1. Learning in an open world
http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/4092
Gráinne Conole,
The Open University, UK
Edmedia Conference
Toronto, 1st July 2010

2. My background:
Science & Arts: PhD Chemistry
Professor of e-learning
• Learners’ and teachers’
experiences of using
technologies
• New approaches to design
• Open Educational
Resources
• Learning theories
• E-learning strategy and
policy
The Open University, UK
Over 220, 000 students
Distance education institution

3. Redefining openness…
Design Delivery
Courses design Use of free tools
& shared openly & resources
Open
practices
Research Evaluation
Sharing of Critical
research data reflection

4. A typology of new technologies
Technology Examples
Media sharing Flckr, YouTube, Slideshare, Sketchfu
Media manipulation and mash ups Geotagged photos on maps,
Voicethread
Instant messaging, chat, web 2.0 MSN, Paltalk, Arguementum
forums
Online games and virtual worlds WorldofWarcraft, SecondLife
Social networking Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, Elgg,
Ning
Blogging Wordpress, Edublog, Twitter
Social bookmarking Del.icio.us, Citeulike, Zotero
Recommender systems Digg, LastFm, Stumbleupon
Wikis and collaborative editing tools Wikipedia, GoogleDocs, Bubbl.us
(Conole and Alevizou, 2010), Review of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education
Syndication/RSS feeds Bloglines, Podcast, GoogleReader
http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloudscape/view/1895

5. Redefining ICT…
Communication
Virtual worlds,
online games &
Audio &
immersive environments
videoconferenci
Social networking
ng
Google
Forums wave
Wikis
Instant
messaging
Blogs
Email Twitter
Web
pages Media sharing Mash ups
Interactivity

6. A Tweet is simply 140 characters…
Examples of
use Issues
Posting queries Your ‘a-ha’ moment
Commenting The right network
Backchannel Your digital voice
Crowdsourcing Inappropriateness
Gathering opinions Personal/private
Sharing Too much!
events/ideas Use with other tools
Brainstorming A passing fad?
Social presence

7. I haven’t got enough time in my first life!
Examples of
use Issues
Archeological dig
Technical barriers
Cyber-law
Cultural
Virtual exhibitions
Time
Language schools
Aimless/empty
Medical wards
Replicating real-life
Gifted kids
Identity
workshops
Misuse
De-schooling spaces
Commercial use
Virtual conferences

8. Mapping to pedagogy
Use of RSS feeds and
Personalised learning
mash ups
Situated, experiential, pr Location aware devices,
oblem-based Virtual worlds, online
learning, role play games
Google, media sharing
Inquiry or resource-
repositories, user-
based learning
generated content
Blogs and e-
Reflective and dialogic
portfolios, wikis, social
learning
networks

9. The reality gap
Paradoxes
Technologies not fully exploited
Little evidence of use of OER
Predominance of ‘old practices’
Media sharing
Blogs & wikis
Reasons
Technical, pedagogical,
organisational…
“Lack of time, research vs. teaching,
lack of skills, no rewards, no
support….”
Approaches
Open Design: Learning Design, Open
Delivery: OER, free courses
Virtual worlds & Open Research:iSpot, Olnet
Open Evaluation: Cloudworks, X-Delia Social networking
online games
World of warcraft http://www.flickr.com/photos/shardsofblue/3981216281/

10. A vision of openness…
Design Delivery
Courses design Use of free tools
& shared openly & resources
Open
Research Evaluation
Sharing of Critical
research data reflection

11. Co-evolution of tools and practice
Representation Preferences
Affordances (Gibson)
All "action possibilities"
latent in an environmentt…
Communication but always in relation to the Interests
Evolving
actor and therefore
practices
dependent on their
Connection capabilities. Skills
For instance, a tall tree
offers the affordances of
Interactivity
food for a Giraffe but not aContext
sheep.
Affordances of Characteristics
technologies of users

12. Open Design
Open Research
Open Delivery
X-Delia
Open Evaluation

13. Design in education
Teacher interviews
Five aspects: design process,
ideas, support, sharing,
evaluation
Findings
Difficult to represent designs
Not systematic
Predominately content focused
Wish list
Examples of good practice
Others to talk to

14. Other design practices
Music
Music notation relatively recent
Captures key factors to enable reproduction
Works across multiple instruments
Chemistry
‘Atoms’ = alphabet, ‘Molecules’ = words
Range of representations – 2D & 3D
Drawing and modeling tools

15. Open Design: Learning design
Shift from belief-based, implicit approaches
to design-based, explicit approaches
A design-based approach to
creation and support of courses
Encourages reflective, scholarly practices
Promotes sharing and discussion
15

16. The OU learning design initiative
Cloudworks
Mediating artefacts
Affordances
Foundations Collaboration
Representation ’Design
Challenge’
Resources
Excel template
CompendiumLD
Course views

17. Translates into…
Awareness sessions
Tailored
guided
‘LD-lite’ workshops
pathways of
different
Design challenges
levels of
intensity and
Master’s level OER
length
Free format

18. Representation The Open University, UK
KE312
How are courses typically represented? Working together with children
How explicit is the inherent design?
What’s the problem?
Text-based/focus on content
Doesn’t show what the course is really
like or what it consists of

