BILL HARVEY (bharvey@shefc.ac.uk)
Tue, 8 Sep 1998 09:44:51 0000
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From: "BILL HARVEY" <bharvey@shefc.ac.uk> Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1998 09:44:51 0000 Subject: [ifets] Personal Introduction/Comment
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Hi,
My name's Bill Harvey and I have responsibilities for funding of
initiatives to develop the use of IT in Scottish Universities. We
recently ran a consultation exercise across the Scottish HE sector
which included some discussion on the Web. Several interesting points
emerged:
1. There are debates among enthusiasts about the choice of authoring
shells, assessment tools etc (and we are considering funding of some
projects to develop exemplars) but in many cases all that has
happened is that staff have put their lecture notes on the Web.
2. There is a huge gulf between enthusiasts and the majority of
academic staff who have not yet actively adopted this technology for
pedagogic purposes. Thus a major issue for us is the development of
staff development activities which not only provide advice to the
interested, but stimulate awareness to the not-yet-interested.
3. IT delivery methods have not, and are unlikely to, result in any
financial savings in the cost of teaching. It is foolish to promote
them on the basis that they are cheap.
4. Effective examples of IT delivery make use of the potential for
interactivity, hyperlinking and other unique features of the
technology. In other words, the technology adds value rather than
duplicates conventional print technologies.
5. The consequences of points 3 & 4 is that we should not seek or
encourage a mass transfer of teaching and learning activities to the
Web. Rather, Web-based systems should be used selectively, when their
advantages are relevant. This might mean either delivery to audiences
who are not accessible by other means, and/or delivery of new types
of content.
The Funding Council's role is to encourage and facilitate
developments, rather than to direct them. We are still in the process
of evolving our funding strategy and I would be interested to hear
the views of participants on what features we should include in our
future strategy.
Dr Bill Harvey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr Bill Harvey
Deputy Director, Teaching and Learning
Scottish Higher Education Funding Council
Email: bharvey@shefc.ac.uk
Tel: 0131 313 6513
Fax: 0131 313 6501
Mobile 0410 169708
Website: http://www.shefc.ac.uk/shefc/welcome.html
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