OnLine Learning. A University for Industry (UfI) pilot

When UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown stepped of a platform in he mid-eighties he offered what was generally percieved to be a throw-away comment that their ought to be a university for industy.

The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) set uip two pilots of this concepot, one "on the ground" so to speak in the University of Sunderland and one virtual online version, the OnLine Learning Network at my then lab, Ultralab. We debated long and hard about what might be possible - clearly just a heap of online courses missed the opportunity to build a community of practice where the practice was diverse, rich and nationwide. Josh Hillman led things from the IPPR end and money was pretty tight.

Good friend and valued colleague Leonie Ramondt (are there many in the world who better understand the potential of online learning than Leonie?) led the project. She and I spent a lot of time winning hearts and minds to a remarkable model of learning which, in the rush for numbers was not the model adopted by the embryonic UfI that formed after our research. We did remain though in useful contact with the UfI team for some time.

This paper, "Online Learning — Implications For The University For Industry; A Preliminary Case Study Report" was first published in Journal of Education through Partnership vol 2 num 2 in 1998, and was written in 1997.

It's here as a pdf, to remain faithful to original layouts and typograhy.

Stephen Heppell © 1997