cscl and standards for learning technologies ola berge netværket ikt og læring, e-learning lab at...
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CSCL and Standards for Learning Technologies
Ola Berge
Netværket IKT og Læring, e-Learning Lab at Aalborg University, 26.10.2006
Outline• Learning technology “standards”
– Learning objects
– SCORM
– IMS Learning Design
• Reuse of digital learning resources
• Current status of CSCL research and standards
• Why standards will become important for CSCL research
Motivation for standardization
• Improve cost efficiency in learning resource development
• Improve quality of learning experiences
• Obtained by reuse of learning resources
Learning objects
• Learning objects facilitate reuse
• Modular units, assembled to create larger constructs (e.g. lessons)
• Two components:
– Metadata & content
<lom xmlns="http://ltsc.ieee.org/xsd/LOM">
<general>
<identifier>
<catalog>URI</catalog>
<entry>http://www.uio.no/~olaberge/LO/CS_110</entry>
</identifier>
<title>
<string language=”en”>Heap Sort Visualization</string>
</title>
<language>en</language>
<description>
<string language=”en”>
The applet reveals the inner workings of the Heap Sort sorting
algorithm at an abstract level.
</string>
<keyword>
<string language=”en”>Heap sort</string>
</keyword>
<keyword>
<string language=”en”>Java loop structure</string>
</keyword>
[...]
SCORM
• Predominant approach to standardization by early adopters
• Originates in requirements from training in the US military and aviation industry
• Many LMS vendors claim conformance
SCORM• The goal is to “provide access to the
highest quality education and training, tailored to individual needs, delivered cost-effectively anytime and anywhere” (ADL, 2004)
• “aims to foster creation of reusable learning content as ‘instructional objects’ within a common technical framework for computer-based and Web-based learning” (ADL, 2004)
Concern with SCORM
• “SCORM is essentially about a single-learner, self-paced and self-directed. It has a limited pedagogical model unsuited for some environments.” (Kraan & Wilson, 2002)
IMS Learning Design• Reuse of teaching strategies and
educational goals
• Support pedagogical diversity and innovation
• A learning design describes, in a formal meta-language, the way “people in specific groups and roles engage in activities using an environment with appropriate resources and services” (Oliver & Tattersall, 2005, p. 21)
Learning design as a script
• Metaphor: Learning Design as a script for a theatrical play
– Persons in roles
– Performs activities within environments
– Methods: Plays, acts, and role-parts
Concern with IMS LD
• IMS LD is a complex specification
• It requires a supporting framework of components and services
• Such support still under development
Reuse• Generally understood to involve materials
that are created once and used numerous times in various contexts, in the form of learning objects (Downes, 2004; Duval & Hodgins, 2004; Littlejohn, 2003a; Wiley, 2000)
• Forms of reuse:– Reuse as is
– Repurposing (reuse in a different context)
– Customization (reuse with adaptations made)
(Doorten, Giesbers, Janssen, Daniels, & Koper, 2003)
Taxonomy of Reuse
Quaternary Pedagogical approach
Tertiary Course design
Secondary Course design components
PrimaryOwn
materialExternal material
Repurposed external material
Reification of practice
Standards and the Taxonomy
• How do the standards address the four levels of reuse?
– Primary: SCORM – learning objects described with IEEE LOM metadata
– Secondary: Not explicitly addressed. Can be part of an IMS LD learning unit
– Tertiary: IMS LD, (SCORM)
– Quaternary: None
Computer Supported Collaborative Learning• CSCL is “concerned with meaning and the
practices of meaning-making in the context of joint activity and the ways in which these practices are mediated through designed artifacts.” (Koschmann, 2002)
• Meaning-making as social practices of joint meaning-making (Stahl, 2002)
• Artifact mediation can be seen more generally than just transmission of personal opinions through a technological artifact. (Stahl, 2003)
CSCL and standards
• Modest, but growing interest in learning technology standards and specifications
• Little interest in SCORM
• More attention on IMS LD
• Collaboration scripts
Current focus of CSCL
• Experimental systems
• Sustainable deployment currently in the background
• But not for long?
An opportunity for CSCL
• Insights reified within CSCL systems
• Learning technology standards facilitate a looser binding
• Standards represent an opportunity for sustainable deployment of CSCL systems
A challenge
• Providing support for students’ learning processes by structuring activities
• Allowing sufficient flexibility for productive collaborative learning processes to develop