Making it rich and personal: The personal path to institutional learning environments

Making it rich and personal:the personal path to institutional learning environments
Su White
Web and Internet Science Research GroupECS, University of Southampton

The world is changing?
Su White, University of Southampton @suukii

stories

Pythagoras … a mythical past?
Ooh, no women…. #ALD11!

Napier’s bones
Devices to overcome limited literacy

The library at Alexandria
Papyrus scrolls, and a reading room

The Nurnberg Funnel
Lets pour the knowledge in…HoHo

The Analytic Engine
When computers were human
And later, in the early 20th century mostly women
PS. Its Ada  #ALD11

Early CAL?

The old problem of change
“There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old system, and merely lukewarm defenders in those who should gain by the new one”
Niccolo Machiavelli 1513

The world has been changing
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/online_communities_small.png

teacherdirected
(Instructivist?)
1997
knowledge exists independently of the learner,and is
‘transferred’ to the student by the teacher.
Ateacher-centered model
epitomized by the lecture.
1990
The Web
The learner constructsnew knowledge through a process of analyzing new informationand comparing it to previous knowledge. Student
responsible for their own learning
Vicarious Learning
Social
Constructivism
2000
Web 2.0
Communities of practice
Semantics
Informal Learning
Linked Data
Studentcentred
Constructivist?
2010
Connectivism
A vague track of more recent views

Web 1.0 (mid 1990s)
But what model of learning does this assume?
Html static web pages
ftp
http
+ Teacher

Enter the VLEVirtual Learning Environment
VLEs replicated (a perception of) traditional teaching
by enabling ‘content delivery’ on-line

But why VLEs?
Historical artefact
Mostteachers did not do (or even understand) html or FTP
Manyteachers and students did not do email (or other communication tools)
Information literacy was not high
Some teachers were reluctant to allow their online work to be widely seen
Or were constrained by licences which controlled the distribution of resources

why VLEs? (2)
VLEs are ultimately supportable
In summary:
VLEs = toolkit
VLEs enable teachers to:
create and distribute
files, email and announcements
run chats and forums
…all in a safe controlled environment

The Read/Write Web and the (Social) Network – early 2000’s
O’Reilly 2005, 2007

Some failures of VLEs
VLEs
embody outdated(static) views of teaching as “push”
put the teacher and knowledge/content at the centre rather than the student/process or the network
are fundamentally closed
lock you in
Do not incorporate any understanding of network learning
do not integrate with the tools and environments students or lecturers use
Do not enable or support learners to take responsibility for their own learning, tools or digital literacy

We want to climb over the walls…
With apologies….Adapted from image used by tbl, originally from the economist I think

CC Leigh Blackall
23

Where the future lies…
The data.gov model…
Exposed data, good enough (“raw data now”)
If possible using standards (like XCRI or RDFa…)
Be a semantic squirrel
Use the social web
Crowd sourcing
Shared development
Social communities
“The people who will do cool stuff with your data…
will not be you”
http://semantic-squirrel.org/
‘let computers do the tedious stuff’

Towards a digital academy?
Expose and share public and private capital across departments and institutions….(to)enable workflows and collaboration
Reportanalysingresearch returns
Disseminate
share and reusefindings
Attract funding
Integrate knowledge capital
Facilitate inter-disciplinaryinitiatives
Remove/reduceoverheads (e.g. time to publication)
Reportanalysingretention and progression
Student recruitment
Admission tariffs and course requirements
Publish module specifications
Publish
accreditation data
Dynamic data exchange between departments
A
D
M
I
N
I
S
T
R
A
T
I
O
N
R
E
S
E
A
R
C
H
E
D
U
C
A
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O
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S
E
A
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Common data-> exposed -> shared ->RDF

We want to climb over walls
With apologies….Adapted from image used by tbl, originally from the economist I think

We want to work with our learners

discovery
collaboration
practicals
practice
people networks
social
blended
links
memes
memes
semantics
lazy web
co-creation
hashtags
semantics
Wikis
cognitive surplus
tools
twitter
feeds
bookmarks
tasks
wild
VLE
forums
A (wine based) learning journey

ChangesUnderstanding Learning
In formalising our understanding of learning in a digital world there is increasing recognition of informal learning

Digital Literacies
Stuff! Call that learning?
Is part of the network
Contributes stuff
Creates an ontology
finds stuff
on the network
from the network (of people)
is given the stuff
via the network
Increasing (digital) literacies
The learner

Digital literacies
Are a part of literacies in a digital world
Essential skillset for the thought leaders and decision makers of tomorrow
Master use and shape
new business models
emerging practices -> leading change
To influence people in a digital world

What is a PLE?
A personal toolkit
✗
Facilities to personalise the desktop?
Learners choose They are responsible for:
the tools they use
who they interact with
the content they view
sense making

