sorry for cross postings
Anne Christie,
achristie@irdc.com
LIFELONG LEARNING
July 1999
The Monthly Newsletter of VUP International
http://www.openhouse.org.uk/virtual-university-press/
1. Latest free access VUP Column
2. Articles and abstracts
3. VUP Exhibition Hall - new links!
LATEST FREE ACCESS VUP COLUMN
Practical Implications of the Transform Vision
By Roy Rada
In our previous column entitled 'The Transform Vision' we argued that
universities with online degree offerings should view their offerings
neither as services nor as experiences, but rather as transformers. In the
electronic society, information services are quickly commonplace and
experiences become difficult to differentiate from one another unless they
serve a transformation purpose. We concluded that last column by noting that
such abstract discussion is interesting, but asked "what substantively does
it imply". For instance, what are implications for the number of students to
enroll, for costs to be charged to the customer, or for the frequency of
meetings to have between students and faculty?
For full text or to contact the author visit:
http://www.openhouse.org.uk/virtual-university-press/columnists.htm
ARTICLES AND ABSTRACTS
Some free access papers available in the VUJ and CPD Archives
CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT VOLUME 2, ISSUE2
http://www.openhouse.org.uk/virtual-university-press/cpd/
Themes and Issues in Continuing Professional Development
Dr Nigel Hemmington FICPD
This paper examines the connection between continuing professional
development and personal and organizational effectiveness. It explores the
development of learning organizations and the impact of new technology in
regard tp continuing professional development. It goes on to look at the
industry-university relationship and considers the role of professional
organization.
Keywords: Continuing professional development, organizational change,
learning organization, new technologies, professional associations.
Good Practice in CPD Among UK Professional Associations
Andrew Friedman, Nicola Hurran and Catherine Durkin
Opinions on what precisely constitutes good practice in CPD are still
developing, and there are important differences between different
professions and professional associations. This is reflected in clear
differences in approach among those associations which are regarded as
examples of good practice by other associations. However, along with
differences in approach, a substantial core of CPD provisions which are
common among professional associations and which are benchmarked against can
be identified. Based on a survey of 92 professional associations in the UK,
those professional associations which are looked upon as providing good
practice in CPD by other associations are identified. Key characteristics of
the CPD policies and programmes of those associations are provided. We
conclude that, independent from the type of policy or the details of the
programme, the most important areas for good practice in CPD are: resources
applied to the programme, community support for individuals and up-to-date
materials and knowledge.
Keywords: Good Practice, CPD, benchmarking, policy, community
Professional Appraisal in Nurse Education: Findings of a Pilot Study Jan
Raven
This paper outlines, describes and analyses, ongoing Phd research into the
design, use, implementation and outcomes of professional appraisal with
healthcare educators. The results of a pilot study recently completed, are
presented and critiqued. The pilot study was conducted over a three month
period and used six Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) to test out the
validity of a questionnaire in terms of accessing HEI's, the design and
relevance of the questionnaire, the quality of the emergent data and the
feasibility of conducting a national survey of this type. The main findings
indicated professional appraisal systems which were unsystematic and
variable; ineffective and geared towards organisational goals and needs and
recommended that they should reflect the central aim of professional
development. Other issues discussed, centre around the challenges and
opportunities which occur when using postal questionnaires and the resultant
changes which were made to the national survey.
Keywords: Appraisal, professional development, access, questionnaire design,
quality of data, feasibility.
VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY JOURNAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE2
http://www.openhouse.org.uk/virtual-university-press/vuj/
Online Distance Learning: Expectations, Requirements and Barriers
Steven M. Furnell, Michael P. Evans, Andrew D. Phippen, Mosa N. Ali
Abu-Rgheff
This paper discusses the specific experiences and findings observed from a
feasibility study into the introduction of Online Distance Learning (ODL)
for the delivery of a variety of technology-related M.Sc. modules and
industrial short courses. The investigative approach is described, which
included consultation with both the academic staff responsible for the
delivery of the modules in a traditional face-to-face context and
representatives from relevant industrial companies, to whom it is considered
that ODL delivery may particularly appeal. These stages enabled a number of
requirements and expectations to be assessed and the paper proceeds to
discuss an overall ODL framework which has been devised in order to address
them. The paper also draws attention to a number of potential barriers to
ODL, which universities and other learning providers will need to address if
their strategies are to be successful.
Keywords: Online Distance Learning, WWW, Requirements, Industry, Barriers,
Internet.
Novice Users' Reactions to a Web-Enriched Classroom
Adam Horvath and Lucio Teles
This paper discusses a small-scale trail on Web-based instruction: Sixteen
computer-na�ve students were offered a Web-based supplement to regular
classroom instructions. The paper relates student responses and experience
with special emphasis on novice users' response to web-based assignments,
discussion forums, and search and retrieval tasks. Students' responses were
most positive when the computer responded predictably but began to show
signs of distraction or anxiety after 15 seconds of computer inactivity in
the first few sessions. Most found that Web based assignments, discussion
forums, and search tasks are valuable components to their course. Some
students reported they continued to use the Web as a research tool in
connection with their work (teaching) as well as in other academic contexts.
Keywords: Novice computer users, web-based instruction, Internet,
networking.
Imagic and Textual Components of Web Page Design: The role of Gender in
Subjective Ratings
Richard H. Hall & Lewis L. Hickman
Undergraduate students viewed a series of web pages which displayed
information about the neuron from a general psychology text. The information
was presented in text only, picture-only, and text-picture formats. In
addition, the text presentation was displayed on three different
backgrounds: gray, texture, and a background that included text. Students
rated the displays based on how effective they were for conveying the
information they contained. All students rated the text-picture formats as
most effective. However, the men and women differed dramatically in their
rating of the three different types of background, with the males rating the
text background as the most effective, and women rating this background as
the least effective. The results also indicated that this gender effect was
not due to perceived experience with computers or the World Wide Web.
Keywords: Web page design, rating, on-line learning, gender.
THE VUP EXHIBITION HALL
http://www.openhouse.org.uk/virtual-university-press/exhibiti.htm
Recent additions to the Exhibition Hall include links to:
Trainingzone
Business Information Service for professionals providing access to realtime
news, company, and market research data.
The Institute of Continuing Professional Development site provides members
and visitors with news, information and a forum, for all matters related to
CPD.
Access these sites via:
http://www.openhouse.org.uk/virtual-university-press/exhibiti.htm
VUP International
http://www.openhouse.org.uk/virtual-university-press/
To submit a paper to the journals contact Anne Christie
achristie@irdc.com