Re-designing for change: A
New surge for e-learning(?)
Betty Collis
Moonen & Collis Learning Technology Consultants
20 March 2007, Leicester, UK
It’s been a long journey…
And I’m glad it is not over!
Surges
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billow: rise and move, as in waves or billows; "The army surged forward"
soar: rise rapidly; "the dollar soared against the yen"
rush: a sudden forceful flow
a sudden or abrupt strong increase; "stimulated a surge of speculation"; "an upsurge of
emotion"; "an upsurge in violent crime"
an abnormally high voltage lasting for a short period of time
an oversupply of voltage from the power company, lasting as long as several seconds. A
strong surge can damage electronic equipment
And in connection with education:
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the sudden displacement or movement of water in a closed vessel or drum
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see one's performance improve; "He leveled the score and then surged ahead"
Rise rapidly
Short-lived
Aftermath
Snapshots from the journey
Surge 1: Computers for everyone!
Surge 2: Computer-aided communication for
everyone!
Surge 3: The Web: Information access for
everyone!
Surge 4: VLEs for everyone(?)
Surge 5: Learning objects for everyone!
Surge 6: Web 2.0 (the Participatory Web) for
everyone!
Surge 1
Computers for everyone!
Revolutionize education
Replace the teacher
How? Educational
software, intelligent
tutoring systems, drill &
practice, programming,
computer literacy
Surge 1
Computers for everyone!
Revolutionize education
Replace the teacher
How? Educational software,
intelligent tutoring
systems, drill & practice,
programming, computer
literacy
Aftermath in education…
Tool use was the software
winner (1st place: word
processing)
Computers are ubiquitous
and indispensable in
home, work, play,
business,
society…everywhere
except formal education
Why? Complexity and
social nature of learning,
programming too difficult
Surge 2
Computer-aided
communication for
everyone!
The world becomes a global
village
Instant communication,
anytime, anywhere
How? E-mail, discussion
boards (forums), bulletin
boards, chat
Surge 2
Computer-aided
communication for
everyone!
The world becomes a global
village
Instant communication,
anytime, anywhere
How? E-mail, discussion
boards (forums), bulletin
boards, chat
Aftermath in education:
E-mail is ubiquitous but its
use is unstructured
One-to-many
communication (see
VLEs, Web sites)
Why not more use of
discussion tools,
personal reflection tools
(blogs)? Management,
assessment issues,
perceived lack of
relevance
Surge 3
The Web: Information
access for everyone!
Interconnectedness,
hyperlinking, nonlinear, multi-media
Personal Web pages let
anyone be a publisher
How? Browsers,
servers, search
engines, bookmarks,
html editors
Surge 3
Aftermath for education:
The Web: Information
access for everyone!
Interconnectedness,
hyperlinking, nonlinear, multi-media
Personal Web pages let
anyone be a publisher
How? Browsers,
servers, search
engines, bookmarks,
html editors
Unstructured use of the Web is
ubiquitous, structured use in
education tends to be
limited to systems
maintained by the
organization (VLEs,
administration systems,
library systems, portals)
Why? Education is organized
around linear, prestructured material and
events and assessment;
Creating personal Web
pages via programming is
too complicated
Surge 4
VLEs for everyone (?)
Definition: “a software
system designed to
facilitate teachers in the
management of their
courses. The services
generally include access
control, provision of
content, communication
tools, and administration
of user groups”
How? Costly organizational
decision, not motivated
by pedagogy
Surge 4
VLEs for everyone (?)
Definition: “a software system
designed to facilitate
teachers in the
management of their
courses. The services
generally include access
control, provision of content,
communication tools, and
administration of user
groups”
How? Costly organizational
decision, not motivated by
pedagogy
Aftermath for education:
(Almost) ubiquitous in higher
education; used
predominately as bulletin
board and content
provision, perhaps for
management of student
submissions
Organizational decisions, not
based on “winning hearts
and minds”; relevance
acknowledged for distance
education
(Projected) Surge 5
Learning objects for
everyone!
