SocialLearn update - Mar 18, 2010

© Simon Buckingham Shum

SocialLearn Project update

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Simon Buckingham Shum Knowledge Media Institute Open University UK

KMi Seminar, 18 March 2010


“open”

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1969 2010


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“Open”: 1969

People Places

Methods Ideas fo

undi

ng p

rinci

ples

…


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“Open” in the world of Web 2.0+

Open IP

Open Communities Open Data Standards

Open Economics


“social learning”

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Apprenticeship

“Social Learning” has many intellectual traditions

Computer-supported collaborative learning Group learning

Communities of practice

Wicked, social problems “Social Learning is a

fundamental epistemological shift, beyond participation.

Encompasses both understanding and practices.”


New OU reader on

Social Learning Systems &

Communities of Practice

Chris Blackmore

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SocialLearn Project working definition: social learning can take place when users can…

clarify their intention – learning rather than browsing

ground their learning – by defining their question or problem

engage in focused conversations – increasing their understanding of the available resources.



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trust • affirmation • challenge


shifting educational landscape

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The industrial-era university (school/college)

Knowledge development

Teaching

A canon of knowledge

Repository of knowledge (libraries)

Scholars

Students subordinated

Examination: – pass or fail

Builds national industrial strength Benefactors pay

Monopoly: – access to knowledge

– granting degrees

Nation building

Elite professional and social class

Disciplines and subjects

Objective truth, facts

Figure: Hardin Tibbs


The emerging learning model

Facilitating and guiding the

development of the whole person

Participatory learning

discourse

A knowledge saturated

environment Lifelong learning

Students as customers,

learner-centric

Flexible delivery and assessment

Builds free-market industrial

strength

Nation/state and market-based

funding

Branding in a competitive environment, eroded

monopoly

Globally connected

Vocational focus, career-ready

accredited, everyone ‘learning or earning’

Modules and competencies

Subjective, qualitative, meaning

Figure: Hardin Tibbs

© Simon Buckingham Shum 13

How do we make the future learner-centric (but not an echo chamber where you’re never out your comfort zone)?

Learner-selected mentors

Learner-selected peer network

Personalised information feeds and mobile tools

Personalised resource archives


Learner-centred universe

My learning space

(richly resourced, rewarding, safe, in control of my own learning)

Find a teacher /tutor, or a student, or a co-learner

Create, offer and find learning materials

Share /publish my

learning

My learning needs, my aspiration, my curriculum

My identity My learning record My privacy settings

Learning /Knowledge

maps

Chat, conferencing,

blogging, posting

My online learning /teaching

reputation My learning buddies

How far and how

fast I want

My choice of online tools

My real-world learning context

My learning projects My devices

& platforms

Share, network, join,

participate


designing for online social

learning

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Social learning technology: candidate dimensions of the design space

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everyday social media

“friends” like me

1-many from the start

rapid information exchange

no reflection required by the UI

tag clouds

generic web analytics

recommendations based on navigation, ratings, purchases…

myriad activity traces in the cloud

informal personal endorsements

social media tuned for learning?

+ learning peers/mentors who both affirm and challenge

+ 1-1 mentoring

+ learning conversations

reflection encouraged by the UI

+ meaningful connections

+ learning analytics

+ recommendations based on learning profiles and activities

+ a secure e-portfolio to evidence learning

+ verifiable accreditation by trusted platforms


social, improvable, conceptual artifacts

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beyond sharing media documents, what is special about learning that motivates digital

support for shareable, improvable, CONCEPTUAL artifacts?


