Open Source in Higher Education

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Learning Environment 2015
Justin E. Tilton and Jim Farmer As presented at
thee-Learning 2006 Conference February 12, 2006
Savannah, Georgia USA
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Publishers note

• This presentation at the ITC eLearning 2006 was
  abbreviated so a presentation of LAMS could be
  made as an implementation example of learning
  design.
• The presentation has been returned to its
  original form.

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Predictions

• Students will select what they want to learn, how
  they want to learn and when they want to learn.
• Jason Cole at MoodleMoot Savannah
• Colleges and universities will certify
  competencies expressed as mastery of courses.
• Students will evaluate the quality of learning
  content and sequence.
• Cost of instruction will matter

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Predictions

• The learning systems in 2015 will be a few from
  those available today.
• All learning systems will be based on learning
  design.
• Course content with be engineered
• Continuous assessment of effectiveness of
  learning systems.

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Perspectivesothers view of higher education
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The public perception
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The students perspective
The explosion of knowledge
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The governments view
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The new reality
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Government response

• Dual enrollment
• Early admissions
• International Baccalaureate
• Credit for Advanced Placement examinations
• Distance Learning
• Credit by examination (CLEP College Level
  Examination Program)
• Improved articulation and advising
• Study on Acceleration Mechanisms in Florida,
  Dec 2003

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Expenditures per FTE student
For 2001, Digest of Education Statistics 2003,
Dec 2004
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Use of eLearning

• We did not hear that colleges looked to distance
  learning as a common strategy to help accommodate
  students and minimize loss of access. We do want
  to point out that one college that serves a large
  portion of its students through distance learning
  did find it economical to increase this portion.
  with the infrastructures already in place, they
  could accommodate additional students in these
  programs more easily than in classrooms.

Ensuring Access with Quality to Californias
Community Colleges, May 2004
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Presidents on e-Learning

• Based on his work with the University of South
  Australia and his conversations with presidents
  and financial officers, Bill Becker said there
  is a general belief that eLearning increases the
  cost of education. He said the cost of the
  distance learning courses at the University of
  South Australia exceed those offered in the
  classroom because of the amount of time that
  faculty spend responding to students.
• Access and Persistence Symposium, September 8,
  2005, Washington, DC

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But we predict in a few years

• The colleges and universities will begin efforts
  focused on improving productivity
• Education technology will be viewed as necessary
  to improve productivity
• Major investments will be made in the learning
  environment based on the experience of the
  current distance learning programs
• Leadership in teaching and learning will move
  from the research universities to the teaching
  universities and community colleges.

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Future 3-unit course costs
Costs based on percentages from Arizona community
colleges distance learning program in 2001
adjusted to current average undergraduate course
costs and projections of change.
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The emerging learning environment
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Accommodating student needs

• Early work by Pat Suppes has demonstrated that
  students have different learning styles, which he
  represented as trajectories of learning based
  on when different students mastered course
  content.
• The flexibility of eLearning suggest
  opportunities to transform classical term-based
  learning.

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Learning trajectories
Based on the work of Pat Suppes at Stanford
University
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Quick learner
Boredom vs. supplementary course content?
ABCDF
Content Mastery
Course Grade
End of Scheduled Term
Time
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Early intervention
Monitoring tools can quickly identify students
that are at risk
ABCDF
Content Mastery
Course Grade
End of Scheduled Term
Time
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Unexpected externality
Unforeseen events resulting in inactivity
ABCDF
Content Mastery
Course Grade
End of Scheduled Term
Time
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Success or failure?
Immutable time constraints limit a capable student
ABCDF
Content Mastery
Course Grade
End of Scheduled Term
Time
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Observations

• Based on observations by Bryan Williams,
  remote-learning.net, in supporting Moodle
  services.
• Students will continue learning if the eLearning
  resources are available.
• Quick learners will go beyond the scope of a
  course if materials are available.
• Those slow to learn or interruptions to their
  learning will succeed if given additional time.

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Types of e-Learning
Seizing the Opportunity The Quality and Extent
of Online Education in the United States, 2002
and 2003, Sloan Consortium, Sep 2003
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Student effort
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Hours per week to achieve content mastery
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3
0
Lecture/Discussion 3h 2h 1h
Blended Collaboration Tutorial
Method of instruction
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Basis for projections

• Twenty minutes of eLearning drill and practice
  time is equivalent to sixty minutes in a
  traditional classroom.
• Students are expected to spend three hours in
  study for each hour in lecture.
• Collaboration time differs sharply depending upon
  the characteristics of the group.
• Tutorials take additional time because of the
  interest and focus of the student (and achieve
  more than expected course mastery.

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The emerging market for eLearning
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Proposed open /closed courseware
Proposed, Open University of the Netherlands, Feb
2006
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Expected results

• Learning on demand in chunks (at no cost to the
  student)
• Incentive to either
• Subscribe to tutorial support
• Participate as a student
• Seek certification by examination
• paying current tuition
• Increase value of brand and gain course
  enrollments

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The emerging learning environment
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Investing in courseware
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Engineered courses

• Lübeck University of Applied Sciences
• Learning objectives (using EU transfer course
  objectives)
• Contract author only for draft text and media
  suggestions
• Development Manager
• Instructional design
• Media development
• Assessment authoring

In separate units
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Academic services

• Lübeck University of Applied Sciences
• Technical support (separate from faculty)
• Tutor
• Domain competence
• Native language of the student regardless of the
  language of the course
• Selected for ability to communicate
• Academic Services Support System
• (see also University of Oxford and Open
  University UK)

