MOOCs, Walled Gardens, Analytics and Networks:

Multi-generation pedagogical innovations

Terry Anderson

Ontario University Council on E-Learning Summer Institute 2012

The world is moving so fast that there are days when the person who says it can’t be done, keeps getting interrupted by the person doing it.

anonymous

Personally, I’m always ready to learn,Although I do not always like to be taught

Winston Churchill

• Values• Openness

and Control

Values• We can (and must) continuously improve the

quality, effectiveness, appeal, cost and time efficiency of the learning experience.

• Student control and freedom is integral to 21st century life-long education and learning.

• Continuous education opportunity is a basic human right

Age of Open

Definitions of Open on the Web (From Google)

• affording unobstructed entrance and exit; not shut or closed;

• affording free passage or access; • open to or in view of all;• accessible to all; • assailable: not defended or capable of being defended• loose: (of textures) full of small openings or gaps; • start to operate or function• not brought to a conclusion; • not sealed or having been unsealed

“Something there is that doesn’t love a a wall, that wants it down”

American Poet, Robert Frost

Photo by Cudiaco

Three Generations of Ed. Tech. Pedagogy

Anderson & Dropn 2011

1. Behaviourist/Cognitive – Self Paced, Individual Study

2. Constructivist – Groups3. Connectivist –

Networks, & Sets

1. Behavioural/Cognitive Pedagogies

• “tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em,

• tell ‘em • then tell ‘em what you

told ‘em”

Direct Instruction

Gagne’s Events of Instruction (1965)

1. Gain learners' attention2. Inform learner of objectives3. Stimulate recall of previous information4. Present stimulus material5. Provide learner guidance6. Elicit performance7. Provide Feedback8. Assess performance9. Enhance transfer opportunities

Basis of Instructional Systems Design (ISD)

Enhanced by the “cognitive revolution”

• Chunking • Cognitive Load• Working Memory• Multiple Representations• Split-attention effect• Variability Effect• Multi-media effect – (Sorden, 2005)

“learning as acquiring and using conceptual and cognitive structures” Greeno, Collins and Resnick, 1996

Technologies of 1st generation

• CAI, text books, One way Lectures, Video and audio broadcast

Behaviourist/Cognitive Knowledge Is:

• Logically coherent, existing independent of perspective

• Largely context free• Capable of being transmitted• Assumes closed systems with discoverable

relationships between inputs and outputs• Readily defined through learning objectives

2nd Generation DEConstructivist Pedagogy

Constructivist Knowledge is:

• Learning is located in contexts and relationships rather than merely in the minds of individuals. Greenhow, Robelia & Hughes

(2009),

Kathy Sierra http://www.speedofcreativity.org/

Constructivist learning is based onGroup Learning Providing:

• Motivation/synchronization• Feedback• Alternate and conflicting viewpoints

Why Groups?• “Students who learn in small groups

generally demonstrate greater academic achievement, express more favorable attitudes toward learning, and persist …

• small-group learning may have particularly large effects on the academic achievement of members of underrepresented groups and the learning-related attitudes of women…” • Springer; Stanne, & Donovan, (1999) P.42

2nd generation Adoption

• Rapid Growth in traditional institutions• Requires minimal faculty and systems change• Perceived as more work and time consuming

than F2F• Not scaleable, • Increases access, but maintains cost, staffing

and roles. • Not disruptive

Technologies of 2nd generationSocial Constructivism

• LMS• Threaded Discussion, VoiceThread (asynch)• Web conferencing, Immersive worlds (synch)• Project and group management and

notification tools

3rd Generation - Connectivist Pedagogy

• Learning is building networks of information, contacts and resources that are applied to real problems.

Connectivist Learning PrinciplesGeorge Siemens, 2004

• Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.

• Learning may reside in non-human appliances. • Capacity to know is more critical than what is currently

known. • Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate

continual learning.• Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts

is a core skill. • Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.

Connectivist Knowledge is

• Emergent• Distributed• Chaotic• Fragmented• Non sequential• Contextualized

Networks add diversity to learning

“People who live in the intersection of social worlds are at higher risk of having good ideas” Burt, 2005, p. 90

Connectivist Learning is Emergent

the very uncertainty and lack of predictability of learning outcomes will be the key factor that adds value to a learning community

emergent systems will provide the necessary triggers to enhance knowledge and understanding

Special Issue of IRRODL on Emergence 2011

Connectivist Learning designs

Awareness and Receptivity

Connection formingSelectionFiltering

Contribution and Involvement

Reflection and Metacognition

Pettenati, M. (2007).

Special Issue of IRRODL on Connectivism 2011

• Editors George Siemens and Grainne Conole

Free Subscriptions at www.irrodl.org

Part 2 Recent Developments in all

Three Generations

• Open Educational Resources• Learning Analytics• MOOCs• Walled Social Networks• Disaggregated/low costs Schools

Open Open Content and Open Educational Resources

Because it saves time and money!!!

