Leading From Both Ends
Linking Systemic Initiatives with Individuals and Communities
David Porter
Executive Director
Push - Pull in the Learning Ecosystem
 For millennia we’ve been
gradually perfecting a model of
the learning universe centred on
curriculum and governed by
authority
 It works well
 Perhaps there’s no reason to
change
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Push - Pull in the Learning Ecosystem
 There are opportunities emerging
to design new learning models
centred on learners and
governed by experience
 We don’t know how to do this yet
 But, it could be revolutionary
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Observational Trends
 The convergence of the learning sciences, cognitive sciences and
human factors engineering with the first generation eLearning
technologies.
 The dynamics of person-centered ('flat') online social hierarchies such as peerto-peer (P2P) communities.
 The blending of materials and locations within the learning experience to meet
the learner's need of the moment.
 The blending/blurring of “working” and “learning”.
 “Re-credentialing” creating a market for lifelong relearning.
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Evolutionary Trends
 From "just in case" to "just in time" learning
 From a job-centred world to a portfolio of work
 From authority-based (institutional) to experiential (personal) learning
management
 From hierarchical knowledge systems to flat, social knowledge
systems
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Learning Models in the Web World
 Personal empowerment augmented by software
Formal learning
 eUniversities
Communities of practice
 Peer-to-peer networks
Pull learning
 Personal portals
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Focus Issues for Today
 Change and challenge in higher education
 What networks and communications force us to think about
 Valuing local wisdom
 Understanding the relationship between local and systemic initiatives, and their value to you and your
students
 Defining your needs
 Understanding and setting your personal requirements for participation in object learning models
 Key drivers for an eLearning future
 Removing technology barriers – new tools, new models
 What we can learn from 50 million Napster users
 Applying web-centric thinking
 Tuning our response to changing learner expectations for learning and training opportunities
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Wisdom Sits in Places
 An ethnography about place
 The naming of the world
QuickTime™ and a TIF F (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.
 The relationship between
different kinds of “knowing
about places,” expressed in
the maps of the terrain
 An exploration of knowledge
 Explicit
 Tacit
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Wisdom in Our Domain
QuickT ime ™an d a TIFF (Un compr ess ed) d ecomp res sor a re ne eded to se e th is p ic tu re.
 Systemic initiatives
 Core technologies and
infrastructure
 Standards and specifications
 Providing openness and
mechanisms for collaboration that
will ensure our ability to
communicate and build critical
mass
 Local initiatives
 The culture that drives
implementation
 The willingness to share resources
with peers and learners
 The opportunity to learn from and
adapt the work of others to improve
personal practice
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Q ui ck Ti m e ™ an d a T I FF ( U nc om p r es se d) de co m pr e ss or ar e n ee de d t o se e t hi s p i ct ur e .
QuickTi me™ and a T IFF (Uncom pressed) decom pressor are needed to see t his pict ure.
Shaping Learning Object Theory

Shaping object theory to meet your
personal needs

A new model for digital learning--one in which
learning content is free from proprietary
"containers," can flow among different
systems and be mixed, reused, and updated
continuously.


A knowledge object is a chunk of electronic
content that can be accessed individually, and
completely accomplishes a single goal.


William Horton, 2001
Anything digital that can be reused a number
of times in different learning contexts.

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Tom Barron, 2000
David Wiley, 2002
Learning Object Models
 “Granular” objects
 Stored in a data base
 Providing
Learning Objectives
+
Content Hierarchy
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Courses
(Network of Learning
Objects, Assessment
Items, and Associated
Resources)
 Flexibility
 Customization
 Interoperability
 Ease of use, search, management
 Increased value through reuse
Atomic Structure of Object Content
Learning
Outcome or
Competency
Learning
Activity
Learning
Resource
Contextual
Narrative
Assessment
It’s more like DNA than Lego
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The Cost of Success
Cost
Time
Complexity
Flexibility
Currency
Opportunity
Value
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Construction and Reuse
Media
Objects
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Lessons
Units
Courses
Object Interoperability
Authors and
Developers
Learners
LMS
CMS and
Authoring
Tools
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Object-Based
Content
Output for Multiple Instructional Methods
Learners
Authors and
Developers
CMS and
Authoring
Tools
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Object-Based
Content
Multiple Custom Outputs
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So How Do We Make It Work?
 Capturing, structuring and
sharing objects is noble work
for faculty and instructors
 For our faculty, instructors,
and developers
 What knowledge and tools
do they need?
 What technology architecture
will support their needs?
 How will they make decisions
about projects that suit an
object model?
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Lessons from the Web Generation

