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Serendipity and fun as ingredients  for transforming practice Gráinne Conole, Open University, UK Learning Design Conference, Vancouver Simon Fraser University, 21/10/09 More info, slides and references: http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/2544 http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/ 11190_3_JLB%20PREFERRED%20External %20Image%201000px%20wide.jpg
Converging practices Modern technologies Modern learning & teaching Web 2.0  practices Location  aware technologies Adaptation  & customisation Second life/ immersive  worlds Google  it! “ Expert badges” , World of warcraft  User- generated content Blogging, peer  critiquing Cloud  computing From individual to  social Contextualised and  situated Personalised  learning & teaching Experiential  learning & teaching Inquiry  learning & teaching  Peer  learning & teaching  Open  Educational Resources Reflection Distributed  cognition
The gap between promise & reality Common  reactions:   “ I haven’t got  time ” “ My  research  is more important” “ What’s in it for  me ?” “ Where is my  reward ?” “ I don’t have the  skills  to do this” “ I  don’t believe  in this, it won’t work” Common  resistance strategies: I’ll say yes (and  do nothing ) Undermine  the initiative Undermine  the person involved Do it  badly Classic  mistakes : Emphasis on the  technologies , not the  people and processes Funding for technology developments but not  use and support OER Little reuse Array of  technologies Not fully  exploited
Addressing the “What’s in it for me? ” The inertia dilemma – why has so little innovation spread? Too difficult, bewildering, no incentive or support, no recognition  Want examples, someone to talk to, Needs to be fun, motivating and useful Web 2.0 practices: egocentric, addictive, motivational, peer support/regulation Evolving ecology of tools and practices People connected using tools: collective technical infrastructure  Changing practice – new ways of interacting and  communicating The problem A socio-technical “space”
The solution? Connection… Institutional & national funding Embedding in strategy Aligning to technology trends Changing user behaviour Drivers and challenges Actual use in practice What’s in it for me? Evidence of impact Policy Teacher  practice Research & development The learner’s  experience
Bridging the gap Characteristics of  good pedagogy  Personalised Situative Social Experiential Reflective Affordances of new technologies Adaptive Contextual Networked Immersive Collective “ Open Design” Explicit Shareable Cross boundaries Collective Cummulative
Open Design: a definition/approach Aims to widen access to good ideas and designs, to share practice Design for all types of learning activity Formal course Individual learning activity Informal study group activity Blurring of boundaries Teacher – Learner Formal – informal Real – virtual Principles Open Sharable Explicit:  design process explicit & sharable Designers and users Builds on open source principles Assessment Learning outcomes Tasks Aspects of design
Realising “open design” Evidence base (interviews, surveys, observation, web stats,  expert panels, focus groups)  Development (resources,  methods, tools,  session types, interventions) Trialing  (within the OU,  workshops &  conferences,  project partners) Open University Learning Design Initiative & The Olnet network
OU Learning Design Initiative Design methods: schema & patterns Tools:  Visualisation & guidance Events:  Cloudworks:  sharing & discussing
Olnet: redefining openness
Technology enhanced… Technology-enhanced learning but what about technology-enhanced teaching? …. Or beyond Need to rethink education in a modern context What is it for, who is it for, what are the roles and how is it supported Blurring of boundaries of ‘learner’, ‘teacher’ and ‘other’ towards ‘actors’ interacting with each other in a technology-enhanced environment, where actors and their practice co-evolve with the tools
New environment, new practices  What would characterise this? Open Changing roles User-centric and personalised Evolving Co-operative and collaborative – users helping each other, peer critiquing, regulating, fostering communities and clusters of engagement “ Cummulatively intellligent” – harnessing the affordances of the technologies to meet specific needs, but to build and aggregate knowledge, and to distribute this in multiple ways for multiple purposes
Open design and mediation Can we develop new innovative mediating artefacts? How can we make the design more explicit and sharable ? Designer Design Has an  inherent Learning activity or OER Creates Mediating  artefacts Mediating artefacts Visualisation: CompendiumLD Methods: Schema & patterns Sharing: Cloudworks User – can now repurpose
