analysis of demand: In a first step, existing E-learning projects as well as the support requirements in the university’s faculties and institutes have been assessed.
2. Analysis of other universities: Parallel to the demand analysis, the support structures and E-learning strategies of three different American universities have been analyzed in 1999 in order to learn from the experience of already much further advanced E-learning strategies in the English-speaking world and to deduce the measures to be taken at the University of Basel. On the basis of this analysis, a matrix for the necessary support structures has been established. This comprises the training and consulting services required as well as the infrastructure needed for the various sectors of the organization having to share a set of the tasks – technology, media development, academic instruction.
3. Definition of tasks and actual analysis of existing structures: In a third step, on the basis of the results of the analysis of demands as well as with the help of the established matrix and in a work group supported by the whole university, all the necessary areas of responsibility for the organizational development have been defined as well as already existing suitable university structures analyzed.
3.2 Structures
The procedure described ultimately resulted in a plan for the development of the LTN. This plan contains the successive development in the years 2001 to 2004 and includes sections of already existing institutions, such as the university computer centre, university library, video studio, Ressort Lehre (teaching centre) and the medical learning centre. Newly created in the LTN are the Language Centre for students of all disciplines as well as the New Media Centre (NMC) which – by integrating the already existing video studio – supports media development. All the LTN partner institutions are centrally located (fig. 2). The network is being co-ordinated by a co-operative committee consisting of representatives of the participating institutions as well as representatives from the departments of computer science, media studies and psychology. The network is co-ordinated and developed by the Ressort Lehre, and is chaired by the vice-chancellor of the Ressort Lehre.
Fig. 2: Organization of the LTN
In conclusion it has to be noted that, in contrast to other universities, the University of Basel is not developing an additional competence centre but is linking and expanding existing core competences for the development and introduction of E-learning. With the creation of the LTN, the University of Basel is implementing its strategy for the integration of E-learning into the on-campus university as a measure taken towards modernizing teaching in higher education. This needs to be understood in the sense of organizational development aimed at using and strengthening well-functioning resources and at linking them with new structures and processes. Partn e rs (I nd us tr y and U n iv e rs iti e s ) Faculti e s Rektorat of the University of Basel L ear n ing C e nt re s
Centre for teaching and lear
ning (Ressort Lehre) NM C (Ne w M e dia Centr e) Co-operation committee LTN Le ar nT ech N et Libr ar y (Univ e rsitätsbibliothek) UR Z (Co m putin g Cen tre) Computer Science Media Studies Psychology
3.3 Tasks
The main tasks of the LTN are to tutor, accompany and co-ordinate current projects (Swiss Virtual Campus and university-internal projects) as well as consult potential new projects. The LTN supports projects in line with the concept and implementation of new media as a part of academic teaching; it also promotes the university-internal and -external transfer of knowledge and co-ordinates activities as required. In addition to these tasks and the resulting current services, the LTN carries out its own projects. In accordance with the aims and tasks of the LTN, its services and activities can be divided into the following categories:
• Consulting: Measures to ensure the sustained implementation of the E-learning modules developed into the regular study programs.
• Training: Development of training programs (a) for the qualification of university staff in the field of E-learning and (b) for interested extramural parties.
• Development: Introduction of technologies with large teaching and learning potential and realization of interdisciplinary projects.
• Co-operation: Carrying out projects in co-operation with external partners (other universities and/or industry and commerce).
The individual institutions of the LTN have the following functions:
• The University Computer Centre (URZ) provides the technical platform for the whole LTN. It establishes the infrastructure for the development and the application of the new learning technologies and introduces new information and communication technologies. The URZ offers advice and co-ordinates internal projects with external technology partners (outsourcing of programming tasks, interface definitions etc.).
• The New Media Centre (NMC) supports the institutes and projects in the whole field of media technologies: From the establishing of electronic media via integration into multimedia teaching to providing the corresponding infrastructure. It consists of the sections video production and multimedia development.
• The Ressort Lehre supports the use of the new learning technologies as part of the university’s overall drive to modernize teaching in higher education in questions of methods and methodology. With the emphasis on teaching methodology and in close co-operation with the offices of Teaching and Learning, Curricular Development and Evaluation, E-learning projects are supported and accompanied from conception via evaluation to implementation.
The learning centres have been designed primarily with the students as learners in mind. They provide a setting and infrastructure conducive to enhancing effective learning through
the use of new media. The goal is to create an optimal learning environment for the students during self-study periods as well as for co-operative learning (team- and project-based work):
• In the Language Centre, materials, computer software and a library for self-directed language learning are made available as well as individual learning consulting provided. • The Brain Box has been created as part of the curricular reform of medicine. It is the
learning centre for new forms of teaching and learning in medical training. The Brain Box opens up opportunities for computer-based self-study as well as for tutorials.
• The University Library (UB) is part of the LTN with a virtual library and makes specialized literature available online and in digital format.