Where is Canada and OER’s

• COULD be useful for all 3 generations• Driver of 1st generation costs• No Federal programs or initiatives,• BCCampus only provincial production and

distribution activity• Falling badly behind USA, EU and developing

countries

Learning Analytics

• Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs. Wikipedia 2012

2nd International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge 2012

Slide from George Siemens

“Analytics, and the data and research that fuel it, offers the potential to identify broken models and promising practices, to explain them, and to propagate those practices.”

Grajek, 2011

Analytics Affordances

• Part of big data movement in industry• Rio Salado College– Can determine those likely to drop out within 8

days of registration• American Public University– Continually monitoring 178 student variables

• Especially useful to combat high drop out associated with 1 and 3rd generation

Two Genre’s of Moocs

• Origional Seimen’s – Downes – Connectivist pedagogy “knowledge is actuated

through the process of a learner connecting to and feeding information into a learning community”Kop & Hill 2008

– Aggregates distributed posts, no centre– Large enrollment, many ‘lurkers’ no formal assessment– Heavy involvement and communication with

‘teacher/facilitator”– Ex Change12, CCK08, EduMoo

Teacher Role

• Connectivism model– amplifying (to draw attention to important ideas/concepts), – curating (arrange readings and resources so as to give help for the

understanding of new concepts), – way finding (assist participants to use social networking for their

doubts), – aggregating (clarify discussions and content via extracting

patterns), – filtering (help participants to be able to exclude non useful

information in the networks), – modeling ( show successful information and interaction patterns), – staying present (Cormier & Siemens (2010)

AI-Stanford MOOC• Structured learning activities, instructivist cognitive behaviourist

pedagogy• Heavy content interaction, little to no teacher-student interaction• Centralized admin via LMS/analytics engines• 2001 Stanford AI course 160,000 registered, 25,000 completed all

exercises, -85% drop out?• some accreditation by institutions – not Stanford• Udacity, Coursera spin offs• MITx – adds assessment and certificate of completion from

MIT/Harvard• Questions of authenticity

Teacher Role:Cognitive/Behaviourist model

• Selecting/writing Content• Creating exercises• Creating assessments – machine and teacher

marked

Both Modes

• Low cost • Scalable• “The students who drop out early do not add

substantially to the cost of delivering the course. The most expensive students are the ones who stick around long enough to take the final, and those are the ones most likely to pay for a certificate”. Daphne Koller

Why would you or your institution sponsor a MOOC??

Walled Garden Network

• Next generation LMS??• Combines best of PLE and LMS

What is the Landing?

• Walled Garden with Windows• A Private space for Athabasca University

students and staff• A user controlled creative space• Boutique social system• Networking, blogging, photos,

microblogging, polls, profiles, calendars, groups and more

• Differentiating and merging work, from school, from fun

• Elgg based

LMS

• Group based (connectivist model)• Interaction confined to group level• Posts owned by institution – no ownership• Lack of persistence• No participation by alumni, visitors, non

enrolled faculty or students• Maximizes security/trust and control

Landing

• User controlled – minimal status or roles• User initiated activities• User owned• Maximizes flexibility, control and ownership• A “soft” system that users can adapt to

emergent needs.

Social Networking helps us create our own boundaries

45

TextText

Stepanyan, Mather & Payne, 2007

Boundary Controls in Elgg

Challenges of network model

• Privacy/access control• Critical mass• Censorship and multiple comfort levels• Competition with LMS • Rapid development cycle and computer

services

Education Sector Factbook, 2012

Business response

Unbundling of services

content development, student support services, distribution and sale of learning resources, provision of library services, support for full time research faculty and graduate students, direct instruction, tutorial support, registration services social services such as networking opportunities or face-to-face social gatheringsAthletic facilities and teams

Institutional responses

• Publishers in the Education Business– “Northern Arizona University has inked a deal with

Pearson to co-develop three fully online baccalaureate degree programs based on the increasingly popular and somewhat controversial “competency based” model of higher education.

Full-time tuition is set at a fixed monthly fee of $199

OERu Challange

“New report from the UK Open University - 10 innovations in teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world”.

• Assessment for learning• Badges to accredit learning• Learning analytics• MOOCs• New pedagogy for e-books• Personal inquiry learning• Publisher led mini-courses• Rebirth of academic publishing• Rhizomatic learning• Seamless learninghttp://www.open.ac.uk/personalpages/mike.sharples/

Reports/Innovating_Pedagogy_report_July_2012.pdf

• https://landing.athabascau.ca

• terrya@athabascau.ca• Terrya.edublogs.org