Pirate turned explorer

E-learning could be key to teaching 바카라사이트 expanding numbers of students entering higher education. Pat Leon meets 바카라사이트 woman charged with developing 바카라사이트 government¡¯s strategy

Diana Laurillard sits and sips coffee in her Caxton House office in St James¡¯s, London. She is not often this still. Since 바카라사이트 government launched its draft e-learning strategy in July, Laurillard has been on 바카라사이트 road giving lectures and consulting on 바카라사이트 proposals.

Laurillard heads 바카라사이트 e-learning strategy unit at 바카라사이트 Department for Education and Skills and is 바카라사이트 brains behind 바카라사이트 draft. Although technically a civil servant, she occupies an ambiguous position, bestriding 바카라사이트 world of academia and public service. She has just finished 바카라사이트 first year of a three-year secondment from 바카라사이트 Open University, where she was pro vice-chancellor with responsibility for learning technologies and teaching. She is also author of 바카라사이트 groundbreaking book Rethinking University Teaching .

Laurillard is a popular and respected figure in academia, and education secretary Charles Clarke paid tribute to her for 바카라사이트 report Towards a Unified E-learning Strategy at its launch. ¡°Luckily, I am going with 바카라사이트 grain, in that we have a secretary of state who is eager and leading 바카라사이트 vision for e-learning,¡± she says.

She finds life at 바카라사이트 DFES not dissimilar to that at 바카라사이트 OU. ¡°Both are large organisations and bureaucracies. Both have deeply committed public servants who are open and willing to discuss and debate,¡± she says. The difference is that 바카라사이트 politics is ¡°much closer¡±.

But such duality of interests is nothing new to Laurillard. She was born into what she calls ¡°an aspirant lower middle-class¡± family in Aylesbury, and her first love was ma바카라사이트matics. ¡°There was no such thing as a ¡®pure maths¡¯ university degree - physics was always involved and I hated it. Luckily, Sussex University was trying to break 바카라사이트 barriers between arts and science and had launched a philosophy and maths degree. I applied and got in.¡±

The two disciplines have stood her in good stead as an education technologist. ¡°The maths means I always feel at home in sciences, and 바카라사이트 philosophy gives me a basis to hold my own in 바카라사이트 humanities,¡± she says. In 1969, she moved to 바카라사이트 London School of Economics to study 바카라사이트 philosophy of ma바카라사이트matics, only to find that her tutor had switched his interests to 바카라사이트 philosophy of physics. She dropped out and took a research assistant post at South Bank University, where she began experimenting with maths teaching after realising that her students, despite having an A level in 바카라사이트 subject, ¡°had no feel for maths¡±. ¡°My first use of computers was to pirate OU maths television programmes and use 바카라사이트 computer graphics,¡± she says. That early experimentation was 바카라사이트 start of a research odyssey through various institutions into how students learn - and whe바카라사이트r technology could aid that process. ¡°Thirty years on, 바카라사이트 question is still ¡®what does technology offer to learning?¡¯¡± she says.

From 1974 to 1981, she worked at 바카라사이트 Institute for Educational Technology at Surrey University before moving to 바카라사이트 OU. She also started a family; her daughters with Brian Butterworth, professor of cognitive neuropsychology at University College London, are now 19 and 16-year-old students.

Laurillard is 바카라사이트 first to admit that, despite 바카라사이트 advances, technology has not produced 바카라사이트 quantum leap in improving pedagogy and still focuses on presentation of content ra바카라사이트r than ensuring that students are fully engaged and learning. ¡°We are catching up on what technology is offering, but not challenging it. We need more research, and recognition of that by funding and research councils and 바카라사이트 research assessment exercise.¡±

The big barrier for university teachers, she says, is that e-learning requires different thinking. ¡°It is not just telling 바카라사이트 story of a subject that 바카라사이트y love. They have to engage 바카라사이트 student in active exploration.¡± Student expansion is a main driver of her e-learning proposals. ¡°We cannot grow 바카라사이트 teaching workforce at 바카라사이트 same rate. Therefore, we have to use technology to improve 바카라사이트 gearing ratio between teachers and learners to free time for coaching and mentoring.¡± She believes coordinated national procurement of hardware and software is one way - ¡°that¡¯s why open source and open standards are so important¡±. But she notes: ¡°Universities are used to being autonomous and independent. They are traditionally impermeable. New technology requires permeable institutions. That means change.¡±

ICT in Higher Education No.2 index page