Digital technologies are used more and more in higher education; however, the system of higher education has changed to a lesser extent. In this keynote I will explore how new technologies could help to learn better and faster in the future without the inflexibilities of the current higher educational systems. I will explore answers to discussions on questions like: 1) What do future learners actually need to learn and why? Issues: factual knowledge can be found easily on demand; more and more tasks can be performed better by computers & robots. 2) How do learners learn? Issues: can we learn in a more personalised way and in our own tempo, without losing the social aspect of learning, how can be better connect to interests and pre-knowledge? How can we learn faster? 3) Where do learners learn? Issues: schools, universities, at home, at work, what is the importance of face-to-face contacts in higher education? 4) When do future learners learn? Issues: is it really needed to learn a couple of years in isolation before starting to work

1. FASTER AND BETTER LEARNING
LEARNING WITH(IN) SMART
LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
ROB KOPER
OPEN UNIVERSITY OF THE NETHERLANDS
EMADRID WORKSHOP ON SMART EDUCATION, TOLEDO, 2-12-2019

2. INTRODUCTION
Objective of Research into Learning Technologies:
The use of technologies to create new learning environments in
which:
• new types of learning events are embedded,
• new types of learning resources are embedded
• learners are supported to perform their learning activities,
• teachers are supported to perform their teaching activities,

3. GENERATIONS OF APPROACHES
Some historic examples:
- Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI)
- Computer Assisted Testing (CAT)
- Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS)
- Hypertext / hypermedia
- Multimedia systems for learning
- Personalised Hypertext systems
- Learning Management Systems (LMS)
- Learning Networks
- Mobile Leaning
- Virtual and Augmented Learning Environments

4. AND NOW?
How to make everything in this field ‘smarter’:
• smart support of learners to perform their learning
activities better or faster (with or without teachers),
• smart support of teachers to perform their teaching
activities better or faster,
• to create smarter types of learning resources, and/or
• to create smarter types of learning events.
More in general: how to create smarter learning
environments enabling people to learn better or faster

5. SMART LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS?
Physical (real) environments that are:
• enriched with digital, context-aware
and adaptive, devices or services,
• to promote better and faster
learning

6. PHYSICAL (REAL) ENVIRONMENTS

7. DOES THIS DEFINITION EXCLUDE
VIRTUAL REALITY ENVIRONMENTS?

8. INCLUDES AUGMENTED REALITY, EG
HOLOLENS

9. INCLUDES ROBOTICS IN LEARNING

10. INCLUDES ‘INTERNET OF
THINGS’ IN LEARNING
• Mobile apps like Google Lens for identification of objects
• Early example: smart boards
• Domotica: eg classroom climate/lightning for optimal
learning
• Etc.

11. BUT, … HOW TO PROMOTE
BETTER OR FASTER LEARNING?

12. WHAT IS LEARNING?
A relatively permanent change
in behavior as a result of experience
behavior = the way a person acts or reacts
in a situation
Experience = is the knowledge or mastery of
an event or subject gained
through involvement in, or
exposure to it

13. INTRODUCTION OF THE CONCEPT OF
“HUMAN LEARNING INTERFACES” (HLI)
• Human Computer Interaction
“how humans can instruct a machine in order to
perform some tasks”
=> User Interface
• Smart Learning
(the other way around):
“how can machines support humans to facilitate their
learning
=> Human Learning Interface

14. THE CONCEPT OF
“HUMAN LEARNING INTERFACES” (HLI)

15. OBSERVABLES
• verbal utterances as input
• non-verbal facial expressions, hand movements, etc.
• Eye movements, heart pulse, blood pressure, muscle
tension, pupil size, etc.
Using sensors of all types (camera’s, microphones, activity
trackers, wearables for health measurement, etc.)

16. INTERVENTIONS
4 types of interventions:
1. Ask the learner a question
2. Assign a task to the learner
3. Provide something to the learner (information,
materials)
4. Conditioning of the environment (eg, incentives)
In order to implement educational services in smart
learning environments, all of these basic interventions
should be available.

17. 5 TYPES OF OBJECTIVES

18. IDENTIFICATION

19. IDENTIFICATION:
LABELS AND STORIES

20. SOCIALIZATION

21. CREATION

22. PRACTICE

23. REFLECTION

24. TO LEARN SOMETHING PROPERLY
YOU NEED ALL 5 OBJECTIVES
• However, in many schools and universities this is often
reduced to only one or some more per situation.
• Also, many digital applications focus on one (or two)
objectives.
This is not a problem, when the other objectives are also
provided.

25. How to develop
smart learning environments
that enable people
to learn better and faster

26. ANSWER: UTILIZE THE HLIs

27. CORE FUNCTIONS OF THE
DIGITAL DEVICE FOR SMART LEARNING

28. MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO SET A CONCRETE
OBJECTIVE OF A CERTAIN TYPE

29. SUPPORT ONE OR MORE
OBJECTIVE TYPES (MOST
APPLICATIONS ARE SPECIALIZED)

30. SUPPORT THE NEEDED INTERVENTION
TYPES, E.G. TO ASK QUESTIONS TO THE
LEARNER

31. ONE OR MORE INTERVENTIONS, BUT
APPROPRIATE FOR THE OBJECTIVES

32. MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO INPUT
OBSERABLE DATA (KEYBOARD, SPEACH,
VISION, EYED-MOVEMENTS, ETC.)

33. AND CONNECT TO OTHER HUMANS AND
RESOURCES (OUTSIDE/INSIDE THE
FYSICAL ENVIRONMENT)

34. MAKE A CONTROL MECHANISM TO
ADAPT INTERVENTIONS UNTIL THE
OBJECTIVE IS OBTAINED

35. AND WHAT NEXT….
• This is only the technology,…
• Needed is also a suitable pedagogical strategy for each of
the 5 types of learning objectives
• But that is another story for another talk…

36. THANK YOU!
READ MORE?
TINYURL.COM/ROBKOPER
KOPER, R. (2014). CONDITIONS FOR EFFECTIVE SMART
LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS. SMART LEARNING
ENVIRONMENTS, 1(1), 5.