Technology and the Challenges of moving from Formal to Informal Learning

E-Learning Russia 3 June 2010

Professor David Vincent

Pro-Vice-Chancellor Strategy & External Affairs

Formal and Informal learning

• The nature of informal learning

• E-Learning and the growth of informal learning

• Building the bridge and how to do it

• 5 challenges of moving between formal and informal

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Informal vs Formal Learning…• The terms formal and informal learning have nothing to

do with the formality of the learning, but rather with the direction of who controls the learning objectives and goals. In a formal learning environment the teacher or HEI sets the goals and objectives, while informal learning means the learner sets the goals and objectives (Cofer, 2000).

The concept of informal learning... Informal adult learning is taken up for its own intrinsic

value. It encompasses a huge variety of activities: it could be a dance class at a church hall, a book group at a local library, cookery skills learnt in a community centre, a guided visit to a nature reserve or stately home, researching the National Gallery collection on-line, writing a Wikipedia entry or taking part in a volunteer project to record the living history of particular community.

The Learning Revolution, Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, 20094

A healthy society is a learning societyInformal adult learning:

• Contributes to the health & well-being of communities• Builds confidence and adds to personal fulfilment• Provides a route back into education for the low-

skilled or those with a negative experience • Acts as a stepping stone to further learning,

qualifications and more rewarding work• In a period of economic downturn helps individuals re-

train and re-skill The Learning Revolution, Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, 2009 5

Within, not apart from• ‘Traditional’ formal Higher Education alone cannot meet

these challenges• To meet the demands of a rapidly increasing and

diversifying worldwide student population requires innovative approaches which use e-learning to promote access to learning and academic programmes throughout an individual’s lifetime

• Within this HEIs must recognise the important role of informal learning

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Take The OU• 250,000 people are currently studying with the OU, nearly all

students are studying part-time• 10,000 students have disabilities• A third of UK undergraduate students have entry qualifications

lower than those normally demanded by other UK universities• 20% of new UK undergraduates live in the 20% most deprived

areas of the country• About 70% of undergraduates are in full-time employment• More than 50,000 students are sponsored by their employers• Most OU courses are available throughout Europe - some

available in many other parts of the world• More than 25,000 OU students live outside the UK• The OU is ranked among the top UK universities for the quality of

its teaching

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Revolutionary opportunities • Apart from our formal learning pedigree, we are also innovators

in informal learning. • The opportunities:

– Reaching informal learners on a worldwide scale– Bringing informal learners into formal HE

• OU examples:– BBC– OpenLearn– YouTube, Facebook, iGoogle– iTunesU– Second Life– SocialLearn

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Science at the OU

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OpenLearn

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How is OpenLearn being used?• Over 17.5m downloads since it started• Over 300,000 visitors a month• 90% new to the OU• 50% international• OU students and prospective students• Global HE community• Widening participation• Work-based learning• Schools & colleges & prisons• 6,000 registrations through site

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YouTube, Facebook, iGoogle

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New Channels to reach learner? With rich / AV content?

http://www.youtube.com/ou

http://podcast.open.ac.uk

http://itunes.open.ac.uk

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Social Video and YouTubea community solution

http://www.youtube.com/ou

YouTube users can distribute our videos by embedding them in other websites, often blogs and social networks. We can have a conversation with our viewers via comments, contests, groups, asynchronous chat and bulletins.

Viewers can feedback to us by marking a video as a favourite, sending us a message, adding our channel as a friend or subscribing.

Playlists to connect to others content! Bring your uploaded video into our playlist

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iTunesU

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• The iTunes music store, open 6 years & sold 6 Billion songs

• 75 Million credit card accounts

• Powerful mobile synch • iTunes U. open -2007

June 2008 UKOU + 2 …

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Open University on iTunes U

Over 17.5 million downloads.

Over 1.7 million visitors downloaded files.

Currently averaging over 295,000 downloads a week.

Over 1 Terabyte each week.

89 % of visitors from outside the UK.

1 in 14 go on to visit the OU website.

OU nearly always featured by Apple, in top 10 and often top three most popular.

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http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/microscope

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S276 GeologyOpen University

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Second Life Building Community in a Virtual World

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SocialLearn

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Beyond social networking…

From:

• people like me

• “friends”

• informal chat

• quick facts / info. exchange

• simplistic numeric ratings

• tag clouds

• shopping recommendations

To:

• people who challenge/stretch me

• learning peers/mentors

• learning conversations

• learning journeys/depth

• endorsements and critiques

• meaningfully connected ideas

• learning recommendations

Building the Bridge and how to do it

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The Opportunity: The Crisis of the Formal system• Formal learning cannot do this:• The Cost of Expansion• The Excluded Classes• The Migrant Populations• The Lost Generations

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5 challenges when moving from formal to informal learning…

• The student journey• Technology and quality• Unbundling the formal model• Globalising the formal model• The sustainable university

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Challenge 1: Facilitating the Student Journey

• Global Online• OpenLearn and BBC sites as recruiters• OpenLearn as preparation• APEL (Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning• Integrating Web 2.0 learning elements into courses

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Challenge 2: Technology and Quality‘The notions of collective intelligence and mass

amateurization are redefining scholarship as we grapple with issues of top-down control and grassroots scholarship.’ (Horizon Report)

The University of the People The Assessment of e-learning and informal learning EADTU and E-xcellence Fraud and impersonation

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Challenge 3: Unbundling the Formal Model Recruitment, Curriculum, Teaching, Guidance,

Assessment, Award Specialised Services by Specialised Bodies London University External Varsity and UNISA Liverpool and Laureate The Textbook Providers e.g. Pearson

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Challenge 4: Globalising the Formal Model

With the growing availability of tools to connect learnersand scholars all over the world — online collaborativeworkspaces, social networking tools, mobiles, voice-over-IP, and more — teaching and scholarship are transcending traditional borders more and more all the time.” (page 5) Education has gone global (The Horizon Report (2009)

But, technology is not as global as Education needs…30

The digital divide - Internet

31Source: ITU

32Source: ITU

The digital divide - Mobile

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Public/Charitable Funding

Mainstream University Business

Customer

Challenge 5: The sustainable university

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Thank you