Introduction to ArtificiaI Intelligence in Higher Education
If Blended Learning is the Answer: What is the Question?
1. If Blended Learning is the
Answer: What is the
Question?
University of Sunshine Coast - Masterclass Workshop
26th August 2013
Professor Mike Keppell
Executive Director
Australian Digital Futures Institute
Director, Digital Futures - CRN
1Monday, 26 August 13
6. ADFI Major Projects
n Digital Futures - Collaborative Research Network (DF-
CRN) (USQ, ANU, UniSA) - 89 researchers.
n Regional Universities Network (RUN) Maths and
Science Digital Classroom: A Connected Model for all
of Australia (USQ, CQU, USC, UB, UNE, SCU).
n Aged Care Community, Education, Research & training
(ACCERT) (Anglicare)
n Network of Australasian Tertiary Associations (NATA)
(ascilite, ACODE, CADAD, HERDSA, ODLAA, Netspot,
AARnet)
n Making the Connection: Improving access to Higher
Education for Low SES Students with ICT Limitations
project (HEPPP)
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6Monday, 26 August 13
9. Beyond Current Horizons
n Networking and
connections - distributed
cognition
n Increasing
personalisation and
customisation of
experience
n New forms of literacy
n Openness of ownership of
knowledge (Jewitt, 2009).
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9Monday, 26 August 13
11. Trends
‣ People expect to be able to work, learn, and
study whenever and wherever they want.
‣ The abundance of resources and
relationships will challenge our educational
identity.
‣ Students want to use their own technology
for learning.
‣ Personalisation - learning, teaching, place
of learning and technologies
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11Monday, 26 August 13
13. Distributive Leadership
n Characteristics:
collaboration, shared
purpose, responsibility and
recognition of leadership
irrespective of role or
position within an
organisation.
n Central premise: good
leadership is foundational
to good learning and
teaching practice.
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13Monday, 26 August 13
14. Distributive Leadership
n Identified characteristics of distributive
leadership include the building of trust,
the creation of a learning culture and the
sharing and dissemination of information
(Brown & Littrich 2008).
n
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15. Managing institutional change through
distributive leadership approaches:
Engaging academics and teaching
support staff in blended and flexible
learning
M. Childs, M Brown, M. Keppell, Z Nicholas, C.
Hunter and N. Hard
n http://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell/csu-
report-jov3hrtd05082013
n http://learningleadershipstudy.wordpress.com
15Monday, 26 August 13
16. Principles
n Innovation (in BFL and DE) needs to be aligned to
institution vision, and the institution needs to
manage the tensions that can exist between
alignment (to vision); and creativity and
innovation.
n Good practice in BFL and DE needs to be
manifested through sustainable, consistent and
supported opportunities (Childs, Brown,
Keppell, Nicholas, Hunter and Hard, 2013).
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16Monday, 26 August 13
17. Principles
n Regardless of the strategy or activity, commitment
to approaches that enable academics to take time,
collaborate, share, network and connect are
the key to innovation in BFL and DE. (Childs,
Brown, Keppell, Nicholas, Hunter and Hard, 2013).
n Keppell, M.J., O’Dwyer, C., Lyon, B., & Childs, M.
(2010). Transforming distance education curricula
through distributive leadership. ALT-J, 18:3, 165 -
178.
n http://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell/2010-alt-
jkeppell
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17Monday, 26 August 13
18. What is your ‘shared
purpose’ for blended
learning at USC?
18Monday, 26 August 13
20. Literacies
n Literacy is no longer “the ability
to read and write” but now “the
ability to understand
information however
presented.”
n Can't assume students have
skills to interact in a digital age
n Literacies will allow us to teach
more effectively in a digital
age (JISC, 2012)
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20Monday, 26 August 13
21. Developing Literacies
n Employable graduates need to be digitally
literate
n Digital literacies are often related to discipline
area
n Learners need to be supported by staff to
develop academic digital literacies
n Professional development is vital in developing
digital literacies
n Professional associations are supporting their
members to improve digital literacies
n Engaging students supports digital literacy
development i.e. students as change agents
(JISC, 2012)
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21Monday, 26 August 13
22. ADFI - Vision
‣ Digital literacies that transform
the knowledge & skills of society
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22Monday, 26 August 13
23. ADFI - Mission
‣ To innovate, research &
collaborate to explore and
influence digital literacies that
impact societal change.
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23Monday, 26 August 13
29. Owning the Place of Learning
rapport
with
technology
mobile
generate
content
personalise
connected
adapt
space to
their needs
29Monday, 26 August 13
31. Mobility
n Global mobility
n Mobility of people
n Technologies to support
mobility
n Adapting our teaching and
learning?
n Assessment?
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31Monday, 26 August 13
32. Undergraduate Students
and IT
n Monitors students
relationship with digital
technologies
n Portable devices are the
‘academic champions’
n 3x as many students used
e-books or e-textbooks
than in 2010
n Survey of 100,000 students
across 195 institutions
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34. Personal Learning Spaces
‣ Integrate formal and informal learning
spaces
‣ Customised by the individual to suit their
needs
‣ Allow individuals to create their own
identities.