19. Course views:
conceptual and data-driven
Pedagogy Profile
Course Dimensions Course Map Task Swimlane
Learning Outcomes
Course Performance Cost effectiveness

20. KE312 - Course map
Guidance & Support
Course guide, study calendar,
study planner, 20 learning
guides, General assessment
Content & Activities guidelines and assignments
3 co-published books, DVDs of 3 Tutor support: 1:20, 21 contact
practice settings, core hours Communication
questions, thinking points in &Collaboration
course books F-t-F tutorials near beginning,
Plus own experience and middle and end, Course-wide
practice café forum, Tutor-group forums
PDFs, e-journal articles & Reflection & with sub-groups for each block
websites, activities in learning
Demonstration
guides, 5 website interactivities
Journal space in the Mystuffe-
portfolio,
6 assignments online (50% of
overall score)
Course summary
Key words
KE312 - Working together with Children, Practice-related, aligned to latest professional
60 pt course over 32 weeks, 3 blocks/20 learning
framework for multi-agency working, rich case
guides
studies,
Whole weeks devoted to assignments
Read-Relate to practice – Reflect - Write
Consolidation week (week 22)

21. Pedagogy profile
Map of learner tasks to time
periods (weeks, semesters, etc.)
6 types of learner task +
assessment
Assimilative
Information handling
Communication
Productive
Experiential
Adaptive
Assessment
Each cell indicates the amount of
time spent on each type of task
Learning Activity Taxonomy - Conole, 2008

23. Course dimensions
Guidance & Content &
Support Activities
Reflection & Communication
demonstration &Collaboration

24. Learning outcomes
Mapping learning outcomes to:
Activities
Assessment
Based on Biggs’ work (1999) on
constructive alignment
Maps course and highlights any
gaps

25. Task swimlane
Focus on the tasks learners do
Base on:
Roles (learner, tutor, etc.)
Tasks (read, discuss, etc.)
Tools and resources
Outputs
Advantages
Makes design explicit
Maps out design
Sharable with others
Good at activity level
Use
Mind mapping tools –
CompendiumLD, CMap,
Freemind
Pen, paper and stickers

26. Visualisation tools
Mind mapping
tools
Pen, paper
and stickers
Excel templates

28. Tutor costs

29. Working between the views
Learning outcomes
Course map
Pedagogy profile
Course dimensions
Task
swimlane

30. Modeling with data-derived views
What happens to course performance, if…
Include more collaboration
Decrease the amount of tutor support
Increase use of Web 2.0 tools?
5 conceptual
views
What are the cost implications of…
Including more online assessment
More student-generated content
Introducing use of SecondLife?
Course Business Models project
Mick Jones, Andrew Russell, Paul Mundin, Peter Wilson

31. + Workshop, 28th May 2010
Benifits Need
 Enables conversations not  Buy-in from all stakeholders
currently happening  Clear communication and
demonstration of benefit
 Important to have good and bad
examples  Don’t underestimate the
difficulty of changing
 Shared language between practices
teachers, learners, support staff,
developers, etc.
Next steps
 Need to build into institutional
 Build repository of views
systems and processes
across faculties
 Use: for brainstorming, new  Faculty roadshows to raise
awareness
ideas, planning, comparing
courses, reviewing and reflecting  Co-negotiation with Association
Deans
 Shift thinking from content-focus  Evaluation and impact
to activity  Cloudworks as a pedagogical
wrapper

32. + Weighing it all up
Pros Cons
 Makes design explicit  Design is a complex process!
 Foregrounds specific aspects of the  Understanding the views
design
 Recognising their limitations
 Acts as a scaffold/guide to the
design process  The dangers of a formulaic approach
 Can act as a shared dialogic  Time to master/appropriate
mediating artefact
 Still to be empirically validated
 Comparative analysis
 Check points and reflection

33. Cloudworks
 A space for sharing and discussing
learning and teaching ideas and
designs
 Application of the best of web 2.0
practice to a teaching context
 To bridge the gap between
technologies and use
 Teachers say they want
examples/want to share/discuss
 Helps develop skills needed for
engaging with new technologies’

34. Quick language guide
Cloud:
Anything to do with
learning and teaching
Cloudscape:
A collection of
clouds
Activity stream:
Latest activities on a
Cloudscape or people Favourites:
Vote for things
your like
Follow: RSS feeds: Attend:
Cloudscapes, Clouds For Conferences &
or people Cloudscapes, Clouds & workshops
people

35. Title
Author
Core
Tags
Located in
Discussions
Improvements

36. Embedde
d content

37. Embedde
d videos

38. Open Educational Practices

39. Vision and approach
Open Educational
Practices (OEP)
Practices around the creation, use
and management of Open
Educational Resources
Approach
60 case studies of OER collected
Dimensions of OEP derived
Online consultation process

40. Initial Dimensions
Strategies and policies
Quality Assurance models
Partnership models
Tools and tool practices
Innovations:
Skills development and support
Business models/sustainability strategies
Barriers and success factors

41. OEP Dimensions 41
Levels
Macro-level:
Societal
Meso-level:
Organisation
Micro-level:
Indivudal
OER
embedded
in strategy
Institutional
OER repository
Adapted from diagram by T. Koskinen

42. Acknowledgements
 Mash ups http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardellard/4