@imogenber*n  on  Uncollege  &  all  that  

Now  that  stuff  is  on  Google  and  Wikipedia,  and    no-­‐one  has  a  job  for  life,  what  is  educa<on  for?  

Economic  independence:  get  a  job/money  

For  personal  development  

Intellectual  curiosity  

To  shed  our  inherited  prejudices  and  replace  them  with  others  we  choose  to  acquire  

To  be  able  to  successfully  ques<on  the  status  quo  

To  stand  on  the  shoulders  of  giants  

To  get  out  of  the  house  

To  learn  how  to  learn…  To  know  when  

Google  is  wrong  or  biased…  

To  meet  a  partner  or  make  friends  

To  master  a  skill  and  be  licenced  as  a  professional  eg  doctor  

Pew  trust:  economic  mobility  •  ...during  the  fourth  quarter  of  2011,  against  common  no<ons,  

unemployed  individuals  with  higher  levels  of  educa*on  were  just  as  likely  to  be  experience  joblessness  for  a  year  or  longer  as  those  with  only  a  high  school  educa<on…  

•  That’s  America  of  course…  where  5000    janitors  have  PhDs  and  a  first  degree    comes  in  very  handy  for  a  job  in  retail…  

•  Are  the  old  “deferred  benefit”    arguments  for  educa<on  valid…?  –  “You  wasted  $150,000  on  an  educa<on    

you  coulda  got  for  a  buck  fiWy  in  late    charges  at  the  public  library.”  Will    Hun<ng    

“Nearly  two-­‐thirds  enrolling  at  a  community  or  for-­‐profit  college  do  not  earn  a  degree  within  six  years…  about  one-­‐third  of  students  at  public  and  private  four-­‐year  universi<es  do  not  earn  a  degree.”  James  Kvaal,  US  Deputry  UnderSecretary  for  Educa<on,  Sep  2011.  In  Ireland  “The  average  drop  out  rate  in  the  case  of  the  universi<es  was  found  to  be  15%  while  in  the  case  of  the  ins<tutes  of  technology  it  was  found  to  be  42%.”  Mary  Hanafin  Dail  response  2005  (nb  rates  are  higher  for  mature  students).    

In  the  US,  70.1%  of  high  school  grads  go  to  college  compared  to  about  55%  in  Ireland  (in  2004)  –  does  wider  access  devalue  degrees?  

Dropouts,  devalua*on  and  diminishing  returns…  

So  that’s  not  Ireland,  right?  Cost  of  college  educa*on  

Country   Educa<on  inc   Median  income   Affordability  

USA   $13,856*   $26,990   51.34%  

Australia   $7,692   $23,017   33.42%  

Canada   $5,974   $26,623   22.44%  

England/Wales   $5,288   $24,652   21.45%  

Netherlands   $3,125   $28,032   11.15%  

Finland   $1,243   $21,010   5.92%  

Ireland   $2,917   $22,545   13%  

*Private  educa<on  in  the  USA  has  average  tui<on  costs  of  $24,700,  while  public  costs  $7,173.  Irish  costs  would  be  a  lot  higher  if  Irish  students  didn’t  mostly  stay  home/local  for  college…  

1.  Put  your  hand  up  if  you  think  that  In  the  next  five  years  the  price  of  oil  and  energy  will  stabilise  or  go  down?  

2.  Put  your  hand  up  if  you  think  that  In  the  next  five  years  the  price  of  college  educa*on  will  stabilise  or  go  down?  

OK  so…  how  do  we  use  new  technology  and  social  media  to  provide  the  three  basic  func<ons  of  educa<on:  sense-­‐making,  coaching,  and  creden*aling  …    in  a  world  where  we  have  to  constantly  re-­‐skill  to  stay  in  work  too?  

Here’s  a  whistlestop  tour  of  what’s  out  there…    

Hands  up!  

