embodied learning on the network

• Educating Professionals • Creating and Applying Knowledge • Engaging our Communities

Embodied learning on the network: Experiences from the field

Benjamin KehrwaldSchool of Education, UniSAApril 2014

How would you feel knowing yourPilotDentistCoachChef

…did his/her training online?

Why are we here?

• What is embodied learning? • How does is it relevant to professional degree

programs?

Examine embodied learning as it relates to professional practice as an outcome of

professional degree programs

• What is common about ‘embodied learning’ and ‘networked learning’?

• Can embodied learning be supported on the network?

Identify the common ground between embodied learning and networked

learning, including how embodied learning might be facilitated on the network

• How do we support embodied learning on the network when a) this is technology mediated and b) the learners and teacher are not co-located?

Begin to identify implications for networked learning design, development and

teaching practices

Lets focus…

Professional practice is

usually embodied Embodied

learning leads to

embodied practice

Professional degree

programs should

included embodied learning

How do we support

embodied learning on

the network?

Embodied learning

Not just ‘knowing, but ‘doing’

Doing involves physical manipulation, movement and whole body experiences.

Engages not only the mind, but the body

Performance includes affect: beliefs, feelings, attitudes, dispositions and values

Not ‘new’, but perhaps not well understood relative to ‘in the head’ learning

Teacher

Medical Imaging Technician

Engineer

Common ground for NL and EL

Learning is

active

cumulative

individual self-regulated

goal-oriented

See Goodyear, 2002


Learning is

active

cumulative


goal-oriented

What is the learner doing as part of learning?

Is the learning activity online or offline?

How can both types of activity be used to support one another?…to support the intended learning outcomes?


Learning is

active

cumulative


goal-oriented

What do learners bring to the learning situation?What are the physical requirements of the learning?

How are is the intended learning conceptualised as a developmental process?


Learning is

active

cumulative


goal-oriented

Learning is idiosyncraticWhat needs do individual learners have?

What learnplaces are learners working in?

Do we provide parameters for learnplaces OR help learners use their learnplaces better?


Learning is

active

cumulative


goal-oriented

Learners exercise agency over their activity

Goals provide the ‘why’ of ‘Why would I engage in this activity?

Authentic activity is valued and provides motivation

A Case: MBET program

• 4-Year, undergraduate, pre-service teacher education• Delivered on 4 sites as blended learning and

‘externally’• Requirement for in school practical placement• Graduates must meet national standards for teacher

accreditation

Project: redevelop each course in the program for flexible blended or online delivery

MBET Development

• Structured Process:• Analysis• Planning• Design• Development• Teaching• Evaluation

Challenges re Embodied Learning

• Explicating the intended learning outcomes• conceptualising the relationship between the virtual

and the physical (or ‘real’) experiences of learners within each course

• structuring and support for physical activity through both a) the definition of appropriate physical environments for learning tasks and b) the provision of physical resources for use in those environments AND understanding how learners work in those environments, e.g., how they use learning materials

Questions?

MBET Development


MBET Development


Analysis and Planning:

• What type of learning is required? In the head? Something else?

• What can learners physically do? What are their limitations?

• Where will they learn? • What conditions/

tools/materials do they need?• What do they already have that

they can use?

MBET Development


Design:

• Identify activity that leads to the intended learning.

• Define learning environments and materials required for success: real and virtual

• Consider technical, procedural and academic dimensions.

• How will learning materials be presented?

• How will they be used?

MBET Development


Development:

• How will learning materials be presented?

• Media development to match intended use: online, offline and blends

• Development of technical and procedural information

• Testing• Representations of practice• Student generated content

MBET Development


Teaching (and support)

• Tracking student activity, use of materials

• Provision of feedback• Connecting learners on the

network• Representations of practice

(teacher generated)• Representations of practice

(student generated)• Reflective practice

Examples

• Professional Experience• Arts Education

• Dance• Drama• Visual Arts

• Health and Physical Education• Design and Technology

Conclusions

• So far, so good…• Hey, there is more work to do

• Initial successes, but ongoing refinement• Evaluation is important• Working toward innovation

• Be aware of other dimensions of this work• Staff development• Change process• Organisational culture