ESAI 2014

Online Learning for Early School Leavers

www.iscoil.ie

Focus of Presentation

• Introducing how online learning works for Irish early school leavers

• The use of authoring tools for reflective practice on Learning Design

• Considering potential developments to enhance the iScoil model of online learning

Online Learning

Education in which instruction and content are delivered primarily over the Internet (Watson and Kalmon, 2005)

Blended Learning

Blended learning is any time a student learns at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home and at least in part through online delivery with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace (Horn and Staker, 2011).

Virtual Learning Environment

A safe and secure learning platform that is reliable, available online and accessible to a wide user base.

Keywords

The Global Picture

USA• 50/52

States• 1.5 million

students• 3% of K-12

population

Canada• All 13

states• 200,000

students• 3.4% K-12

population

Europe• 80 Virtual

Schools across 19 European countries

Bascisch, 2013

iScoil – Early School Leavers 13-16yrs

Studies in interventions using technology emphasise the ability of online learning environments to provide a highly individualised and differentiated learning experience

(Archambault et al 2010).

iScoil Wordle

iScoil Enrolment 2012-201352 Learners

Gender and Location• Blended 19 M 2 F• At-Home 23M 8 F

Reason for Referral• Anxiety 17%• Disaffection 14%• Behavioural 28%• School Refusal 34%• Illness 7%

Progression Routes• Solas 18%• Community Training

Centre 21%• Youthreach 18%• Return to School 36%• Unkown 7%

FETAC Level 3• 60% achieved

Certification• 20%Full Award

General Learning

Mentor

Subject Specialist

Task Learning Outcome

Asynchronous

Support

What does it look like …… The iScoil Homepage

Examining the Educational Experience through the lens of

Community of Inquiry Model for Online Learning(Garrison and Anderson, 2003)

EDUCATIONAL

EXPERIENCE

Supporting

Discourse

COGNITIVE PRESENCE

Selecting Content

TEACHING PRESENCE

Setting Climate

SOCIAL PRESENCE

Cognitive and Teaching Presence –

Reflecting on Lesson Design

Authoring Tool Pedagogical Pattern Collector (Laurillard, 2011)

What are the Learning Activities for: Communications Unit 2 Writing Total online course material 335 minutes

Read Watch Listen

Practice

Investigate

Produce

RWL4%

Produce18%

Practice42%

Investigate36%

Lesson Design: The Balance of Learning Types

Fig: Pedagogical Pattern Collector - Communications Unit

2 Total 335mins

RWL15%

Produce26%

Practice59%

Fig: Pedagogical Pattern Collector - Maths Unit 3.2

AlgebraTotal 170mins

Lesson Design: The Balance of Learning Types

Mentor

Subject Specialist

Task Learning Outcome

Asynchronous

Support

iScoil Homepage

How the roles support a student through a learning outcome

Subject Expert

Student Mentor

Authoring Tool – Open GLM Developed at University of Vienna

Authoring Tool – Open GLM Developed at

University of Vienna

Teaching and Social Presence.... What does the authoring tool tell us

Positive Affirmation

Individual Assessment

Student Paced

Interest Led Content

Feedback Loops

iScoil students on the learning experience ….

I really liked that I could log on later in the day and do the tasks then, My brain works better when I'm fully awake and when I was in regular schooling I would be really tired and couldn't concentrate as much because of it. I also like that I can use the Internet to look up things I'm not 100% sure about.

Well you’re not stuck in all day from early morning until night….

Very handy better than writing or books... I’m terrible at writing I’d rather the computer it’s handy.

The teachers experience ….

..... like if you do kind of set projects task and previously you’d only kind of be getting short answers for that and then you suddenly give them a task about World War Two or something and you come back and they’re written this big long essay full of descriptive language and it’s that they actually have no problems with literacy, just that they weren’t interested in what you were giving them.......

but sometimes the hard thing is you don’t even get any feedback from students

If you’ve got a student that’s not engaging you can change our approach ..you could give them the same content in a different way …. It gives you that chance of trying Lots of different things

Considering the above within the framework of a Community of Enquiry

Model

Active Learning

Competency Based

Student Centred Assessment

Flexible

Personalised

SafeConstructivist

Portfolio Assessment Adaptable

Feedback Loops

Positive

Video Conferencing for Maths Instruction

Potential for Integrating Social Networking

Interest Led Cross Accredited Short Courses

iScoil model for school settings

Conclusion

Some Developments, Improvements and Further Study for iScoil

The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies identifies eight encompassing and interconnected dimensions that work together to design creative learning and innovative pedagogies using ICT: Content and Curricula, Assessment, Learning Practices, Teaching Practices Organisation, Leadership and Values, Connectedness, Infrastructure (Bocconi et al, 2012).

Synchronous Social Presence

Student Online Collaboration

Competency Based Assessment

A model for Prevention

References Archambault, L. et al. (2010). Research Committee issues brief: An

exploration of at-risk learners and online education. Vienna, VA: International Association for K–12 Online Learning (iNACOL).

Bascish, P. (2013) Theory of Benchmarking for e-LearningA Top-Level Literature Review www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.info

Bocconi, S., Kampylis, P., and Punie, Y. (2012). Innovating Teaching and Learning Practices: Key Elements for Developing Creative Classrooms in Europe. Elearningeuropa.info

Garrison, D.R. & Anderson, T. (2003). E-Learning in the 21st Century. London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Laurillard D. & Ljubojevic D. (2011). Evaluating learningdesigns through the formal representation of pedagogicalpatterns. In Investigations of E-Learning Patterns: ContextFactors, Problems and Solutions (eds J.W. Kohls & C.Kohls), pp. 86–105. IGI Global, Hershey, PA.

Luis P. Prieto et al. (2013). Learning design Rashomon II: exploring one lesson through multiple tools. Research in Learning Technology Vol. 21