Judith Schoonenboom, University of Amsterdam Henk Sligte, Ayman Moghnieh, Davinia Hernández-Leo, Krassen Stefanov, Christian Glahn, Marcus Specht, Ruud Lemmers Supporting life-long competence development using the TENCompetence infrastructure: a first experiment

Pilots in TENCompetence Aim: to test the TENCompetence infrastructure, consisting of its technical infrastructure and its underlying pedagogical, knowledge-sharing and assessment exchange models Diversity of pilots: –Spain: Digital Cinema pilot –Bulgaria: ICT Training pilot –Unesco Water Management pilot

General research question Whom does the TENCompetence infrastructure support in what in a variety of circumstances?

TENCompetence infrastructure Structured access to resources, based on competences More freedom than traditional training and education More support than traditional resource provision / sharing

Characteristic and tools of the PCM Layered access to resources from competence profiles, competences, competence development plans and actions. Choosing elements and routes Each element of the PCM has its own: –Element description –Forum –Chat –Rating –Marking as attained or completed

Research question of this pilot To what extent are the tools that the TENCompetence infrastructure provides helpful in managing the freedom once learners can choose their own learning path and resources?

Two approaches Appreciation of TENCompetence functionalities Hypothesis testing in an experiment

The ICT Teacher Training pilot 44 teachers from Bulgaria One month and a half in the autumn of 2007 Working load of 100 hours in total, including the assessment Objective: become acquainted with the I*Teach Methodology Specific pedagogical approach with an emphasis on collaborative learning, including: Information skills, project work, team work, oral presentation, written presentation, web presentation.

Pilot learning activities Face-to-face starting workshop: –Introduction to I*Teach Methodology –Compose groups of 2-3 people for –Working on a self-chosen project with general objective: applying I*Teach methodology in the process of teaching in their own subject –First work on project Virtual work on project Final workshop: –Presentation of own project to other teachers

The experiment 19 teachers using PCM, 25 using Moodle PCM: introduction, virtual work and final presentation using hierarchical structure based on competences, forum, chat & ratings with each element, marking elements as complete Moodle: introduction, virtual work and final project presentation using general forum & chat and rating of elements and separate MS Word documents.

Characteristics of participants Highly educated middle-aged teachers Who use the internet for searching for information more than for discussion and data sharing Not sent or obliged by their employers Motivation is job improvement and improvement of their proficiency level Motivation is not defining learning goals for themselves. No differences between groups.

Hypotheses about the PCM Amount and appreciation of competence development Will lead to better competence development Affects the type of competences that are acquired People appreciate the learning route better People appreciate the learning resources more Appreciation of control Learners will experience more control over their learning Amount and appreciation of collaboration Will lead to more and better collaboration Will lead to better appreciation of functionalities for collaboration

Data collection Pre- and post-test questionnaires

Experiment: self-reports on passing competence assessment acquired knowledge and skills appreciation of control over learning appreciation of collaboration appreciation of learning route appreciation of learning resources overall rating of chat overall rating of forum number of messages posted to forum number of times chat used

Appreciation of control In the beginning, I quickly got an overview of the competences involved and my current proficiency level I had a good overview on what I had done and what I had to do I had insight into how my learning progressed I had the feeling that I learned exactly what I wanted to learn I had the feeling that I could plan my own learning I felt in control of my own learning [1] Agree completely / [2] agree / [3] neither agree nor disagree / [4] disagree / [5] disagree completely

Differences between groups Sig. passing competence assessment,003 appreciation of control,003 number of messages posted to forum,047 acquired knowledge and skills,069 number of times chat used,072 appreciation of learning resources,343 appreciation of learning route,542 overall rating of chat,553 overall rating of forum,763 appreciation of collaboration,849

Questions on each functionality Reasons for not using it (How often) did you use it? How / what for did you use it? Effects of using it Appreciation

Efficiency The most often mentioned effect of marking elements as complete is that learning becomes more efficient. Increased efficiency is also mentioned with other facilities offered by the PCM: making one’s own selection, and the hierarchical organization, which makes it easy for people to find their way to the learning resources.

Following own path Several groups –People who at the beginning already preferred to follow their own path, and –People who enjoyed following their own path. –People who concluded afterwards that it would have been better to follow the prescribed order instead and –People who appreciated the fact that the hierarchical organization of elements provided a natural path to be followed. Proportion of people who prefer to follow their own path has risen after the pilot

Usefulness of tools Forum, chat and rating are considered useful, but: Only half of the participants make use of them Most important reason for not using them: lack of time Marking as complete is rated in between useful, and not useful, but Large majority didn’t see the mark as complete option, or didn’t know how to use it.

Discussion First results seem to support our approach How can feeling in control of learning be related to the PCM functionalities? Outcomes may be different for different target groups.

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