A hard act to Swallow

The case of Santiago Swallow is intriguing. Swallow was born in Mexico, took up residence in the USA, and rapidly rose to prominence as a respected and influential guru in the world of social media. Now 42, Swallow is a veteran of the TED and SXSW conference circuit, and regularly tweets out his wisdom and insight to more than 76,000 Twitter followers. His recent nuggets have included: 'The first cloud computer was us' and 'to write is to live endlessly'.  Swallow's eagerly awaited book - entitled Imaginary Identities in the Age of the Internet - has been predicted to have such impact potential that it will define an entire generation. Indeed, Swallow has been hailed by some commentators as 'one of the greatest thinkers of the Millennial Generation'.

So just who is Santiago Swallow?

The answer, surprisingly for his many followers, is that Santiago Swallow doesn't actually exist - he is in fact a fictional character. Swallow is the alter ego of Kevin Ashton, a British technology pioneer who is famous for coining the phrase 'the Internet of Things.' If you search on Wikipedia for Santiago Swallow right now, you will be redirected to Ashton's page. The whole Swallow charade was concocted as a social experiment, a way of exploring how many people online create their own legends, often by buying Twitter followers, creating false email accounts and generally masquerading as someone else.  It was easy to create the legend of Santiago Swallow, Ashton says in his blogpost 'How to Become Internet Famous for $68'. He first created a new gmail account, and then a Twitter account.The next stage was to acquire 90,000 Twitter followers for a small sum of about £33. A Wikipedia page was created, and the final step was to construct a Swallow website with its own domain name for another £12. Others soon noticed Swallow's presence and started to follow, assuming that he was indeed who he said he was. This fascinating social online experiment has revealed how easy it is to fake an identity, or in this case, simply create a new one from nothing but a germ of an idea.

Reputation can be bought it seems. But is one's reputation dependent upon online presence only? How many more people would have been fooled by the Santiago Swallow personality if Ashton had not himself exposed the ruse? How long could the experiment have continued if Ashton had stayed silent? How many of us still take content and personalities at face value when we encounter them online? These and many other questions about online identity, reputation, provenance and trust are still to be answered. My own rudimentaty manipulation of identity with my @timbuckteeth account and more recently the activation of my @stevewheeler sleeper account have given me some clues about the above questions. I have written about this in two posts, Double Agent and Double or Quits, where I explain some of my own thinking about online presence and digital identity. I would be very interested to hear from others about their views on these and other online identity experiments. What are the implications for us personally, socially and culturally?

Image source: Wikimedia Commons


A hard act to Swallow by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Learning futures

I have enjoyed my short stay here in Doha, Qatar, where I was an invited speaker at the Technology in Higher Education Conference. Doha is a futuristic, high rise city that didn't exist ten years ago. There is major construction work wherever you look, and the technological infrastructure is impressive.

The conference event (#the2013) was organised by the Qatar Foundation in alliance with a number of overseas universities, based within the Education City network.

Along with other invited speakers, we have been on a 'sand duning' expedition (some of the images of this exhilarating and somewhat terrifying activity are captured in the slideshow below), a visit to the Museum of Islamic Art, and several dinners in wonderfully colourful surroundings.

My presentation was entitled 'Learning Futures: Emerging technologies, pedagogies and contexts', where I explored some of the potential of new technologies to disrupt our current educational practices. During my presentation there was an earthquake in Iran, which we felt in the Gulf area, and although it didn't affect us directly in the conference centre, it did affect several downtown areas, where buildings were evacuated as a precaution. It has certainly been an eventful visit to Qatar.


Photos by Steve Wheeler


Learning futures by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Making a play for it

"As astronauts and space travelers children puzzle over the future; as dinosaurs and princesses they unearth the past. As weather reporters and restaurant workers they make sense of reality; as monsters and gremlins they make sense of the unreal." 

So says Gretchen Owocki, a US early childhood educator, presumably after many years of observing young children at play. It's a powerful quote that puts play into perspective as one of the most important components of growing up and learning. Children have boundless imagination, and it is witnessed in many ways, but none more openly than when they are at play. Children use their imagination to make sense of the world around them, but their creativity is seen in imaginative acts such as making things, or make believe. A stick can become a Prince's sword or a Wizard's staff, and a cardboard box be magically transformed into a submarine or a castle.

Sir Ken Robinson, undoubtedly one of the most outspoken educational thinkers of the modern age, argues that imagination needs to emerge as creativity, but traditional school systems thwart this process: "All children start their school careers with sparkling imaginations, fertile minds, and a willingness to take risks with what they think," he says. "Most students never get to explore the full range of their abilities and interests ... Education is the system that's supposed to develop our natural abilities and enable us to make our way in the world. Instead, it is stifling the individual talents and abilities of too many students and killing their motivation to learn." (Source: The Guardian).

How can technology change this and improve the school experience? Games played personal devices such as tablet computers and handheld consoles can and do promote creativity. They immerse the learner in the business of learning, without necessarily betraying the fact that the child is actually learning something. It is learning by stealth. Playing games often involves a temporary suspension of reality, and can also engage learners in speculative, hypothetical thinking about the world. Perhaps most importantly, playing games enables children to understand that through failure they can try and try again, and a realisation that perseverance and persistence being important ingredients in eventual success.

Play is important for learning for all ages. But it is especially important for children. It's what they do naturally, so it is also important that play can continue to be a major part of the school experience. It should be a sustainable and ever present feature in all subjects, across the curriculum. Any school or teacher who fails to include this element is robbing children of their right to experiment, ask the 'what if?' questions, and outwork their imagination in creative acts.

NB: Many more powerful quotes on 'play' can be found on this website

Photo by Steve Wheeler


Making a play for it by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

The future of reading

In versions of the 2012 Horizon Report, eBooks were considered by many of the expert panel to be on the 1 year horizon for full adoption into education. It seems they may be right. We may soon be loaning books digitally, following a UK government review into the e-lending capabilities of public libraries. The Sieghart Review recommends that digital versions of books should be loaned to users without charge, and also that loaners should be able to borrow their books using online ordering facilities.

According to The Bookseller (online review of the book publishing industry), some pilot schemes are already on their way in UK libraries, and will be in place by summer. These schemes will be used to ascertain the level of demand from the public, before any large scale implementation is put into place. Are the British general public ready for such an advance in public lending? Mark Taylor, who is the head of CILIP (The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) believes that for e-lending to be successful, librarians and their staff need to be able to support and develop skills for the general public. Get this right, Taylor argues, and we will witness a revolution in the reading behaviour of the general public as they discover a range of materials they previously had no access to. Public libraries will become the means to reconnect an entire generation of digitally able readers into a whole new world of learning.

Photo by GoXunuReviews


The future of reading by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Active learning spaces

Recently I wrote about collaborative learning spaces, and argued that we are entering unfamiliar territory. The boundaries of informal and formal spaces have blurred significantly, as have the boundaries between the real and the virtual. It appears that it no longer matters where learning occurs, as long as it is meaningful. Some might argue that learning that is situated is the most powerful. It is also important that learning is made to be active and engaging. If any of these components is missing, then clearly learning has not been optimised. When children learn, they do so through interaction with others, through observation and practice, discovery and experimentation and by doing and making. All of these aspects of learning are active. When they enter into formal education, they enter into an artificial environment where learning is managed, directed and organised for them. It is not hard to see how such an artificial transition from active to passive can stifle creativity and demotivate learners.

