THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A LITERATURE REVIEW THAT A PREVIOUS STUDENT HAS ALLOWED TO BE PRESENTED TO YOU. PLEASE RESPECT THE COPYRIGHT OF THE STUDENT Page 1 E-learning: what happened to the revolution? ABSTRACT With the introduction of computing and learning technologies into education there were visions that it would revolutionise the way knowledge and skills are transferred, with technology enabling a truly student-centred, interactive and adaptive learning environment. This paper examines those promises and whether they have been delivered in both the academic and corporate sectors, as well as examine where it has been most successfully implemented. To date that revolution has not occurred, with technology being marginal in the lives of most academics, used predominantly to automate administration tasks and distribute materials. There has been a greater impact on corporate training, but it is still constrained by technology, cost and other strategic priorities. E-learning has been most successful in areas where traditional methods have been inadequate to meet educational needs, due to difficulty in communicating content, accessing skilled tutors, or from a need for consistent, timely and auditable delivery. INTRODUCTION With the rapid technological developments and increasing pervasiveness of technology in society, many saw the potential impact of innovations in learning technologies. There were visions of a fundamental change in learning and teaching, revolutionising the way knowledge and skills are transferred with technology enabling a truly student-centred, flexible and adaptive learning environment (Green & Gilbert 1995). Over 30 years later, the expected revolution has not occurred, with technology being used more as a support for traditional modes of teaching (Blin & Munro 2008; Zemsky & Massy 2004).THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A LITERATURE REVIEW THAT A PREVIOUS STUDENT HAS ALLOWED TO BE PRESENTED TO YOU. PLEASE RESPECT THE COPYRIGHT OF THE STUDENT Page 2 Technology has been a part of the education sector for over 30 years, with it’s role and impact on pedagogy being much discussed in the literature. Computer-assisted instruction was introduced to the education sector in the 1970’s however the introduction of the personal computer (P.C.) in the 1980’s saw the rapid and more widespread adoption of technology within education with the P.C.’s word processing and statistical application capabilities providing an effective way of improving efficiency in administrative tasks (Green & Gilbert 1995). The development of computer networks and further hardware and software advances in the 1990’s saw the potential impact of technology move beyond administrative tasks to stimulating a profound change to the entire structure and delivery of higher education (Green & Gilbert 1995; Stahlke & Nyce 1996). This paper will examine whether the promises of e-learning have been delivered in the academic and corporate setting, as well as examine where it has been most successfully implemented. HISTORICAL PREDICTIONS AND PROMISES The advent of these rapid changes in technology, seen as a period of “radical technological innovation” by Zemsky and Massy (2004), was predicted to provide even greater improvements in teaching efficiency and effectiveness through a revolution in instructional design and delivery (Green & Gilbert 1995; Twigg 1992). This revolution could not only change the way instruction was delivered so that it could reach a broader market, but be able to deliver instruction of the same or greater quality to more students while simultaneously reducing costs (Blin & Munro 2008; Twigg 1992). In this technology-inspired “utopian vision in which teachers taught and students learned in fundamentally different ways” (Zemsky & Massy 2004, p.7) knowledge and skills could be transferred to learners through a more student-centred and flexible means, with content able to be adapted to the individual learning needs of students. Changes to student demographicsTHIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A LITERATURE REVIEW THAT A PREVIOUS STUDENT HAS ALLOWED TO BE PRESENTED TO YOU. PLEASE RESPECT THE COPYRIGHT OF THE STUDENT Page 3 with an increasing number of adults learners and part-time students, along with an increasingly competitive education market, heralded a shift in the educational focus to enable more flexible delivery options, using a more constructivist learning model to address learning needs of adult learners (Payne et al. 2009; Zhang et al. 2004). Within this type of model students are expected to be more proactive and self-directed in their learning, with the faculty role being to support this process (Payne et al. 2009). It has been proposed that e-learning could effectively support this process potentially more effectively than traditional teaching methods, as it enables delivery of resource-rich content that is interactive and adaptive to the learners providing scenarios and experiences within which concepts can be learned and reinforced (Zemsky & Massy 2004; Zhang et al. 2004). USE OF E-LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION Despite the predictions made in the last few decades, there has been no pedagogical revolution (Zemsky & Massy 2004). The introduction of learning technologies has been far from transformational with e-learning being marginal in the lives of most academics (Conole 2004). Most of the changes and widespread use of technology in higher education has been in educational administration, with the impact on instructional delivery comprising of little more than “transferring material or processes to the web” (McPherson & Nunes 2008). The pedagogical debate in the literature has centred on the impact of e-learning within traditional educational institutions, such as schools and the higher education sector (Macpherson et al. 2004). Some have questioned the ‘compulsive enthusiasm’ of ‘technopositivist ideology’, challenging the underlying assumptions that adoption of technology is appropriate and inevitable in education (Clegg, Hudson & Steel 2003; Njenga & Fourie 2010), while others still see the potential, and indeed the need for, fundamental change (Blin & Munro 2008; Breslow 2007; McPherson & Nunes 2008; Shurville, O'Grady & Mayall 2008; Zemsky & Massy 2004). Despite this ongoing debate, technology has been