Back to the ideas motivating
educational software in the
1980s but overcoming the
access barriers
Quality-controlled content,
“beads on a string”
individualization
How? Metadata, ontologies,
standards,
national/international
projects
(Projected) Surge 5
Learning objects for
everyone!
Back to the ideas motivating
educational software in the
1980s but overcoming the
access barriers
Quality-controlled content,
“beads on a string”
individualization
How? Metadata, ontologies,
standards,
national/international
projects
Aftermath for education:
Turns out not to be a surge
after all…Little or no use
in practice
Why? Based on a supply
side view of learning;
does not fit the
complexity, social and
personal aspects of
learning and teaching,
nor the organizational
aspects
(Potential) Surge 6
Web 2.0 for everyone!
“You control the Information
Age” (“You” are Time
magazine’s Person of the
Year in 2006); “Web 2.0 is
all about empowering
individuals”, “prosumers”
“You make it” (user generated
content), “You name it
together”(folksonomy), “You
work on it together”,
(crowdsourcing), “You find
it” (the long tail)”
Example: An online book
asks users to submit ideas
for each page/section.
Phone with
digital
camera and
YouTube:
surveillance
system,
spotlight,
microscope,
soapbox
(65,000 new
user-made
videos
uploaded
each day)
Example: eMusic
celebrated its 100millionth music download
by asking the group who
recorded the song to write
a song about the person
who bought it. The song is
available for free for a
month.
Blog aggregators compile
1000s of related blog posts.
Video toolkits are freely
available to help fans make
their own movies with
artifacts from existing
movies.
Source: Time Magazine, December 25, 2006January 1, 2007, Vol. 168, No, 26, p. 60.
Other names:
Social software
Participatory Web
Collective
authoring
Crowdsourcing
Blogger
Virtual Worlds
(Second Life)
Users as experts
“An army of
Davids”
Power to the
People
“A tool for bringing
together the
contributions of
millions of people
and making them
matter.”
“A massive social
experiment with
no roadmap”
Source: Time Magazine, December 25, 2006January 1, 2007, Vol. 168, No, 26, p. 61.
(Potential) Surge 6
Web 2.0 for everyone!
“You control the Information
Age” (“You” are Time
magazine’s Person of the
Year in 2006); “Web 2.0 is
all about empowering
individuals”, “prosumers”
“You make it” (user generated
content), “You name it
together”(folksonomy), “You
work on it together”
crowdsourcing), “You find it”
(the long tail)”
Aftermath for
education???
Likely to be totally ignored in
formal education…
But, maybe individuals can
have the same collective
power to make a
difference?
How: Re-designing for change
How can we start to tap this phenomena into
education?
By designing
assessed activities
built around this
philosophy and
dynamic, and using
its tools
How can we start to tap this phenomena into
education?
By designing assessed
activities in our courses
built around this
philosophy and dynamic,
and using its tools
And how do we do this?
Put learner activity at the core of your
course, activity based on “You make it”
(user generated content), “You name it
together”, “You work on it together”, “You
find it” (the long tail)
A taxonomy for redesign
By designing
assessed activities
built around this
philosophy, dynamic,
and using its tools
Types of activities
1.1 Find, contribute
1.2 Adapt or create, contribute
2. Build on contributions
2.1 Locate something
specific within
contributions
2.2 Compare and
contrast, contribute
results
2.3 Add to, update,
extend
contributions
2.4.1 For one-time use, within the
course
2.4 Combine
contributions to
create a product
2.4.2 For multiple reuse, within, across
or outside of the course
Examples, Level 1
Types of activities
1.1 Find, contribute
1.2 Adapt or create, contribute
2. Build on contributions
2.1 Locate something
specific within
contributions
2.2 Compare and
contrast, contribute
results
2.3 Add to, update,
extend
contributions
2.4.1 For one-time use, within the
course
2.4 Combine
contributions to
create a product
2.4.2 For multiple reuse, within, across
or outside of the course
Examples, Level 1
Find and
contribute:
Do/Capture and
contribute:
•Appropriate
Weblinks or
references to
extend the study
material
•Interview results
•Examples of
concepts or
issues
•Summaries of readings
•Questions that arise during
