Future Learning Landscapes Yvan Peter – Université Lille 1 Serge Garlatti – Telecom Bretagne

Multiple innovations A number of technologies and uses are emerging and developing Mobile & pervasive learning Web 2.0 Semantic web What about convergence ?

Setting the stage

Mobile learning Developing theory Conversation theory, use of activity theory… Emerging frameworks For software architecture & design Context management To drive adaptation and the learning situation

Challenge Level of embeddedness Level of mobility Pervasive computing Traditional computing Ubiquitous computing Mobile computing High Low High

Challenge From mobile to pervasive/ubiquitous learning A seamless environment to keep learning across context An easy and meaningful interaction with the environment A localised accumulation of knowledge and efficient retrieval according to the learner’s needs

Web 2.0

Web features Switching from a traditional publishing model to individual contributions Easy publishing (AJAX, blogs, wiki) Multiple media : text, photo, video Leveraging collective intelligence Social bookmarking, tags & folksonomies The web as a platform Everything through your browser

Web features The “long tail” On any topic you could find a critical mass of people to contribute Composability Open APIs, open formats, REST style communication Enable mashups: data, services Push model for information No more need to check every web site for changes RSS & ATOM feeds

Types of applications Blogs Personal publication + comments Linking facilities at the level of information & people For education Reflection, diary, assignment publishing Course information & follow up (answering questions…)

Types of applications Wikis Collaborative writing & content organisation For education Supporting group and project work Annotated reading list Practicing writing skills

Types of applications Social bookmarking Keep reference of interesting material Organising information with tags Taking benefit from worthy resources found by the others For education Organisation of a corpus of useful references (reading list) Supporting group gathering of information on a subject

Types of applications Media-sharing facilities Sharing photos, videos, presentations, recordings… For education images & videos can be provided Annotation on the images or video can support specific explanations

Types of applications Social networking Keeping in touch with relations, forming and supporting communities For education Course animation outside the class

Types of applications Syndication & notifications Easy notification of updates, automatic media distribution (podcast episodes) For education A way to keep an eye on learners’ progress A way to distribute course content automatically

Divergent phenomenon Inclusion of web 2.0 services into learning Teacher lead use / outside the learning environment Integration of Web 2.0 into learning platforms (e.g., Moodle) Institutional resistance & personal interest If it is not managed by the institution and/or teacher, it is rejected Learners may already have their own spaces on the web. Why use the institutional one ?

Emerging paradigm Personal Learning Environment Learner led learning environment Built by the learner for a specific & personal learning goal Mashing up the services that will support best the goal No institutional drive or control It is not technology but Web 2.0 technology enabled this and supports it.

Challenge How to combine the management of the learning and freedom of support services? The teacher needs to be able to “deploy” his/her learning design Learners may choose their personal environments & services and must be directed in their activities The teacher has to keep an eye on what is going on and to provide directions

Semantic Web

The Semantic Web isn't just about putting data on the web. It is about making links, so that a person or machine can explore the web of data. With linked data, when you have some of it, you can find other, related, data through a network of RDF triples.

page 22 Semantic Web Linked Data: Published data according to standards RDF / RDFS / OWL SPARQL Access Point Query language + Access protocol The Web will be a Tremendous Global Database

Opportunity A global, distributed and open architecture perspective Composed of social web environments, institutional learning environments and personal learning environments exposing, sharing, and connecting data on the Web.

Opportunity It will be possible To reuse, analyze and manage content across web application sources, To monitor and analyze user activities and content production, to get user traces and to provide guidance and advices according to user activities and needs.

Opportunity Combination of all these resources and techniques allow getting contextual data from web environments and sensors

Convergence at last…

Convergence Can be used to conceptualize and design the next generation of learning landscapes relying on pervasive computing, social media and semantic web standards

Imagine... A natural interaction with knowledge Related to the environment & across all environments (class, home…) Mixing personal choice of environment & institutional drive on the learning objectives & process Enabling the learner & teacher to follow up the activities across services & environments