If Blended Learning is the Answer: What is the Question?

If Blended Learning is the Answer: What is the

Question?

University of Sunshine Coast - Masterclass Workshop26th August 2013

Professor Mike KeppellExecutive Director

Australian Digital Futures InstituteDirector, Digital Futures - CRN

1Monday, 26 August 13

Overview

n IntroductionsnTrendsn InfluencenLiteraciesnRolesnDesign nSpaces

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Introductions


NameMajor goal for today?

One word to describe blended learning?


Design Educational Technology

Innovation Solving real-world problems

Authentic learning

interactions

Transformation

Leadership

Personal Perspective


ADFI Major Projectsn Digital Futures - Collaborative Research Network (DF-

CRN) (USQ, ANU, UniSA) - 89 researchers.n Regional Universities Network (RUN) Maths and

Science Digital Classroom: A Connected Model for all of Australia (USQ, CQU, USC, UB, UNE, SCU).

n Aged Care Community, Education, Research & training (ACCERT) (Anglicare)

n Network of Australasian Tertiary Associations (NATA) (ascilite, ACODE, CADAD, HERDSA, ODLAA, Netspot, AARnet)

n Making the Connection: Improving access to Higher Education for Low SES Students with ICT Limitations project (HEPPP)

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Digital Futures

Agriculture &Environment

Resilient Regions

Digital Rural Futures 2013

ACCERTNATA Digital Futures-CRN

Digital Rural Futures 2014

Focussed Research


Trends


Beyond Current HorizonsnNetworking and

connections - distributed cognition

n Increasing personalisation and customisation of experience

nNew forms of literacy

nOpenness of ownership of knowledge (Jewitt, 2009).

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Horizon Report

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Trends ‣ People expect to be able to work, learn, and

study whenever and wherever they want.

‣ The abundance of resources and relationships will challenge our educational identity.

‣ Students want to use their own technology for learning.

‣ Personalisation - learning, teaching, place of learning and technologies

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Leadership


Distributive LeadershipnCharacteristics:

collaboration, shared purpose, responsibility and recognition of leadership irrespective of role or position within an organisation.

nCentral premise: good leadership is foundational to good learning and teaching practice.

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Distributive Leadershipn Identified characteristics of distributive

leadership include the building of trust, the creation of a learning culture and the sharing and dissemination of information (Brown & Littrich 2008).

n

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Managing institutional change through distributive leadership approaches:Engaging academics and teaching support staff in blended and flexible learning

M. Childs, M Brown, M. Keppell, Z Nicholas, C. Hunter and N. Hard

nhttp://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell/csu-report-jov3hrtd05082013

nhttp://learningleadershipstudy.wordpress.com


http://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell/csu-report-jov3hrtd05082013




http://learningleadershipstudy.wordpress.com


Principlesn Innovation (in BFL and DE) needs to be aligned to

institution vision, and the institution needs to manage the tensions that can exist between alignment (to vision); and creativity and innovation.

n Good practice in BFL and DE needs to be manifested through sustainable, consistent and supported opportunities (Childs, Brown, Keppell, Nicholas, Hunter and Hard, 2013).

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Principlesn Regardless of the strategy or activity, commitment

to approaches that enable academics to take time, collaborate, share, network and connect are the key to innovation in BFL and DE. (Childs, Brown, Keppell, Nicholas, Hunter and Hard, 2013).

n Keppell, M.J., O’Dwyer, C., Lyon, B., & Childs, M. (2010). Transforming distance education curricula through distributive leadership. ALT-J, 18:3, 165 - 178.

n http://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell/2010-alt-jkeppell

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http://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell/2010-alt-jkeppell




What is your ‘shared purpose’ for blended

learning at USC?


Digital Literacies


LiteraciesnLiteracy is no longer “the ability

to read and write” but now “the ability to understand information however presented.”

nCan't assume students have skills to interact in a digital age

nLiteracies will allow us to teach more effectively in a digital age (JISC, 2012)

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Developing Literaciesn Employable graduates need to be digitally

literaten Digital literacies are often related to discipline

arean Learners need to be supported by staff to

develop academic digital literaciesn Professional development is vital in developing

digital literaciesn Professional associations are supporting their

members to improve digital literaciesn Engaging students supports digital literacy

development i.e. students as change agents (JISC, 2012)

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ADFI - Vision

‣Digital literacies that transform the knowledge & skills of society

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ADFI - Mission

‣ To innovate, research & collaborate to explore and influence digital literacies that impact societal change.

