Technology and Change: It's good for business, is it good enough for education?
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The notion that education prepares you for the rest of your life is flawed. Rather, education helps you develop the lifelong learning skills that will help you to be responsive to change as it happens. It might be argued that, public confidence in higher education has been declining steadily as the gap between the 'relevance' seen (by students, communities, and commerce) between what students are being prepared for and the lives they are going to live. I wanted to ask the question (perhaps a little controversial) Are tertiary institutions innovative (something several claim to be) or are they simply doing the same things they have been doing for years, just using different tools? Are we preparing students to be ethical, able participants in communities - online and face-to-face?
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Technology and Change: It's good for business, is it good enough for education?
- 1. Technology and Change It's good for business, is it good enough for education? Hazel Owen Ethos Consultancy NZ info@ethosconsultancynz.com Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thms/4611687962/
- 2. A challenge The world is not moving faster than previous decades. It's moving slower than many of them. We are not the most innovative generation in history. We may be the most trivial, the most boring. That's not good enough. Time to accelerate. (Millar, 2012) - full article, We might be living in the least disruptive age in history Image can be located at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldstardeputy/289776187/
- 3. Is how we learn changing? Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wizzer/6878689571/
- 4. Completion rates for eLearning & f-2-f • Polytechnics: higher completion rates in f-2-f courses • Universities: rates were comparable • Māori & Pacific Peoples: higher completion rates in f-2-f courses • Asians & Europeans: rates were comparable • F/T students: rates were comparable • P/T students: higher completion rates in f-2-f courses No sign of change! Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcelgermain/2071204651
- 5. An unlikely couple: Architects & Web 2.0 Images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ben_smith_uk/3668993798 Post: http://blog.evernote.com/2012/09/05/evernote-an-architects-toolbox-and-quality-management-system/
- 6. The 7 Cs: Re-conceptualising curricula 1.Conceptualise 2.Communicate 3.Capture 4.Create 5.Consider 6.Collaborate 7.Consolidate Gráinne Conole (2012) Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eleinads/5330056145
- 7. What does this 'look like'? Image can be located at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24289877@N02/4156208143/
- 8. Bachelor of Architectural Studies Enhanced Learning skills: Acquire, create, curate, collaborate & share using ICTs Inclusive leadership: Lead global, diverse teams where cultural responsiveness & empowerment are priorities Effective communication: Connect to initiate & sustain desired interactions with others Global connectedness: Think & consider issues from international perspectives Digital citizenship: Use ethically informed & legally astute approaches to interacting online Image can be located at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/denebinside/6476410171
- 9. The student Image can be located at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/geishaboy500/113290738/
- 10. An example Ruru has just accessed the instructions for his next assignment, which is a paper that focuses on analysing architectural sites, discussing a hypothetical development, which demonstrates, for example how to ensure the environmental sustainability of the project. It is a group project, and the members of his group have been nominated by the e-facilitator in advance. Image can be located at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulwatson/5070828/
- 11. Conceptualise Imagine Design Prepare Image can be located at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/benheine/6466774063/
- 12. Consider Select Upskill Support Image can be located at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbarefoot/243299394/
- 13. Communicate Moderate Facilitate Images can be located at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24289877@N02/; http://www.flickr.com/photos/palringo/2567198585; http://www.flickr.com/photos/smemon/5167671844/; http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiago_custodio/3329194516/
- 14. Capture Search Evaluate Collate Curate Images can be located at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/4371000710/; http://www.flickr.com/photos/alttext/128079332/; http://www.flickr.com/photos/bpedro/5277380081/
- 15. Create Re-purpose Mashup Crowd- source Image can be located at: http://www.gapminder.org/
- 16. Collaborate Co- construct Negotiate Discuss Images can be located at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24289877@N02; http://readwrite.com/2009/06/03/pbworks-launches-project-edition-with-free-access
- 17. Consolidate Evaluate Embed Contribute Images can be located at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24289877@N02/
- 18. Key implications • Institutional strategies, policies, plans • Financial impact • Infrastructure • Sustainability • Openness • Organisational culture • Workload / incentives • Monitoring & evaluation • Professional development • Access / accessibility Access the image at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alancleaver/4293345629/
- 19. Policies • Openness – copyright / patents / Creative Commons • Privacy • Digital citizenship skills • Cultural appropriacy Access the image at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8153468@N04/2334487683/