As a response to the problems of learning in homogenised, regimented environments such as classrooms and  lecture halls, Technology Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL) came into being. It is one of several approaches to moving away from tedious and passive learning environments where students are expected to listen, take notes and remember what is being said and presented. TEAL spaces feature several characteristics, including flexible learning spaces where furniture can be moved into many alternative configurations, technology enriched contexts (wireless and untethered, web enabled and personal technologies) and a shift from teacher led lessons to student centred learning, where the learner can take control, and the teacher facilitates. One argument is that simply having access to personalised technologies creates conducive conditions in which active learning can occur. However, the role of the teacher is also paramount in the success of TEAL approaches. Without strategic input from teachers at critical junctures during a lesson, and without some clear goal or set of objectives, students can lose focus, become distracted and go off task.

The idea that students should be able to move freely around the learning space whilst remaining connected is a powerful one. The possibilities of learning through collaboration with other students, and the potential to manage their own pace of learning are also very powerful. Students who can connect to online resources, social spaces and content also have freedom not only to search and discover, but also to create, revise, repurpose and share their own content. A number of psychological and social learning theories can be applied to explain the transformative potential of this approach. These include the Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky) which describes how individual learners can extend the amount they learn when they are connected to other more knowledgeable individuals. The theory of scaffolding (Bruner) also applies where students can gain support for their learning from their peers, their tutors and also through their tools. Social modelling (Bandura) and social comparison (Festinger) may also come into play where learners see the success of other learners and modify their own approaches to optimise the best and most active aspects of their own learning.    

Photo by JISC Infonet


Active learning spaces by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Let your robots do the marking?

A short article appearing in the Independent newspaper on April 6th highlights the tensions brewing because of the use of marking software. Anant Agarwal, president of EdX, (Harvard and MIT's non-profit making arm that runs MOOCs), says that the software will be a boon to learning online in the future, because it will allow students to rewrite and resubmit their essays time and again, to improve their grades. He also argues that instant feedback is what today's students crave. What he doesn't say is that it's an essential part of the management of MOOCs, especially if they are regularly enrolling upwards of 100,000 students for each course. How else are they going to assess and mark all those students' work?

This entire approach is reminiscent of the Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) programs of the 1980s, where students worked their way through a linear course of study, interspersed with quizzes and questions to test what they could remember, and a remedial loop to send them back to 'relearn' if they didn't make the grade. The computer marking of that time was simplistic and mainly used for multiple choice questions. All well and good for the 80s, but is it appropriate for today? And even more importantly, are computer software programs actually capable of marking free form essays?

Many academics believe not, and some have even set up an online petition against the use of marking software, claiming that it computers cannot 'read' student essays, are unable to measure the essentials of human communication. They fail, say the protest group, to cope with detecting accuracy, reasoning and critical thinking, adequacy of evidence, ethical issues and stances, convincing arguments, clarity and veracity. So far, around 2000 academics have signed the petition. What do you think?


Photo by Steve Wheeler


Let your robots do the marking? by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Share and share alike

I won't forget the first time one of my articles was translated into another language. It was only the abstract, but it was translated into Spanish, French and German, for inclusion in an edition of the international peer reviewed journal Educational Media International. I don't know who they got to do it, or how long it took, and I can't say with confidence that it was translated completely accurately. I don't know, but I assume it was, because EMI is a professional journal. Just the fact that I was published, and in four different languages, was enough for me. EMI would probably have had to pay several people to translate my article, along with all the other articles that appear in the journal. But now that is all changing.

Since I took the decision to offer all my blogposts and slideshows for free under a Creative Commons License, allowing anyone to freely copy and also repurpose my work, some interesting things have happened. Firstly, I haven't lost any of my work. It still belongs to me, and anyone who decides to use it attributes it to my name. Secondly, my work is being amplified. It is spreading farther afield than I could ever have dreamt it would. It is appearing in other people's work, and it is also being translated into other languages. This slideshow, along with several others, has been translated into Spanish, and now just about the entire Latin American world is awake to my work. How cool is that? And I didn't have to spend a single penny to get it translated. I didn't even have to ask anyone to do it. People simply take it on themselves to translate, and I'm sure they do a very good job. This slideshow was translated by Thomas Ramirez Zumaran, and it has already attracted around 8,000 views in addition to my original slideshow (currently over 58,000 views) on my slide deck collection on Slideshare.

 

Rewired, not fade away by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Long games and grand strategies

Games playing is not always viewed as a serious pedagogical method. Some teachers dismiss it as time wasting, or as a frivolous activity that is best employed at the end of term, when the serious business of teaching has started to wind down. For those teachers, games fulfil a similar function to 'sticking on a video'. It's a convenient time filler, keeps the kids quiet and isn't too taxing on the mind. And yet many teachers are coming to the realisation that playing games is more than a time filler, and actually has many positive benefits for students. 

Most games playing in schools is confined to a single classroom, and applied to a single subject. But with a little planning and resourcing, we can go a lot farther than this. We could conceivably apply a grand strategy to games that could play out across entire schools. 

I remember an elaborate game we played when I was in school in the 1970s. All of my teachers were involved. The context is important for this story. I was in school on a military base in Holland, and my father was in the armed forces. We were living on a forward base in Western Europe during the height of tensions in the 'Cold War'. At this time, all children and their families lived in a time when nuclear war was a very real possibility. Although the threat hung continually over us and no doubt exercised our parents' minds, most of the time we kids simply got on with our lives. 

The school set up a 'long game' which lasted several days, in which all of our British year group, along with the American, Canadian and German sections of the school, were assigned tables to sit at. Each table had a flag and name representing a country, and those of us on each table had to decide who would act as our head of state, foreign and finance ministers, diplomats, armed forces chiefs and so on. During the long game, scenarios were imposed upon us which we had to negotiate, in order to avert hostilities that might otherwise lead to a worldwide nuclear holocaust. It was engaging, thrilling and compelling, and we learnt a lot not only about politics, but also curriculum subjects such as mathematics (economic decisions), languages (negotiation through translation), communication skills, history and geography. We also practised a lot of transferable skills including leadership and teamwork (collaboration and co-operation), problem solving, critical thinking and decision making. This was learning by stealth, and we had a lot of fun during it. Pedagogically, it was a stroke of genius. Oh, and you'll be pleased to hear that between us, we managed to avoid destroying the world in a nuclear war.

One games theorist, - Bernie DeKoven - has something profound to say about games: "... whatever it is that you're playing, there are two things you have to take seriously: being together, and the sheer fun of it all. No game is more important than the experience of being together, being joined, being equal - governed by the same rules, playing for the same purpose. And no purpose is more uniting and freeing than the purpose of being fun with each other." 

How often do we apply games on such a grand scale in schools? How often do we tap into the incredibly powerful method of engaging learners? Probably not that often, because it takes a lot of work on the part of the teacher(s) to conceive it, design it and then implement it in real learning contexts. And yet the pay off can be immense. And there are plenty of ready made games and gaming strategies already available for free.  I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has done work with games across the curriculum at this level. If you have any games for teachers to use freely, then please share the links in the comments box below.