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What digital literacies are important for staff and

students at USC?


Learner & Teacher Roles


New Generation Students


Student-generated content (learner-as-designers)

Connected students (knowledge is in the network)


Owning the Place of Learning

rapport with

technology

mobile

generate content

personalise

connected

adapt space to

their needs


Rapport with technology30Monday, 26 August 13

Mobility

nGlobal mobilitynMobility of peoplenTechnologies to support

mobilitynAdapting our teaching and

learning?nAssessment?

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Undergraduate Students and ITn Monitors students

relationship with digital technologies

n Portable devices are the ‘academic champions’

n 3x as many students used e-books or e-textbooks than in 2010

n Survey of 100,000 students across 195 institutions

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Personalised Learning


Personal Learning Spaces

‣ Integrate formal and informal learning spaces

‣ Customised by the individual to suit their needs

‣ Allow individuals to create their own identities.

‣ Recognises ongoing learning and the need for tools to support life-long and life-wide learning.

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Connectivism

‣ Knowledge has changed to networks and ecologies (Siemens, 2006).

‣ Need improved lines of communication in networks.

‣ “Connectivism is the assertion that learning is primarily a network-forming process” (p. 15).

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Redefining the learning space

Seamless Learning

Learning Space Literacies Comfort

AestheticsFlow

EquityBlending

AffordancesRepurposing

Personalised Learning

Desire Paths/Learning Pathways


What are the implications of new generation

students for teachers at USC?


Interactions


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Interactive learning (learner-to-content)

Networked learning (learner-to-learner; learner-to-teacher)

Student-generated content (learner-as-designers).

Connected students (knowledge is in the network)

Learning-oriented assessment (assessment-as-learning)

Interactions


Learning-oriented Assessment


Learning-oriented Assessment

Assessment tasks as learning

tasks

Student involvement in

assessment processes

Forward-looking feedback


Forward-looking Feedback

nStudents need to receive appropriate feedback which they can use to ‘feed forward’ into future work.

nFeedback should be less final and judgemental (Boud, 1995)

nFeedback should be more interactive and forward-looking (Carless, 2002)

nFeedback should be timely and with a potential to be acted upon (Gibbs & Simpson, 2004)

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Interactions at USC?


Design


Paradigms of Blended LearningEnabling blendsThese address issues of access and equity and addflexibility. This might include the same opportunities inface-to-face, online and blended learning environments.

Enhancing blendsThese focus on incremental changes to the pedagogy in both the face-to-face and online components.

Transforming blendsTransformation of the pedagogy. Major redesign of teaching and learning e.g. online PBL.

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Design examples at USC?


Learning Spaces


Spaces for Knowledge GenerationnPhysical, blended or virtual ‘areas’ that:

n enhance learningnthat motivate learnersnpromote authentic learning interactions

nSpaces where both teachers and students optimize the perceived and actual affordances of the space (Keppell & Riddle, 2012).


Physical Virtual

Formal Informal InformalFormal

Blended

Mobile Personal

Outdoor Professional Practice

Distributed Learning Spaces

Academic


Physical Learning Spaces


Principles of Learning Space Design

n Comfort: a space which creates a physical and mental sense of ease and well-being

n Aesthetics: pleasure which includes the recognition of symmetry, harmony, simplicity and fitness for purpose

n Flow: the state of mind felt by the learner when totally involved in the learning experience

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http://www.skgproject.com/learning-spaces-toolkit/design-principles/comfort/




http://www.skgproject.com/learning-spaces-toolkit/design-principles/what-are-aesthetics/

http://www.skgproject.com/learning-spaces-toolkit/design-principles/what-are-aesthetics/

http://www.skgproject.com/learning-spaces-toolkit/design-principles/what-is-flow/

http://www.skgproject.com/learning-spaces-toolkit/design-principles/what-is-flow/

