use of ples by security and investigation professionals
TRANSCRIPT
www.le.ac.uk
Use of PLEs by security and investigation professionals
Antony E. (Tony) RatcliffePhD StudentInstitute of Learning InnovationUniversity of Leicester
How it came to be
Investigations
Security
management
Policing
Insurance
Professional
cooking
Purpose
• Recent revelations in the media
• http://www.pontydysgu.org/2013/06/give-us-back-our-data/
Research questions
Main question:
How are security management and investigation professionals using Personal Learning Environments and digital literacies for work-based learning and, in particular, continuing professional development?
Online research methods
• Questionnaire
– Fluid Surveys
– 20 day period
• Interviews
– Skype to Skype
– Skype to telephone
– Call Recorder for Skype
Responses – questionnaire
• 137 accessed
• 67 completions, 35 agreed to interview
• 17 countries
– Canada 36% (n=24)
– United Kingdom 22% (n=15)
– United States of America 10% (n=7)
– Australia 7% (n=5)
Responses – questionnaire
Bahrain (2) Lithuania (1)
Burma (1) Mexico (1)
Cambodia (1) New Zealand (2)
China (1) Romania (1)
France (1) Russia (1)
Hong Kong (1) South Africa (2)
India (1)
Responses – questionnaire
Responses – questionnaire
Responses - interviews
Themes
• Online activities
• Online challenges
Online activities
Some of what they do
• Research, reading, news
• Course work, professional certification
• Online training programmes, webinars, podcasts
• Global communication, access opinions of many
• Virtual conferences
• Making learning continuous, after course ends
Online challenges
• Personal decisions to minimise activities
• Workplace restrictions
No time, no need, status quo
• “‘entertainment’ social media…a waste of time”
• “I don’t tweet, I think it’s idiotic frankly.”
• “I dislike social media.”
• “I think blogs are a waste of time: reading about some idiot and what he had for breakfast: nobody cares.”
• “I don't care about somebody's personal opinion on something…ranks up there with blogging as a complete waste of time.”
Standing in the way - restrictions
• Non-business use, rules on use, special permissions
• Can’t download
• Firewalls, restrictions
• Outdated technologies, compatibility
• “Formal society groupings (corporations, governments, universities) have not fully grasped the big change in distributive, collaborative learning and how that will affect people in everyday real world.”
Security, privacy, sensitive issues
• Computer hacking & espionage
• Remote access
• How long online and for whom to see?
• Identity theft
• Lack of trust
• Credibility
It is not helped by the news…
• Edward Snowden
• Wikileaks
• Internal emails made public
Answering the research sub questions
• No surprises beyond computers & mobile devices for Internet access, email, and telephone
• Limited mention of digital literacy skills
• No lack of ability to develop skills when needed
• Potential for development of participatory cultures & learning communities, but low participation
• Transformative activities might be access to education
Conclusions
• Active consumers of online content
• Study limited to those who responded to request
• Other activities are yet to be explored
Contact info
Tony Ratcliffe
Institute of Learning Innovation, University of Leicester