Attributes of effective learners for a digital age

Rhona Sharpe

OCSLD

rsharpe@

My interests

Learner

experience

research

Supporting online

learners

Developing

digital leaders

Effective learners for a digital age

Prepare graduates to contribute to a

global, networked society

Preparing effective learners for a digital age to be able to contribute to the global, networked society are

Prepare graduates to contribute to a

global, networked society

Preparing effective learners for a digital age to be able to contribute to the global, networked society are

Prepare graduates to contribute to a

global, networked society

Preparing effective learners for a digital age to be able to contribute to the global, networked society

The functional access, skills and practices necessary to become a confident, agile adopter of a range of technologies for personal, academic and professional use.

How do we prepare learners for a digital age at Brookes?

1. Make effective and confident use of relevant and appropriate technologies to enhance learning, communication and problem solving. Communicate effectively online and work with others using collaborative tools.

2. Demonstrate a confident familiarity with a broad range of information technology skills in order to communicate effectively using graphical techniques, reports and presentations within a commercial and technical environment.

3. Communicate information, ideas, principles and theories and develop an argument effectively by appropriate visual means using a variety of platforms and range of technologies to deliver and present ideas to an intended audience.

What does it mean to be a ‘confident, agile adopter’ in different disciplines?

http://bit.ly/1RhiRNPdlf.brookesblogs.net

Where does the Brookes definition come from?

Early learner experience research 2005-9

• Uncovered student voices that had not previously been heard.

• Analysed experiences holistically.

• Showed learners’ powerful relationships with technology and ubiquitous use of social media.

Follow up studies 2009-2015

• Showed great variety in strategies and habits that student adopt.

• Explored digital literacy as a social, cultural practice.

• Introduced us to confident, agile ‘epioneers’.

• Extended research to FE

InStePP

Ensure new business models meet

(and manage) learners’ expectationsCareful, empirical examination of what learners

actually do is largely absent’ (Oliver, 2015, p.

367)

Oliver, M. (2015) From openness to permeability: reframing open education in terms of positive liberty in the enactment of academic practices. Learning, Media and Technology, 40 (3), 365-384.

How has the framework been used?

Bennett, L. (2014) Learning from the early adopter:

developing the digital practitioner, Research in Learning

Technology, 22: 21453

What’s at the top of the triangle?

• Identity

• Creative appropriation

• Attributes

• Personal qualities

Which of these personal qualities or attributes do you expect to gain from your time at college?

Photos from feds

What can we learn from the literature?

Layers of interpretation

(Engaged)

Connected

Confident

Adaptable

Intentional

(Self-aware)

Connected

• Adept at communicating in digital environments

• Well connected and value these interactions

• Skilled e-communicators (voice, identity, awareness of self-presentation)

• Making use of networks for informal support

• Take on multiple identities in order to gain support

• Contribute to, and protect, the social environment

‘Log into Facebook and Skype to see what others are doing -we have a quiz for one of the units that we decide we’ll try and do together this afternoon.’ (Andrews & Tynan, p. 574)

Confident

• Confidence to use technology

• Willingness to initiate interaction

• Willingess to share

• Not being anxious about sharing own ideas

‘Educ81 initially confessed ‘I generally don’t have much confidence in my technology abilities’, but was adopting a wide range of technologies in her dissertation fieldwork.’ (Masterman & Shuyska, 2012, p. 348)

Adaptable

• Having a wide range of strategies on which to draw

• A resourcefulness to overcome challenges

• A tendency to experiment with technology

• Being open to learn things in a new way

• Being able to find solutions for own learning needs

‘I just click here and oops that isn’t what I wanted, so I do a lot of that and I find it quite helpful. You learn something every time you go around and around the menus’ (Jeffrey et al. 2011, p.403)

Intentional

• Aware of own agency in the learning process

• Know they need to take action

• Making deliberate decisions

• Going against the advice of lecturers

‘No, of course I do not have my computer on when I am trying to learn because sometimes it distracts me because I have Messengar on or I will read the newspapers and I don’t like that if I am trying to learn.’ Winter et al, 2010, p.78)

Ensure new business models meet

(and manage) learners’ expectations

92% satisfaction with

VLEBrookes Barometer 2014

Students value:Ability to access

materials and contact

tutors out of class time

Students dissatisfied:

Downtime

Inconsistency in use

How are we doing?

• Ubiquitous free-at-the-point-of-use access. Easy to connect any number of personal devices to the network.

• A VLE populated with comprehensive organisational information and course related materials.

• Teaching staff who have a good grasp of how to use established digital technology and incorporate technology into their teaching in an appropriate manner.

White, Beetham & Wild (2013)http://digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org

What do incoming students expect?

Brookes Survey of Student Engagement 2014

How are we doing?

References

Bennett, L. (2014) Learning from the early adopter: developing the digital practitioner, Research in Learning Technology, 22: 21453

Oliver, M. (2015) From openness to permeability: reframing open education in terms of positive liberty in the enactment of academic practices. Learning, Media and Technology, 40 (3), 365-384.

Sharpe, R. (2014), What does it take to learn in next generation learning spaces?, in Kym Fraser (ed.) The Future of Learning and Teaching in Next Generation Learning Spaces (International Perspectives on Higher Education Research, Volume 12), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.123-146.

Sharpe, R. & Beetham, H. (2010) Understanding students’ uses of technology for learning: towards creative appropriation. In Rethinking Learning for a Digital Age. Chapter available to download from http://bit.ly/1RhiRNP