ELUE eLearning and University Education

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ELUEe-Learning and University Education

• Report of the survey in French universities

Representing the French team Pr Monique LINARD
http//www.e-pathie.org
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ELUE French report

• Political iniative French Ministry of National
  Education, Direction of Research and Conférence
  des Présidents dUniversités (CPU).
• Project management AMUE (Agency for the
  Mutualization of Universities).
• Scientific investigation e-pathie program,
  Maison des Sciences de lHomme (MSH), Paris.

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E-learning in a French university context

• A highly centralized, state-run organization
• A widespread implication with ICT and e-learning
  issues
• Still massively traditional ways of teaching and
  learning
• Modes of interaction
• Course supply
• Teachers activities
• Yet a much wider scope of pedagogical
  communication
• E-learning teachers, mostly  traditional
  teachers who adapt 

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Specific features of the French survey

• Approach
• Conducting the survey
• Corpus, fairly representative of
• The geography
• The typology of French universities
• Data and statistical results
• Reliability of responses to individual items

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Specific features of the French survey

• Methodology As with any type of investigation,
  context and mode of conception of data condition
  results and anwers to questions.
• A concern for identifying and integrating
  whenever possible
• Intercultural differences
• National contexts
• Methodological questions
• A special interest for
• Relating the diversity
• Probing the consistency

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Universities e-learning policy
Main findings

• Reasons for universities to engage in e-learning
• Development of local e-learning policy and
  initiatives
• Participation in consortia

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Universities e-learning policy

• Institutional strategic plans and orientation
  texts
• Teachers training plans and incentives
• Support plans
• E-learning structures and their duties

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Universities e-learning policy

• Investment in faculty and staff
• Resources and funding
• Effective research on ICT use

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Universities e-learning policy
E-learning programmes for students

• Students activities
• Technical supports
• Other services
• Course contents

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Opinions and effective practice

• Degree of acceptance by teachers and students
• General obstacles to e-learning development.
• Lack of support from other faculty members
• Lack of technical competence
• Lack of adequate facilities and relevant
  institutional investment

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Opinions and effective practice

• Difficulties with study course programmes
• Technical
• Pedagogical and admininistrative
• Predictions for the future of programmes
• Risks of e-learning development

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Conclusion

• A likely picture of e-learning development in
  French universities evidencing a number of facts
  and of recurrent issues
• Major changes in organizational and teaching
  learning culture
• Real cost-effectiveness of e-learning development
  
• Rapid evolution of student, faculty and staff new
  professional and personal skills
• Differential impact, assets and risks of
  technology

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Conclusion

• For universities, the technological response is
  still a privileged way to meet the pressure of
  socioeconomic and educational change.
• Tony Bates (2000) insists that this is not the
  best way to do so.
• Together with the issues reiewed above, his
  discussion provides a very appropriate frame of
  reference for the activities of future a European
  Observatory.

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•  Thus the use of technology is not just a
  technical issue. It raises fundamental questions
  about target groups, methods of teaching,
  priorities for funding, and above all the overall
  goals and purpose of a university or college .
•  Consequently, decisions about technology need
  to be embedded in and subordinated to educational
  goals .
•  At the same time, the educational goals
  themselves should take into account the new
  opportunities that these technologies present .

A. W. (Tony) Bates Managing Technological
Change, Strategies for College and University
Leaders, Jossey Bass publishers. San Francisco,
2000.  Confronting The Technology Challenge in
Universities and Colleges , Chapter 1, p. 34.
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Suggestions for a future e-learning European
Laboratory

• Considering the findings of the ELUE survey, the
  French team suggests the creation of a
  coordinated European network of national
  observatories.
• Such network would provide an appropriate
  support to the international debate and
  collaborative work urgently needed in the field.

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ELUEe-Learning and University Education

• Report of the survey in French universities

Representing the French team Pr Monique LINARD
http//www.e-pathie.org
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Distribution of French universities by large
regions
Distribution of the survey's respondents by
large regions
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A distribution of French universities according
to scientific domains
A distribution of the survey corpus according to
scientific domains
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A comparison between modalities of learning as
described from actual data and as estimated by
respondents
Average number of study course by learning
types
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Teacher's activities and "e-learning"
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Means of distance communication in a wider scope
of pedagogical relationship
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Typology of Instructors
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Reasons for universities to engage in "e-learning"
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Time periods during which policies for
"e-learning" implementation were designed in
institutions
Authorities initiatinga policy for "e-learning"
according to different modalities
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Institutions taking part in every level of
consortium
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Presence of strategic plans and orientation
documents
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Existence of training plans, financial incentives
or advancement of teachers' careers
Number of teachers concerned by training
sessions
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Existence of ICT support plans for teachers
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Number of ICT structuresin institutions
ICT structures duties in institutions
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Budgets dedicated to "e-learning"
Average annual financial resources in relation
to the budget of the institutions
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Different kinds of studies on ICT use in
institutions
Research in Education by disciplinary sectors
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Learners activities in "e-learning" programmes
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Technical tools used in "e-learning" programmes
Other service supplies
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e-learning degree of acceptance by teachers and
students
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Difficultieswhen starting a scheme or programme
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Future
Doubts
Future -
Predictions relative to the future of programmes