EDEN 2016 Annual Conference

Re-imaging Learning EnvironmentsBudapest, 15 June, 2016

DESIGNING LEARNING

ENVIRONMENTS FOR A DIGITAL

AGEDr. Tony Bates,

Research Associate, Contact North

Distinguished Visiting ProfessorThe Raymond D. Chang School of

Continuing Education, Ryerson University

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Learnercharacter-

isticsContent

Skills

Resources

Assess-ment

Learner support

Culture

Outline

• The learning demands of a digital age

• Learning as development and growth

• Key components of an effective learning environment

• Course design and learning environments

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Demands of a digital economy

Resource-based/energy

Manufacturing

Health/education

IT/media/entertainment

Retail/financial/services

Knowledge-based

component

Where will the jobs be?

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21st century skills

communication skills

independent learning

ethics/responsibility

teamwork and flexibility

thinking skills (critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity)

IT skills embedded in subject area

knowledge management4

Learning and knowledge• What is knowledge?

• How does learning occur?

• Analogies:

• knowledge as coal (objectivist)

• knowledge as developmental (constructivist), e.g. heat

• Teaching as gardening: creating the right environment 5

Questions

• Do either of these analogies work for you?

• Are they helpful in thinking of teaching and learning?

• Can you think of a better analogy to describe learning – or knowledge?

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Alternative learning environments

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‘Nature’ as a learning environment

Military training

Online course

Can you

think of

others?

Technology-focused learning environments

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User-centered

design: Peter Morville’s

UX Honeycomb

A personal learning

environmentimage: Janson Hews, Flikr

Technology and learning environments

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Technology provides different

contexts for learning

environments, e.g.• Learning management systems• Virtual worlds (e.g. Second

Life)• Personal learning

environments

These contexts still need to be

filled with the components of a

learning environment: teacher’s

responsibility

Many possible learning environments

• The campus or school

• Online course

• Experience (work, family, life)

• (online) personal learning environments (technology)

• All need certain common elements that support learning

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One learning environment from a teacher’s perspective

C

Learner character-

isticslearn-ing

contexts

learners

goals

prior know-

ledge

diversity

Digital

natives?

Content

structuresources

quantity/

depth

activities

Content

goals

Skills

thinking

activities

discussion

practical activities

skills goals

facilities

tech-nology

my time

Resources

assis-tants

Assess-ment

projects

E-portfolios

essays

tests Learner support

feedback

counselling

scaffol-ding

other students

Culture

Content and skills

• Content = facts, ideas, principles: ‘knowing’

• Skills = understanding, analysing, evaluating, applying: ‘doing’

• Both necessary in today’s society

• BUT: content has been the traditional priority in HE

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Content and/or skills

We know a lot about how to teach skills:

• Context-specific

• Learners need lots of practice

• Small steps

• Regular feedback from expert

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Content and/or skills

• How do you develop skills? What teaching methods?

• Relationship between content and skills

• What role can technology play in developing and assessing skills?

• What do we assess – and how?

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Content and skills

Skills = teaching methods

• Discussion, social learning for testing and developing ideas

• Experiential learning: learning by doing

• Communities of practice

• Competency-based learning

• Problem-based learning

• Knowledge management16

Culture and learning environments• Culture = dominant values/beliefs that influence decision-making

• Residential schools; public boarding schools; elite universities

• Difficult for an individual to change

• Online learning environments = opportunity to create new cultures

• What values and beliefs are important in your learning environ.?

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Learnercharacter-

isticsContent

Skills

Resources

Assess-

ment

Learner support

Culture

Culture and learning environmentsMy values in teaching an online course:

• Student collaboration/mutual respect

• Open-ness to differing views

• Evidence based argument/reasoning

• Strong instructor presence/learner support

• Making explicit subject epistemology

• The integrity of the learner18

Learnercharacter-

isticsContent

Skills

Resources

Assess-

ment

Learner support

Culture

Learning environments and course design

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• Necessary but not sufficient• Still need • good course design• empathy• competence (e.g. subject

knowledge)• imagination to create context

• the learners have to do the learning

• environment creates conditions for success

From learning environments to course design

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Learnercharacter-

isticsContent

Skills

Resources

Assess-ment

Learner support

Culture

ADDIE: Design processCreating an effective learning environment

graduate pre-service professionals

core skill: knowledge management

open content within a learning design

student-generated multimedia content: online project work

assessment by e-portfolios21

‘Advanced’ online course design

Learnercharacter-

isticsContent

Skills

Resources

Assess-ment

Learner support

Culture

New teaching approaches• from information transmission

to knowledge management

• skills development + content

• lecture-based courses replaced by student projects, problem-based learning, collaborative learning

• goodbye written exams: replaced by e-portfolios demonstrating student’s knowledge/skills

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New faculty roles• Teaching performance will be a

major competitive advantage

• Instructors need pedagogical knowledge + technology skills

• Requires pre-service + in-service training + tenure/promotion reward

• Learning technology support (instructional designers + media designers) + team-work

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Conclusions• Digital economy requires high-

level intellectual skills

• Teaching methods must include opportunities for skills development

• Technology enables more flexible delivery and ways to practice skills

• But all within a specifically designed learning environment that supports learners

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Questions

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• Is thinking about what constitutes

an effective learning environment

helpful?

• What other components would you

add?

• Could you design an effective

learning environment for your own

courses? What would it look like?

• Other comments and questions

Learnercharacter-

isticsContent

Skills

Resources

Assess-

ment

Learner support

Culture

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• Teaching in a Digital Age:

https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage

/

• Blog: Online Learning and

Distance Education

Resources:

http://www.tonybates.ca/

• E-mail: tony.bates@ubc.ca