“… his program does everything a Web
application is supposed to do: it builds
community, it breaks down barriers, it’s
viral, it’s scalable, it disintermediates …”

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TIME Magazine,
October 2, 2000
 Users will want to try before they
buy
 Users will buy by the piece
 Users will mix and match
 Users will want to reshape and
re-purpose materials
 Users will want to share
 Users will publish their own
“mixes”
Context
 Lessons from the web generation
Standards and specifications
 Catalysts for local innovation and initiative
Peer-to-peer computing
 Making repositories into self-managed environments
Personal publishing tools
 Giving a voice to diverse opinion and perspective across the Net
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Convivial Tools - Consumer Grade

Finding and using convivial tools is
the “tipping point”
 Peer-to-peer computing
 Self-managed environments
 Collaborative tools

Various “media desktops”




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Personal media systems
Metadata searching
Personal collections
Shared collections
Convivial Tools - Academic Grade
 Some examples of repository
tools that point in the right
direction
 eduSplash
 Recombo Convertor
 Possibility Network
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P2P Network Tools
 Groove, Colloquia, Magi …
 Enabling communities of practice
 Self-administered peer to peer
collaboration tools
 File and resource sharing of
tagged “objects”
 Graphic images
 White boards
 Outlining
 Threaded discussions
 www.groove.net
 www.colloquia.net
 www.endeavors.com
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eduSplash
 Turning your laptop or
workstation into a network-savvy
P2P repository
 Assigning and publishing
metadata for others to find
 Integrating evaluation and quality
assurance tools into the personal
repository environment
 Scaling the application to suit
individuals or communities of
practice
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www.edusplash.net
eduSplash
www.edusplash.net
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Recombo Convertor
 Making it easier to create and
share learning resources
 Tools sitting inside Microsoft Office
(and in the future other authoring
tools) that make it easy for anyone
to quickly create SCORM content.
 And, as everyone at MERLOT
understands, a big part of
sharing content is sharing ways
to describe it
www.recombo.com
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 Simple tools that make it easy for
people to add and to manage
metadata, and to share metadata
profiles that they have created
Convivial Distribution and Structuring Tools
 Content structuring and editing for “play” within multiple learning management
systems (LMS), using commonly available desktop tools
 Adherence to packaging specifications
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Where This Path Leads
Resource
Provider (DRM)
Content
Provider
Accreditation
Provider
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Counselors and
Advisors
Student Information
System
Corporate HR & KM
Tools
Learner with Laptop
or PDA
Mentors and
Collaborators
Metadata Pointer
Server & Digital Rights
Management
Learner with
Workstation
The Possibility Network
 Learning Assistant
Technologies - Indiana
 Personal Learning Assistant
 Web services powering a
personal portal
 Aggregating information from a
variety of post-secondary
providers
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The Possibility Network
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Personal Learning Strategy Designer
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A Closing Perspective
 Online learning benefits from object models
 Capturing, structuring and sharing learning resources is noble
work for faculty and instructors
 Systemic initiatives linked to local innovation will expand our
reach beyond the early adopters
 Build local wisdom
 Finding and using convivial tools is the “tipping point” for
widespread online learning practice in higher education
 Repositories R Us
 The work of MERLOT members and participants will demonstrate
the linkage between local and systemic initiative
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