Three generations of Technology Enhanced Pedagogy in

Edmonton Schools

Terry Anderson, Professor and Canada Research Chair in

Distance Education

Introduction

Terry Anderson’s CV in Wordle Tag Cloud

• “Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well.” – Aristotle (384-322 BC)

http://httphttp:/

Givens:

• Our students and ourselves must become lifelong learners• Global access to digital information and human connection

is the greatest tool for learning since the invention of writing

• Exploiting and contributing to Net communities and resources requires new literacies

• No one knows more about teaching and learning than practicing teachers

• Teachers, like other professionals are busy and have first lives as well as Second Life

• We can learn to teach and to learn more effectively

Dealing with Distance Education Technological Determinism

The Man with the Magic Lantern, a tribute to educator Ned Corbett

• Students today can’t prepare bark to calculate their problems. They depend on their slates which are more expensive. What will they do when their slate is dropped and it breaks? They will be unable to write!”Teachers Conference, 1703

From Father Stanley Bezuska Boston College

• Students today depend upon paper too much. They don’t know how to write on slate without chalk dust all over themselves. They can’t clean a slate properly. What will they do when they run out of paper?”Principal’s Association, 1815

From Father Stanley Bezuska Boston College

• Students today depend too much upon ink. They don’t know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink will never replace the pencil.”National Association of Teachers, 1907

From Father Stanley Bezuska Boston College

• Students today depend upon store-bought ink. They don’t know how to make their own. When they run out of ink they will be unable to write. This is a sad commentary on modern education.”The Rural American Teacher, 1929

From Father Stanley Bezuska Boston College

“Students today depend upon these expensive fountain pens. They can no longer write with a straight pen and nib (not to mention sharpening their own quills).

We parents must not allow them to wallow in such luxury to the detriment of learning how to cope in the real business world, which is not so extravagant.”PTA Gazette, 1941

From Father Stanley Bezuska Boston College

• “Ball point pens will be the ruin of education in our country. Students use these devices and then throw them away. The American virtues of thrift and frugality are being discarded. Business and banks will never allow such expensive luxuries.”Federal Teacher, 1950

From Father Stanley Bezuska Boston College

• Online education “is not a progressive trend towards a new era at all, but a regressive trend, towards the rather old era of mass production, standardization and purely commercial interests.” David Noble, 1998

Remember – The Social Construction of Technology

Distance Education is, by definition, technologically mediated and thus is influenced by technological determinism.

BUT…. • Interpretative Flexibility

– each technological artifact has different meanings and interpretations• Relevant Social Groups

– many subgroups of users with different applications• Design Flexibility

– A design is only a single point in the large field of technical possibilities• Problems and Conflicts

– Different interpretations often give rise to conflicts between criteria that are hard to resolve technologically

• (Wikipedia, Sept, 2009)

Bijker, W. (1999). Of Bicycles, Bakelites and Bulbs: Towards a Theory of Sociotechnical Change.

Three Generations of Flexible Learning Pedagogies

1. Behaviourist/Cognitive – Self Paced, Individual Study

2. Constructivist – Groups3. Connectivist – Networks

and Collectives

1. Behavioural/Cognitive Pedagogies

• “tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em,

• tell ‘em • then tell ‘em what you

told ‘em”

Direct Instruction

Gagne’s Events of Instruction (1965)

1. Gain learners' attention2. Inform learner of objectives3. Stimulate recall of previous information4. Present stimulus material5. Provide learner guidance6. Elicit performance7. Provide Feedback8. Assess performance9. Enhance transfer opportunities

Basis of Instructional Systems Design (ISD)

Enhanced by the “cognitive revolution”

• Chunking • Cognitive Load• Working Memory• Multiple Representations• Split-attention effect• Variability Effect• Multi-media effect

– (Sorden, 2005)“learning as acquiring and using conceptual and cognitive structures” Greeno, Collins and Resnick, 1996

Focus is on the Content and the Individual Learner

Focus on Content• Massive global decrease in costs, complexity

and collaboration,• Massive Increase in convenience and access

Open Educational Resources

• “

Behaviourist/Cognitive Knowledge Is:

• Logically coherent, existing independent of perspective

• Largely context free• Capable of being transmitted• Assumes closed systems with

discoverable relationships between inputs and outputs

Behavioural/cognitive learning is necessary but not sufficient for quality education.

