Enhancing learning through engaging academics as digital innovators Diana Laurillard, London Knowledge Lab Learning & Teaching Conference 2010

Outline Why is e-learning innovation so slow? Why might we need learning technologies? Realising their potential for learning and productivity Making e-learning strategies work for academics Planning the way forward

5 reasons why technology innovation is slow in education [Laurillard, in Opening Up Education, 2008, MIT Press] 1)Digital technologies are too new, and they do everything 2)Education is a complex system of powerful, stable drivers, which do not embrace technology 3)Education leaders are not comfortable with technology as a component of strategy 4)Education is national, political, public service - not so subject to market forces, or investment in innovation 5)Lecturers have neither the motivation nor the means to innovate using technology

New media and delivery technologies for education – Recent history Interactive computers Local drives & discs WIMP interfaces Internet Multimedia Worldwide Web Laptops Search engines Broadband 3G mobiles Blogs Wikis 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s - new medium for articulating ideas - local storage with the user - devices for ease of access to content - mass production / distribution of content - elaborated forms of content - wide access to extensive content - personal portable access to the medium - mass delivery of messages - easier access to extensive content - rich content / immediate communication - low-cost access to elaborate content - personal mass publishing - collections of knowledge

Writing Paper Indexes, paragraphs Printing Photos, sound, film Libraries Published books Postal services Bibliographies Television, phones Paperbacks Pamphlets Encyclopedias s 1600s 1400s 1800s 1900s 1500s 1800s 1900s 1940s 1950s 1700s 1800s - new medium for articulating ideas - local storage with the user - devices for ease of access to content - mass production / distribution of content - elaborated forms of content - wide access to extensive content - personal portable access to the medium - mass delivery of messages - easier access to extensive content - rich content / immediate communication - low-cost access to elaborate content - personal mass publishing - collections of knowledge Old media and delivery technologies for education– Not so recent history

Writing Paper Indexes, paragraphs Printing Photos, sound, film Libraries Published books Postal services Bibliographies Television, phones Paperbacks Pamphlets Encyclopedias s 1600s 1400s 1800s 1900s 1500s 1800s 1900s 1940s 1950s 1700s 1800s Interactive computers Local drives & discs WIMP interfaces Internet Multimedia Worldwide Web Laptops Search engines Broadband 3G mobiles Blogs Wikis 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Old media and delivery technologies against the new

Interactive computersLocal drives & discs WIMP interfaces Writing Paper Printing Published books Indexes, paragraphs Pamphlets Photos, sound, film Postal services Encyclopedias Libraries Bibliographies Television, phones Paperbacks s 1500s 1600s 1700s 1800s 1900s 1940s 1950s 2000s Interactive computers Local drives & discs WIMP interfaces Internet Multimedia Worldwide Web Laptops Search engines Broadband 3G mobiles Blogs Wikis 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 30 years Old media and delivery technologies against the new

5 reasons why technology innovation is slow in education [Laurillard, in Opening Up Education, 2008, MIT Press] 1)Digital technologies are too new, and they do everything 2)Education is a complex system of powerful, stable drivers, which do not embrace technology 3)Education leaders are not comfortable with technology as a component of strategy 4)Education is national, political, public service - not so subject to market forces, or investment in innovation 5)Lecturers have neither the motivation nor the means to innovate using digital technologies

Why might we need digital technologies for learning and teaching? Student demand Strategic fit Learning value Productivity value Not clear? Student preference – yes. New strategic aims for university teaching Independent learning; collaborative learning; 21 C skills Flexibility; wider reach; better use of teacher and learner time “The key picture that emerges is that students are appropriating technologies to meet their own personal, individual needs – mixing use of general ICT tools and resources, with official course or institutional tools and resources” [Student experiences of TEL Report, JISC, 2006] “The key picture that emerges is that students are appropriating technologies to meet their own personal, individual needs – mixing use of general ICT tools and resources, with official course or institutional tools and resources” [Student experiences of TEL Report, JISC, 2006]

Strategic fit “Strategies are becoming much more embedded, with the biggest change since 2005 being the rise to prominence of e-learning strategies”. [UCISA Survey, 2008] “Few examples of universities responding strategically, either at the level of rethinking knowledge practices in the curriculum, or at the level of integrating support for students’ digital literacies”. [Learning Literacies in a Digital Age project, 2009] How are other HEIs doing?

