Raising attainment through place based, technology-enhanced approaches
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With this keynote for a seminar "Opening the school gates: building a culture of learning to tackle the attainment gap", I shared an overview of my findings from developing and researching place-based, technology-enhanced approaches, that looked to answer a common question, ‘how can we improve the life chances of children growing up in poverty?’.
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Raising attainment through place based, technology-enhanced approaches
- 1. The importance of place and community: Raising attainment through place-based, technology- enhanced approaches Opening the school gates: building a culture of learning to tackle the attainment gap September 2018 Gráinne Hamilton grainne@weareopen.coop @grainnehamilton https://medium.com/@grainnehamilton CC BY-ND
- 2. Gráinne Hamilton @grainnehamilton WE ARE OPEN Discover Open Badges Cities of Learning UK Mozilla Jisc Open Badges in Scottish Education Group Digitalme Open Badge Network
- 3. Agenda 1. People 2. What made the difference? 3. Place and technology
- 4. Jamie is from Milton Challenging family environment As a young child, he enjoys playing with lego and seeing how things work. At school, he excels at maths
- 5. Jamie ● Financially insecure. Low income area ● Father an alcoholic, loses job ● Local school = low expectations for maths ● Friends expect him to take job in local area. Other jobs are ‘not for us’ ● Father wants him to get a job, not go to university Place: Challenging influences ● Grandparents, plays lego ● Mother’s example: work ethic ● Joins local Cadets, develops discipline, endurance, teamwork ● New school = ○ High expectations in maths ○ Friends parents’ jobs: wide range; financially rewarding ○ Friend says ‘I’m going to university’ (lightbulb moment) ● Uncles tell him “You’ll do well son” Place: Supportive influences
- 6. Cara is from Dennistoun Low income household She enjoys art and spends a lot of time on social media. She gets average grades at school
- 7. ● Low income household ● Mother is a hairdresser and works evenings and weekends but struggles to make ends meet. Feels stretched and stressed ● Father absent from her life ● Low to average grades at school, doesn’t apply herself ● Not encouraged by family or friends to follow through ● Isn’t sure what she would like to do ● Has bouts of depression Place: Challenging influences ● Mum encourages her to be happy ● Has good friends and social life ● Her gran and aunt provide encouragement and suggestions on job opportunities in local area Place: Supportive influences Cara
- 8. Jamie: ● Graduated with a 1st Class Honours degree and has added further postgrads ● Retired at 40 after a highly successful career in the energy industry, with a £million+ business ● Keeps fit and regularly runs half marathons Cara: ● At 23, has tried various jobs but none of them ‘were for her’ ● Started a college course, then a degree with the OU but dropped out of both ● Still doesn’t know what she wants to do Where are they now?
- 9. ● Wide variety of roles and jobs. NOT restricted by place (new school friends) ● From people he trusts and respects ● Going onto higher education (new school) ● Perseverance and discipline (Cadets) Opportunities to learn in a variety of contexts to develop hard and soft skills ● Home - lego, how things work ● Informal - Cadets (discipline, endurance, team work, health and fitness, etc) ● School - maths ● Jobs to fund him through university Attainment - Jamie SKILLS DEVELOPMENT: EXPECTATION: EXPOSURE: Attainment wheel: @GrainneHamilton, @BryanMathers CC BY-ND
- 10. ● Limited variety of jobs, restricted to local area ● Informal - social media ● School - art Attainment - Cara SKILLS DEVELOPMENT: EXPOSURE: ● Focus on being happy in the moment rather than applying herself and achieving ● Mother provides example of work ethic but Cara also sees strain she is under EXPECTATIONS: Attainment wheel: @GrainneHamilton, @BryanMathers CC BY-ND
- 11. What could make the difference?