- 20. Access • Accessibility • Connectivity • Life circumstances • Skills (technical, digital citizenship) Image can be located at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/smswigart/6167255518/
- 21. Infrastructure Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/88023553@N00/4124505179/sizes/m/in/photostream/
- 22. Workload / incentives Watch the video at: http://youtu.be/bHM6o5RQOnQ
- 23. Professional development Images can be located at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24289877@N02/; http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephanridgway/5210583295/
- 24. Emerging trends likely to drive change • Learning analytics (big data) • Openness (MOOCs; OERs) • Collective intelligence (crowdsourcing) • Ubiquitous learning • Simulations • Mobility • Virtual learning • Thinking 3D • Smart Web • Personalisation • Digital citizenship Image can be accessed at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/viagallery/4148632309/
- 26. “We cannot predict the future, but we do sense that we have the power to shape it. So we need to take time to reflect: on what those possible futures are, which are the more desirable, and what it takes to realise them.” (Laurillard, in Norris, Mason, Lefrere, 2003, p. III) Image can be located at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maurymccown/2289537070/
- 27. And if we have time... • What fundamental changes are being made in our educational system to handle the doubling of knowledge every seven years? • What provisions for access & accessibility is your institution putting in place? • What are the implications of truly embedding education technology into curricula? • How would institutions benefit from more direct involvement from the community, iwi, & Pacific leaders in helping design education technology enhanced curricula? (Adapted from Hooker, 1997, The transformation of higher education)
Editor's Notes
- I'd like to open with a couple of questions: Who here has a mobile phone? Who here has a smartphone? Who has bought something on the Internet? Who has paid bills online? Since the advent of personal computers in the 1970s and the Internet in the 1990s the way we communicate, do business, and learn (any place, any time, formal and informal) has fundamentally changed. While they have changed how we live and work, what has changed in the way in which, on the whole, tertiary curricula are designed and facilitated. It might be argued that, public confidence in higher education has been declining steadily as the gap between the 'relevance' seen (by students, communities, and commerce) between what students are being prepared for and the lives they are going to live. The notion that education prepares you for the rest of your life is flawed. Rather, education helps you develop the lifelong learning skills that will help you to be responsive to change as it happens. I wanted to ask the question (perhaps a little controversial) Are tertiary institutions innovative (something several claim to be) or are they simply doing the same things they have been doing for years, just using different tools? Are we preparing students to be ethical, able participants in communities - online and face-to-face?
- The view could be that we are trivializing the world - we were looking for flying cars - we ended up with 140 character soundbites. Some may argue that ICT has had little effect, and they have either opted out by choosing not to have a mobile phone and connect to the internet, or in some places poverty and/or a lack of infrastructure denies them the opportunity. In oversimplified terms, there are two kinds of change in society: cyclical and transformative. We accommodate cyclical change constantly. Transfomrative change, on the other hand, is uni-directional and irreversible. Once a society, an economy, or an institution has undergone a structural change, it will never return to its former ways of doing or being. The way an organization responds to structural change can determine its future. Some higher education institutions appear to be experiencing cyclical change, and while there are often plans for structural change, it may just be that they are experiencing cyclical change.
- Let's step back a bit and look at the social science behind all of this - technology is driving social change. How we learn, what we learn, and what we want ... and need to learn is changing. Crowdsourcing - In 2011 gamers playing a game called Foldit have helped to unlock – in just 3 weeks - the structure of an AIDS-related enzyme that the scientific community had been unable to unlock for a decade Read more: http://techland.time.com/2011/09/19/foldit-gamers-solve-aids-puzzle-that-baffled-scientists-for-decade/#ixzz2De1T6p16 Research over the last few year in the social sciences indicates that social values are likely to change in response to population growth, advances in technology, and associated economic imperatives. In addition, there are ongoing discussions around what constitutes ‘knowledge’ and ‘learning’. Knowledge can be seen as both a thing and a dynamic process, and the original notion of knowledge management has evolved into the concept of knowledge ecology (Norris, Mason, & Lefrere, 2003). Ongoing changes in where learning happens - just-in-time knowledge and agency. impact of mobile devices, cloud computing, Moocs, open courses, social networking on education. Best seen through the eyes of students in study and in their potential workplaces. I will touch on some of the implications for formal education providers by briefly exploring an example from business where they are using Web 2.0 technologies extensively, and then consider what a course that had these approaches embedded might look like.