widely adopted into theTHIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A LITERATURE REVIEW THAT A PREVIOUS STUDENT HAS ALLOWED TO BE PRESENTED TO YOU. PLEASE RESPECT THE COPYRIGHT OF THE STUDENT Page 4 education system, however predominantly only to support traditional modes of teaching, using course management systems as little more than content repositories and to automate administration tasks (Blin & Munro 2008; Zemsky & Massy 2004). Incremental improvements in quality and flexibility have been seen through the use of technology, but it has been far from transformational (Blin & Munro 2008). McPherson and Nunes (2008) argued that e-learning is more than transferring materials or processes to the web, with course management systems making this almost too easy and tempting, reducing the impact on the way faculty teach (Zemsky & Massy 2004). The type of fundamental changes in teaching and learning, with the corresponding benefits, envisioned in the 1990’s cannot occur unless the technology stimulates a change in how faculty teach (Zemsky & Massy 2004). Some disciplines have however been able to make more effective use of learning technologies, with significant changes in the way some subjects are taught. The most successful use of educational technologies has been used to compensate for deficiencies of traditional teaching methods (Wang 2010), meeting a specific instructional need that has been unmet or poorly met by traditional media (Breslow 2007). Educational technologies can be more effective in particular contexts by being able to illustrate ideas through case studies, practice skills through simulations or use visualisations “to see what otherwise cannot be seen … (or) to help students strengthen their literacy in non text-based media” (Boylan 2004, p. 410), for example in engineering, mathematics and science. USE OF E-LEARNING IN THE CORPORATE SECTOR Despite the challenges encountered in the education sector, educational technology has had a significant impact on corporate training, although it still has not realised its potential (Macpherson et al. 2004; Zemsky & Massy 2004). E-learning has been utilised in the corporate environment as a human resource development tool to enable a sustainable competitiveTHIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A LITERATURE REVIEW THAT A PREVIOUS STUDENT HAS ALLOWED TO BE PRESENTED TO YOU. PLEASE RESPECT THE COPYRIGHT OF THE STUDENT Page 5 advantage in the new ‘knowledge economy’ (Florea 2010; Luor, Hu & Lu 2009; Macpherson et al. 2004; Servage 2005). E-learning is particularly attractive to large corporations due to its flexibility, cost and breadth of coverage (Newton & Doonga 2007). It provides companies the ability to deliver consistent just-in-time training content to large numbers of staff at the same or different times, despite their geographical location or working hours with no significant increase in cost (Macpherson et al. 2004). This is particularly attractive during times of economic downturn, with training and travel budgets are often cut. It also offers the ability to monitor, record and audit training undertaken, particularly important in industries that have external regulatory compliance monitoring requirements (Macpherson et al. 2004). As in the education sector, corporate e-learning has still not fully lived up to expectations due to limitations in technology, difficulty accurately assessing return on investment and other organisational strategic priorities (Macpherson et al. 2004). Many organisations have focused on the flexibility and cost benefits, with the achieving of learning outcomes being secondary. Much e-learning material is composed of simple point-and-click slides and short quizzes, but contain no interactivity or customised and adaptable content (Githens 2006). The often prohibitive cost of bespoke or customised material often results in “off-the-shelf” material being used, limiting any significant competitive advantage (Macpherson et al. 2004). In the workplace, highly specialised and skilled tasks can be successfully taught through elearning (Payne et al. 2009). The greatest impact for e-learning at present is in delivering standardised skills training, lending itself to “knowledge domains that are clear, precise and non-controversial” (Macpherson et al. 2004, p. 300). This is particularly so in areas where there are limited skilled tutors available to meet learner needs using traditional methods, such as healthcare which has seen widespread adoption of e-learning (Hall et al. 2009). The ability to deliver consistent and timely information is also valuable in training and development of salesTHIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A LITERATURE REVIEW THAT A PREVIOUS STUDENT HAS ALLOWED TO BE PRESENTED TO YOU. PLEASE RESPECT THE COPYRIGHT OF THE STUDENT Page 6 staff, where e-learning is widely used to disseminate information on products (Macpherson et al. 2004) CONCLUSION Technology, while being widely adopted in education, has not experienced the expected revolution in the way knowledge and skills are transferred. In higher education, technology is still an early stage of technological change, with the focus still predominantly on automation. Corporations have utilised learning technology further, transforming corporate training by impacting on instructional design and delivery, however the scope, quality and effectiveness of this training is still fairly limited. E-learning has been most effective in areas that have not been adequately covered by traditional teaching methods, whether through the nature of the content, or the availability of the learner and teacher (Boylan 2004). Many still hope for further transformation of education to provide the truly student-centred, interactive and adaptive learning promised, but time will tell where and how the technology will evolve and be adopted (Macpherson et al. 2004). REFERENCES Blin, F & Munro, M 2008, 'Why hasn't technology disrupted academcs' teaching practices? Understanding resistance to change through the lens of activiy theory.', Computers & Education, vol. 50, no., pp. 475-490. Boylan, M 2004, 'What Have We Learned From 15 Years of Supporting the Development of Innovative Teaching Technology?', Social Science Computer Review, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 405-425. 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