Susan Meek speaks about "Silos Support Farmers, Not the Learning Ecosystem" at the 2012 Serious Play Conference ABSTRACT: In order to fully exploit technology’s potential in the new learning ecosystem, the creation of serious games and simulations must take into account the need to embrace a holistic strategy. When creating serious games and simulations to deliver and support curriculum, it is important to remember that the game or simulation’s ability to plug into a closed-loop instructional system will impact its chances of being adopted by the instructor. Technology tools, which seamlessly integrate into a continuous instructional feedback loop, will be able to capitalize on the true power of technology and will fuel the new learning ecosystem by inspiring and empowering students and teachers.

1. SILOS SUPPORT FARMERS,
NOT THE LEARNING ECOSYSTEM
Serious Play Conference

2. What is an Ecosystem?

3. What is an Ecosystem?
q Interdependent
q Inter-related
q Sustainable

4. Learning Ecosystem
¤ Holisticapproach Students
¤ Thrives when in Teachers
balance
Content
¤ Collaboration Learning
Parents
Ecosystem
Admin

5. Closed-Loop Instructional System
Develop objectives
for the educational
Source: system
Develop curriculum
Boston Track outcomes & instructional
and learnings
Consulting strategies
Group
analysis
(2011)
Provide
appropriate Deliver instruction
interventions
Embed frequent
and ongoing
assessment

6. Closed-Loop Instructional System
Develop objectives
for the educational
Each unit of system
the ecosystem Develop curriculum
Track outcomes
relies on the and learnings
& instructional
strategies
success of the
connected Information and
parts. Communication
Technology
Provide
appropriate Deliver instruction
interventions
Embed frequent
and ongoing
assessment

7. Objectives for the Educational System
QUOTE: “If ¤ Accommodate different
you don’t learning styles and abilities
know where
you are going, ¤ Self-directed where students
any road will
get you
can set their own goals
there.” ¤ Clear, age appropriate and Develop
objectives for
the educational
measurable
system
Develop
~Lewis Carroll Track outcomes
and learnings
curriculum &
instructional
strategies
¤ 21st Century Skills / Digital Provide
Deliver
appropriate
literacies
interventions instruction
Embed frequent
and ongoing
assessment

8. Expectations
Core Academic Content and Critical Learning and Behavioral
Skills
n Literacy n Critical thinking and problem
n Math solving
n Finding and using information
n Science and information technology
n Social studies and social n Creativity and innovation
n Civic responsibility
sciences
n Work ethic
n Arts and humanities n Personal responsibility
n Effective communication and
collaboration

9. 4 C’s of 21st Century Skills video

10. Curriculum & Instructional Strategies
Need to ¤ Aligns with standards
accommodate
¤ Timely, relevant, modular
the recent
trends in K12 multimedia
education.
¤ Challenge-based / active
learning Develop
objectives for
the educational
system
Develop
Track outcomes curriculum &
and learnings instructional
strategies
Provide
appropriate Deliver
interventions instruction
Embed frequent
and ongoing
assessment

11. New Horizon Report 2012
Trends Challenges
¨ Shifting education paradigms ¨ Digital media literacy
¨ Abundance of information ¨ Blending formal and informal
¨ BYOD learning
¨ 24/7 Learning ¨ Tech infrastructure
¨ Technology ¨ Institutional barriers
¨ Challenge-based, active ¨ Learning needs more real-life
learning experiences
¨ Measuring learning out of
classroom

12. Emerging Technologies
¨ Mobile devices & apps
¨ Tablet computing
¨ Game-based learning
¨ Personal learning
environments
¨ Augmented reality
¨ Natural user interfaces

13. Deliver Instruction
The role of the ¤ Teacher facilitates student
teacher is learning
evolving into
that of a ¤ Demonstrates effective
mentor, coach,
and/or
problem solving, exploration,
facilitator. creativity, and multiple Develop
objectives for
solutions
the educational
system
Develop
Track outcomes curriculum &
and learnings instructional
strategies
¤ Lesson is engaging, effective
Provide
and meaningful
appropriate Deliver
interventions instruction
Embed frequent
and ongoing
assessment

14. Frequent & Ongoing Assessment
“The goal of creating
an interconnected
¤ Real-time feedback to
feedback system would
be to ensure that key students and teachers
decisions about learning
are informed by data
and that data are
¤ Deep insight into learning
aggregated and made
accessible at all levels gaps, enabling a tailored
of the education system
for continuous
improvement.”
approach Develop
objectives for
the educational
¤ Naturally occurring
system
Develop
Track outcomes curriculum &
~US Dept. of Ed and learnings instructional
strategies
2010a, p. 35
(embedded) Provide
appropriate Deliver
interventions instruction
Embed frequent
and ongoing
assessment

15. Characteristics of…
Assessment 1.0 Assessment 2.0
¨ Mostly paper-based ¨ User-generated content
¨ Mostly classroom-based ¨ Power of the crowd
¨ Data on epic scale
¨ Very formalized
¨ Architecture of
¨ Highly synchronized participation
¨ Highly controlled ¨ Network effects
¨ Openness
Source: Assessment 2.0 (Elliott 2007)

