This document discusses three generations of online learning pedagogy: 1) behaviourist/cognitive, 2) social constructivist, and 3) connectivist. The first generation focuses on individual learning through direct instruction and is scalable but lacks social learning. The second generation emphasizes collaborative group learning and knowledge construction but has limitations in size and scalability. The third generation is based on connective knowledge and networked learning through linking to other people and resources on the internet. It focuses on students taking responsibility for their own learning but can be disruptive. Overall, the best approach to online learning combines pedagogies, technologies, and social structures to empower student exploration and lifelong learning.

1. Designing for Learning in a
Networked World:
Pedagogies and Social Contexts
Terry Anderson

2. Values
• We can (and must) continuously improve the
quality, effectiveness, appeal, cost and time
efficiency of the learning experience.
• Student control and freedom is integral to 21st
century life-long education and learning.
• Continuing education opportunity is a basic
human right.

3. Learning as Dance
(Anderson, 2008)
• Technology
sets the
beat and
the timing.
• Pedagogy
defines the
moves.

4. Outline
• Generations of Online Education Pedagogy
• Social Forms to Match Pedagogies
• Beyond the LMS
– Athabasca Landing boutique social network

5. • McLuhan “We shape our tools and thereafter
our tools shape us”
• “When physical spaces for learning go online
(distributed, non-hierarchical, networked,
digital), new, more effective pedagogies
emerge”. George Siemens

6. Three Generations of
Online Learning Pedagogy
1. Behaviourist/Cognitive –
2. Social Constructivist –
3. Connectivist
Anderson, T., &Dron, J. (2011). Three generations of
distance education pedagogy.
IRRODL, 12(3), 80-97

7. 1. Behavioural/Cognitive Pedagogies
• “tell ‘em what you’re
gonna tell ‘em,
• tell ‘em
• then tell ‘em what you
told ‘em”
Direct Instruction

8. Gagne’s Events of Instruction (1965)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Gain learners' attention
Inform learner of objectives
Stimulate recall of previous information
Present stimulus material
Provide learner guidance
Elicit performance
Provide Feedback
Assess performance
Enhance transfer opportunities
Instructional Systems Design (ISD)

9. Enhanced by the “cognitive
revolution”
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chunking
Cognitive Load
Working Memory
Multiple Representations
Split-attention effect
Variability Effect
Multi-media effect
– (Sorden, 2005)
“learning as acquiring and using conceptual and cognitive structures”
Greeno, Collins and Resnick, 1996

10. Technologies of Ist generation
• CAI, text books, One way Lectures, Video and
audio broadcasts and webcasts with
advancements??

11. Social Focus of Ist generation Individual Learner

12. Cognitive Behaviourist Ontology
• Knowledge is logically coherent, existing
independent of perspective
• Context free
• Capable of being transmitted
• Assumes closed systems with discoverable
relationships between inputs and outputs

13. Behavioural/Cognitive Developments

14. Self Directed or Self Paced learning
• Learner sets start date and the time to
completion
• Continuous assessment
• Maximizes learner control
• Higher drop out
• Ted Talks, Khan Academy, OERU
• Only one of the Major MOOCs (Udacity)
providers offers this option

16. MOOCs – Now beyond the US

17. Everyone can own a MOOC

18. Open Educational Resources
Because it saves time!!!

19. Learning Analytics - Dashboard

20. Big Data &Education
1) Technology: maximizing computation power and
algorithmic accuracy to gather, analyze, link, and
compare large data sets.
2) Analysis: drawing on large data sets to identify
patterns in order to make economic, social, technical,
and legal claims and design interventions.
3) Mythology: the widespread belief that large data sets
offer a higher form of intelligence and knowledge that
can generate insights that were previously impossible,
with the aura of truth, objectivity, and accuracy.
Boyd, d. & Crawford, K. (2013). Critical Questions for Big Data: Provocations
for a Cultural, Technological, and Scholarly Phenomenon

21. Khan Academy Offers Student
Tracking/Analytics

22. New Forms of Accrediting
Challenge Exams for Credit

23. 1st Generation,
Cognitive Behavioural Pedagogy
Summary
• Scalable
• Few requirements, or opportunities, for social
learning
• Works most efficiently with individual learning
models
• Effective and efficient for some types of
learning
• Have we really taught learners to succeed with
this type of learning?

24. 2nd Generation
Constructivist Pedagogy
•
•
•
•
•
•
Group Orientated
Membership and exclusion, closed
Not scalable - max 50 students/course
Classrooms - at a distance or on campus
Hierarchies of control
Focus on collaboration and shared purpose
24
group

25. Constructivist Knowledge is:
• Knowledge is constructed, not transmitted
• Arrived at through dialogic encounters
(Bakhtin,) - the presence of others adds
motivation, conflicting ideas, social validation
• Teacher as group facilitator
“Dialogic as an epistemological framework supports an account of
education as the discursive construction of shared knowledge”
Wegerif, R.

26. 2nd Generation - Constructivist
• Online Learning Current model – continued
strong growth in US and globally
• Canada - “Student registrations jumped
another 18.4% in Winter 2013”
• Major employer of adjuncts
32% of US higher education students now take at least one course

27. Constructivist Learning in Groups
• Long history of research
and study
• Established sets of tools
– Classrooms
– Learning Management
Systems (LMS)
– Synchronous (chat, video
& net conferencing)
– Email, wikis, blogs
• Need to develop face to
face, mediated and
blended group learning
skills
Garrison, R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical thinking in text-based
environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and
Higher Education, 2(2), 87-105.

