Personal Technologies in Education: Issues, Theories and Debates

Steve WheelerPlymouth University, UK

“The empires of the future will be empires of the mind."

– Sir Winston Churchill

http://en.wikipedia.org/

Learning

in the digital

age

Factory education model?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com

Synchronisation

Batch processing

Compartmentalisation

Standardisation

Personalised Learning?

http://www.delasallewaterford.com

Are we preparing students for

the future or for the past?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/luc/

Personal windows on learning

Trends in Learning & Development

Just for me Apprenticeship model

Just in case Standardised Courses

Just in timeBespoke Courses

Just for mePersonalised Learning

Personal Learning Environment

Personal Learning NetworksPhoto by Steve Wheeler

I store my knowledge with my friends

The personal

learning

agenda

http://www.homodiscens.com

Howard Gardner

Multiple Intelligences

http://www.excelsiorlearningcenter.com

Personalised learning means ensuring that individual differences are

acknowledged

We are familyhttp://pro.corbis.com

Wii are family!

http://wiifitnessdepot.com

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

“The average digital birth of children

happens at about six months.”

Digital Natives?

The Net

Generation?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56155476@N08/5667863948/

Homo

Zappiens?

http://truedantalion.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/silver-surfers.html

Digital Residents and Visitors (White & Le Cornu, 2012)

Learning Webs

From this .... ..... To this

http://sm.irsd.k12.de.us http://blogs.silverlight.net

The VLE

“Institutions that useVLEs are in

danger of turning the Web back into

a funnel”

(Wheeler, 2009)

http://www.chemistryland.com

Image source: http://www.radio-canada.ca

• Access to learning resources at any time

• Ability to connect to and learn with others

• Opportunity to publicly share what has been learnt

- Ivan Illich (1970)

New technolo

gies

The First Mobile Phone

Personal Devices

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalexanderson/6156510808/sizes/l/

Personal Learning Environment

Source: http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2010/07/anatomy-of-ple.html

Steve Wheeler & Manish Malik (2010)

http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-5958585066

Mobile Learning

Learning 2.0

ToolsCollaborating

Sharing

Voting

Networking

User generated

content

Architecture of participation

Tagging

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/117/291379959_594fa8ef70.jpg

BYOD or CYOD?

One of the biggest issues is tracking and controlling access to corporate

and private networks.

Theories

for the digital

age

3 kinds of learner support

Social support

Academicsupport

Technicalsupport

Reference: (Carnwell, 2000)

Traditionally the domain of the teacher/tutor

These are often provided by peers

“Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student

contradiction, by reconciling the poles

of the contradiction so that both are

simultaneously teachers and

students.”

- Paulo Freire

http://arts.anu.edu.au

http://campussolutionsinc.com/tag/reach-college-students/

We learn by teaching

Bearpit Pedagogy

http://open.salon.com

Self organised learning

For successful self organised learning the essential components are:

• Communication• Reflection• Collaboration• Community• Creative Tools• Amplification

Heutagogy

Flâneur

Self-determined learning

Hase & Kenyon

Making Connections

In Connectivism, learning involves creating connections and developing a network. It is

a theory for the digital age drawing upon chaos, emergent properties, and self

organised learning.

(It’s not what you know, but who you know)

Source: Wikipediahttp://www.pestproducts.com

RhizomesDeleuze & Guattari

Anarchy of the Web

Rhizomatic learning

Source: Cormier, D. (2008) http://davecormier.com/edblog/

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“In the rhizomatic view, knowledge can only be negotiated, [and is] a personal knowledge-creation process with mutable goals and constantly negotiated premises.”

“How can technology make a person better? Only in this way: by providing each person with chances.”

- Kevin Kelly

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Photo by Joyce Seitzinger