- -No sign of change - design of e-learning courses replicates face-to-face in many cases. - Not using the affordances of the technology - Not reflecting shifts in changes around how we learn Just because f-2-f completion rates are higher in several cases doesn't mean they are better. It means the e-learning courses are not yet good enough...nor are facilitators' skills. Are online courses simply aren't good enough. Compares course completion rates in Research in NZ (2004-2009) Let's step out into business and see how they are using technology.
- This is a good example - how do you feel Web 2.0 could help an architect? CAD / big applications too -end result being an improvement in their business Name: Russell Curtis Location: London, UK Profession: Architect Company: RCKa (employees: 10) Started 2006 Finalist for 2011 Young Architect of the Year - UK. In 2009, started using Web 2.0 to manage (content and collaboration) his architecture practice. In the last year usage has accelerated. - We store examples of work (including materials, interesting buildings, etc.), as well as helpful information, such as examples we’ve scoured in journals and on websites, in a Shared Notebook - ongoing professional development -Shared Notebooks for each project, so all of our documentation is neatly organized for all to easily search - accessible on site -a scanner that we email a lot of marked up drawings to. It’s configured to automatically send everything to Evernote - notes with a client instantly available in the office - Windows, ipad, android, (platform doesn’t matter, applications are democratic) Mobile, online, collaborative, quality focused, using images, video, audio to ensure the best service to their customers. Curating, through tagging, managing projects, client focused Would graduates from your institution be able to transition comfortably into this work environment - where their social networking skills have been melded with their developing professional practice? What if your courses used the same approach in not just the use of the tools, but the way knowledge is created and participants collaborate? Let's consider an example or re-conceptualising a curriculum and a hypothetical students' learning journey....and we'll stick with architects http://blog.evernote.com/2012/09/05/evernote-an-architects-toolbox-and-quality-management-system/
- What is higher education for? Many different answers, but at the centre of it is learners - and that will include students, as well as faculty, staff and management at an institution, who will need to change if structural change is to be achieved. One aspect that would need to be consider is the re-conceptualisation of the curricula. Design, facilitation, assessment, evaluation The way we will achieve sustainable productivity gains in higher education is by facilitating more learning from students, not just increasing the workloads for faculty. If we are serious about learning, the learner should be our focus. How many would argue with the contention that the average student is not learning as much as he or she could? If we focused on the things that maximize learning-the best curriculum, the best pedagogy, the best learning environment, the most flexibility to adapt to learning styles-wouldn't all of us be more satisfied with higher education?
- Need to move from a traditional model of knowledge and discipline skills to a broader more generic graduate profile that can then be mapped into a four year programme of study building learner confidence and capability. Bachelor of Architectural Studies Graduate Profile Graduates of the programme...... Architectural knowledge: Understand and apply the concepts and principles of architectural practice + Legal Astuteness: Create value for an architectural and manage legal risk. Sustainability: Understand and apply the concepts and principles of sustainable development. Information Skills: Answer questions, solve problems, and support innovation and creativity. Thinking skills: Analyse problems, make decisions and innovate to find workable solutions. Professional Skills: Are confident, capable, and can apply their knowledge, establish relationships with their peers and have good career prospects. Enhanced Learning: Take responsibility for their learning by acquiring, creating, curating, collaborating with others, and sharing their knowledge using information and communication technology Inclusive leadership: Utilise emotional intelligence and knowledge of the value of diversity to leverage their colleagues and peers overall effectiveness and contributions they lead and manage global and diverse teams where inclusion and empowerment are priorities. Effective communication: Connect to others in a deep and direct way, to sense and stimulate reactions and desired interactions. Global connectedness: Think and consider issues from international perspectives, toapply international standards and practices, make connections across geographical boundaries and understand their place in the world.
