Who needs

guidance?

Self-directed learning and guidance in

non-formal open coursesMarisa Ponti University of Gothenburg

Two underpinnings of HE

- Teachers are subject-matter authorities- Expertise and resources are scarce

We need to revisit the two underpinnings of HE

- Expertise and resources are NOT scarce

BUT

- What about the role of academic teachers?

Does the increasing wealth of OER influence the role of academic teachers as subject-matter authorities?

Open Participatory Ecosystems:

Shift from a teacher-centred environment to

peer-teaching

BUT

The situation is far from being clear

Ethnographic study

How does the use of open educational resources

(OER) mediate the relationships between

self-directed learners and facilitators in open

courses?

The setting: P2PU

The Setting: P2PU

• Three P2PU principles:»Openness

»Freedom

»Peer-learning

• Role of the volunteer mentor:»Not teaching but facilitating

Two examined courses

• Introduction to Cyberpunk Literature:

- 1 mentor - 15 participants

• Introduction to Javascript 101:

- 34 mentors, - 209 participants

Cyberpunk Lit.: From Sage on the Stage

to Guide on the Side

I ’m going to be your tutor, well, I wouldn’t call it this way; I’ll be your guide through material we’ll study, and we are all here to learn from each other

So basically this is the idea, the course is made by you, suggest other stories, write essays, point to reviews of books as not everyone will have the time to read them all, etc.

Cyberpunk Lit.:

Creating an

Affinity Space

Cyberpunk Lit.:

Creating an

Affinity Space

Cyberpunk Lit.:

Creating an

Affinity Space

Intro to Javascript: Distribution of Ownership

It would be very good if those that

have made comments already and

those making future comments could

at the same time put up concrete

tasks that implement their ideas (ie,

doing, rather than talking about

doing). One thing I have noticed is

the expectation that I (or someone

else) is going to do this work. That's

not going to happen, it needs to be a

collaborative  effort (something like

open source software

development)....

It’s our course.”

Intro to Javascript:Puzzlement

I also find sources we are using somewhat

confusing as they are from different authors

using inconsistent jargon and are targeted at

various levels of expertise and may repeat

information from source to source. It seems

rather convoluted and inefficient. I've often

found it hard to find answers to the

questions when I have to sort through the

maze of sources for an answer that uses

different terms than those employed in the

question. I can see some value in working

this out for oneself, but it takes a lot of time

which I think many of us probably do not

have a whole lot of.”

Intro to Javascript:Puzzlement and Need for a Guide

When we are

learning, we are looking at initial hand

holding. So if I am learning a new

language, I know there are lots of

resources on the Internet, but I don't

know where to begin ... I need feedback

on the code I am writing, and on the

interpretations I am making of the

technology in my mind. This is where a

facilitator/mentor/teacher can help.

Comparing the 2 Courses

Introduction to Cyberpunk Literature:

- Abundance of OER as an opportunity

- Creation of an affinity space

- Facilitator as fellow learner

Introduction to Javascript 101:

- Abundance of OER as a problem

- Need for a teacher-like guide to use OER

Conclusions: What Findings Suggest

• OER are not

– Materials to be simply transposed to new settings

– Always used helpfully by autonomous and self-regulating learners

• OER are

– Are artifacts- in-interaction

– Learning may not occur, if people are unable to process the knowledge conveyed by OER and make sense of them in ways that enable them to complete the tasks.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Linnaeus Centre for Research on Learning, Interaction and Mediated

Communication in Contemporary Society (LinCS) at the University of Gothenburg, and the Swedish

Research Council.