Educational technology support: Issues and barriers at UNSW

Andrew Litchfield
Centre for Professional Development
Macquarie University
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This paper presents the experience of a pilot Educational Technology Support (ETS) service at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Drawing on this experience, and an extensive round of interviews with academics and support staff, the paper then analyses the issues and current barriers to the use of educational technology (ET) at UNSW.

The pilot ETS service ran from May 1996 to December 1997 and offered support to the planning and evaluation phases of the educational resource development cycle. The paper details the background and the support strategies developed by the ETS service.

The analysis of an extensive round of interviews of academic and support staff at UNSW about the issues and current barriers to the use of ET revealed the following concerns;

Any successful ETS service will need to positively address these concerns. However it is apparent that there is a considerable gap between information-age polemics and the daily reality of university work.

Background to the ETS Service

The Professional Development Centre (PDC) at UNSW established the ETS service in May 1996 as a pilot project to provide assistance to all UNSW staff who were interested in developing teaching and learning and staff development resources. The ETS service enabled the PDC both to extend its support in this area and to research the effectiveness of a range of support strategies, while the issue of ET was further considered by the University.

ETS aims and objectives

The ETS service was established to offer adviceÑa 'first port of call'Ñfor staff already developing ET projects or interested in exploring the possibility of technology supported innovations in their teaching or staff development work. The aim of the ETS service was to improve the viability and quality of the design of educational media resources.

In responding to the actual demands for support the ETS service's first objective was to establish a variety of appropriate support mechanisms and services.

Through the experience of providing assistance and support to UNSW staff, the second objective of the ETS service was to analyse the demand trends and support issues to inform decisions about ongoing ET support for UNSW staff.

The ETS team

An internal University Development Grant was supplemented by funds from the PDC to enable 1.6 academic positions to be established in the Centre to provide the core of staff for the ETS. These positions were advertised and Andrew Litchfield and Paul Sluis were selected. Andrew and Paul worked closely with Lindsay Hewson and Chris Hughes of the PDC.

The team combined a range of skills and experience crucial to the implementation of the ETS service; from skills in media production and instructional design, project and technical management, knowledge of teaching and learning principles and technologies, and computer programming and networking.

The range and blend of skills of the four members of the ETS team proved to be crucial to the ability of the service to sustain the range of support strategies that were offered.

ETS service description

After the establishment of the ETS service in May 1996, the ETS team decided initially to publicise and offer support for: When projects required further support and funding for production we would offer support in: It is important to note that the ETS service did not have the human resources, budget or facilities to provide production services. When this was required we could only offer:

ETS Support Strategies

Over time a variety of support strategies evolved to meet the ET support needs of staff. Some of these strategies had already been initiated by staff at the PDC and the ETS service was able to more actively extend and further develop the scale of activities.

Strategy One Consultation on individual projects The ETS service expanded the PDC's existing consultancy support. From May 1996 to March 1997 75 specific requests for support were received. These inquiries ranged from individuals with relatively simple questions, to requests for the entire design and development of flexibly delivered Masters Programs. Responses to these requests ranged from straightforward phone and e-mail communication to a series of meetings. One inquiry led to regular weekly meetings over a period of six months.

We provided what is best described as 'just-in-time' and 'on-demand' support. It was noted by a number of clients that the ETS service was very useful for testing out ideas - "a sounding board" - and for providing valuable information that removed barriers to the progress of their projects.

Our aim was to offer realistic and pragmatic advice on project and technical management needs and requirements. Our advice often involved discussing issues of educational design and selecting the appropriate media for specific teaching contexts and for specific learning objectives. When relevant we ensured the client was made aware of the necessity for ongoing technical support to be available for the success of a specific project or initiative.

We frequently suggested to our clients that there were advantages to adopting a learner-centred approach to their specific resource design. We suggested they consider the implications of student numbers, access to equipment, and prerequisite knowledge and skills.