- Ruru is 35 years old, lives in Ahipara, in Northland, and identifies himself as Māori. He enrolled on an online Bachelor of Architectural studies course to enhance his employment prospects, and is in his 3rd Year. He is currently also working full-time as a furniture designer, but he would like to pursue a career in architecture, initially with a large company, either in New Zealand or Australia. He is married to Tamara, and they have two children, Tui (8 years old), and Whate(5 years old). The student: Ruru lives in Ahipara, in Northland, and identifies himself as Māori. He has enrolled on an online Bachelor of Architectural studies course to enhance his employment prospects. He is currently also working full-time as a furniture designer, but he would like to pursue a career in architecture, initially with a large company, either in New Zealand or Australia. He is married to Tamara, and they have two children, Tui (8 years old), and Homi (5 years old). I’ve always been interested in computers and social networking. I have a brother in Italy so we keep in contact by Skype - it’s great to be able to see each other - and we share photos online as well as videos. Being a designer I’ve also always been interested in designs from all over the world, and love the fact that I can use images that other people have created to make something new. Because of my interest in computers I thought it would be pretty easy to get going in an online course. The technical side is fine, and I don’t have any problems getting around the Internet, or using the Web 2.0 tools, but I sometimes find it tricky to be disciplined and organised, especially when my tamariki are doing their homework and need help, or when there are mahi to do around the house. There have been a couple of times when I’ve wanted to chuck it all in, but have found the mates I’ve made on the course really supportive, and I just keep focussed on what I will be able to do for my family once I graduate. It’s great to study hard and be a good role model to my tamariki and ALL of my extended whānau and iwi too. To begin with it was tough to get to know everyone, but we started the course by sharing our stories and pictures, and now I’ve worked with most of the people on the course, feel like I have a national network of good mates all over the land of the long white cloud! Sort of the iCloud eh?!. I get a bit matekiri when I’m studying online and I can’t get immediate feedback from the tutors and from my class mates as I’m not sure I’m on the right track; I feel pretty mokemoke sometimes. But the webconferencing sessions are great. At first though the webconferencing didn’t work properly and we spent time getting the audio right but once it was up and running it was awesome. We get to see other ākonga and we’re just as good as those townies! In these sessions I can find out how everyone is, what they are working on, and stuff they are finding difficult. Kia kaha . Ka pai ! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qTznBERZDboxfzAiLU22tCrY1ougVDXWFxqDafy_-oY/edit
- Conceptualise – which initiates the design process and consists of imagine, design and prepare. After contacting the rest of the group via Skype, Ruru and his group decide who is going to take the lead, and who will follow up on progress. They also discuss strategies, ideas, and deadlines. The group set up a Mindmeister mindmap and make sure that it has been shared with everyone, and then brainstorm into it while also consulting Wikipedia for insight into some of the key terminology and concepts, as well as for inspiration. Ruru meanwhile Tweets a couple of questions out to his Twitter community (several of whom are architects) around environmental sustainability.
- Consider – which covers the ways in which tools such as blogs, e-portfolios and Multiple Choice Questions are used. Before the group sign off they also set up a PB Works wiki site, and a Diigo account to collaboratively bookmark any of the useful resources they find online. A discussion around key tags and categories, along with the necessity for annotation plus a brief evaluation, helps ensure that the resources they discover are actually useful. Finally, the group members check that they have Skype contacts and mobile phone numbers for each other.
- Communicate – which covers how to moderate asynchronous and synchronous forums Over the next couple of weeks the group start to research. Ruru searches Google with some of the key words and phrases that he brainstormed with his classmates. He explores an online community of architects , and finding someone whose work he likes, Ruru emails her with some questions about design.
- Capture – which covers the ways in which search engines, OER repositories and social bookmarking can be used to find and collate relevant resources and activities. He also watches some videos around the subject, attends a couple of Webinars for architects , accesses a metasite that collates urban planning links specific to New Zealand, searches Flickr for designs, takes a tour of Paris on a site that uses a mashup , and logs in to Second Life to visit the Architects Community and the virtual library . Every time he discovers a resource he thinks is useful he adds it to the group Diigo account.
