E-LearningTrends & Issues

ByUsman Arshad

http://e-learning-teaching.blogspot.com

Trends - OER

• Open learning and teaching

• OER (Open Educational Resources)– "the open sharing of one's educational resources implies

that knowledge is made freely available on non-

commercial terms,"

(Larsen and Vincent-Lancrin, 2005).

Trends - OER

• Shared educational resources used by

– learners, instructors and lifelong learners

• Intentions including

– learning, teaching, research, training and professional

development

• Resources in the form of

– textbooks, journals, games, simulations, PowerPoint

presentations, templates, modules, guides, templates

– any other electronic educational and training resources

• Has no or little cost

Trends - OER Benefits for stakeholders?

• Students– access to a wide body of high quality learning content easily– Diverse and flexible learning– learn from each others learning styles– use technology/methods they are comfortable with– Enhance critical thinking and creativity skills– Exploring other cultures thinking and beliefs– no cost or geographical barriers– formal learning becoming more expensive – students want more for their money

Trends - OER Benefits for stakeholders?

• Instructors– technology beyond the institution standards– globally exchange teaching styles, guides, templates and

learning resources– less pressure to track latest learning and teaching

advancements– more time to design learning and reuse learning content– more time to support students individually. – hand pick, use, and modify individual resources in unique ways

• guarantees greater diversity of learning environments

Trends - OER Benefits for stakeholders?

• Institutions– supporting and widening participation of learning and teaching– more diverse student body– transparency - openly show procedures, teaching, and research– increased recognition for their scholarships– promote use of use of new technologies– attracting local and international students– allow less formal collaborations and partnerships– rising costs sustained– solution for expenses and course fees etc– less staff training costs

Trends - OER Who’s using it?

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

– early adopters in 2002

– OpenCourseWare project

– Currently holds course materials from around 2,000 MIT courses.

• Nationally funded e-learning hosting website

– Jorum

– nationally funded e-learning hosting website

– used by any UK academic

– find, share and discuss learning and teaching resources, shared by the UK Further and HE community.

• iTunes U

– provides lectures as audio and video content from:

• museums, universities, cultural institutions and public television stations

– Institutions can sign-up and upload content

• Since April 2009 The Higher Education Academy and JISC are working in partnership to support the HEFCE OER

pilot programme (HEA, 2010).

Trends - OERpersonal experiences

• Youtube interview with Siemens on MOOC• Twitter search ‘#eAssessment’• Access and print blank storyboard templates• Learning objects - existing flash games for

mouse training

Issues

• Current issues– Students left feel isolated post-graduation– Lack of motivation for personal development– Current state of student feedback• Lack of qualitative feedback• grades only - numbers and letters

Issues• Increase chances of employability – Authentic feedback to trigger students for

lifelong learning and professional development.

• Steps:

Issues

• Authentic feedback– Text feedback more meaningful– Personalised– Constructive and motivational– From a variety of learners/colleagues– Timely-ongoing feedback for learning

Issues

• Peer review feedback – benefit for both the learner and peer– Learner

• anonymous peers less apprehensive• diversity of opinions• learn from honest feedback• tweak work from early stage

– Peer• flavour of expectations• clearer idea of the intensity and requirements of the activity/assessment• learn good practice, techniques and methods• Identify and diagnose and solve own errors

Issues

• Enhance product– using the feedback take a step further– Constructive feedback = motivation– Further enhancement of the product– turn into ePortfolio piece

Issues• ePortfolio– modern approach of an e-Portfolio described by

Sutherland and Powell in 2007 as:– “A purposeful aggregation of digital items - ideas,

evidence, reflections, feedback, etc. which ‘presents’ a selected audience with evidence of a person’s learning and/or ability.”

Issues• ePortfolio– take control of learning– reflecting on activities/products– planning future directions– connections among formal and informal learning

experiences – continuity during breaks through lifelong learning– linking achievements/work with skills required by

employers– model professionalism – Helps identify learning needs and closing gaps

Issues

• build a Personnel Learning Network– social media• media sharing• blogs• wikis• social networking• virtual worlds

Issues• Benefits of social media as PLN– Community of practice which continues to grow– Any time, any place, any device learning– Widely distributed, accessible and immediate format – new things discovered, and continue to discover every day– continue to learn from others– motivation to share what you have learnt– stronger social and intellectual ties with your community

of practice – sharing knowledge comes back to you with interest

Issues

• Further work for portfolio – Motivated by learning new techniques, methods,

concepts and interventions

• Further quality work to showcase employers

Issues

• Authentic feedback to trigger students for lifelong learning and professional development.

1. Authentic feedback2. enhance product3. ePortfolio4. Personnel Learning Network5. Further portfolio work

The EndThank you

http://e-learning-teaching.blogspot.com