The /Institutional PLE (iPLE)
Oxymoron”“union of two apparent contraries”
e.g. ‘Extremely Average’
‘Military Intelligence’
Southampton
^
Some might suggest that an Institutional PLE is by definition an Oxymoron
Our rationale for creating an iPLE: there are features we want or things we must provide
Organisationally we want/have to:
Provide for and support living and learning
Ensure students find all things “Southampton” at one place (or with one search engine)
Accommodate people who do not wish to be seen world-wide
Preserve and curate educational resources
protect some teaching materials(e.g. privacy, legal constraints)
Meet legal responsibilities (e.g. accessibility)
Educationally :
A virtual guide in the learning journey
Supporting learners (and teachers) and providing scaffolding
Introducing tools (and their affordances)
An infrastructure for student assessment
traditional assessment
online portfolios, blogs, artefacts
assessing use of online tools
the World Wide Web is not always the right place
An intranet to host data and discussions
Technically we want to
be agile with our technology provision - to meet, match and exceed student expectations
control the availability of services and information and perhaps the Cloud is not reliable enoughdevelop services incrementally and use modern methods so we can manage costs through choice

Towards an eLearning 2.0 provisioning strategy for universities, Oskar Casquero (oskar.casquero@ehu.es) University of the Basque Country, PLE conference 2010

Some Issues for HEIs
In the virtual classroom
New pedagogic approaches
making authentic use of technology
How to assess online skills
and what to assess?
Control suitability of content
Guarantee accessibility
Control availability of content
Adhere to data protection laws
Respect copyright
Preserve and curate
New skills and knowledge?

The Southampton Learning Environment - Goals
make it possible to undertake every aspect of
livinglearningteaching
support a wide range of pedagogical approaches
a single place where you can go for
toolscommunicationcollaborationinformationresources
act as a vehicle for reviewing and aligning our educational processes across the University
provide much more flexible systems
single login to all university tools and repositories (and search)
online
appropriate to your role in the university

Why are we doing this?

Wikis
Communication tools
Cloud services
Infrastructure
Forums
Video
Conferencing
Email
PUBLIC
WORKSTATIONS
TurnItIn
DropBox
Presence
Chat
GoogleDocs
CLASSROOMS
Internal
Services
Podcasting
Live@Edu
Search
EXTRANET
E-Assignment
External RSS Feeds
COLLABORATIONSPACE
Blackboard (or other VLE?)
Delicious
PROFILES
Lecture Capture and Replay
Podcasts
SEARCH
Question Mark Perception
Uni/SUSU announcements
Push
WIFI
STORAGE
Module selection
Course Announcements
On-line forms
INTRANET
Internal RSS Feeds
INTERNALSOFTWARE
Resources
E-Books
HR Records
Student Records
Open Educational
Resources
Library Catalogue
Room Bookings
Timetable
EdShare
On-line Journals
Student Handbook
Fees Payment/records
38
The SRN
Programme/Module Catalogue
Institutional data

Organizational View:A Rich Learning Environment
The digital cognitive apprenticeship
Situated and authentic learning with a community of scholars in a digital world

Some applications we are leading on
Let me
personalise my personal timetable
select my module options (fully informed)
book an un-used classroom near me for a SEG group meeting
Tell me
what bus I need to leave home to get to my next lecture in time
Remind me
of the name of my tutee who is standing in front of me now, and let me know their current progress.
Create a workflow
to allow submission of papers and redistribute anonymously for peer review

Bringing it all together
Resources
Collaboration
Learning Activities
My Space
DIGITAL LITERACIES
SLE
Public
Profiles
Communication
User generated
On-line forms
Mobility

Thank you
Any questions?
Su White
Web and Internet Science
ECS
The University of Southampton, UK
www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~saw@suukii

Discussion Points
Do you buy the idea that the VLE (as manifested by BB etc.) is past its time?
Given the increasingly importance of Digital Literacies
What can and what cannot be personal in an iPLE? Maybe we need to account for institutional variation or disciplinary differences?
are there other ways of doing something about it
other than including “authentic” use of technology in the curriculum?

refs
Casquero, Oskar, Portillo, Javier; Ovelar, Ramón; Benito, Manuel and Romo, Jesús. iPLE Network: an integrated eLearning 2.0 architecture from a university's perspective. (2010) Interactive Learning Environments, Volume 18, Issue 3 September 2010, pages 293 – 308
Fournier, Helena & Kop, Rita. (2010) Researching the design and development of a Personal Learning Environment, Proceedings of the 2010 PLE Conference, CitiLab: Barcelona http://pleconference.citilab.eu
O'Reilly, T. (2005). What Is Web 2.0 – Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Softwarehttp://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html
O'Reilly, T. (2007). What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software, Communications & Strategies, 1(1),17-37http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1008839
Santos C & Pedro L, (2009). SAPO Campus: a social media platform for Higher Education, paper presented to Open and Social Learning: The VI International Seminar of the UNESCO Chair in e-learning, UOC: Barcelona
White S. (2009) Rich Learning Environments, University of Southamptonhttp://shirleyknot.blogspot.com/2009/12/rich-learning-environments.html
White, Su & Davis, Hugh C. (2011). Making it rich and personal: crafting an institutional personal learning environment, International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments, In Press. http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/22030/
White, Su & Davis, Hugh C. (2011)Rich and personal revisited: translating ambitions for an institutional personal learning environment into a reality. In: The Second International PLE Conference: PLE_SOU, July 11-13th 2011, Southampton, UK. http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/22140/
Southampton’s SLE Project http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/research/projects/749

Making it rich and personal: The personal path to institutional learning environments

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