‣ Recognises ongoing learning and the need
for tools to support life-long and life-wide
learning.
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34Monday, 26 August 13
35. Connectivism
‣ Knowledge has changed to networks and
ecologies (Siemens, 2006).
‣ Need improved lines of communication in
networks.
‣ “Connectivism is the assertion that learning is
primarily a network-forming process” (p.
15).
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44. Forward-looking Feedback
nStudents need to receive appropriate feedback
which they can use to ‘feed forward’ into
future work.
nFeedback should be less final and judgemental
(Boud, 1995)
nFeedback should be more interactive and
forward-looking (Carless, 2002)
nFeedback should be timely and with a potential
to be acted upon (Gibbs & Simpson, 2004)
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44Monday, 26 August 13
49. Paradigms of Blended
Learning
Enabling blends
These address issues of access and equity and add
flexibility. This might include the same opportunities in
face-to-face, online and blended learning environments.
Enhancing blends
These focus on incremental changes to the pedagogy in
both the face-to-face and online components.
Transforming blends
Transformation of the pedagogy. Major redesign of
teaching and learning e.g. online PBL.
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49Monday, 26 August 13
52. Spaces for Knowledge
Generation
n Physical, blended or virtual ‘areas’ that:
n enhance learning
nthat motivate learners
npromote authentic learning interactions
n Spaces where both teachers and students
optimize the perceived and actual
affordances of the space (Keppell &
Riddle, 2012).
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52Monday, 26 August 13
53. Physical Virtual
Formal Informal InformalFormal
Blended
Mobile Personal
Outdoor
Professional
Practice
Distributed
Learning Spaces
Academic
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53Monday, 26 August 13
56. Principles of Learning
Space Design
n Comfort: a space which creates a physical and
mental sense of ease and well-being
n Aesthetics: pleasure which includes the
recognition of symmetry, harmony, simplicity and
fitness for purpose
n Flow: the state of mind felt by the learner when
totally involved in the learning experience
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56Monday, 26 August 13
57. Principles of Learning
Space Design
n Equity: consideration of the needs of cultural and
physical differences
n Blending: a mixture of technological and face-to-
face pedagogical resources
n Affordances: the “action possibilities” the learning
environment provides the users
n Repurposing: the potential for multiple usage of a
space (Souter, Riddle, Keppell, 2010) (http://
www.skgproject.com)
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68. Flexible learning
nFlexible learning” provides opportunities
to improve the student learning experience
through flexibility in time, pace, place
(physical, virtual, on-campus, off-campus),
mode of study (print-based, face-to-face,
blended, online), teaching approach
(collaborative, independent), forms of
assessment and staffing. It may utilise a
wide range of media, environments,
learning spaces and technologies for
learning and teaching.
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68Monday, 26 August 13
69. Blended & Flexible
Learning
nBlended and flexible learning” is a design
approach that examines the relationships
between flexible learning opportunities,
in order to optimise student engagement
and equivalence in learning outcomes
regardless of mode of study (Keppell, 2010,
p. 3).
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71. Academic learning
spaces
nPhysical, blended or virtual ‘areas’
that:
nenhance academic ‘work’
nthat motivate academic ‘work’
nenable networking
nSpaces where academics optimize the
perceived and actual affordances of the
space.
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71Monday, 26 August 13
72. Academic Spaces
nBarnett (2011) suggests that academics may
be active in university spaces that may
include:
nIntellectual and discursive space which
focus on the contribution to the wider public
sphere.
nEpistemological space which focuses on the
“space available for academics to pursue their
own research interests” (p. 76).
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73. Academic Spaces
nPedagogical and curricular space
focuses on the spaces available to trial new
pedagogical approaches and new curricular
initiatives.
nOntological space which focuses on
‘academic being’ which is becoming
increasingly multi-faceted beyond the
research, teaching and community
commitments. In fact “the widening of
universities’ ontological spaces may
bring both peril and liberation” (p. 77).
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75. Outdoor Learning
Spaces
These pathways, thoroughfares and
occasional rest areas are generally given a
functional value in traffic management and
are more often than not developed as an
after thought in campus design. As such the
thoroughfares and rest areas are under
valued (or not recognized) as important
spaces for teaching and learning (Rafferty,
2012).
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79. Seamless Learning
Seamless learning
occurs when a
person experiences a
continuity of
learning across a
combination of
locations, times,
technologies or
social settings
(Sharples, et al,
2012).
79Monday, 26 August 13
85. New Mindsets
n Privileging mobile learning and
teaching access
n Embedding digital literacies into
all aspects of learning, teaching
and curriculum
n Privileging diverse places of
learning as opposed to a
singular place of learning
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85Monday, 26 August 13
86. New Mindsets
n Assisting teachers and students
to develop their own
personalised learning strategy
n Privileging user-generated
content
n Privileging learning-oriented
assessment
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