eMM Mindmap and mini-evaluation

This week, we are still thinking about the e-learning Maturity Model as described in the last post here.
This mind map is to identify the structural components of eMM and how they relate to each other. It can be viewed in more detail by clicking on the link in the caption.

Mind map constructed using  Mind Meister. (https://mm.tt/324710821?t=8QjvmyHl8P)

So what do I think is the value of the eMM for assessing organisational maturity of e-Learning in my personal context?

Strengths
Exploring the capability of the organisation is very important in the current tertiary environment. With many demands and strategies, the temptation could be to bite off more than can be chewed. By using a model, the organisation can assess where it wants to direct scarce resources.
The model has a comprehensive set of dimensions, fully based on past scholarly research and practice thus reducing the need to establish an assessment model for any one institution. Staff can spend the time conducting the assessment, not producing the assessment tools.
The model provides an ideal method of benchmarking performance amongst like institutions. The New Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit ( now Academic Quality Agency for New Zealand Universities (AQA), Te Pokapū Kounga Mātauranga mō ngā Whare Wānanga o Aotearoa) have encouraged the universities to undertake relevant benchmarking activities, and this is extremely relevant to the quality assurance processes that might be expected in the cycle 5 academic activity themes.
The organisation can progress and grow through the levels provided. This is an active, not a static model, aiming to produce a more effective organisation. I like that it assesses normal practice not the high or low ends of evidence.

Weaknesses
This is a very long benchmark, and requires the appropriate amount of time to be set aside to complete it thoroughly.
So far, from a quick look at citations on Google, there do not seem to have been many published reviews of its use, other than by the original developers. This may simply be that institutions do not have time to write up what they are doing, but could be because not many places have adopted it in its entirety yet.
I think there could be a tendency for parts of an organisation to see more value in particular process dimensions. This is acknowledged in the notes on relationships between the dimensions.
I find it a little confusing that sometimes the practices swap between talking about a course to talking about the programme of which the course is a part. For institutions where courses are part of a number of different programmes, this could be a drawback.


Recommendation decision on whether you would consider using eMM as a for a more detailed assessment of e-Learning at an organisation of your choice later in the course.
 Yes, I would certainly be interested in doing this, however, the organisation of my choice currently adopts a blended approach to teaching, so there are few courses or programmes that are fully in an e-learning mode. Therefore, there might be times when I would need to make comments alongside the rankings. Also, I am a little worried about how much time it might take to do this later in the course. This activity was only supposed to take one hour and has taken me at least 4 hours. Sometimes a task that sounds initially straightforward to undertake is not actually so in practice. Having been introduced to the model here, I intend to use it anyway next year to conduct some analysis.

References:
 Academic Quality Agency for New Zealand Universities. (2013). Cycle 5 academic audit framework. Retrieved from: http://www.aqa.ac.nz/sites/all/files/AQA%20Cycle%205%20Framework%20Jan2013.pdf

 Marshall, S. (2006, November 9). So what is the eMM anyway? [Blog post]. Retrieved from e-Literate website: http://mfeldstein.com/so_what_is_the_emm_anyway/

Marshall, S. (2007). E-Learning Maturity Model: Process descriptions [draft report]. Retrieved from http://www.utdc.vuw.ac.nz/research/emm/documents/versiontwothree/20070620ProcessDescriptions.pdf

Music listened to while preparing this blog post: I am still on easy listening this week. As Kevin mentioned, not to everyone's taste, but when I struggle with mind maps I need to be soothed - this week it has been The Seekers, particularly the album The Seekers Seen in Green.