Transcript Don’t Get Too Comfortable – The Landscape of eLearning is Changing Lesley Blicker Director of IMS Learning and Next Generation Technology Academic Innovations.

Don’t Get Too Comfortable –
The Landscape of eLearning is
Changing
Lesley Blicker
Director of IMS Learning and Next Generation Technology
Academic Innovations
Wanted…
 Visionaries looking towards the future of
eLearning delivery models
 Academics wanting to understand how
interoperability, Web 2.0, and next generation
technologies fit into the teaching and learning
landscape
 People interested in the state of learning
management systems
Topics - Trends
 What is Web 2.0 and Why Should We Care
 Next Generation Learning Management
Systems
 Personal Learning Environments
 Virtual Worlds
 Mobile Learning
eLearning Time Line
2004
1990s…
Dot-com era
1.
Internet courses, first and second iterations of LMS
 Home-grown course applications followed by
vendor-developed “enterprise-level” LMSs (D2L,
Vista, BB)
 Open Source Entrants (Moodle, Sakai)
Overarching web design?
Primary Characteristics of
 Browser-based content, with client-server
relationship (information pushed out one
direction)
 Static pages
 Centered on e-Commerce
 Information organized through search engines
and data bases
 Content from individual pc’s uploaded to web
pages (e.g., photos)
Why All the Fuss?
2004…
 A definition: "Web 2.0 is a knowledge-oriented
environment where human interactions
generate content that is published, managed
and used through network applications
 Coined by Tim O’Reilly in 2004
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
Hallmarks of
 Content is distributed, coming from everywhere
 And it is dynamic - world of bits that can go in
all different directions at the same time
 Software applications run through browsers
(Flickr, YouTube, Google Docs, Zentation)
 Architecture of participation - where users
contribute content or write back
 Standard protocols (APIs)
More Characteristics of
 No longer need to know HTML (built-in Flash,
Ajax)
 Collaboration (Google docs, Wikis)
 Folksonomies and tag clouds
 Mashups
 Connectivity (Facebook, Twitter)
Folksonomies, Social Bookmarking
 Also called Social Bookmarking or
tagging– practice of collaboratively
creating and managing tags to categorize
content
 Tag clouds can represent:
Most popular tags applied to publicly
shared images – Flickr, or
Quantity of content items in that
category My blog
 Del.icio.us
The New Organization of Information
 M. Wesch video, Information
R/evolution
 Everything is Miscellaneous,
by David Weinberger
Mashups
 Web applications that combine data from
more than one source into a single
integrated tool
 Eg: use of cartographic data from Google
Maps to add location information to realestate data from Craig’s List
 Still in beta: Microsoft Popfly
Summary Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0
 Web 1.0 = Linking to documents/static Web pages
 Web 2.0 = Linking people
Socialization +
Applications +
Technology =
Using Web 2.0 in Teaching
Ideas
An assignment for students to create
a mashup
An assignment to create their own tag
cloud
What else?
Where are We Heading Next?
Learning Management Systems
In the 3rd Phase of Add-Ons and Bundling
 Adding more tools in general
 Adding Web 2.0-like tools or proprietary mashups
 Going some measure towards integration with other
software or increasing interoperability via open APIs
 But may still lack sufficient agility for early adopters
who think the current IMS format is too limiting
Current IMS (CMS) –
What’s the Beef?
 Unilateral publication formats
 Labeled as false start; replicated existing
classrooms
 Assumes more passive consumer of
information
 Monolithic and they don’t play well with
others (API’s not truly open) – lack of
interoperability
IMS (CMS) – Future
 Will be a part of a mix of systems for tracking
learning experiences
 Will run side-by-side at institutions with other
more flexible and interoperable approaches
 Primarily will handle administrative functions
 Will morph to an LMOS (Learning Management
Operating System), backbone for layering
LMOS
from The Nose, Blog by Al Essa
The learning platform of the future will need a
substrate that performs the mundane but essential
bookkeeping functions such as authentication,
authorization, and integration with back-end
systems. The LMOS should look more like the linux
kernel: a lean, mean traffic cop that sits below the
application layer and mediates access to common
services.
http://tatler.typepad.com/nose/2007/10/suns-project-da.html
The Offerings
PLEs
Virtual or immersive environments
Mobile technologies as add-ons (field
based measurements, competency
tracking, assessment)
Personal Learning Enviornments (PLEs)
A space at which the learner is at the
center and can select or add resources
without moving from that point
Carousel metaphor
http://elgg.org/
Contrary View – Leigh Blackall
Questioning the PLE:
Why do we need a PLE when we already have the
Internet? The Internet is my PLE, ePortfolio, VLE
what ever. Thanks to blogger, bloglines, flickr,
delicious, wikispaces, our media, creative commons,
and what ever comes next in this new Internet age, I
have a strong online ID and very extensive and
personalised learning environment.
