Past, present and future of eLearning Quality Assurance, ePortfolio developments, and cryptocompetencies for the future

1. ePortfolio ecosystem with a Blockchain
portfolio of cryptocompetencies
Dr Kathryn Chang Barker
FuturEd.com
Malaysia Keynote Addresses 2017

2. 27/9/2017copyright: FuturEd2
Metaphor for a futurist – watching all directions

3. My eLearning story
27/9/2017copyright: FuturEd3
 From Canada: lifelong educator and learner
 My thesis: A passion for education change.
 Concluded we needed to change everything.
And we could – superb recommendations
from OUTSIDE the education world.
Launched FuturEd 1993.
 Working at CLFDB – created first national
training standards and my FuturEd
Transformation Tools 1997
 When I first learned about eLearning –
probably 1994 or 95, I immediately thought:
this eLearning is the magic tool!
 We can use these digital tools to change
everything BUT the early adopters MUST
experience high quality before they reject it
as irritating or useless. HENCE: CanREGs.
Remember fax machines in distance ed?

4. Canada’s eLearning Quality Standards
(CanREGs: FuturEd 2002) – My quality crusade
27/9/2017copyright: FuturEd4
 Unique features
 Comprehensive
 Consumer-oriented
 Consensus-based
 Futuristic
 Based on FuturEd
Transformation Tools
 (national) Quality standards
 Shared with consumers so
they know what to demand
(consumer guides)
 Shared with producers so that
they can meet consumer
demand (quality audit tools)
 PROSUMERS
 Lead to:
 Consumer’s Guide to
eLearning 2002
 eQcheck quality certification
 Guide to Return on
Investment in eLearning 2006
 Quality Standards for
Reusable Learning Objects
2006

5. My ePortfolio crusade….
27/9/2017copyright: FuturEd5
 But then I thought: no, we
don’t want to do the same
things differently, we want to
do different things differently
Different people teaching,
different configurations of
learners (age and location
removed), different curricula,
different forms of “learning
recognition” and I thought
ePortfolio was the magic tool
to do all that and more.
 HENCE: LIFIA and ePortfolio
for All, and One ePortfolio for
life and countless papers and
presentations
 ePortfolio for
 Effective Teaching and efficient
assessment of learning
 Digital citizenship
 Skilled immigrants
 Achieving HRD polices
 QA, trust and transparency
 International education
 Etc. etc. etc.

6. “ ePortfolio is the future of eLearning” 2005 WFS
27/9/2017copyright: FuturEd6
 The heart of good teaching and learning
 It is exploratory (constructivist) rather than judgmental (objectivist).
 Focuses on “the positive” – archiving and showcasing what a person knows and can do.
 Rather than being deficit-based, it is asset-based.
 The basis of evidence-based quality assurance for learners and institutions
 Evidence-based record of achievements
 Standards-based method of planning for learning (ILOs)
 Being competency-based, doesn’t assume or imply competence or use proxies for learning.
 Personalized and scalable
 A means of creatively using virtual reality and new ICT tools
 Obvious benefits of digital evidence for learning management
 Obvious management tool for Open Learning
 Increases effectiveness and efficiency in HR and learning management systems
 Paradigm-shifting to continuous learning and personal responsibility for learning
 Recognizes the importance of all types of learning – a complete description of a person’s “human capital”
 The perfect tool to promote lifelong learning
 Foundation of digital citizenship - It can be both deeply private and universally accessed.
 Digital Me: Here’s what I know and can do, and here’s the evidence
 It is a critical transformation tool for learning systems in the future for the future.
 MY Vision of a Possible Future

7. A metaphor for an ePortfolio
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8. Digital Evidence and Digital Badges
27/9/2017copyright: FuturEd8
 And then I saw the problem with
“an ePortfolio for life” - identity
theft, privacy, authenticity ..we
need multiple identities and
multiple eP but maybe one
repository / archive for life.
 Now I think “digital artefacts” are
the magic tool BECAUSE it is a
simple concept – EVERY learning
course or module or program
should conclude with a digital
artefact of student learning –
authenticated by the
teacher/instructor against stated
learning goals and matrix
expectations of excellence.
 Why? Assertions of achievement
are:
 Evidence –based
 Competence-based
 Authenticatable
 Sharable
 Updatable
 Replayable
 Repurposable
 Creative
 ITC Skills-enhancing
 Transparent
A digital badge may be
one type of digital
evidence but not the
only one.