Photo by Nestor Galina


Rewired, not fade away by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Nothing new under the sun

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." - Ecclesiastes 1:9
"In a hunting society, children play with bows and arrows. In an information society, children play with information" - Henry Jenkins
"Good artists borrow, great artists steal." - Pablo Picasso

What do these quotes have in common? They all represent what is happening right here, right now, on the web. According to Kirby Ferguson, 'Everything is a Remix', or in other words (see what I did there?) just about everything you encounter online or in popular culture has either been done before, or it's a synthesis (the social media term is 'mashup') of previously available content. The nature of the Social Web is such that tools are available  to repurpose, rip, mash, combine and otherwise manipulate just about any content into any other format you wish. The philosophy and processes behind this movement are compellingly explained and elaborated upon by Ferguson in a series of four short videos, the first of which is embedded below:


Everything is a Remix Part 1 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

Part 2 looks at remix techniques in movie making
Part 3 explores how innovation happens
Part 4 covers the legal and ethical implications.

View all four videos and then ask yourself some questions - are current copyright laws adequate enough to cope with the new and emerging practices we see every day on the Web? Are we seeing evidence for the end of creativity, or a new kind of artistry? Is there a derivative nature to creativity as Ferguson claims? What does this mean for originality and for the future of self expression? And what are the implications for education?

Photo from Wikimedia Commons


Nothing new under the sun by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Technology won't replace teachers, but...

"Technology won't replace teachers, but teachers who use technology will probably replace teachers who don't" 

This was just one of the contentious and thought provoking statements made at Learning Through Technology this week in Glasgow. #LTT2013 was one of two conferences I was invited to speak at this  week. I made my way up to Glasgow after speaking at #LILAC13 in Manchester. The Librarian's Information Literacies Annual Conference was well attended, and just as lively in its dialogue throughout the three days it ran. Both events had several common threads, including the new roles of education professionals, the impact of technology on education and the ways students are appropriating new tools to support their learning.

LILAC was held in the heart of Manchester University, in a well appointed conference centre, where almost 300 library and information professionals gathered for three days to discuss information literacy. As the #lilac13 Twitter stream will reveal, there were lively and protracted debates around the changing nature of library spaces, the nature of knowledge, the future of books and reading, and the impact of digital media. A social event in the spectacular surrounds of the iconic John Rylands Library was a fitting conclusion to Day 1. Day 2 continued with more of the same, and it was refreshing to see so many library and information professionals animatedly discussing their approaches to supporting learning.

LTT2013 took place at the Glasgow Hilton Hotel, and although somewhat smaller, still managed to maintain the relentless pace of dialogue I had already experienced at LILAC. If anything, LTT2013 was even more academic and challenging, thanks largely to the conference chair Mark Stephen, who managed to strike the fine balance between the roles of congenial host and forensic questioner.  Those who presented raised questions around the digital divide, the changing shape of schools, the impact of information and communication technology on learning gain, the ongoing debate about whether schools should filter social media sites, and the use of new and emerging technologies in education. The final session, which culminated in my own keynote, was entitled 'Inspiration and Openness' and featured a live video link to a Scottish school with contributions from the children themselves on science education and technology use. It was truly inspirational to see so many young people engaged and excited with learning science.

One of the main conclusions to emerge from both the Glasgow and Manchester events was that all of us, as learning professionals, need to be able to at least appreciate the potential of technology to transform the learning experience. Most teachers use some technology in the classroom, but how many use it beyond the walls of the classroom? We are not talking about teachers taking technology home for personal use (that should be something most are doing anyway). We are instead alluding to the potential of technology to transcend the boundaries, roles and philosophies of traditional education, and to extend, enrich and enliven learning for all, from the very young, through to lifelong learners.

Another conclusion was that the technology wave is not slowing, and won't go away. Educational institutions need to choose wisely when they are procuring technology, to ensure that they are meeting challenges, not merely buying technology to jump on the bandwagon. One question raised during LTT2013 was whether tablets were going to end up as the latest pile of classroom junk, purchased for the sake of it, without any defined objectives or problems to solve. At the Glasgow event, the Bellshill Academy students did a lot to answer this question, presenting some excellent uses of iPads in their personal and group research. Another question raised at both conferences was around how institutions in all sectors are managing the sudden influx of bring your own technology/device (BYOT or BYOD). If BYOD is implemented, who manages updates, interoperablity and other implementation strategies?

Some very useful examples of technology to solve problems were presented at both conferences, and there were discussions around digital literacy, gamification, mobile learning and digital pedagogical strategies. Much discussion surrounded whether schools should filter content, or make it available for all, with the caveat that teachers and students would have ongoing dialogue about safe and responsible use of the web.

I don't know how many train miles I have travelled this last week, but on reflection, I feel it was worth it.  And as for teachers who don't use technology.... well, you have to ask yourself the question. If you were a headteacher, interviewing new teachers, and there were two candidates of equal standing, but one was digitally literate and the other was not ... who would you appoint?

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (modified)


Technology won't replace teachers, but... by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Rewired, not fade away

A lot of nonsense is still being talked about how technology is damaging our lives, and how the Internet is 'rewiring our brains'. From Nicholas Carr's dystopian scaremongering in The Shallows, to Andrew Keen's bitter rhetoric in Cult of the Amateur, the literature is replete with those who wish to persuade us to repent from our reliance on technology and put on our analogue sackcloth and ashes. There is a never ending supply of doom merchants who are ready to emerge from the shadows into the literary spotlight to peddle their bad news, and once they have done so, exeunt stage left with a nice royalty paycheck.

Their arguments are diverse, but essentially boil down to this: The way technology is currently being used is dangerous because it dumbs down knowledge, trivialises relationships, and ultimately, over a period of time, turns us into its slaves. A recent article in the Telegraph asks 'Is the digital age rewiring us?' The article then goes on to cite a range of scientific studies that support an affirmative answer to the question.  It lists a litany of negative outcomes of our habituated use and reliance on the Web, including a loss of social contact, computer addiction, memory deterioration, loss of empathy, increase in rudeness, loss of privacy, and the introduction of a new word - cyberchondria - which describes a rise in hyperchondriac incidence in GP surgeries, and a supposed link to greater access to information about health issues. There is very little of a positive nature in the article, and with the exception of reports that technology 'can keep us sharper for longer' and that video games can teach us new skills (strange that, when elsewhere it claims that our skills are being blunted), one would come away with the impression that we are all doomed, and that technology is the ultimate nemesis of all humanity.

Let's stop one moment and rationally examine the evidence, and also the premise behind the article. The author makes his first mistake right at the start of the piece when he distinguishes between digital natives and immigrants. This is contentious, not least because there has never been anything other than anecdotal evidence to suggest that older people and younger people perceive, or use technology any differently. Marc Prensky's digital natives theory has been misappropriated anyway. Moreover, there are much more relevant and appropriate theories that describe this generation's use of technology, and even Prensky's revised and updated theory of digital wisdom would be better applied, as would Le Cornu and White's theory around context - digital residents and visitors.

