when ‘us’ and ‘them’ become one: reflecting on disruptions in learning space‐time (gregor...

When ‘us’ and ‘them’ become one: Reflecting on disruptions in

learning space-time

Gregor Kennedy

The University of Melbourne

An ODLAA perspective?

Fostering an insidious link between quality and exclusivity

The Buzz

The Online Learning World Changed

A Small Explosion

A Slow Burn then a Small Explosion

http://cmadland.wikispaces.com/file/view/MOOC

Long time coming …

These changes reflect, and have been accompanied by a range of changes in the higher education landscape:

•‘Mass’ participation in more vocationally-oriented education system

• A‘deregulated’ higher education sector

• Increasingly competitive, global higher education market

• Increasing Higher Education costs … to the student

• The gradual maturing of online learning

• Rapid technological change and adoption

• OER : Free, high quality, online content (esp. instructional lectures)

• Reinvigorated learning analytics – adaptive tutoring

• Cheap or alternative credentialing

Disruptions in Learning Space & Time

Changes in the Online learning landscape

Changes in the Higher Education landscape

Changes in the relationship between “student” and “university”

Operational RelationshipFunctional Relationship

The Student and the Institution

Functional

Why do students attend University?

What do students see as the value of higher education?

Operational

How do students attend University?

How do students engage and interact with the University?

The Functional Relationship



James, Krause & Jennings (2010)



Norton (2012)


Norton (2012)

Undergraduate : School Leaver : Arts Student


Norton (2012)

Postgraduate : Professional Entry: Health Science Student


Functional


What do students see as the value of higher education?

From Norton’s perspective there are

at least 10 different reasons

– or “sub products” –

why students might attend University.

Different students see different value

in going to University.


Operational

How do students attend University?

How do students engage and interact with the University?

The Operational Relationship

“There has been a significant decline in the amount of time first year students spend on campus…”

“On average, course contact hours have declined…”

“Time spent in private study has declined…”

“Only half of the students report feeling like they belong on their university campus...”

“One of the standout changes over time is the number of hours students spend online”

The First Year Experience in Australian Universities:Findings from 1994 to 2009

(James, Krause & Jennings, 2010, p.35)

Digital Native Students?

There is no evidence that there is a single new generation of young students entering

Higher Education and the terms

Net Generation and Digital Native

do not capture the processes of change that are taking place.

International Research

Jones & Shao (2011)

Another way of thinking about students:

- Numerous - Time poor - Working- Diverse - Strategic - Off campus

The Non-Digital Natives Students

- Access - Immediate - Flexible- Individualised - Relevant - Convenient

Mobile and Web technologies are used by students

as essential tools to support and enhance

their University and learning experiences

Where Students Learn

On CampusOut of Class

Off campusOut of Class

Off CampusIn Class

On CampusIn Class

Mobile and Web technologies are used by students

as essential tools to support and enhance

their University and learning experiences

Disruptions in Learning Space & Time

Changes in the Online learning landscape

Changes in the Higher Education landscape

Changes in the relationship between “student” and “university”

Operational RelationshipFunctional Relationship

A disruption of learning space and time

Traditional Learning Space and Time

Disruptions of Learning Space

www.sunway.com http://www.eecs.mit.edu/images/big-stata18.jpg

Do we need (to fund) Physical Space?

October 4, 2012

Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans has questioned whether the government should keep funding universities’ building programs as higher education rapidly moves online.

Physical vs Virtual Learning Space

Physical Virtual

1. Speed 2. Phase 3. Synchronicity

Disruptions of Learning Time

http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/relativity-ig-3.jpg

Disruptions of Learning Time: Speed

source: www.edudemic.com

Speed

Always Connected

ΙΙΙ

Immediate Access

Fast Response

Anytime

Anywhere

Any screen

Phase

• Intensives

• Semesterisation

• Modeularisation

• Summer School

Synchronicity

• Lecture Recordings

• Discussion Boards

• Presentation Tools

• Online Video

• Email

• Wikis

• Blogs

• Online Assessment Tests

• Google Docs

• Plagiarism Detection Tools

• Web Conferencing

• Survey Tools

• Social Networking Tools

• Podcasting

• File Sharing Tools

• Instant Messaging

• Social Bookmarking

• Texting

• Twitter

• Polls and Clickers

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

•We are experiencing a disruption in learning space and time….