“Uncollege  is  a  social  movement  designed  to  help  you  hack  your  educa<on.”  hlp://uncollege.org  NOTICE  the  crea*ve  commons  licence…  

Open  Educa*onal    Resources  (OERs)  •  By  using  new  forms  of  licensing  and  distribu<on  like  crea<ve  

commons,  the  cost  of  textbooks  can  be  slashed.  –  This  requires  teachers  and  ins<tu<ons  to  be  prepared  to  share  their  

intellectual  capital…    

•  Now  books  can  be  distributed  instantly  and  cheaply  online…  –  But  annota<ng  text  for  study  can  be  hard  on  a  tablet.  Textbooks  are  

not  read  “serially”,  like  novels  and  many  s<ll  prefer  to  read  on  paper  

•  Our  college  libraries  pay  vast  sums  to  subscribe  to  academic  journals  publishing  the  results  of  research    that  we,  the  taxpayers,  have  funded.    –  But  if  you  have  “open  source”  academic    

publishing,  how  do  you  guarantee  the  quality?  

iTunesU  –  just  do  it!  •  The  brightest  and  best  lecturers  in  the  world  from  top  

universi<es  are  available  as  video  and  audio  free  of  charge  on  iTunesU    

•  Even  if  you  never  listen  to  music  or  do  not  have  an  iOS  device  (iPod  Touch,  iPhone,  iPad),  you  need  iTunes  for  iTunesU  –  TRY  IT  TOMORROW.  Seriously.  There  is  iTunes  for  Windows!  3  x  as  many  people  download  audio  lectures  as  video…  

•  …but  talking-­‐head  lectures  can  be  boring  and  hard  to  find  <me  for.  They  don’t  necessarily  “teach”  you    anything.  For  that  you  need  collabora<on,    knowledge  construc<on,  assessment,    coaching,  feedback…  

Khan  Academy:  flip  the  classroom  •  Salman  Khan  started  Khan  Academy  in  his  garage  to  provide  

video  tutorials  in  maths  for  his  younger  rela<ves  –  Online  learning  isn’t  as  easy  as  video  lectures.    

Dropout  rates  are  high  (50%)  for  pure  e-­‐learning  because  you  miss  out  on  peer  learning  and    discussions.  Khan’s  videos  are  short  and  use  web    analy<cs  to  provide  tutorial  help  when  learners    get  stuck...  Before  they  give  up...  

•  3,200  free  micro-­‐lectures:  from  biology  to  art  history.    –  Funded  by  dona<ons,  par<cularly  the  Gates  Founda<on  

•  By  crea<ng  repeatable,  recorded  morsels  of  knowledge  Khan  “flipped”  the  classroom    –  Students  learn  the  “stuff”  before  the  class  and  then  use  face  to  face  or  

discussion  <me  for  points  of  difficulty  and  construc<ve  groupwork  or  problem  solving.  

MOOCs  and  Open  Badges  •  Massively  Online  Open  Courses  =  MOOCs  –  mostly  FREE!  

–  Offered  by  top-­‐rank  colleges  like  Stanford  and  Harvard  •  Not  just  boring  talking  head  videos…  webinars…  

–   virtual  office  hours  and  online  discussion,  embedded  quizzes  

•  Class  sizes  of  many  thousands  –  160,000  students  in  190  countries  enrolled  in  

 an  Ar<ficial  Intelligence  course  at  Stanford.    

•  High  drop-­‐out  rate  –  23,000  completed  of  whom  248  achieved  

 scores  of  100%.  

•  How  can  they  be  made  sustainable?  –  Charging  for  comple<on  cer<ficates?    

Selling  leads  to  recruiters?  

•  Will  employers  value  them?  -­‐>  Open  Badges  movement  

TEDEd  and  edX  –  access  to  the  best…  •  TED  –  Technology,  Educa<on  and  Design  video  talks    

–  Inspira<onal!  “Ideas  worth  spreading.”  Mostly  <  10  mins.  If  you  take  one  thing  from  today,  go  and  watch  some  TED  videos…  eg  Sal  Khan  “Let’s  use  video  to  reinvent  educa<on”  

–  TEDEd  “Lessons  worth  sharing”.  Use  videos    from  TED  or  YouTube  with  anima<ons    and  quizzes  to  create  customized  lessons…    with  addi<onal  resources.  TEDEd  shows  you    how…hlp://ed.ted.com/tour  and  lets    teachers  customise  however  they  like…and    monitor  student  progress  

•  Need  more  structure?  Try  EdX…  –  MIT  and  Harvard’s  contribu<on:  “teaching  designed  specifically  for  the  

Web…  self-­‐paced  learning,  online  discussion  groups,  wiki-­‐based  collabora<ve  learning,  assessment  of  learning  as  a  student  progresses  through  a  course,  and  online  laboratories”  -­‐  they  plan  to  franchise  to  other  colleges.    

