Slow and fast learning with contemporary digital technologies
Gráinne Conole, Bath Spa UniversityAECT conference –
Accelerate learning – racing to the futureIndianapolis, 4th November 2015
National Teaching
Fellow 2012 Ascilite fellow 2012EDEN fellow 2013
Outline
• Education 2020• E-learning timeline and emergent
technologies• E-Pedagogies • Facets of e-learning
– Openness– Mobile learning– Social media– Digital identity and literacies– Distributed cognition
• The argument for slowing down
Education 2020
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Innovating pedagogy• Massive open social learning• Learning design informed by
analytics• Flipped classroom• Bring your own devices• Learning to learn• Dynamic assessment• Event-based learning• Learning through storytelling• Threshold concepts• Bricolage
Mobile
Across devices
Dynamic
Personalised
Connected
Free
Interactive
Intuitive
Global
Open
RobustUbiquitous
Unreliable
Battery life
Cost
Training
Time consuming
Privacy
Quantity
Accessibility
Quality
Insecure
IntrusiveTrivialConnectivity
Transitory
https://tinyurl.com/hotelproject
Openness
Distributed cognition
Social media
Mobile learning
Digital Identity, literacies and creativity
1. Openness
• Digital technologies enable more open practices
• Emergence of OER and MOOCs
• Increase of free resource and expertise, via Webinars, blogs, open repositories and journals, social media
The good and the bad…
• Transparency• Greater reach• Equity and social
inclusion• Challenging existing
business models• Disaggregation of
education
• “Laying yourself bare”• Surveillance• Misuse of data• Misinterpretation • Issues re quality and
accreditation • Ownership
The promise and the realityNew forms of interaction, communication and collaboration. Lots of free resources
Not fully exploitedBad pedagogiesTeachers don’t have the time or the skills
https://www.alt.ac.uk/sites/alt.ac.uk/files/public/ALTsurvey%20for%20ETAG%202014.pdf
Common design mistakes
Technical• No balance between text
and images• Irrelevant images• Bad audio or video• Poor font choice• No logical organisation• Broken links• Misuse of technology• Too many tools
Pedagogical• Lack of clarity• Unclear learning outcomes• Mismatch between teaching
and student ability• Overload with information• Learning outcomes and
assessment not aligned• Unclear learning activities• No clear learning pathway
The 7Cs of Learning DesignConceptualise
Vision
CommunicateCreate ConsiderCollaborate
Activities
Combine
Synthesis
Consolidate
Implementation
http://e4innovation.com/?p=831
Course features• Pedagogical approaches• Principles• Guidance and support• Content and activities• Reflection and demonstration• Communication and collaboration
http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/5950
The broader context:The Larnaca Declaration
http://larnacadeclaration.org
MOOCs
• MOOCs are challenging formal education• New business models emerging• Ways to accredit informal and non-formal
learning• EFQUEL MOOC blogs– http://mooc.efquel.org/
Beyond cMOOCs or xMOOCs
cMOOCs• Weekly centred• Participant reflective spaces• Social and networked
participation• Hashtag: #etmooc• Use of a range of social
media
xMOOCs• Linear learning pathway• Mainly text and video• Formative feedback through
MCQs• Individually focused
Dimension Characteristics
ContextOpen Degree to which the MOOC is open
Massive How large the MOOC is
Diversity The diversity of the learners
Learning
Use of multimedia Extent of use of rich multimedia
Degree of communication Amount of communication incorporated
Degree of collaboration Amount of collaboration incorporated
Amount of reflection Ways in which reflection is encouraged
Learning pathway Degree to which the learning pathway is supported
Quality assurance Degree of quality assurance
Certification Mechanisms for accreditation
Formal learning Feed into formal learning offerings
Autonomy Degree of learner autonomy
A taxonomy of MOOCs
http://e4innovation.com/?p=727
2. Mobile learning
• Smart phones and tablets almost ubiquitous• Learning anytime, anywhere • Affordances of mobile
– Small and compact– Personal– Capturing sound, video, image– Good battery life– Wearable tech– Portable – Easy to read– Enables learning in special locations (i.e. fieldwork– Feasible and affordable because of good size,