9. Digital Badges
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 Digital Badges. I think they are a
superb innovation…
 Micro-credentials, mini-
qualifications If done properly –
BUT the “thin edge of the wedge”
 Ideal “evidence “ for an ePortfolio
 “This is what I can do and here is
the evidence”
 And then I learned about
Blockchain, I think THIS is the
magic tool…
 On Facebook…. Where I was
lurking

10. Blockchain? Hmmmm….
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 Blockchain: the ledger
that will record
everything of value to
humankind
 Cryptocurrencies – no
government owns or
issues them
 Creating “bits of
trust”
 Cryptocompetencies
as new credentials?

11. bcPortfolios
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 Why not Blockchain ePortfolios?
FuturEd: the
world’s learning
systems own no
learners.

12. What is an education futurist?
27/9/2017copyright: FuturEd12
 While I was scanning the internet… I did what a futurist would
do –
 watch for trends, patterns, and metaphors, both inside and outside
the education world
 then try to connect the dots – dots from OUTSIDE education to dots
INSIDE
 And contemplate metaphors, e.g., learners as tourists,
 Generate futures: possible, probable and preferred
 Try to keep the big picture in mind
 Try to animate change
 Remain optimistic
 What does this look like?

13. Australian, Swedish & U.S. Companies Are Microchipping Their
Employees At Alarming Rate!
27/9/2017copyright: FuturEd13
How much longer will we need to learn ANYTHING?
“Researchers Have Linked a Human Brain to the
Internet for the First Time Ever”
AND

14. Why would we need textbooks?
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Do we need to
be in class?
Do we need to
registered in
anything or
just “google”
what we want
to know?

15. Who needs words? Do you speak emoji?
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The new
universal
language

16. Robots replacing people – feeling unwanted?
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 The Fourth Industrial
Revolution by Klaus
Schwab (2016)
 eBook from Amazon at
wef.ch/4IRbook
 Robots replacing humans
 Nano-everything
 A fusion of technologies
across the physical, digital
and biological worlds =
“smart machines”
 New forms of production
and consumption, warfare
and peace keeping,
education (like the 3 Ages
before)

17. Musk: AI Could Launch 'Pre-emptive Strike' & Cause
WW3 If it Sees 'Probable Path to Victory
27/9/2017copyright: FuturEd17
 “Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already “our most
powerful technology”. The ‘Big Bang’ of AI in all
forms – Machine & Deep Learning – has
happened, and was brought to the fore by the
‘Three Wise Men’ of Stephen Hawking, Elon
Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg”
 Stephen Hawking: We need a 'world government'
to stop the rise of dangerous artificial intelligence
 Stephen Hawking: Automation and AI Are
Going to Decimate Middle Class Jobs
 Face-reading AI will be able to detect your politics
and IQ, professor says

18. Do you ever feel….
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 Facebook knows too much about you?
Answering questions that have ONLY
been in my mind?
Algorithms analysing my behaviour
and then controlling it
Need to confuse FB and AI with
multiple identities!!!
“Google is watching you”
EVEN DOCTORS ARE
AMAZED BECAUSE
CINNAMON AND HONEY
CAN CURE THE
GALLBLADDER, CANCER,
CHOLESTEROL AND 10
MORE ISSUES

19. Conference eLearning Challenges
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1. Delineating technology --- for?
 Teaching? Learning management? Learning?
2. Adaptability and sustainability
 For whom? By whom? How?
3. Making sense of too much information
 What is important? What can be ignored?
4. Future of social learning
 Social capital development?
 Direct democracy – citizen learning and consultation
5. Sustainable development goals
 Must we change economic systems first?

