TY - CONF
T1 - Exploring five EdTech platform-digital HE practice configurations at USA universities
AU - Thomas, Duncan Andrew
AU - Nedeva, Maria
N1 - Understanding Digital Transformations Of Higher Education Teaching And Learning In The Nordics And Beyond : Track 2 – Digital Learning Technology Platforms and Providers ; Conference date: 30-03-2021 Through 31-03-2021
PY - 2021/3/30
Y1 - 2021/3/30
N2 - Varied forms of digital higher education (HE) exist, from short courses up to at-scale, paid, reputably accredited, fully online degrees. Digital materials can be developed and delivered inside universities, co-handled via internal-external relationships with (not-)for-profit educational technology (EdTech) sector firms, or even fully outsourced to EdTech online programme management (OPM) companies. Across a university’s online course offerings aimed at differing learners/markets, the platform ‘configuration’ used can vary – i.e. the assembled technical features, EdTech/university relationships, and academic/employment practices. Some of these then essentially niche arrangements have been successful as single-offerings-to-market, in a ‘vertical’ sense. In this paper, we explore this platform configuration variety, and its possible implications for digital HE following the current emergency remote teaching practices of the 2020 onwards, during the global COVID-19 pandemic. We draw upon 35 face-to-face interviews, conducted in late-2017, across the marketized USA university system. We focus on universities highly active in digital HE before or since the early 2010s ‘MOOC mania’, and still active during the pandemic. Five anonymised configurations are shown from selected popular, free massive open online courses (MOOCs), at-scale online degrees, and an outlier EdTech-enabled start- up university. Configuration features here include: faculty (role, reputation); university (socialisation, security); and platform (delivery, class/peer interactivity, assessment, certification). We consider whether popular areas, e.g. business/management, computer/data sciences, may see isomorphism, involving additional factors, e.g. areas where taught material/competences for job markets refresh regularly, global language (English) instruction, and alignment with international careers.
AB - Varied forms of digital higher education (HE) exist, from short courses up to at-scale, paid, reputably accredited, fully online degrees. Digital materials can be developed and delivered inside universities, co-handled via internal-external relationships with (not-)for-profit educational technology (EdTech) sector firms, or even fully outsourced to EdTech online programme management (OPM) companies. Across a university’s online course offerings aimed at differing learners/markets, the platform ‘configuration’ used can vary – i.e. the assembled technical features, EdTech/university relationships, and academic/employment practices. Some of these then essentially niche arrangements have been successful as single-offerings-to-market, in a ‘vertical’ sense. In this paper, we explore this platform configuration variety, and its possible implications for digital HE following the current emergency remote teaching practices of the 2020 onwards, during the global COVID-19 pandemic. We draw upon 35 face-to-face interviews, conducted in late-2017, across the marketized USA university system. We focus on universities highly active in digital HE before or since the early 2010s ‘MOOC mania’, and still active during the pandemic. Five anonymised configurations are shown from selected popular, free massive open online courses (MOOCs), at-scale online degrees, and an outlier EdTech-enabled start- up university. Configuration features here include: faculty (role, reputation); university (socialisation, security); and platform (delivery, class/peer interactivity, assessment, certification). We consider whether popular areas, e.g. business/management, computer/data sciences, may see isomorphism, involving additional factors, e.g. areas where taught material/competences for job markets refresh regularly, global language (English) instruction, and alignment with international careers.
M3 - Paper
ER -