One of the biggest and most persistent claims of the Telegraph article is that technology is rewiring our brains. Several neurological studies are cited (but conveniently with no directly checkable sources) that suggest technology permanently alters the structure of the brain, and in so doing changes our behaviour more or less permanently. All well and good, but there is a fundamental flaw in this argument. Read farther afield than the narrow chain of references in the article and you will discover that just about everything we do - drinking, eating, arguing, reading, sex, playing sport, driving, hobbies, also alters the wiring of the brain. In the world of education we call this 'learning', and it stands to reason that using technology will also rewire the brain. The scientific terms for this is neuroplasticity, meaning the brain is in a constant state of fluid change. It has even been reported to occur after brain damage where the brain then 'heals itself' by rewiring previously damaged areas (See for example this article by Dancause et al, 2005). This is not a new finding, so we must be very careful that we don't fall into the trap of condemning technology as the only culprit, and laying all of the ills of society upon it when in fact life is far more complex than one single causal factor. You can see why I'm very suspicious when pseudo-scientists use very narrow terms of reference to argue their points.  

What about the argument that this generation is 'hooked on the web'? Just like the previous generation was hooked on drugs? Or the generation before that was hooked on Rock and Roll? It is a great error to assume that technology is addictive or has the power to addict. Any addiction, as many psychiatrists will agree, has its explanation more in the personality of the individual than it is to any inherent quality of the substance or item they are interacting with. Read, for example, this piece by Mason (2009) on the addictive personality, and you will see that such seemingly clear cut arguments are in reality far from straightforward. Consider instead that people who are addicted to Facebook might be addicted because they have chosen to use Facebook excessively, not because Facebook is inherently addictive?

Finally, we should all be highly sceptical of any article that generalises to such an extent as the Telegraph article has. Not everyone who answers their mobile whilst in a conversation is 'anti-social', not every young person prefers to txt their friends rather than meet with them personally, and not everyone relies on their mobile phones to recall their telephone numbers for them. And even those who do these things - does this mean they are lesser people as a result? Or are these simply the signs of a new, emerging cultural norm? Did those running the 'cyberchondria' study actually consider that instead of negatively and pejoratively labelling people who are concerned over their health as 'hyperchondriacs', perhaps they should be applauding them for becoming more proactive and aware of health issues in general? That's what tools such as Wikipedia do, you see. They democratise knowledge.

My final thought: An important rule of research is - don't make assumptions, or in other words don't be biased. If you are, you'll become very selective in the data you use, and end up with conclusions that don't bear any resemblance to reality.

As ever, I welcome your comments.

Photo by Tom Swift


Rewired, not fade away by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

False frontiers

Collaboration is where two or more people work together to achieve a common objective. In education, the common objective is usually to learn specific content, skills or competencies within defined areas. Ostensibly, learning is an individual goal, and each student does tend to learn in their own way, using their own favoured approaches and tools. We refer to this as personalised learning (a video explains). However, as we become increasingly connected to each other through technology, and our social ties strengthen, so there is greater scope for students to learn together, sharing their resources and ideas, and approaching their study collaboratively. Collaborative learning does not undermine or contradict personalised learning. It simply amplifies it.

When it comes to learning with others, space is usually required. There is plenty to say about collaborative spaces. I can think of at least three kinds. There are the formal, classroom based collaborative spaces and there are the informal, non classroom spaces where we learn most of what we know in interaction with others. Then there are the virtual, online spaces where many of us are increasingly spending our time collaborating, conversing and sharing with our personal learning networks. I guess I could represent these three kinds of space in a simple Venn diagram below, which would then indicate that there is a lot of crossover, fuzziness, and boundary incursion between the three. You could see where we might place formal learning using a VLE, or where students might meet to chat using Facebook, for example. But it's far from perfect. Ultimately such a diagram serves one purpose - it reveals that where there were once very real boundaries, now they are many false frontiers.

The boundaries are blurring between formal and informal learning. Increasingly, traditional educational spaces are being revised, replacing rigid rows of seats with 'group friendly' clusters or simply enabling all room furniture to be moved and reconfigured in whatever way users see fit. The aim is that reconfigured collaborative spaces allow free flow of all room occupants so that any amount of engagement between individuals is possible during formal learning. Learning can then occur in any part of the space, not just in the area where students are sat. You can read more on collaborative learning space design approaches in this article.

With the increasing popularity of such movements as the Flipped Classroom, and Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs), other more radical formal learning space configurations are taking place. Students are increasingly learning through formal activities outside the classroom, usually on the move, using their mobile and handheld devices. They are preparing for in-class sessions by watching videos, discussing ideas online, creating their own content such as blogs and podcasts, and learning much of the stuff outside their classrooms that they would traditionally have learnt inside the classroom. This, according the Flipped Classroom theory, frees up a lot more time for discussion, specialist tutor input and collaborative work around the subject being studied. The Flipped approach ensures that the classroom is no longer the only space where formal learning can take place. There are other spaces to use.

MOOCs take learning even farther away from the classroom. Where the Flipped Classroom still maintains some role for the traditional classroom, MOOCs replace them completely. The general premise of the original MOOC programmes was to assume that all participants mediate their learning through technology, and learn in an open, collaborative and personalised manner. In the loosest sense, the MOOC promoted the community more than the curriculum, and privileged context over content. This kind of space has no boundaries, and every frontier then opens up. Learning is learning. It doesn't matter whether it takes place in a pub or a university lecture hall. What matters now is that each learner finds their own space, is comfortable within it, and uses it to its optimum.

Image source


False frontiers by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Things to come...

Yes, things to look forward to.... We are now less than a month away from the start of the 8th Plymouth Enhanced Learning Conference. Those who have previously attended will know that Pelecon is a friendly, stimulating and lively Spring gathering in the beautiful South West of England for those who want to discover and explore more of the world of technology supported learning. This year's line-up of invited speakers will contribute significantly to that. Here below is a sample of some of the keynotes presentations that will be on offer at the event between April 10-12 this year.

Strangely, we'll start at the end. Our closing keynote Donald H. Taylor - chair of the Learning and Performance Institute and a veteran of the fields of skills, productivity and work based learning - will address the title: 'Does Learning and Development have a future?' In his talk, Don will ask: "Learners are doing it for themselves. Both at work and in tertiary education they are increasingly able to find the information they need, the performance support tools and the skills training they need directly. What’s driving these changes and how should learning professionals respond?" Donald will also examine the reasons for these changes, the technologies associated with them, and the likely implications. Whatever else happens, he will argue, standing still is not an option for Learning and Development practitioners. If we continue as we are, we face irrelevance. Join him to explore:
• What immediate trends can we expect in the next 12 months?

Two days earlier, one of the country's leading head teachers - Karine George - will give the opening keynote when she tackles the subject of 'Off the beaten track: teaching for the Third Millennium. Karine's school is one of those schools that is held in high esteem as a place where learning is in the hands of the children. One of the projects her school is acclaimed for is the S'cool Radio project, where children take it in turns each day to take the roles of interviewers, journalists and news reporters, bringing their classmates the news and views of the day.  Hampshire's Westfield Junior School is well and truly on the map, continues to receive plaudits from many, and was awarded an Outstanding rating from a recent Ofsted visit. We look forwarded to hearing Karine's unique perspectives on what it takes to create an outstanding school where technology is fully embedded into daily activities.

