This is a presentation that I gave at the ASCILITE 2010 conference.
When universities are trying to convert their existing face-to-face courses to distance online learning programs at a project level, faculty members usually have to commit extra time other than their normal teaching and preparation hours to prepare the e-learning course content because their original face-to-face course materials are not fully compatible with the online learning settings. If universities are going to convert their face-to-face courses in a large scale on an ongoing basis, there is a clear need for us to re-design the enterprise architecture to lower the cost of the e-learning development and make the process more efficient. This paper will use two case studies to highlight the issues that the faculty members have been experiencing when they participate in the e-learning development, and to point out good practices. Then based on the Zachman Framework, a “To-Be” Enterprise Architecture is proposed, which enables academic staff to start contributing to the e-learning development at an early stage such as at the time when they are preparing for the face-to-face courses.
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Enterprise architecture roadmap for the development of distance online learning programs in tertiary education
1. Enterprise architecture roadmap for the development of distance online learning programs in tertiary education Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Australia Education & Multimedia Design Coordinator Richard Wenchao He
2. Question If you are the leader in your institution, would you care about: how to lower the cost of course development? how to maximise the value of your academic staff’s contribution? how to increase the reputation of your institution? how to attract more students to enrol in your courses? 2
4. Converting face-to-face courses to distance online learning programs The conversion (e-learning development) is complex. Faculty members have to spend a lot of extra time on the conversion. Indiviaul projects v.s. ongoing effort at enterprise level Start contributing to the e-learning development while preparing for face-to-face courses? 4
5. Enterprise architecture design (or re-design) Enterprise architectures The structure of an enterprise Desrcribe terminiology, composition of enterprise compents and their relationship, guiding principles for requirements, design and evolution of an enterprise Address the challenge of increasing e-learning development efficiency Enterprise architecure frameworks Provide a set of building blocks and how these blocks fit together Serve as documentation and component-specification tools Facilitate enterprise planning and problem solving Examples: the TOGAF framework, the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework, the Zachman Framework, etc. 5
7. Case Study 1 – CCRE Anxiety Education Project at University of Sydney About the project Course: Anxiety Disorders (continuing education program) Audience: general practitioners, nurses, psychiatric trainees, medical students 52 modules in 13 units Fully online, self-enrolled, and self-paced 13 tests (objective questions) 28 academic staff members involved, 6 of whom serve as unit coordinatorse Instructional model for each unit: a model adapted from the 4MAT Cycle 7
11. Found issues Video materials Could have been produced earlier Existing video materials haven't been properly licensed for e-learning PowerPoint slides Adapting the original course slides for the e-learning project: time consuming Original course slides could have been made for both purposes Copyright Copyright guidelines for e-learning is stricter than those for face-to-face courses Copyright clearance could have been arranged earlier Assessment Original assessment questions not suitable for self-paced e-learning Re-designing the assessment for the same course for e-learing purposes 11
12. Case study 2 – Sustainable e-learning development culture at Simon Fraser University, Canada Structure of development clusters (Leacock, 2005) 12
17. Conclusion As-Is: E-learning programs could be developed smoothly within individual projects. The issues associated with the repetition of similar work for the subject-matter experts’ normal face-to-face teaching is obvious. A roadmap for those universities who are interested in converting their face-to-face courses into e-learning programs on a large scale proposed To-Be: Systems and services supporting content submission and e-learning development Smaller amount of extra time required for the dual delivery mode Unnecessary repetitive work significantly reduced Collaboration of a group of academics for the same online programs Further empirical studies on the effects and issues of executing the roadmap highly recommended 17
18. Thank you Questions welcomed! Interested in further information about the CCRE Anxiety Education Project? Contact Richard He and subscribe to the project newsletter at wenchao.he@sydney.edu.au We will invite you to evaluate the Beta version of the e-learning program. 18