- Create – which covers both the creation of content and activities. He is also able to access some raw data made available in open databases around soil and geology, which he collates and displays in Gapminder – an online tool that transforms the data into a dynamic longitudinal representation of soil erosion tendencies.
- Collaborate – which considers how tools like wikis, voicethread, pirate pad can be used to foster collaboration and how to work in virtual teams. The group add to the wiki as they also carry out their research and things start to shape up. Ongoing communication helps ensure that the whole group contribute, and some of the deepest learning happens during lively discussions around what specific concepts and resources imply.
- Consolidate - covers how to evaluate and embed your design Finally, Ruru pulls all of the group’s ideas together into a mindmap that forms the framework and structure for the group assignment (using the notes function on the mindmap tool to help him remember key points and sources). He types up some interweaving narrative adding links, images, and references as he goes, and checks in with the rest of the group. His last step is to add a reference list (which he has been keeping online in Noodle Tools ), and then to run the assignment through a free online plagiarism checker tool to check for unintentional errors. Their work will also be submitted for a global collaboration challenge around sustainable design.
- TECHNICAL / INFRASTRUCTURE - 24/7 IT response (crashing) - server - ensure it has enough capacity up front if the ePortfolio is being hosted on site rather than in the cloud - Wireless capability - Power points around the institution - Access to computers / bringing in own mobile devices - Upgrades / updates (not an issue with Web 2.0)...except where tools are upgraded (and you don't have a say) and you need to update scaffolding TRAINING (staff & students) - PD - faculty, - Self-access scaffolding / how to videos - Peer support - Models - Rubrics - Build in at least a couple of sessions at the beginning of a programme to get to grips with the concepts of ePortfolios and to set up profiles etc - Have a forum for students to ask questions / FAQs / virtual office hours - to clarify concepts, discuss expectations, and mentor choices
- It's hard to break these habits. How many times do you hear faculty fret, "I have so much content to cover." Why do we assume it is the faculty's responsibility to cover the material? First of all, it may be a false assumption that the material will even be relevant or correct by the time the student graduates. Second, why do we assume that it is the faculty member's responsibility to cover it? Why not set objectives for the students and let them explore and drive their own learning? The technology exists that will enable them to do so.
- For faculty, the potential for the fostering of lifelong learning and professional development are essential - walking the talk PD: • development of Communities Of Practice (CoPs) • department specific workshops tailored to the discipline; • development of a suite of online resources around ePortfolios, including models, examples, case studies, ‘how to…’ videos, that are accessible independently as well as being used in face-to-face sessions; • informal brainstorming and planning sessions; • team teaching where a teaching and learning advisor assists in the facilitation of sessions with students around the use of ePortfolios; • 'just in time' training (when an academic practitioner encounters something they need to do, and seeks help from either peers or a teaching and learning advisor); • sharing of effective practice and training sessions facilitated by academic practitioners; and • guidance for e-leanring programme integration/development groups.
- We know that one of the most important functions of education is to mold the soul as well as to inform the intellect. I worry that, in focusing on the practical aspects of enabling our students to live productive lives in a knowledge-based economy, we risk paying too little attention to the challenge of enabling our students to live meaningful lives in the world of the future. There is no challenge more daunting or of greater urgency than providing our students the ability to contend with the moral ambiguities of a rapidly changing chaotic world. It is the traditional liberal arts disciplines, especially the humanities and the arts, that often enable students to understand the world. It is those disciplines that provide our best spiritual and psychological moorings and help us to define our place in an uncertain world. Thank you for your time - any questions?
- What fundamental changes are we making in our educational system to handle the doubling of knowledge every seven years? How could business help us educate students? [Note: This chapter was originally published as Hooker, M. (1997). The transformation of higher education. In Diane Oblinger and Sean C. Rush (Eds.) (1997). The Learning Revolution . Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company, Inc. Reprinted here with permission of Anker Publishing Company, Inc.]