PhD Proposal Details.1

Introduction

Since Plato established the Academy in the 4th Century BC offering a venue for original thinkers to come together (and as a reaction to the Sophists who were beginning to charge for their interpretations and teachings ) the basic premise of a University has essentially remained the same – the acquisition and promulgation of knowledge.

This PhD research agenda proposes to initiate the exploration of current e-learning models in practice, discern their development and theoretical hereditary and plot a taxonomy of current outcomes. This epistemological approach will provide a lens by which to observe current and imminent developments and construct an ideology that may sit amongst a key cohort of the academy – that of the academic community – enabling them to focus upon the manner in which educational technology has changed our way of learning.

A key issues raised in the use of ET is that it must be driven by pedagogy first, that technology offers us a way to improve our current methodologies and enhance our practice. It has been said that e-learning is merely enhanced learning , providing an explicit use of technology to further promote interaction and engagement of the learner. The study will look at the evidence (in current practice and literature) to discern whether or not the use of e-learning has met its desired outcomes and objectives.

Problems And Issues

It is apparent that though there are many models applicable to e-learning instances (e.g. Laurillard’s Conversational Framework, Salmons 5 Step Approach, Palloff & Pratt etc) there are, however, few if any all encompassing theoretical frameworks such as those that are representational of traditional teaching and learning practice (Behaviourism, Socio-Cultural Constructivism, etc.) that may be genuinely claimed for the realm of e-learning.

Historically we have acknowledged the increasing presence of e-learning tools (wikis, blogs, SMS, etc.) as a mere addition to our teaching armory. Rolling out where appropriate, that which can be of value at a given instance (e.g. SkypE for online communications), or being led by institutional direction as to the use of omnipotent ETs (such as the presence of VLEs) in the growing world market of education.

Lateral thinking in the area of curriculum design in recent years has proven a most fertile area in challenging our perceived beliefs about current entrenched practices. Biggs (1999) concept of constructive alignment offers a means by which we might reconsider and ground our practice so that a learner is not only central to our approach but implicitly involved in the dynamic of a process driven curriculum. However this offers a mere addendum to the way we might consider the use and manipulation of ET within our day-to-day practice.

With the advent of the concept of Personalised Learning Environments (PLEs) have we now an opportunity to lay down a path that will enable a theoretical shift on behalf of teaching practice for the 21C? Or is it the case that the lecturer is now viewed as nothing more than a ‘materials developer’ (Smith and Oliver 2002)?