Tartu, Estonia, April 2011Technological Challenges and

Opportunities of Three Generations of Distance Education Pedagogies

Terry Anderson, PhD and Professor

Why I am here!

• Why I am Here ??

Feb 1, 2011 Mar 25 2011

Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada

* Athabasca University

34,000 students, 700 courses

100% distance education

Graduate and Undergraduate

programs

Master & Doctorate – Distance Education

Only USA Regionally Accredited

University in Canada

*Athabasca University

• “Canada is a great country, much too cold for common sense, inhabited by compassionate and intelligent people with bad haircuts”. – Yann Martel, Life of Pi, 2002.

The world is moving so fast that there are days when the person who says it can’t be done, keeps getting interrupted by the person doing it.

anonymous

Personally, I’m always ready to learn,Although I do not always like to be taught

Winston Churchill

Overview

• Technology and Learning• Generations and technologies of distance

education pedagogy• Type of knowledge appropriate to each

generation

• Your Comments and Questions!

Values• We can (and must) continuously improve the

quality, effectiveness, appeal, cost and time efficiency of the learning experience.

• Student control and freedom is integral to 21st century life-long education and learning.

• Continuous education opportunity is a basic human right

7Th Grade Learning Today

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEls3tq5wIY• Wendy Dexler – University of Florida

DE/Online/Elearning/Blended Paradigm Wars

Is e-learning just distance education taking steroids??

Is E-learning Distance Education??

Blended or Hybrid Education

Is E-learning Distance Education??

Blended or Hybrid Education

E-Learning

Traditional Technology Generations of Distance Education

Learning as Dance (Anderson, 2008)

• Technology sets the beat and the timing.

• Pedagogy defines the moves.

Social Construction of TechnologyDistance Education is, by definition, technologically mediated and

thus is influenced by technological determinism.BUT…. • Interpretative Flexibility

– each technological artifact has different meanings and interpretations• Relevant Social Groups

– many subgroups of users with different applications• Design Flexibility

– A design is only a single point in the large field of technical possibilities• Problems and Conflicts

– Different interpretations often give rise to conflicts between criteria that are hard to resolve technologically

• (Wikipedia, Sept, 2009)

Bijker, W. (1999). Of Bicycles, Bakelites and Bulbs: Towards a Theory of Sociotechnical Change.

Three Generations of Distance Education Pedagogy

1. Behaviourist/Cognitive – Self Paced, Individual Study

2. Constructivist – Groups3. Connectivist – Networks

and Collectives

1. Behavioural/Cognitive Pedagogies

• “tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em,

• tell ‘em • then tell ‘em what you

told ‘em”

Direct Instruction

Gagne’s Events of Instruction (1965)

1. Gain learners' attention2. Inform learner of objectives3. Stimulate recall of previous information4. Present stimulus material5. Provide learner guidance6. Elicit performance7. Provide Feedback8. Assess performance9. Enhance transfer opportunities

Basis of Instructional Systems Design (ISD)

Enhanced by the “cognitive revolution”

• Chunking • Cognitive Load• Working Memory• Multiple Representations• Split-attention effect• Variability Effect• Multi-media effect

– (Sorden, 2005)“learning as acquiring and using conceptual and cognitive structures” Greeno, Collins and Resnick, 1996

Behaviourist/Cognitive Knowledge Is:

• Logically coherent, existing independent of perspective

• Largely context free• Capable of being transmitted• Assumes closed systems with discoverable

relationships between inputs and outputs• Readily defined through learning objectives

New Developments in Behavioural/Cognitive Systems

• Reflection Amplifiers• Social Indicators

– Global feedback– Digital footprints– Archives– Competition and games

• Multiple Representations• Student modeling and adaptation - analytics

Slide 23

Adaptivity in ubiquitous learning

• Extensive modelling of learner’s actions, interactions, “mood”, trends of preferences, skill & knowledge levels, implicit and explicit changes in skill & knowledge levels

• Real-time monitoring of learner’s location, technology use, and change of situational aspects

Open Student Models

• “the learner model now plays a new role – not only can the learner contribute information to help increase the accuracy and therefore the utility of their learner model for adaptation purposes, but the model can also become a learning resource for the student in its own right. “ Susan Bull et al. 2007

• removing the blindness that has to date prevented educators from viewing and learning directly from learner behaviours

Learning Analytics• Unlike traditional adaptive hypermedia and

intelligent tutoring systems that work on a known closed corpus of material,

• Learning analytics is used across multiple, unknown activities and interactions across the net, mining information about patterns of behaviour in order to extract useful information about learning which can then be applied to improve the experience.