Mediating artefacts Individuals use a range of mediating artefacts to achieve something – write a paper, design a learning event With new technologies there is now a greater range of MA and new ways for individuals to connect and communicate with others Taking a socio-cultural approach allows us to make sense of this because it helps articulate the MA and look at the context of use – rules, community, division of labour, as well as look over time at the evolving system as user-practice changes and co-evolves with the technologies
Open Design: Visualising and sharing
Explicit design
Design, use, reuse Designer OER Design Creates Deposits Deposits Learner A OER Design Learner B Tutor  Chooses Uses Quiz + beginners route Uses Quiz + advanced route Repurposes  & deposits
Process design Prior designs  & resources New designs Content:  (OER repositories, etc) Designs:  (Pedagogical  Patterns,  CompendiumLD designs)  New OER  & designs
Open design: Social and collective
Key concepts: Clouds Clouds:  Ideas Design or case studies Tools or resources Questions or problems
 
Key concepts: Cloudscapes Cloudscapes: Conferences Workshops Course team Student cohort Research theme Project
 
Key concepts: Activity streams Clouds Cloudscapes Comments Links References Extra content
 
Theoretical perspectives “ Social objects” Social networking makes little sense  if we leave out the objects that mediate  the ties between people Engeström  Design framework for sociality Enabling practice Mimicking reality Building identity Actualising self Bouman et al .
Approach Agile development: initially build in Drupal, now Codeigniter Series of phases: design decisions, development, evaluation Empirical evidence Web stats including google analytics Interviews and focus groups Cloudfests  Workshops and conferences Observation and reflective diaries Critical friends group and design summits
Principles Open Drawing on web 2. practices Intentionally both built around “communities”/’clusters of interest” and cross-boundaries Clouds as core objects – social, cummulative, intelligent Dynamic and evolving through use alongside real events as well as virtual ones Variety of types of activities and uses but focus always on sharing, finding and discussing educational ideas and designs
Design decisions Cloud metaphor Seeding the site Including social features Tagging by pedagogy, tool, discipline Low barrier to entry No private content User profiles Cloud types  Using: Workshops, focus groups, surveys, “cloudfests” “ What’s in it for me”? Privacy and provenance Sustainability Barriers to sharing  Lack of spontaneous use Phase 1 Evaluation
Design decisions Amalgamate cloud types Increase social features Foster communities - cloudscapes Follow functionality My cloudstream Usability report Lack of spontaneous use Navigation Quality control Phase 2 Evaluation
Design decisions Add RSS feeds Integrate streams from other web 2.0 sites Merge tag categories Improve homepage  New patterns of behaviour  Divided views about “open” Cognitive barrier to getting use to the tool and then using it Significant increase in use of the site as a result of tools Phase 3 Evaluation
Emergent patterns of use Events: conferences and workshops ALT-C conference , 8-11 th  September 2009 http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloudscape/view/1870 Discussions: Flash debates Is Twitter killing blogging? http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloud/view/2266 Eliciting expertise and open reviews Literature review  of educational technologist http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloudscape/view/1872 Aggregating resources En Rumbo  Spanish course http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloudscape/view/776
Conclusions Motivation : helping teachers/designers make more innovative use of technologies to create better learner experiences Approach : development of a range of resources, tools, methods and events to support this Evidence-base and agile development : on-going evaluation and reflection to enhance understanding and drive future developments Reflection : How effective is this? Where to next? Is it transferable? How “open” can we really expect teachers/learners to be?
Conclusions Motivation : helping teachers/designers make more innovative use of technologies to create better learner experiences Approach : development of a range of resources, tools, methods and events to support this Evidence-base and agile development : on-going evaluation and reflection to enhance understanding and drive future developments Reflection : How effective is this? Where to next? Is it transferable? How “open” can we really expect teachers/learners to be?