2nd Generation Constructivist Ed Tech Pedagogy

• New knowledge is built upon the foundation of previous learning

• The importance of context• Errors and contradictions are useful• Learning as an active rather than passive process, • The importance of language and other social tools in

constructing knowledge• Focus on negotiation, meta-cognition and evaluation as a

means to develop learners’ capacity to assess their own learning

• The importance of multiple perspectives - groups• Need for knowledge to be subject to social discussion,

validation and application in real world contexts – (from Honebein, 1996; Jonassen, 1991; Kanuka & Anderson, 1999)

Constructivist Knowledge is:

• Socially constructed• Arrived at through dialogic

encounter– (Bakhtin, 1975)

• “education as the discursive construction of shared knowledge”– (Wegerif, R., 2009)

Kathy Sierra http://www.speedofcreativity.org/

Assessing students using Constructivist Learning

• “What is important is the process of knowledge acquisition, not any product or observable behavior.”– Jonassen, 1991

Constructivist learning is about:

• Motivation• Feedback• Alternate and conflicting viewpoints

Impact (Mean effect size) of Cooperative versus Individualistic Learning contexts

Dependent Variable

Achievement .64 -88

Interpersonal Attraction .67-82

Social Support .62-.83

Self-esteem .58- .67

Time on task .76

Attitudes towards task .57

Quality of reasoning .93

Perspective taking .61

From Johnson and Johnson (1989). Cooperation and competition. Theory and research

Advances in Constructivist Learning Tools

• Easier tools for group formation and collaborative production.– LMS advances, – Group editing – wiki, Google docs– Free synchronous tools- Skype– Beyond email – texting, Twitter,

location awareness, immersive

environments

Problems with Groups• Restrictions in time, space, pace, &

relationship - NOT OPEN• Often overly confined by leader

expectation and institutional curriculum control

• Usually Isolated from the authentic world of practice

• “low tolerance of internal difference, sexist and ethicized regulation, high demand for obedience to its norms and exclusionary practices.” Cousin & Deepwell 2005

• “Pathological politeness” and fear of debate

• Group think (Baron, 2005)• Poor preparation for Lifelong Learning

beyond the course

Paulsen (1993)Law of Cooperative Freedom

Relationships

• Constructivist learning in Groups is necessary, but not sufficient for advanced forms of learning.

3rd Generation - Networked Learning using Connectivist Pedagogy

• Learning is building networks of information, contacts and resources that are applied to real problems.

Connectivist Learning PrinciplesGeorge Siemens, 2004

• Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions. • Learning is a process of connecting information sources

and people. • Learning may reside in non-human appliances. • Capacity to know is more critical than what is currently

known. • Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to

facilitate continual learning.• Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent

of all connectivist learning activities.

Connectivist Knowledge is

• Emergent• Distributed• Chaotic• Fragmented• Non sequential• Contextualized

Connectivist Learning designs

Awareness and Receptivity

Connection formingSelectionFiltering

Contribution and Involvement

Reflection and Metacognition

Pettenati, M. (2007).

7Th Grade Learning Today

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEls3tq5wIY• Wendy Dexler

Connectivist focuses on Networks - - not Groups

Group

NetworkShared interest/practice

Fluid membershipFriends of friends

Reputation and altruism drivenEmergent norms, structures

Activity ebbs and flowsRarely F2F

Metaphor: Virtual Community of Practice37

Dron and Anderson, 2007

Networks add diversity to learning

“People who live in the intersection of social worlds are at higher risk of having good ideas” Burt, 2005, p. 90

What pedagogy is best for Learning??

What type of learning?

Anderson, Krathwohl et al (2001) revision of Bloom’s (1956) model of the cognitive domain

Graphics from Atherton (2010)

Cog/Beh1st Gen

Constructuvist.2st Gen

Connectivist.3st Gen

Pedagiogy Conclusion

• Behavioural/Cognitive models are useful for memory and conceptual knowledge acquisition.

• Constructivist models develop group skills and trust.

• Connectivist models and tools introduce networked learning and are foundational for lifelong learning in complex contexts

• 21 Century Literacy's and skills demand effective use of all three pedagogies

• Desperate need to develop means and tools to both teach and assess 21st Century learning needs.

