Learners' Experiences in a Digital Age: Implications for Education

1. Directorate of Human Resources Experiences of learning in a digital ageKeynote, EdTech 2007, Dublin Dr. Rhona Sharpe Oxford Brookes University rsharpe@brookes.ac.uk

2. Why a focus on learners’ experiences? • To assess the impact on the learner experience of the investment in VLEs/MLE in HE (Sharpe et al, 2006) • To highlight voices currently under-represented in the literature (Sharpe, Benfield et al, 2005) • To explore the implications of the radical changes in the ways young people are using technology (Green & Hannon, 2007) • To discover unanticipated learner perspectives (Sharpe & Benfield, 2007)

3. “I find that quite frightening – the idea of a centrally stored database for life which contains everything I do and my world view” (visual & performing arts learner, MyWorld focus group)

4. Why a focus on learners’ experiences? • To assess the impact on the learner experience of the investment in VLEs/MLE in HE (Sharpe et al, 2006) • To highlight voices currently under-represented in the literature (Sharpe, Benfield et al, 2005) • To explore the implications of the radical changes in the ways young people are using technology (Green & Hannon, 2007) • To discover unanticipated learner perspectives (Sharpe & Benfield, 2007) • To make recommendations for learning design (Beetham & Sharpe, 2007)

5. Contributions & credits Synthesis of learner experience projects, Helen Beetham Greg Benfield Ellen Lessner Eta de Cicco Review of blended e-learning, with Greg Benfield Richard Francis George Roberts Myworld Evaluation of learner experiences of e-portfolios, with Greg Benfield JISCDesigning for learning strand with Helen Beetham

6. How have we been finding out about learners’ experiences? • Reviewing literature and institutional survey data • Interviews to record beliefs and expectations • Open interviewing to allow the learners to be the ones who highlight their issues • Using familiar technology to collect data e.g. audio logs • Guided recall, with artefacts, to prompt strategies • Purposive sampling of effective e-learners

7. The effective e-learner? • We anticipate the minority now will be the majority in future • To create advice and guidance in learner’s own language to help others • To access reflective and articulate interviewees • To identify aspects of the learner experience which are effective and can be built on: e.g. beliefs, strategies, feelings, expectations.

8. What can you tell us about effective e-learners?

9. (a) Think of an individual student who has succeeded on a blended/online course. On the pink sheet in your pack, tell me something about that learner, e.g. Their prior experience, expectations, beliefs, intentions, habits or strategies.

10. (b) Think of another student who has NOT been effective on an blended/online course. On the green paper, tell me something about that learner, e.g. Their prior experience, expectations, beliefs, intentions, habits or strategies.

11. Emerging themes

12. Key findings • Learners have high expectations across e.g. access, communication and functionality. They expect to be able to use personal technology and personalise institutional technology.

13. Key findings • Learners have high expectations across e.g. access, communication and functionality. They expect to be able to use personal technology and personalise institutional technology. • The Internet is the first port of call for information. Learners see the Internet as a shared pool of information. Some have developed sophisticated search strategies, others contribute their own content.

14. Key findings • Learners have high expectations across e.g. access, communication and functionality. They expect to be able to use personal technology and personalise institutional technology. • The Internet is the first port of call for information. Learners see the Internet as a shared pool of information. Some have developed sophisticated search strategies, others contribute their own content. • There is an ‘underworld’ of social networking which is being used to support learning

15. 1. Expectations of the VLE “We’ve never done any surveys, ever, that have given other than the students want more of it, wider and deeper” (Longside interview for HEA Blended Learning Review) Learners value flexible access to course resources: • The ‘one stop shop’ • Access to lecture notes • Support for students with disabilities • Maintaining a connection with the institution and are concerned about • Inconsistency in use between modules • Time and expense associated with downloading and printing

16. 1. Expectations of flexibility “For me, it helped with the continuity in between face-to-face lessons on the classroom. I like the fact that every day, or whenever I felt like it, I could just go in and practice [sic].” University of Deepshire internal evaluation, 2006 "For some people who suffer from disabilities and have no choice but to take time out, it is an enormous benefit in order to keep up with what is happening in lectures and what areas to read up on. Brilliant!!!". University of Eastonhall VLE Survery

17. 1. Expectations of personalisation “I use my laptop. I take it away, it's attached to me. I couldn't survive without it.” Emma, undergraduate business student, JISC LEX Report “VLEs are owned by the institution, and the e-portfolio is owned by me.” Emma in JISC Learner Voices video

18. 2. Internet for information “Which means if I type in genetics, and I’ve got stuck on something you can turn up other people’s lectures and that is quite common, .. …it’s too much to ask one university to provide all those teaching resources. So it’s a bit of an online pool” (LXP Final Report, p.22)