One of the brightest, rising stars of the e-Learning world, Dr Doug Belshaw, will give a keynote on Day 2 of Pelecon. Formerly at JISC, and now working for the Mozilla Foundation, Doug's title 'The history of Open Badges through the medium of animated GIFs' is intriguing. Doug says: "Last month the non-profit Mozilla Foundation launched v1.0 of the Open Badges Infrastructure (OBI). In this presentation we will look at Mozilla's motivation in developing the OBI, the ways individuals and organisations can use Open Badges, and how Mozilla plans to use them in relation to a new, open learning standard for Web Literacy". Doug will address this topic in his own inimitable way, whilst no doubt reflecting on his recent successfully completed doctoral studies into digital literacies. 

Another of our invited speakers, Derek Robertson, is known by many for his crusading into how video games can be used in education. Derek is National advisor for Emerging Technologies and Learning for the Scottish Government, and anyone who has heard him speak will agree that he is entertaining and challenging in equal measures. Much of the recent past of Derek Robertson's career has been involved in exploring, researching and sharing the benefits to learning of game based learning. He was an instrumental figure in the creation of Education Scotland's Consolarium initiative and it may be argued that his research and the many partnerships with educators who joined him in exploring the  grounded application of COTS games to support learning and teaching has helped to change the discourse around the use of games for learning. In this talk Derek will share examples and insights from his work in this field and with a focus on recent research into Signature Pedagogies with Nintendogs in the Early Years he will argue that the deep learning that we are seeing and, the effective methodologies employed by teachers to enable this, should make us give serious thought to ditching the title game based learning because what we are seeing is so much more than game based learning.

The other speakers in our exciting keynote line-up are Professor Grainne Conole, Professor Steven Warburton, Learning without Frontiers founder Graham Brown-Martin, and all the way from down-under, Joyce Seitzinger.

It's going to be a great event, in a long line of great events. We don't want you to miss out on the fun. So book your tickets now while they are still ... yes still... at the early bird rate. Here's the conference website. This offer will finish on 29th March. See you at Pelecon!

Images from various sources, used with permission


Things to come... by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Minimally invasive education

The following is an exclusive interview that was organised by EDEN and is mirrored from the EDEN homepage. It was conducted in the run up to the EDEN Annual Conference which will take place in Oslo, Norway on 12-15 June, 2013.

The media and education worlds have been buzzing for the last few weeks over the ground breaking work of a quiet, unassuming Indian-born professor. Born in Calcutta in 1952, Sugata Mitra started his academic career in computational and molecular science. His later research also encompassed biological science and energy storage systems. Mitra has also researched diversely into areas such as medicine (Alzheimer’s disease and memory research) and psychology (perception in hypermedia environments) and he received a PhD in Physics for his studies into organic semi-conductors. It is not hard to see why some have hailed him as a polymath and even ‘something of a genius’. Most recently, Professor Mitra won the prestigious TED prize of US$ 1 million in acknowledgement of his work setting up computer kiosks in developing rural areas, and for his studies into ‘minimally invasive education’. He has pledged to use the money to fund his 'School in the Cloud' project in India. He is now Professor of Educational Technology at Newcastle University, in the North East of England. I managed to catch up with him to interrupt his busy schedule for a brief interview ahead of his keynote at the EDEN 2013 Oslo Conference.

Minimally invasive education by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Who's afraid of the big bad MOOC?

After apparently stalling for a short time, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) seem to be gaining ground again. First there were the cMOOCs, free and open online courses that focused more on learning than they did on accreditation. Learning was fun and informal, and learning was often self or peer assessed. With the potential for thousands of students to enrol together on MOOCs, learning through connection to this large network of learners became the foundation and the cornerstone. Next came the institutional versions, the xMOOCs, which borrowed the 'free at the point of delivery' open and online model but emphasised formal assessment and accreditation (which is clearly where the money is).  Quasi versions of open online learning already existed, such as the incredibly popular video based Khan Academy content.

Inevitably, some surveyed the huge scalability and openness of massive open courses and saw they were ripe for exploitation. Up popped a number of edu-businesses such as Coursera, Udacity and EdX, all of which promised dynamic and scalable platforms from which any university could launch its MOOC, and gain huge numbers of students overnight. xMOOCs have been around for only a short while in their current form, but have already attracted criticism and received some bad press.  Coursera for example came under fire for its problematic approach to peer assessment, whilst others were criticised for dumbing down learning through for example their use of automated assessment and delivery of homogenised content. Regardless of these detractions, several universities have bought into the vision and have launched their own versions. Yet many universities remain sceptical about the sustainability and relevancy of MOOCs. Others are standing on the sidelines watching to see what will happen next.

Writing in the Thursday March 7 edition of the International Herald Tribune, Thomas Friedman issues a stark warning to all traditional universities about MOOCs, focused on improving pedagogy. Universities must change, he says, from a 'time served' model to a 'stuff learned' model. He reasons that 'increasingly the world does not care what you know. Everything is on Google. The world only cares, and will only pay for,  what you can do with what you know'. Friedman points out, quite rightly, that the world of work is now competency based, and respects less and less the academic qualifications job candidates place on their CVs. He pours further fuel on the fire by pointing out that the world of MOOCs is 'creating a competition that will force every professor to improve his or her pedagogy or face an online competitor.' Whilst this would be a good thing for universities (why would anyone not want to improve their professional practice?) many are less convinced that MOOCs will provoke such a dichotomy of educational choice. Clearly Friedman has a point, but many remain sceptical, asking questions such as: How many courses can actually be fully and convincingly delivered in MOOC format, with no denigration of quality of learning experience? How in the long term can quality be assured in the delivery of MOOCs? What about authenticity (are the learners who they say they are?) and what about assessment of such a large number of students - how can this be achieved reliably (remember the Coursera fiasco). And how many universities are actually threatened by MOOCs anyway?  

Photo by Steve Wheeler


Who's afraid of the big bad MOOC? by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Learner power

Students' minds are occupied by many challenges, such as how they are going to be able to afford their tuition fees or how they will achieve the highest grades. The first concern is beyond the influence and reach of most students, whilst the second is usually down to good, hard work. Perhaps a little farther down their agendas students are concerned about finding good learning spaces, concerns over the environment, and keeping themselves fit and healthy. Wouldn't it be great if all of these concerns could be met at the same time? Well, they have been, at one Belgian university, but more of that in a moment.

I visited the University of Hasselt this week and was shown around some of its learning spaces. 70 kilometres east of Brussels, Hasselt is a small university, but it has some big ideas. Universiteit Hasselt takes some innovative approaches to education including its refurbishment of an old prison to create a bright and airy new learning space for its law faculty students. The old cells are now 'study cells', where students can find space to focus on their projects.

But back to the question about student concerns. One particular innovation really grabbed my attention. In one of the common areas, I saw this study plinth and simply had to capture this image to share it.  It's such a simple, yet elegantly useful idea. Students sit at the plinth, plug in their laptops or tablets, and then generate electrical power by turning the pedals underneath. While they are generating the power, they are simultaneously improving their fitness levels. Pedal power - saving the university money and providing students opportunities to keep fit while they are learning. Like it? Do you have any other useful ideas that could transform the learning spaces at your institute?

