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Theme 1 Keynote: Responding to learnersHelen Beetham, Rhona Sharpe

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting education and research

Joint Information Systems Committee

Responding to Learners

Helen Beetham is a Consultant to JISC, in which role she supports the Curriculum Design and Open Educational Resources programmes. Rethinking Pedagogy for the Digital Age, edited with Rhona Sharpe, is becoming a standard textbook in the discipline, and a second volume, Rethinking Learning for the Digital Age, is forthcoming from Routledge.

Dr. Rhona Sharpe is principal lecturer in the Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development (OCSLD) at Oxford Brookes University UK. She has managed learners' experiences of e- learning projects funded by the JISC and Higher Education Academy. She is a founder member of ELESIG, co-editor of ALT-J, Research in Learning Technology and is Fellow of the Staff and Educational Development Association.

Presenters: Helen Beetham, Rhona Sharpe Facilitator: Greg Benfield

Greg Benfield is a senior lecturer/educational developer at Oxford Brookes University in OCSLD. He has been involved in a number of JISC and HEA projects, including the JISC Learner Experiences of e-Learning Programme. His particular area of interest technology-mediated group work, and assessment.

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Responding to learners

Helen Beetham Rhona Sharpe

“a consumer revolution for students”

Higher Ambitions: the future of universities in a knowledge

economy

problems with the consumer model... at an individual level,

not developmental, not ambitious

at a societal level, rhetorically allows next year’s cohort of students and this year’s top graduate employers to define purposes of FE/HE: in practice sidelines the debate

The consumer or client replaces the learner... [and] as the language of performance and management has

advanced, so we have lost a language of education which recognises the intrinsic

value of pursuing certain sorts of question...

needs and expectations... how are they framed?

are they the same thing?

can needs be met by having expectations challenged?

how can we avoid charges of patronage, normalisation, elitism, being ‘supply-side’ driven...?

we need to debunk a couple of

myths learners are digital natives

have high expectations of technology-supported learning

What are learners’ expectations of technology

enhanced learning?

And, how should we respond?

Familiarity with technology in students’

social and leisure lives has created high expectations for technology enhanced

learning

Do you agree? YES / NO

Distinguishing between myths and reality

Research approaches that are fit for purpose

Sound, ethical methods

Contextualised data

Understanding of individual differences

Conceptual accounts

Familiarity with technology?

91% of students use social networking and 73% use SN sites to discuss coursework

54% regularly or sometimes use wikis, blogs or online networks

28% maintaining their own wiki or blog

(JISC Great Expectations study, 2008)

Holistic, participatory methods

"the online resources that are available are good. WebCT is really good. I didn't come to university with any expectations about what would be available, coming here and finding that there are quite good resources is quite good. ..

”The resources I’ve used have been recommended by tutors. .. This is different from when I was at school, we never got recommended books, just Googled everything …"

I knew what blogging was, from online newspapers, but it wasn't something I'd ever done..

Understanding of individual differences

Equivocal findings related to age, although prior educational experience clearly important.

Technology is largely used in ways suggested by course and tutor, with some notable creative, exceptions.

Technology use to enable a specific, individual learning requirement e.g. international students, learners with disabilities.

High expectations?

Learners value ubiquitous access, flexibility, convenience, rapid response

Learners make extensive use of technology mediated peer support networks

Learners value access to academic digital content, consistency in use and a blend with face to face teaching

A developmental model

Creative appropriati

on

Creative appropriation

 Driven by contextual or individual need, not provided by tutors, e.g.

‘Had a phone tutorial with my supervisor referring to a support document he emailed to me – I digitally recorded the tutorial and saved it as a digital file on my laptop. This has then been playing while I make the adjustments to the document’ (Clarke 2009: 12)

“One of the group members was not able to make it today so what we did we were connected by using MSN Messenger so we were discussing notes. We were feeding back to the other person.” (Jefferies et al. 2009: 16)

Creative appropriation

Blending social and academic…

‘Chun-Tao also blended the academic side of her life with social technology by using Facebook to find out about software and sites that would be useful for her work, like Zotero and ClickUni, which “looks something like iGoogle but it has things like Facebook [… and] College News.” (Thema Case Study)

Enablers towards creative appropriation: which of these enablers do

you think you provide most well?A. Access that meets personal needs, in

multiple formats and locations

B. Opportunities to develop generic technical, information, communication and learning skills.

C. To practise making decisions about which technology to use for which purpose

D. Perceived value and/or relevance of technology

E. Confidence (risk taking?) to move beyond established, conservative views of study, to explore , to find and use new tools in appropriate ways.

we need to debunk a couple of

myths learners are digital natives

have high expectations of technology-supported learning

Young people who have been immersed in digital technologies

('digital natives') have more advanced learning practices and

capabilities than earlier generations.

Do you agree? YES / NO

we need to debunk a couple of

myths what practices and capabilities do learners need for a digital age?

how do we enable learners to develop them?

What counts as an educated 19-year-old

in this day and age?

