ETEC 520
Planning and Managing Learning Technologies in Higher Education
Description
This course deals with the management of technology-based courses and projects, strategies for change needed at an institutional level to support technology-based teaching, and system-wide planning requirements at a provincial, state or national levels to support and regulate distributed learning. The course uses the Internet and print resources to enable participants to analyze and critique different management and planning strategies at various levels of technology-based operation.
Objectives
- Students will be able to develop strategies for planning and managing technology-based courses or programs so that they are properly funded, effective in meeting their learning goals, exploit fully the educational potential of the new technologies, are developed on time and within budget, and are properly up-dated and improved. The strategies for course planning and management must also be appropriate for the organizational context in which they will be used;
- Students will be able to develop strategies for planning and managing new technologies for teaching and learning at an institutional level so that they are funded, organized, and supported in ways that meet the educational, organizational and financial context in which they will be used;
- Students will be able develop strategies for planning and managing new technologies for teaching and learning at a state or educational system level, so that they are funded, organized and supported in ways that meet the overall goals of the system as a whole;
- Students will understand the theoretical and organizational differences between knowledge-based and industrial-based organizations and how that might impact on planning and managing new technologies for teaching and learning;
- Students will be able to use the Internet to access and analyze research and reports on the planning and management of distributed learning, and find appropriate on-line databases in this area
Topics
Week 1. Unit 1: Introduction to the Course
This unit will introduce students to the main themes of the course, and the meaning of distributed learning and why it is becoming increasingly important in higher education and the importance of adopting an analytical and critical approach to planning and managing new technologies in a rapidly changing technological environment. In addition students will be introduced to the course team and the international guest tutors, the learning activities, and the assessment process.
Weeks 2-4.
Unit 2: Planning and Managing Courses and Programs
Unit 2 will:
- Discuss some of the ways that technology is changing teaching in higher education, and the forces that are leading to these changes.
- Discuss some of the elements necessary for the development and delivery of high quality technology-based distributed learning.
- Discuss and analyze different processes or mechanisms for planning and managing technology-based distributed learning so as to achieve cost-effective use of resources.
- Discuss key players and roles in planning and managing technology-based distributed learning
Weeks 5-8.
Unit 3:Planning and Managing Technology-based Distributed Learning at the Institutional Level
This unit introduces different methods for planning and managing new technologies at an institutional level. It discusses
- The nature of information-based organizations, and how they differ from industrial and craft-based organizations,
- How this is likely to affect the organization of higher education institutions as they move to a technology-based teaching and learning environment.
- The benefits and limitations of strategic planning at an institutional level, and how to develop a vision for an institution.
- Various strategies for funding technology-based teaching and learning.
- The balance between investment in technology infrastructure, infrastructure support services, and academic applications of technology for teaching.
- How to implement strategies to support student access and use of technologies for learning.
- How to implement strategies to support faculty and instructors' use of technologies for teaching.
- How to decide on appropriate organizational structures to support technology-based learning for one's own institution.
- The importance of institutional cultures in facilitating or resisting change, and developing strategies for successfully implementing institutional change that will support the appropriate use of technology for teaching.
Weeks 9-12.
Unit 4: Planning and Managing Technology-based Learning at the System or State Level
This unit introduces different approaches to planning and managing new technologies at an educational, state or national system level. It discusses:
- The external pressures or drivers of change in higher education generally, and how these are influencing the introduction and use of technology for teaching in particular.
- A number of different planning mechanisms for managing investment and policy regarding the use of technology for distributed learning, the importance of new institutions developed around the use of new technologies, and their potential threat to conventional higher education institutions
- The relationship of fiscal policy and technology investment to different educational and philosophical purposes of higher education.
Week 13.
Unit 5: Does Planning Work?
In this unit, the following issues will be discussed:
- Academic freedom and control vs. central planning
- The power of divisional universities
- The anarchic nature of new technology
- Faculty workload
- The faustian contract