Photo by Steve Wheeler


Learner power by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Gold mines

Several recent schools based projects have shown the value of active learning, through knowledge production using digital media. The Quadblogging project which first began life in a small school in Bolton, North West England, is now a global phenomenon, with children in many countries blogging their stories, conversing across continents and sharing their imagination. A similar effect is seen in the 100 Word Challenge, and in other similar school related blog projects. Some schools are also promoting the idea of radio stations, which provide children with a chance to be a newsreader, DJ or station presenter. Children really learn a lot from presenting live on air - you really have to do your homework if you are summarising today's news, or interviewing a local politician.

Designer Micky McManus points out that the volume of knowledge production is unprecedented, and thanks to the Internet, anyone can publish content or perform their ideas to a potentially worldwide audience. This is exactly what the Quadblogging kids are doing. They are gaining an audience for their ideas, and in so doing, are cultivating a love of the written word. Blogging is just one of the many social media tools teachers have available to promote user generated content. There are many others, all of which have their own affordances. Before any of these tools can be used effectively however, two things need to happen. Firstly, teachers need to accept that active learning can be supported through the use of social media. And secondly, schools need to stop blocking these services so teachers can use them effectively. The gold mine is there for the taking.

Photo by Kris Olin


Gold mines by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Skills or literacies?

What does it mean to be digitally ready? How can we ascertain what is necessary for someone to be digitally literate? The answer may be changing just about every other month, as new devices, tools and services appear and are rapidly assimilated into the repertoire of individuals everywhere. We know there are digital divides between those who have and don't have. Some of these divides are socio-economic, others are technical based on geographical location, still others are about willingness to engage, or the skill to be able to use tools effectively. I prefer to use 'literacies' to indicate the ability to be digitally ready. Literacies reach beyond skills. I wrote a series not so long back on this blog about some of the digital literacies I considered to be vital if any individual was to effectively harness the potential of digital media and technology. I also mapped out some of the skills for Learning 2.0, based on the work of Mark Federman.

Skills and literacies are often used interchangeably, and this is not reprehensible. However, I think a clear distinction should be made between them if we are to fully apprehend many of the nuances and emerging aspects of learning through digital media. We are digitally ready when we are able to utilise our tools effectively, and we are digitally literate when we are able to act appropriately and make reasoned decisions in the face of the relatively unfamiliar culture of the digital ecosystem. Let me give you some examples of literacies that derive from immersion in a culture.

I spent two years living in Holland, where I attended an international school. Although most of our lessons were in English, some were in German, and I also picked up a fair understanding of Dutch too. We had to learn the subtle nuances and some of the intricacies of these languages to fully participate within the culture we found ourselves. Basic conversational language was usually enough, but to appreciate the finer aspects of life in Holland and Germany, we had to learn a few of the idioms and some slang too.

When visiting Islamic cultures, or meeting Muslims, it is not acceptable for a man to touch a woman. Several times I have seen colleagues embarrass themselves when they try to shake a Moslem woman's hand. In some cultures it is offensive to show someone the sole of your foot. In other cultures, nudity is perfectly acceptable. Culture consists of shared symbolism and understanding. When the symbolism isn't shared by everyone, problems arise. How do visitors learn and understand these conventions?

While I was driving around the mid-west of America on project work, I had to adjust and adapt my previously learnt driving skills to driving in another culture. 30 years on from my driving test I consider myself fairly adept and practised at driving in the UK. This wasn't enough though. I had to adapt to the new environment of driving on the right side of the road, and the left side of the car. It took a little practice before I was comfortable. The gear shift had to be changed by my right hand (I am used to changing with my left) and there was a need for me to understand not only the unfamiliar road signs, but also different conventions and unwritten rules of driving in America. These were literacies that I had to build around the basic skills I had already mastered. I still made mistakes, some quite embarrassing, but the longer I drove around, the better I got at not annoying other road users. Gradually I became road literate by my immersion in that culture of road use.

In the same way, when we take our first steps into new environments such as social media, mobile telephony, or online forum discussions, we need to assimilate those cultures, which probably have existed long before we grace them with our presence. In texting or e-mail for example, most people know that using CAPITAL LETTERS is tantamount to shouting. There are subtler distinctions, such as the use of abbrevations. My 83 year old father made the mistake of breaking some bad news on Facebook, and supplementing it with LOL. To him it meant Lots of Love. To my teenage children, it means Laughing out Loud. Appropriate for him in his own understanding, but innappropriate and potentially offensive to those already assimilated into the culture of sqeezetext.

In summary, skills are essential elements for any practice. Literacies take us beyond functionality into a deeper level of participation where we begin to appreciate and then adapt our behaviour to the demands and expectations of a new culture. If you can't read the signs, how do you know which direction to go?

Image from Wikimedia Commons


Skills or literacies? by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Empires of the mind

In a speech given at Harvard University in 1943, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill famously declared: 'The empires of the future will be empires of the mind.' 

70 years on, futurist and physicist Michio Kaku echoes Churchill's sentiments, arguing that intellectual capital is rapidly replacing commodity capital as the most desirable and lucrative means of commerce. Our future will not be built on traditional foundations, but will be different than anything we can imagine. Leading nations will found their success on their ability to develop their intellectual capabilities, and by creating and innovating to solve problems that don't even exist yet.

Kaku warns that it is no longer what lays beneath our feet that is our most valuable commodity. Where once oil, gas, minerals and real estate were the most valuable natural resources a nation could own and trade, now the rapid evolution of technology, economic turmoil and processes of globalisation have privileged  intellectual capital above all other commodities. Natural resources run out over time, but the intellectual resources of any nation are constantly being replenished. This is precisely why education is so vitally important. Any nation who fails at providing a state wide world class education system runs the risk of falling behind.  In a world where empires of the mind dictate which nations lead economically, socially, politically and culturally, failure to educate a population effectively is courting disaster. Nations who do not understand this they must nurture their education systems will fall into poverty, warns Kaku. I was intrigued whilst visiting Saudi Arabia recently to see that there is now less emphasis on the commodity that made them such a rich a successful nation. The Saudis know that the days of the petrochemical industry are numbered, so they are now turning their attention to trying to develop their education systems into some of the best in the world. Vast construction projects are in evidence everywhere, as the Saudi government pours its money into building new university campuses and research centres, purchasing world class expertise and developing an infrastructure that will harness the potential of learning edge technologies. All across the Middle East, similar projects are also in evidence.

Any nation that roots itself in the past, and fails to prepare for the future is courting economic disaster. Old technology such as telephony has been the subject of radical change in recent years. The old circular dialling interface that was an integral part of every telephone was replaced by buttons and more recently touch screens. And yet many who lived through the transition still talk about 'dialling up' their friends. Such thinking is a remnant of a long gone past, and indicative of a mind set that yearns for yesteryear. It's similar to the way some of our politicians think.

Around the world, governments are attempting to reform their education systems.  Leaders everywhere are waking up to notice that traditional, industrial age education systems are lagging behind, that they are deeply flawed and mired in problems that in some cases are intractable. What they may not know though, is that what is needed is not a patch up or a quick revision. In many cases what is needed is a radical rethinking of what education should be. Systems that are not fit for purpose need to be replaced, not repaired. What is required for any nation to succeed is an educational system that is responsive to the needs and demands of its information society, a world where knowledge workers replace production-line workers, and where creative and critical thinking skills are more important than rote learning or following instructions. Schools, colleges and universities simply cannot and will not survive by peddling old ways of teaching in a world where knowledge goes quickly out of date and where new technologies are changing the nature of learning. The empires of the future will truly be empires of the mind, where intellectual capital holds sway. In this respect, we all have a lot of work to do. How is your own education system doing?  

