conole elearning summit

Examining the impact of e-learning on the traditional role of a university

Gráinne Conole, University of LeicesterE-Learning Summit, Sydney

27-28th February 2012

Outline

• Affordances of new technologies• From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg• Learner experience & teacher

practice• New pedagogies & Implications• Strategies for change

– Linking research to policy and practice

– The VLE as a Trojan horse– New approaches to design

Ed tech trends• Mobiles and e-books• Personalised learning• Cloud computing• Ubiquitous learning• BYOD (Bring your

own device)• Gesture and

augmented learning• Digital content• The flipped classroom

http://learn231.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/trend-report-1/

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Media sharing

Collaborative editing

Social networking

Virtual worlds and games

Syndication

Messaging

Social bookmarking

Recommender systems

Mash ups

Blogging

Conole and Alevizou, 2010

Social & participatory media

http://magicineducation.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/web-2-0-world-map/

User generated content

Peer critiquing

Networked

Collective aggregation

Personalised

Open

Social media revolutionThe machine is us/ing us

Gutenberg to Zuckerberg

• Take the long view• The Web is not the Net• Disruption is a feature• Ecologies not economics• Complexity is the new reality• The Network is now the computer• The web is evolving

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/2617472088/

http://memex.naughtons.org/

Disruptive technologies

• The Web has transformed practice

• No central ownership• Ecology of abundance• Examples

– Napster– Malware

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• Technology immersed• Learning approaches: task-

orientated, experiential, just in time, cumulative, social

• Personalised digital learning environment

• Mix of institutional systems and Cloud-based tools and services

• Use of course materials with free resources

Sharpe, Beetham and De Freitas, 2010

Learner experience

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EDUCAUSE study• Students drawn to

new technologies but rely on more traditional ones

• Consider technologies offer major educational benefits

• Mixed views of VLEs

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Mobile learning

E-booksStudy calendarsLearning resourcesOnline modulesAnnotation toolsCommunication mechanisms Podcasting

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The Personal Inquiry projectInquiry-based learning across formal and informal settingsSharples, Scanlon et al.http://www.pi-project.ac.uk/

My community

Inquiry-based learning

Virtual genetics lab

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMMfHZUNpZY&feature=youtu.be

The SWIFT project

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• Technologies not extensively used (Molenda)

• Lack of uptake of OER (McAndrew et al.)

• Little use beyond early adopted (Rogers)

• Despite rhetoric and funding little evidence of transformation (Cuban, Ehlers)

Pandora’s box

What would it mean to adopt more open practices? Open design, open delivery, open research and open evaluation?

Teacher practices: paradoxes

Open resources

Open courses: MOOC

http://mooc.ca/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc

MassiveOpen Online Course

Open accreditation

http://www.p2pu.org/en/

Peer to Peer University

http://wikieducator.org/OER_university/

OER University

Open research

Citation indicators

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Policy

Blackboard rollout

OER/iTunes

Learning spaces

Cloud computingLearner practice

Use of technologies Diversity/culture

Teacher practice

Design practice

Use of technologies

Research

OERLearning design

Web 2.0

Virtual worlds

Learner experience

Horizon scanning

Linking research to policy and practice

The VLE as a Trojan horse

• VlE as a safe nursery slope

• Shift from content to activities

• Promote reflection and collaboration

• Mobile VLE• Integration with cloud

computing

VLE audit

• Data– Online survey (260 returns)– Departmental visits

• Key findings– Used as content repository and

administration– Pockets of innovation– More support needed on

effective design strategies– Tension between teaching and

research– Useability issue

Blackboard+ at Leicester

BB plus Google+Maths video-lets

Prof-casts

History conundrum Voicethread

ConsolidateEvaluate and embed your design

ConceptualiseWhat do we want to design, who for

and why?

http://beyonddistance.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/carpe-diem-the-7cs-of-design-and-delivery/

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Course views

Course map

Learning outcomes

Pedagogy profile

Task swimlane

Course dimensions

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Collaboration

New metaphors

EcologiesSpaces

Memes Rhizomeshttp://e4innovation.com/?p=489

Final thoughts• Participatory and social media enable new forms of

communication and collaboration• Communities in these spaces are complex and

distributed• Learners and teachers need to develop new digital

literacy skills to harness their potential• We need to rethink how we design, support and assess

learning• Open, participatory and social media can provide

mechanisms for us to share and discuss teaching and research ideas in new ways

• We are seeing a blurring of boundaries: teachers/learners, teaching/research, real/virtual spaces, formal/informal modes of communication and publication

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Conole, G. (forthcoming), Designing for learning in an open world, New York: Springergrainne.conole@le.ac.uk