Mediating social artifacts for sensemaking cf. Engeström’s wildfire learning activities: we need inquiry, trails, history, consolidation, argument, landmarks, places, exploration   Learners and educators can make many levels of contribution…

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Ask a Question


Mediating social artifacts for sensemaking …inquiry, trails, history, consolidation, argument, landmarks, places, exploration

  Learners and educators can make many levels of contribution…

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Ask a Question

Answer a Question




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Ask a Question

Answer a Question

Post a comment




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Ask a Question

Answer a Question

Post a comment

Support/Challenge




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Ask a Question

Answer a Question

Support/Challenge

Post a comment

Add Resources to enhance contributions




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Build a Learning path to help answer a Question




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Add Reflection points to help consolidate learning





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Add Resources to enhance

any step

Add Reflection points to help consolidate learning

Add Activities to build/assess learning





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Forge new Paths from existing Paths…




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Forge meaningful connections between any Question, Step, Path…

is inconsistent with

refutes

is a counterexample of resolves



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Questions

Answers

Dialogue Argumentation

Data

Activities Assessment

Reflection

Documents Learning Paths

Connections


Social + Conceptual networks

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sociallearn beta2

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(for beta1 report see OU-internal Oct’09 eLearningCommunity webcast)


PhD-Skills

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SocialLearn Space 1. Profile 2. User Interface 3. Social Graph 4. Services

OU VLE

Interoperability via Google OpenSocial Gadgets/FriendConnect

The SocialLearn Space provides the ‘glue’ to connect diverse websites, providing friends, analytics and recommendations

ORO


Google Gadgets & OpenSocial http://opensocial.org / directory.opensocial.org

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Major social media players are now OpenSocial Gadget “containers”

The Gadget Directory is analogous to the iPhone AppStore – thousands of apps


Cloudworks People Recommender gadget in an iGoogle portal (or any other OpenSocial container)

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People Recommender

gadget


Other candidate gadgets…

  SocialLearn   PhD Skills Gadget   Path Gadget   I’m Stuck Gadget   Mentor Gadget

  Plus…   From KMi: eg. Flashmeeting, Virtual Microscope, ROLE…   From OU: eg. Library   From other educational institutions, eg. Moodle   From SocialLearn developer community   From e-science projects, eg. MyExperiment   From Google: eg. Calendar; Gmail, Reader…   From the global Gadget Directory: thousands more… 34


web apps aggregating data from, and providing services to,

diverse OU and external platforms

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web apps: cloudworks

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Cloudworks: A social space to share/discuss educational ideas/resources (IET) http://cloudworks.ac.uk

Seed your Cloud with introductory text or embedded media,

and then invite discussion and links


Embedding Google Gadgets in Cloudworks

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People Recommender

gadget

Cloud Recommender

gadget

Cloudstream Recommender

gadget


web apps: phd skills

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Embedding a Google Gadget in PhD-Skills website http://phdskills.open.ac.uk

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Cloudstream Recommender gadget

showing relevant activity in Cloudworks (test

example)

A generic PhD skill from the national Research Councils

framework


web apps: cohere

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Cohere: web annotation + semantic connections http://cohere.open.ac.uk

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Connections filtered by Contrast



Connections filtered by Lineage


Connections filtered by Consistency



web apps: ELLIment

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Embedding lifelong learning skills in SocialLearn ELLI: Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory

  Bristol University School of Education: what makes some people interested in learning throughout their lives, while others drop out of the system early on?

  Web questionnaire generates a learning map with 7 dimensions describing capacities to learn: basis for a mentored conversation

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Editable ELLI profile accessed

from Learning Warehouse

Shared record of notes, activities,

objectives, etc

Private or Shared

reflections

Choose your mentor

AV channel of choice

ELLIment (rapid prototype – Thomas Ullman, OU)


research opportunities…

there are intruiging conversations now waiting to develop with social learning researchers

opportunities for KMi research to synergise with SocialLearn?...

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Text processing to improve automated user profiling based

on their online ?

R&D opportunities to test socio-semantic technologies in an open source service infrastructure

Analytics and recommendation engines working off content and

social networks?

Merging social graphs from the cloud

SIOC for modelling and merging identity?

Relevant widgets/apps for learners/researchers?

Ontologies relevant to learning/academic research?

Multimedia/semantic search engines looking for a testbed?

Semantic web services?

SocialLearn update - Mar 18, 2010

Education

Transcript of SocialLearn update - Mar 18, 2010