More Related Content

Conole Canada Keynote

  • 1. Serendipity and fun as ingredients for transforming practice Gráinne Conole, Open University, UK Learning Design Conference, Vancouver Simon Fraser University, 21/10/09 More info, slides and references: http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/2544 http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/ 11190_3_JLB%20PREFERRED%20External %20Image%201000px%20wide.jpg
  • 2. Converging practices Modern technologies Modern learning & teaching Web 2.0 practices Location aware technologies Adaptation & customisation Second life/ immersive worlds Google it! “ Expert badges” , World of warcraft User- generated content Blogging, peer critiquing Cloud computing From individual to social Contextualised and situated Personalised learning & teaching Experiential learning & teaching Inquiry learning & teaching Peer learning & teaching Open Educational Resources Reflection Distributed cognition
  • 3. The gap between promise & reality Common reactions: “ I haven’t got time ” “ My research is more important” “ What’s in it for me ?” “ Where is my reward ?” “ I don’t have the skills to do this” “ I don’t believe in this, it won’t work” Common resistance strategies: I’ll say yes (and do nothing ) Undermine the initiative Undermine the person involved Do it badly Classic mistakes : Emphasis on the technologies , not the people and processes Funding for technology developments but not use and support OER Little reuse Array of technologies Not fully exploited
  • 4. Addressing the “What’s in it for me? ” The inertia dilemma – why has so little innovation spread? Too difficult, bewildering, no incentive or support, no recognition Want examples, someone to talk to, Needs to be fun, motivating and useful Web 2.0 practices: egocentric, addictive, motivational, peer support/regulation Evolving ecology of tools and practices People connected using tools: collective technical infrastructure Changing practice – new ways of interacting and communicating The problem A socio-technical “space”
  • 5. The solution? Connection… Institutional & national funding Embedding in strategy Aligning to technology trends Changing user behaviour Drivers and challenges Actual use in practice What’s in it for me? Evidence of impact Policy Teacher practice Research & development The learner’s experience
  • 6. Bridging the gap Characteristics of good pedagogy Personalised Situative Social Experiential Reflective Affordances of new technologies Adaptive Contextual Networked Immersive Collective “ Open Design” Explicit Shareable Cross boundaries Collective Cummulative
  • 7. Open Design: a definition/approach Aims to widen access to good ideas and designs, to share practice Design for all types of learning activity Formal course Individual learning activity Informal study group activity Blurring of boundaries Teacher – Learner Formal – informal Real – virtual Principles Open Sharable Explicit: design process explicit & sharable Designers and users Builds on open source principles Assessment Learning outcomes Tasks Aspects of design
  • 8. Realising “open design” Evidence base (interviews, surveys, observation, web stats, expert panels, focus groups) Development (resources, methods, tools, session types, interventions) Trialing (within the OU, workshops & conferences, project partners) Open University Learning Design Initiative & The Olnet network
  • 9. OU Learning Design Initiative Design methods: schema & patterns Tools: Visualisation & guidance Events: Cloudworks: sharing & discussing
  • 11. Technology enhanced… Technology-enhanced learning but what about technology-enhanced teaching? …. Or beyond Need to rethink education in a modern context What is it for, who is it for, what are the roles and how is it supported Blurring of boundaries of ‘learner’, ‘teacher’ and ‘other’ towards ‘actors’ interacting with each other in a technology-enhanced environment, where actors and their practice co-evolve with the tools
  • 12. New environment, new practices What would characterise this? Open Changing roles User-centric and personalised Evolving Co-operative and collaborative – users helping each other, peer critiquing, regulating, fostering communities and clusters of engagement “ Cummulatively intellligent” – harnessing the affordances of the technologies to meet specific needs, but to build and aggregate knowledge, and to distribute this in multiple ways for multiple purposes
  • 13. Open design and mediation Can we develop new innovative mediating artefacts? How can we make the design more explicit and sharable ? Designer Design Has an inherent Learning activity or OER Creates Mediating artefacts Mediating artefacts Visualisation: CompendiumLD Methods: Schema & patterns Sharing: Cloudworks User – can now repurpose
  • 14. Mediating artefacts Individuals use a range of mediating artefacts to achieve something – write a paper, design a learning event With new technologies there is now a greater range of MA and new ways for individuals to connect and communicate with others Taking a socio-cultural approach allows us to make sense of this because it helps articulate the MA and look at the context of use – rules, community, division of labour, as well as look over time at the evolving system as user-practice changes and co-evolves with the technologies
  • 17. Design, use, reuse Designer OER Design Creates Deposits Deposits Learner A OER Design Learner B Tutor Chooses Uses Quiz + beginners route Uses Quiz + advanced route Repurposes & deposits
  • 18. Process design Prior designs & resources New designs Content: (OER repositories, etc) Designs: (Pedagogical Patterns, CompendiumLD designs) New OER & designs
  • 19. Open design: Social and collective
  • 20. Key concepts: Clouds Clouds: Ideas Design or case studies Tools or resources Questions or problems
  • 21.  