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The technology
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Information technology

• SUNY Learning Initiative
• Industry standards higher education standards
  and practices
• Platform and tools
• Tools and interface appropriate for multiple
  levels of faculty competencies from simple text
  through multi-media to learning design
• Focus on long tail of specialized learning
  tools
• Integrated with administration, library and
  external information sources

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Learning technology
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Summary of trends

• Professional specialists
• Move process control from faculty to learning
  designers (and learning systems)
• Mergers or consortia to achieve economies of
  scale
• Public pressures to improve cost/benefit
• More granular content, more flexibility in
  schedule, multi-format learning materials

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Barriers to success

• Change in culture from faculty-centered
  instruction to student learning
• Change in organization form functional
  organization
• Acceptance of increased automation
• Development of feedback to achieve adaptive
  leaving activities
• Adoption of standard learning objectives for many
  undergraduate courses.

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To be successful

• Content interoperability is imperative
• New consortium-developed or commercial software
  with new functions and new architecture
• Open standards are required to reduce IT
  maintenance costs
• Specialization will require retraining current
  staff
• Collaboration is key to lower unit costs

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Transformation is feasible

• eLearning has produced an experienced and
  knowledgeable cadre (many attending eLearning
  2006).
• Increased effectiveness and reduced costs have
  been broadly demonstrated.
• All needed information and education technologies
  have been developed and are being used somewhere.

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Learning Activities Matter
Ernie Ghiglione LAMS Project Manager Macquarie
University
1993
2001
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The LAMS System

• Learning Activities Management System
• Both while working at the Open University UK and
  then as head of the e-Learning Strategy Unit of
  the UK Department for Education and Skills
  (DfES), Diana Laurillard has called for the
  widespread adoption of learning design. On
  February 17th she will keynote the LAMS Workshop
  at the University of London.

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Credits

• This presentation is based on a presentation
  made by Justin Tilton at the Open Source in
  Government Conference, March 16, 2004, at George
  Washington University and his subsequent research
  at the University of Marylands Robert H. Smith
  School of Business.
• imms Jon Allen provided graphical design and
  graphics, and suggestions on presentation.

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Permissions

• JA-SIG and imm publications are in the public
  domain and can be freely reproduced. Information
  in this presentation was taken from public
  sources or with permission and can be
  redistributed.
• The presentation itself can be reproduced and
  redistributed provided there are no changes made
  to the content and it is reproduced in its
  entirety.

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Supplementary material
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Student Perspectives
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The higher education web world
Research
Library
Administration
Instruction
Actual screen shots of production applications,
Justin E. Tilton, 2003
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Students expectations shaped by...

• In the U.S. Their experience applying for
  admissions and financial aid
• Their use of financial services portals
• Their use of the Internet
• Their life in a real-time, information rich
  environment.
• Be prepared
• 94 of Internet-using (78) youths age 12-17 use
  the Internet for school research, 71 say it is
  the major source for their school projects and
  reports, 58 use a school or class Website, 17
  have created a Webpage for school, 74 use
  Instant Messaging.
• Pew Internet, August 2002

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Students now expect...

• Customer service 24 hours a day,7 days a week
• Complete information froma single source
• Information by Web, e-mail, telephone, facsimile,
  and wireless devices
• response time of 15 seconds for telephone, 10
  seconds for Web, and 2 hours for e-mail and
  facsimile
• access to a complete customer history

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Students prefer

• A portal
• Single sign-on even if that means revealing
  personal logons and passwords aggregation/credent
  ial caching
• Selection of content portlets and layout user
  profile
• Common portlet navigation and icons consistent
  look feel

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Serving students
Gartner/Avaya, CFO Jan 2005
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eLearning some results
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Types of e-Learning
Seizing the Opportunity The Quality and Extent
of Online Education in the United States, 2002
and 2003, Sloan Consortium, Sep 2003
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Rio Salado College and Plato Math

• Using commercially developed Interactive
  Mathematics Rio Salado offered four courses with
  one instructor.
• The number of students in a section increased
  from 35 to 100.
• A course assistant was added to help with course
  management, freeing the instructor to focus on
  student learning.
• Academic Systems Inc. Profile, October 2002

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Northern Oklahoma College

• Using Interactive Mathematics, the pass rate for
  Elementary Algebra increased from 45 to more
  than 70.
• Sixty percent of the incoming students at
  Northern Oklahoma College are deficient in
  mathematics.
• Students are passing math and staying in
  school, Debbie Quirey said. 75 percent of our
  students who take one or more developmental math
  classes go on to pass college algebra.
• Plato Implementation Story, April 2004

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Student motivation to learn

• Quirey and others in the department attribute
  the success to students being able to review the
  Interactive Mathematics instructional module over
  and over again until they understand it.
• Plato Implementation Story, April 2004
• According to instructors, students using
  Interactive Mathematics reported that they tended
  to go back and review the softwares instruction
  more often than ask questions of the instructor
  or ask for help from tutors.
• Thomas Coe, Mathematics Department Chair, Rio
  Salado College
• Academic Systems Profile, October 2002

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Student willingness to learn

• Students can accelerate their learning and finish
  more than one course level per term.
• I have had up to 10 percent of my students
  complete two courses in a single semester. A few
  have even completed three courses.
• Kim Brown, Mathematics Department Chair, Tarrant
  County College
• Plato Implementation Story, April 2004

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Students learn at different rates
Sillinger and Suppes, 1999
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Students work differently
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Expected changes
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Content and teaching
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Learning support
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Content development