weight, screen, battery life and cost– Range of excellent Apps to support
communication, productivity, curation and learning
Peacekeeper student using supplied iPad and course app – Security, Conflict & International Development Masters Distance
http://www.tellop.eu/
The good and the bad…
• Learning anywhere, anytime
• Mobile ready websites and Apps
• Learning across contexts and devices
• Ubiquitous connectivity• Social inclusion
• No ‘down time’• Dependency• Info in the Cloud• Battery life• Lack of digital literacy
skills to use effectively
3. Social media• Shift from a passive web to a
participatory, interactive and social web– Distributed, networked,
dynamic, participatory, complex, open, changing
• Range of tools to communicate and collaborate
• Being part of a global community of peers
The good and the bad…
• Rich ways to communicate and collaborate
• Part of a global community of peers
• Access to vast amount of information
• Rapid dissemination of information
• Crowd sourcing
• Lack of privacy• Negative digital traces• Misuse of data• Cyberbulling and trolling• Privacy and security • Corporate control• Time consuming• Addictive
My network
The dark side…
4. Digital Identity, literaciesand creativity
• Digital identity is how you present yourself online
• How you interact and communicate with others
• Facets– Reputation– Impact– Influence– Productivity– Openness
Identity, presence and interactionInteraction
Identity Presence
Presence• Presence (markchilds.wordpress.com)– Mediated presence
• “being there” • immersion
– Social presence • projection of ourselves• perception of others
– Copresence • being somewhere with others
– Self presence • or embodiment
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadair/4250153736/
Digital literacies
JISC
Beetham and Sharpe
• Jenkins– Play – Performance – Simulation– Appropriation– Multitasking – Distributed cognition – Collective intelligence – Judgment – Transmedia navigation– Networking – Negotiation – Visualisation
Critical thinking and creativityOr use of imagination to create something…
• Thinking laterally • Problem solving• Collaborative• Beyond knowledge recall• Across contexts and devices• Lifelong learning• Jenkins’ digital literacies• Role of visualisation and
metaphors
The good and the bad…
• Extension of ‘real’ self – can be the same or different
• Extended reach• Exploiting the medium
• “Laying yourself bare”• Misinterpretation of
identity• Cyber-stalking• Identity theft
5. Distributed cognition
The good and the bad…
• “Person-Plus”• Exploiting vast amount
of information• Tools to curate,
manage, filter• Enhanced capacity• Greater cognition
• Lack of digital literacy skills to use effectively
• Easy to get lost and confused
• Lack of permanency • Machines taking over..• Over dependency
Technologies: the impact on learning
• Access to an unprecedented amount of free tools, resources, courses and expertise
• Instantaneous interaction and communication
• A global, distributed community of peers• Fragmented identities • Multiple ways to learn• New forms of recognition of learning• But… is it to much, too fast and out of
control?
The argument for slowing down
Slow food movement• Reaction against the increase in
fast food • Defending regional traditions,
good food, gastronomic pleasure and a slow pace of life
• Reinvigorate people’s interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us
Slow learning movement• Promoting deep learning in the
context of a broad curriculum that recognises the talents of all students
• Quality of the educational engagement between teacher and learner is more important than judging student ability by standardised tests
• Importance of quality, creative teaching which enables students to think independently and cope with the challenges of life today
Slow learning
Future challenges
• Disaggregating Education• New
– Digital literacies– Business models – Pedagogies– Approaches to design
• Understanding digital identity
• Blurring of boundaries• A move to slowing down
The information bomb….
• Technologies cannot exist without accidents
• Technologies separate us from real time and space
• When, not if technologies fail….
http://www.slideshare.net/GrainneConoleEmail: [email protected]: http://e4innovation.com
Twitter: @gconole
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