4
Integration at the level of staff development
4.1 Staff development programs
The integration of E-learning is followed up by measures to ensure further qualification to reach not only those already motivated towards E-learning but all teaching staff seeking to develop their teaching skills. At the University of Basel, E-learning is integrated into staff development programs at various levels.
4.1.1 Integration into the university teaching programme
Two different kinds of further training in academic teaching skills are being offered: General courses which lead to certification, as well as the lecturers’ programme, a one year training program for post-doctoral members of the university (professors, post-docs preparing for their habilitation, i.e. their postdoctoral lecturing qualification, and teaching assistants). The general courses in academic teaching skills are open to all the teaching staff and can be completed with certification. The teaching skill courses are structured in a modular-curricular manner. Curricular means that all the courses taken together result in a university teaching curriculum. The curriculum at the basis consists of a series of compulsory courses and a series of voluntary ones, which also include E-learning. In addition, as part of the compulsory courses, there are courses that focus specific didactic questions, such as media design or tutoring, for instance, or that explore traditional teaching methods and look at the possibilities of the new media and their implications for teaching and learning.
The lecturers’ programme is a vocational course designed exclusively for professors, postdoctoral candidates preparing their habilitation and temporary postdoctoral lecturers. These are closed sessions in the form of classes (max. twelve participants). The programme, consisting of a one-year course (October to June), corresponds to the academic teaching
skills curriculum established for the University of Basel which is also the basis of the modular courses in academic teaching methods and methodology. The lecturers’ programme concludes with a certificate. Requirements for the certificate are (1) active participation in all the individual sessions of the course, (2) evidence of academic achievement according to the portfolio-principle as well as (3) evidence of a certain number of intervisions (for intervisions, the participants form teams of two to three people who attend each others’ teaching sessions). The “new media” are a fixed component of the teaching staff programme in the sense of a cross-section subject. The subject areas anchored in the academic teaching skills curriculum – “Didactic Consistency: Planning, Design, Implementation and
Evaluation of Teaching Sessions” and “Social Forms: Interaction Forms Lecturers-Students and Students-Lecturers” – are considered from the point of view of the new media in
specific sessions: Which didactic principles are valid for traditional and new media, what are the specific differences and what do these imply for the conception and realization of teaching sessions? For these sessions on the subject of the new media – as for all the others as well – evidence of academic achievement according to the portfolio principle has to be presented and intervisions have to be carried out.
The curricular integration of E-learning qualification workshops into the general academic teaching skills programme not only reaches out to university members who are already making use of E-learning and its learning opportunities or are developing such provision, but also to lecturers who wish to further qualify in academic teaching skills as part of their career or habilitation. Since, in future, further training and qualification in academic teaching skills will also be part of the habilitation1 at the University of Basel, the basic training in E-Training will be reaching a major part of teaching staff.
4.1.2 Targeted additional courses
Specific additional courses in teaching methods and methodology (e.g. online tutoring), project management, media development (e.g. Flash) or technology (e.g. Web-CT or BSCW) are offered for teaching staff and members of the university actually involved in the development of E-learning opportunities. In contrast to the lecturers’ programme or the certificate of academic teaching skills presented above, these courses are not an ongoing offer but are made available according to demand and the state of development of projects.
4.2 Support
The LTN runs alongside the introduction of E-learning in several areas (teaching methods and methodology, evaluation, media development, technology and project management) and
1
Attaining certification in academic teaching skills is already compulsory for the habilitation, i.e. postdoctoral lecturing qualification, in medicine.
provides a counselling service and information. It also offers courses for university lecturers and provides infrastructure. Its services are accessible via a portal, the LTN portal, http://ltn.unibas.ch.
Via the LTN portal, the university’s teaching staff and other interested parties are able to access the LTN’s services. They can also use the portal to request help as regards questions concerning E-learning and teaching methodology. Users can benefit from two different approaches:
• Users wishing to run a selective search (e.g. for consulting and training provision, infrastructure etc.), can find the information and contacts they require directly via the portal’s systematic access.
• Via the problem-oriented access facility, users are able to state their respective E-learning request more precisely with the help of the teaching and E-learning scenarios (fig. 1) and are then guided to specific counselling and training provision as required, to selected references and examples of projects as well as to suitable technical tools. The aim of this problem-oriented access is to make university lecturers – in connection with E-learning as well – plan their teaching on the basis of didactic criteria instead of putting primarily technical aspects and characteristics of tools and media to the fore.
The LTN portal promotes the qualification of all members of the university in two respects. On the one hand, it is an online support system that offers initial consulting by directing users via teaching and learning scenarios straight to the provision they need to meet their specific requests. This enables users to learn from the beginning to define and reflect on E-learning provision with the help of didactic criteria. On the other hand, the LTN’s additional provision of training is also oriented on teaching and learning scenarios featured in the portal. The LTN portal thus grants access to all resources relevant to the development of E-learning offers not only before but also after courses, such as literature or examples of LTN projects and services.
