1.
Introduction
This paper presents reflections on the progress of the infusion of eLearning at the University of Botswana (UB) over the last two years and highlights some of the critical success factors.
These success factors emerged during the two years that the writer has been responsible for spearheading the implementation for new educational technologies at the University of Botswana since February 2001. The writer leads a central unit, the Educational Technology Unit (EduTech) in the Centre for Academic Development as Deputy Director: Centre for Academic Development (Educational Technology) and has been leading the University of Botswana eLearning (UBel) initiative launched during 2001 to transform teaching and learning through the use of appropriate technologies.
This paper also links to some of the key aspects of the doctorate research conducted by the writer from 1995 to 2000 on key management strategies for the implementation and organisation of eLearning in higher education (Uys, 2000; Uys, 2002).
The University of Botswana embarked aggressively on a programme of technological transformation over the last two years (Uys, Nleya & Molelu, 2003). EduTech has been charged with the responsibility of this technological transformation at the University. The Unit also carries out the training of academics in the effective and appropriate use of educational technologies at the University of Botswana. A major undertaking of EduTech was the launching of a University-wide eLearning initiative (UBel) in 2001.
EduTech has worked in the following key performance areas to stimulate the technological transformation underway at the University:
§ Research in educational technology applications in tertiary education
§ Academic staff training in educational technology
§ Media production
§ Educational technology equipment services
consulting
Initiating
§ projects
§ Promotion and communication of effective educational technology usage
eLearning at the University has been defined as “the appropriate organisation of information and communication technologies for advancing student-oriented, active, open, collaborative and life-long teaching-learning processes”. The focus on eLearning at UB is therefore on a blended approach in which various modes, methods and media are integrated and organised for appropriate learning.
Some of the critical success factors for the infusion of eLearning that emerged over the last two years and which have lead to significant progress are the need for:
§ Clarity on the strategic imperatives for technology use
§ Using a map for technological transformation to guide the implementation and selection of strategies
§ Appreciation for the systemic nature of technological change in education and a commitment to work with strategic partners in related systems.
2. Progress in eLearning at the University of Botswana
Substantial progress has been made at the University in the last two years, where overhead projectors were first introduced on a large scale in 2000.
WebCT, an online learning management system was acquired in 2002 after a rigorous evaluation process. In 2002 there were more than 20 courses online with approximately 2000 students involved. WebCT 3.8 offers a full suite of online learning tools including chat facilities, bulletin boards, online calendar, assessment tools, student tracking, email, content uploading and student administration.
A state-of-the-art eLearning Support Centre has been implemented as the first wireless network application at the University of Botswana. Semi-embedded computers are used to facilitate eye contact among group participants. The computers are laid out in clusters to support collaborative work. A Mimio-board is used to display, via a data-projector, what is written or drawn on the white-board. Microsoft-Netmeeting is used to project the white-board or any other aspect of the instructor’s screen on the screens of all the participants, or the screen of any participant to all other participants.
The eLearning Support Centre has been used to train more than 30% of the academic community of 680 staff in various educational technologies using more than 60 targeted workshops. A new eLearning Certificate, issued by the Centre for Academic Development, has been designed by EduTech and is on offer from 2003.
An eLearning Smart Classroom has been co-designed with visiting consultants and constructed for technology-based, collaborative learning. This classroom is laid out in a similar fashion to the eLearning Support Centre, with semi-embedded computers using a clustered arrangement. The Smart Classroom also features a video-conferencing system and a number of motorized screens for maximum flexibility in sharing information.
A video-conferencing system, POLYCOM, was installed in 2003 for synchronous teaching and learning. The system links the main campus in Gaborone with Maun and Francistown via ISDN and leased lines. The University of Botswana can also conduct video-conferencing internationally through this system using IP addressing and ISDN.
The central EduTech equipment outlet has seen a dramatic increase in the demand and use of laptops and mobile data projectors by academic staff. A satellite model is planned whereby each Faculty will have its own educational technology centre providing customised support, training and equipment services. This is in line with the suggestion by Bates (2000) that a distributed organisational structure is required for the support of eLearning. The model proposed by Bates includes a fairly large professional centre while each faculty (or school) or large department will have a small flexible unit of technical support and generalist educational technology support.