•A disruption in …

The life and role of campus

Use of teaching spaces

Speed of learning

Phase of learning

Synchronicity of learning

So what …

So what …

• Possible implications for …

1. How different universities think about the ‘delivery’ of teaching and learning.

2. How we think about learning space design and student engagement.

3. The important elements of a University education and the ‘essential’

ingredients of teaching and learning practice.

Research intensive, comprehensive, campus-based Universities

When ‘Us’ become ‘Them’

Online and Distance Education Providers

Learning Space Design

1. Comfort

2. Aesthetics

3. Flow

4. Equity

5. Blending

6. Affordances

7. Repurposing

La Trobe University

Spaces for knowledge generation.

University of Technology Sydney


University of Melbourne


• The message: not less space … but different space

• The spaces being created are:

- comfortable

- collaborative

- technology imbued

- flexible

• Goal : Make the campus‘sticky’


Draw students into centralised space;

engage and then hold them when they get here

• Implications for the important elements of a University education and the ‘essential ingredients of teaching and learning practice.

Implications for Teaching & Learning

So what are these important elements or essential ingredients?


• Engagement with a scholarly community; time to engage with the public debate about the issues of the day; opportunities for extra or co-curriculuar activities (sport, music, theatre, politics, religion, clubs, community service).

• Interaction with an expert: dialogue between, and activities among teachers and learners within the structure of a curriculum involving teaching, questioning, advising, facilitating, articulating, demonstrating, guiding, observing, and the provision of feedback along the way.

• Independent learning and reflection; self-directed learning and inquiry; individually, in pairs or in groups; semi-structured study undertaken independent of the teacher as part of a cohort.

• Access to high quality, often curated, content and resources (books, reading packs, library databases, web resources, specialised software, cases, judgments, specimens, musical performances, etc).

• Assessment and, eventually, accreditation.


Scholarly Community

Expert Interaction

Access to content and resources

Assessment and Accreditation

Independent learning and reflection

SpeedPhase

Synchronicity

Cam

pus

Teaching Space


Scholarly Community

Expert Interaction




Do I need to come to campus? Do I need to attend classes?Can I get it done quickly?

Can

I ge

t it o

nlin

e?

Can I do it online?




Do I need to come to campus? Do I need to attend classes?

Can

I ge

t it o

nlin

e?

Can I do it online?


Expert Interaction



Can I do it online?


Scholarly Community


Expert Interaction



Can I get it done quickly?

And annoyingly, it varies by …

envisionwealth.wordpress.com

iconhot.com

desktop-icon.com

large-icons.com

And it varies by …

enro

lmen

ts

And by Students’ Priorities

And there are bargains to be made…

AccessQuality

Cost

Scholarly Community

Expert Interaction




Campus OnlineExpert Accredit Content IDLScholar

Face-to-Face

Free

Wholly Online



Negotiating Forms of Higher Education

Free




80%

5%

15%

Negotiating Forms of Higher Education

Wholly Online

Face-to-Face

Conclusion 1

• Traditional practices are being disrupted, not just by the Internet, but by a range of socio-cultural-political movements in the tectonic plates over the last 50 years.

http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/memwebsite07.nsf/

Conclusion 2

• All universities now need to negotiate how to provide open and distance learning, and how this is integrated with their existing delivery mechanisms and current teaching and learning practice.

Conclusion 3

• The role of‘campus’ is being challenged.

• The re-design and reinvigoration of physical space is seen as one way to attract and hold students on campus.

• But if the campus is to remain a central part of students’ University experience, then the events and activities that Universities and their educators design into campus spaces need to be seen by students as required, relevant and valuable.

Conclusion 4

• We need to understand and be clearer about the essential ingredients of high quality teaching and learning in all its forms: face-to-face, free and online.

• The ODLAA and ASCILITE communities in Australasia lead the charge here … improving staff understanding of learning design through eLearning and online learning.

• We need much more explicit about this;

And how it might be differentially valuable to a diverse range of students,

And importantly, we need to communicate to students what is valuable.

Us and Them

“Lord Rees of Ludlow, Astronomer Royal and former president of the Royal Society, also doubted whether MOOCs would affect teaching methods at Cambridge. ‘The lecturer can be replaced by distance learning - what cannot be is seminars or tutorials,’ he said.”

Times Higher Education, January 2013

“Personally, I think it has been pretty well established that online learning has captured the essentials of traditional education - access to learning materials, interaction, educational outcomes - without many of the distractions, such as commuting”

Steven Downes, January 2013

www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au

[email protected]

Thanks for listening …