20. #3 Making sense of too much information
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FILTER THE CRITICAL ISSUES:
1. Catastrophic climate change
2. Wealth / health inequality
3. Ubiquitous war
 10 official wars and
violent conflicts involving 64
countries
4. Technology gone wild
 Artificial intelligence
 Cyberwarfare
5. Fourth Industrial Revolution
 Robotization, etc.
6. One Belt, One Road
 magnitude
 $1.6 trillion in 2016
Challenges for all Learning:
1. Imperatives? Creative
solutions? Survival?
2. Entrepreneurship and /or
government accountability
3. Citizen activism and peace
making
4. Staying in touch? Staying on
top? Guarding against?
5. Teaching the things that
robots CANNOT do?
6. Intercultural understanding
and history?

21. Making sense…if we don’t, who will?
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The Copenhagen Letter 2017
We live in a world where
technology is consuming
society, ethics, and our core
existence. It is time to take
responsibility for the world we
are creating.
5 key points
#5 We must move from human-
centered design to humanity-
centered design.

22. #5 Sustainable Development Goals
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Why isn’t
this THE
curriculum?
Why do we
focus on
future jobs
instead of
work to be
done?

23. #4 The future of social learning
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1. Is any or all of
this about
learning?
eLearning?
Social learning?
2. How many do
we use in our
eLearning
courses?
Classrooms?
3. Are these tools
good for
creating digital
artefacts? YES!
PLUS
4. Social
capital
development
&
5. Direct
democracy

24. 27/9/2017copyright: FuturEd24
What do we
know about
quality?
Whose job is it
do provide
consumer
protection?
eLearning degrees
are still not accepted
as equal to
traditional degrees in
many places
#2 Sustainability
and Adaptability?
For whom? By
whom?
Maybe WE NEED A
RANKING system
for Open, Distant
and eLearning
The 43 best websites
for learning
something new
(Business Insider

25. #1 Delineating technologies?
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26. Disruptive technologies – the mind boggles
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27. #1 Technology SWOT
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 Strengths and
opportunities
 Big data
 Games and gaming
 Machine learning
 Virtual & Augmented
Reality
 7D
 Instant GIFs
 3D printing
 Cryptocurrencies /
competencies
 Weaknesses and Threats
 Cyberwarfare
 AI “unchained”
 Technology fatigue
 Unfulfilled promises
 Questionable quality

For me? KISS principle

28. Conference Themes: One word
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1. Delineating technology? ePortfolio for teaching,
learning and learning management
2. Adaptability and sustainability? ePortfolio for
personalized, lifelong learning, adapting technologies
(Blockchain)
3. Making sense of too much information? ePortfolio for
reflection, for planning and tracking “change”
4. Future of social learning? ePortfolio for social capital
development and for using social networking tools
5. Sustainable development goals? ePortfolio for quality
assurance of standards-based achievements – individual
thru societal

29. FuturEd ePortfolio learning ecosystem
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1. All “teaching” efforts set out as Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)
that are demonstrable/ measurable
2. Full curriculum alignment, and direct testing for the ILOs through
authentic and flexible assessment
3. Complete rubric description of levels of achievement from
inadequate to excellence.
4. For at least one ILO, the requirement for a digital artefact of
competence – assessed against the rubric.
 The artefact may take the form of a digital badge
5. Digital artefacts are added to the a person’s digital repository.
6. When necessary or preferred, the digital artefacts are managed
and presented by blockchain technology.
HENCE Blockchain portfolios of crytocompetencies
A vision of a Preferred Future

30. Start with your Graduate Attributes… or here…
27/9/2017copyright: FuturEd30

31. My vision of a Preferred Future
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 All learning systems will be competence-based education because it
is accountable where other approaches simply are not.
 Graduate Attributes will be understood as a contract between
learner and institution.
 The eQcheck QA system with FuturEd Transformation Tools will be
fully implemented for consumer protection.
 We will have transitioned from learner-centered to learning-
centered, from human centered to humanity-centered.
 All HE institutions will be lifelong learning centers, not credentialing
enterprises. No one will be “finished.”
 Each and every person in the education system will have an eP.
 Everyone will have multiple digital identities (eID) but one private
digital archive (Blockchain managed in the future)
 Every learning “opportunity” will end with help creating a digital
artefact of competence for cryptocompetence and identity
management.

32. From possible to preferred? An action plan:
2017 inventory and 2018 progress report?
Did you learn something / anything that you
did not already know?
Q&A
Dr Kathryn Chang Barker
FuturEd.com
kbarker@futured.com