Principles of Learning Space Designn Equity: consideration of the needs of cultural and

physical differences

n Blending: a mixture of technological and face-to-face pedagogical resources

n Affordances: the “action possibilities” the learning environment provides the users

n Repurposing: the potential for multiple usage of a space (Souter, Riddle, Keppell, 2010) (http://www.skgproject.com)

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http://www.skgproject.com/learning-spaces-toolkit/design-principles/what-is-equity/

http://www.skgproject.com/learning-spaces-toolkit/design-principles/what-is-equity/

http://www.skgproject.com/category/design-principles/what-is-blending/

http://www.skgproject.com/category/design-principles/what-is-blending/

http://www.skgproject.com/category/design-principles/what-are-affordances

http://www.skgproject.com/category/design-principles/what-are-affordances

http://www.skgproject.com/category/design-principles/what-is-repurposing/

http://www.skgproject.com/category/design-principles/what-is-repurposing/

http://www.skgproject.com




CSU Learning Commons58Monday, 26 August 13

ComfortAesthetics

FlowEquity

BlendingAffordancesRepurposing


ComfortAesthetics

FlowEquity

BlendingAffordances

Repurposing


Technology-enhanced Active Learning (TEAL) Centre Affordances - Blending


Discipline Pedagogies

‘Plasma to Chalkboard’ for Physics Professors


Affordances


Virtual Learning Spaces

Blending - Affordances - Equity? 66Monday, 26 August 13

Blended Learning Spaces


Flexible learning

nFlexible learning” provides opportunities to improve the student learning experience through flexibility in time, pace, place (physical, virtual, on-campus, off-campus), mode of study (print-based, face-to-face, blended, online), teaching approach (collaborative, independent), forms of assessment and staffing. It may utilise a wide range of media, environments, learning spaces and technologies for learning and teaching.

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Blended & Flexible LearningnBlended and flexible learning” is a design

approach that examines the relationships between flexible learning opportunities, in order to optimise student engagement and equivalence in learning outcomes regardless of mode of study (Keppell, 2010, p. 3).

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Academic Learning Spaces


Academic learning spacesnPhysical, blended or virtual ‘areas’ that:

nenhance academic ‘work’nthat motivate academic ‘work’nenable networkingnSpaces where academics optimize the

perceived and actual affordances of the space.

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Academic SpacesnBarnett (2011) suggests that academics may

be active in university spaces that may include:

nIntellectual and discursive space which focus on the contribution to the wider public sphere.

nEpistemological space which focuses on the “space available for academics to pursue their own research interests” (p. 76).

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Academic SpacesnPedagogical and curricular space focuses on the spaces available to trial new pedagogical approaches and new curricular initiatives.

nOntological space which focuses on ‘academic being’ which is becoming increasingly multi-faceted beyond the research, teaching and community commitments. In fact “the widening of universities’ ontological spaces may bring both peril and liberation” (p. 77).

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Outdoor Learning Spaces

These pathways, thoroughfares and occasional rest areas are generally given a functional value in traffic management and are more often than not developed as an after thought in campus design. As such the thoroughfares and rest areas are under valued (or not recognized) as important spaces for teaching and learning (Rafferty, 2012).

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Seamless Learning

Seamless learning occurs when a person experiences a continuity of learning across a combination of locations, times, technologies or social settings (Sharples, et al, 2012).


Putting it all

together


Implications of learning spaces for blended learning at USC?


New Mindsets


New MindsetsnPrivileging mobile learning and

teaching access

nEmbedding digital literacies into all aspects of learning, teaching and curriculum

nPrivileging diverse places of learning as opposed to a singular place of learning

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New MindsetsnAssisting teachers and students

to develop their own personalised learning strategy

nPrivileging user-generated content

nPrivileging learning-oriented assessment

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Questions?


Linksn http://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell/csu-report-

jov3hrtd05082013

n http://learningleadershipstudy.wordpress.com

n http://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell/massey-report-hr24072013td27072013

n http://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell/final-report-10-good-practice-report

n http://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell/distributed-spaces-for-learning

n http://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell/2010-alt-jkeppell

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http://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell/massey-report-hr24072013td27072013




http://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell/final-report-10-good-practice-report




http://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell/distributed-spaces-for-learning






If Blended Learning is the Answer: What is the Question?

Education

Transcript of If Blended Learning is the Answer: What is the Question?