- 12. Common elements: City-wide community Provision of employment, learning and civic opportunities Open Badges Badge Pathways / Playlists connecting to opportunities (Badge Profiles) Approaches: ● Cities of Learning (playlists) ● Cities of Learning UK (pathways, skills spines) ● Connected Spaces (exploring pathways and playlists) ● Cities for Learning (pathways, beacon technology) Learning City approaches
- 13. ● Skills gaps / needs ● Support for skills development / expectations / exposure ○ At home / family ○ Local ○ Informal ○ Formal ● Opportunities ● Job interviews ● Work placements ● Learning opportunities ● Civic opportunities City-wide community COMMUNITY: ● Employers ● Education providers: universities, colleges, schools ● City council ● Voluntary organisations ● Youth groups ● Charities ● Mentors ● People with the same backgrounds ● Support for family and community learning A core stakeholder group will map across the city:
- 14. Open Badges Technology - Open Badges
- 15. Technology - Badge Profiles
- 16. Technology - Badge Pathways Badges UNLOCK interview with local employer in hospitality industry BADGE PATHWAY SDC Employability Passport image © Sussex Downs College Digital Literacy COMMUNICATION COLLABORATION CRITICAL THINKING WORK READINESS NumeracyVerbal CommsWritten Comms Positive Attitude Teamwork Meet Deadlines Emotional IQ Initiative Creative Decision Making Problem Solving Reliable Adaptable Professional Ambition Communication Collaboration Critical Thinking Work Readiness SUSSEX DOWNS COLLEGE EMPLOYABILITY PASSPORT + + + = + + + = + + + = + + + =
- 17. Open Badges ● Provide RECOGNITION of skills and learning wherever it happens Open standards-based technology Badge Pathways ● EXPOSE and aid DISCOVERY of opportunities ● CONNECT skills to an opportunity / goal Badge Profiles ● Aid SELF AWARENESS and identification of INTRINSIC MOTIVATORS
- 18. Discovery of pathways stemming from interests start here Discovery of pathways stemming from goals start hereConstruction labourer Lego (Pattern oriented, mechanics) Cadets (Endurance discipline, team- work, leadership) Children’s University Passport Fixing Machines (Maths, mechanics) Entrepreneur (Running business while at school, initiative) Senior Drilling Roles Goal Oil Industry Consultancy Goal Retail worker School Maths Security guard Mech Eng University Degree Goal Jamie’s Badge Pathway
- 19. ● Map skills gaps/needs ● Provide learning, employment, civic opportunities ● Open Badges ○ Skills recognition ● Badge Profiles ○ Self awareness ● Badge Pathways ○ Connect skills to opportunities TechnologyCity Learning City approach Attainment wheel: @GrainneHamilton, @BryanMathers CC BY-ND
- 20. Learning City approach Exposure: seeing a wide variety of employment, learning and civic opportunities connected to badges earned Expectation: seeing that badges earned, form pathways that lead to a variety of life-enriching opportunities Skills development: seeing what badges or skills are needed to follow a pathways towards an opportunity or goal Construction labourer Lego CadetsChildren’s University Passport Fixing Machines Entrepreneur Senior Drilling Roles Goal Oil Industry Consultancy Goal Retail worker School Maths Security guard Mech Eng University Degree Goal
- 21. People from the following organisations have expressed interest: ● Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian University; City of Glasgow College ● Glasgow City Council ● MCR Pathways ● Children’s University ● Snook ● EDF ● Cisco ● We Are Open Interested in: ● Closing the attainment gap ● Developing the Young Workforce ● Lifelong learning ● Widening participation ● Pathways; articulation ● Digital skills ● Community and family learning ● Helping care-experienced young people ● Smart cities ● Talent pipeline ● Application of We Are Open members’ work Learning City - GLASGOW
- 22. Badge Wiki. (2018). Badge Pathways. [Wiki post]. We Are Open. Bateson P., Martin P. (2013). Play, Playfulness, Creativity and Innovation. Cambridge University Press. Blair, L (2014) Tell us your story [Blog post]. Open Badges Blog. Casilli, C. (2013). Pathways trilogy - Badge pathways: part 0, the prequel. [Blog post]. Persona. Connected Spaces (Rotterdam). (2018). Connected Spaces Rotterdam. Connected Spaces. Digital on Ramps (2013). Digital on Ramps. DML Competition Digitalme (2017). Sussex Downs College. Digitalme Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Random House. Freeman, K. (2004). African Americans and College Choice. Suny Press. Hamilton, G. (2017). Cities of Learning in the UK: a place-based approach to enhancing lifelong learning and access to enrichment opportunities. Pascal International Observatory. Hamilton, G. (2016). Building skills-awareness, resilience and pathways to employment using Open Badges. [Blog post]. medium.com/@grainnehamilton Hamilton, G. (2014). Career Discovery – Horizon Scanning and Possible Selves [Blog post]. Grainne's Blog. Hamilton, G. (2014). Discovering pathways [Blog post]. Grainne's Blog. Kane, H. (2014). Discover a career you’ll love and map the skills you need with #MozillaDiscover. [Blog post]. Mozilla. Open Badges. (2014). Community Call - Open Badges [Blog post]. Open Badges Blog. Painter, A., Shafique, A. (2017). Cities of Learning in the UK Prospectus. RSA. Rose Markus, H., Nurius, P. (1986). Possible Selves. American Psychologist. 41. 954-969. Ryan, R., Deci, E. (2000). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology 25, 54– 67 (2000) Savitz-Romer, M., Bouffard,S. (2012).Ready, Willing and Able. Harvard Education Press. Vanacker, D., Demedts, L., & Van Puyenbroeck, H. (2018). Cities for Learning–Gentlestudent. The City as a Medium for Acquiring 21st Century Skills. Artevelde University College Ghent Varelidi, C. (2014). Legendary lands and the design of learning pathways. [Blog post]. Chloe at Play. References
- 24. ● Could a Learning City approach be helpful in Glasgow? ● What organisations / individuals should be involved in a core stakeholder group? ● What services or opportunities exist already that could be connected together via a Learning City approach?
