Who needs
guidance?
Self-directed learning and guidance in
non-formal open coursesMarisa Ponti University of Gothenburg
Two underpinnings of HE
- Teachers are subject-matter authorities- Expertise and resources are scarce
We need to revisit the two underpinnings of HE
- Expertise and resources are NOT scarce
BUT
- What about the role of academic teachers?
Does the increasing wealth of OER influence the role of academic teachers as subject-matter authorities?
Open Participatory Ecosystems:
Shift from a teacher-centred environment to
peer-teaching
BUT
The situation is far from being clear
Ethnographic study
How does the use of open educational resources
(OER) mediate the relationships between
self-directed learners and facilitators in open
courses?
The setting: P2PU
The Setting: P2PU
• Three P2PU principles:»Openness
»Freedom
»Peer-learning
• Role of the volunteer mentor:»Not teaching but facilitating
Two examined courses
• Introduction to Cyberpunk Literature:
- 1 mentor - 15 participants
• Introduction to Javascript 101:
- 34 mentors, - 209 participants
Cyberpunk Lit.: From Sage on the Stage
to Guide on the Side
I ’m going to be your tutor, well, I wouldn’t call it this way; I’ll be your guide through material we’ll study, and we are all here to learn from each other
So basically this is the idea, the course is made by you, suggest other stories, write essays, point to reviews of books as not everyone will have the time to read them all, etc.
Cyberpunk Lit.:
Creating an
Affinity Space
Cyberpunk Lit.:
Creating an
Affinity Space
Cyberpunk Lit.:
Creating an
Affinity Space
Intro to Javascript: Distribution of Ownership
It would be very good if those that
have made comments already and
those making future comments could
at the same time put up concrete
tasks that implement their ideas (ie,
doing, rather than talking about
doing). One thing I have noticed is
the expectation that I (or someone
else) is going to do this work. That's
not going to happen, it needs to be a
collaborative effort (something like
open source software
development)....
It’s our course.”
Intro to Javascript:Puzzlement
I also find sources we are using somewhat
confusing as they are from different authors
using inconsistent jargon and are targeted at
various levels of expertise and may repeat
information from source to source. It seems
rather convoluted and inefficient. I've often
found it hard to find answers to the
questions when I have to sort through the
maze of sources for an answer that uses
different terms than those employed in the
question. I can see some value in working
this out for oneself, but it takes a lot of time
which I think many of us probably do not
have a whole lot of.”
Intro to Javascript:Puzzlement and Need for a Guide
When we are
learning, we are looking at initial hand
holding. So if I am learning a new
language, I know there are lots of
resources on the Internet, but I don't
know where to begin ... I need feedback
on the code I am writing, and on the
interpretations I am making of the
technology in my mind. This is where a
facilitator/mentor/teacher can help.
Comparing the 2 Courses
Introduction to Cyberpunk Literature:
- Abundance of OER as an opportunity
- Creation of an affinity space
- Facilitator as fellow learner
Introduction to Javascript 101:
- Abundance of OER as a problem
- Need for a teacher-like guide to use OER
Conclusions: What Findings Suggest
• OER are not
– Materials to be simply transposed to new settings
– Always used helpfully by autonomous and self-regulating learners
• OER are
– Are artifacts- in-interaction
– Learning may not occur, if people are unable to process the knowledge conveyed by OER and make sense of them in ways that enable them to complete the tasks.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Linnaeus Centre for Research on Learning, Interaction and Mediated
Communication in Contemporary Society (LinCS) at the University of Gothenburg, and the Swedish
Research Council.