16. Interventions
Adaptive ¤ Adaptive learning
learning
n Tailoring
educational
systems
provide opportunities to each student’s
interventions level of need and ability
based on the
model’s ¤ Professional development for Develop
teachers
objectives for
predictions the educational
system
Develop
Track outcomes curriculum &
and learnings instructional
strategies
Provide
appropriate Deliver
interventions instruction
Embed frequent
and ongoing
assessment

17. Data Flow in
a Typical
Adaptive
Learning
System
Source: Enhancing Teaching and Learning Through Educational
Data Mining and Learning Analytics (US Dept. of Ed, 2012)

18. Track Outcomes & Learnings
Educational data ¤ Better informed decisions
mining is looking
for new patterns about strategy and resources
in data.
¤ Real-time data
Learning
analytics is
applying known
predictive Develop
models in objectives for
the educational
system
instructional Track outcomes
Develop
curriculum &
systems. and learnings instructional
strategies
Provide
appropriate Deliver
interventions instruction
Embed frequent
and ongoing
assessment

19. Learning Ecosystem thrives when…
Synergy
Interactivity
Engagement
are maximized

20. Technology
¨ Alignment with closed-loop instructional system
¨ Student motivation
¨ Teacher motivation
¤ Professional Development
¤ Planning
¨ Personalized learning
¨ Authentic learning

21. Rubric
1
2
3
4
Technology
directly
addresses
Technology
has
no
direct
Technology
is
related
to
learning
Technology
provides
rote
the
learning
objec5ves
and
correla5on
with
the
learning
objec5ves,
but
only
at
a
surface
memoriza5on
or
prac5ce
of
requires
higher
level
thinking
Objec&ves
and
Goals
objec5ves
level
the
skill
desired
skills
(create,
evaluate,
analyze)
Technology
aligns
with
all
the
Technology
has
no
direct
Technology
aligns
with
the
standards;
abundant
high-­‐
correla5on
with
the
curriculum
or
Technology
aligns
with
some
of
standards;
content
is
high-­‐ quality
content
that
is
modular
Curriculum
/
Instruc&onal
Strategies
the
desired
instruc5onal
strategy
the
standards
quality
and
modular
and
interac5ve
Technology
is
very
interac5ve
and
requires
evalua5ng,
Technology
encourages
analyzing,
and/or
crea5ng
Technology
offers
no
interac5vity;
Technology
provides
rote
interac5vity
and
requires
informa5on;
is
prac5ced
in
an
student
is
not
able
to
set
goals
for
memoriza5on
only
with
very
more
than
remembering
and
authen5c
format;
incorporates
Instruc&on
his/her
own
learning
limited
interac5vity;
understanding
collabora5on

22. Rubric
1
2
3
4
Feedback
is
Feedback
is
con5nuous
con5nuous
throughout
the
use
of
throughout
the
use
the
technology
and
is
Feedback
is
very
limited
In
addi5on
to
correct/ of
the
technology
provided
to
the
student
(correct/incorrect);
incorrect
feedback,
the
and
is
provided
to
and
teacher
through
a
nothing
is
available
in
technology
provides
the
student
and
dashboard
repor5ng
terms
of
a
report
to
the
addi5onal
informa5on
teacher
as
a
system
integrated
with
Assessment
teacher
and/or
student
and
limited
repor5ng
summary.
a
LMS
Technology
adjusts
Technology
offers
Technology
offers
no
Technology
offers
more
delivery
based
on
the
maximum
ability
to
adaptability
to
the
than
one
seOng
for
the
student's
adjust
to
each
student's
Interven&ons
student's
learning
needs
student
performance
learning
needs
Provides
real-­‐5me
data
Provides
data
that
and
enables
detailed
Does
not
provide
data
on
Provides
limited
data
on
can
be
used
at
analysis
at
mul5ple
Outcomes
outcomes
and
learnings
outcomes
and
learnings
mul5ple
levels
levels

23. Rubric
1
2
3
4
Student
seeks
out
technology
outside
of
Student
considers
assigned
work;
students
technology
tool
as
Student
enjoys
can
use
the
technology
Student
complains
about
engaging
as
regular
technology
as
part
of
independent
of
teacher
Student
Mo&va&on
technology
tool
coursework
assigned
work
support
Technology
does
not
Technology
reduces
the
Technology
significantly
Technology
adds
slightly
add
to
the
workload
workload
and
provides
adds
to
the
teacher's
to
the
teacher's
and
provides
repor5ng
metrics
to
workload
without
any
workload
and
provides
beneficial
assessment
help
with
Teacher
Mo&va&on
benefit
minimal
benefit
informa5on
differen5a5on
Clear
instruc5ons
provided
and
very
limited
amount
of
limited
amount
of
Students/Teachers
can
student/teacher
needs
support
needed
by
support
is
needed
by
use
the
technology
support
to
use
the
teacher/student
to
use
students/teachers
to
without
any
outside
User
Friendly
technology
the
technology
use
the
technology
support

24. Final thoughts
What do you find compelling about viewing the
educational system holistically?
What key issues or concerns do you have?

25. For additional information, contact
Susan D. Meek
Education Strategist
BreakAway, Ltd.
smeek@breakawayltd.com
720-971-9830