Editor's Notes
- How we can improve the life chances of children growing up in poverty is the question we’re considering today and is a question I’ve been exploring over the last few years through work on a number of technology-based projects. I would like to share lessons gained from that work and take a look at how place, community, and open-standards based technology can be brought together to help address this question
- I’m a member and Director of We Are Open. We are a co-op of people who work in the field of open standards development and open practices and our members have contributed to conceiving and developing some of the ideas I’ll discuss today, including Open Badges, Open Pathways and Cities of Learning UK
- I’ll start by relating stories about a couple of people I know, who provide examples of the kind of people we’re trying to reach. I’ll explore what made the difference in helping them attain successful life outcomes and consider how place and technology can help to support these. *Point to note, when I’m talking about skills, it’s in the widest possible sense, eg what might be referred to as hard or soft skills, employability skills, aptitude, character traits, etc
- Let’s start with Jamie. I’ve changed the names and the locations of one of the following people but they are real.
- Taking a closer look at his environment... Family is financially insecure. Low income area Father an alcoholic, loses job Mother works 2 jobs Strong example, survivor, high standards Excels at maths; loves lego Joins local Cadets. Enjoys that and learns discipline Local school does not provide highest level of maths exam Discusses jobs of parents of new friends: include engineers, physicists (different jobs from local parents) Identifies he would like to be a Mechanical Engineer, discovers he’ll need a university degree Father wants him to get a job, not go to university Local friends expect him to do job in local area. Mechanical Engineering is ‘not for us’ Must pay rent if he goes to university. Has aunts, uncles and grandparents live locally and provide expectations and encouragement: ‘You’ll do well, son’ Space to work
- What made the difference that led to Jamie’s ability to attain successful outcomes, whereas Cara is drifting? My experience of working in this area, and relevant research, has highlighted the importance of 3 things, which seem to be core in helping young people to succeed: expectation, exposure and skills development. Let’s recap on how Jamie experienced all of these elements
- If we look at Cara’s experience, she is lacking support in all of these areas…
- Over the past few years I’ve worked on place-based approaches to learning that are enhanced by technology and believe that these could help young people build confidence in their skills, widen their horizons and embark on pathways to meaningful learning, civic and employment opportunities.
- There are a few placed-based, tech-enhanced approaches that are currently being piloted and last year, I worked with the cities of Brighton, Manchester and Plymouth, to create and pilot the Cities of Learning UK approach. All the approaches have some things in common ... Although they feature less in an explicit way in any of the approaches, I have included badge profiles as I think they are important, particularly with helping young people in poverty to realise they have skills and to build a picture of their intrinsic motivators.
- Open Badges is a global system of recognition, which enables individuals and organisations to evidence and share learning and achievements across the web. - Since its inception 7 years ago, 15 million badges have been issued, and this open standard is used by employers like Microsoft, IBM, EDF, Siemens, and Barclays; universities, colleges, schools; voluntary organisations, youth groups, and charities Open standard Open Badges can be created and issued by anyone
- Features of Open Badges, such as the ability to include digital evidence, gain evidence-based endorsement, and develop a portfolio of skills with badge profiles, allow a rich picture of a person’s skills to become visible, including things like character attributes, interests and values Badge profiles can help to surface patterns and aid the identification of interest and skills based intrinsic motivators This badge profile is of Brian Brennan, Chief Architect of the OBI and shows the mix of interests and skills that he has, gained mostly through informal means.
- Badges can be connected in pathways and linked to opportunities, enabling: Individuals to discover, take badges and follow pathways to opportunities across a city Employers and other opportunity providers to set out what is essential to them Kevin Jones at Sussex Downs College: Local businesses told the college that reliability, teamwork and passion were critical to their business. The college created badges for them and if students earn all 3, it will unlock at interview with a local employer
- Open Badges Provide user-controlled, verifiable and shareable RECOGNITION of skills Bring learning to the learner Recognise learning wherever it happens Badge Profiles Prove to ourselves and others that we have skills Enhance articulation of skills Collate badges that recognise all forms of skills Aid SELF AWARENESS and identification of INTRINSIC MOTIVATORS Badge Pathways CONNECT badges gained in a variety of contexts to an opportunity / goal Widen horizons by enabling DISCOVERY of new opportunities stemming from interests, values, skills EXPOSE opportunities and associated learning, providing motivation to gain new skills
- With a Learning City approach Jamie’s pathway might have looked something like this… Connect lego to Mech Eng degree, skills to goals Cara doesn’t know what she wants to do but pathways stemming from badges issued for her interest in art and creative subjects could help her to see how they connect to various learning, employment and civic opportunities. This would increase her exposure to a variety of possible goals. By taking the badges along a pathway, she would visibly see her progress, which in turn could increase her confidence in her ability to succeed.
- In summary, place-based approaches, coupled with technology can provide:
- Learning City approach provides and supports Exposure can arise from seeing a wide variety of opportunities connected to badges an individual has earned Expectation can be enhanced by seeing that they have already started on pathways that could lead them to a variety of life-enriching opportunities Skills development can be supported by seeing what badges or skills they would need to gain to follow a pathways towards an opportunity or goal