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Educational futures: exploring the impact of ICT

Gráinne Conole,

The Open University, UK

Exeter University, 16/06/09

Blog:www.e4innovation.com

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+Changing technologies

Ubiquitous & networkedContext and location awareMobile technologiesCloud computing

+Learning in the Cloud

Sclater, N. (2009)

Clouds are a large pool of easily usable and accessible virtualized resources (such as hardware, development platforms and/or services). These resources can be dynamically re-configured to adjust to a variable load (scale), allowing also for an optimum resource utilization. This pool of resources is typically exploited by a pay-per-use model in which guarantees are offered by the Infrastructure Provider by means of customized SLAs.

+Virtual learning

+Content, tools & designs free

New tools for sense-making & dialogue

Barriers to sharing & reuse

Changing content

+Education for free: CCK08 & discourse

ltc.umanitoba.ca/blogs/futurecourse/

Did we change the world? No. Not yet. But we (and I mean all course participants, not just Stephen and I) managed to explore what is possible online. People self-organized in their preferred spaces. They etched away at the hallowed plaque of “what it means to be an expert”. They learned in transparent environments, and in the process, became teachers to others. Those that observed (or lurked as is the more common term), hopefully found value in the course as well. Perhaps life circumstances, personal schedule, motivation for participating, confidence, familiarity with the online environment, or numerous other factors, impacted their ability to contribute. While we can’t “measure them” the way I’ve tried to do with blog and moodle participants, their continued subscription to The Daily and the comments encountered in F2F conferences suggest they also found some value in the course.

+Changing students Technologically immersed

Learning processes Task orientated, experiential,

cummulative

Attitudes and approaches group orientated, experiential,

able to multi-task, just in time mindset, comfortable with multiple representations

Disconnect between student & institutional approaches

Caution re: net gen claims, importance of taking account of student differences

Do seem to be age related changes taking place and these are strongly linked to social networking and the use of a range of new

Netgeneration, Digital Natives.... (Oblinger, Prensky, etc.), Ecar reports, Kennedy survey, Chris Jones, Mary Thorpe, JISC LEX projects, PI roject

+Personalised and mobile Individualised

Personal Learning Environment

Synchronised information across devices

Location and context aware

+New learning spaces

Combining the affordances of new technologies with good pedagogy

Taking account of context, location and time

SKG: Learning Spaces project, Australia

+Converging practices

Modern technologies Modern pedagogy

Web 2.0 practices

Location aware technologies

Adaptation & customisation

Second life/immersive worlds

Google it!

Badges, World of warcraft

User generated content

Blogging, peer critique

Cloud computing

From individual to social

Contextualised and situated

Personalised learning

Experiential learning

Inquiry learning

Peer learning

Open Educational Resources

Reflection

Distributed cognition

+Pedagogies of the future A shift in pedagogy from individual – social;

information – experiential; general to contextual

Impact of new web practices (2.0 & beyond)

Changing skills and attitudes

Wider changes in societal norms and practices

What new pedagogies are needed?

Fragmented, distributed identities

Blurring of boundaries: physical/virtual; teacher/student; institution/personal

+Final thoughts Students increasingly digital – demands on institutions?

Students and teachers - personalised environment of tools vs. institutional tools?

What new forms of blended learning spaces are needed?

How do we support new approaches to design and delivery of courses to make more effective use of technologies and lead to an enhance student learning experience?

How do we take account of a digital divide that is ever narrower but deeper?

What new digital literacy skills will learners and teachers need ?

What new pedagogical models are needed to marry the affordances of personalisation with the best affordances of technologies?

How do we account for blurring boundaries (real/virtual, formal/informal, etc)?

+References Conole, G., De Laat, M., Dillon, T. and Darby, J. (2008),

‘Disruptive technologies’, ‘pedagogical innovation’: What’s new? Findings from an in-depth study of students’ use and perception of technology’, Computers and Education, Volume 50, Issue 2, February 2008, Pages 511-524.

Conole, G. (submitted), Personalisation through technology-enhanced learning, in J. O’Donaghue (ed), Technology Supported Environment for Personalised Learning: Methods and Case Studies, IGI Publications.

Conole, G. (forthcoming), Stepping over the edge: the implications of new technologies for education in M. Lee and C. McLouglin (forthcoming), Web 2.0-based e-learning: applying social informatics for tertiary teaching, Hersey, PA: ICI Global.

Johnson, L., Levine, A., & Smith, R. (2009), The 2009 Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

+References

Iiyoshi, T. and Kumar, M.S.V. (2008) (Eds), Opening up education – the collective advancement of education through open technology, open content and open knowledge, MIT Press: Cambridge, Massachuetts, available online at http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11309&mode=toc, last accessed 5/2/09.

NSF (2008), Fostering learning in the networked world: learning opportunity and challenge. A 21st Century agenda for the National Science Foundation, report of the NSF task force on cyberlearning, available online at http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf08204, last accessed 8/2/09.

Sclater, N. (2009), Elearning in the Cloud, 'International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments', IGI Publishing (forthcoming)