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Harnessing learning design as a new approach to rethinking curriculum

Gráinne Conole, Open University, UKAECT conference, Louisville, Kentucky30th October 2009

More info, slides and references:

http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/2544

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/11190_3_JLB%20PREFERRED%20External%20Image%201000px%20wide.jpg

+Outline

Converging practices, but lack of uptake

Learning design and introducing the notion of “Open design” as a solution

The OU Learning Design Initiative (OULDI) Evidence base Collaboration Representation Connection Reification

The Olnet initiative Case study: Repurposing a Spanish OER

+Converging practices

Modern technologies Modern learning & teaching

Web 2.0 practices

Location aware technologies

Adaptation & customisation

Second life/immersive worlds

Google it!

“Expert badges”, World of warcraft

User-generated content

Blogging, peer critiquing

Cloud computing

From individual to social

Contextualised and situated

Personalised learning & teaching

Experiential learning & teaching

Inquiry learning & teaching

Peer learning & teaching

Open Educational Resources

Reflection

Distributed cognition

+The gap between promise & reality Common reactions:

“I haven’t got time” “My research is more important” “What’s in it for me?” “Where is my reward?” “I don’t have the skills to do this” “I don’t believe in this, it won’t work”

Common resistance strategies: I’ll say yes (and do nothing) Undermine the initiative Undermine the person involved Do it badly

Classic mistakes: Emphasis on the technologies, not the people and processes Funding for technology developments but not use and support

OER Little reuse

Array of technologies

Not fully exploited

+Addressing the “What’s in it for me?”

The inertia dilemma – why has so little innovation spread?

Too difficult, bewildering, no incentive or support, no recognition

Want examples, someone to talk to,

Needs to be fun, motivating and useful

Web 2.0 practices: egocentric, addictive, motivational, peer support/regulation

Evolving ecology of tools and practices

People connected using tools: collective technical infrastructure

Changing practice – new ways of interacting and communicating

The problem A socio-technical “space”

+Bridging the gap

Characteristics of good pedagogy

PersonalisedSituativeSocialExperientialReflective

Affordances of new technologies

AdaptiveContextualNetworkedImmersiveCollective

“Open Design”

ExplicitShareableCross boundaryCollectiveCummulative

+Improving the design process

How can we design learning activities that make effective use of technology and that are pedagogical informed?

How can we represent and share designs?What kind of help and support can we provide?

Assessment

Learning outcomes

Tasks

Aspects of design

+Learning design: a definition

A methodology for enabling teachers/designers to make more informed decisions in how they go about designing, which is pedagogically informed and makes effective use of appropriate resources and technologies Covers design of resource and individual learning

activities up to whole curriculum level Helps make the design process more explicit and

shareable

Includes resource, tools and activities

+What do we know about design?

How do teachers go about the design process?

Where do they get ideas and inspiration from?

How do they represent their design process?

To what extent do they share their design ideas with others?

Where do they get help and advice?

How do they evaluate the effectiveness of their designs?

+Design strategies

Design process creative, messy, iterative

Sharing and reuse difficult, but valuable

Serendipitous routes to support

Every teacher does it differently

Different aspects to design - focus and level of granularity

No one perfect design tool or approach

Different aspects – resources, tools, outcomes, support, etc.

+Design creativity vs. design practice The vision…

Open plan, with creative spaces, “quiet rooms”, hot desking areas, technology-enhanced, lots of social space

The Jennie Lee Building, The Open University, UK

+OU Learning Design Initiative

Design methods:schema & patterns

Tools: Visualisation & guidance

Events:

Cloudworks: sharing & discussing

+Facets of OULDI work

+Realising “open design”

Open University Learning Design

Initiative&

The Olnet network

Evidence base(interviews, surveys,observation, web stats, expert panels, focus groups)

Development(resources, methods, tools, session types, interventions)

Trialing (within the OU, workshops & conferences, project partners)

