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Ocotillo Retreat 97
Casa Grande, AZ
May 21-22, 1997
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A Journey Worth Taking
A Vision Worth Working Toward
Ocotillo Retreat 97

May 21, 1997
Steven W. Gilbert
Director, Technology Projects
American Association for Higher Education

The outline of this presentation is provided with permission from ©1997 Steven W. Gilbert, AAHE. For more about AAHE, TLTR, and the AAHESGIT Listserv, visit http://www.aahe.org/
  1. o Overview Session #1
    • Disclosures/Digression
    • Background
    • Problems/Challenges
    • Future/Conclusion/Vision
    • "Fundamental Questions"
  2. o DISCLOSURE #1
    • Not a Demo of "Best Practice"
      • Lecture+
      • Conclusion:F2F + TeleComm + Indep
  3. o DISCLOSURE #2
    • I love teaching and learning
    • I believe most people need to learn and teach
    • Conclusion: Use I.T. to Enable MORE Teaching, Learning
  4. o DIGRESSION #1: COST/BENEFITS
    • "What will not be funded if technology will?" -- Nassau Community College
    • QUALITY OF LIFE, TIME/PRODUCTIVITY
  5. o QUALITY OF LIFE [Trick Question?]
    • Who wants to pay less for education [health care] equivalent to what was available 5 or 10 years ago?
  6. o TIME/PRODUCTIVITY
    • Use I.T. etc. to end a course 2 or 3 weeks early?
    • Earn a Baccalaureate by age 15? Ph.D. or M.D. by 18?
    • Earn certification in accounting, computing, chess, violin, ... by age 15?
  7. o BACKGROUND CONDITIONS
  8. o TECHNOLOGY STILL IN INFANCY
    • Changing Fast, Unreliable
    • Attractive New Options for Education Arrive Frequently
  9. o EDUCATIONAL OPTIONS
    • More Available Than Ever
      • Specific Tools from Fields
      • EMail & WWW (&WP)
      • Cross-Discipline Adaptations
      • Within-Discipline Adaptations
      • Courseware (Hardest?)
  10. o [SOME?] STUDENT BEHAVIOR IS CHANGING
    • 30%?? Students DonŐt Buy Required Textbooks for Courses Requiring Them
    • SOME [MOST?] Middle School Students EXPECT Access to Info. Tech. in College
  11. o POTENTIAL
    • Change Teacher, Learner ROLES
    • Change Teaching, LEARNING
    • [Depends on STRUCTURAL Changes: Space, Time, Relationships]
  12. o 1994-97 I. T. ENTERS MAINSTREAM
    • Educational Use of Info Tech Enters (Faculty) Mainstream (Word-processing, EMail, WWW, Groupware, Distance Education)
  13. o DISTANCE EDUCATION CONFUSION
    • Many Approaches, Many Technologies(From Cars to ITV)
      • Virtual Universities
      • Evolving Courses
      • Accidental Distance Education
  14. o VIRTUAL UNIVERSITIES
    • Big, Uncertain
    • Market Response Unknown!
      • Does One Size Does Fit All?
    • [See: "Certificates, Chips, & Sweatshirts"]
  15. o EVOLVING COURSES
    • "Meanwhile back at the ranch..."
      • EMail & WWW
    • Reasonable Combinations
      • Face-to-Face (Large & Small Group)
      • Telecommunications
      • Independent Work
  16. o ACCIDENTAL DISTANCE EDUCATION
    • WWW: Local Intentions, Global Access
    • Who owns what? Pays what?
    • Who is responsible for Quality? Certification?
  17. o DISTANCE EDUCATION (cont.)
    • Hype & Hope
      • Significant Minority Benefits Greatly
      • "Anywhere, Anytime, Anyone" WRONG
  18. o GREATEST OPPORTUNITY TO IMPROVE EDUCATION
    • The "Information Technology Transition" Can be the Excuse & Means to Improve Education
  19. o PROBLEMS/CHALLENGES
  20. o IRREVERSIBLE FACULTY ROLE CHANGES
    • Faculty Cannot Easily Find All Attractive Options
    • Faculty Cannot Individually Implement Most Attractive Options
  21. o NEW DEMANDS
    • MORE Student-Centered Education
    • MORE Faculty Time
    • MORE Universal Access to Info. Tech.
