Social LearnSocial LearnWidening participation and Widening participation and

sustainability of Higher sustainability of Higher EducationEducation

Tony Walton, Tony Walton,

Martin Weller and GrMartin Weller and Gráinne Conoleáinne Conole

12th June 2008,12th June 2008,

Eden Conference, LisbonEden Conference, Lisbon

The personal digital environment

Weller, 2008

Key QuestionsKey Questions

How can widening participation be

sustainably extended?

How can HE respond to global learning needs ?

Can existing HE meet emerging

learning needs ?

OpennessOpenness

Ovecome Exclusion

Create Bridges to Learning

Be Non-Hierarchical

Emerging Learning NeedsEmerging Learning Needs

Developed countries have high Developed countries have high expectations about participation rates expectations about participation rates for 18-23 year-oldsfor 18-23 year-olds

Half of the world’s population of 6.5 Half of the world’s population of 6.5 billion is under 20billion is under 20

In an era of lifelong learning the In an era of lifelong learning the demand for education is also high demand for education is also high among adultsamong adults

Lifelong learning requires provision Lifelong learning requires provision that is closely connected with work that is closely connected with work and everyday lifeand everyday life

Not all learning needs can be or need Not all learning needs can be or need to be met through formal accredited to be met through formal accredited coursescourses

Rapid social change and globalisation- Rapid social change and globalisation- competent citizenship and competent citizenship and participation in the culture participation in the culture

The ‘informated’ digital age - a need The ‘informated’ digital age - a need to provide people with the structure- to provide people with the structure- ‘scaffolding’ – with which to manage in ‘scaffolding’ – with which to manage in that worldthat world

Sustainable Widening Sustainable Widening Participation - challengesParticipation - challenges

Public funding under pressurePublic funding under pressure Profit driven private institutions will Profit driven private institutions will

miss some key (excluded) groupsmiss some key (excluded) groups The costs of educational provision The costs of educational provision

need to be driven down to enable need to be driven down to enable fees that are affordablefees that are affordable

New forms of access are neededNew forms of access are needed

Widening Participation Widening Participation Globally - challengesGlobally - challenges

Growing number of online students - but Growing number of online students - but some failures (UK eUniversities some failures (UK eUniversities Worldwide)Worldwide)

For-profit Phoenix successful -but high For-profit Phoenix successful -but high costs restrict participation and markets costs restrict participation and markets generally serve elitesgenerally serve elites

Global higher education dominated by the Global higher education dominated by the US, the UK and Australia - may not sit well US, the UK and Australia - may not sit well with new geopolitical configurationswith new geopolitical configurations

Higher education global activities are Higher education global activities are not yet significantly impacting on social not yet significantly impacting on social justice and inequality - a key source of justice and inequality - a key source of global instability in the post 9/11 world.global instability in the post 9/11 world.

1 in 5 adults worldwide lack minimum 1 in 5 adults worldwide lack minimum literacy skillsliteracy skills

Women worldwide face exclusion from Women worldwide face exclusion from educationeducation

Web 2.0??Web 2.0??

If traditional higher education is unable to meet the learning needs of the first part of the 21st century, can Web 2.0

provide alternative solutions ?

From Web 1.0 to Web 2.0From Web 1.0 to Web 2.0

CentralizedIndividualContentReadableTransmissionDeliberateStaticRigid

DistributedSocialServices & APIsWritableSyndicationSpontaneous, emergingConnected, dynamicLoosely coupled

O’Reilly ModelO’Reilly Model

Web 2.0 Features: O’Reilly+Web 2.0 Features: O’Reilly+ Trusting users as co-developers – e.g. Trusting users as co-developers – e.g.

integrating learners’ content and integrating learners’ content and experiencesexperiences

Harnessing collective intelligence - e.g. Harnessing collective intelligence - e.g. collaborative development among collaborative development among educators through decentralised educators through decentralised cooperationcooperation

Leveraging the long tail - e.g. meeting the Leveraging the long tail - e.g. meeting the needs of specific learning communitiesneeds of specific learning communities

Web 2.0 Features: O’Reilly+Web 2.0 Features: O’Reilly+ A rich user interface - learning in a rich A rich user interface - learning in a rich

interactive environmentinteractive environment Disaggregation of services- the availability Disaggregation of services- the availability

of selected educational services of selected educational services Personalisation and customisation of Personalisation and customisation of

services - learners defining their own services - learners defining their own learning needslearning needs

Sustainable income generation - derived Sustainable income generation - derived from large-scale multiple educational from large-scale multiple educational transactionstransactions

SummarySummary

Decentralisation

The Long Tail

DisaggregationRevenue

Generation

Personalisation

Harnessing the power of the Harnessing the power of the netnet

Can we Can we apply web 2.0 principles to education?apply web 2.0 principles to education?

develop new web 2.0 pedagogies?develop new web 2.0 pedagogies?

How would it align with existing How would it align with existing provision?provision?

What would the business model be?What would the business model be?

Socialearn: realising the visionSocialearn: realising the vision

SociaLearn

Web 2.0 for education

Web 2.0 architecture

Learning applications Open API

Walton, Weller, Hirst, Buckingham Shum et al.

Today’s OU

E-learning research &

developments (OpenLearn)

Existing technical & pedagogical support models

(VLE, etc.)

Existing OU SOL model

Chan

ging

edu

catio

nal

cont

ext

Changing technical

context

Changing societal context

business

applications

API

organisation

VignettesVignettes

Microlearner

Profile

2Learner

Cloudworks

Writes to and imports goals, resources, stream

Create goals, tasks

Pull in and publish relevant content

Pull in and publish relevant courses/designs

Publicise study and learning story

Making connections

Thinking &reflection

Communication & interaction

Experience & activity

Evidence &demonstration

Four inter-connected facets of learning

Dyke, Conole et al., (2007)

Can we use this as a framework for mapping

different forms of Web 2.0 pedagogies?

PrinciplesPrinciples Thinking & reflectionThinking & reflection Experience & Experience & activityactivity

Conversation & Conversation & interactioninteraction

Evidence & Evidence & demonstrationdemonstration

Harnessing the net Harnessing the net (social scale, user (social scale, user

generated content)generated content)YesYes YesYes

Aggregates learning Aggregates learning events, resources events, resources and opportunitiesand opportunities

YesYes

Encourages Encourages mentorshipmentorship YesYes

Provides access to Provides access to expertiseexpertise

Formalises the Formalises the informalinformal

Informalise the Informalise the formalformal

Built on Built on relationships relationships

between peoplebetween peopleAllow users to build Allow users to build

reputation in the reputation in the systemsystem

Supports a range of Supports a range of pedagogies and pedagogies and

stylesstyles

UsesUses

Means of Means of visioningvisioning

Mapping Mapping principles principles

to pedagogyto pedagogy

Checklist for Checklist for new new

innovations innovations

Mapping Mapping tools tools

to pedagogyto pedagogy

Technical Educational

Business models

Social LearnSocial LearnWidening participation and Widening participation and

sustainability of Higher sustainability of Higher EducationEducation

Tony Walton, Tony Walton,

Martin Weller and GrMartin Weller and Gráinne Conoleáinne Conole

12th June 2008,12th June 2008,

Eden Conference, LisbonEden Conference, Lisbon