ATHABASCA – Athabasca University says “communication and consultation” on its long-anticipated Integrated Learning Environment project (ILE) has been “broad and extensive”, despite claims to the contrary by the Athabasca University Faculty Association (AUFA).
The ILE is intended to bring all aspects of online learning, teaching and support into one ecosystem. This includes harmonizing platforms for learning, relationship management, learner records, and academic and financial services. AUFA penned an open letter about the viability of the project, questioning whether it will be an “extremely expensive failure that will not deliver on its promises.”
In a follow-up to the Jan. 24 Town & Country This Week article on AUFA’s open letter, AU officials say that president Peter Scott, provost and vice-president academic, Matthew Prineas, and the ILE steering committee, which includes all of the university’s faculty deans, met with AUFA reps in late 2022 to address their concerns during the launch of the project’s first phase.
“Based on feedback from learners about their experiences with the ILE, we know AU is moving in the right direction. AU will continue to respond to the needs of our learners and support them in their educational journey,” read an AU statement in part.
AU says it’s unclear to what extent AUFA’s letter, which is signed only as an organization, represents the views of the entire group as they “hear a range of feedback from AUFA colleagues involved in the project.” For its part, AUFA says it wrote the letter as a collective to prevent backlash on individuals and want AU to succeed but “see the ILE as a significant impediment to this success.”
Announced March 1, 2021, ILE is arguably the largest technical project in the history of the university. One of its stated goals is to make “AU more accessible, collaborative, and interactive, and greatly enhance the learner experience.” AUFA’s letter, in part, contends that ILE will increase expenses, complicate and compromise student service and create additional work and that pushing ahead with the project is “extremely irresponsible.”
“It is quite common and expected for issues to arise during implementation of a complex and sophisticated IT transformation such as the ILE. AU continues to work with our community and vendor partners to find solutions as issues arise,” reads the AU response in part.
“AU has not significantly changed or modernized its IT systems in several years, something that is widely acknowledged. The university received government funding support to undertake this technical enhancement initiative. It is not surprising that some of our colleagues, who are new to this degree of IT transformation implementation, might be unfamiliar with the kinds of issues that can arise.”
In response to a direct question of how much has been spent on the initiative, AU says ILE is a “multi-year program of work with many deliverables, not just one”, adding that during the COVID-19 pandemic they adjusted their plans to “prioritize the learning-environment delivery, along with making improvements to course-planning tools and electronic transcripts.” In its letter, AUFA asked the executive, specifically Scott, to pause or even cancel the launch and provide a full financial disclosure of the ILE, including sunk costs and projected costs and factor in the impact of added workload on staff.
“The first phase of the ILE launched successfully in December 2022. We continue to plan future ILE deliverables as part of our wider budget planning, which includes representatives from across the university, and takes into consideration a range of institutional needs and priorities and available funding,” the AU statement notes.
AU contends that ILE was “conceived and designed with learner success and needs in mind” and will address critical feedback from learners to provide them with “a consistent experience” and noted its legacy systems are “outdated and create challenges for learners in navigating and completing their courses.”
“Feedback from AU learners about the ILE has been overwhelmingly positive. This includes feedback about the prototypes released in 2021 and the initial courses launched more recently. Learners have shared they appreciate the coherent and consistent design, intuitive navigation and the ability to track their progress,” AU’s statement reads.
• With files from Heather Stocking