28. The Power of Synchronous
• Immediacy
• Pacing
• Comfort level for student and teachers, but
DON’T fall into classroom lectures
• Social Modeling

29. Immersion ??

30. Social Constructivist Social forms
• Group
• Limited in size
– Dunbar’s Max ~150 for a tribe
• Mutual awareness of each other

31. Group Management
• Need good tools to allow group to work
effectively and build trust at a distance
• Use Face-to-face (blended) time to do this.

32. http://www.collaborativelearning.org/scien
iology.html

33. 2nd Generation
Social Constructivist Pedagogy
Summary
• Not scalable, Expensive in terms of time and
money
• New group tools enhance efficiency
• Helps teachers and learners transition to
online learning

34. Generation 3
Connective pedagogies
• Stephen Downes

35. 3rd generation Connective
Pedagogies
• Heutagogy– Hase, S., & Kenyon, C. (2000).
From Andragogy to Heutagogy.
• Chaos Theory
• Activity Theory &Actor Network Theory (ANT)
– “systemic interactions of people and the objects
that they use in their interactions.”

36. Connectivist Knowledge
• Is created by linking to appropriate people and
objects
• May be created and stored in non human devices
• Is as much about capacity as current competence
• Assumes the ubiquitous Internet
• Is emergent
George Siemens

37. Connectivism
• “connectivism is the thesis that knowledge is
distributed across a network of
connections, and therefore that learning
consists of the ability to construct and traverse
those networks.” Stephen Downes 2007
See special issue of
IRRODL.org

38. Connectivist Learning
Network
Effects
Persistence
Accessibility
“Connectivying” your course
http://terrya.edublogs.org/2012/12/18/connectivy-your-course/

39. NOT Learning in a Bubble

40. Disruptions of Connectivism
• Demands net literacy and net
presence of students and
teachers
• Openness is scary
• New roles for teachers and
students
• Artifact ownership,
persistence and privacy
• Too manic for some

41. The Social Aggregation makes a
Difference
• Available open access
Spring 2014

42. The Social Aggregations of
Generation 3 Connective Pedagogies
• Individuals
• Groups
• Networks
• Sets
1st
Gen
C/B
2nd Gen. Social
Constructivist
3rd Gen. Connectivist

43. Social Forms of Connectivism
Networks and Sets

44. Social Networks
•
•
•
•
•
•
Facebook, LinkedIn,
Academia,
Twitter
Blogs
Listservs
Private
–
–
–
–
NING
ELGG
Drupal,
Word Press

45. An Academic’s Net+ Identity
Personal
Identity
University
Identity
Professional
Identity

46. • “If Google cannot find a faculty scholar's work
or the work of the scholar's colleagues,
department, or institution, then it is
essentially irrelevant — even nonexistent —
because people will not find, read, apply, or
build on the work if they cannot locate it via a
quick Google searchLowenthal & Dunlap
(2012)
Lowenthal, P., & Dunlap, J. (2012). Intentional Web Presence: 10 SEO
Strategies Every Academic Needs to Know. Educause.
http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/intentional-web-presence-10seo-strategies-every-academic-needs-know.

47. Applying Social Network Analysis to High School Students
2012 The Network Roundtable LLC

48. https://webmaker.org/standard - Mozilla

49. Sets
• Aggregation of all people/things sharing a
particular interest, commonality.
• Example: Set of all graduates of X, all
psychology resources
• Can be curated resources with social
involvement limited to votes, comments, links
• Sets MAY develop into networks or groups.

50. Classic Set: Those editing
(or reading) a Wikipedia
article

51. Pintere.st

52. Sets (Example)

54. Connectivist Learning Summary
• Born on the Net
• Focuses on students being responsible for
their own learning
• Is emergent and can be disruptive
• For advanced learners only??

55. Conclusion:
• the best part of Online Learning– is eclectic
allowing student exploration of their own
learning needs and gifts.
• Need to matching pedagogy, technology,
social forms and learning outcomes
• Empowerment, lifelong learning and smart
(not more) work for teachers

56. Shameless Plug
and Giveaways!
Issues in Distance
Education Series
http://aupress.ca

57. • Anderson, T. &Dron, J. (2011). Three generations of
distance education pedagogy. International Review of
Research on Distance and Open Learning, 12(3), 80-97.
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/890/1
826.
• Anderson, T. &Dron, J. (2012). Learning technology through
three generations of technology enhanced distance
education pedagogy. European Journal of Open, Distance
and E-Learning, 2012/2. Retrieved from
http://www.eurodl.org/?p=current&article=523.
• Dron, J. & Anderson, T. (in press). Teaching crowds: the role
of social media in distance learning Edmonton, Canada:
Athabasca University Press.

58. Your comments&
questions
most welcomed!
Terry Anderson terrya@athabascau.ca
Blog: terrya.edublogs.org

59. If Time Allows

60. The Athabasca Story
Low learner control
• LMS – Moodle
Hard
• E-Portfolio- Mahara
• Social Networking - Elgg
High learner control
Soft

61. Case Study : Athabasca Landing
landing.athabascau.ca

62. Landing Stats (Sept. 2013)

63. Individual Control (PLE)

64. Privacy Control

65. Groups

66. Group Example

67. Nets

68. Sets

69. Student view
• "I have managed to gain more useful
knowledge through one course conducted
here on Landing than from all the others
combined. ”

70. Opportunities
Challenges
• Sharing resources
• modeling of product
and pacing
• “amplified” feedback.
• part of a social
structure
• Confusion and learning
curve
• Information overload –
filtering problems
• instrumental learners
• Privacy and sharing
• Institutional inertia