Trends in Digital Learning
Dr. Vanessa Dennen Presentation to IPST 24 July 2008
What’s the latest in …
• Content development? • eLearning? • Technology integration in education?
It’s not:
• Sophisticated media design • More realistic simulations • New forms of information dissemination
So what is the current trend?
• New ways of thinking about:
– Content – Technology – The student role – Assessment
Driving force: Web 2.0
• Web 1.0 = delivery and consumption of content • Web 2.0 = co-creation, sharing, and repurposing of content • A natural, organic transition • Driven by Internet users
Ian Davis writes:
• “Web 2.0 is an attitude not a technology. It’s about enabling and encouraging participation through open applications and services.”
• From: http://iandavis.com/blog/2005/07/talis-web-20-and-all-that
What is content?
• Old view: Content is a commodity
– Those who have the content have the power – The lucky are given content
• New view: Content is a catalyst
– Having content is not enough; we must know what to do with it
What is technology
• Old view: Technology is a delivery medium
– It enables us to provide content in new ways to new audiences
• New view: Technology is a transformative tool
– It enables us to take content and find new uses for it, make synergistic pairings, etc.
What is the student role?
• Old view: Passive learning, recipient of content
– Teacher-centered, traditional instruction
• Intermediate view: Learner-centered movement
– Learner’s explore hands-on
• New view: Learner-creators
– Within guidelines, learners synthesize and create
What is assessment?
• Old view: Assessment is a test of knowledge, focused on content • New view: Assessment starts with tests of knowledge (content), then looks for ability to apply that knowledge in novel ways (skills)
• New jobs are information focused • The information landscape is a vast place
– No authoritative map – Plenty of dead ends
21st Century Challenges
• Everyone has more information to manage than in the past • More people are empowered to create and distribute information to a wide audience • New information is created at a faster pace than we can keep up with
Are we teaching to the future?
• Are we helping students navigate the information landscape?
– Where do they look for knowledge? – How do they know what is accurate?
• Are we developing innovators?
– Can students develop their own solutions to problems? – Are students consumers or (co)creators?
21st Century Skills
• • • • • • • • Information access Information evaluation Information classification Information repurposing Virtual collaboration Technology-mediated communication Identity management Multitasking, critical thinking
What does this mean for content development?
• Look beyond just presenting content • Create learning settings for students to practice evaluating, classifying, and repurposing content • Integrate content with transformative tools • Recognize competing content and the everchanging nature of content • Draw on repositories
What does this mean for eLearning?
• Teacher preparation is more critical than ever • Good content is not enough • We must help teachers learn how to:
– Effectively integrate digital content – Assess new kinds of student work
What does this mean for eLearning?
• Student publishing should be encouraged • Students must learn to manage online information and identities • Classrooms can provide scaffolded, safe experiences for navigating the information landscape
Transformative Tools
• These tools help take content to the next level • Hylighter: hylighter.com
– Collaborative commenting and editing
• Diigo: diigo.com
– Shared bookmarking and annotations • del.icio.us – Social bookmarking
Repositories
• Many sources of useful images, video and audio are on the web … if only you can find what you’re looking for • Flickr: flickr.com
– Photographs
• YouTube: youtube.com
– Videos
Publishing tools
• • • • Blogs Wikis Discussion boards Repositories
Identity and Interaction Tools
• Facebook & myspace (and new ones that pop up every day) • Also, identities via blogs, discussion boards, repositories
Classroom Technology
• Needs to be in student hands, studentdriven • Time for exploration is important • A return to Montessori thought? Give students the environment and they will discover and learn through their activities
Learning and Assessment via Gaming
• Today’s youth are gamers
– About 25% of Thai youth play video games each day
• Look to today’s games for
– Motivating themes – Ways to adapt favorite games for instructional purposes
• Integrate learning content and cognitive challenges into game play
Next Generation Gaming
• Extended role-playing games addressing complex concepts and relationships • Simulated real-world interactions through the computer • One game shell and avatar (identity) might be used to support diverse learning experiences in one virtual environment • Collaborative, open source development of learning tools and experiences
Summary of Big Issues
• Knowledge ownership is open and distributed • Information access and problem solving skills are critical for success • Repurposing is valued over repeating • Learning is everywhere; school should teach you how to more effectively do it on your own
A final thought:
• The digital divide will have a 3-way split:
– Those who don’t have access – Those who are passive consumers – Those who engage, collaborate, and cocreate
The End
Questions?