There is further a dramatic increase in the use and demand by students for access to the Internet and specifically the World Wide Web.
Computerised issuing using a bar-code system at the central educational technology outlet is at an advanced stage. In the future academic staff will be able to both check availability of equipment via the network and also reserve desired equipment online.
Various research projects in eLearning have commenced. A study was done in 2002 to encourage open discussion, information-sharing and entry-level counselling on HIV/AIDS by all staff and students. The study involved the use of public Web-based threaded message boards as an anonymous Q&A forum where an expert answered questions (Uys & Magowe, 2002).
In the Faculty of Humanities a project is in progress to establish the eLearning readiness of the secondary schools from which the university draws its students. In the Faculty of Education a current study seeks to establish the degree to which eLearning is practiced in the private sector in Botswana in order to align eLearning projects and practices at the University to that of the graduates’ future work place.
3. Some of the critical success factors in the infusion of eLearning at the University of Botswana
3.1 Clarity on the strategic imperatives for technology use
In any situation involving technological transformation in higher education, commitment will be lacking however, unless both academic staff and students appreciate and take ownership for the rationale and benefits of technology-based education.
Tertiary education, similar to other sectors of society, has often responded to new ICT applications on the basis of efficiencies rather than using more strategic considerations. Porter (Pastore, 1995, October 1) describes this problem as follows:
The traditional criteria by which IT applications have been chosen have been ones of operational effectiveness—How many people can we save? How much faster can we process the paper?—rather than by more strategic measures, such as how much have quality or service levels gone up.
The rationale for using eLearning at the University of Botswana includes
o increasing the quality of learning and the success rate of students
o creating and supporting new research opportunities
o alleviating increasing administrative and teaching pressures on academic staff
o supporting academic freedom and freedom of speech through free information flows and
o making teaching more rewarding and exciting for academics.
In the context of a dynamic workforce through large staff turnover in Botswana and the effects of HIV/AIDS, eLearning can be used to create repositories of the intellectual and human capital in nations and in particular within higher educational institutions.
eLearning can further provide new levels of flexibility in learning and teaching with students studying at their own pace, place, time and preferred ways of navigation. eLearning in distance education can also be used to transcend geographical distances more effectively. eLearning can also increase access to education, but this contribution of technologies is dependent in Botswana on providing computer access and increasing basic computer literacy levels.
In Botswana in particular, the wide implementation of eLearning can be leveraged to create a demand for more sustainable and stable ICTs such as wide area and local area computer networks as well as adequate and affordable bandwidth. The provision of ICTs to these standards is a pre-requisite for user-acceptance and wider support by stakeholders.
eLearning can however, also provide efficiencies. Bates (1999) concurs that using technology for teaching at universities can serve the public more cost-effectively and in particular, can prepare students better for a technologically based society.
3.2 Using a map for technological transformation to guide the implementation and selection of strategies
Once a clear vision and committed leadership have been established and there is adequate commitment to these, a map or model for the technological transformation process is required.
Such a model needs to be flexible and realistic as managing change in general and in higher education in particular has to deal with particular challenges related to the unique organisation of Universities. Cannon (1986) points to the absence of a general theory of educational development and notes that educational developers therefore draw on theories from other disciplines to inform their educational practice. The use of models for educational change therefore becomes vital.
At the University of Botswana the LASO (Leadership, Academic & Student Ownership and Readiness) model for technological transformation in tertiary education (Uys, 2001) guided the implementation and selection of appropriate strategies.
The LASO model was born out of the reality of implementing eLearning in higher education in various settings including University of Botswana. The LASO model integrates top-down and bottom-up initiatives that have also been proposed by Gunn (1998):
An effective technology strategy works in both directions. From the top down, it is articulated through institutional objectives, sensitive to existing culture, constraints, strengths and weaknesses, and presented as a coherent, achievable set of goals with appropriate incentives and rewards. It must also move from the bottom-up where knowledge of teaching strategies, learning contexts and disciplinary expertise can be translated into action plans geared to achievement of institutional strategic objectives and so creating a sense of ownership at all levels of the institution.
