This is a presentation given to the 2013 ACODE Learning Technologies Leadership Institute

1. Leading and managing change in using
learning technologies
Professor Shirley Alexander
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Teaching, Learning and Equity)
University of Technology, Sydney @SAlexander_UTS

4. Some approaches…
Leading change
• Looking in
• Looking out
• Looking back
• Looking forward
Managing change
• Technocracy
vs
• Dynamism
• Lasorda’s Law

5. Technocracy
• the “one best way”
• bring the experts together, establish standards,
impose a single set of values
• technocrats celebrate their own knowledge and
hoard their expertise
• vision is a combination of excitement and fear –
with the reassurance that some authority will
make everything alright
• maintenance of belief that society can be
effectively managed through effective leadership
and expertise
• require beaurocracies to organise and run them.
• also often have the power to veto member’s ideas
Postrel, V. (1998) The Future and its Enemies: The Growing Conflict Over
Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress, Free Press: New York.

6. Dynamists:
• Planning not needed – solution emerges from the interaction of all the
individuals
• Draw on biological metaphors, variety, experiment, feedback and
adaptation
• Central value is learning – an open-ended process
• Emphasise progress can happen with free experimentation and
learning
• Have room for a wide range of enterprises
• Believe that we learn from choice, competition and criticism
• View eccentricity and criticism as part of trial and error learning
• Let many different ideas compete and co-exist
• Have strong opinions about the best way to do things but realise they
may be wrong
• Accept that what is best for one may not be for another
• Moral vision emphasises individual flourishing
• Happiness is freedom to learn, to stretch ourselves, to try new things
Postrel, V. (1998) The Future and its Enemies: The Growing Conflict Over
Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress, Free Press: New York.

7. • “We look for feedback loops rather than a
central planning and directing body” (eg ants
follow scent emitted by ants who have found food, birds fly in v
formation with no particular leader)
• Self-organising systems get down to the
fundamental principles and continually self-
organise around those.
• Need a vision, turn into goals into broad,
simple, well-understood principles that
allow people to make decisions without
micro-management.
Postrel, V. (1998) The Future and its Enemies: The Growing Conflict Over
Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress, Free Press: New York.

8. Who are the
learners?
How to
design the
curriculum?
Which learning
spaces support
curriculum
and
technologies?
Which
technologies
support aims?

9. What students want
•Engaging, interactive F2F classes + podcasts of
them
•More F2F time with academics
•More feedback (+faster turnaround)
•When casual academics are employed, they should
be paid more (to attend all classes etc)
•Faster turnaround on email and UTSOnline (Bb)
questions
•Bring back office hours

10. Classroom audits
Weekly comparison shows that attendance
decreases slightly each week over the course of the
semester (approx average of 3% per week)
Credit: DEGW

11. Learning spaces: importance to students (2007)
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 59 61 63 65 67 69 71 73 75 77 79 81 83 85 87

12. Learning spaces: student perception of
performance (2007)
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52 55 58 61 64 67 70 73 76 79 82 85 88

13. Learning spaces: importance vs. performance
3.5
3.5
Performance
Importance
(4.65, 3.7) My classes are held in sufficient, well
equipped lecture theatres, classrooms and other
learning areas
(4.5, 3.4) There are
adequate spaces on
campus for me to work
with other students on
group assignments
(4.4, 3.3) There are
sufficient quiet
places to study on
campus
(3.9, 3.4) There are
sufficient spaces for me
to use my laptop on
campus
Low
Low
High
High
2007

14. 2008 student photo diaries

16. Student Feedback: Informal space that does not
work well
• The area outside the computer
labs at building 5.
Reasons:
- Too noisy (during the day)
- Bad lighting.. Really bad lighting
- Not suitable for serious study or
undisturbed discussions (during
peak hours)
- However it is a good quite place
to study alone for the night.

