October 2006 Volume 9 Number 4

teachers. Despite the significant cost of these centres on institutional resources, the development of individual
courses through these centres is not centrally supported, but requires independent funding by the teacher.
As early as 1999, the Secretary-General of the UGC questioned institutional commitment to the provision of
these less tangible resources toward online learning development: “are institutions prepared to invest in the
facilities and the training and staff development that will be required to enable faculty to make full use of the
benefits of the technology without being overwhelmed by it?” (French, 1999, p.2)
Discussion
The empirical evidence provided by the successful and continuing operation of the case examples indicates that
online learning does in fact have a role in addressing some of the education challenges facing the HKU
environment.
The degree to which online teaching and learning is an appropriate pedagogy is course and content specific. For
some courses, it may be most beneficial when developed as one of a range of integrated teaching and learning
approaches (i.e. ‘blended-learning’ environments) as in HKNE and Volcanic Processes. In other courses, it may
be beneficial to utilize full ‘distance-education’ as in Geohazards. For some courses it may offer no specific
benefits and be an inappropriate pedagogy. Students with previous exposure to online learning environments can
usefully indicate where online learning may yield specific benefits.
Developing the potential
For HKU, online learning presents a potential consistency with the formally espoused strategic direction, with
the University’s mission and planning priority statements emphasizing the development of a comprehensive
education, life-long learning and internationalisation, and the need to deploy new technologies in advancing
teaching, learning and scholarship (HKUSPU, 2003).
For effective development and utilization of online learning environments, there must be a consistency between
the determinants of knowledge, culture, and resources (Figure 3). Many historical developments have failed to
deliver the benefits expected, largely as a result of major inconsistencies or ‘disconnects’ (Figure 3) between
these three parameters.
CULTURE
KNOWLEDGE
RESOURCES
Figure 3. Consistency between parameters favourable for online development is represented by the shaded
region; other areas indicate inconsistency in one or more of the parameters
‘Knowledge’ inconsistencies arise when there is no clear mapping between pedagogical and technical
knowledge, or where either is insufficient to allow effective development within the constraints of the other
parameters. An example of this is when an institution’s online development is a response to the demand to be
‘up-with-the play’ rather than being driven by pedagogy. This can result in the application of online teaching to
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