    • MORE Institutional Resources
  22. o SUPPORT SERVICE CRISIS
    • Insufficient Support Services (Technology, Library, Faculty Development)
  23. o DIGRESSION #2: QUESTION
    • How many of you are already experiencing the "Support Service Crisis?"
    • Symptoms?
  24. o INSTITUTIONAL FRAGMENTATION
    • Improving T/L with Information Technology Requires Collaboration
    • WHY IS COLLABORATION SO DIFFICULT in Higher Education?
  25. o LACK CLEAR PROOF
    • CanŐt Prove Educational Value of Information Technology
    • Abundance of Anecdotal Reports, Testimonials
  26. o NEED TO MAKE BIG, UNCOMFORTABLE RESOURCE ALLOCATION DECISIONS
    • Economic Pressure
    • Competition for Students, Faculty, Grants
  27. o DIGRESSION #3: K-12 CONNECTION
    • Watch Good, Wealthy Middle-Schools
    • [FCC Decision 5/7/97]
    • High School Jrs., Srs. Taking College Courses?
  28. o WIDER GAP NATIONALLY & ON CAMPUS: HAVES/HAVE NOTS
    • Especially: Non-Resident Part-Time Students
  29. o DANGER
    • GROWING Mismatch of Expectations, Resources
    • Increasing Confusion, Frustration
    • Danger of Backlash
    • [CanŐt Re-Org Deck Chairs.]
  30. o THE FUTURE
    • Prediction
    • Wish
    • Nightmare
    • Vision Worth Working Toward
    • [Hallucination]
  31. o CONCLUSION: A VISION WORTH WORKING TOWARD
    • What Education is Really All About
      • Faculty: "We could do so much better without the students, administration."
      • Administration/Staff: "We could do so much better without the faculty."
    • What Education is Really All About: Students, Faculty, Pro-Staff, Admin...
      • Faculty: "We could do so much better without the students, administration."
      • Administration/Staff: "We could do so much better without the faculty."
  32. o USE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION TO IMPROVE:
    • Communication
    • Collaboration
    • Connection
    • Choices
  33. o FIRST STEPS TOWARD NEW COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION
    • HORIZONTAL: (TLTR) Within & Across Institutions
    • VERTICAL: (STA) Student-Teacher; School-College
  34. o CONNECTIONS & CHOICES ACROSS ALL AGES "Lifelong Teaching" goes with "Lifelong Learning"!Learn Best by Teaching.
  35. o LIFELONG TEACHING & LIFELONG LEARNING (cont.)
    • More Learners & Learning Choices
    • More Teachers & Teaching Choices
    • More Time for Both
  36. o LIFELONG TEACHING & LIFELONG LEARNING "EVERYWHERE"
    • Work, Home, Real & Virtual Campuses
      • Electronic Tutorials, Groups
      • Face-to-Face & TeleComm
      • Synchronous, Asynchronous
  37. o LIFELONG TEACHING & LEARNING EVERYWHERE (cont.)
    • MORE Volunteers, Adjuncts, & Full-Time Faculty as:
      • Leader/Mentors
      • Research Scholars
      • Teacher Scholars
    • More Student-Faculty Collaboration
  38. o MORE SUPPORT SERVICES! for Teaching &Learning
  39. o RESPECT, BUILD ON LOCAL CULTURE (& POLITICS)
    • Excitement for Pioneers
    • Comfortable Engagement for Mainstream
    • [Respect for Laggards]
  40. o TEACHING/LEARNING HIGH SOCIETAL PRIORITY
    • Societal recognition of needs to learn & teach... and value of both
    • Higher priority for education (& technology!) to improve quality of life for everyone
  41. o SAMPLE TLTR WORKBOOK TASK
    • Write Individually
    • Discuss in Small Groups (2-4)
    • Discuss in Institutional Teams
      • Consensus; OR
      • Points of Contention
    • [Discuss in Clusters]
  42. o FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS(TASK ONE -- PP. 17-19)
    • Warm-Up
      1. Recall one of your own most valuable learning experiences. Describe it briefly.
      2. Recall one of your own most satisfying teaching experiences. Describe it briefly.
    • Through the Inevitable Transformation of Education...
      1. What are 1 or 2 important results that you most want to gain from educational uses of information technology?
        1. For yourself?
        2. For your institution?
      2. What do you most cherish and want not to lose (for your institution)?
      3. What are 1 or 2 of the most important remaining obstacles (with respect to I and II) and how can you reduce them?