Transcript Innovation in higher education Sarah Porter Head of Development JISC Joint Information Systems Committee.

Innovation in higher education
Sarah Porter
Head of Development
JISC
Joint Information Systems Committee
What is innovation?
Innovation is typically understood as the
introduction of something new and useful, for
example introducing new methods,
techniques, or practices or new or altered
products and services (Wikipedia)
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Why do we need innovation?
Some reasons to innovate
 To improve practices
 To improve quality
 To respond to the changing needs of users
 To respond to new opportunities
 To respond to a changing external environment
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Changes to the external environment for UK education
 Learning and teaching
– Changing student profile and expectations
• Ref. JISC student expectations’ study
– More competition for students – lower student numbers
with classic 18-21 profile
– Emphasis on the student as customer (particularly post
2009)
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Demography – 18-20yr old entrants to HE
Chart 5: Effect of social class changes on HE entry
110
Richer backgrounds
Entrants (2005 = 100)
105
100
95
90
2005
2009
All 18-20yr olds
85
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Simple population estimate
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Social Class segmented estimate
Source: Office for National Statistics; HEPI report summary 22 – March 2006
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Changes to external environment
 New approaches to research assessment beyond 2008
 Government policy drivers
– Widening participation and inclusion agendas (targets for
student numbers)
– Emphasis on skills and links with employment (Leitch
review)
 Changes to funding models and accreditation (Burgess
review)
 Etc.
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Innovation and transformation models
Well-rehearsed literature concerned with
adoption of innovation
Many explorations of how this applies to
technology
Some explorations of how this applies to
education
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Technology Adoption Lifecycle
 Classic model (developed at Iowa State College in 1957; originally based
on purchase patterns of hybrid seed corn by farmers)
 Further developed by Rogers in early 1960s; informed Moore’s ‘Crossing
the Chasm’ (1991, 1999)
 Identifies psychographic profiles for the take up of new products
– Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, Laggards
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MIT 90s model
Produced by Ventraman from MIT / Sloan
School
Influential model of technological change in
an organisational context
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UK context
 Numerous initiatives to encourage strategic planning of IT
within the educational system, for example:
 Department for Education and Skills
 Higher Education Funding Council
 Scottish Higher Education Funding Council
 JISC
 Higher Education Academy
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So why don’t we see more change?
Higher Education is a complex, distributed system
 A university is slow and difficult to innovate as a single
system
 To be successful, innovation needs to occur from the top
down (strategy and policy) and from the bottom up (practice
and experimentation)
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Q: Why does the JISC exist?
A: ‘to provide world-class leadership in the
innovative use of ICT to support
education and research’
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How does the JISC support innovation?
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 Services that provide advice and resources to individuals
and institutions on how to develop strategy, change policy,
innovate and improve practices, benefit from new
technologies
Etc.
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Funding programmes and providing services
 Several hundred projects that fund activities in institutions to
support and encourage innovation
 Organised into programme themes that are planned
holistically
 E-learning programme, E-research programme, Information
Environment programme, E-administration programme etc.
– Leading to guides to good practice, exemplars, shared
knowledge and experience, developing and supporting
networks …
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JISC e-Learning Programme
 Working on 3 levels
– Technology & Standards
– Learning & Teaching practice
– Strategy & Policy
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JISC e-Learning Programme
 Across 5 domains:– Portfolio
– Assessment
– Learning Resources & Activities
– Administration of Learning & Teaching
– Physical & Virtual Learning Environments.
 Responding to drivers of:
– Institutional diversity, collegiate culture, mixed economies (home
grown, commercial and open source)
– Student centred, pedagogically sound, inclusive.
– Lifelong learning, personalisation, widening participation and work
based learning
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‘Bottom up’ evolutionary innovation
 Supporting learners ‘In Their Own Words’
– Investigations of learner experiences in using technology
across the education sector
– Shared through reports, guides to good practice, videos
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“In their own words”
“...And because they [technologies]
save me time, I can spend more time
doing the research and getting
everything ready, because I know when
I put the whole thing together, it will
come together quite smoothly.”
“Gary”, 4th Year Medical Student – “In their own words” report, JISC
‘They [learners] have an expectation of being able to access up-to-date and
relevant information and resources and see this as vital. They don’t see
technology as anything special…just another tool to support their learning.’