  • 22. Key concepts: Cloudscapes Cloudscapes: Conferences Workshops Course team Student cohort Research theme Project
  • 23.  
  • 24. Key concepts: Activity streams Clouds Cloudscapes Comments Links References Extra content
  • 25.  
  • 26. Theoretical perspectives “ Social objects” Social networking makes little sense if we leave out the objects that mediate the ties between people Engeström Design framework for sociality Enabling practice Mimicking reality Building identity Actualising self Bouman et al .
  • 27. Approach Agile development: initially build in Drupal, now Codeigniter Series of phases: design decisions, development, evaluation Empirical evidence Web stats including google analytics Interviews and focus groups Cloudfests Workshops and conferences Observation and reflective diaries Critical friends group and design summits
  • 28. Principles Open Drawing on web 2. practices Intentionally both built around “communities”/’clusters of interest” and cross-boundaries Clouds as core objects – social, cummulative, intelligent Dynamic and evolving through use alongside real events as well as virtual ones Variety of types of activities and uses but focus always on sharing, finding and discussing educational ideas and designs
  • 29. Design decisions Cloud metaphor Seeding the site Including social features Tagging by pedagogy, tool, discipline Low barrier to entry No private content User profiles Cloud types Using: Workshops, focus groups, surveys, “cloudfests” “ What’s in it for me”? Privacy and provenance Sustainability Barriers to sharing Lack of spontaneous use Phase 1 Evaluation
  • 30. Design decisions Amalgamate cloud types Increase social features Foster communities - cloudscapes Follow functionality My cloudstream Usability report Lack of spontaneous use Navigation Quality control Phase 2 Evaluation
  • 31. Design decisions Add RSS feeds Integrate streams from other web 2.0 sites Merge tag categories Improve homepage New patterns of behaviour Divided views about “open” Cognitive barrier to getting use to the tool and then using it Significant increase in use of the site as a result of tools Phase 3 Evaluation
  • 32. Emergent patterns of use Events: conferences and workshops ALT-C conference , 8-11 th September 2009 http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloudscape/view/1870 Discussions: Flash debates Is Twitter killing blogging? http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloud/view/2266 Eliciting expertise and open reviews Literature review of educational technologist http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloudscape/view/1872 Aggregating resources En Rumbo Spanish course http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloudscape/view/776
  • 33. Conclusions Motivation : helping teachers/designers make more innovative use of technologies to create better learner experiences Approach : development of a range of resources, tools, methods and events to support this Evidence-base and agile development : on-going evaluation and reflection to enhance understanding and drive future developments Reflection : How effective is this? Where to next? Is it transferable? How “open” can we really expect teachers/learners to be?
  • 34. Conclusions Motivation : helping teachers/designers make more innovative use of technologies to create better learner experiences Approach : development of a range of resources, tools, methods and events to support this Evidence-base and agile development : on-going evaluation and reflection to enhance understanding and drive future developments Reflection : How effective is this? Where to next? Is it transferable? How “open” can we really expect teachers/learners to be?