부산대학교 도서관

The Douglas Mawson Institute (DMI) of TAFE (technical and further education), which operates more than four campuses in Australia with a diverse student body numbering approximately 17,000 (78 percent studying part-time), has initiated strategies to support the transformation to an e-learning organization. Major elements in the change model are research and development of new learning technologies; institute-wide professional development; technology infrastructure; and partnerships. The project began with giving a group of 36 managers at DMI the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in online learning, as an adjunct to the other strategies that are being implemented across the institute to support the change to an e-learning organization. During the project, obstacles were tackled by attempting to make it fun through an "expedition" approach, but half of those who started were lost to "lack of time,""other priorities," and "loss of motivation." Still, some of the managers learned to use an online forum, conducted informal and formal online chats with each other, gained competence in using the World Wide Web platform for online learning, and increased their awareness of the Internet and browser use, online training options, and online student management. The project concluded that the project was effective as an example of participatory research and in teaching managers how to implement online courses, but that more support and technical expertise is needed and that team size should be reduced. (KC)