Quality control is an issue which is highlighted when resources are uploaded and made available on the learning platform. On one campus materials are put on a test server by staff to await vetting before uploading to the learning platform. Responsibility for this rests with one person and there can be significant time lapse before the process is complete. Some staff recorded that responsibility for too many aspects of the technology rests with the lecturer e.g. accessibility, copyright and there needs to be institutional, user friendly quality guidelines. Templates for staff to use would be useful with quality standards outlining a base line for all courses.
Use of technology needs to be formalized – i.e. strategically planned and understood to be a necessary skill and a formal requirement of professional teaching staff.
There is little or no planning at course level in terms of teaching strategies for the role of technology and the learning platform use. It’s use is very variable and depends very much on the individual lecturer. Some staff indicated that the use of the learning platform for assignment and assessment purposes is perceived as high risk unless a more strategic approach is taken. The assessment driven nature of courses and culture of institutions e.g. expectations of length and nature of face to face time is counter productive in terms of innovation and course redesign.
Some staff felt that there is a general misunderstanding that putting materials online is all that’s required and that the other aspects e.g. checking links, updating materials, supporting students online are not considered an institutional overhead.Access to computing facilities can present problems especially if they are required on an occasional basis.
