Transcript Collaboration by design

Innovations to support learning
Dr Jen Harvey,
AHEAD symposium
28 April 2009
Presentation outline
Innovations to support learning:
• Choices and opportunities
• Feedback and achievement
Choices and opportunities
• Where
• Who
• When
• How
Where can I learn?
Informed choices
The provision of
different learning opportunities
Formal learning spaces: Learning about
Learning to be/learning with others
Opportunities to learn with others
Who will I learn with?
Today’s learners: tomorrow’s learners ?
•
•
•
•
•
Digital
Connected
Experiential
Immediate
Social
University of Melbourne
student survey (2007)
• 96% had mobile phone, 90% had desktop PC,
76% had digital camera, 69% had MP3 Player
• Most common usage of computer based activities email
(94%), creating documents (88%) playing digital
music files (84%) search for information (general
83% and study 76%) communicating via instant
messaging (80%)
• Students were also engaging with emerging
technologies: blogs, file sharing, social networking,
web-conferencing etc
My favourite piece of technology is my phone,
because I record lectures. I am more likely to
watch what I have recorded than to log on the
[VLE] and to go through the long procedure of
finding something…
Student, STROLL project
Addressing the need for new
learning spaces and opportunities
Combining virtual and physical spaces
What is a good learning environment?
Good learning environment provides:
•
•
•
•
interaction with knowledge
interaction with the teacher
interaction with peers
opportunity to make mistakes and learn
from them
• challenges
• good resources
(Smith‘95)
Student Success in College?
Academic achievement, engagement in
educationally purposeful activities, satisfaction,
acquisition of desired knowledge, skills and
competencies, persistence, attainment of
educational objectives, and post-college
performance
Provision of opportunities to learn in
different ways.
How do I want to learn?
Thinking about the student learning experience
• How can learners be provided with a range of
learning opportunities?
• How can practitioners support learners with
different needs, experiences and preferences?
• How can we design learning environments that:
– support a wide range of learning tasks/interactions
– meet different learner needs (access, competence)
– enable positive learning experiences
• What would help to improve learners’ experiences
and encourage active participation?
• How can we help learners improve their personal
practice and effectiveness to become lifelong
learners?
Social spaces or learning spaces?
• Students spend more time out of class than in it
• Learning occurs through conversations, web surfing,
social interactions, group work, spontaneous interactions
•“Capture time” is particularly important for nonresidential students
Broaden definition of learning
• Powerful pedagogical models (guided inquiry,
apprenticeship, learning communities)
• Learning distributed across classroom, work,
home, community
• On-demand and just-in-time
• Collaborative
• Dispersal of intellectual functions across physical,
social and symbolic supports
Dede, 2006
Consider the options
• Visual: less reading, more visuals
• Mixed delivery: mix online, face-to-face
• Engagement: involvement similar to problemsolving or games
• Redesign space: space for learning not just for
instruction
• Real: capitalizes on real world problems;
information can be applied to real situations
• Social: interaction with others
Dede, 2006
eLearning the basics…
Educationally led
not technology driven
How are my students going to learn from
using these resources?
How can I encourage a student centred
approach that promotes active learning?
Embedding technology within the curriculum
Some considerations:
• learner / tutor backgrounds/skills?
• access, technical concerns?
• aligning with learning outcomes?
• aligned within the module/programme/Dept
• technical support, infrastructure?
• students with different needs?
• plagiarism?
• assessment – who, when, how?
Challenges to institutions
•
•
•
•
•
Learner expectations
Learner Literacy Skills
Staff development
Managing perceptions
Moving from project based activities to
mainstream activities
Addressing the challenges…
…thinking about the whole student
experience – getting back to basics
‘Ultimately it is only the decisions which
learners make about what they will or
will not do which actually influence the
outcomes of their learning.'
