An ILLUSTRATED QUEST for a coherent pedagogical approach to e-learning in practice-based education 

1. JISC RSC Digital Creativity event February 2008 Reflecting on JISC funded DoL and LIN-R projects at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication Compiled by Ruth Catlow, Miles Metcalfe and Roger Rees

2. Learning designs for constructivist, practice-based pedagogy

3. Constructivist, practice-based education In common with other HEIs Mainly the issues we face are similar to other (higher) education institutions. We are trying to encourage: o Deeper approaches to learning o Reflective learning and practice o Greater integration of theory and practice o Collaboration (and enterprise) o More independent and interdependent learning

4. Constructivist, practice-based education Issues more specific to design & communications Some issues are more specific to practice-based design and communications education:- o A constructivist and experiential model of learning and teaching:  Learning comes mainly through student engagement in meaningful activity  Often involving solving ‘real’ problems  Often in collaboration with peers – or at least together with them  In their time as learners the students have an impact on the learning environment o More direct connection to the industries our students will enter o Design and communications industries are being transformed / disrupted by developments in networked and digital media that we cannot ignore

5. E-Learning in Practice-Based Education A QUEST for a coherent pedagogical approach to learning Themes from the Journey: o From students’ private, individual learning experience to participation and developing reputation in professional communities of practice. o Encouraging learners (staff and students) to take a dynamic, proactive and critical approach to their engagement with technology. o Which technologies are used? When are they used? How does this change?

6. An ILLUSTRATED QUEST for a coherent pedagogical approach to e-learning in practice-based education Some Landmarks o 2002-5: Supporting students’ development of e-portfolios: showcase, individual designs, using Dreamweaver eg Fashion students’ e-portofolios: Rene Lang , Wing Tse o 2005-ongoing: A good institutional VLE Moodle implementation (cross-institutional discussion between stakeholders) e-champions etc o 2006-7: DoL JISC project came out of these struggles with Dreamweaver. o 2005- ongoing: E-portfolio development joining forces with new PPD programme; tensions between creating a public showcase of work and recognising the place of reflective and collaborative practice in the public domain. Questions of assessment.

7. An ILLUSTRATED QUEST (continued) o 2006-7: Designs on Learning ( DoL) JISC project. Developed framework and platform for supporting, documenting and evaluating the pedagogical value of lecturers’ practice eg Learning Designs  Blogging case study – Phat case study- Not so successful in terms of students’ experience of blogging. Informed integration of blogging into future learning activities o 2007-8: Online profile building - A progression from earlier students’ e-portfolio development (individualised showcase) towards flexible Student Built PLE. Using Wiki and an aggregation of ‘free’ tools and services within a supported, college managed wiki. Examples: - - Experimental Online Profile : exploring possibilities of building galleries and aggregating, blog and image flows - Preliminary template for students’ online profiles within college wiki - Students Online Profiles: James Kay, Jo Tomkins

8. An ILLUSTRATED QUEST A Reversible Student Space Student Showcase <------> Personal Learning Environment (PLE) A Reversible Student Space like a reversible jacket for both learning and developing professional profile Ongoing Issues: - o Delivery: a focus on keeping it tech-lite (where appropriate) and personal- learning-rich. o Making developments available to students and staff alike.

9. An ILLUSTRATED QUEST Some Conceptual Tools Practice Based Learning and the Social Stack  The Social Stack - a conceptual framework developed by Headshift for understanding collaboration and social software.  The Social Stack tools matrix developed at Ravensbourne- aims to make these tools and concepts accessible to all practice-based learners (students and lecturers) by relating tools to learning scenarios E-learning in Context- in 6 steps  A conceptual framework developed at Ravensbourne to support discussions with lecturers and students about the transition from private to public learning in the context of social software and communities of practice; individual learning to social constructivist learning within professional communities of practice.

10. Practice Based Learning and Headshift’s Social Stack The Social Stack tools matrix - Relating tools to learning scenarios

11. E-learning in Context- 1/6 Transition from private to public learning in the context of social software and communities of practice

12. E-learning in Context- 1/6 Transition from private to public learning in the context of social software and communities of practice E-learning in Context- 2/6 Transition from private to public learning in the context of social software and communities of practice

13. E-learning in Context- 3/6 Transition from private to public learning in the context of social software and communities of practice

14. E-learning in Context- 4/6 Transition from private to public learning in the context of social software and communities of practice

15. E-learning in Context- 5/6 Transition from private to public learning in the context of social software and communities of practice

16. E-learning in Context- 6/6 Transition from private to public learning in the context of social software and communities of practice

17. THANK YOU! With special thanks to The JISC Staff and students of Ravensbourne and especially Remmert de Vroome