The LASO model suggests that technological transformation occurs when leadership is integrated with academic and student ownership and readiness. Leadership is achieved through mechanisms such as defining a clear vision for the transformation, providing a reward structure for those engaging in the change process and the creation of a strategic framework to guide the transformation.
Ownership and readiness for change by both students and academic staff can be achieved by using strategies such as pilot projects, extensive training, establishing workgroups and learning communities in every faculty / school and using teams for courseware development.
The curve of technological transformation is indicated in the LASO model as a ragged line to signify the complexities and dilemmas with which technological transformation in higher education is often associated.
A change model further needs to take cognisance of the systemic nature of technological transformation.
3.3 Appreciation for the systemic nature of technological change in education and a commitment to work with strategic partners in related systems
Technological innovation has often been implemented as an isolated, bottom-up initiative of academic staff for efficiency or experimental purposes. In this scenario the wider systems within tertiary education are often not considered and neither affected by the innovation. The management of an institute may thus feel justified in disregarding the innovation.
Likewise, solely top-down administrative attempts have also regularly failed when the systemic nature of change and in particular academic involvement and ownership were not valued as a critical prerequisite to sustainable technological transformation. Tillema (1995) points out that historical studies, based largely on experience in schools, show that 'top down' attempts to achieve educational reform have failed, and suggests that they will be doomed to failure until they deal with the cultural and pedagogical traditions and beliefs underlying current practices and organizational arrangements.
Technological transformation touches most systems within an institution and thus has major systemic implications as Drucker (1998, p. 100) points out: "… as soon as a company takes the first tentative steps from data to information, its decision processes, management structure, and even the way it gets its work done begin to be transformed." Attempts to introduce any significant reform in an institution will thus impact on most of its sub-systems. Bates (2000:196) contends, "…using technology to extend the campus on a global basis will affect all aspects of a university or college".
Systems theory in general calls for an integrated approach to technological innovation: "a system is a whole that cannot be taken apart without loss of its essential characteristics, and hence must be studied as a whole” (Ackhoff, 1972:40).
The technological change at the University of Botswana is also requiring systemic changes and has made integrative approaches with adjoining systems and sub-systems imperative through partnering with units such as the IT Department, the Library and the Centre for Continuing Education, and of critical importance, with academic staff. The IT department has an important role in providing a stable, sustainable and appropriate technological infrastructure. The library needs to provide an increasing number of accessible electronic resources. Additionally, central access to networked computers must increase from the current 200 computers to 800 in the next three years. The Centre for Continuing Education (CCE) is committed to integrating Web-based learning into their largely paper-based distance education systems. CCE will also be the main users of the video-conferencing systems.
Academics are deeply involved in the reform process through the UBel Committee and the eTeams that have been established in each Faculty. Each school /faculty is represented by two academic staff members on the UBel Committee and these staff members lead the eLearning programme within their school / faculty through an eTeam. Academic staff members, through the UBel Committee, were central to the selection of the online Learning Management System. Academic staff members were also central to conducting a University-wide needs analysis and the design of the 2003 eLearning pilot programme.
Ownership of technological transformation by academic staff is also critical due to new roles that are required of them, in for instance, online education. Mason (1998:157) asserts that the new technologies in global education point to "… a new role for the teacher, for the student and for course material. It centres on the construction of knowledge by the student... a teacher as facilitator… information is no longer something to organise, transmit and memorise, but something to work with, think with, discuss, negotiate and debate with partners". The training programme at the University of Botswana therefore has been vital in preparing academics for this new role. In addition, involvement in training also leads to ownership of technological transformation by academics.
4.
Conclusions
This paper presents reflections on the progress of the infusion of eLearning at the University of Botswana over the last two years and highlights some of the critical success factors.
This case study indicates that technological innovations need to be implemented within a strategically developed framework based on a clear and shared vision and a central educational rationale.
Leadership is required to continue to develop transformation models that are compatible with the context and to ensure that these models are diligently implemented.
The excitement of academic staff and students about eLearning and the keenness of a core of academic staff to experiment with these technologies at the University of Botswana have acted as motivational factors for all involved in the UBel programme.
Expectations about the levels of energy and time required to achieve technological goals in developing environments might need to be adjusted, but EduTech has found no reason to modify its standards or vision for the appropriate infusion of eLearning at the University of Botswana.
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