connected learning

Connected LearningReflections on implementing Personalised Learning Environments

James Ballard

jameslballard

JamesBallard2

@jameslballard

Overview

Personalised Learning EnvironmentsCritique of personalised learning

Implications for future development

Education is a human endeavour

Human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

4

Transforming Curriculum DeliveryJISC 2008-2010

The challengeCourse

Delivery (narrow curriculu

m)

Learner Experien

ce (broad

curriculum)

Personalised

Learning Framewor

k

The ApproachTool Focus Ownership Software

VLE Course Teacher Moodle

PLP Support Shared Vision ULCC ILP

E-Assessment Accreditation Awarding bodies

Gradebook, Assessment Manager

E-Portfolio Professional and Social Skills

Learner Mahara

Integrated Support• Learning centres• Student support• Student union• Careers• Counselling

Cloud Communication• Gmail• Google Apps

Learner Portal Interface

Development Planning• Attendance Monitor• Planning for success

(goals)• Target Setting• Progress Reviews• Subject Reports• Key Skills• Student Support• Financial Status

Individual Learning Plan

Personal Showcase• CV builder• Embedded mixed

media• Presentation options• Informal learningSocial Networking• Course groups• Social groups• Project groups

E-Portfolio

Blended hosting• Institutional• Shared services• Cloud

Simple integration• LDAP• SAML• Web services• Adodb

Infrastructure

Personalised Learning Framework

TRANSFORMATION LEARNING OUTCOMES

The instantaneous data access proved ‘the most popular and motivating tool’

Retention: up from 62% to 92%

Achievement: up from 69% to 73%

Anecdotal evidence that students felt more supported

Outcomes

VLE (narrow curriculu

m)

Learner Experience (broad curriculu

m)

Personalised

Learning Environm

ent

13

Distributed Learning EnvironmentsJISC 2010-2011

The Challenge

New CurriculumNew Pedagogies

Social Media

Integrated Administrati

on

Recognise

d

Recommende

d

Arranged

Core

Integrated VLE

Live@EDU

Turnitin

Twitter

YouTube

SlideShare

Diigo

Facebook

Ning

GoogleDocs

Blogger

Recognised: user’s choice - watch and learn

Recommended: user’s choice – train and integrate

Arranged: institutional provision with training

Core: institutional provision with compulsory use and consistent access

LRT @ MMU

The Approach

Study Areas• Department• Programme• Resources• Modules

Design• Simple UI• Quick links• Related areas

Integrated VLE

Structure• UNIT4 Student Records• Scientia Syllabus+

Notifications • Sharepoint• Moodle• Live@EDU

Assessment• Coursework Receipt System

(formal)• Moodle (informal)Library• Equella• Talis Aspire

Integrated Course

Distributed Resources• Essential Reading• Further Reading• Past Exam Papers• Podcasts• Lecture

Recordings• Copyrighted

Material

Integrated Library

Service Oriented• Web service brokers• Independent

applications• Context sensitive callsIdentifiers• User ID• Unit spec• Academic year• Unit occurrence

Infrastructure

PROJECT OUTCOMES

Student satisfaction for course organisation up 1.8%

Student satisfaction for appropriate resource selection up 3.5%

Web service data suggests timetables and mobile app were regularly used

Connected learner experience rather than exemplified institutional silos

Guardian University Award for Student Experience 2013

EUNIS Elite Award for Excellence 2014

Outcomes

21

Personalised Learning EnvironmentsReflection and critique

Evaluating e-Learning: Ownership

Education is based on contributing to the optimal performativity of the social

system.

SCIENTIFIC-TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Everything must be accounted for and ranked on a hierarchy of efficiency

Accountability and standards have permanently demoted some learners to the lower echelons of performance

Performativity - Lyotard

Constant supervision and correction constrains learners through the need to achieve

conformity

PERSONALISED STANDARDISATION

Self-regulation

Limited Scope for

action

Individualisati

on

Power - Foucault

Critical education is restlessly self-clarifying in

search of freedom, enlightenment, and more

agency

RECOGNISING INDIVIDUAL NEEDS

Humanism – Said / Nussbaum

Life

Education

Health

Political

Liberty

Participation

An identity that cannot be discussed is an

identity that does not exist

EXISTING WITH THE WORLD

Democratic Education - Freire

Lived Experien

ce

Problem Solving

Human Expressi

on

Assessment

Commoditised cognitive skills (e.g. 21st Century Skills)Standardised/national tests

Content

Over-exaggerated teacher authority (e.g. VLE)Voiding teacher’s authority (e.g. Facebook)

ReflectionConditioning self-regulation over self-actualisationHolding the voice of the learner for judgement

ReflectionPITFALLS OF PERSONALISED LEARNING

28

Implications3rd Generation e-Learning

E-Learning Generations1st VLE

• Institutionally owned and teacher controlled

• Course centric experience (narrow curriculum)

2n

d PLE

• Institutional/cloud blend and mixed ownership

• Distributed experiences (broad curriculum)3r

d CLE

• Physical/digital mix of co-created environments

• Worldly experience (beyond curricula)

Developed

Developing

Intellectual Capital

Education

Infrastructure

Global Intellectual

Pool

Consumers

Economic Growth

21st CENTURY It is a world in which knowing what and how to learn the next thing is as important as what has already been learnt.

Jackson and Ward, 2004

The Asian Century

3rd Generation e-Learning

Formative assessment

Epistemological Reflection

Connections: local to global

Evaluating e-Learning: Ownership

Connected Learning Reflections on the implementation of personalised learning environments

Thank You

James Ballard

jameslballard@outlook.com

JamesBallard2

@jameslballard

jameslballard