Landing : Athabascau University

BEYOND PROTOTYPES Enabling innovation in technology-enhanced learning

This is report on the 6 year TEL program funded in the UK to support technology enhanced learning initiatives in UK that ended ion 2013. It clearly overviews the complexity of supporting and normalizing technology enhanced change in functioning educational systems.

It nicely highlights that " Changing a single system within an organisation often fails to produce intended changes without changes to associated systems." and then for continuing support for projects as they become integrated into normal teaching and learning practice.

AUMEd grad Ingrid de Waard provides a nice summary blog post of the report at http://ignatiawebs.blogspot.ca/2014/04/free-report-durable-technology-enhanced.html

The Exec summary should be read at least and here are some of the recommednations:

  • The interim and final results from design-based studies should be systematically shared with other researchers so that the process of innovation can be compared, expanded, and continued over time. They should also be widely disseminated to policy makers and practitioners, through events such as ‘what research says’ meetings. 
  •  Research institutes should set up long-lasting collaborations and consortia, involving schools, museums and other educational settings as test-beds, to support large-scale comparative and crosscultural investigations.
  • Policy and funding should support innovations in pedagogy and practice, as well as the technological developments that will support these. This should recognize the need to fund professional development of practitioners and evaluation of the innovation in practice.
  • Policy and funding should recognize the importance of extended development and provide support for scaling and sustaining of innovations, beyond prototypes into educational transformations.
  • Policy and funding should encourage the development of skilled, multidisciplinary teams that are able to complete the TEL innovation process. Recognition and support should be given to visionary thinking and experimentation, to generate fresh insights and achievable visions of educational developments.