1st International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge 2011

Open Open Content and Open Educational Resources

Because it saves time and money!!!

Issues in DistanceEducation Series

aupress.cawww.irrodl.org

Are you More than Your Content?

• lack of motivation for distance education content developers to use OERs ??

• Many DE developers and Faculty define themselves by the production of quality content – not by the consumption and customization of content created by others.

Cog/Beh teams demand:• Effective Project Management• Synchronous and asynchronous distributed

communications• Archiving, and version control• Interoperability• Reuse• Distribution

Enhancing teacher presence through Voice Annotation of essay and

project assignments.

• Phil Ice (USA) – Increased impact of feedback– Students appreciate voice– Increased amount of feedback– SAVES TIME!!– Using Adobe Acrobat

Ice, P., Curtis, R., Phillips, P., & Wells, J. (2007). Using asynchronous audio feedback to enhance teaching presence and students’ sense of community, 11(2), 3-25. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 11(2), 3-25

Many ways that technologies enhance production and learning

of 1st generation Cognitive/behaviourist pedagogy.

2nd Generation DESocial Constructivist Pedagogy

Social Constructivist Learning Pedagogy

• New knowledge is built upon the foundation of previous learning

• The importance of context• Errors and contradictions are useful• Learning as an active rather than passive process, • The importance of language and other social tools in

constructing knowledge• Focus on negotiation, meta-cognition and evaluation as a

means to develop learners’ capacity to assess their own learning

• The importance of multiple perspectives - groups• Need for knowledge to be subject to validation and

application in real world contexts – (from Honebein, 1996; Jonassen, 1991; Kanuka & Anderson, 1999)

Constructivist Knowledge is:

• Learning is located in contexts and relationships rather than merely in the minds of individuals. Greenhow, Robelia & Hughes

(2009),

Kathy Sierra http://www.speedofcreativity.org/

Constructivist learning is based onGroup Learning Providing:

• Motivation• Feedback• Alternate and conflicting viewpoints

Why Groups?• “Students who learn in small groups

generally demonstrate greater academic achievement, express more favorable attitudes toward learning, and persist …

• small-group learning may have particularly large effects on the academic achievement of members of underrepresented groups and the learning-related attitudes of women…” • Springer; Stanne, & Donovan, (1999) P.42

Impact (Mean effect size) of Cooperative versus Individualistic

Learning contextsDependent Variable

Achievement .64 -88

Interpersonal Attraction .67-82

Social Support .62-.83

Self-esteem .58- .67

Time on task .76

Attitudes towards task .57

Quality of reasoning .93

Perspective taking .61

From Johnson and Johnson (1989). Cooperation and competition. Theory and research

Advances in Social Constructivist Learning Tools

• Collaborative tools– Document creation, management, versioning– Time lines, calendars, – Strong notifications

• Security, trust – hosting on institutional space?– Behind firewalls, away from search engines

• Decision making and project management tools• Synchronous and asynchronous

conversations/meetings

User Model & Adaptation for Groups:

TRAC system “extract patterns and other information from the group logs and present it together with desired patterns to the people involved, so that they can interpret it, making use of their own knowledge of the group tasks and activities” (Perera, 2009).

SNAPP Moodle analytics

Gestures, body language rich human presence tools

• Avatar Kinect

Asynchronous Voice technologies

Problems with Groups• Restrictions in time, space, pace, &

relationship - NOT OPEN• Often overly confined by leader

expectation and institutional curriculum control

• Usually Isolated from the authentic world of practice

• “low tolerance of internal difference, sexist and ethicized regulation, high demand for obedience to its norms and exclusionary practices.” Cousin & Deepwell 2005

• “Pathological politeness” and fear of debate

• Group think (Baron, 2005)• Poor preparation for Lifelong Learning

beyond the course

Constructivist learning in Groups is necessary, but not sufficient for advanced forms of learning.

3rd Generation - Networked Learning using Connectivist Pedagogy

• Learning is building networks of information, contacts and resources that are applied to real problems.

Connectivist Learning PrinciplesGeorge Siemens, 2004

• Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.

• Learning may reside in non-human appliances. • Capacity to know is more critical than what is currently

known. • Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to

facilitate continual learning.• Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and

concepts is a core skill. • Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.