Support progression for students with diverse needs Enhance the profile of teaching and CPD Enhance links between research and teaching Strategic fit – to Imperial  provide adaptive remedial tutoring, e.g. Maths, English  e-portfolios to critique and track progress  build online communities of practice  treat teaching as ‘engineering’, a ‘design science’  provide online access to authentic tasks and data  use online collaboration for learners to build communities of practice

Learning value Digital skills for work and life Independent learning Collaborative learning Adaptive models and simulations with feedback on actions Formative e-assessment with feedback on performance Online tools to structure students’ independent study Online tools for discussion and sharing outputs Interactive simulations and modelling tools E-portfolios for sharing and improving practice Networking and information skills, data handling, online communication, content generation, design, presentation - For academic purposes, translating to work environments Redesigning the university for the twenty first century Web 2.0 provides HE with the opportunities ‘renegotiating the relationship between tutor and student… ‘each recognises and values the other’s expertise and capability’ ‘drawing students into the development of approaches to teaching and learning’ (JISC 2009) Redesigning the university for the twenty first century Web 2.0 provides HE with the opportunities ‘renegotiating the relationship between tutor and student… ‘each recognises and values the other’s expertise and capability’ ‘drawing students into the development of approaches to teaching and learning’ (JISC 2009)

Web-based tools

Comparing pedagogic value Tutorial with 5 and 10 students Students spend more time listening than speaking Ratio worsens as group size increases Online tutorial with 5 and 10 students Students spend more time writing than reading Ratio only slightly worse as group size increases

E-Portfolios, Blogs, for collaboration Impact of ‘e’ - Students can share, comment, adapt, improve

Achieving learning value Improvements in the quality of learning, and in student achievement are possible, but only if carefully designed Exploit the technology for its ability to promote active, personalised learning – Structure students’ independent collaborative work – Provide access to authentic tasks – Support adaptive and remedial tutoring – Support independent formative assessment

Productivity value Better use of learner time Better use of teacher time Support learners in their independent study Mix face-to-face with online to achieve best fit to need Provide access to authentic tasks Automated formative assessment helps self-regulation Create once – use many times Work at scale with same quality Encourage peer learning support Build on and re-use others’ teaching designs (OER) Modelling with differential equations: oscillations

A Learning Design Support Environment (LDSE) – LKL project Build on the work of others – find relevant designs and patterns Explain the rationale for a learning design Compare alternative models of T & L Edit and trial the learning design

[Laurillard 2006] T-L activities Conventional model, classroom based Blended model, real and virtual, local and global Model returns effect of design on ‘type of learning’ elicited, ‘learning experience’, ‘teacher time’, and ‘learner time in class’ Modelling costs and benefits Model

Staging the development Build on local knowledge, experience, and ideas Adapt and build on what has gone before Start with the simplest models with the best returns Web presence VodCasts Online discussion forums Web-based inquiry tools Online structured discussion groups e-Portfolios Interactive formative assessment Collaborative simulations

Staging the development Increasing pedagogic value correlates with worsening learning time Teaching time needed is related to student numbers and ‘contact’ time Model

Staging the development Suggests best place to start is interactive formative assessment Different orderings would be needed to prioritise pedagogic value or teacher preparation time

Achieving productivity value Improvements in the productivity of learning and teaching are possible, but only if carefully managed Exploit the technology for its ability to make better use of staff and student time – More peer-group feedback and collaboration – More online support for independent learning – Building on the work of others – re-use and sharing

E-Learning Strategy Objectives (extract) monitor external and emerging developments in e- learning, with a mind to their incorporation into College programmes and educational initiatives identify examples and replicable models of effective e- learning by evaluating practice in learning, teaching and assessment monitor, share and co-ordinate where sensible e- learning developments across the College …‘building on the work of others’…

E-Learning Strategy – a vision? treat teaching as a design science, more like engineering expect it to be a continual iterative process of improvement use good pedagogy to challenge the use of technology don’t expect proof that e-learning is more effective than book learning, or any one method is better than any other – the point is to optimise enable academics to emulate the research model by building on each others’ work to: find, adopt, critique, adapt, test, redesign, publish Giving academics the means to innovate with digital technologies:

ICT E-Learning Services Educational Development Unit E-Learning at Imperial - roles

Developing the capability for e-learning Use technology for most difficult strategic aims Modelling the benefits and costs of time The means to build on others’ work Treat teaching as a form of engineering Exploit IT for active, collaborative learning SEC E-LSC FTCs Academics

Summary Begin with ambitions, use technology to achieve them Build on the work of others: share ideas, designs and tools Plan to achieve both learning and productivity benefits Make teaching more like design research: a learning process Give academics the means for exploring new pedagogies  academics as digital innovators, treating teaching as a design science