Learning in a Connected World

Dr Barbara NewlandUniversity of Brighton

Students in Higher Education today learn in a connected world

What are the implications for online and face-to-face learning?

How does this change the role of the academic in teaching?

How is their learning and education changing in this digital world?

Learning in a Connected World

How many of you have a smart phone ie it does more than phone calls and texting?

With person next to you list ways in which you use your phone

Current context

Telephones are everywhere

In 1972, less than half of households had a telephone- 42% . Now nearly all households have either a landline or mobile phone

In 2000, 58% households contained at least one person with a mobile phone. Today 86% do.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21698533

General Lifestyle Survey

Text-based communications are surpassing traditional phone calls or meeting face to face as the most frequent ways of keeping in touch for UK adults

Tablet ownership has jumped from 2% to 11% in 12 months, while one in ten UK adults now has an e-reader

UK households now own on average three different types of internet-enabled device such as a laptop, smartphone or internet-enabled games console with 15% owning six or more devices.

Communications – Ofcom 2012

What year will an 18 year student just about to start university have been born?

When did you have your first mobile phone?

When did you have access to the Internet from home?

Student expectations

Studies both in UK and abroad show that students:

◦ expect Blended Learning to be part of their education

◦ still want F2F teaching

◦ want a flexible learning environment with access any time, any where

(ECAR 2012; JISC, 2007; JISC 2009, JISC, 2011, NUS, 2010)

Student expectations

One Year or Less◦ Mobile Apps◦ Tablet Computing

Two to Three Years◦ Game-based Learning◦ Learning Analytics

Four to Five Years◦ Gesture-based

Computing◦ Internet of Things

Time to adoption – Horizon report

People expect to be able to work, learn and study whenever and wherever they want to

The technologies we use are increasingly cloud-based and our notions of IT support are decentralized

The world of work is increasingly collaborative, driving changes in the way student projects are structured

The abundance of resources and relationships made easily accessible via the Internet is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators

Education paradigms are shifting to include online learning, hybrid learning and collaborative models

There is a new emphasis in the classroom on more challenge-based and active learning.

Key trends – Horizon report

High-resolution screens allow users of tablets, such as the iPad, to easily share content, images and videos on the screen

As people tend to use tablets to supplement and not replace smartphones they are viewed as less disruptive tools

Tablet computing

“Tablet ownership among college students and college-bound high school seniors has more than tripled from a year ago. Further, a large number of students plan to purchase a tablet within the next six months.

College students and high school seniors believe that tablets are just as valuable for educational purposes as they are for personal entertainment.

Students agree that tablets will transform the way college students learn in the future.

More students are reading digital books, and a majority of college students now prefer to read digital books than print.”

(Pearson, 2012)

Student ownership

Apps

Always-connected Internet devices using imbedded sensors, cameras and location awareness

Higher education institutions are now designing apps tailored to educational and research needs across the curriculum.

Productivity◦ Allow users to create something

Interactivity◦ User engagement but do not create new materials

Reference◦ Provide information

Types of use

Blended Learning Definition

Face to Face

Online

Blended

Blended Learning Environments Are the Norm

And Online-Only Course

Experiences Are Up

Technology Commendations

Importance of various devices to academic

success

1. Continue to support blended-learning environments and reward innovation of scalable (successful) blended-learning practices.

2. Don’t underestimate the importance of technology to students, and consider their ratings of the effective use of technology by their instructors as a key indicator for their general experience with technology at the institution.

3. Look to emerging or established leaders (other institutions, other countries, other industries) for strategies to deliver institutional and curricular content to tablets and smartphones.

4. Develop a plan to learn about your students’ technology profile, experiences, and interests.

11. Don’t assume all students know how to use the technology

they own and employ as academic tools.

Recommended actions - ECAR

How does this change the role of the academic in teaching?

What are the implications for traditional lectures when students have instant access to information?

Role of the academic

Lecture and self-study elements of a course are reversed

F2F time used more interactively◦ PollEverywhere using phones◦ Collaborative presentations using tablets

Potential to focus on increasing understanding rather than covering material

Pedagogy - flipped classroom

Here’s a question for debate in a

Business context class. Everyone gets their say and can see what others think but it’s

anonymous. This kind of question I use as a starter

for class discussion

But what if students don’t want to pay to text or tweet?

Even better. I start by asking who in class has free texts on

contract/package. Then everyone clusters in groups

around those phones, and they discuss how to vote.

I get interaction before as well

as during and after the vote.Sue GreenerBrighton Business School

MOOCs

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18191589

Education institutions will cease to be exclusive agents of coordination, service provision, quality assurance, performance assessment, or support

Content, teaching and accreditation will becomedisaggregated

Different forms of accreditation should be developed to recognise informal know-how and practice-based competences.

