challenges in abundance: higher education & learning to learn
DESCRIPTION
Keynote presentation for International Conference on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 2011, Melaka, Malaysia, 21-23 November 2011TRANSCRIPT
Challenges in abundance:Higher education & learning to learnPeter AlbionDigital Learning Research NetworkFaculty of Education, USQ
Traditional education brought us this far but the way forward is unclear.
Photo: Thomas Hawk CC (by)(nc)(sa)
“What teachers do with learning in the next ten years will determine the future of the world”
(Stephen Heppell, 2011) - YouTube
Education developed to transfer information to the young.
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Now information is abundant and changing.
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We must prepare graduates to work with abundant information.
Photo: Svante Adermark CC (by) (nc)
Information is not frozen. It flows.
Milford Sound Road, New Zealand, Dec 2007
Traditional education transmitted information from teacher to learner.
Microsoft ClipArt
Information changed slowly.
Moiry Glacier, Switzerland, Jul 2006
Access was often restricted.
Photo: rosefirerising CC (by) (nc) (nd)
Learners were prepared for life.
Microsoft ClipArt
Four technological waves have changed information ecology.
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Desktop publishing enabled anybody to publish in print.
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The World Wide Web made a single document available globally.
Microsoft ClipArt
Mobile Internet allows access and publication from anywhere.
Callum, 2010
Understanding of knowledge has evolved as information has expanded.
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Objectivist knowledge exists independently – it can be owned and transmitted.
Photo: Thomas Hawk CC (by) (nc)
Constructivist knowledge exists in the learner – it is built from personal experience.
Microsoft ClipArt
Connectivist knowledge exists in the network – learning is making connections.
Microsoft ClipArt
Education should reflect the real world.
Milford Sound Road, New Zealand, Dec 2007
The world is swimming in information.
Annecy, France, Jul 2006
Total information is growing exponentially. Some is quickly made obsolete.
Knight, P. T. (1997). The Half-Life of Knowledge and Structural Reform of the Education Sector for the Global Knowledge-Based Economy. Retrieved April 17, 2009, from http://www.knight-moore.com/pubs/halflife.html
Information is not diminished by sharing.
Attention flows toward information.… if you have any particular piece of information on the Net, you can share it easily with anyone else who might want it. It is not in any way scarce, and therefore it is not an information economy towards which we are moving … There is something else that moves through the Net, flowing in the opposite direction from information, namely attention.
Goldhaber, M. H. (1997). The Attention Economy and the Net. First Monday, 2(4). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/519/440
Is the information economy really an attention economy?
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The World is Flat (Friedman, 2006)
Image: Eva the weaver CC (by) (nc) (sa)
Flatteners
Internet connectivity
Search & information
access
Mobile communicati
ons
+++++++
Three digital revolutions ➙ new kind of learner
Lee Rainie, Pew Internet Project, 2011
New learners are:
• More self directed• Better equipped for new information
sources• More reliant on feedback & response• More inclined to collaboration• More open to cross-disciplinary work• More oriented to people as producers
Lee Rainie, Pew Internet Project, 2011
Abundance ➙ a relationship economy
Worldview Consumer economy Relationship economy
Underlying assumption Scarcity Abundance
Goal Ownership Membership
You prize Proprietary secrets Openness, transparency
To build Barriers Links and relationships
To get Involuntary lock-in Voluntary loyalty
Sell to Target markets Natural audiences
Sell via Consumer marketing Social dynamics
Awareness through Branding, advertising Personal advocacy
Trust? Buy it Earn it
People are Untrustworthy More trustworthy than we think
Jerry Michalski, The REXpedition, 2011
Lectures were never like this.
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Our tradition has been pedagogies of scarcity.
• Learning is acquiring information
• Information is scarce and hard to find
• Trust authority for good information
• Authorised information is beyond discussion
• Obey the authority, and
• Follow alongMartin Weller, A Pedagogy of Abundance, 2010
Learner experience of information in the world is one of abundance.
• User-generated content• Power of the
crowd• Data access• Architecture of
participation• Network effects• Openness
Martin Weller, A Pedagogy of Abundance, 2010
Pedagogies of abundance should recognize that:
• Content is free• Content is abundant• Content is varied• Sharing is easy• Learning is social• Connections are
‘light’• Organisation is cheap• Systems are
generative• Users generate
contentMartin Weller, A Pedagogy of Abundance, 2010
Education should prepare lifelong learners.
Photo: jcfrog CC (by)
Most learning occurs outside classes.
Jane Hart, Learning in the social workplace, 2011
Learning is social by nature.
Frederic Domon, Socialearning, 2011
Personal learning networks support lifelong learning.
David Warlick, Learning & leading with technology, 2009
Some established pedagogies recognize abundance.
• Resource-based learning (RBL)
• Problem-based learning (PBL)
• Challenge-based learning (CBL)
• Constructivism• Communities of
practice• Connectivism
Martin Weller, A Pedagogy of Abundance, 2010
Technology pedagogy and curriculum – EDP4130
• Required undergraduate course• Final year teacher preparation• Major assessment is class project– Develop curriculum resource available to all– Requires collaboration, access to sources,
publication
• Challenging but valuable for students– Authentic, collaborative task– Characteristics of PBL
Emerging environments for learning – EDU8111
• Graduate elective course• Concept is for students to construct course– Select and explore relevant topic– Publish in class wiki, open to all– Remains as foundation for next cohort
• First task uses social bookmarking to gather resources
• Uses freely available content• Students generate content by adding value
Contemporary issues conference – EDU8719
• Postgraduate course, required for some students
• Designed as an academic conference• Students– Submit and peer review paper proposals– Prepare and review full papers– Record a short presentation– Engage in discussion of papers
• Some student-generated content is publishable• Develops skills for professional interaction
Abundance presents new challenges for learning and teaching.
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Easy access to information makes misuse possible.
Microsoft ClipArt
Connected working requires collaboration skills.
Microsoft ClipArt
Collaborative learning makes disconnected assessment problematic.
Microsoft Clipart
Education developed to transfer information to the young.
Photo: Thiophene_Guy CC (by)(nc)(sa)
Now information is abundant and changing.
Photo: mikebaird CC (by)
We need to prepare graduates to work with abundant information.
Photo: Svante Adermark CC (by) (nc)
Challenges in abundance:Higher education & learning to learnPeter AlbionDigital Learning Research NetworkFaculty of Education, [email protected]