Expanding Learning Opportunities for the Last 25 years … and Beyond

Prof. Albert Sangrà, Ph.D.Academic Director, UNESCO Chair in Education and Technology for Social Change, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)

Barcelona, 12 June 2015

• EDEN and UOC in the timeline• Drivers of change• Learning ecologies• Challenges• Final remarks

Content

Forerunners• Paul of Tarsus (5-20 aC – 57-

68 aC)• Seneca (6 bC – 65 aC)• Caleb Phillips (1782)• Sir Isaac Pitman (1843)• University of London (1858)

(External Programmes)• Anna Ticknor (1873) (Learning

at Home)• International Correspondence

School (1888)• University of Chicago (1892)

(Satellite Campuses)

• Penn State (1922) (Radio courses)

• Iowa, Purdue and Kansas State Universities (1938) (TV)

• Articulated Instructional Media Project (Wisconsin) (1964) (Integration of technologies)

• Stanford Instructional Television Network (1968)

• ARPAnet (1969)• Open University UK (1971):

other Open Universities followed

• World Wide Web (1989)

EDENFirst conference (Krakow, 1992)

Historical challenges of DE:

•To reach large numbers of students•To provide a high quality learning experience•To do it at a sustainable cost

•Always the same goal: creating opportunities for learning.

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)

Source: http://allfunnyimages.com

Educational model

The importance of having a MODEL

The importance of having a MODEL

Source: http://blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca/lifeatuoft/files/2014/06/DSCF3401.jpg

Would be it enough?

Font: http://digital.library.upenn.edu

Font: http://wisconsinmontessori.com

Font: http://parentables.howstuffworks.com

The importance of method

• Competency-based approach in which the activity, and all what it needs around to be carried out, is the core

Activity-based learning model

Drivers of evolutionDrivers of evolution

It is not about distance …

… but FLEXIBILITY

• Flexibility• Personalisation• Collaboration• Informalisation

(Redecker et al., 2011)

Main pillars for the future of learning

Flexibility

Personalised learning means ensuring that individual

differences are acknowledged

PersonalisationAge

Gender

Working situation

Family issues

Other personal circumstances

Prior knowledge

Professional experience

Socio-cultural context

Professional interests

Working expectations

Estudiante

StudentStudent

Student

L

E

N

A

G

N

IR

Student

Collaboration

Interaction

Teaching and learning process

Interaction ...Student-studentStudent-teacherStudent-groupTeacher-group

Student academic life

Interaction ...Student-communityStudent-institutionInstitution-community

Informalisation

From content-based to activity-based design

0

100Activity-based approach

Content-based approach

Self-content materials

Subsidiary associated materials

Superficial learning

Deep learning

An actual challenge

Transformation

Wisdom

Knowledge

Information

DataCOMMITTMENT

An actual challenge

Learning EcologiesLearning Ecologies

Learning Ecologies

“A set of contexts made up of configurations of activities, materials, resources and relations generated in physical or virtual spaces, which provide opportunities for learning”

(Barron, 2004)

Learning Ecologies

• Beyond CoP, IG, or learning communities

• ICT extend the potential of the learning ecologies

• Every individual may develop a personal strategy for professional development and relations

Learning Ecologies

Cosmovision

Reflexive thinking

Information

Professional environment

ExperiencesTechnology

Social interactions

Learning Ecology

Learning Ecology

(both physical and virtual)

• Teachers & their professional development– Be aware of taking advantage of your whole learning ecology

– Improve your professional development more efficiently

• Instructional Designers– Create new learning opportunities

– Advice new resources

• Higher Educaton Institutions– Consider the future will no loner be as it used to be

– Become more granular and a quality node

Implications

ChallengesChallenges

Learningis changing

http://www.slideshare.net/courosa/why-social-networks-matter

“If your time to youIs worth savin’Then your better start swimmin’Or you’ll sink like a stoneFor the times they are a-changin’.” Bob Dylan

Aprendizaje formal, no formal e informal

A lo largo ... y a lo ancho de la vida

(The LIFE Center, 2007)

18,5% 7,7%

[Son nativos digitales]

http://www.slashgear.com/babys-first-ipad-24121114/

From economy

• Massification of access

• Openness

• Disruptive business models

Massification of access

QualityQuality

CostCostAccessAccess

TechnologyTechnology

Openness

Disruptive business models

(Christensen, 2011)

QualityQuality

CostCostAccessAccess

TechnologyTechnology

OpennessOpenness

Recognition

Recognition

Met

hodo

logy

Met

hodo

logy

Source: www.quotessays.com

Source: www.carpaintrepairinfo.com

Source: emilianoperezansaldi.com

 

- “My teacher told me I’ve improved my writing since I do my homework with a laser printer …”

QualityQuality

CostCostAccessAccess

TechnologyTechnology

“Foodies are reactionaries”“Rinehart criticized people who eat regular food as being “reactionary.”He thinks that his own industrialized food product is going to save the world, and that “new” and “different” are necessarily better.”

(http://www.returnofkings.com, June 1, 2013)SOYLENT

The need of humanistic competencies for technologists

“… if we say that reality is one, we also know that it is complex and if we don’t collaborate between disciplines, from science and art, we will live a partial reality.” (Aymerich, Ara, 7/6/15)

The need of humanistic competencies for technologists

“… if we say that reality is one, we also know that it is complex and if we don’t collaborate between disciplines, from science and art, we will live a partial reality.” (Aymerich, Ara, 7/6/15)

Technology should support, but not shape life.

“I will set up the University XXXXXXXX, but I want to be able to extend the University to people

outside the University through the latest technologies.”

 “Between conventional university and learning at a distance, they need not be competition or they need to be polarised, each has its own place and

each can fulfil its own mission to the advantage of both.”

 

“I will set up the University of Chicago, but I want to be able to extend the University to people

outside the University through the latest technologies.”

 “Between conventional university and learning at a distance, they need not be competition or they need to be polarised, each has its own place and

each can fulfil its own mission to the advantage of both.”

 William Rainy Harper (1896)

President, University of Chicago

Final remarksFinal remarks

• Distance and online education should keep going increasing learning opportunities based on sustainability and quality criteria.

• This goes beyond technology. Pedagogical and organizational issues have to be primarily considered.

• Decision making is being moved towards the individual. Institutions have to realize they should soften the control they use to have. Relationship between institutions and individuals is yet to change.

• Data on interactions (opportunities provided for a good learning experience)

• Guarantee of well-trained and competent group of teachers in online education

• Resources for learning available to the students

• Basic and applied research, particularly in online education methods and the results achieved by the students (student performance)

“It is not because things are difficult we don’t try them ... It is because we don’t try them they become difficult”

Seneca(4 bC - 65 aC)

I MP E GNO

Thank you very much

asangra@uoc.eduhttp://edulab.uoc.edu/twitter: albert_sangra

http://unescochair.blogs.uoc.edu/blog/