Connectivist Knowledge is

• Emergent• Distributed• Chaotic• Fragmented• Non sequential• Contextualized

Networks add diversity to learning

“People who live in the intersection of social worlds are at higher risk of having good ideas” Burt, 2005, p. 90

Connectivist Learning is Emergent

• the very uncertainty and lack of predictability of learning outcomes will be the key factor that adds value to a learning community

• emergent systems will provide the necessary triggers to enhance knowledge and understanding

• emergent learning will be one of the critical triggers to unleash individual creativity (Kays & Sims, 2006, p. 411)

Connectivist Learning designs

Awareness and Receptivity

Connection formingSelectionFiltering

Contribution and Involvement

Reflection and Metacognition

Pettenati, M. (2007).

Special Issue of IRRODL on Connectivism March. 2011

• Editors George Siemens and Grainne Conole

Free Subscriptions at www.irrodl.org

Transparency, Persistence• “shared awareness allows

otherwise uncoordinated groups to begin to work together more quickly and more effectively (forming networks)” Clay Shirky 2008 p. 162

• “adjacent possibilities” Stuart Kaufman – ideas sufficiently close geographically or conceptually to propel interaction, contradictions & adoption

Communities of Practice • Distributed• Share common interest• Mostly self organizing• Open – Learning beyond the course• No expectation of meeting or even knowing all

members of the Network• Little expectation of direct reciprocity• Contribute for social capital building, altruism and

a sense of improving the world/practice through contribution.

• Increases exposure to the adjacent possible

(Brown and Duguid, 2001)

Networks

How do we Build Networks of Practice ?

• Motivation – learning plans, self and net efficacy, net-presence, modeling and exposure

• Structural support – Exposure and training– Transparent systems– Wireless access, mobile computing

• Cognitive skills – content + procedural, disclosure control

• Social connections, reciprocity– Creating and sustaining a spiral of social capital building

• Nahapiet & Ghoshal (1998)

Challenges of Connectivist Learning Models

• Privacy • Control • Dealing with disruptive change• Institutional Support• Sustaining motivation and

commitment

Access Controls in Elgg

Group Network

Leveraging the Collective

Dron and Anderson, 2011

Sets

57

Set

Applying the Generations

Anderson, Krathwohl et al (2001) revision of Bloom’s (1956) model of the cognitive domain

Graphics from Atherton (2010)

Cog/Beh1st Gen

Constructuvist.2st Gen

Connectivist.3st Gen

Ist Gen Cog/Behav is Hard

• Rigid Structures• Increased transactional distance• Scalable• Reduces choice,• Reduces Insecurity

Jon Dron 2011

2nd Gen Constructivist is Softer

• Less Structure -> more dialogue (Michael Moore)

• Doesn’t scale

3rd Generation Connectivist

• Emergent, soft• Scalable• Forces learner control

3rd Generation Connectivist

Soft is Hard

3rd Generation Connectivist

Soft is Hard

Soft is the Real World

What distinguishes humans from other primates?

Laland, K. & Galef, B. (2008)The Question of Animal Culture. Harvard University Press

What Distinguishes Humans from other primates?

• Soul? – pre Darwinian• Culture? - ongoing debate in anthropology• Brain size?

• Relative brain size? homo sabiens compared to extinct primates

Species Simple brain-to body ratio (E/S)[1]small birds 1/12human 1/40mouse 1/40

Humans are Unique

• Unusual ability of non relatives in reciprocal cooperation

• Language as conceptual sharing • Social learning- the ability to copy and learn

from what others are doing- Unique??• Kim Hill cited by Wade, T. NY Times

• How can we socially learn without connecting with the expanding “adjacent other”

Humans are Uniquely Social

• Social learning “is not an individual trait but an interaction” Jim Sterelny, 2008 Peace Keeping in the Culture Wars

Support for Informal Learning on Networks

2010 Survey of 125 US learning and training leaders - CARA

3 Generations of DE Summary

Anderson, T. & Dron, J. (2011) Three Generations of Distance Education Pedagogy. IRRODL

Recommendations for teachers

• Be as fearless as your students.• Seek out and create opportunities to

collaborate with and learn from your peers.• Develop your own personal learning system• Explore, experiment and have fun

Conclusion• Behavioural/Cognitive models are useful for memory

and conceptual knowledge acquisition.• Constructivist models develop group skills and trust.• Connectivist models introduce networked learning and

are foundational for lifelong learning in complex contexts.

• 21 century literacys and skills demand effective use of all three pedagogies.

• Don’t argue quality with those from different generations.

Anderson & Dron (in press) 3 generations of DE Pedagogy. International Review of Research in Distance and Open Learning (IRRODL)

Slides available at http://www.slideshare.net/terrya/hub-de-summit-sydney

Terry Anderson terrya@athabascau.ca

Blog: terrya.edublogs.org

Your comments and questions most welcomed!