LXP: Student Experiences of Technologies – Final report (Conole et al., 2006)
www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning_pedagogy/intheirownwords
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 Supporting teachers
– Design for Learning Programme
– Studies exploring the relationship between pedagogy and
technology
– Good practice guides
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Pedagogic planners
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Supporting holistic change
 Projects that require changes to practice,
technology and processes
 Holistic model that encourages re-use of project outputs
(software and practices) by others
 CETIS SIGs supported networking, exchange of ideas and
increased the level of take-up
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Joint Information Systems Committee
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“Tangible Benefits of E-Learning”
(Ferrell, Kelly, McMahon, Probert, Quentin-Baxter, Riachi – for JISC, July 2007)
Cost savings and resource efficiency
E-assessment meant marks for a cohort of 30 could be recorded in 2s rather than 10h.
Replicated across subject area, this could save c. £7m in staff time
Student achievement
10% improvement in student pass rates on implementing eLearning. Could mean
30000 extra graduates each year.
Recruitment and retention
University of Wolverhampton lowers nursing attrition rates – e-portfolios. 1%
Improvement in retention would be worth over £132 million to institutions.
Skills and employability
3D virtual case study in Glamorgan Business School simulates
placement experience. Valued by students.
Widening participation
Aboriginal group use Sheffield Hallam online materials to
escape eviction from land
Specific needs
Derby Business course available in a variety of modes to suit student needs.
Students with specific needs are underrepresented in UK HE, an untapped
market worth £796m
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‘Top-down’, revolutionary innovation
 Need for more flexible, responsive systems, policies and
processes
 JISC has explored this agenda since 1994
– Information Strategies programmes (1994-2001)
– Managed Learning Environment programmes (1999-2003) – led to
Creating a Managed Learning Environment InfoKit
– Scottish Institutional Transformation programme (2004-2007 – funded
by SHEFC)
– Forthcoming book: ‘The e-Revolution and post-Compulsory
Education’ (Routledge)
– Institutional Exemplars … just started
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Institutional Exemplars’ programme
• Solution to a well-recognised institutional problem
• Projects that support existing institutional strategies
• Relevant and transferable outside the originating
institution(s)
• Four areas:
– Institution-wide systems integration
– Alignment with institutional strategy and policy to
support educational processes
– E-administration
– Sustainable development (green computing)
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Key points
 Active support of senior leadership required
– Must be demonstrated in the bid
– Senior manager must be available to engage with the
project and the JISC
 Implementation not just experimentation – want to see
evidence of impact on technology, processes etc.
 Technology focus – standards and service-oriented
approach
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 Extending the learning
– May be opportunities to build up networks of practice
around (and to complement) the projects
– Always challenging to transfer lessons about
implementation from one institution to another (we’re all
unique …)
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Top-down and bottom-up at the same time
 E-Framework for Education and Research
 Standards developed through observing and mapping
practice, systems and processes
 ‘framework’ of approaches to coordinate what has been
learned
 Current investigation of high-level mapping of the education
domain
 Tension between standardisation and innovation
– Though standards can support and enable innovation
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Innovation needs to work at numerous levels and with multiple actors
 Change is driven by a model that includes technology, policy
and people
 Enablers or ‘change agents’ working at different levels within
organisations
 And outside their organisations
 Successful sharing of practice requires a complex model
involving the right innovations (right time, right place),
supported by appropriate, active human networks
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(Secret) agents for change
 Everyone in this room is a change agent
 Enabling ...
 Exploring …
 Supporting change at different levels
 How can we collaborate more effectively to learn from each
other?
 How can we support education to meet its new challenges?
 How can we move from ‘pockets of innovation’ (Freds in
Sheds) to an innovative educational sector?
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Collaboration in a competitive environment
 Informal networks
 Formal collaborative activities
– Communities of practice on
themes e.g. CETIS groups
– Consortia to develop products
and share practices
– COPs based on projects,
software development,
shared problems, ‘domains’
of operation
– Consortia based on
collaboration
– Membership organisations
based on shared job roles
– Helping re-use
– ?
 Changing funding models
– ?
e.g. Open Call for projects that
fit programme themes
?
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