17. Bad
Building 2 level 4 Atrium
• This whole building creates
a very dark feel to it, due to
the lack of lighting and use
of dull colours
• Also the space in the middle
as shown isn't utilised
properly, engineering
students don’t have many
places to study . Some tables
and couches could be placed
there to utilise the open
space

19. Who are the
learners?
How to
design the
curriculum?
Which learning
spaces support
curriculum
and
technologies?s
paces
Which
technologies
support aims?

20. The UTS
model of
learning
1. An integrated exposure to
professional practice through
dynamic and multifaceted
modes of practice-oriented
education
2. Professional practice situated
in a global workplace, with
international mobility and
international and cultural
engagement as centre piece
3. Learning which is research-
inspired and integrated,
providing academic rigour with
cutting edge technology to
equip graduates for life-long
learning

21. Integrated
exposure to
professional
practice
• Work-based learning
• Work integrated learning
– Internships
– Practicum etc
• Volunteer activity, Shopfront
projects etc
• Field trips - real and virtual
• Simulation and role plays -
in class or online
• Problem-based or issues-
based approaches
• Multi-media case studies -
including student produced
work
• Guest lectures or podcasts
by professionals
at work
site
at uni

23. Who are the
learners?
How to
design the
curriculum?
Which learning
spaces support
curriculum
and
technologies?
Which
technologies
support aims?

25. http://www.review-edu.com/

27. http://spark.uts.edu.au/

28. Who are the
learners?
How to
design the
curriculum?
Which learning
spaces support
curriculum
and
technologies?
Which
technologies
support aims?

29. Creating a Sticky Campus

30. Example outcomes

32. 8/18/10

34. 8/18/10

40. C

41. Credit: Anna Zhu

47. Learning spaces: importance vs. performance
3.5
3.5
Performance
Importance
(4.65, 3.7) My classes are held in sufficient, well
equipped lecture theatres, classrooms and other
learning areas
(4.5, 3.4) There are
adequate spaces on
campus for me to work
with other students on
group assignments
(4.4, 3.3) There are
sufficient quiet
places to study on
campus
(3.9, 3.4) There are
sufficient spaces for me
to use my laptop on
campus
Low
Low
High
High
2007
2012
(4.28, 4.0) My classes are held in sufficient, well
equipped lecture theatres, classrooms and other
learning areas
(4.1, 3.7) There are
adequate spaces on
campus for me to work
with other students on
group assignments
(4.1, 4.1) There are
sufficient quiet
places to study on
campus
(3.9, 3.8) There are
sufficient spaces for me
to use my laptop on
campus

50. DR CHAU CHAK WING BUILDING
EAST ELEVATION

53. pic.twitter.com/eeH9Ip1S

54. ⬆costof higher education
⬇Govt funding
? Is the investment worth it
disaggregation

55. Things take longer to happen than
you think they will
and then …
they happen faster than you think
they could.
Larry Summers
Former President,
Harvard

56. LEARNING
2014
Learning2014
supporting innovation in the design of learning

57. making sense
testing
action receiving
feedback
reflect
questions
accessing
ideas
content
learning
goals

58. LEARNING
2014
flipped learning

59. LEARNING
2014
remote
laboratories

60. LEARNING
2014
simulations

61. $

62. access to information
and resources
Learning2014 website
case studies
videos
downloadable resources
Learning2014 seminar series
Future Learning Fellows

63. test out new
approaches
Learning2014 grants
Communities of Practice
flipped learning
OER
inquiry-based learning
Future Learning Fellows

64. Receive feedback
Social media
Student feedback
Peer review

65. reflect
blogs

66. Learning2020

67. Learning2020 projects
• a more nuanced timetabling system
• change in workload models
• salary scales
• appellation - ‘Lecturer’ ‘Senior Lecturer’?
• student expectations
• credit recognition

68. Complementary
projects
• Systematic embedding of graduate attributes
• Data analytics
• Assessment review

69. http://www.uts.edu.au/research-and-
teaching/teaching-and-
learning/learning2014/overview