PEPE January 2008

Authentic learning for effective human services practice

Dr. Alan KnowlesGrant MacEwan College, Canada

&Neil Ballantyne

Institute for Research & Innovation in Social Services

Authentic learning

• A strategy to address problem of perceived divide between the classroom learning & the real world

Associated with• Constructivism• Situated learning• Strategies to promote deep learning

Real-life versus classroom-based problem solving

Real-life Classroom

1. Involves ill-formulated problems and ill structured conditions.

1. Involves ‘textbook’ examples and well structured conditions.

2. Problems are embedded in a specific & meaningful context.

2. Problems are largely abstract & decontextualized.

3. Problems have depth, complexity and duration.

3. Problems lack depth, complexity & duration

4. Involves cooperative relations & shared consequences.

4. Involves competitive relations & individual assessment.

5. Problems are perceived as real and worth solving.

5. Problems typically seem artificial with low relevance for students

(Lebow & Wager, 1994)

Authentic learning

“Authentic learning typically focuses on real-world, complex problems and their solutions, using role-playing exercises, problem-based activities, case studies, and participation in virtual communities of practice.”

Lombardi, 2007 p. 2

Authentic learning & communities of practice

Authentic learning “encourages students to compare their personal interests with those of a working disciplinary community”:• Can I see myself becoming a member of this

culture? • What would motivate me?• What would concern me? • How would I work with the people around me?• How would I make a difference?”

Lombardi (2007, p4)

Situated learning

“…the notion of learning knowledge and skills in contexts that reflect the way the knowledge will be useful in real life.”

Collins (1988,p. 2)

Knowledge construction is facilitated by learning environments that…

• provide multiple representations of reality, which avoid oversimplification

• focus on knowledge construction, not reproduction • present authentic tasks (contextualising rather than

abstract instruction) • provide real world, case based learning environments

rather than pre-determined instructional sequences • foster reflective practice• enable context and content-dependent knowledge

construction • support collaborative construction of knowledge through

social negotiation, not competitionJonassen (1994)

10 Design elements for authentic activities

• Real-world relevance

• Ill-defined problems

• Sustained investigation

• Multiple sources & perspectives

• Collaboration

• Reflection (metacognition)

• Interdisciplinary perspective

• Integrated assessment

• Polished products

• Multiple interpretations & outcomes

(Lombardi, 2007; Herrington et. al 2003)

Multimedia & Authenticity

“By transforming information into various forms such as audio and video and engaging in collaborative experiences, students can construct their own meaning and develop robust skills related to solving complex ill-structured problems”

Woo,Herrington, & Reeves (2007, p.37)

Illustrations of authentic learning

• Authentic learning used in many areas of professional education including:– Legal education– Teacher education– Nurse education– Social work education

Sharing authentic learning materials

• Multimedia is expensive to produce

• Sharing content makes sense: it is reusable

• Involving service users in design & quality assurance helps ensure genuine authenticity

Features of the Margaret Stonehouse Case Scenario

Development Process

• Project funded by the MacEwan Online Curriculum Development Fund.

• Began with discussion and consultation with SW faculty about types of needed resources and scenarios

• Developed ideas around focus of scenario

• Built a development team

• Began working on project Fall ’05; completed June 06.

Establishment of a development team including…

• Faculty developer, author & designer

• Instructional designer

• Graphic artist / web designer

• Videographer / video production and editing

• Editor (text)

• Flash & Html consultants (digitized streaming video)

• First Nations Consultant – content, scene development, cultural components

• Community based agency consultants (2nd Stage Housing), Director and Program Supervisor

• The actors were graduates of the SWP, a current student, a supervisor in the field, a relative who is trained as an actor.

• Work included: regular (bi-weekly) meetings with the Instr. Designer; regular meetings with the Aboriginal Consultant, 2 meetings with the Community Agency Consultants (one near the beginning of scenario writing; one near the end, just prior to video shoot)

• Writing draft scenes / focus for each scene (flexible and improvised

• Recruiting, preparing and planning with the actors

• Meeting with graphic artist / web page designer re themes; concepts; pedagogical model, interactivity, draft graphics and mock ups of page design

• Scheduling video shoots

• Post shoot video editing

• Final Web page editing

• Piloting in 1st course, additional feedback from practitioners and agency supervisors

• Consultation and review & suggestions by IRISS Learning Technology Team. Additional editing, navigation adjustments

% Agreement

SA A N D SD

Using the multimedia case study significantly enhanced my learning

202 B N= 21 71.4 19 9.5 -- --

202 F2F N= 20 5 30 40 20 5

110 B N= 30 48 48.3 6.9 -- --

The multimedia case study increased my understanding of the complexities of practice more than the text-based case studies

202 B 57 33.3 4.8 -- 4.8

202 F2F 50 35 15 --

110 B 58.6 24.1 17.2 -- --

There are no real differences learning from text-based or multimedia case studies

202 B 5 5 10 40 40

202 F2F -- 25 5 55 15

110 B -- -- 13.8 51.7 34.5

I didn’t enjoy using the multimedia case study

202 B -- -- 5 55 40

202 F2F 5 5 25 45 20

110 B 3.3 3.3 10 41.4 41.1

% Agreement

SA A N D SD

More of our problem-based learning should incorporate multimedia

202 B 54.4 28.6 19 -- --

202 F2F -- 40 45 15 --

110 B 20.7 44.8 24.1 6.9 3.4

The multimedia seemed more realistic than text-based case studies

202 B 66.7 14.3 19 -- --

202 F2F 15 55 20 10 --

110 B 31 55.2 6.9 3.4 3.4

The text-based case studies were more engaging and motivating than the multimedia case studies

202 C N=42 2.5 7.5 25 40 25

110 B -- 10.3 6.9 55.2 27.6

It was easier to learn from the multimedia case than from the text-based cases

202 B 57.1 23.8 19 -- --

202 F2F 15 35 30 15 5

110 B 41.1 44.8 13.8 -- --

Recent literature debate

• Cognitive load & learning• Evidence on minimally guided instruction• The problem with subjective measures• Issues

– for educational design• scaffolding for authentic learning

– for educational research• robust experimental designs