Source: http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2005/11/13/die-lmsdie-you-too-ple/
Virtual Worlds
Current Technologies in Higher Ed
Present – couple years out*
 2nd phase learning management systems
 Plagiarism or citation management software
 Video streaming
 Podcasting
 Wikis, blogs, RSS feeds
 Simple games and simulations, and early use of ILEs
 Content authoring tools (lodeStar, Raptivity)
 Early use of content management software
 Web conferencing tools (WebEx, Elluminate)
 3D imaging software (Autodesk) and spatial technologies (GIS)
 Learning Objects/Repositories and Emergence of federated search
capabilities
 Web 2.0/Social technologies (MySpace, You Tube), social
bookmarking, folksonomies, cloud tags
* Length of time to maturity/mainstream adoption/saturation
Nascent Technologies in Higher Ed
2-4 years out
 Increasing number of (free) Web 2.0 tools (Zoho, Popfly, Meebo,
Zentation) http://www.webware.com/html/ww/100.html
 Enterprise social networks
 Add ons and bundling of Web 2.0 tools inside present CMSs and
ePortfolios
 Leap-frogging of 3D game engines, ILEs (Second Life, Sun’s MPK20,
Croquet Consortium)
 Open Source scaling to “enterprise” level (Moodle, Sakai)
 More digital device software and advanced cell phone technologies
(iPhone and clones). Appearance of learning management systems for
the mobile device
 Ever increasing number of mashups
 Co-creation of learning content
 Increase in sims (Web and lab-based) and in sim authoring tools for
faculty
 Use of other technologies inside immersive worlds (i.e., GIS in SL)
* Length of time to maturity/mainstream adoption/saturation
Next Generation Technologies in Higher Ed
5-10 years out
 Ubiquity of always connected user expectations
 Distinction between local and distance education very blurred; 95% of
education predicted to be digitally enhanced by 2010
 Technologies allowing users to build, tinker, learn, and share
 Remixes and mashups for educational purposes
 Morphs/expansion of “Notice me” self-publishing tools, public displays
of identity (e.g., MySpace)
 Extensions of digital social networks
 Electronic textbooks, unbundled chapters
 Digital libraries
 Ubiquity of immersive learning environments (ILEs)
 Predicted resurgence of MAC in higher ed
Richard Katz’ Edu@2020
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xni48_e
du2020
Why are these Technologies Gaining
Momentum in Academia?
To nurture education in STEM fields
Predicted to yield greatest potential for
changing teaching and learning paradigms
and capturing the attention of learners
Provide opportunities for real-world
applications that support research, design,
analysis, and communication, rather than
basic skills
Stephen Downes Network Theory
http://www.slideshare.net/Downes/trendsand-impacts-of-elearning-20 (slides 20-28)
Dr. Michael Wesch’s You Tube Videos
 The Machine is Us
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE
 A Vision of Students Today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
 The Information R/evolution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CV05HyAbM
Immersive Learning Environments
 Ohio University Second Life Campus
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aFuNFRie8wA
 Sun Microsystems’ MPK20
http://research.sun.com/projects/mc/video/MPK20ct2007.mov
Mobile Learning Resources (videos)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3ErSTu9E8M
iPhone ESL
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrbcKYFYdQ&feature=related Athabasca ESL
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRGaDteDQj
w&feature=related MLearning Part 1
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GufAYWE0bm
w&feature=related MLearning Part 2
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVYbaNBTL3
A&feature=related MLearning Part 3
Other Good Resources
 Emerging Technologies for Learning, Volume 2, 2007.
http://partners.becta.org.uk/page_documents/research/e
merging_technologies07.pdf (UK)
 Mashing Up the Once and Future CMS, Malcolm Brown,
Educause, 2007.
http://connect.educause.edu/library/abstract/Mashingupt
heOnceandF/40696
 Microsoft Popfly http://www.popfly.com/
One Final Recommendation
Video Piggy – to download videos from
YouTube, Google video, and MetaCafe
http://video-piggy.en.softonic.com/
Lesley Blicker
Director of IMS Learning and Next Generation Technology
Academic Innovations
W: 651-201-1413
C: 651-269-0107
[email protected]
Website for Next Generation Technology in MnSCU
www.nextgentech.mnscu.edu
Lesley’s Blog: http://lblicker.wordpress.com/