Athabasca University Review Report

The Independent Third-Party Review of Athabasca University (Canada), by Dr. Ken Coates, has been released. The seventy page report (1 May 2017) was prepared for AU, and Alberta's Minister for Advanced Education, on the financial viability of the university and options for its future. This is a positive report, suggesting the university has a future and how to ensure it.

As a recent graduate of the university (March 2017), I took a close interest in the review. As part of my degree I  had studied how to design and resource educational programs. I took part in a teleconference with  Dr. Coates and made some suggestions.

Many of the challenges which AU faces are common to regional universities in Australia. These include the extent to which a university can compete with institutions which specialize in vocational education, competition from city based institutions in providing distance education, competition from new forms of on-line education, and the cost of using on-campus full-time permanent staff. The Australian Government commissioned a review into regional, rural and remote education in March 2017 and a review of national vocational education in June 2017. A consolidation of Australian vocational educational institutions is already taking pace and it is likely that this will happen with universities in the next few years.

Dr. Coates recommends:

"AU should rebrand itself as the leading Canadian centre for online learning and twenty-first century educational technology. " (page 26)

I suggest AU could call itself "Canadian Open University". Dr. Coates  comments that AU lacks the ICT for this, which I suggest is overstating the case. AU already makes use of free open source software (such as Mahara, Moodle and OJS). This approach could be expanded in keeping with AU's open ethos by joining open source consortia and involving IT staff and students in development.

Other recommendations:

"1. Open Access: AU should continue, and even expand, its activities associated with population groups that are under-represented in the Albertan and Canadian post-secondary system." (Page 27)

This is something which effected me personally. I had attempted to enroll in a Masters of Education at an Australian university, but was rejected due to not having a bachelor's degree in education. AU accepted my Graduate Certificate in Higher Education and experience as sufficient for entry into their masters program.

"2.  Diversity of the Student Population: While AU has a unique commitment to open access in Alberta, it should continue to take a broad approach to recruitment." (Page 27)

"3. Professional Courses, Diplomas, Undergraduate Degrees and Master’s Programs: AU should continue and expand its efforts to educate lifelong learners and should expand its career-focused and advanced educational opportunities." (Page 27)

Dr. Coates  points out opportunities for programs in business, health, educational technology and service to Indigenous Peoples.

" 4. Deployment of Faculty: While faculty members are critical to the success of a university, the standard disciplinary and faculty-centric approach to professional commitment will constrain an innovative, creative online institution." (Page 28)

This seems more an observation, than a recommendation. As a university, AU can't just shift staff around to meet teaching demand, as these staff need to have a depth of knowledge. What is not discussed is the use of remote part time staff for teaching. Being an on-line university, there is no need for the bulk of the teaching staff to be at Athabasca, or in Canada. Also AU appears to have a very low proportion of casual and part time academic staff (about one third). As a vocationally orientated institution, AU could benefit by making more use of casual and part time academics from the professions. Apart from reducing cost, this would inject current relevant experience.

"5. Mid-Career Retraining: AU has an open-ended opportunity to focus on mid-career retraining and adaptations to the new economy." (Page 28)

Re-skilling professionals is something identified in the UBC Flexible Learning Strategy in 2014. AU is likely to have considerable competition in provided programs in this area. However, its open policy and distance education expertise would provided a competitive advantage.

"6. Pedagogical Innovation: AU has an opportunity to build on its reputation for pedagogical innovation by focusing on the emergence of greater understanding of learning styles and related transformations in pedagogy, educational technology and online learning." (Page 28)

Unfortunately AU does not appear to have benefited from its reputation for pedagogical innovation so far. When looking for a masters of education to undertake AU was one of the three institutions outside Australia I considered, due to its prominence in the education literature. However, outside those who read papers about distance education pedagogy, AU is virtually unknown. There is a risk for AU in pursuing, or being see to be pursuing, every educational fad. Apart from the high cost of initiatives there is the risk of lessing of reputation as a reliable provider. However, some initiatives could be tried.

Teleconference on the Future of Athabasca University

Today I took part in a one hour teleconference run by Dr. Ken Coates, who is conducting a Review into Athabasca University (AU). Eleven students took part (I am a recent AU graduate). There are further teleconferences scheduled with students.

AU were a pioneer of on-line open and distance education. However, city based universities are increasingly offering this option. This is also an issue in Australia, where Emeritus Professor John Halsey, of Flinders University is conducting a Review of Regional, Rural and Remote Education in Australia for the government.

ps: It was good to be consulted, but this is something the university administration should have done years ago, not waiting until they were forced to do so by the provincial government.

Athabasca University Third Party Review

Athabasca University (AU) and the Government of Alberta have appointed Dr. Ken Coates (University of Saskatchewan), to lead a review into how to make the university financially viable. This follows a report in 2015, which warned of insolvency by 2016/2017. Students are to be consulted and Dr. Coates is to report by 30 April 2017. The Terms of Reference for Independent Third Party Review (TOR, January 2017) state the review is to:

"Examine and assess possible options to improve the sustainability of the institution, including but not limited to:

• The institution’s place within Campus Alberta – this involves exploring the appropriateness of the institution continuing its current capacity, and if the institution’s sustainability would improve if it became primarily a teaching university with a greater focus on ensuring access for Albertans;
• Developing a new business model – this involves examining the appropriateness of the current delivery model as an open and distance university, and exploring alternative delivery methods that would improve sustainability;
• Partnering with another Campus Alberta Institution –this involves exploring the feasibility and implications of partnering with another institution, including examining the costs, impact on staffing and implications to students of such a partnership; and,
• Amalgamating with another entity or Campus Alberta institution – this involves exploring the feasibility and implications of the institution becoming a part of another entity, while maintaining the campus in Athabasca."

