Pedagogies as technologies, soft and hard technologies, benefits of soft technologies for learning (spoiler - the elephant is the teacher, not the technical process of teaching)

1. Why people matter:
elephant spotting in the
online classroom
CNHS PD day presentation
Jon Dron, TEKRI,
June 2011
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Pennant_Thomas_Hist_of_Quadrupeds_1793-Elephas.png
Thursday, 9 June 2011

2. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/ElephantJoyRide.jpg
• About learning technologies
“a field involved in the facilitation of human
learning through the systematic identification,
development, organization, and utilization of
learning resources and through the management
of these processes” (AECT, 1972)
Thursday, 9 June 2011

3. Thursday, 9 June 2011

4. What is a technology?
"Something that doesn't quite work yet"
"Anything invented after you were born"
“A combination of artefacts and
what you do with them”
“Orchestration of
phenomena to our use”
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Ww1-elephant.jpg
"Something useful produced by a mind"
“The way things are done around here” (Ursula Franklin)
Thursday, 9 June 2011

5. Pedagogies are
technologies
“a field involved in the facilitation of
human learning through the systematic
identification, development,
organization, and utilization of learning
resources and through the management
of these processes” (AECT, 1972)
Thursday, 9 June 2011

6. What is a learning
technology?
Pedagogies
Methods
Processes
hardware
Software
management systems
Organizational structures
Techniques
learning designs
assessment systems
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7. Soft and hard things
Thursday, 9 June 2011

8. tensions
Soft Hard
the adjacent possible path dependencies
flexibility freedom freedom from error
Soft technologies open Hard technologies
out the future solidify history
Soft is hard Hard is easy
Thursday, 9 June 2011

9. Moodle- soft for whom?
Hard
n ts
ude
• st
ers
ach
• te s
loper
eve
se d
our
•c
ins
adm
stem
• sy
ers
lop
eve
i nd
lug
•p as
aim
oug
nD
Soft
arti
•M
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10. Pedagogical patterns
Soft Hard
Instructivist
Constructivist
Connectivist
holist
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11. Hard is
easy
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12. Soft is
hard
Thursday, 9 June 2011

13. Revealing the elephant
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Marc-elephant.jpg
Thursday, 9 June 2011

14. Remember your best
teacher?
• tell the person (s) next to you
Thursday, 9 June 2011

15. Bhattacharya, M., & Dron, J. (2007). In Search of Quality Learning Technologies for Online Distributed Classrooms. Paper presented at the The 7th IEEE International Conference on
Advanced Learning Technologies, NIigata, Japan.
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Bonk, C. J., & Kim, K.-J. (2005). Future directions of blended learning in Higher Education and Workplace Learning Settings. In C. J. Bonk & C. R. Graham (Eds.), Handbook of blended
Dialogue is good
learning: Global Perspectives, local designs. San Fransisco: Pfeiffer Publishing.
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Perspectives on Theory, Research, and Practice, . New York & London: Routledge.
Bruner, J. S. (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Bryant, T. (2006). Social Software in Academia. Educause Quarterly, 2006(2), 61-64.
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University, Montreal, Canada. Retrieved from http://www3.telus.net/andrewchiarella/pubfiles/AndrewChiarellaPhDThesis.pdf
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S93.
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Francisco: Pfeiffer.
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88(4), 715-730.
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JISC. (2004).June 2011
Thursday, 9 Effective Practice with e-Learning. Bristol: HEFCE.

16. Putting elephants to
work in AU
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elephant_at_work.jpg
Thursday, 9 June 2011

17. Traditionally...
• tutors, phone, email
• isolated forums
• err.... that’s about it
• but it gets worse....
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18. Dialogue v Structure
Dialogue
Structure
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19. Design for control
Collective
control
Learner Negotiated Teacher
control control control
autonomy dialogue structure
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20. The Landing
• a soft place
• made of hard pieces and
soft pieces
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21. Sharing ideas Bookmark Feeling less alone
Wikis sharing Aggregating
Knowing what others are doing and thinking
Blogs Photo and media sharing
Supporting course sharing and interaction
Groups Knowing what is happening
Microblogs (like Twitter) Finding interesting people
Sharing
Commenting discoveries File sharing
Committees, centres, programs, study groups, hobbies,
interests, leisure, research groups, newsletters
Podcasting Collaborating Discussion
Sustaining dialogue and
communities http://landing.athabascau.ca
Thursday, 9 June 2011

22. Sounds a bit like
Facebook?
• Ownership - it’s yours
• Trust - everyone is known
• Control - (especially privacy and access)
• Focus - on AU (institutional integration)
• The social network is a feature, not a destination
• If you don’t pay for the product you are the
product
Thursday, 9 June 2011

23. Sounds a bit like
Moodle?
• No special roles: everyone is equal (you,
students, learning designers, admins, etc)
• Anyone can create and share, whenever,
however, with whoever
• Soft, flexible, ad hoc, responsive, malleable
• Extends beyond the course boundaries
• Persists beyond the course (people and stuff)
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24. Design patterns
Soft Hard
• Adapt • Automate
• Aggregate • Replace
• Recommend • Filter
• Extend • Limit
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25. Not a panacea
• confusing • serendipitous, connecting
• complex • powerful
• revealing • highly controllable access
• loss of teacher control • empowers learners
• lacking boundaries • opens borders
Thursday, 9 June 2011

26. https://landing.athabascau.ca
Thursday, 9 June 2011