+Facets of OULDI work

+

Design challenge

Cloudfests & Design summits Blurring real & virtual

Collaboration: events

Workshops

+Facets of OULDI work

+Representations

Seeing curriculum differently Not content-focused Alternatives to simple

text-based descriptions Different views to

foreground different aspects

Recognising design at different levels – from activity to whole course

Visual – tables & diagrams, descriptive & metaphorical

+CompendiumLD

Tool for visualisation designs

The method is an important as the tool

Will provide a demonstration

Hands-on exploration of the tool

+CompendiumLD

Core icon set

Design icon set

+A simple design

Learning activity

Output

Learning outcome

Resource

Role

End of activity

Task

Tool

+Key features

Time allocation for tasks

In-situ help

Conditional branching

Design templates

+Summary Visual maps with icons +

connections Generic icon set +

customised design icon set

Multiple layers, maps within maps

Drag and drop different file formats (images, videos etc.)

In-situ design help –customised google search and links to cloudworks

Aggregation of task times by roles

Design templates Flexible export options

from picture to interactive web page

+Facets of OULDI work

+

Teachers/design want examples, want to share/discuss!

Many repositories of good practice, but little impact

Blogging

Facebook

Twitter Slideshare

Flckr

Youtube

Commenting

Live commentary

Tagging

RSS feeds

Embedding

Following

Harnessing web 2.0 practices

Can we change practices through use of web 2.0 ideas?

+Open design: Social and collective

+Key concepts: Clouds

Clouds: IdeasDesign or case studiesTools or resourcesQuestions or problems

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+Key concepts: CloudscapesCloudscapes:ConferencesWorkshopsCourse teamStudent cohortResearch themeProject

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+Key concepts: Activity streams

Clouds Cloudscapes Comments Links References Extra content

+

+Theoretical perspectives

“Social objects”Social networking makes little sense if we leave out the objects that mediate the ties between peopleEngeström

Design framework for socialityEnabling practiceMimicking realityBuilding identityActualising selfBouman et al.

+Approach

Agile development: initially build in Drupal, now Codeigniter

Series of phases: design decisions, development, evaluation

Empirical evidence Web stats including google analytics Interviews “Cloudfests” and focus groups Workshops and conferences Observation and reflective diaries Critical friends group and design summits

+Principles

Open, drawing on web 2.0 practices

Clouds as core objects – social, cummulative, intelligent

Intentionally both built around “communities”/’clusters of interest”

Cross-boundary, both filtering/personalisable and serendipitous

Dynamic and evolving through use alongside real events as well as virtual ones

Variety of types of activities and uses, but focus always on sharing, finding and discussing educational ideas and designs

+Design decisions: Phase 1

Cloud metaphor

Seeding the site

Including social features

Tagging by pedagogy, tool, discipline

Low barrier to entry

No private content

User profiles

Cloud types

Using: Workshops, focus groups, surveys, “cloudfests”

“What’s in it for me”?

Privacy and provenance

Sustainability

Barriers to sharing

Lack of spontaneous use

Phase 1 Evaluation

+Design decisions: Phase 2

Amalgamate cloud types

Increase social features

Foster communities - cloudscapes

Follow functionality

My cloudstream

Usability report

Lack of spontaneous use

Navigation

Quality control

Phase 2 Evaluation

+Design decisions: Phase 3

Add RSS feeds

Integrate streams from other web 2.0 sites

Merge tag categories

Improve homepage

New patterns of behaviour

Divided views about “open”

Cognitive barrier to getting use to the tool and then using it

Significant increase in use of the site as a result of tools

Phase 3 Evaluation

+Emergent patterns of use

Events: conferences and workshops ALT-C conference, 8-11th September 2009 http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloudscape/view/1870

Discussions: Flash debates Is Twitter killing blogging? http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloud/view/2266

Eliciting expertise and open reviews Literature review of educational technologist http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloudscape/view/1872

Aggregating resources En Rumbo Spanish course http://cloudworks.ac.uk/index.php/cloudscape/view/776

+Facets of OULDI work

+Forms of representation We have indentified six “views” for a course

Task swim line Course map Pedagogy profile Cost effectiveness Course performance Design factors views

Uses Representing an existing course Comparing courses As part of the design process

Describing the curriculum Cloudscape: http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloudscape/view/1907

+Task swim line

Based on: Roles – student, tutor, etc. Tasks – read, discuss, etc. Tools and resources Outputs