Helen BeethamLou McGillAllison Littlejohn

Small-scale JISC studyFinal report May 09

what capabilities will today's learners need in 2020?

economic uncertaintyhigh competition for employment in the global knowledge

economyincreased alternative, contract-based and self-employment

inter-disciplinarity and multi-role work teams a networked society and communities

multi-cultural working and living environmentsdigitally-enhanced environment: geo-tagging, embedded datablurring boundaries of real/virtual, public/private, work/leisure

increasing ubiquity, availability and reusability of digital knowledge

distribution of cognitive work into (human+non-human) networks

personal 'cloud' of information, personal/wearable devicesrapid social and techno-social change

As knowledge is increasingly accepted as being multi-modal, always potentially capable of digital capture and sharing, then the significance of 'the digital' as a separate space for living, learning and working may recede

We are not rethinking some part or aspect of

learning, we are rethinking all of learning in these

new digital contexts

How will we manage multiple identities in a world where public and private are being redefined? How will we act safely and responsibility in hybrid spaces?

Creative appropriation

What would you describe as the priority for graduates in the C21st?

A high level skills for a knowledge economyB creative production of ideas in multiple mediaC critical information and technology literacyD digital participation and citizenshipE personal and social resilience

what capabilities are being supported

in UK HE and FE today?

academic and prof literacies

Competence frameworks

information and media literacies ICT skills

slow change, cultural and institutional inhibitors

rapid change, economic and techno-social

drivers

critical thinkingproblem solvingreflectionacademic writingnote-takingconcept mappingtime managementanalysis, synthesisevaluationcreativity, innovationself-directed learningcollaborative learning

searching, retrievinganalysing, interpreting critiquingevaluatingmanaging resourcesnavigating info spacescontent creationediting, repurposingenriching resourcesreferencingsharing content

web searchingusing CMCusing TELEusing digital devicesword processingusing databasesanalysis toolsassistive techsocial softwareimmersive envtspersonalisation...

A developmental model

Creative appropriati

on

hand-out: mapping capabilities to the

developmental model

hand-out: mapping capabilities to the

developmental modelStrategies tend to focus on 'employability' – occasionally 'graduateness' – both very poorly conceptualised. In practice, how should the curriculum change? How will learners benefit? How will they be supported, challenged and progressed?

creativeappropriation

Learners over-estimate their information skills

Many lack general critical and inquiry skills

Most learners still strongly led by tutor / course practices

Most learners unwilling to explore or creatively appropriate technologies

Separate 'skills' provision poorly engaged with

Need support integrating skills at task/practice level

Problems transferring skills from personal/social contexts to study

Potential clash of academic/personal knowledge cultures

what are the challenges for learners?

how might institutions respond?

What do learners arriving in HE and FE need to make the best of their learning experience?

A info/digital literacy module integrated into all programmes in semester 1B intensive study skills support including ICTC student mentors with strong digital skillsD teaching staff with strong digital skillsE personal development plan that centres on digital literacies

Rethink the capabilities graduates need

Rethink how they are taught, supported, assessed

Rethink how different capabilities and practices are valued by the institution

Digital participation, production and enquiryMultiple modes of knowing, multiple media, multiple communities

Self-management of learning, career and reputationCreativity, innovation and agility...

Peer learning, informal learning, 360 degree support and reviewAuthentic contexts for practice, including digitally-mediated contextsIndividual scaffolding and support Making explicit community practices of knowledge and meaning-makingAnticipating and helping learners manage conflict between practice contextsRecognising and helping learners integrate practicesInterdisciplinarity? Cross-contextual learning? Learner-generated contexts?

Transparency over processes and valuesRecognition and reward (staff and student, cultural and financial)

Digital scholarship = learning and teaching practice, research and innovation, content production

Digital professionalism recognised and nurtured

Learning, living and working are understood to take place in a digital society: there is no separate space of learning which is

'digital'Learners are blending their own learning environments

There is an entitlement to access and basic skills of learning in a digital age, plus a recognition of diverse personal goals and

needsLiteracies for learning are continually assessed and supported:

the emphasis is on producing digitally capable lifelong learners

The focus is on what formal post-compulsory education uniquely offers in the digital age

References and resources JISC Responding to Learners pack

Sharpe, R. et al (2009) Learners’ experiences of e-learning synthesis report: Explaining learner differences, available from https://mw.brookes.ac.uk/display/JISCLE2

Beetham, H., et al (2009) Thriving in the 21st Century: report of the JISC Learning Literacies for a Digital Age project, available fromhttp://caledonianacademy.net/spaces/LLiDA/

ELESIG, next event 21 January 2010, Reading

Rethinking Learning for a Digital Age, Routledge (Spring 2010)

Joint Information Systems Committee

Theme 1 Keynote: Responding to learners

Helen Beetham, Rhona Sharpe

Thank you for your attendance and participation.

We hope you will join us now in the conference discussion area http://www.online-conference.co.uk/WebX/.eed229f/

where we will continue these discussions over the next two days.