Photo by Robin Kaspar


Empires of the mind by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Is all learning social?

Just about every day I find myself embroiled in discussions about fundamentals of learning, the nature of knowledge and the processes of education. It comes with the territory of working as an academic in a university, and I expect to do it much of the time. When I'm not talking about learning, I'm reading about it, researching it, thinking about it, and writing about it. Today was particularly interesting because I had a conversation on this blog with ePortfolio Keith (Keith Brennan aka @wiltwhatman), who was commenting on my Three Things post. In the post I made the remark that today's learning needs to be personal, social and global, all of which can be mediated through technology. Keith asked me 'Does learning always need to be social?' This of course is a profound question, and one which demands some good theory and reflection. I told Keith that his question deserved a more protracted and considered response than I could provide within the constraints of a blog comment box. I said I would write a full blog post and I therefore present my response here:

Just about everything we learn is situated within a social context. We learn during our early years by observing and mimicking others. No first language is learnt in isolation. Much of an individual's sense of conscience, social justice and even compliance to authority are thought to derive from social modelling processes in early life (see Bandura 1977). We also learn through experimentation, but even though some of this is conducted in a solitary context, our thinking is still shaped by previous social encounters and conversations.  Much of our thinking about learning over the past few decades has been influenced significantly by the writings of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotskii, who proposed the theory of social constructivism (Vygotsky, 1978).  In essence, Vygotskii's argument is that all humans learn within rich social and cultural situations, and that children and novices learn better when they are in the presence of knowledgeable or more experienced others than they do when they are on their own. This is known as the zone of proximal development (ZPD). This does not preclude good learning in isolated settings, but ZPD does hold that learning is strengthened and extended through the presence of others.

Tools also play a part in what we learn. One theory that has emerged from the social constructivist school, Activity Theory, suggests that all learning is shaped and motivated by social influences (Engeström et al, 1999). We act upon our environment and with the use of tools, mediate our understanding through them and use them as mind tools to construct, negotiate and develop our learning. The manipulation of tools, a very specific human activity, carries with them an accumulation of cultural and social knowledge. They are infused with social meaning. Even a tool such as a book, when read by a solo reader, socially mediates learning. The reader in effect has an internal conversation with himself (thinking) which is shaped through reading text that has been written by a knowledgeable other person - the author. Even consciousness is social. It is not seen as 'a series of disembodied cognitive acts', but rather is located in the everyday practice of social interactions (see Nardi, 1995).

Another theory derived from social constructivism has been proposed by Lave and Wenger (1991) who argue that the formation of communities of practice can explain much of the informal learning that occurs for example in the workplace. Development of this theory placed emphasis on the sharing of knowledge within the community of practice, enabling members to situate their learning within their community. Further development in the digital age has led to such theories as connectivism (Siemens, 2004) which suggests that knowledge is not exclusively something we internalise, but can now also reside outside the individual within the social context he inhabits and the tools he employs. Anyone who maintains a personal learning network will clearly recognise this phenomenon.

I trust that in this brief essay I have been able to outline and highlight some of the key arguments for learning as a predominantly social process. I will not have convinced everyone that all learning is social, indeed I have some minor doubts myself. But I intentionally leave plenty of space for discussion. There is a great deal more that can be said about the social nature of learning, but that will need to wait for the next blog post.

References
Bandura, A. (1977) Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs: NJ: Prentice Hall.
Engeström, Y., Miettinen, R. and Punamäki, R-L (1999) Perspectives on Activity Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991) Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nardi, B. (1995) Context and consciousness: Activity theory and human-computer interaction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Siemens, G. (2004) Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. Available online at http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm (Retrieved 19 February, 2013).
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Photo by Steve Wheeler


Is all learning social? by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Future learning environments: professional, powerful, personal

Once again, thanks to Don H Taylor and his crew, this year's Learning Technologies conference was a highly successful event. 50 speakers presented talks at the event in London's Olympia over the two days, in what has become one of the premier, must attend events for learning professionals in Europe. High profile speakers including MIT's Nicholas Negroponte, futurist Gerd Leonhard, Lord David Puttnam, Professor Stephen Heppell and author Tony Buzan took to the stage to talk about their visions for the future of learning. All of the videos of their presentations can now be viewed (complete with synchronised slides) at this link.

My own presentation in the main arena at Olympia is entitled Future Learning Environments: Professional, Powerful, Personal. In it, I give my own vision for the future of learning, featuring new pedagogical approaches, emerging technologies and speculation about what we might see in education and training over the next few years. Do take a look by clicking on this link and if you wish to comment, please feel free to do so in the comments box under this blog post.

Future learning environments by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Learning is changing

Learning is changing. In some ways learning has no need to change. In other ways, it is vital. The human race still has an innate desire to discover, to survive, to innovate, to explore. As we get older, we consolidate what we have learnt, modifying our knowledge and skills as new information and techniques become known to us. What we learn in formalised settings such as school, college and university is merely the foundation of our knowledge and the rudimentary skill sets that enable us to build our own minds and construct meaning, through individual and social contexts later in life. That has always been the nature of learning. So why am I claiming that learning is changing? This is contentious, but I believe learning is changing because what we can learn no longer has any boundaries. Learning is also changing because we can contribute to knowledge on a global scale. We now have tools at our disposal that enable us to connect to any knowledge we want, anywhere, and at any time we prefer.

It hasn't always been like this. Libraries and 'seats of learning' were traditionally the places to be when formal learning was required. All around, communities and families were also there for informal learning processes to be supported. Then along came the printing press and within a short time, mass literacy was achieved, books because widely accessible, and ordinary people were able to create their own personal libraries at home. Radio and television and eventually satellite communication gave us windows on the world, passive connections to world events, news and features, brought directly to our homes. Learning began to change as we were all exposed via mass media to a vast and previously mysterious world that was suddenly open to limitless discovery and exploration. Around this time many new disciplines began to emerge. Our opportunities for learning began to reach around the globe, across cultural and geographical boundaries.

Probably the most disruptive technology to emerge over the last few years is the computer. Specifically, I mean personalised, handheld, internet enabled mobile computing. Now passive learning has been replaced by active participation within global communities, and the ability to create, share, repurpose and organise vast amounts of knowledge content. We can also manipulate context. This in turn promotes new forms of learning. People are now auto-didactic - they teach themselves any skill and acquire any knowledge, simply by clicking, watching, making and doing.

Lord David Puttnam, the celebrated former movie producer and Oscar winner, believes that the digital tools we now have at our disposal are driving significant changes in the way we learn. He argues that our ability to use social media to connect with, and learn from, world class experts is unprecedented, and he is right. He also sees a future of learning where we will be astounded by what is possible. This is supported by other high profile commentators such as Stephen Heppell who argues that 'everything technology touches goes exponential'. Already, says Puttnam, we are witnessing our expectations changing though our demand to be informed faster, our need for instant connection and our impatience with delays. He believes we are also seeing a blurring of the boundaries, between formal and informal learning, between formal education and work based learning. Our increasing ability to work seamlessly across time zones and to connect together into global communities of practice and interest is also something we could never previously achieve without the internet and personalised technology. Lord Puttnam suggests that learning is being transformed so quickly that many of the changes will be ones 'we can only begin to guess at'.  

