Tony Burke presentation at the Associated Schools of Construction / Council of Heads of Built Environment Conference - Birmingham (UK) 12th April 2012

3. Not proposing a shift
to online delivery

4. Not presenting
technologies as
radically new or
innovative

5. Context…….

6. Tuition fees

7. More demanding students

10. Most universities have well
developed VLEs:

11. So what’s the problem?

12. We are not fully
exploiting the
potential of new
technologies

13. Traditional model of higher education

14. INNATE RESISTANCE TO TECHNOLOGY:
 Dilutes the learning experience
 Ephemeral
 Superficial approach to learning.
 Deprives students of social aspects
 Forces students to learn in isolation.
 A way of reducing costs

16. “For most of the
twentieth century our
educational system has
been built on the
assumption that teaching
is necessary for learning
to occur …. This model
simply cannot keep up
with the rapid rate of
change in the twenty-first
century.”

17. CONSTRUCTION EDUCATION
Shift away from….

18. OLD MODEL:
•Instructional
•Behaviourist
•Outcomes-based
•Didactic
•Focus on the individual
Towards…..

19. NEW MODEL
•Constructivist
•Active learning
•Student engagement
•Group work
•Enquiry-based approaches
•Collaboration
•Participation
•Reflection

20. Becoming part of a
Community of Practice

21. Are we overlooking something?

22. The technologies we now have
available to us fit in perfectly
with this approach to education

23. Citing Conole (2008):
“Arguably…. there has
never been a better
alignment of current
thinking in terms of
good pedagogy ……
with current practices in
the use of technologies”

25. Wikis

26. Discussion boards

27. Blogs

28. Social networking

29. Social bookmarking

30. Videos, images, screencasts…

31. Personal learning environment

32. “…learning should be viewed in terms of an
environment – combined with the rich resources
provided by the digital information network –
where the context in which learning happens, the
boundaries that define it, and the students,
teachers, and information within it, all coexist and
shape each other in a mutually reinforcing way.”

33. A perfect
alignment…

34. Digital natives?

35. Survey of new Undergraduate Construction Studies Students – Westminster - Sept 2011

36. Survey of new Undergraduate Construction Studies Students – Westminster - Sept 2011

37. Survey of new Undergraduate Construction Studies Students – Westminster - Sept 2011
• 89% had PC / laptop
• 16% had iPad or similar
• 87% had smart phone

38. Survey of new Undergraduate Construction Studies Students – Westminster - Sept 2011
• 66% did not regularly update
their Facebook status
• 80% did not have a Twitter
account

39. Survey of new Undergraduate Construction Studies Students – Westminster - Sept 2011
• 86% had never
maintained a blog
• 73% had never, or
rarely, read a blog

40. Survey of new Undergraduate Construction Studies Students – Westminster - Sept 2011
• 72% had never contributed
to a wiki
• 54% had never contributed
to a discussion board

41. Survey of new Undergraduate Construction Studies Students – Westminster - Sept 2011
• 53% had never used image
hosting services
• 78% had never used social
bookmarking services
What does this tell us?

42. We can’t assume
our students are
digitally literate

43. BLENDED LEARNING
Personal
study in
library
Must be properly designed
Face- to-
face small
group
working
Online
discussion
boards
Mobile
Online private study
learning

44. New 15 credit module for first year students taken
intensively over a six week period at start of course
GROUP PROJECT INDIVIDUAL E-PORTFOLIO
Collaborative project. Students A personal electronic portfolio
work in groups to undertake prepared using Google Sites.
research and create a wiki based Portfolio contains a range of
on a recently completed building. evidence to demonstrate
Use of other technologies • Information skills
strongly encouraged. • Digital literacies
• IT Skills
• Study skills
informs feeds into • Reflection
• Evaluation
• Personal development planning
GROUP PRESENTATION • Numeracy
Students work in groups to prepare • Self-management
and deliver a brief presentation • Problem solving
using MS PowerPoint

45. A suggestion…..

46. Establishing an online community
of construction academics

47. Further reading…

48. Image credits
Slide No. Slide No.
http://lonewolflibrarian.wordpress.com/tag/cloud- http://www.generalinformatics.com/overview.html
1 computing/ 18
http://www.playgroundchildren.com/computer-futures- http://karmnirvan.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/how-to-buy-
2 right-strategy-to-let-you-know-cloud-computing-technology 21 a-telescope/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zanzo/ http://asiasociety.org/education/resources-
4 22 schools/professional-learning/get-started-web-20-and-global-
learning
http://eandt.theiet.org/explore/students/2011/tuition-fees- http://seo-hacker.com/web-20-link-building-branding/
6 intro.cfm 24
http://www.nerditorial.com/ http://3forward.com/lead-lifecycle-management/sales-and-
7 33 marketing-alignment-aint-happening/
http://www.braintrack.com/college-and-work- http://career-engagement.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/dancing-
9 news/articles/higher-education-state-funding-at-record- 34 with-digital-natives-book.html
low-11030901
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/dec/15/crowd http://nowmediamarketing.com/internet-marketing/digital-
13 ed-lectures-harm-top-students 42 natives-marketing/
http://www.innovatrs.com/blog/innovations-mean-cloud-
14 computing-has-reached-maturity
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/InfoKits/effective-use-of-
15 VLEs/intro-to-VLEs/introtovle-approaches