Keynote talk at ETPE 2017: Teachers as designers and orchestrators of innovative ICT-based collaborative learning. Good practices and support systems

1. Οι εκπαιδευτικοί ως σχεδιαστές και
ενορχηστρωτές καινοτόμου
συνεργατικής μάθησης βασισμένης
στις ΤΠΕ. Καλές πρακτικές και
συστήματα υποστήριξης
Γιαννης Δημητριαδης
Παν. Βαγιαδολιδ Ισπανια
ΕΤΠΕ 2017
Αθηνα, 22/04/2017

2. Overview
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n What is the problem to tackle?
n How to promote pedagogical innovation
n How to support/empower teachers (and other
stakeholders) for pedagogically informed
decisions in technologically supported
effective (and efficient and sustainable) design
(and deployment) process
n What can we do for
n Collaborative Learning
n Blended (or even open) classes

3. Overview
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n Underlying issue
n Teachers as designers: What can be
designed and how it can be done “well”?
n Describe a solution
n METIS approach: http://www.metis-project.org/
n ILDE technological environment:
http://ilde2.upf.edu/etpe (see workshop@ETPE 2017)
n Discuss some lessons learnt, issues and
recommendations

4. Is there a problem? - I
n Curriculum and competencies
– “Work in group may be useful as a skill, but it is a
secondary issue”
– “Collaborative techniques takes a lot of time: We run
the risk of not covering the whole official curriculum”
n Practical issues (e.g. synchronicity)
– “It is impossible to use collaborative activities because
my on-line students work and they cannot
participate in a joint project”
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5. Is there a problem? - II
n Group formation, efficiency and deployment cost,
design in groups/communties of teachers:
– “Collaborative learning is fine but can I form 10-
member groups to produce a report?”
– “I know a lot about collaborative learning but I need
to have my on-line course in a few days”
– “I need to have some ideas from my good colleagues
or even better an almost ready-to-use course in
my virtual campus”
– “I need to prepare my course within a team of 3
professors but how we can do it?
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6. Is there a problem? - III
n Pedagogical standpoint
– “I do use Moodle to store my slides. That’s enough
for me”
– “I have prepared a great MOOC with a video and a
test. That’s enough”
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7. Is there a problem ? - III
n There is not only one but several (“well-known”)
problems that impede
– innovation in (collaborative) teaching and
(collaborative) learning using new (and old)
technologies
n No easy solutions for complex problems
– Technological and educational innovation
– See also: TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content
Knowledge)
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8. Can we offer an answer? - I
n Need for some systematic (and sustainable?)
answer to tackle SOME of these problems
– Support teachers to effectively DESIGN and DEPLOY
collaborative learning in ICT-supported (and
enhanced?) settings
n Ingredients of the proposed solution
– Think of teachers (and other stakeholders) as
designers and support/empower them
– Help them take pedagogically informed decisions
– Make their life easier in “orchestrating” their
blended classrooms
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9. A view of the TEL ecosystem
How to design for learning in it?
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10. Can we offer an answer? - II
n Some more ingredients
– Learning Design (or Design for Learning), as a
research and development field
– Pedagogical patterns, as good practices
– ICT tools to support teachers in Design for Learning
– Professional development workshops
n The METIS project approach http://www.metis-project.org/
– Workshop packages http://www.metis-
project.org/index.php/workshop-resources
– Integrated Learning Design Environment
(ILDE)http://www.metis-project.org/index.php/metis-ilde
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11. Learning Design (LD)
or Design for Learning (D4L) - I
n Learning is the objective of education
– Can we (pedagogically) inform and (technologically)
support teachers (and other stakeholders) in
creating effective (and efficient?) learning situations
n Main metaphor:
– “Teachers as designers”
n Main issue:
– Is it possible that teachers (and other stakeholders)
work as other traditional designers (e.g. architects,
engineers)?
– Can design form part of the normal flow of
educational activities?
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12. Design for Learning (D4L) - II
n What can be designed for learning? (Goodyear &
Dimitriadis, 2013)
n The learning (performed by students) and support
(made by teachers) tasks
n The “physical” environment
n Spaces, tools, infrastructures, artifacts-resources (to be
consumed and/or produced)
n The social architecture
n Groupings, interactions with external agents
n Design is indirect (tasks vs. activities)
n Learners may change-interpret tasks in learntime
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13. Design for Learning (D4L) - III
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(Carvalho & Goodyear, 2014)