• If you’re not feeling a bit overwhelmed, you aren’t paying attention.

• Very active R&D area (LMS companies, Web 2.0, learning analytics – ie LAC11)

Barriers to Adoption Technology Of Enhanced Learning at all 3 generations

Data from 2009 survey of 1,000 American K12 teachers – Walden UniversityEducators, Technology and 21st Century Skills

Data from 2009 survey of 1,000 American K12 teachers – Walden UniversityEducators, Technology and 21st Century Skills

Making Effective ChangeEverett Rogers (2001)

• Perceived Relative advantage• Observability – build a net presence• Compatibility• Trialability – teachers like students need safe

opportunites to practice, have fun and enjoy recesses

• Complexity – familiarity with one web 2.0 tool leads to ease of use with others

Standard ‘solutions’ to tech underuse

• More support from AVP, Principal, superintendent

• More time to learn• Fewer students to teach• More money for better technology• More Dept of Educ. curriculum resources• Better students

Acceptable Use Policies

• There is bad stuff on the Net• The Net is the most powerful Learning tool ever

invented.• There is help!!

• We need Acceptable Use Policies, but they must make sense for a networked era:

• See A wiki– Social Media Guidelines at

socialmediaguidelines.pbworks.com

How do we deal with Net Threats?

• “If parents and teachers do not provide guidance and support, students will depend upon their immature and naïve peers” Choulat 2010 “

• Are you comfortable and competent to talk to your students about Net Safety??

Are Internet Blocking Sites effective?

• Access to the net through mobile devices (tablets through cell phones), is becoming the primary means of access – these are beyond school control.

• Sometimes access restrictions (Netnanny etc.) inhibit capacity to teach about Internet safety and can deprive access to effective learning (like Youtube, TeacherTube etc.)

• Tools should be under individual or school control

Should your ‘Friend’ your Students on

• “Any teacher who links to a student on MySpace or Facebook is an ABSOLUTE FOOL!!!!!” see discussion at Doug Johnson’s blog”

• “This is how students communicate today and if we're not Tweeting, texting, emailing, commenting, then we're not communicating with our students” Principal Chris Lehman

• “The School Principal just Friended me” blog by 11 year old Ador Svitak

Cyberbullying •About half of young people have experienced some form of cyber bullying, and 10 to 20 percent experience it regularly•Mean, hurtful comments and spreading rumors are the most common type of cyber bullying•Girls are at least as likely as boys to be cyber bullies or their victims•Boys are more likely to be threatened by cyber bullies than girls•Cyber bullying affects all races•Cyber bullying victims are more likely to have low self esteem and to consider suicide•http://www.cyberbullying.us/

Take an online Course

•CyberSmart! Online Workshops Facilitated Professional Development in 21st Century SkillsFive Online Workshops•

Recommendations for teachers

• The Net can enhance all effective pedagogies• Be as fearless as your students.• Seek out or create opportunities to learning

from and collaborate with.• You can’t do everything, but doing the same

over and over gets you further and further behind.

• Greenhow,2008 University of Minnisota College of Education survey study. "Students are developing a positive attitude towards using technology systems, editing and customizing content and thinking about online design and layout. They're also sharing creative original work like poetry and film and practicing safe and responsible use of information and technology. The Web sites offer tremendous educational potential.”

Social Networking benefits outside of the classroom

• Qualitative study of low income US students• “Our findings reveal that SNSs served important roles for

these students,– They facilitated emotional support, relational maintenance and – provided a platform for self-presentation where students could “be

more relaxed,”“mess around,” and perform on their own terms with the social, cultural, and technical tools at their disposal.

– Students used their online social network to fulfill essential social learning functions, meeting a range of interpersonal needs, including validation and appreciation of creative endeavors, peer support from current and former classmates, and targeted help with school-related tasks.

Greenhow, & Robelia (2009) Old Communication, New Literacies: Social Network Sites as Social Learning Resources. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 14(4)

The Walled Garden – with a Gate

Access Controls in Elgg

Building Airplanes in the Sky

• EDS TV ad

Slides available at http://www.slideshare.net/terrya/hub-de-summit-sydney

Terry Anderson terrya@athabascau.ca

Blog: terrya.edublogs.org

Your comments and questions most welcomed!