future learning environments
DESCRIPTION
A look at where we are currently with learning environments and what is likely to happen over the next few years.TRANSCRIPT
Future learning environmentsand what they tell us
Martin Weller
Outline
What are VLEs like now? How did we get here? What are future VLEs like? What does it mean for us?
Current state of play OECD/OBHE 2004 survey in 13 countries All had VLE 37% have institution-wide VLE 90% expect to have single VLE in next 5 years 52% use commercial system Rest use combination of in-house and open source No institution had just OS 31% had portal 6.6% had CMS
Democrats vs revolutionaries
staff development
aca
dem
ic s
taff
innovationtradition
critical mass
cottage industrymainstream
Robustness
Reliability
Ease of use
Flexibility
Excitement
Technological flair
Rigour
Usabilty
New tools
New approaches
What’s wrong with VLEs
They are content focused They have no strong pedagogy They are based around a teacher-classroom model They combine a number of average tools, but not the
best ones They do not feature a particular tool They operate on a lowest common denominator
approach They do not meet the needs of different subject areas It is difficult to exchange content between them,
despite claims to interoperability
Why have VLEs been adopted?
Because they do not require big changes in practice
A content management system requires: Most content is available digitally Content is in appropriately sized chunks Reuse of material is encouraged E-learning plays a significant role in the overall educational
strategy
Plant succession
Technology succession
“technological environments are not merely passive containers of people but are active processes that reshape people and other technologies alike” (McLuhan 1962)
Future LE – why?
A proxy for social and technological change Reflect changes in HE Engage learners New models of learning New audiences?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pyjRj3UMRM
Students inhabit the online world
Possible dimensions
Future LE
Open contentiTunesUOpenlearnSlideshare
Social NetworkFacebookLastFM43Things
PLEStringleBlogPageflakesLearning design
LAMSCompendium
Virtual worldsSecondLifeWorld of Warcraft
Virtual PresenceGabblyMediumUser generated content
WikiversityYouTubeFlickr
DevicesMobile techMS SurfaceNintendo Wii
What does it mean?
Not educational tools We need to go out to them Mixing and mashing Usability is high After centralisation – decentralisation! Content isn’t everything – but it’s not nothing They don’t come to us for content anymore
– need to add more