04_05_2012_International Conference Interactive and Competence-Orientated Education

1. MuLLLti
Blended Learning for Lifelong Learners in a
Multicampus Context.
Conference “Interactive and Competence-Orientated
Education” - 04 05 2012
Y. Blieck / M. De Jong / L. Vandeput (KHLeuven)

2. To conclude: possibilities and
challenges for all

3. LLL1
• Age: 25
• Bachelor marketing
• Workweek 60-70h
• Interested in master
Psychology out of interest
and for professional
purposes. Would like to
graduate at 30
Photo: http://www.cepolina.com/fr/sourire_les_gens_fille_lunettes.htm

4. LLL2
• Age: 58
• Master Economics
• Currently unemployed
• Looking for a new
professional challenge.
Interested in a teacher
education program
image &copy; <A HREF="http://miro.openphoto.net">MIROSLAV VAJDIĆ</A>
for <A HREF="http://23895.openphoto.net">openphoto.net</A> CC:Attribution-ShareAlike

5. LLL3
• Age: 28
• Master of Law
• Has resigned from job
• Looking for other
professional challenge.
Not sure what.
image &copy; <A HREF="http://pinarkbulut.openphoto.net">pinar </A>
for <A HREF="http://17953.openphoto.net">openphoto.net</A> CC:Attribution-ShareAlike

6. LLL4
• Age 45
• Housewife
• (did not finish high school)
• Wants to finish high school
and then pursue studies at
university
image &copy; <A HREF="http://rrosales.openphoto.net">Rene Rosales</A>
for <A HREF="http://7624.openphoto.net">openphoto.net</A> CC:Attribution-NonCommercial

7. Welch, 2007
"Learners should have learning experiences that are
tailored to the environment and situation in which they
find themselves“ (p.232)
In A. Picciano, & C. Dziuban, (EDs.) Blended Learning: Research Perspectives (pp.5-
19). United States of America: the Sloan Consortium
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdenker/6001236724/sizes/n/in/photostream/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

8. Lifelong learning (LLL)

9. Lifelong learners who are they?
• Age
• Motivation and interest?
• Origin of motivation…
• Workload
• Family
• Prior education

10. What is lifelong learning?
• Vague concept
= extra learning
activities that
people undertake
after the end of the
initial learning
career

11. MuLLLti
We refer to lifelong learners as students
in formal Higher Educational
Institutions (HEI’s) who often
combine work and study.

12. Imagine…
• You being one of the people above,
• wanting to earn a degree,
• in the institution you are currently
working/teaching.
• What influences your chances off
success?

13. Challenges
• Educational
• Social
• Economical
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinvanmourik/488068701/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

14. LLL and higher educational
institutes (hEI)?

15. Increasing demand
• Knowledge society
• Initial diploma quickly loses value
• Diploma no lifelong guarantee for proper professional
functioning
• Shortage of human capital
=> Lifelong learning high on the agenda in various organisations :

16. Challenges for HEI
• Face mismatch skills levels and jobs requirements
• Open flexible learning pathways
• A lifelong approach to learning
• Reform themselves in order to adapt
• Be open for cooperation on all levels

17. Can Blended Learning help?

18. What is Blended Learning?
• Variety of definitions, but no consensus
• “a combination of face-to-face learning experiences
and on-line learning experiences”
• Describes an instructional rather than learning
approach
• Danger to define Blended Learning in this narrow
way

19. MuLLLti
“A good blend is a mix of study materials, work forms and
learning activities that contribute to the realization of the
objectives, which motivate and challenge the students to show
the best of themselves.”
(Vandeput, 2011: p.1.11).

20. Why consider Blended Learning?
1. To increase accessibility to education
2. Can act as catalyst to transform traditional approaches of
instruction and teaching
3. Enhance cost and resource effectiveness
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wakingtiger/3157621376/sizes/m/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xandercage/4642632285/sizes/m/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/drb62/2474763910/sizes/m/in/photostream/

21. Why consider Blended Learning?
1.
Improved learning outcomes should
remain the reason to consider BL
(Mitchell and Honore, 2007; Trasler, 2002 in Poon et al.
(2010)).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wakingtiger/3157621376/sizes/m/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xandercage/4642632285/sizes/m/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/drb62/2474763910/sizes/m/in/photostream/

22. Types of Blends…
What learner activity does the technology allow?

23. Transforming Blends?
• Four fundamental characteristics of effective
learning environments (Roschelle et al., 2000):
(1) Active engagement
(2) Participation in groups
(3) Frequent interaction and feedback
(4) Connections to real world contexts

24. Hurdles to take…
• ‘The proliferation of superficial Blends’
• ‘A focus on the scope of a Blend’
• ‘Too much consideration to efficiency and
productivity at the expense of the goal of
effective pedagogy

25. Blended Courses can offer solutions
• Increased access
• Increased flexibility
• Suited to educational needs
• Suited to social needs
• Active engagement
• Connection to real life contexts

26. But…
• Sufficient Blended courses have to be offered
• Course design involves a lot of effort (know-how as well as
time and costs) for the HEI
• Effective participation of adults in various forms of lifelong
learning in Belgium remains low
• Unlikely that HEI’s will be able to redesign any, if enough,
courses to increase accessibility for lifelong learners

27. Can Multicampus education
(MCE) help?

28. Multicampus Education (MCE)
• Multicampus education within KU Leuven Association is
defined as
‘Education that is designed, offered, supported
and/or assessed between two or more
geographical sites’.

29. Multicampus Education (MCE)
• Spearhead of KU Leuven Association
• Institutions can choose to combine resources (staff and
infrastructure)
• Several institutions could provide entire curricula (for lifelong
learners)
• Cooperation can be national and international

30. MuLLLti – 3 MCE groups
1. Social Work
2. Teacher
Education
3. Business
Administration

31. Some implications of BL in MCE
• New teaching roles for lecturers
• Copyright, Creative Commons and Open
Educational Resources
• Quality Control

32. To conclude: possibilities and
challenges for all

33. MuLLLti
• Project Leader:
Luc Vandeput: luc.vandeput@khleuven.be
• Project assisstant:
Yves Blieck: yves.blieck@khleuven.be
• Twitter: @MuLLLti
• Projectpartners:

34. Relevant literature
• Boeren, E. & Nicaise, I. (2009). Onderwijs voor volwassenen: wie neemt deel en waarom?
in L. Vanderleyden, M. Callens & J. Noppe (red.), De Sociale Staat van Vlaanderen 2009, pp. 315-333.
Brussel: Studiedienst van de Vlaamse regering 466 p., ISBN 9789018179106 publicatienr. 1277
• Flllex consortium (2012). FLLLEX: Towards an institutional strategy for lifelong long learning in
professional higher education (in press).
• Picciano, A. and Picciano, C. (EDs.) Blended Learning: Research Perspectives. United States of
America: the Sloan Consortium.
• Roschelle, J. M., Pea, R. D., Hoadley, C. M., Gordin, D. N. & Means, B. (2000). Changing how and what
children learn in school with computer-based technologies. Children and computer technology, 10(2), 76-
101.
Any part of this document may be reproduced without permission but with attribution to the
authors.
© 2012 MuLLLti (Blieck, De Jong and Vandeput) under a Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/.