OpenEd 2010, Barcelona Simon Buckingham Shum & Rebecca Ferguson Knowledge Media Institute & Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

1. 1
OpenEd 2010, Barcelona
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk
Simon Buckingham Shum & Rebecca Ferguson
Knowledge Media Institute & Institute of Educational Technology
The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
Towards a Social Learning
Space for Open Educational
Resources
www.open.ac.uk/sociallearn

2. What does it mean to
create social media
tuned for learning?
2

3. How do we do what
we’re good at as a
university, and remain
open to innovation?
3

4. Why social learning
now?
4
arguments from…
technology / uncertainty / pedagogy /
innovation / resilience

5. 5
Four dimensions of “Open”
Open IP
Open Communities Open Data Standards
Open Economics

6. Social learning building momentum in workplace
The New Social Learning
Tony Bingham & Marcia Conner
Berrett-Koehler, 2010
www.thenewsociallearning.com
6
Informal Learning
Jay Cross
Jossey Bass, 2006
http://internettime.pbworks.com/The-Book

7. 7
Argument Map
summarising Hagel
et al’s (2010) “The
Power of Pull”, and
its connection to
learning to learn

8. 8
Argument Map
summarising Hagel
et al’s (2010) “The
Power of Pull”, and
its connection to
learning to learn

9. 9
Argument Map
summarising Hagel
et al’s (2010) “The
Power of Pull”, and
its connection to
learning to learn

10. 10
Argument Map
summarising Hagel
et al’s (2010) “The
Power of Pull”, and
its connection to
learning to learn

11. Learner-centred universe
My learning
space
(richly resourced,
rewarding, safe,
in control of my
own learning)
Find a
teacher /
tutor, or a
student,
or a co-
learner
Create, offer
and find
learning
materials
Share /
publish my
learning
My learning needs,
my aspiration,
my curriculum
My identity
My learning record
My privacy settings
Learning /
Knowledge maps
Chat,
conferencing,
blogging,
posting
My online
learning /
teaching
reputationMy learning
buddies
How far
and how
fast I want
My choice of
online tools
My real-world
learning
context
My
learning
projects My devices
& platforms
Share,
network, join,
participate
but a me-centred universe alone is not good for learning…

12. principles for
social learning
12
trust • affirmation • challenge
personal passion
quality relationships
critical thinking

13. Social learning technology:
candidate dimensions of the design space
13
everyday social media
“friends” like me
1-many from the start
rapid information exchange
no reflection required by the UI
tag clouds
generic web analytics
recommendations based on
navigation, ratings, purchases…
myriad activity traces in the cloud
informal personal endorsements
social media tuned for learning?
+ learning peers/mentors who both
affirm and challenge
+ 1-1 mentoring
+ learning conversations
reflection encouraged by the UI
+ meaningful connections
+ learning analytics
+ recommendations based on
learning profiles and activities
+ a secure e-portfolio to evidence
learning
+ verifiable accreditation by trusted
platforms

14. 14
open and
interoperable
SocialLearn: key features
activity-based, user-
defined toolkits
look+feel of social
media platform
aggregated
user profile

15. 15
Core social networking

16. 16
Core social networking

17. Gadget ideas…
 SocialLearn:
 PhD Skills Gadget
 Path Gadget
 I’m Stuck Gadget
 Mentor Gadget
 Plus other providers…
 From KMi: eg. Flashmeeting, Virtual Microscope, ROLE…
 From OU: eg. Library Search, OpenLearn Recommender
 From other educational institutions, eg. Moodle tools (UOC)
 From SocialLearn developer community
 From e-science projects, eg. MyExperiment
 From Google: eg. Calendar; Gmail, Reader…
 From the global Gadget Directory: thousands more…
17

18. 18
SocialLearn dashboard of Google Gadgets

19. 19
Configuring Gadget Sets

20. SocialLearn gadgets dropped into iGoogle
20

21. SocialLearn: accessing my Gadgets from the
browser toolbar on any website
21

22. SocialLearn: accessing my Gadgets from the
browser toolbar on any website
22

23. SocialLearn: accessing my Gadgets from the
browser toolbar on any website
23

24. A site which has enabled SL Gadgets can have
them embedded and contextualised to the page
(the OU’s Cloudworks)
24

25. learning paths as
social artifacts
25
Engeström: Wildfire Activities:
…inquiry, trails, history, consolidation,
argument, landmarks, places,
exploration

26. Learning paths as social artifacts
…inquiry, trails, history, consolidation, argument, landmarks, places, exploration
 Learners and educators can make many levels of contribution…
26

27. Learning paths as social artifacts
…inquiry, trails, history, consolidation, argument, landmarks, places, exploration
 Learners and educators can make many levels of contribution…
27