For the 75 inquiries received from May 1996 to March 1997:

  • 60% involved technical management and advice
  • 55% involved project management advice
  • Over 40% required assistance with educational design and content development
  • 10 required advice on funding applications and identifying potential project funding sources.
  • 7 related to the conversion of existing Masters programs to flexible and/or distance delivery
  • 12 related to converting parts of undergraduate subjects to flexible delivery.
  • 8 were requests for presentations about the role of ET in teaching and learning.
Other inquiries involved giving advice on:
  • IT systems for Chancellery records and administration
  • IT systems in the design of a conference room
  • the hardware requirements for new computer labs
  • establishing a web server
  • the purchase of a video projector
Inquiries came from academic and general staff in a wide range of UNSW Faculties, Schools and Units. Most inquiries were from individual staff members - 'lone rangers' - who tended to be the energetic, early adopters of innovation within the Faculty, motivated by their desire to improve the quality of their teaching.

An overwhelming majority of inquiries involved the development and use of digital media, that is, media produced and distributed via desktop computers. The interest in digital media included:

  • 38 inquiries involving the use of the World Wide Web (WWW) usually the establishment of a website for teaching program support
  • 17 inquiries about using email lists and web conferencing
  • 14 inquiries about stand alone computer-based multimedia modules
  • 9 inquiries about using computer presentations in lectures
  • 3 inquiries about producing CD-ROMs
We received 7 inquiries concerning the development of videotape teaching resources, and none for the development of print or audiotape resources.

Strategy Two
A referral service
As the ETS project had no personnel or equipment to provide production services, we referred clients to other relevant UNSW production and development services. For a few cases we referred clients to potentially relevant services or consultants outside UNSW.

Strategy Three Development of the ETS website In offering advice to staff we became aware of the need to demonstrate examples of World Wide Web (WWW) based teaching and learning resources. The WWW also makes accessible relevant support information on a range of ET topics. There was an obvious need to collect these WWW demonstrations and information into an easily accessible form.

To meet this need we developed the ETS website which is located on the PDC's Webserver. The ETS site's address is at:

http://www.pdc.unsw.edu.au/interests/ets/ets.html

The ETS website provides links to web-based demonstrations of educational resources and links to other support information about flexible delivery, interactivity and instructional design. The ETS website also contains information of specific relevance to UNSW staff. This information includes; a database of ET projects and participating staff at UNSW, contact details of potential UNSW sources of ET support and services, and information about email and email lists at UNSW.

The ETS website proved a most useful resource allowing us to direct staff to easily access relevant demonstrations and information about web-based resources and flexible delivery of teaching and learning. By March 1997 the ETS website and associated pages had registered a total of 7169 hits/visits. The ETS homepage had 1086 direct hits.

Strategy Four Presentation of workshops The ETS service developed and presented a number of workshops that have been incorporated into the PDC's calendar of activities. Workshop topics included:
  • Converting Curricula to Flexible Delivery workshop series
  • Project Management of Learning Resources
  • Budgeting and Funding of Learning Resources
  • Designing an Educational Website
  • A concurrent series of workshops in:
IT Skills
  1. email and email lists
  2. developing web pages
  3. dynamic web pages
  4. graphics and AV on the web
Teaching Online
  1. using email in teaching
  2. instructional design for the web
  3. interactive teaching on the web
  4. planning an IT teaching resource

The various workshops developed and presented by the ETS service with assistance from other PDC staff have been considered valuable additions to the PDC's calendar of activities.

Strategy Five Presentations to Faculties, Schools and Units The ETS service was asked to present focused presentations to staff of Schools and Departments. These presentations were usually initiated by the Head of School or Unit with the aim of increasing staff awareness of contemporary IT and ET issues and developments. The presentations were about the issues of using IT strategically, ET in teaching practice, and the required resources and some approaches to ET courseware development. In preparing the talks we were able to focus on the particular context and needs of the individual School or Department.

Strategy Six Convening user groups Before the ETS service commenced, the PDC had established user groups focused on particular support needs of UNSW academic and general staff. The ETS service became responsible for convening and coordinating the user group meetings and activities.

