Six case studies of information technology-assisted teaching and learning in higher education in England

Abstract

In August 1996 the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) commissioned a six-month research study of IT-assisted teaching and learning (ITATL) in higher education. This was to inform policy and also to provide evidence to the Review of Higher Education in the United Kingdom (Dearing, 1997). The research study was led by the Telematics Centre at the School of Education at the University of Exeter, working in collaboration with the NatWest Financial Literacy Centre at the University of Warwick and the Institute of Learning and Research Technology at the University of Bristol. A key element of the research was the case studies of ITATL undertaken in six HE institutions. This article reports the case studies. It provides a more comprehensive view of the educational outcomes of the research than the final report published by HEFCE which placed a greater emphasis on the economic aspects (Boucher et al, 1997). The outcomes are discussed in terms of the educational costs and benefits of ITATL for higher education. The paper also considers the framework within which ITATL is most likely to be effective, and notes the implied staff and institutional development required for this to occur. The paper concludes by describing the most effective types of ITATL observed.