Whatever the changes will be in the future, learning is changing. The demands of the next generation of learners will be different from the generation that has passed before it. This has happened before, but never on the grand scale or vast differential that is happening right now. The question now is, how will schools, colleges, universities and work based learning keep pace?

Photo by Xin Li


Learning is changing by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Slaying giants

Futurist Gerd Leonhard speaking at Learning Technologies 2013

Listening to media futurist Gerd Leonhard speaking at the recent Learning Technologies Conference in London was both engaging and thought provoking. Leonhard is not a crystal ball gazer, nor is he a modern day prophet, but what he does manage to do quite successfully is gauge the technological trends and contextualise them in real situations. One of his most powerful statements was that our concepts of space and place will never be the same again. For centuries humans have created and maintained spaces and places around them, and have conducted their lives, their businesses and their play within them. With the advent of pervasive technologies, especially smart mobile technologies, he argued, we are no longer confined or constrained by the environments we find ourselves in. Leonhard postulated that work and learning no longer need to be location (or even time) dependent. New technologies liberate us from temporal and spatial constraints, and this will have a radical effect on the future of Learning and Development departments in organisations. He believes if companies do not begin to realise that things have changed around them, we are likely to see many going to the wall. Even the large companies are vulnerable, and if they fail to adapt we may witness some giant slaying.

In an equally thought provoking article in the Inside Learning Technologies and Skills Magazine, Leonhard outlines some of the tough dilemmas and challenges facing business over the next few years. A key problem he suggests, emerges from the 'Free Culture' movement described by Lawrence Lessig. Can businesses hope to compete when all around them content is available for free?  Copying of content is rampant, he warns, and 'the internet is a giant copying machine.' His solution is for content publishers to wake up and realise that their goods and services must be offered in a way that no longer relies on distribution as a key factor. He recommends a major rethink, because the game has changed, and consumers who know how to use the internet are more empowered than they ever were. His main point is that the 'if you want it you pay for it' mentality many businesses still adhere to, is increasingly anachronistic. Leonhard believes the major social media platforms have it right. Companies such as LinkedIn, Flickr and Slideshare start by offering a free entry level and then, once they have the attention and loyalty of the user, offer premium services that provide access to better and more sophisticated features.

Gerd Leonhard also talks about voluntary (consider the ongoing funding of Wikipedia through this method) and crowd sourced funding as revenue models that are already increasingly popular in the social media world. He believes that the 'feels like free' approach to content and service delivery will become increasingly prevalent for companies as technology becomes even more pervasive in society. Organisations who do not wake up and adopt these new business models will be in danger of suffering a similar fate to previously unassailable corporate giants such as Kodak.

Photograph by Steve Wheeler



Slaying giants by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Through a child's eyes

We are constantly developing our understanding about how children learn. Research from the behavioural and cognitive sciences, neurosciences and pedagogical research fields is regularly yielding new findings. One of the most interesting reports I have read recently appeared in the February 2013 edition of The Psychologist. In an article entitled 'Learning from Learners', Rachel Wu (Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester, New York) discusses some recent findings on how infants learn. She reveals that by the age of 8 months, infants learn better when they are in the company of people than they do through solo exploration. She shows that when a human face is present with an object, infants become more interested in the object and examine it more closely (Wu et al, 2011). It could be argued that these findings support Vygotskiian social constructivist theory (Zone of Proximal Development - Vygotsky 1978) over Piagetian cognitive constructivist theory, confirming to those who adhere to ZPD theory, that human brains are naturally wired to learn better in social contexts. Indeed, Vygotsky was particularly vocal in his opposition to Piaget's theory that children were naturally egocentric, suggesting that it is only when children are deprived of social contact that they resort to egocentric behaviour (p. 27).

Through a child's eyes by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Mobile gives the edge

Smart mobile phones continue to disrupt our society. They are increasingly pervasive and accessible. For everyone of us who own them, mobile phones are changing our lives, influencing our decisions about how we interact with each other, how we access and consume information, how we work, entertain ourselves and purchase our goods. Most significantly for those who are immersed in schools, colleges and universities -  mobile technology is disrupting education. There are many accounts of the effects of mobiles on education (see for example this blog post on 5 views on the future of mobile learning). Just why is such a small object such as the smart mobile phone so disruptive?

Firstly mobile technology is disruptive because when students are no longer tethered to specific locations such as classrooms or computer suites, different types of learning become possible, and in many cases, inevitable. Students who are on the move can interact with their environments in more meaningful ways when they have mobile phones. They can engage with learning content with more freedom. They are no longer location dependent but they are still connected, and can maximise their available time to learn whenever they want, and wherever they find themselves. Potentially, there is no more 'down time' when students have a mobile device in their hands. It's a jaded expression now, but 'anytime, anyplace' learning is not only within the reach of most of us, for many it is in fact common place. Furthermore, the available infrastructure is becoming less of an issue. Arguably, students are no longer completely reliant on internet connectivity with the advent of the mobile app, and the capability to download vast amounts of data during the times when they do have wi-fi connection.

Secondly, mobile technology is disruptive because it encourages creativity. Students now have the capability to capture images, audio and video recordings of their experiences. The creation, repurposing and sharing of content has never been easier. Potentially, with new AR and wearable technologies emerging, we will be able to make a record our every minute of our lives. One student said in a recent lesson that their whole life was in a small device. The caveat here of course, is the calamitous potential of losing your mobile phone, or having it stolen.

Thirdly, mobile technology is powerfully social. Access to powerful social media sites enables students to maintain perpetual contact with their peers, family and tutors, providing constant new opportunities to learn informally, on the move, and in many modes and formats. Howard Rheingold argued as early as 2002 that mobile phones harness the 'power of the many', which has manifested itself in recent years in social phenomena such as citizen journalism, flash mobs and crowd sourced funding projects to name just a few. We need to be aware though, that clashes between authority and individual usage of disruptive technology is problematic, and as Agar (2004) pointed out, their are fierce tensions between centralised power and the democracy afforded by mobile technology. Other warnings about the social and cultural challenges of mobile technology disruption can be found in Distraction by Mark Curtis (2004).

Finally, mobile technology is disruptive, because it enables personalised learning within rich social contexts. Every student is uniquely individual, and each can create their own 'desire lines' and personalised pathways to learning through the flexibility of smart devices and tools. Smart mobiles are crammed full of useful technologies that can support creative learning. We are only witnessing the beginnings of the disruption that is possible with mobile technology. What will happen when the convergence of GPS, cameras, augmented reality, voice control and mobility becomes mainstream, and everyone has access to information about everything, everywhere? What happens when all objects you encounter become context aware, and your mobile phone helps you to interact with them and learn from them? Whatever happens will be totally different from anything we currently do in education. Mobile will certainly give learning the edge.

References
Agar, J. (2004) Constant Touch: A Global History of the Mobile Phone. Cambridge: Icon Books.
Curtis, M. (2004) Distraction: Being Human in the Digital Age. London: Futuretext Ltd.
Rheingold, H. (2002) Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books.

Photography by Steve Wheeler


Mobile gives the edge by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.