October 2006 Volume 9 Number 4

Online developments require a large initial investment of time and application by the teacher, and presently, a
consequent perceived cost in terms of career development.
I guess it will take a long time to convince the average junior lecturer or assistant professor that their
track record in research is not much more important for their career advancement than developing a truly
imaginative and exciting web-based learning module for one of their department’s courses (French, 1999,
p.7)
Without a significant Kuhnian ‘paradigm-shift’ in institutional policy and culture to offer balance and promote
the concept of HKU as a value-adding educational institution, the future of teaching-based initiatives, including
online learning, will continue to be one of fragmentary, non-integrated and transient efforts by “pedagogical lone
rangers” (D. Johnson, pers. comm.) achieving “random acts of progress” (L. Horne, pers. comm.).
Pedagogic knowledge
It is imperative that teaching developments be founded in an appreciation of pedagogical advantage, rather than a
fascination with technology or academic politics. Lee (2004) points out the required direction of development,
stating “… the only way to get maximum benefit out of educational technology is to start with the pedagogy.”
The development of the internet has given academia an opportunity to reassess the pedagogy of teaching
in higher education. It has allowed us to return to some of the true principles of teaching, such as
interaction, reflection, good resources, and student-centered teaching. It is interesting that students on
online courses report that they are getting more human interaction than on any other type of course. (R.
Mason, professor of educational technology at The Open University, United Kingdom quoted in
Williams, 2003)
‘Pedagogic knowledge’ is not generally a formal pre-requisite for university teaching. It has been said that
university teaching is indeed the most eminent professional role that is placed in the hands of those formally
unqualified in that function (T. Morrison, pers. comm.). This lack of qualification in a primary role of the tertiary
education sector can be compounded when institutional policy and culture fails to effectively provide any
incentive for engagement in reflective practice, and active improvement or professional development in that
function.
At HKU, human resource policy has largely failed to exact and reward commitment to professional teaching
practice. The recent ‘re-inventing’ of the institution as ‘research-led’ (Yeung, 2004, p. E3), with an unambiguous
focus on research publication, has aggravated the divide between teaching and research roles rather than
sponsoring effective integration.
Non-hardware resources
Currently, teaching development within HKU is being driven by small and disconnected groups of individuals
with funding through a ‘research-model’ of small discrete grants of limited tenure. There is little opportunity or
institutional endorsement for successful teaching developments to be funded or developed as ‘going concerns’,
with a regard for extension and integration into a university-wide context. Consequently, teaching initiatives,
including those involving online teaching, tend to be “a series of attempts at creating new and alternative wheels,
with little intent at placing the wheels on the cart to get it moving” (I. Bell, pers. comm.). Such a fragmentary
approach also results in a diversity of initiatives being repeated, and a consequent “sandstorm of confused
practice and promotion” (Moore, 1998, p.6).
Both institutional policy and resource provision must recognize the ongoing nature of teaching, and support both
the initial development and the subsequent continuation and potential extension.
Resources, including funding and personnel (both technical and, more importantly, educational specialism),
should be directed to embedding proven and sustainable pedagogies. The requirement for consistency, expertise,
and avoidance of expensive replication, suggests that this may be best achieved through an accountable
centralized unit, with focus on those courses identified as appropriate.
91