Advantages Makes design explicit Maps out design Sharable with others Good at activity level

+Pedagogy profile

Map of student tasks to time periods (weeks, semesters, etc)

Six types of student tasks + assessment

Each cell indicates the amount of time spent in that period on each type of task

Widget provides graphical view

43

Guidance &support

Evidence & demonstration

Information & experience

Communication &interaction

Thinking & reflection

Course map

Gives an “at a glance view”

Five components to any course

Uses:

Represent a course

Compare

Design

Course map/At a glance representation

Guidance and support “Learning pathway”Course structure and timetableCourse calendar, study guide, tutorials

Information and experience “Content and activities”Could include course materials, prior experience or student generated contentReadings, DVDs, podcasts, lab or field work, placements

Communication and interaction “Dialogue”Social dimensions of the course, interaction with other students and tutorsCourse forum, email

Thinking and reflection “Meta-cognition”Internalisation and reflection on learningIn-text questions, notebook, blog, e-portfolio,

Evidence and demonstration “Assessment”Diagnostic, formative and summativeMultiple choice quizzes, TMAs, ECA

Evidence & demonstration

6 TMAs – submitted online (505 of overall score)

3hr examination (50% of overall score)

Thinking & reflection

Activities throughout learning guides (4-7 per guide)

5 website ‘interactives’

Journal space in MyStuff

Core questions, thinking points and summaries in course books

Communication & interaction

Course-wide Café forum

Tutor group forums with sub-forums for each block

F2F tutorials near beginning, middle and end of course (some regional variation)

KE312 Working Together for Children60pt course over 32 weeks3 blocks/20 learning guidesWhole weeks devoted to TMAsConsolidation week (week 22)

• Practice related• Aligned to latest prof framework for mult-agency working• Rich case studies• Read – relate to practice – reflect – write

Information & experience

PDF resources

Links to e-journal articles and other websites

3 co-published course books (21 chapters/ 960pp)

DVD – videos of 3 practice settings + interviews (XXmin)

Plus own experience and practice

Guidance & support

Study planner

20 Learning guides

General assessment guidance

TMA questions

Course guide

Study calendar

Tutor support – 1:20; 21 contact hrs; band 7

Course map example

46 Mick Jones

Olnet: redefining openness

+Open design and mediation

Designer DesignHas an inherent

Learning activityor OERCreates

Mediating artefacts

Mediating artefacts1.Visualisation: CompendiumLD2.Methods: Schema & patterns3.Sharing: Cloudworks

Can we develop new innovative mediating artefacts?How can we make the design more explicit and sharable?

User – can now repurpose

+Mediating artefacts

Individuals use a range of mediating artefacts to achieve something – write a paper, design a learning event

With new technologies there is now a greater range of MA and new ways for individuals to connect and communicate with others

Taking a socio-cultural approach allows us to make sense of this because it helps articulate the MA and look at the context of use – rules, community, division of labour, as well as look over time at the evolving system as user-practice changes and co-evolves with the technologies

Open Design: Visualising and sharing

+Explicit design

Design, use, reuse

Designer

OER

Design

Creates

Deposits

Deposits

Learner A

OER

DesignLearner B

Tutor

Chooses

UsesQuiz + beginners route

UsesQuiz + advanced route

Repurposes & deposits

Process designPrior designs & resources New designs

Content: (OER repositories, etc)

Designs: (Pedagogical Patterns, CompendiumLD designs)

New OER & designs

+Conclusions

Motivation: helping teachers/designers make more innovative use of technologies to create better learner experiences

Approach: development of a range of resources, tools, methods and events to support this

Evidence-base and agile development: on-going evaluation and reflection to enhance understanding and drive future developments

Reflection: How effective is this? Where to next? Is it transferable? How “open” can we really expect teachers/learners to be?

+Conclusions

Motivation: helping teachers/designers make more innovative use of technologies to create better learner experiences

Approach: development of a range of resources, tools, methods and events to support this

Evidence-base and agile development: on-going evaluation and reflection to enhance understanding and drive future developments

Reflection: How effective is this? Where to next? Is it transferable? How “open” can we really expect teachers/learners to be?