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Learning and the Use of ICT in Higher Education. Expectations and Results

Professor Sten R. Ludvigsen, InterMedia, UO, Member of executive committee of Kaleidoscope, NoE.

Introduction

The last decade in higher education has been marked by a number of reforms and significant expectations as to what this sector should contribute towards advances in our society. Higher education is regarded as one of the main factors in the “knowledge economy ,” and legitimizing the sector has become a continual process. The use of ICT has become a central theme in these legitimization processes.

The concepts used in higher education are strongly influenced by a market economy way of thinking, where efficiency, value creation, outcomes, and systems that can help researchers to start businesses or patent their research are becoming increasingly important (Marginson & Considine, 2000).

The problem with the language and rhetoric used here is that it changes our understanding of the basic conditions for what a research university is. Without research and development as a basic goal , other more instrumental goals cannot be achieved. It is clear that higher education has been and is part of a market , however , the manner in which we understand what a university is and its function in society depends on having a differentiated and balanced set of arguments and understanding (see e.g. Olsen, 2005).

In the last decade, we have experienced enormous expectations as to what information and communication technology (ICT) can achieve in terms of increased efficiency and quality enhancement (OECD, 2003, 2005). This technological development has also influenced the market-economy way of thinking in higher education, because teaching and education can be “placed on the Net.” (Collis & Van der Wende, 2002; Middlehurst, 2003). ICT creates access to possibilities that are not limited to being present at a physical location.

At the first Kaleidoscope (NoE in the 6 th framework program) symposium a representative from the EU claimed that within the field of ICT and learning a lot have been promised, but asked about what kind of evidence actually exits.

One central question we must ask is whether the expectations or the results are the main problem. There is no clear cut answer to this. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that in the period from 1999 – 2003, the expectations as to how ICT could revolutionize higher education and learning in general were very large. We can call this a phase characterized by “rhetorical suggestion.” Those people who, from a historical and theoretical perspective, said that these expectations were impossible to fulfill, were hardly listened to and were, in the worst case, marked as pessimists (Cuban, 2001; Wasson, Ludvigsen, Hoppe, 2003).

The goal of this talk is to create a more balanced view of the tension between the unrealistic expectations and the actual development. I will do this by conducting a selective review of some studies on learning, education, and the use of ICT. These studies build on varying premises and assumptions, but they all attempt to say something about the phenomenon I am shedding light on here. The questions raised are:

•  Which expectations are connected to the use of ICT in higher education?

•  What do “review studies” and case studies show about what is actually happening?

•  How can the difference between expectations and reality be understood?

•  Which theories can provide a better understanding of the development within higher education?

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