project work and
discussions
•One’s own reflections,
concerns, ideas
•Video/audio clips
Examples, Levels 2.1-2.2
Types of activities
1.1 Find, contribute
1.2 Adapt or create, contribute
2. Build on contributions
2.1 Locate something
specific within
contributions
2.2 Compare and
contrast, contribute
results
2.3 Add to, update,
extend
contributions
2.4.1 For one-time use, within the
course
2.4 Combine
contributions to
create a product
2.4.2 For multiple reuse, within, across
or outside of the course
Examples, Level 2.1 and Level 2.2
Use and reuse
Level 1
contributions in
order to:
•Find groupings and
trends; visualize
them in a concept
map or other sorting
scheme
•Identify particular
contributions that
best illustrate or
extend the study
materials
•Compare and contrast
your own entry with
those of others; identify
similarities and
differences
•Select key themes
that emerge from the
personal reflections or
interviews and discuss
Examples, Level 2.3
Types of activities
1.1 Find, contribute
1.2 Adapt or create, contribute
2. Build on contributions
2.1 Locate something
specific within
contributions
2.2 Compare and
contrast, contribute
results
2.3 Add to, update,
extend
contributions
2.4.1 For one-time use, within the
course
2.4 Combine
contributions to
create a product
2.4.2 For multiple reuse, within, across
or outside of the course
Examples, Level 2.3
Add to
collections of:
•Frequently asked
questions (with
answers)
•Practice exam
questions (with
explanations)
•Index terms,
glossary entries
•Weblinks (adding
something that can
update, expand upon or
replace a previous
entry)
•Add comments or
extensions to previously
submitted items (such
as to Wiki entries)
Examples, Level 2.4.1
Types of activities
1.1 Find, contribute
1.2 Adapt or create, contribute
2. Build on contributions
2.1 Locate something
specific within
contributions
2.2 Compare and
contrast, contribute
results
2.3 Add to, update,
extend
contributions
2.4.1 For one-time use, within the
course
2.4 Combine
contributions to
create a product
2.4.2 For multiple reuse, within, across
or outside of the course
Examples, Level 4.2.1
Contribute to a
collection of:
•Hints and tips for
others studying the
same materials
•Resources for peer
coaching during the
course
•Case studies from
participants’ own
work and
experience to be
studied by others
during the course
•Video/audio clips of
interviews or
examples to
illustrate and extend
the study materials
Examples, Level 2.4.2
Types of activities
1.1 Find, contribute
1.2 Adapt or create, contribute
2. Build on contributions
2.1 Locate something
specific within
contributions
2.2 Compare and
contrast, contribute
results
2.3 Add to, update,
extend
contributions
2.4.1 For one-time use, within the
course
2.4 Combine
contributions to
create a product
2.4.2 For multiple reuse, within, across
or outside of the course
Examples, Level 2.4.2
Create a resource for use
by others beyond only
the course participants
such as:
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A resource collection for
practitioners, available via the
Web
A collection of information for a
community or for local industry
Materials for students in local
schools to interest them in an
area of study
The result is the starting point of someone else’s learning
Types of activities
1.1 Find, contribute
1.2 Adapt or create, contribute
2. Build on contributions
2.1 Locate something
specific within
contributions
2.2 Compare and
contrast, contribute
results
2.3 Add to, update,
extend
contributions
2.4.1 For one-time use, within the
course
2.4 Combine
contributions to
create a product
2.4.2 For multiple reuse, within, across
or outside of the course
Challenges: For learners, instructors, technical support, the
organization
Hopefully, Surge 6
Web 2.0 for everyone!
“You control the Information
Age” (“You” are Time
magazine’s Person of the
Year in 2006); “Web 2.0
is all about empowering
individuals”, “prosumers”
“You make it” (user
generated content), “You
name it together”, “You
work on it together”, “You
find it (the long tail)”
Aftermath for
education???
Individuals can have the
collective power to make a
difference
How: Re-designing for change
For more…
Collis, B., & Moonen, J. (2005). An ongoing journey: Technology as a learning
workbench. Available via
http://bettycollisjefmoonen.nl
Prof. dr. Betty Collis
[email protected]
[email protected]