28. Learning paths as social artifacts
…inquiry, trails, history, consolidation, argument, landmarks, places, exploration
 Learners and educators can make many levels of contribution…
28

29. Learning paths as social artifacts
…inquiry, trails, history, consolidation, argument, landmarks, places, exploration
 Learners and educators can make many levels of contribution…
29

30. Learning paths as social artifacts
…inquiry, trails, history, consolidation, argument, landmarks, places, exploration
 Learners and educators can make many levels of contribution…
30
Forge new Paths from existing Paths…

31. Learning paths as social artifacts
…inquiry, trails, history, consolidation, argument, landmarks, places, exploration
 Learners and educators can make many levels of contribution…
31
Forge meaningful connections between any Question, Step, Path
using a web app such as Cohere
is inconsistent with
refutes
is a counterexample of
resolves

32. Building a Learning Path through OERs
32

33. Building a Learning Path through OERs
33

34. Building a Learning Path through OERs
34

35. Building a Learning Path through OERs
35

36. Building a Learning Path through OERs
36

37. Following a Learning Path through OERs
37

38. Following a Learning Path through OERs
38

39. “Services”: towards a suite of recommendation
engines, both from OU and developer network
39

40. “Services”: towards a suite of recommendation
engines, both from OU and developer network
40
Commerce
People who
bought this,
bought this…e.g.
(notacurrentpriorityforus)

41. “Services”: towards a suite of recommendation
engines, both from OU and developer network
41
Navigational
Social/Reputation
Commerce
People who
bought this,
bought this…
People who
viewed this
also viewed
this…
You have
three friends
in common…
People who
rate her also
rate him…
e.g.
fast becoming commodity services
(notacurrentpriorityforus)

42. “Services”: towards a suite of recommendation
engines, both from OU and developer network
42
Navigational
Social/Reputation
Commerce
People who
bought this,
bought this…
People who
viewed this
also viewed
this…
You have
three friends
in common…
People who
rate her also
rate him…
e.g.
fast becoming commodity services
Content
This resource
is similar to
this one…
(semantic +
multimedia
search R&D)
indexing
(notacurrentpriorityforus)

43. “Services”: towards a suite of recommendation
engines, both from OU and developer network
43
Navigational
Social/Reputation
Connections
LearningtoLearn
Commerce
People who
bought this,
bought this…
People who
viewed this
also viewed
this…
You have
three friends
in common…
People who
rate her also
rate him…
This resource
shows a counter-
example /
supporting
evidence…
This person is
also trying to
develop her
planning…
e.g.
fast becoming commodity services services tuned for learning
Content
This resource
is similar to
this one…
(semantic +
multimedia
search R&D)
indexing
(notacurrentpriorityforus)

44. Next steps
 For next 6 months SocialLearn is running internal pilot
deployments with OU communities
 Scalability
 User engagement
 Evidence of social learning
 Multimedia indexing
 Collaboration with other learning widget projects
 Linked data potential
 Analytics/Rec Engines
 Walled gardens
 Gadgets and Web apps tuned for learning
Track us on www.open.ac.uk/sociallearn
44

45. 45

46. Quality
OERs OpenLearn
TESSA
iTunesU
YouTube

47. Site 2
47
SocialLearn
1. Profile
2. User Interface
3. Social Graph
4. Services
Site 1
Interoperability via Google Gadgets
SocialLearn provides the ‘glue’ to connect learning
activities, ‘friends’, coaches, and recommendations
Site 4Site 3
…other sites…

48. The industrial-era university (school/college)
Knowledge
development
Teaching
A canon of
knowledge
Repository of
knowledge
(libraries)
Scholars
Students
subordinated
Examination:
– pass or fail
Builds national
industrial strength
Benefactors pay
Monopoly:
– access to knowledge
– granting degrees
Nation building
Elite professional
and social class
Disciplines
and subjects
Objective
truth, facts
Figure: Hardin Tibbs

49. The emerging learning model
Facilitating and
guiding the
development of
the whole person
Participatory
learning
discourse
A knowledge
saturated
environment
Lifelong
learning
Students as
customers,
learner-centric
Flexible delivery
and assessment
Builds free-market
industrial strength
Nation/state and
market-based
funding
Branding in a competitive
environment, eroded
monopoly
Globally connected
Vocational focus,
career-ready
accredited, everyone
‘learning or earning’
Modules and
competencies
Subjective,
qualitative,
meaning
Figure: Hardin Tibbs

50. Uncertain futures…
50Argument Map built using Open U’s Compendium: http://compendium.open.ac.uk

51. Challenge for the educational system…
51