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SOLSTICE 2007 Conference, Edge Hill University 1
Learning about e-learning: contribution to a context sensitiveapproach focused on actors’ interaction
Adrian Staii
GRESEC, University of Grenoble3,Adrian.Staii@iut2.upmf-grenoble.fr 
Roxana Ologeanu-Taddei
GRESEC, University of Grenoble3,Roxana.Ologeanu@iutbeziers.univ-montp2.fr ABSTRACT
E-learning has been given increasing attention during the last decade and it takes todayan important place within many academic fields. Scholars often consider this issuethrough three dominant approaches focusing on the contents proposed to the user (theinstructional design is for example a major framework), on the underlying technologies(e-learning platforms, global digital environments, etc.), or on the system evaluation andthe user modelling.These three approaches certainly help improving our knowledge of the issue andguiding the design of effective systems. However, they also have an important limit,since they largely neglect the importance of the contextual logics at work during theproduction process of the e-learning systems.We have recently participated in a collective empirical study of six e-learning systemsproduced and used by French universities and/or other distance education institutions.One main conclusion of this study was that the final configuration of the system hasbeen shaped by complex negotiation processes between a multitude of local (and oftenconflicting) logics at least as much as it was by the fundamental
knowledge 
availableand by the professional competences of the designers.Indeed, it appears that the organisational structures, the project management, theeconomic model underlying the development of the project have a deep impact on thematerial shape of the system. This global environment is naturally complex and difficultto control. But this difficulty is increased by the fact that any of the actors at work hasneither the global view nor the power to impose a leading strategy to the other partners.A glimpse to some modern theories of socio-technical innovation can help usunderstand the dynamics of this process and it makes us believe that the interest of ourapproach is not strictly limited to our case panel.
KEYWORDS
E-learning, virtual campus, socio-technical innovation.
 
 
SOLSTICE 2007 Conference, Edge Hill University 2
IS THERE A PROBLEM WITH E-LEARNING?
E-learning has become a common topic in the advanced education systems. Its addedvalue, real efficiency, implementation means, pedagogical implications and economicreliability have been long debated. Some consider e-learning to be already a major shiftin the functioning and organizational fundamentals of the entire education system, fromthe pedagogy to the economics. Some others see it more like a rich potential that faileduntil now to produce deep changes. In this perspective, e-learning should be consideredas a long-term evolution rather than a revolution, more likely to be difficult than smooth.These perspectives can certainly fluctuate from one country to another, mainly becauseof the particular organisation and functioning of each system, because of the traditions,the pedagogy and the professional culture at work and, not least, because of the historyof the e-learning projects themselves.France is a particular case. French universities are public institutions organized in asystem which is regulated by the Ministry of Education following two fundamentalprinciples: equality and uniformity. According to these principles, the academic staffsare civil servants and they receive uniform salaries according to their
class 
(a class canbe founded on expertise level, age level, etc.). Officially “all universities are equal, thereis no hierarchy of the diplomas based on the university which delivers it” (FRIEDBERG& MUSSELIN, 1993, p. 15). However, in practice, there is a visible gap mainly betweeninstitutions labelled as “
Grandes Ecoles” 
and common universities with effects on thesocial and professional consideration of the diplomas delivered. In spite of thesedifferences, the entire system is based on “the triad composed of the headadministration, the academic staff and the institutions themselves” (FRIEDBERG &MUSSELIN, 1993, p. 6). In this configuration, the institutions appear to be the weakpoint (MUSSELIN, 2001); they are of course autonomous, but the two other poles of thetriad considerably narrow their breathing space.In this context, the assessment of the major e-learning projects that have beenconducted over the past ten years is ambivalent. The virtual campuses for instance,which have been one of the major priorities supported by the French Ministries, havefaced real difficulties: the cost estimate and control have been major problems sincemost of the projects have not succeeded to adopt viable long-term economic modelsand most of them are still counting on specific public subventions to survive (GREVET,2005); the professional and legal statutes of the academic staff have not integrated e-learning tasks; e-learning projects require important organizational efforts and resourceswhich are difficult to mobilize (setting up a project team and a specifications book,definition of the design and realization tasks, strategic choices concerning the contentsto be produced, the pedagogic orientation and the tutorial services, choice and use ofthe informatics platforms, management of the relationship with distant e-learners, etc.)(ALBERO & THIBAULT, 2006).While the difficulties are obvious, the predicted gains can be still discussed. Manyrecent studies show that the pedagogic and professional practices of the academic staff
 
SOLSTICE 2007 Conference, Edge Hill University 3
have not been radically improved by e-learning tools (BRODIN, 2004 ; FICHEZ, 2006 ;FICHEZ, 2007 ; GURI-ROSENBLIT, 2006). Other studies indicate that even thepromoters and the leading actors of the systems being used have noticed limited andfluctuating effects (BRODIN, 2004).These considerations raise a two-step question.The first step concerns the systems themselves: are they representative of the technicalsolutions and of the scientific knowledge available today? A quick overview of theapplied scientific work conducted over the past decades in different fields related to e-learning makes us conclude to a real gap between these advances and the systemsavailable. Thus, the real question here seems to be why are these systems behindexpectations? And, if we push further this argument, could things be different?The second step concerns the social insertion of these systems: how is this processconducted? Is the present organizational and professional environment favourableenough to e-learning projects? How does this environment influence the production ofthe device and what are its real effects on the final shape of the e-learning system?These are the major questions we shall address in this paper. Our thesis is, on the onehand, that e-learning systems are produced in complex environments and that theorganisational structures, the project management, the economic model underlying thedevelopment of the project have a deep impact over the material shape of the systemavailable to the users. We shall exploit the results of an empirical study of six e-learningsystems produced by French universities and other distance education institutions toargue that e-learning projects are difficult to conduct and that they imply importantcompromises for all the actors involved. One the other hand, we also argue that thehistorical approaches to e-learning neglect the importance of these contextual factorsand focus on methods, techniques and working procedures proven to be efficient onsmall experimental scales but difficult to apply in real projects where the consensus ishard to reach.
DIFFERENT WAYS TO CONSIDER E-LEARNING
Following the logical chain of our arguments, we shall reverse the order of thesequestions and we shall start with this last point. A rapid and certainly incompleteoverview of the major directions of e-learning studies could point out threehistorical approaches.
The first important approach focuses on the design of the contents to be mediatized.The main objective of these studies is to propose concepts and methods to developnew selection techniques and new ways to elaborate and structure pedagogicalcontents accordingly to the potential of the digital technologies. As a major framework,the
instructional design 
(GAGNE, 1992), (CLARK & FELDON, 2002) developstechniques, which are intended to optimize learning gains in knowledge andperformance from precisely engineered (and designed) contents. The essentialquestions of
how to teach 
and
what to teach 
(MURRAY, 1999), (DESSUS, 2006) are
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