Future of education institutions

“refers to the interpretation of a wide range of data produced by and gathered on behalf of students in order to assess academic progress, predict future performance, and spot potential issues.” (Horizon, 2012)

“applies the model of analytics to the specific goal of improving learning outcomes.” (ELI, 2011)

Learning Analytics

Reasons for learning analytics

Institutions can look for patterns across the institution and within Schools or degree programmes

Academics can look at the data to decide when to intervene to enable better outcomes both for retention and achievement.

Student use of learning analytics tools can enable them to view their levels of activity, attendance, progress and grades in comparison with other students

Forsythe, R et al

Multi-institutional project - 16 institutions, over 1,000,000 student and 6,000,000 course level records

Similar models were used in each institution

System is predictive ie it sends an alert to an academic counselor that a student might not attend the following week so the counselor can contact the student.

Predictive Analytics Framework (PAR)

“data can point learners to personalized learning pathways tailored to their needs, aspirations, abilities, and timelines.”

“data is actually most useful to inform thinking, questioning, planning, and next steps.”

“Technology makes education more personal, not less. Systems don't replace people; they empower people—both advisors and students—to make better decisions.”

(Oblinger, D. 2013)

Implications for learning

“analytics should be a torch and not a hammer“

Clay Shirky

From the things people chose to "like" on Facebook, researchers at Cambridge University used algorithms to predict religion, politics, race and sexual orientation.

The researchers warned that the digital profiles people are creating also threaten privacy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21699305

Facebook 'likes' predict personality

Augmented reality gadgets

Camera-equipped headset suspends a small screen in front of an owner and pipes information to that display. The camera and other functions are voice controlled

Glass can be used to take pictures and record video, as well as share content directly via email or social networks

Advantages but also risk to privacy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/technology-21937145http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1uyQZNg2vE&feature=player_embedded#

Google Glass

Learning in a connected world- summary

Blended Learning is increasing

Role of academic is changing

Learning and teaching in HE is changing

Lectures are becoming more interactive

Learning analytics are changing education

References BBC, 2012, Top US universities put their reputations online,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18191589

Department for Business Information and Skills, 2011, Higher Education: Students at the Heart of the System, http://bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/higher-education/docs/h/11-944-higher-education-students-at-heart-of-system.pdf

ECAR National Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2012 Report (2012) http://www.educause.edu/ecar

Educause Learning Initiative, 2011, 7 Things You Should Know About Flipped Classrooms, http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-flipped-classrooms

HEFCE (2010). Study of UK Online Learning http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rdreports/2010/rd17_10/

Horizon Report, 2012, http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/2012-horizon-report

JISC, 2007, Student Expectations Study. Available from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/studentexpectations.pdf

JISC, 2009, Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World Available from: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/heweb20rptv1.pdf

JISC (2010) Managing Students' Expectations of University. http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/reports/2010/managingexpectations.aspx

Kosinskia,M, Stillwella, D, Graepelb, T, 2013, Private traits and attributes are predictable from digital records of human behavior, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/03/06/1218772110.full.pdf+html

NUS, 2010, Student perspectives on technology - demand, perceptions and training needs

NUS (2011). Technology in Higher Education Charter http://www.nusconnect.org.uk/news/article/6010/2489/

Oblinger, D. G. and J. L. Oblinger, Eds. (2005). Educating the Net Generation

Oblinger, D, 2012, Analytics: What We're Hearing http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/analytics-what-were-hearing

Oblinger, D. (2013)Analytics: Changing the Conversation, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 48, no. 1 (January/February 2013 )Jan 28, 13

Ofcom (2012) Communications Market Report http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/market-data/communications-market-reports/cmr12/uk/

Online Learning Task Force (2011). Collaborate to Compete: Seizing the opportunity for online learning for UK higher education. http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2011/11_01/

Predictive Analytics Framework (PAR) http://wcet.wiche.edu/advance/par-framework

SOLAR – Society for Learning Analytics Research http://www.solaresearch.org/

Redecker, C., Leis, M., Leendertse, M., Punie, Y., Gijsbers, G., Kirschner, P., Stoyanov, S., Hoogveld B. ; Editors: Redecker, C. & Punie, Y., 2011, The Future of Learning: Preparing for Change, JRC Scientific & Technical Report. http://is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/EAP/ForCiel.html

Redecker, C., 2009, Review of Learning 2.0 Practices: Study on the Impact of Web 2.0 Innovations on Education and Training in Europe.

References

Dr Barbara NewlandCentre for Learning and TeachingUniversity of Brighton, Falmer, BN1 9PH

b.a.newland@brighton.ac.uk

www.brighton.ac.uk/clt/ www.slideshare.net/barbaranewlandhttp://barbaranewland.wordpress.com/

Contact details