EDEN 2016 Annual Conference
Re-imaging Learning EnvironmentsBudapest, 15 June, 2016
DESIGNING LEARNING
ENVIRONMENTS FOR A DIGITAL
AGEDr. Tony Bates,
Research Associate, Contact North
Distinguished Visiting ProfessorThe Raymond D. Chang School of
Continuing Education, Ryerson University
1
Learnercharacter-
isticsContent
Skills
Resources
Assess-ment
Learner support
Culture
Outline
• The learning demands of a digital age
• Learning as development and growth
• Key components of an effective learning environment
• Course design and learning environments
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Demands of a digital economy
Resource-based/energy
Manufacturing
Health/education
IT/media/entertainment
Retail/financial/services
Knowledge-based
component
Where will the jobs be?
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21st century skills
communication skills
independent learning
ethics/responsibility
teamwork and flexibility
thinking skills (critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity)
IT skills embedded in subject area
knowledge management4
Learning and knowledge• What is knowledge?
• How does learning occur?
• Analogies:
• knowledge as coal (objectivist)
• knowledge as developmental (constructivist), e.g. heat
• Teaching as gardening: creating the right environment 5
Questions
• Do either of these analogies work for you?
• Are they helpful in thinking of teaching and learning?
• Can you think of a better analogy to describe learning – or knowledge?
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Alternative learning environments
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‘Nature’ as a learning environment
Military training
Online course
Can you
think of
others?
Technology-focused learning environments
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User-centered
design: Peter Morville’s
UX Honeycomb
A personal learning
environmentimage: Janson Hews, Flikr
Technology and learning environments
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Technology provides different
contexts for learning
environments, e.g.• Learning management systems• Virtual worlds (e.g. Second
Life)• Personal learning
environments
These contexts still need to be
filled with the components of a
learning environment: teacher’s
responsibility
Many possible learning environments
• The campus or school
• Online course
• Experience (work, family, life)
• (online) personal learning environments (technology)
• All need certain common elements that support learning
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One learning environment from a teacher’s perspective
C
Learner character-
isticslearn-ing
contexts
learners
goals
prior know-
ledge
diversity
Digital
natives?
Content
structuresources
quantity/
depth
activities
Content
goals
Skills
thinking
activities
discussion
practical activities
skills goals
facilities
tech-nology
my time
Resources
assis-tants
Assess-ment
projects
E-portfolios
essays
tests Learner support
feedback
counselling
scaffol-ding
other students
Culture
Content and skills
• Content = facts, ideas, principles: ‘knowing’
• Skills = understanding, analysing, evaluating, applying: ‘doing’
• Both necessary in today’s society
• BUT: content has been the traditional priority in HE
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Content and/or skills
We know a lot about how to teach skills:
• Context-specific
• Learners need lots of practice
• Small steps
• Regular feedback from expert
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Content and/or skills
• How do you develop skills? What teaching methods?
• Relationship between content and skills
• What role can technology play in developing and assessing skills?
• What do we assess – and how?
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Content and skills
Skills = teaching methods
• Discussion, social learning for testing and developing ideas
• Experiential learning: learning by doing
• Communities of practice
• Competency-based learning
• Problem-based learning
• Knowledge management16
Culture and learning environments• Culture = dominant values/beliefs that influence decision-making
• Residential schools; public boarding schools; elite universities
• Difficult for an individual to change
• Online learning environments = opportunity to create new cultures
• What values and beliefs are important in your learning environ.?
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Learnercharacter-
isticsContent
Skills
Resources
Assess-
ment
Learner support
Culture
Culture and learning environmentsMy values in teaching an online course:
• Student collaboration/mutual respect
• Open-ness to differing views
• Evidence based argument/reasoning
• Strong instructor presence/learner support
• Making explicit subject epistemology
• The integrity of the learner18
Learnercharacter-
isticsContent
Skills
Resources
Assess-
ment
Learner support
Culture
Learning environments and course design
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• Necessary but not sufficient• Still need • good course design• empathy• competence (e.g. subject
knowledge)• imagination to create context
• the learners have to do the learning
• environment creates conditions for success
From learning environments to course design
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Learnercharacter-
isticsContent
Skills
Resources
Assess-ment
Learner support
Culture
ADDIE: Design processCreating an effective learning environment
graduate pre-service professionals
core skill: knowledge management
open content within a learning design
student-generated multimedia content: online project work
assessment by e-portfolios21
‘Advanced’ online course design
Learnercharacter-
isticsContent
Skills
Resources
Assess-ment
Learner support
Culture
New teaching approaches• from information transmission
to knowledge management
• skills development + content
• lecture-based courses replaced by student projects, problem-based learning, collaborative learning
• goodbye written exams: replaced by e-portfolios demonstrating student’s knowledge/skills
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New faculty roles• Teaching performance will be a
major competitive advantage
• Instructors need pedagogical knowledge + technology skills
• Requires pre-service + in-service training + tenure/promotion reward
• Learning technology support (instructional designers + media designers) + team-work
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Conclusions• Digital economy requires high-
level intellectual skills
• Teaching methods must include opportunities for skills development
• Technology enables more flexible delivery and ways to practice skills
• But all within a specifically designed learning environment that supports learners
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Questions
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• Is thinking about what constitutes
an effective learning environment
helpful?
• What other components would you
add?
• Could you design an effective
learning environment for your own
courses? What would it look like?
• Other comments and questions
Learnercharacter-
isticsContent
Skills
Resources
Assess-
ment
Learner support
Culture
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• Teaching in a Digital Age:
https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage
/
• Blog: Online Learning and
Distance Education
Resources:
http://www.tonybates.ca/
• E-mail: [email protected]
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