I designed one of AU's graduate courses and recently graduated from AU with a MEd in Distance Education. So I have some suggestions:

1. "Some issues" in "Athabasca University Review",
2. "Lessons from the Report for Athabasca University" in "Online College Students Preferences",
3. "Suggestions for Improving the MEd" in "Master of Education in Distance Education by Distance Education",
4. Australia's University of New England (UNE) is a regional university with challenges similar to AU. UNE has had several unsuccessful attempts to innovate, which AU might do well to avoid,
5. "Digital Teaching In Higher Education: Designing E-learning for International Students of Technology, Innovation and the Environment". This is a book based on my MEd DE studies and may be of interest.

Athabasca University Review

Athabasca University (AU) and the Government of Alberta have appointed Dr. Ken Coates (University of Saskatchewan), to lead a review into how to make the university financially viable. This follows a report in 2015, which warned of insolvency by 2016/2017.

Students are to be consulted and Dr. Coates is to report by 30 April 2017. However, it is not clear when, or if, the final report will be made public. The previous report was not officially released, with students, having to read a copy leaked to the media. After reading media reports on AU's financial viability and seeing no response from the university,  I decided to accelerate my studies to complete by the end of 2016, while there was still a university to graduate from.

The inquiry was announced the same day Athabasca University awarded me a degree. This is ironic, as I had studied how to design cost-effective higher education, under leaders in the field from the AU Centre for Distance Education. Perhaps the executive of AU could look to its own experts in the field of distance education for advice on what to do.

AU is not alone in having to re-think strategies: universities, vocational colleges and private education providers around the world are having difficulties (including Pearson, the world's largest private provider). It is also ironic that AU is having to respond to the "disruption" to the eduction system, caused by the on-line education revolution it helped pioneer.

AU is a worthwhile institution and it would be unfortunate if it was to close down. As a graduate who studied how to design and resource such institutions (and designed one of AU's courses: Green ICT Strategies COMP 635), it seems reasonable to make some suggestions.

Athabasca University brands itself as "Canada's Open University" offering on-line and distance education to students across Canada and around the world. I was attracted to the institution because of this open and on-line approach. AU's openness permitted me to enroll and the on-line approach meant that I could study from Canberra.

Some issues:

Local Customization

I suggest AU could model is recovery on the Suzuki Ignis car, which offers a reasonably priced customizable alternative to the BMW Mini.

Higher education, and distance education in particular, is like building a car: long lead times are needed for course design and testing, with the product having to be sold for years to recover the cost of development. Car companies build the same car for a decade, refreshing their models every few years with minor updates (such as revised bumpers and entertainment systems). They also offer options for the customer.

One of the annoyances with DE courses is that they can be run for years without even minor updates. It is annoying to find hypertext links in course notes which do not work, and apparently have not worked, for years. Like cars, courses need a minor refresh every year or so.

Continuing the car analogy, BMW offer more than ten million possible combinations of options for their Mini car. However, most of these options must be installed in the factory during the car's construction, which increases the cost and slows down delivery. In contrast, Suzuki offer options which can be fitted by the local dealer, making it cheap and quick. I suggest that AU can do something similar with education. This would see core programs and courses able to have options added.

AU could make more and earlier use of e-portfolios to provide flexibility. As a coursework student I was told at the start of the course I would have to do a capstone e-portfolio at the end. But it was only in the last term I was required to do something about it. This could be changed to see the beginning student designing their program with the help of the portfolio and planning to incorporate learning beyond the set courses. The problem with such an approach has been the increased staff supervision required. However, improvements in software which reduce the administrative burden and teaching techniques, which see students taking responsibility for their learning, can reduce staff costs.

Scale

Alongside the Open University UK, Athabasca University appears frequently in the research literature on e-learning. However, AU does not have the scale of OUUK. OUUK has about 170,00 students, while AU has about 41,000 students. AU must become larger, either on its own, or by federating with other institutions.

Government Regulation and Funding

The closest Australian equivalent to AU is the University of New England (UNE), located in inland New South Wales, with 21,000 students. UNE predates AU and acted as a model for the distance education techniques adopted by OUUK and others. However, like AU, UNE has had difficulties due to its reliance on a distance education model, which does not fit with the way governments fund universities. Australia also has several other regional inland universities which offer on-line courses, but these have multiple campuses, including campuses in city capitals.

UNE has had several attempts to make the pure DE model work. In one variation, the institution proposed to un-bundle tuition. The idea would be that a student could have a low cost course where they just paid for course materials and assessment: if they needed tuition, that was an optional extra. This approach did not work, because it conflicted with the full-service assumptions of government education policy, did not meet student expectations and the fee cut was not sufficient to make it attractive to students.

AU should not make the mistakes of UNE and offer products which the students can't understand, or waste time complaining the government does not understand DE. AU needs to offer programs attractive to students and which are viable with the regulatory environment.

Integrate MOOCs

MOOCs were a Canadian invention intended to genuinely improve education. However, they have become largely a marketing tool, to promote for-fee courses using free samples. AU needs to come to terms with this, without devaluing its quality DE offerings.