The purpose of the user groups is to raise awareness and develop a self-help network for group members with a particular interest or need in a specific area. Members generally attend a one or two hour monthly meeting to solve minor problems, to focus on an aspect of interest to the group, ask or answer questions arising since the last session and to plan future topics and activities. Members are asked to bring any pressing problems and any favourite tips. These user groups enable the members to take an active role in seeking support and/or providing support in the various focus areas. The user groups supported by the PDC and ETS are:

World Wide Web User Group
Focus group dealing with the various issues relating to the development and use of the World Wide Web

Macintosh User Group
Focus group interested in the basic use of the Macintosh computer and various related applications

Windows User Group
Focus group interested in the basic use of Microsoft Windows based computers and various related applications

Issues and barriers to the use of educational technology

The following analysis of the issues and barriers to the use of ET comes from interviews with 69 academic and support staff from various levels including Heads of School and from all Faculties at UNSW. These interviews were undertaken by the staff of the PDC in preparing a report for a working party 'UNSW 2000 and Educational Technology 1997'. A further source of information has been from the informal discussions with many staff from a wide variety of disciplines while offering ETS services.

Current use of technologies in teaching

Educational Technologies are used in teaching in three different ways: The use of high-tech delivery mechanisms, such as interactive multimedia (IMM) or the internet, is not common at UNSW and resource-based teaching is relatively uncommon at undergraduate level. While a number of postgraduate programs which are offered to external students do use resource-based methods, they rely predominantly on print materials, occasionally supplemented with audio or video tapes.

The uses of IT to facilitate teacher/student communication or interaction between students are again relatively uncommon at UNSW. Student access to email is only a recent development and students' ability to get to a computer linked to the Campus Wide Network is still a problem for many.

Overall there is little use of educational IT to change teaching practice, particularly at undergraduate level. Why is this so?

Issues and barriers

In essence the issues and barriers to using educational IT are; the lack of reliable teaching facilities and equipment, the lack of student access, the lack of funds, the lack of time, the lack of skills, the need for more support and the need for more recognition and rewards.

  • the lack of reliable teaching facilities and equipment

  • the lack of staff and student access to hardware and software

  • the lack of funding for teaching innovations, equipment and training

  • the lack of time

  • the lack of knowledge and skills

  • the need for administrative, technical and production support

  • the need for more recognition and rewards

    Conclusion

    The pilot UNSW - ETS service's formative evaluation (refer to the ETS Report for full details) indicates that the service was considered as a significant support resource by its clients and that the strategies employed offered effective support within the limitations of the pilot service's resources.

    However from a broader organisational perspective the qualitative data collected by interview of UNSW staff highlight the many issues and barriers to the realisation of the potential of ET to provide relevant and indeed improved teaching and learning experiences. Any successful ETS service will need to positively address these issues and barriers.

    There is a considerable gap between information-age polemics and the daily reality of university work. The very real barriers to change and the lack of organisational support for change is startling. The obvious implication of these findings is that considerable and well-resourced organisational efforts and staff development strategies are required to support the increased use and the effectiveness of educational technologies.

    The dilemma to be discussed at EdTech'98 is, given these barriers to change, how to best provide educational technology support in higher education organisations.

    Bibliography

    Litchfield, A. and Sluis, P., with Hewson, L. and Hughes, C. (May 1997). Report on the experience of offering educational technology support to UNSW staff. http://www.pdc.unsw.edu.au/special/report/

    Professional Development Centre UNSW Staff (1997). UNSW 2000 and Educational Technology 1997. An internal report to the Working Party on Educational Technology. http://www.pdc.unsw.edu.au/special/eti/

    Author: Andrew Litchfield
    Lecturer Technology in Learning and Teaching
    Centre for Professional Development
    Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia
    Email: andrew.litchfield@mq.edu.au
    or:    alitchfi@ocs1.ocs.mq.edu.au

    Please cite as: Litchfield, A. (1998). Educational technology support: Issues and barriers at UNSW. In C. McBeath and R. Atkinson (Eds), Planning for Progress, Partnership and Profit. Proceedings EdTech'98. Perth: Australian Society for Educational Technology. http://www.aset.org.au/confs/edtech98/pubs/articles/litchfield2.html


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