All Ireland Society for Higher Education
| Name: | Guerin , Helen |
|---|---|
| Email: | Helen.Guerin@ucd.ie |
| Institution: | University College Dublin |
Wireless Learning, Wired Learning, What Learning? Towards a strategic approach to fully integrating distributed learning. While educational technology has been with us for some time now, there has been a recent revitalised interest in the area, due mainly to the arrival of a new kid on the block, namely elearning. Exponents of elearning boast of the limitless possibilities it provides. Access anytime anywhere, widened access to non traditional markets of potential learners, relatively low costs for end users, access at home, in work, in public places, etc. While all of the above may indeed be true, it is time to reflect on the future of learning. This paper will briefly present some example of the UCD experience with distributed learning to date. It will argue that far from elearning being a revolution in education, it is quite simply just another technological solution we can employ, where appropriate, in our teaching repertoire. The key argument of the paper is that it is high time we took stock of where we are going with our curriculum design at Faculty level. One approach to this has recently been initiated within the Medical Faculty. An audit of the one-off learning objects developed by enthusiasts is being carried out, with a view to developing a coherent distributed learning policy and identifying appropriate learning strategies to meet the teaching and learning needs of the staff and students. Lessons learned will be outlined. This paper will argue that the issues facing distributed are the same issues all third level institutions will face into the future. There has been a paradigm shift amongst student perception/expectations of teaching and learning. This presents senior management with a set of political challenges, which must be tackled as a matter of urgency in order to continue to attract top quality staff and students into the future.
(Abstract ref: #31.)