Mike Sharples gives a follow-up talk on educational technology,
now with a strong focus on contemporary options. The
previous talk covered EdTech from 1950-2010 and this talk looks at contemporary technology
and pedagogy related to edTech. A link to the full slide deck can be found at the end of this blogpost.
Looking at technology.
We are ready for implementations to augment our learning:
iphone headphones, translation through earplugs… the augmented human is
becoming a reality.
Smart earpiece to get information
Now AR/VR exhibition: transparent screens to look into a
building, or any other landscape. Within a year this will happen.
New tech can augment learning, but what are the educational possibilities
and dangers of that.
For instance: a company is selling monorean: to cheat on
tests, wireless communication to cheat during exams. This mean it might disrupt
education.
1963: a smart earpiece of a child with an earpiece going to Antarctica
(extract of short stury by Brian Aldiss ‘the thing under the glacier). Already
a neural controlled earpiece accessing the internet.
Early signals: explore educational benefits and discuss risks
and disruptions. Sharples (2002)
Future Technology workshops: fun way to explore possibilities.
A structured group method to systematically envirion and explore future
technologies and activities. Vavoula & Sharples (2007). Exploreing what is
happening at the moment, think about how these existing techs can be enhanced,
then explore future options by thinking differently about them, finally looking
at interactions with these future techs.
Challenge: identify techs that might enhance and disrupt
education in 2020.
Now looking at pedagogy:
Pedagogy theory and practice of teaching, learning and
assessment (built upon the NMR horizon reports, but looking further than only
the technology). So same approach but focusing on pedagogy.
Some pedagogies covered: rhizomatic learning, personal
inquiry, flipped classroom, crossover learning, learning to learn,
geo-learning, learning by storytelling, threshold concepts, bricolage.
Crossover learning: how do you connect learning in the
classroom with learning in a non-formal setting. First thing is to think about
what is happening. How do the learning activities of informal and classroom
learning differ in: initiation, support, goals, activities, outcomes? What are
the benefits of connecting formal and informal learning? How can educational
technologies support this pedagogy?
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Learner initiated
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Teacher initiated
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Learner managed
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Informal learning (eg. Internet browsing)
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Self-managed learning (eg homework)
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Teacher managed
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Non-formal learning (evening classes, MOOCs)
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Formal learning (schools)
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Thinking about learning outside the classroom, reflective
learning inside the classroom.
Crossover learning example:
MyArtSpace: explore, collect andshare. Learning between classroom, museum and home. Using mobile devices to
collect evidence of what they were learning. Need: to make school museum visits
more effective. Aim: connect learning in museums and classrooms. Change from
worksheet exercises to inquiry led learning: giving a question to start from
and ask the students to provide proof for answering the question. This involved
editing the objects that the students brought back as well. This approach
increased the student engagement with the museum (from 20 min to 90 min), and
great engagement (website set up, collaborating). One challenge was for the
museum staff, as their workload increased dramatically. So there is always the
interaction between all parts of the system that needs to be taken into
account.
Having a new look at the groundbreaking paper of
Meltzoff,Kuhl, Movellan, and Sejnowski (2009). Learning is supported by braincircuits
that connect various thinking parts. Neural learning, computational learning,
social learning, developmental learning, contextual and temporal learning. The brain can adjust at any given age, they
have plasticity. Through engaging in the world we learn for future engagement.
Insights from neuroscience:
Timing
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Spacing between stimuli for long term memory
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Spaced learning
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Neural plasticity
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Environment enrichment, critical periods, resilience, learning to
respond positively to environmental change
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stress
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Spaced learning: what can we learn from neurology to look at
optimal design for learning. DNA synthesis in the synapses of the brain. Three
short learning episodes spaced by 10 minutes of physical activity (eg clay
modelling). A Studies are now being repeated in 15 schools. Kelley, whatson (2013)
making long-term memories in minutes in human neuroscience.
Insights in behavioral sciences (example:
Gloyo, a game to
learn children how to wash their hands effectively to decrease risk of disease):
positive reinforcement
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positive behaviour that is rewarded tends to be repeated
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behaviour modification
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Insights from cognitive sciences
Feedback
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Giving immediate feedback is successful for easy learning tasks.
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Assessment for learning, mastery learning
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Constructivist learning
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Students who actively explore a topic, then receive instruction
perform better than students who are instructed first, then explore
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Productive failure, learning by constructing
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Context and learning
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We understand new topics in the context of what we already know.
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Case-based learning, learning from examples
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language
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Language enables cognition
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Learning multiple languages, meta-language and metcognition
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Example: productive failure: learning by exploring complex
problems. Lectures before learning sets limiting boundaries, while exploration
opens learning. Explore first, than be instructed.
Insights from social sciences
Cooperative learning
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People learn best when they learn toghether. For groups to work:
shared goals, each person knows how and when to contribute, everyone makes an
appropriate contribution, share rewards in a fair way, opportunity to reflect
on progress and to discuss contributions
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Cooperative learning, jigsaw learning, team-based learning
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Zone of proximal development
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Learners should work in a zone where they can be helped: between what
they can already do anuaided, and what is far too difficult
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Scaffolding, peer learning
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Learing organisations
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Organisations are learning systems
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Double loop organisational learning: setting up objectives and strategies
for institutional change, with improved educational practices and feedback
for agile development based on learning analytics.
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Example FutureLearn: social learning at massive scale,
so looking at pedagogies that actually
get better when learned by scale. Learning through conversation (productive conversations).
The more peole who exchange ideas and perspectives, the better the effective
learning happens.
Designing learning with technology: look at Design-based research:
in essence a series of design experiments,
Whang, Hannafin (2008).
Evaluating educational technology innovations: a serious
investigation means multiple studies and multiple methodological approaches. Using
an outcome measure that has nothing to do with the intervention under study can
easily mask gaps or inconsistencies.
What next?
Scalable and sustainable learning systemes beyond MOOCs,
intelligent tutoring systems (a tutor for every learner), personalised and
social learning at massive scale (how to combine dthe learning benefits of
social and personal learning), orchestration outside the classroom
(facilitating informal learning), liflong professional development (connecting
learning in workplaces and classrooms), distributed accreditation (blockchain
tech for education), formative analytics.
Which future? The best way to predict the future is to
invent it (Alan Kay).
The overall take out is that a mix of approaches will give
strong results.
