Keynote presentation at the European Association for Distance Teaching Universities Conference, Krakow, 24th October, 2014

1. Digital Higher Education
and its Potential for the Innovation
of European Higher Education Systems
Keynote: Professor Mark Brown
Director, National Institute for Digital Learning
Dublin City University
24th October 2014

2. Digital Higher Education
and its Potential for the Innovation
of European Higher Education Systems
Keynote: Professor Mark Brown
Director, National Institute for Digital Learning
Dublin City University
24th October 2014

3. The real question….
What type of higher
education system do we
want the innovative use of
digital technology to serve?

5. “…We risk being left
behind as other parts of
the world act more nimbly
in garnering the benefits
of technology” (p.6).

6. Outline…
1. Numbers
1. Narratives
3. Nomenclature

7. Outline…
1. What do the numbers tell us?
1. What narratives are being told?
3. Why is nomenclature important?

8. “Who controls the past commands the future.
Who commands the future conquers the past.”
(George Orwell)

10. 1. What do the numbers tell us?

11. 1. What do the numbers tell us?
Three
Paradoxes

12. Paradox 1
Blended, On-line and Digital (BOLD)
education is booming but the level
of concern is growing throughout the
world
1. What do the numbers tell us?

13. Growth in US Enrolments…
Allan, I., & Seaman, J. (2014). Grade Change: Tracking Online Education in the United States. Babson
Survey Research Group and Quahog Research Group, LLC.
1. What do the numbers tell us?

14. http://www.openeducationeuropa.eu/sites/default/files/scoreboard_september2014.pdf
2014
1. What do the numbers tell us?

15. Allan, I., & Seaman, J. (2014). Grade Change: Tracking Online Education in the United States. Babson
Survey Research Group and Quahog Research Group, LLC.
1. What do the numbers tell us?

16. Type A
66%
Education at a Glance…
OECD
Average 70%
1. What do the numbers tell us?

17. ‘However, when we adjust for course level and do not focus on a particular
group of students, Massey University and the Open University have
comparable extramural course completion rates. ‘ (p.30).
Guiney, P. (2014). Extramural students’ participation and achievement: Trends, patterns, highlights. New Zealand Ministry of
Education. Wellington
1. What do the numbers tell us?

18. 1. What do the numbers tell us?

19. Paradox 2
The public and private benefits of
higher education are clear to all but
there is a growing risk of social and
economic exclusion
1. What do the numbers tell us?

20. 1. What do the numbers tell us?

21. Ireland
1. What do the numbers tell us?
Poland
NZ

22. 1. What do the numbers tell us?

23. 1. What do the numbers tell us?
UNESCO. (2013). Education for All Global Monitoring Report. Paris.

24. EU Unemployment Rate
Almost 13 million people have been unemployed for more than one year
1. What do the numbers tell us?

25. 1. What do the numbers tell us?

26. Ireland
1. What do the numbers tell us?

27. Paradox 3
While the benefits of higher
education have been quantified we
know very little about the tangible
return on investment for the
subset of off-campus online /
distance learners
1. What do the numbers tell us?

28. “There is also almost no understanding of
the private and social benefits of distance
and online education in comparison with
those of face-to-face education” (Rumble, 2014,
p.208).
1. What do the numbers tell us?

29. Recommendation
6. “National funding frameworks should create
incentives, especially in the context of new
forms of performance-based funding, for
higher education institutions to open up
education, to develop more flexible
modes of delivery and to diversify their
student population.”
1. What do the numbers tell us?

30. Is the money on the mission?
1. What do the numbers tell us?
2.7%

31. 2. What narratives are being told?

32. 2. What narratives are being told?
Competing
Stories

33. “An avalanche is coming. It’s hard of course, to
say exactly when. It may be sooner than we think.
Certainly there is no better time than now to seek
to understand what lies ahead for higher education
– and to prepare” (p.8)
Barber, M., Donnelly, K., & Rizvi, S. (2013). An avalanche is coming: Higher education
and the revolution ahead. Institute for Public Policy Research. London.
2. What narratives are being told?

34. “An educational change is neither natural nor
normal, constant nor common as it involves a
deeper struggle over who will win control of
the curriculum” (Evans, 1996, p.25).
2. What narratives are being told?

