1. AAEEBL Conference 2015 Dr Paula Nottingham

2. Flexible Online Learning ‘Portfolios’ for Professional Practice: a Case Study from the United Kingdom

3. BAPP Arts is a part-time undergraduate work-based ‘extension-year’ programme

4. BAPP Arts – a blended approach for experience-based learning The programme includes social media and online communities of practice to stimulate flexible learning practice for work- based learners. The blogs collect and archive the activities. “A well designed modeling environment is one that enables the learner to learn unaided, “without being taught” Laurillard (2012, p. 186). A number of educational developers have added to the programme including Durrant, Akinleye, Bryant, McGuinness, Nottingham + IWBL + others!

5. P rofessional inquiry stages and steps – a type of ‘capstone’ project

6. Personal and professional identities both play a part in a work-based project Online public learning blog + Professional sites for work (paid or unpaid) Learner University Workplace

7. Research for ‘online’ blogs and portfolios to identify the ways flexible learning can be used in professional work 21/03/2016Slide 7 Does the online learning portfolio improve/change practice? Is this way of working useful after the degree work has finished?  Sample of 10-20  Range of ages  Mixed gender  Email questions and interviews Implications for academic practice - the frequency and the ability to work in a blurred personal and professional setting as a learner.

8. Ideas underpinning research on practice - interaction and agency Originally blogs set up with ideas from connectivity – e.g. Siemen’s 8 principles “to facilitate continual learning” Work-based ideas – e.g. communities of practice (e.g. Wenger et al.), reflection on experiential learning experiences (Dewey, Kolb, Costley et al, Raelin.) Multimodal aspects (Jewitt) comparisons to digital portfolios such as Pebblepad (Welsh) Flexible higher education practice with social and cultural implications (Ryan and Tilbury)

9. While scaffolded in the beginning, the main features of the blogs are the way the learners create their own learning space that interact with other aspects of their professional lifeworld (e.g. Husserl). So meaning relates to the context in which the communication is used. Looking at learning - why multimodal research methods? This idea aligns with Web 2.0 notions that we don’t ‘teach’ people ‘communication’ skills – in BAPP Arts we focus on the skills needed to negotiate the workplace context.

10. Defining multimodality and use for digital technologies Multimodality…. strives to connect the material semiotic resources available to people with what they mean to signify in social contexts. Changes to these resources and how they are configured are therefore understood as significant for communication. Digital technologies are of particular interest to multimodality because they make a wide range of modes available, often in new inter-semiotic relationships with one another, and unsettle and re-make genres, in ways that reshape practices and interaction (Jewitt, 2013). Accepted examples of modes include writing, image, moving image, sound, speech, gesture, gaze and posture in embodied interaction (Jewitt, 2013).

11. Comparison to other uses of higher education online portfolios Because the blog relates to other online portfolio learning – archived blogs can be compared to other ‘closed’ online systems of study e.g. Pebblepad. PebblePad was instrumental in promoting the development of self-assessment and reflection in learning and in fostering positive motivational beliefs and self- esteem. It was intended that the cycle of preparation, submission and reflection described above would enhance the development of professional skills such as reflection and target setting (Welsh, p. 66).

12. Ryan and Tilbury quote from Flexible Pedagogies: new pedagogical ideas (2013, p. 5) …The review process identified the following ‘new pedagogical ideas’ for the future of an increasingly ‘flexible’ HE which offer new pathways for graduate attributes or capabilities:  learner empowerment – …processes of ‘co-creation’ that challenge learning relationships and the power frames that underpin them…  transformative capabilities – creating an educational focus…towards agency and competence…  crossing boundaries – taking an integrative and systemic approach to pedagogy in HE, to generate inter-disciplinary, inter- professional and cross-sectoral learning, to maximise collaboration and shared perspective, while tackling bias and differences of perspective…  social learning – developing cultures and environments for learning that harness the emancipatory power of spaces and interactions outside the formal curriculum, particularly through the use of new technologies and co-curricular activities.

13. Blog example 1 – could apply connectivity, work- based ideas, online portfolio comparison, multimodal analysis, flexible learning criteria Semiotic resources are the actions, materials and artifacts we use for communicative purposes (Jewitt), 2013) Using a template + Modal density – complexity of high level action - made up of lower level actions – e.g. a conversation meaningful content conversation

14. Links/descrip tions for professional work Modal configurati on – hierarchy relationship among modes lower level action is influenced by the social actor’s meaning learned throughout actor’s life Modal density – complexity of high level action - made up of lower level actions – e.g. a conversation Alternative identity from performance

15. Blog example 2 Choices related to how people realise content meanings… that is, the resources people choose to represent the world and their experience of it…(Jewitt, 2013)

16. biography CPD topic Lower level action - meaning learned throughout actor’s life Use of image and use of text text Modal configuration – hierarchy relationship among modes

17. Followers as communities LinkedIn groups – SIG talks down further What modes were necessary for the social actor to perform the action? Blog links– layout comment on blog Scrolling down on same screen

18. Conclusion – learning from the learning Online blogs and portfolios of work can bring together meaningful elements to share with others Learning from the archived blogs of alumni should help us better explain this way of working in future.

19. Indicative Bibliography – other sources upon request Bryant, Akinleye, Durrant, (2013) "Educating the early career arts professional using a hybrid model of work based learning", Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning, 3(1)17- 29. Casey, J. and Wilson, P. (2005) A practical guide to providing flexible learning in further and higher education. S0 47, Glasgow: Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education Scotland. Conole, Grainne and Culver, Juliette (2010). The design of Cloudworks: Applying social networking practice to foster the exchange of learning and teaching ideas and designs. Computers and Education, 54(3), pp. 679–692. Garrick, John and Usher, Robin (2000) ‘Flexible Learning, Contemporary Work and Enterprising Selves’, Electronic Journal of Sociology Flexible Learning, Page 1 - 11. Jewitt, Carey (ed) (2009) The Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis, Abingdon: Routledge. Jewitt, Carey (2013) ‘Multimodal methods for researching digital technologies’, in SAGE Handbook of Digital Technology Research, Sara Price, Carey Jewitt & Barry Brown (eds.). Laurillard, Diane (2012) Teaching as a Design Science, London: Routledge.

20. Indicative Bibliography Nottingham, Paula and Akinleye, Adesola, (2014) "Professional artefacts: embodying ideas in work- based learning", Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning, Vol. 4 Iss: 1, pp.98 – 108. Ryan and Tilbury (2013) Flexible Pedagogies: new pedagogical ideas, Heslington: Higher Education Academy. Salmon, Gilly (2003) Etivities The Key to Active Online Learning, Abingdon, RoutledgeFalmer. Siemens, George (2005) Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, Available from: http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_05/article01.htm. http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_05/article01.htm. Welsh, Mary (2012) Student perceptions of using the PebblePad e-portfolio system to support self- and peer-based formative assessment, Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 21:1, 57-83. Wenger, Etienne, White, Nancy and Smith, John D. (2009) Digital Habitats Stewarding Technology for Communities, Portland, USA: CPSquare.

21. Contact Details p.nottingham@mdx.ac.uk Thank you and questions welcome. Special thanks to: Ahmet and Sarah colleagues and past colleagues on BAPP Arts the wider community