E-quality in E-learning
Analysing, Sustaining, and Piloting Innovation:
a « ASPI » model
D. Peraya, University of Geneva (CH)
B. Jaccaz, University of Geneva (CH)
I. Masiello, Karolinska Institutet (SE)
S. Armitage, University of Lancaster (UK)
H. Yip, University of Lancaster (UK)
An e-learning action project supported by the European Community
Aim of the ASPI model
To help all the different actors, from university managers to university
lecturers, involved in the teaching and learning process to answer the
following questions:
1. How do I analyse, guide, and sustain innovation in
Higher Education?
2. How to make innovation comfortable for all actors ?
3. What kind of information do I need at each stage of the
innovation process to make decisions that help actors
involved in the innovation process to identify and acheive
their goals ?
4. How do I process the data generated?
5. How do I feed the results back into the process?
An e-learning action project supported by the European Community
What is innovation?
Innovation can be seen as a
change, which applies to a
procedure, a tool,
or new consumer
Innovation is meant to improve a
situation,
and to reach new aims or
objectives which couldn’t have
been approached under previous
conditions.
Innovation is a dynamic and
complex process of change.
It develops between tensions and
stakes related to the different
components of the educational
system.
Ex: each actor (administrator, manager,
teacher) has his own objectives,
motivations, interests, culture, and
constraints.
Under these conditions, piloting innovation means
controlling a complex environment.
The epistemological and methodological choices of
the actors in charge of this regulation are essential:
To be an external observer
or an participating actor (change agent)
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General economy of the model
Piloting innovation requires:
1.
the taking into account of the system in its complexity
(“ecology”)
2.
to consider the temporal dimension in which the project is
grounded and develops
3.
to be grounded on an approach in the centered around the
actors as well as the negotiation and the making explicit of all
the aspects of the learning system
(visions, aims, practices, etc.)
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The ecology of the system
It is the place where innovation is grounded and develops.
This innovative educonal system can be defined by 4 variables :
Structural variables
the different levels defined in a classical systemic analyze (ministery,
governmental agencies, institutions, faculties, department, unit, …
individual)
Roles and functions related to actors
learners, teachers, administrators, technicians, developers,
researchers, educationalists, project managers, change agents
Individual variables
Ex: social characteristics, representations/visions, competences
and resources, attitudes, desires, expectations, motivations, needs,
fears, practices, professional experience
Variables related to the different fields
Ex: pedagogy, disciplines, technologies, mediatization and mediation,
the organization, economics, the policy
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The temporal dimension
This relates to the development and to the deployment of innovation
from its emergence to its perpetuation.
2 components have to be considered in the temporal dimension :
The strict chronology of the stages of development
of a project
Ex: analysis, design, development, implementation, evaluation,
integration in the daily practice, maintaining process, dissemination
The moments that look critical when considered in a dynamics
of proper change
Ex: many critical events represent invaluable indicators in the dynamics of
the project. They influence the progression or delay of a task.
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The sustaining and piloting
dimension
There exist 2 main ways to sustain and pilot innovation :
1.
the first approach considers piloting as a regular
data collection on the evolving system by
researchers/analysts who are neither implied in
the project itself nor in its development
2.
the second is related to approaches like “researchaction-training” and make actors and researchers
become partners in a shared process
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The approach of the ASPI model
The ASPI model is directly related to the approach « research-actiontraining », validated both by our case studies and those presented in the
literature.
There are 3 caracteristics to this approach :
it is centered on the elaboration of “a common object to negociate
between and with the actors” (Jacquinot and Choplin)
it aims at making clear with the actors the significance of “better aimed at
by innovation” (ibidem)
the modes of action are those recommended, for instance, by Garant on the
basis of case studies:
a) proactive rather than reactive sustainment and piloting
b) flexible and evolutionary sustainment and piloting integrating an
adhocratic dimension
c) a support for action as well as the providing of the related resources
d) a better articulation between individual and organisational projects
e) a reorganization of work in terms of time and places of dialogue
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Representation of the ASPI model
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Conclusion
The ASPI model ensures cohesion by allowing to:
- choose the data necessary to the diagnosis and regulation of the
environment, among different variables, at each important moment
- make the meaning of innovation explicit for the actors
In the ASPI model, the actors are agents of change.
They have to adopt a reflexive attitude, to analyse again,
and if necessary, modify their position, their role, at given times.
An e-learning action project supported by the European Community