DISCUSSION PAPER
Online Teaching and Learning
at the University of Sydney

Anne Forster,
Manager, Special Projects; Director, Innovation and
Technology in Education Ventures (iTEV),
Vice Chancellor's Office

This issue of Synergy is published as the University of Sydney prepares for the culmination of its Sesquicentenary celebrations. Over a three day festival in October, the University will showcase its achievements, people and spaces. While the wonder of Sydney is its history and depth of research leadership in so many fields, the festival will not be able to reveal the quiet revolution taking place in our classrooms with online teaching and learning.

Online learning technologies provide opportunities for faculty to design teaching which enables guided interaction between learners, engagement with learning resources and essential communications about courses. Still, the expectation of the majority of students is that the Sydney experience will bring them face to face with " those who wrote the books and made the discoveries" (The University of Sydney submission to the Review of Higher Education, June 2002), an expectation that becomes increasingly difficult to sustain as student numbers increase relative to the size of the Faculty available to teach.

Thus, at the University of Sydney, online teaching and learning focuses not only on the design of effective pedagogical environments but also on the efficient management of the learning system and the design of services that leverage scarce resources. The focus of the technology infrastructure has been to ensure that support for the campus experience of online teaching and learning is a priority. Thus Sydney is investing in a major upgrade of lecture theatres and network infrastructure. Computer access centers have been increased and provided with more system support, centrally supported WebCT now accounts for over 700 units of study, and increased funding has been earmarked for faculty support in the use of learning technologies.

The Institute of Teaching and Learning works closely with faculties on strategies for program design, academic staff development and, through the Flexible Online Learning Project, has provided expertise and skill development through seminars, workshops and resources. Fisher Library provides digital resources and image databases to support flexible online learning and also provides expertise in the management of digital rights, an increasingly complex process.

While this focus on learning technologies has enhanced the Campus experience, there is another quiet revolution taking place. Changing student demographics and an increasing demand for postgraduate professional education has resulted in the design of more flexible programs better able to meet the needs of the part time, employed adult student with limited time to attend classes. Throughout the University, postgraduate programs are making use of online learning and teaching to optimize student participation. Missing the occasional lecture is not so much a problem if the lecture materials are made available online or if the whole lecture is web streamed. Some programs are provided wholly online such as Project Management Outreach in the Faculty of Engineering. Most provide a blend of classroom attendance with independent study supported by online resources and communication tools.

Print based distance education programs have played a small but significant role in the Sydney experience with programs available over many years in the Health Sciences, Rural Management, Education and Science. These have fully adopted online learning technologies to provide the communication and collaboration tools to minimize the isolation experienced by the distance learner.

Postgraduate professional education is highly competitive and an important source of revenue for the University. In realizing a return on the investment needed to develop innovative and responsive programs, faculties are implementing business planning and management processes. The Innovation and Technologies in Education Ventures project (iTEV), provides support to faculties wanting start up a new education venture or to improve the return on existing programs. ITEV acts as a referral hub to existing University services, provides business and project management expertise and advisory services and supports a co-investment model for new program development.

The University of Sydney is a multi campus institution and online teaching and learning is recognized as the means to link campuses and classrooms to leverage faculty availability and increase student access. The development of the Centre for Rural Education at Orange for example, will require the creative use of learning technologies in the provision of Liberal Studies, Computer Science, and Rural Pharmacy programs.

The increasing diversity of the teaching and learning environment and the role of online technologies is challenging the services available to support the changing nature of academic work, the needs of learners and the demand for more responsive administrative systems. At this stage most innovation is an add-on rather than a replacement of existing workload. Realising the full benefits of online teaching and learning will only come when the institutional response reaches equivalent flexibility. Changing administrative processes to enable variations to existing practices such as continuous enrolment, varied examination periods, smaller units of study, and web based services are recognized as a priority through the launch of the University's Portal Project, designed to address business integration for online service delivery.

The Academic Board is leading the challenge to policies and practices through a working party of the Teaching and Learning Committee. To complement policies already developed for online teaching and learning work is now focused on the management of quality in ICT enabled learning environments.

This brief overview of online teaching and learning barely touches the surface of the actual work undertaken by the academic staff in continuously improving the learning environment at the University of Sydney. Celebrating the Sesquicentenary of the first University in Australia is also to acknowledge that this University places its students first and strives for innovation and quality in the Sydney experience.

Anne's role at the University of Sydney is to manage strategic initiatives including responses to the use of ICT in education ventures. Before joining the University of Sydney in September 2001, Anne was interim CEO of the Canadian TeleLearning Network of Centres of Excellence, a research consortium of twenty five Universities focused on eLearning technologies, tools and methodologies.

Anne's experience in the higher education and training sector has included academic, and management appointments in Australia, the UK and Canada. As Vice President Learning Services for NextEd Ltd she was involved in the establishment of the Global University Alliance. She has worked for KPMG Consulting, the University of New South Wales and the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM). She has published and taught courses on learning at a distance for the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the University of South Australia. She has consulted internationally on distance education and elearning business development.

Email: a.forster@vcc.usyd.edu.au