1. Mapping the “Deeper Learning”
Literature using Cohere
OLnet Visiting Fellow: Helen Jelfs
Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol
OLnet Team: Simon Buckingham Shum, Anna De Liddo, Michelle Bachler
Knowledge Media Institute, Open U.
Work in Progress Seminar, Institute of Educational Technology, Open Univ, 12 July 2011
Slides, discussions and replay: http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/5618
Cohere knowledge-base: http://bit.ly/paoq7F

2. 2
Deeper learning
“...delivers the skills and knowledge students will need
to succeed in a world that is changing at an
unprecedented pace”
Deeper learning prepares students to:
§ Master core academic content
§ Think critically and solve complex problems
§ Work collaboratively
§ Communicate effectively
§ Learn how to learn (e.g. self-directed learning)
The Hewlett Foundation
http://www.hewlett.org/programs/education-program/deeper-learning

3. 3
Key Questions for this literature analysis
§ What evidence is there to suggest that mastering core academic
content, critical thinking and problem solving, effective
communication, working in collaboration, and learning how to
monitor and direct one’s own learning are the essential elements of
deeper learning?
§ What research into these topics been carried out and what does it
indicate?
§ What is known about the mastery of these skills and their
contribution to ‘success’?
§ What evidence is there for positive links between deeper learning,
economic success, and civic engagement?

4. 4
Key Questions for this literature analysis
§ What deeper learning tools and curricula are available?
§ What improved assessments are available to measure
student’s academic growth?
§ What support will teachers and school leaders need to
teach for deeper learning?
§ What is the difference between enquiry based learning,
project based learning and problem based learning?

5. 5
Diary snapshots from the use of Cohere to
conduct the literature analysis
Available on Cohere at:
http://bit.ly/paoq7F

6. ConnectionNet visualization: 11 Apr 2011
After about a month’s work, a set of islands...
“This is indicative of the
stage I've got to — I
haven't seen the other
connections yet”

7. 7
ConnectionNet visualization: 31 May 2011
A few weeks later, and more connections are visible…
“I ve gradually managed to
make more connections
between different ideas”

8. 8
ConnectionNet visualization: 01 June 2011
It’s now a complex network of interconnected ideas…
“I began looking for
‘nexus points’ by
which I mean those
ideas/concepts around
which there is a cluster
of connections ”

9. 9
Learner autonomy: 22 June 2011
‘Learner autonomy is emerging as a key idea ...
“‘Learner autonomy’ represents a
variety of overlapping and
effective learning practices, and
implies the learner can give
meaning to learning and create
new learning tools”

10. Learner autonomy: 22 June 2011
10
Focal idea + immediate neighbours (depth=1)

11. 11
Managing self/Self-directed learning: 22 June 2011
Promoting self management in learning...
“To be more self-directed, learners
need opportunities to plan,
manage and monitor their own
learning. This means we have to
make relevant skills and
capabilities ‘visible’ to students
and develop a language for
learning development.”

12. 12
Making thinking and learning explicit: 22 June 2011
Make the internal dialogue more explicit....
“Learners are assisted in getting to
know themselves and discover the
internal aspects of learning when
facilitators model their own
strategies”

13. 13
Skills for a complex life: 22 June 2011
??...
“Integrating 21st century skills
into the traditional core
academic disciplines is essential
if schools are to offer a broader
set of skills to students so as to
enable them to succeed in the
21st century”

14. 14
Learning How to Learn: 22 June 2011
LHTL promotes learning autonomy...
“LHTL is a family
of positive learning
processes that
promote learner
autonomy”

15. 15
Learning Power: 22 June 2011
Evidence-informed pedagogic principles ...
“The Teaching and Learning
Research Programme (TLRP)
devised 10 pedagogic principles
for effective pedagogy”

16. 16
Social/Cooperative learning: 22 June 2011
Learning is not just individual but social...
“An essential feature of what learning is
about is the interactions and
relationships within which learning takes
place. In the future the distinction
between teacher and pupil, or expert and
novice, may well become blurred ”

17. 17
Meaningful learning: 22 June 2011
A different view of knowledge - 'something actively worked on'...
“Students gradually appreciate that enquiry
is an active learning process in which there
is scope to explore existing knowledge, to
shape and change it, and thereby make
their own, individual contribution to
knowledge.”

18. 18
A commonly held learning language: 22 June 2011
Structuring a coherent approach to learning...
“Discourse about learning can only
happen if there is a commonly held
language that can be understood and
enacted by students , their teachers
and their parents”

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Teachers’ beliefs about learning: 22 June 2011
To bring about change teachers need to engage in learning ...
“Teachers whose practice
illustrates effective pedagogy
have an essentially
progressive, rather than fixed,
view of what goes on in any
given lesson”

20. 20
Authentic intellectual work: 22 June 2011
A common language for schools...
“An explicit academic purpose/
goal within a school community
and the basis for professional
dialogue, cooperative planning
and the development of
professional communities”

21. 21
Authentic pedagogy : 22 June 2011
The possibility of a transformative learning interaction...
I like the way knowledge is
described as that
which is produced in
the transformative
relationship between
teacher and learner - as
opposed to the
transmission of
content from one to the
other
“What is fascinating here is the
suggestion that teacher and
learner should maintain a
stance of 'continual
becoming’”

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Where next?
§ Complete annotating identified literature
§ Begin to formulate ‘answers’ to the questions
§ Think about how best to organise for other users e.g.
students on Msc Systems Learning and Leadership;
Hewlett Foundation