The LTN portal is also the shop window of the LTN, which makes the required services for E-learning clearly accessible and which, at the same time, is designed to enable users to take a didactic perspective on E-learning. It also reflects essential strategic aspects which are indispensable for successful E-learning at universities: The LTN portal is oriented on the University of Basel’s overall academic teaching and E-learning strategy.
4.3 Incentives
In 2003 the LTN awarded the E-Learning Innovation Prize of CHF 150,000.--. The prize was awarded for didactically motivated E-learning projects that made a special contribution to the modernization and quality assurance of university teaching. In this way, the University of Basel acknowledged and intentionally promoted projects with a particular
potential for advancing teaching and learning at the university and which, as against traditional methods, offer a clear didactic value and can be directly used in teaching.
The main criteria for the award were didactic value and usefulness in terms of the university’s integrative concept (as described in this paper). But it was also the aim of the prize to stimulate the debate on the criteria for the successful adaptation and implementation of E-learning in university teaching as well as to help everyone involved to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of their own projects with a view to furthering more effective project development and ensuring greater success. Besides the key criteria mentioned, i.e.
didactic value and use-value in teaching, the innovation prize also attached importance to transferability, sustainability and quality assurance.
5
Market
Most of the promotion programmes for the introduction of new media and technologies into university teaching (e.g. SVC-Impulse Programme 2000 – 2003) have concluded the first promotion period. Numerous E-learning projects have left the developmental state behind and are now about to be applied in regular teaching. With the gradual discontinuation of government and university promotion funds, all universities – including the University of Basel – are exploring the market potential and possible business models for the E-learning provision developed to date (Dohmen and Michel 2003). By marketing such efforts in higher and further education or to enterprises, additional financial sources are to be opened up in view of fund raising. In this connection, the University of Basel has explicitly declared co-operation with partners in industry, commerce and education as a key objective for the development of the LearnTechNet. In addition to in-house customers (faculties, institutes, teaching staff etc.), extramural ones (e.g. businesses, other universities) are considered potential addressees of E-learning services.
As regards the market potential of university E-learning provision, the focus is as a rule on marketing developed “content” or technical developments. Although occasional online courses are already being offered on the further education market, the main emphasis so far is still less on marketing “content” or new (learning) technologies but on offering the LearnTechNet’s customized services to develop E-learning provision. A survey of the LearnTechNet’s product range looks as follows:
• Consulting: Consulting for the development and implementation of E-learning provision for education and further education.
• Training: Planning and realization of customized further education provision for the training and qualification of teaching staff.
• Production: Production of electronic media as well as graphic and multimedia materials (animations, audio-visual productions, WebDesign etc.).
• Providing: Renting out rooms and modern infrastructure (incl. service) to extramural organizations and institutions.
Since the development of the LTN at the beginning of 2002, various projects have already been realized with extramural partners, such as providing consulting services for establishing CBTs and organizing workshops on E-learning (Ressort Lehre), producing CBTs (New Media Centre) as well as renting out rooms and state-of-the-art infrastructure (Language Centre). A differentiated concept has been developed to invoice the LTN’s services and has been approved by the vice-chancellor’s office. The vice-chancellor’s office decides on the income made.
To summarize, the LTN’s profile and product design, and its resulting market potential, can be seen as follows: Its key advantage lies above all in a stringent didactic approach that places emphasis on E-learning scenarios of clear didactic value and not on exploiting technical possibilities alone. At the same time, the customers’ specific problems and objectives are analyzed and – by deduction – comprehensive integrative concepts developed, which are customized and geared towards the customers’ needs and as well as towards the target groups in question. An additional advantage lies in the scientific reflection on E-learning since the customer-specific situation can be analyzed under scientific aspects (e.g. as part of evaluations) and since scientific results (e.g. from teaching- and learning research) become part of the E-learning services. Thus the principles contained in the E-learning strategy of the University of Basel are not only put to use inside the university but are also carried beyond its confines.
6
Conclusion
With the measures described – a comprehensive strategy for the modernization of teaching, the creation of support structures and implementation of training and qualification measures – the University of Basel is applying its concept of the integration of E-learning into university teaching in the sense of a mainstreaming approach. In this, the procedure for the integration of E-learning on all levels – strategic, and as regards teaching methods and methodology, organizational development, staff development, technology and market – is oriented on the strategic plan of the University of Basel which defines the modernization of teaching as an overriding priority. This strategic plan has also been the foundation for the university’s E-learning strategy:
• The didactically motivated approach which essentially puts qualitative and not economic aspects in the foreground,
• the use of E-learning as a measure of modernization taken in co-ordination with and adjustment to other measures,
• the introduction of E-learning in the sense of a “matter-of-course” element of university teaching and not as a special measure, as well as
• the expansion and linking of already existing competences for E-learning and their integration into existing structures.
7
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