Combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches
| With virtual learning platforms, as in other areas, the question persists of the effectiveness of bottom-up approaches, where the impulse comes from the users, and of top-down approaches, where the impulse comes from the authorities.
Analysis of the policies applied in Denmark, the United Kingdom, Andalusia and Catalonia shows that, in the implementation of virtual learning platforms, these two types of approaches are in fact often used in succession or sometimes are combined at the same time. Either type may be effective depending on the objective aimed for or the issue in question: for example, phases that require the commitment and motivation of users are more effective when conducted bottom-up; phases of consolidation and technologically advanced development benefit more from a top-down approach. In Denmark, for example, a bottom-up initiative has been applied for developing digital educational content by teachers (ITMF)18. It generated many interesting contributions from teachers, but did not allow them to be more widely used. Another initiative (ITIF)19, which was top-down in character, followed it to ensure wider deployment. Denmark provides another example of the combination of the two approaches, this time simultaneously and in the long term. A bottom-up approach, which consisted in taking as its starting point a platform developed (and at first almost improvised) by two teachers, was combined with a top-down approach in which UNI-C 20 applied its specialised knowledge to improving and enhancing it, from the start of development in 2001 to the present day. Andalusia has chosen a clearly top-down approach, but in a context in which the decision maker (the Andalusian Department of Education) is at the heart of the operation and in direct contact with schools, which enables it more easily to take account of the demands expressed by users. Catalonia has opted for an approach which was initially top-down (EDUCAMPUS 21) but which did not achieve the expected results; this was then replaced by a much more bottom-up approach, based on teachers´ interest in MOODLE. In the United Kingdom, some clearly top-down approaches, for example in a region or geographical area (GLOW in Scotland, Birmingham Grid, South-Western Grid, etc.) sit alongside much more bottom-up approaches that result from the (growing) enthusiasm of users, particularly for MOODLE. 18 See section on Denmark for more information on the ITMF initiative. |