[Boud, 1981]
Learning basics – programme information
Programme documentation - timetable
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Module title and numbers
Programmes to which module contributes
Level and credit points
Modules leader and other staff information
Mode of delivery – distance, PT, FT – place of delivery
Aim and learning outcomes
Learning & teaching methods used (lectures, seminars etc)
Assessment (mode, weightings, links to LOs, detail)
Outline content
Indicative bibliography (essential reading)
before the course…
common concerns of students
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
I’m not sure how much work I will have to do on this course
I’m afraid I’ll get behind in my work
I’m worried I won’t get a good set of lecture notes
I’m dreading the prospect of assessments
I think I probably won’t be a good student
I don’t know how much I’ll be expected to read and what to
read for each subject
I’m not sure what a seminar is
I hope noone asks me to speak in class
I don’t want people to think I’m stupid
I’m not sure what to do if I get into difficulty on the course
(Habeshaw et al. 53 interesting ways of helping your students
to study)
Providing Learning Support
•
•
•
•
•
Outlining the basics /key information – Handbooks, guides
Introductions /overviews - induction sessions, lectures
Additional support as needed - technical advice/help desks
Access to other students /tutors etc - online /offline
New Learning communities - Self-help groups/learning sets
• Prepare students for the process and ways of learning
• Define key terms, key points/readings
• Ensure equal access to resources (additional when needed)
• Believe that students can succeed Boud (2000)
• Tutor belief in student’s ability to develop through their
efforts rather than innate ability is important (Yorke and
Knight, 2004)
Feedback and achievement
• Where
• Who
• When
• How
“What is the one thing we should do to
increase student engagement and
success on our campus?” Kuh
NESSE study
National Survey of
Student Engagement
(pronounced “nessie”)
Community College
Survey of Student
Engagement
(pronounced “cessie”)
College student surveys that assess the
extent to which students engage in
educational practices associated with high
levels of learning and development
Deep approaches to learning are important
because students who use these approaches
tend to earn higher grades, and retain, integrate
and transfer information at higher rates
(Nelson Laird, Shoup, Kuh, & Schwarz, in press).
Essential Learning Outcomes:
NSSE Deep/Integrative Learning
• Integrating ideas or information
from various sources
• Included diverse perspectives in
class discussions/writing
• Put together ideas from
different courses
• Discussed ideas with faculty
members outside of class
• Discussed ideas with others
outside of class
• Analyzing the basic elements of
an idea, experience, or theory
• Synthesizing & organizing
ideas, info., or experiences
• Making judgments about the
value of information
• Applying theories to practical
problems or in new situations
• Examined the strengths and
weaknesses of your own views
• Tried to better understand
someone else's views
• Learned something that
changed how you understand
an issue
4.00
Feedback and Deep Learning
Average Deep Learning
3.50
Seniors
3.00
First-Year Students
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
Never
Sometimes
Often
Very often
Frequency of Prompt Feedback from Faculty
National Survey of Student Engagement
Different ways to demonstrate and
support learning…
• Robson (2005) argues that as well as offering a
variety of different assessment methods across a
course, students should be presented with a choice
of ways to complete an individual assignment
• ‘same assessment different process’
“sustainable assessment meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of
students to meet their own future learning needs.”
(Boud)
Providing a range of assessment methods…
essay, report, letter, journal, diary, project present a
case, write an article, portfolio, learning contract,
dissertation, applied task, problem, objective test,
produce a poster, make a video, review, briefing paper,
oral, write a question, performance, debate, role play,
written exam, concept map, develop a plan, produce A-Z,
answer client’s Qs, diary…
Linking assessments to learning outcomes…
Assessment as learning - Sadler (1989)
• Students must know what the standard or goal is that they
are trying to achieve (assessment guidance) Frontload
assessment
• They should know how their current achievement compares
to those goals (feedback) sustainable assessment for
lifelong learning
• They must know how to take action to reduce the gap
between the first two (applying feedback to future
assignments )– FEED FORWARD
Feedback is arguably the most
important aspect of the
assessment process for students
(Black & Wiliam 1998)
Ensure that students obtain
feedback on their learning
Thinking about feedback:
what, when, how, who?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
informal feedback from tutors/students
tutorial/presentation feedback forms
linked to self-assessment questions
scoring/ marking grids
student surgeries
meetings/ interviews with students
interim project plans/synopses/presentations
learning contracts /portfolios
Bringing it all together…
Embracing Diversity 1 (Hyland)
1. Culture:
• A Belief in Learners’ Strengths and Potentials
• Advocacy of Care and Respect
• A Belief that Learning is Exciting
• Educators Work Hard
Embracing Diversity 2
2.
3.
4.
5.
Readiness (Preparing people to work with an
awareness of diversity)
Tools to foster high-quality work
Collaboration: Informal and Formal Exchanges
Choice: Meaningful Curriculum and Assessment
Options
Inclusion extends beyond equity and its
associated legislative frameworks to
encompass approaches in which each
individual is valued and respected,
differences between individuals are seen
positively and the diversity on an
individuals are seen as a quality outcome
(Cones et al. 1983)