35. Selwyn, N., & Bulfin, S. (2014). The discursive construction of MOOCs as educational opportunty and educational
threat. Monash University.
2. What narratives are being told?

36. Knowledge Economy
Learning Society
2. What narratives are being told?

37. Knowledge Economy
2. What narratives are being told?
• Open learning
• Online learning
• Anytime, anywhere learning
E-learning •
Digital learning •
Technology-enhanced learning •
Learning Society

38. Knowledge Economy
Learning Society
2. What narratives are being told?
• Open learning
• Online learning
• Anytime, anywhere learning
E-learning •
Digital learning •
Technology-enhanced learning •
Different interest groups and stakeholders borrow the
same ‘language of persuasion’ to legitimize their own transformative agenda

39. Reproduction
• Mass education
• Quality standards
• Education as commodity
• Increased market competition
Knowledge Economy
Learning Society
2. What narratives are being told?
• Open learning
• Online learning
• Anytime, anywhere learning
E-learning •
Digital learning •
Technology-enhanced learning •
Competing Digital Discourses

40. Reproduction
Knowledge Economy
2. What narratives are being told?
Reschooling
• Open learning
• Online learning
• Anytime, anywhere learning
E-learning •
Digital learning •
Technology-enhanced learning •
• xMOOCs
• Learning for all
• Global curriculum
• Education in change
Competing Digital Discourses
• Mass education
• Quality standards
• Education as commodity
• Increased market competition
Learning Society

41. Reproduction Reschooling
Deschooling
Knowledge Economy
2. What narratives are being told?
• Open learning
• Online learning
• Anytime, anywhere learning
E-learning •
Digital learning •
Technology-enhanced learning •
• xMOOCs
• Learning for all
• Global curriculum
• Education in change
• OERu
• Un-curriculum
• Opening access
• Unbundling learning
Competing Digital Discourses
• Mass education
• Quality standards
• Education as commodity
• Increased market competition
Learning Society

42. Reproduction Reschooling
E-learning •
Digital learning •
Technology-enhanced learning •
Knowledge Economy
2. What narratives are being told?
• Open learning
• Online learning
• Anytime, anywhere learning
Reconceptualist
Competing Digital Discourses
Deschooling
• xMOOCs
• Learning for all
• Global curriculum
• Education in change
• OpenUpEd
• Digital citizenship
• Socially just society
• Education for change
• Mass education
• Quality standards
• Education as commodity
• Increased market competition
• OERu
• Un-curriculum
• Opening access
• Unbundling learning
Learning Society

43. 2. What narratives are being told?

44. Learning to change
and transform
Learning to live
2. What narratives are being told?
together
Learning to do
Learning to
know
Learning
to be
Digital
Inclusion
Digital Citizenship
Digital
Identity
(Delors Report, 1972)

45. 2. What narratives are being told?
How well
is Europe
doing?

46. 3. Why is nomenclature important?

47. 3. Why is nomenclature important?
Rooted
in Identity

48. 3. Why is nomenclature important?

49. 3. Why is nomenclature important?

52. www.dcu.ie/connected

54. 3. Why is nomenclature important?

55. 3. Why is nomenclature important?

58. Conclusion

59. Conclusion
What type of higher
education system do we
want the innovative use of
digital technology to serve?

60. A more inclusive digital learning ecology…
Off Campus
in Class
Synchronous Asynchronous
Off Campus
out of Class
On Campus
in Class
Acquisition
Participation
On Campus
out of Class

61. One that
Transforms
Lives and
Societies
And…

62. Vision…
To be recognised as a world leader at the
forefront of education, research and
innovation in contemporary models of
teaching and learning that help to
transform lives and societies.

63. International Advisory Board…
• Professor Grainne Conole
• Professor Terry Anderson
• Dr Larry Johnson
• Professor Mike Keppell
• Sally Reynolds
• Professor George Siemens

64. International Advisory Board…
• Professor Rhona Sharpe
• Professor Peter Shea
• Professor Norm Vaughan
• Professor Airina Volungevicene
• Professor Martin Weller
• Professor Steve Wheeler

65. 2015 Irish Higher Education Horizon Report

66. Contact Details
mark.brown@dcu.ie
@mbrownz
http://www4.dcu.ie/nidl
http://www.slideshare.net/mbrownz