Web 2.0 - Education 2.0 : Weller

Weller, M. (2009) ‘Using learning environments as a metaphor for educational change’, On the Horizon, vol.17, no.3, pp.181–9; also available online at http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/ .m/ welleronthehorizon.pdf

Key points

•  Online learning  environment is route by which university understands/maintains it’s relevance to society
•  Need to change metaphor/pedagogies for learning (although using same metaphors help to cross the chasm).
•  Issues in current education – limited curricula; personalisation (inflexibility); meeting changing demands; informal learning
• Affordances (like that of lecture hall) at odds with what most educators would view as key components of learning – dialogue,reflection,critical analysis
• Also at odds with experience outside education / using social networks
•  Conole 2008 – learning theory has shifted to social and situated learning from a behaviourist, outcome based, individual learnin
• ‘Decentralisation’ – participation/network/social relies on a decentralised model
• ‘Social Learn’ to discover how learners behave in this sphere; thus develop appropriate tech and supp structures and pedagogies. 
•  As tools become easier to use, methods for integration simpler, centralised system less applicable (costs of integrating technology online has been reduced, so feasible for individual)
• Shirky “when we change the way we communicate, we change society”

“higher education will face a challenge when learners have been accustomed to very facilitative, usable, personalisable and adaptive tools for both learning and socialising, why will they accept standardised, unintuitive, clumsy and out of date tools in formal education they are paying for”

Comment

I enjoy reading Weller. The use of anecdotes and the rhetoric used is very engaging. Back in Block one Sfard talked about the idea of changing metaphors, and pretty much every article you read around using technology in education, talks about the need for new pedagogies. We once again pick up this idea of life technologies being different to learning technologies. But that little niggle remains in my brain - do students want to use the technologies that they use in life for learning? Do learners know that they are meant to making their own choices about learner? At 35, I know that I can and I do. I wonder whether we assume that this is what students want, especially when looking at some of the research in weeks 13 and 14, where they was some clear feedback that students except Universities to tell them when and how to use technology in their learning.

The idea of decentralisation is interesting. I think that it is more of a 're' centralisation to another point. There are still central hubs or organisations (facebook, google, ebay, twitter) that draw people together. Does the fact that they are not part of the 'establishment' mean they are decentralised? I guess this is my issue with the idea of power to the people. There is still a meritocracy evident - those who can, have the technology, know what to do, shout the loudest.....(as Cuban pointed out last week).

Thoughts on research

There are subtle differences across the research areas and their aims. All look at the use of technology in learners’ lives, but they each seek something particular. With  Kennedy(2008) it’s about whether the digital natives definition is true in reality; for Conole et al (2006) it’s more about how they engage with and perceptions of elearning; the JISC Ipsos Mori looks at school leavers expectations of technology; LEX about how the interaction with technology may change throughout the learning journey; PB LXP looks at the relationship between work and ICT learning; ECAR on how technology affect the college experience.

All of these seem to be focused on expectations of and use of technology so that practitioners can learn to use technology better with their students.

Kennedy (2008) focused on the fact that embracing technology is not universal experience and there is no consistency in what students use, although there is a great deal of technology that is being used. There is an interesting discussion around whether learners are using the technology they use in everyday life, for educational purpose, and I think that on the whole, learners are using this for the scaffolding elements of study – emails and messages to share and collaborate and stay in touch with each other. There does seem to be an expectation from students that there institution uses technology well (basic ICT should be functional), and guides the learner in the way they use technology – but not necessarily leading the way to new forms of technology use. It is the courses that define how they might use technology. It would seem that learners adopt technology to suit themselves, their situation and ease of use. Which is something that is echoed in my experience and the experience of fellow students. What was particularly pertinent to me, was that there seemed to be a need for a blended approach – something that I have been advocating a lot at work recently.

Does that mean we need to adopt a more blended approach? I know from experience that I will adopt technologies that I like, that help me to learn, that promote the ease of use that the research talks about. I don’t like using technology for technologies sake (hence why I have always struggled with the social bookmarking tools, as I don’t find they make my life easier.) But that has further impact on institutions, as we know a more learner orientated approach requires more support and scaffolding. Or maybe what the research says is the majority of students use technology that we use in our everyday lives. We like portability, access to communication and to tailor things to us. So what teachers need to do is make sure they use this technology in the same way – well. The use should be realistic and appropriate (see the vignettes from PB-LXP – here the technology that was useful for work development were seen as good as they had real life context. I don’t think student expect cutting edge, they just expect professionalism. (Which is more poignant in an age where we pay increasingly for our education.)