14. Design for learning
Spaces, for classroom orchestration
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15. Forward oriented design - I
(Dimitriadis & Goodyear, 2013)
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n Design for Configuration:
n Prepare, particularize, or modify what had been
designed beforehand
n Adapt to specific requirements of the context
n Design for Orchestration
n Support teachers (and students) at learn time

16. Forward oriented design - II
n Design for Reflection
n Be sure that monitoring can take place
n Offer “awareness” at learn time
n Allow for regulation and scaffolding
n Inform evaluation of the intervention and
assessment of learning
n Design for Redesign
n Take design decisions so that posterior
modifications of the design can be made easily

17. Teaching as a design science
(Laurillard, 2012)
n “In media res”: Design forms part of the
“normal flow” of educational activities
n Teaching as a design science
n Teaching is not only an art. It has a formally defined
goal
n It builds design principles, rather than theories, and
heuristics of practice than explanations
n See also Design Based Research, co-design, …
n Design patterns externalize knowledge and allow for
discussion and sharing …

18. Pedagogical (design) patterns
Collaborative Learning: TPS
n Think-Pair-Share pattern
– It structures collaboration and promotes
participation in large classes
They comment or take a
classroom “vote”
They pair and discuss
their ideas about the
question
Each participant has
time to think about the
question

19. Another pattern for CL:
Jigsaw
Individual or initial group
Teacher
Introductory
individual (or initial
group) activity
Collaborative
activity around the
sub-problem
Collaborative
activity around the
problem and
solution proposal

20. Pedagogical patterns
Good practices
2027.11.2012 RACEV Barcelona

21. The METIS project
Istituto Tecnologie
Didattiche
3 contexts HEVocational TrainingNon-formal training
Learning
design
expertise

22. The METIS problem
Objectives,
Activities …
Students,
resources,
ICT tools…
How to
Enhance?

23. 23
The METIS approach

24. • Conceptualize
• Author
• Implement
• Share
• Evaluate
• Explore
Sign in ILDE (ETPE 2017
Community)
http://ilde2.upf.edu/et
pe
Integrated Learning Design Environment http://ilde2.upf.edu/etpe
The METIS ILDE

25. Example at UVA:
“Landscape organization”
(Geography)

26. And the course in Moodle!

27. 13 conceptualization tools
+ 5 tools for “open”
conceptualizations
ILDE: CONCEPTUALIZE

28. ILDE: AUTHOR AND REUSE
Multiple authoring tools,
even specific for
Collaborative Learning
(WebCollage and
PyramidApp)

29. ILDE: IMPLEMENT

30. ILDE: SHARE AND CO-DREATE

31. ILDE: EVALUATE

32. ILDE: EXPLORE

33. n ILDE
– It fits the needs of several educational contexts
– It is independent from the pedagogical approach
adopted;
– It covers all the phases of the LD lifecycle;
– It is usable by the ‘average’ teacher;
n Pedagogy is the “king”
n Support is needed for enactment and
communities further to the workshops
Some METIS findings

34. Some conclusions
n Collaborative learning will not occur if we do not
know the conditions and try to satisfy them
n Pedagogical (and other types of) patterns
capture some good practices and may help
teachers
n Teachers work as designers in many cases:
Empower them through professional
development workshops and ICT tools
n The TEL/CSCL ecosystem is very complex:
Design for learning / orchestration is a need …
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35. Many lessons learnt
n The majority of needs is still on the “dark” side
(pedagogy!)
n Design for learning needs support (workshops,
tools, follow up, community)
n Capture and embed knowledge in the support (in
the designer language, if possible)
n The TEL/CSCL ecosystem is increasingly
complex: Take “some” features, try to
appropriate them and orchestrate the whole
lifecycle (from ideas to practice)
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36. And a few recommendations
n Practitioners: Count on the community of your
colleagues, follow the “METIS approach” of
action/research, make designs explicit and share
them
n Support teams: Make life easier for teachers to
design for learning, support the complete
lifecycle, use practitioners’ language
n ICT and ped researchers: Support openness
(open courses, open designs, open extensible
architectures), work as “knowledge mediators”
n A small step for us, a big for the learners … 36

37. And some final remarks …
n Innovate in spite of unfavorable Greek context!
n Education needs innovative teachers, not heroes
n Collaborative learning can be put in practice,
although there no win-win-win …
n METIS ILDE helps normal teachers within
communities who want to design better for ICT-
supported learning
n Use experience through pedagogical patterns!
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/yt1hgi5qgcs4phu/collaborative_learning_flo
w_patterns.pdf?dl=0)
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