M-­‐learning  and  tablets  •  Learn  on  your  smartphone  at  your  own  pace  

–  Shor<ng  readings  and  videos  –  Treasure/scavenger  hunts  where  you  sign  in    

using  your  phone…  

–  Quizzes  –  Pocket  e-­‐library  (NB  Cork  City  Library  now  has  e-­‐loans)  –  Video  link  to  an  expert  or  tutor  from  your  phone  

–  Record  audio,  video,  pictures  (eg  medical  students)  

•  Problems…  –  Hard  to  read  for  more  than  short  period  

–  Difficult  to  type  or  select  op<ons  

•  Tablets,  especially  the  iPad,  beler  suited  to  educa<on?  –  Countless  new  educa<onal  apps  being  developed  –  Ability  to  include  gaming  targets  and  levels  within  apps  

–  New  iOS6  guided  access  restricts  students  to  the  “test”  at  hand    

Learn  social  •  You  learn  as  much  from  other  students  as  you  do  from  the  

teacher…  –  Course  mul<-­‐user  blogs  –  Facebook  closed  groups  for  classes  –  Twiler  class  hashtags  to  share  info  –  Quizlet.com  shared  study  cards  for  revision  

–  Pinterest  curated  image  or  infograhic  collec<ons  

–  Distribute  presenta<ons  from  Slideshare.net  or  Prezi  –  Use  Dropbox  for  groupwork  documents  

–  Share  website  bookmarks  on  Pinboard  or  Delicious    

•  But…  what  about  the  non-­‐techies  or  those  concerned  about  privacy  or  those  who  cannot  afford  technology?    –  Are  we  now  at  the  stage  where  digital  literacy  is  as  important  as  

reading  and  wri<ng?  

See  my  blog  hlp://www.ctc.ie  for  a  list  of  short  videos  about  these  changes  to  educa<on…  If  you  only  watch  one,  I  recommend  Sir  Ken  Robinson…  

E-­‐porfolios  •  Need  to  demonstrate  your  skills  eg  for  employers?  

•  Record  your  progress  as  you  learn  and  keep  re-­‐assessing  what  you  need  to  learn  next…  –  Widely  used  in  health  professions  to  track  con<nuing  professional  

development,  oWen  as  a  condi<on  of  professional  registra<on  

•  A  sort  of  “digital  shoe-­‐box”  of  documents,  videos,  bookmarks…  –  But  problems  with  how  you  maintain    

it  or  take  it  with  you  aWer  you  leave  a    course…  

–  And  expensive  for  teachers  to  assess…  –  And  does  anyone  really  read  them  

as  opposed  to  checking  your  LinkedIn  profile?  

References  •  Image  page  1:  hlp://www.indiansinkuwait.com/ShowAr<cle.aspx?

ID=4057&SECTION=17  •  Reference  page  3:  hlp://www.pewstates.org/research/analysis/ingrid-­‐schroeder-­‐

and-­‐erin-­‐currier-­‐the-­‐american-­‐dream-­‐85899379744  

•  Reference  page  4:  hlp://www.businessinsider.com/these-­‐two-­‐charts-­‐prove-­‐a-­‐college-­‐educa<on-­‐just-­‐isnt-­‐worth-­‐the-­‐money-­‐anymore-­‐2012-­‐6  

•  Reference  page  5:  hlp://www.businessinsider.com/tui<on-­‐costs-­‐by-­‐country-­‐college-­‐higher-­‐educa<on-­‐2012-­‐6#  with  guess<mate  by  Imogen  for  Ireland.  Methodology  for  anyone  who  would  like  to  improve  the  guess<mate  here  –  I  just  ran  out  of  <me  to  complete  the  calcula<on...  hlp://www.ireg-­‐observatory.org/pdf/HESA_Global_Higher_Educa<onRankings2010.pdf  

•  Image  page  8:  hlp://degreedirectory.org/ar<cles/10_Places_to_Buy_Digital_Textbooks_Online.html  

•  Image  page  10:  hlps://wiki.mozilla.org/Badges  

•  Image  page  14:  hlps://www.facebook.com/NoHopeForTheHumanRace  

•  Image  page  15:  hlp://www.alanbloomproduc<ons.com/ShoeBoxScan.html    

•  Disclaimer:  all  views  expressed  are  my  own  and  not  those  of  my  employers  University  College  Cork  and  Apple  Distribu<on  Interna<onal.