the learner voice: students' use and experience of technologies
DESCRIPTION
Invited talk at the UCISA 2007 conferenceTRANSCRIPT
The learner voiceLearners’ use and experience of technologies
Gráinne Conole, The Open University22nd November, 2007
UCISA Conference, Southampton
Learner experience research
Institutions
The learner
Technology trends
Web 1.0 Information, critical massInstitutional web sites
Email for communicationInformation strategies
Integrated institutional systemsWeb 2.0
Interactive, “openness”User generated
Wisdom of crowdsDistributed, large-scale dataArchitecture of participation
A different perspective
On the train, Miranda skipped across wireless networks until she found the right podcast. Google Pod was on the money. Miranda was always good with folksonomy. She liked the sound of the South African professor's voice. What did she look like? Don’t they have vblogs in South Africa? Miranda felt a little more confident. She despatched the anime to Finland. She was about to disconnect when she remembered that Ari might appreciate the podcast.
At the cafeteria, Miranda played off MS Book Search against Google Books. She switched from one to the other, reading enough criticism to confirm her initial ideas. As she went to Project Guttenberg for the text of the play, Miranda's hand brushed her coffee cup, downloading its streaming contents over her keyboard.
fact or fiction?
Barnes and Tynan 2007, ALT-J
Another student
Phase OneReview (Sharpe et al.)LEX (Creanor et al.)LXP (Conole et al.) Phase Two
Longitudinal study -STROLL (Hertfordshire)Institutional studies - discipline differences, accessibility, practice-based learning, transition between sectors
JISC Learner experience programme
Learner voicesLearning in
the digital age
Communication & networking
ConcernsBenefits
Expectations
JISC In their own words
LXP project
Audio logs Interviews
Online survey
Conole, De Laat, Darby, Dillon
Subject discipline
differences
E-learning strategies
Experience and perceptions
LXP: Data CollectionContext In-depth case studies
Survey Audio logs InterviewsEconomics: 128Languages: 92Medicine: 31Computing: 158Other: 18Total: 427
Economics: 3 Languages: 47Medicine: 16Computing: 19
Total: 85
Economics: 2Languages: 3Medicine: 5Computing: 4
Total: 14
Changing student/institutional relationship
I think the relationship between students and the university itself, is becoming very …technological … most services are provided online, and that saves a lot of time, meaning you don’t need to come to university... a lot of information about yourself... even your grades … its been much easier to interact with the university
Almost all our communications with the university are though email…invaluable because we’re ... all off site so much…
Core tool for learning
It basically opens up a whole world of learning for everybody, you know. You can find, read up, on anything you like. In a university context, you can have all your notes and everything all on one machine. So anytime you have to look for something, you don’t have to flick through a big file, you can type, search your computer for what you’re looking for
I use email to communicate with everyone, especially lecturers; arranging meetings, asking questions about work and queries over assignments etc I write all my assignments using Word and to sort through the information I find, make notes of what I still need to do and spell check my emails that I'm sending to lecturers
Audio & Video clipsVideo
Reflective summaries Audio
In situ, emotive
Laura: Technology immersed
Emma and Jenny: Application to practice
Paul, Simon and Beth:Work-based learning
Laura:Technology-enhanced
environment for learning
Tools for learning
Information seeking and
handling
Mix of Google, Wikipedia, subject-specific sites
Peer approval
Communication Mix-mode, personal preferences
Core toolset Word, Powerpoint, Email, the Internet
Tomorrow’s students...
Pervasive
Time/space boundaries
Changing work/learning patterns
Integrated
Niche, adaptive
Transferable skills
Digitally organised
Personalised
ECAR research
studies and surveys
Access: 73% broadband, 96% Mobile, 90% PC, 76% Digital camera, 69% MP3 player, 63% Laptop
Activities: Email (94%), Creating
documents (88%), Music (84%), Searching (83%),
Chat (80%)
Emerging: Blogs, file sharing, web
conferencing, social networking
Kennedy et al. 2006
Digital natives Vs. Immigrants
Prensky
Students think and process
information differently
Siemens
Use determined by context
not age
The modern learner?
Technology- enhanced
environment
Learning approach
Task orientated
Group based
Experiential
Learning process
Multi-tasking
Multi-representational
Quick and surface
Oblinger et al., Kennedy et al.TALL Web 2.0 surveyJISC Ipsos MORI surveyEducause ECAR study of U/G and IT 2007
Changing patterns
Individual
Social
Passive Active
Information
Experience
Web 2.0User generated content, Openness, distributed
knowledge, collective value
Good learning Personalised, experiential,
collaborative, reflective, cumulative
Cetis conference20/11/07
Loosely coupled
Integrated systems
Personalised tools
Institutional tools
Student “control”
Institution “control”
Tensions...
Implications
Strategy& policy
Roles & structures
Changing teaching
paradigm
Staff skills set
Blog: www.e4innovation.com