+
Educational futures:
exploring the impact of ICT
Blog:
www.e4innovation.com Gráinne Conole,
The Open University, UK
Exeter University,16/06/09

+

+ Changing technologies
Ubiquitous & networked
Context and location aware
Mobile technologies
Cloud computing

+ Learning in the Cloud
Clouds are a large pool of easily usable and
accessible virtualized resources (such as
hardware, development platforms and/or
services). These resources can be dynamically re-
configured to adjust to a variable load
(scale), allowing also for an optimum resource
utilization. This pool of resources is typically
exploited by a pay-per-use model in which
guarantees are offered by the Infrastructure
Provider by means of customized SLAs.
Sclater, N. (2009)

+ Virtual learning

+ Changing content
Content, tools &
designs free
New tools for
sense-making &
dialogue
Barriers
to sharing
& reuse

+Education for free: CCK08 & discourse
ltc.umanitoba.ca/blogs/futurecourse/

Did we change the world? No. Not yet. But we (and I
mean all course participants, not just Stephen and I)
managed to explore what is possible online. People self-
organized in their preferred spaces. They etched away at
the hallowed plaque of “what it means to be an expert”.
They learned in transparent environments, and in the
process, became teachers to others. Those that observed
(or lurked as is the more common term), hopefully found
value in the course as well. Perhaps life
circumstances, personal schedule, motivation for
participating, confidence, familiarity with the online
environment, or numerous other factors, impacted their
ability to contribute. While we can‟t “measure them” the
way I‟ve tried to do with blog and moodle
participants, their continued subscription to The Daily and
the comments encountered in F2F conferences suggest
they also found some value in the course.

+ Changing students
 Technologically immersed
 Learning processes
 Task
orientated, experiential, cummulati
ve
 Attitudes and approaches
 Caution re: net gen claims, importance
 group orientated, experiential, able of taking account of student differences
to multi-task, just in time
mindset, comfortable with multiple  Do seem to be age related changes
representations taking place and these are strongly
linked to social networking and the use
 Disconnect between student & of a range of new
institutional approaches
Netgeneration, Digital Natives.... (Oblinger, Prensky,
etc.), Ecar reports, Kennedy survey, Chris Jones, Mary
Thorpe, JISC LEX projects, PI roject

+ Personalised and mobile
 Individualised Personal
Learning Environment
 Synchronised
information across
devices
 Location and context
aware

+ New learning spaces
 Combining the affordances of
new technologies with good
pedagogy
 Taking account of context,
location and time
SKG: Learning Spaces project,
Australia

+ Converging practices
Modern technologies Modern pedagogy
 Web 2.0 practices  From individual to social
 Location aware technologies  Contextualised and situated
 Adaptation &customisation
 Personalisedlearning
 Second life/immersive worlds
 Experiential learning
 Google it!
 Inquiry learning
 Badges, World of warcraft
 Peer learning
 User generated content
 Open Educational Resources
 Blogging, peer critique
 Reflection
 Cloud computing
 Distributed cognition

+ Pedagogies of the future
 A shift in pedagogy from individual – social;
information – experiential; general to contextual
 Impact of new web practices (2.0 & beyond)
 Changing skills and attitudes
 Wider changes in societal norms and practices
 What new pedagogies are needed?
 Fragmented, distributed identities
 Blurring of boundaries: physical/virtual;
teacher/student; institution/personal

+ Final thoughts
 Students increasingly digital – demands on institutions?
 Students and teachers - personalisedenvironment of tools vs.
institutional tools?
 What new forms of blended learning spaces are needed?
 How do we support new approaches to design and delivery of courses
to make more effective use of technologies and lead to an enhance
student learning experience?
 How do we take account of a digital divide that is ever narrower but
deeper?
 What new digital literacy skills will learners and teachers need ?
 What new pedagogical modelsare needed to marry the affordances of
personalisation with the best affordances of technologies?
 How do we account for blurring boundaries
(real/virtual, formal/informal, etc)?

+ References
 Conole, G., De Laat, M., Dillon, T. and Darby, J.
(2008), „Disruptive technologies‟, „pedagogical innovation‟:
What‟s new? Findings from an in-depth study of students‟ use
and perception of technology‟, Computers and
Education, Volume 50, Issue 2, February 2008, Pages 511-524.
 Conole, G. (submitted), Personalisation through technology-
enhanced learning, in J. O‟Donaghue (ed), Technology
Supported Environment for Personalised Learning: Methods
and Case Studies, IGI Publications.
 Conole, G. (forthcoming), Stepping over the edge: the
implications of new technologies for education in M. Lee and C.
McLouglin (forthcoming), Web 2.0-based e-learning: applying
social informatics for tertiary teaching, Hersey, PA: ICI Global.
 Johnson, L., Levine, A., & Smith, R. (2009), The 2009 Horizon
Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

+ References
 Iiyoshi, T. and Kumar, M.S.V. (2008) (Eds), Opening up
education – the collective advancement of education through
open technology, open content and open knowledge, MIT
Press: Cambridge, Massachuetts, available online at
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11
309&mode=toc, last accessed 5/2/09.
 NSF (2008), Fostering learning in the networked world: learning
opportunity and challenge. A 21st Century agenda for the
National Science Foundation, report of the NSF task force on
cyberlearning, available online at
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf08
204, last accessed 8/2/09.
 Sclater, N. (2009), Elearning in the Cloud, 'International Journal
of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments', IGI Publishing
(forthcoming)