19. 3. Underworld So my [group] we always text each other and say, ‘oh are you coming in at this time’ or ‘we’ll meet at this time’, and so it looks on the face of it from the university website that we haven’t been communicating all year but we have. (Nicola, postgraduate law student) Yeah, I write blog nearly everyday, that is when I look into these things, and I think something is important, I write it in my blog, as a notebook ...but my .. course cannot see it. (LXP Final Report, p 44)

20. Laura

21. Towards an effective e-learner? We’ve seen that • learners are living and managing complex lives with holistic technology use and blurred boundaries between life and study, • some learners have developed sophisticated uses of technology to support their learning.

22. Developing effective e-learners access & ownership Sharpe & Beetham: Future learners, future learning

23. e-writers e-investigators e-collaborators e-learning skills access & ownership Developing effective e-learners e-create e-collate e-collaborate e-investigate Sharpe & Beetham: Future learners, future learning

24. choices & strategies e-learning skills access & ownership Developing effective e-learners Digital pioneers Creative producers Everyday communicators Information gatherers Sharpe & Beetham: Future learners, future learning

25. Developing effective e-learners choices & strategies Conceptions of technology Conceptions of learning e-learning skills access & ownership Sharpe & Beetham: Future learners, future learning

26. Some students appreciate the shift in emphasis from tutor led face to face tutorials to more collaborative discussions with peers online, whereas other students expect to have a ‘model answer’ from the tutor and were frustrated when it didn’t arrive. • Some students appreciate that working online allowed them to offer more considered responses; others express concern at the time needed to contribute effectively to online discussions. (e.g. Sweeney et al, 2004)

27. Developing effective e-learners creative appropriation Conceptions of technology Conceptions of learning choices e-learning skills access & ownership Sharpe & Beetham: Future learners, future learning

28. Managing flexibility e.g. using online social networks, using IM to do groupwork, podcasts on the bus, recording lectures on mobile for revision creative appropriation choices about attendance choices & strategies e-learning skills organising time gaining access to computer access & ownership Sharpe & Beetham: Future learners, future learning

29. “I had to leave early last week because my childminder was off … so I went onto the message board and asked for information on what I’d missed. People were kind enough to log on… and they let me know what groups I was in and what the presentation was about…”

30. Managing discussions Mixing and matching synchronous and asynchronous communications to manage group task creative appropriation giving & receiving feedback choices & strategies language of IM, public participation e-learning skills access & ownership Installing IM client Sharpe & Beetham: Future learners, future learning

31. Managing knowledge creative appropriation user created, synthesized content sophisticated search strategies choices & strategies evaluating online sources e-learning skills access & ownership downloading lecture notes Sharpe & Beetham: Future learners, future learning

32. Effective e-learning • Building and participating in virtual and face-to-face communities to obtain and validate information and to seek support and companionship. • Making good choices to manage time in blended/online courses and balance study with other commitments. • Freely blending familiar personal and institutional technology to improve their learning potential. • Creating and synthesizing own representations of knowledge from available information • Exploiting the potential of technology for learning as appropriate.

33. Some implications • For designing for learning: Designing activities which promote effective online study strategies and good choices • For understanding teaching and learning: Do conceptions of learning need to be updated for the digital age? • For learner support Where is the digital divide now and how do we reduce it?

34. Further research • How do specific groups of students experience learning with technology? • What is the experience of highly skilled online communicators and networkers? • How do learners experience change through their learning journey? • What are the critical choices that learners make about when, where and how to study? • How do learners make use of technology for learning in ways that are not expected or supported? • How are learners personalising and adapting their tools and environments?

35. JISC Learner Experience • http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning_pedagogy/elp_learneroutcomes.aspx • LEX and Learner XP reports • Four guides: • Methods for evaluating the learner experience of e-learning • IT support and provision for e-learners • Developing courses and activities for e-learning • Recommendations for post-16 institutions on enhancing the learner experience of e-learning • Learner voices CD-Rom • “In their own words” publication due September 2007

36. Learning online Assessment: lightening the load while increasing the learning Defining, detecting and designing out plagiarism Online tutoring Reflective learning Researching and evaluating e-learning Supporting Educational Change (with SEDA) www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld

37. References Beetham, H. & Sharpe, R. (eds) (2007) Rethinking Pedagogy for the digital age: designing and delivering e-learning. Routledge, London. Ellis, Goodyear, O’Hara & Prosser (2007) The university student experience of face to face and online discussions: coherence, reflection and meaning. ALT-J, 15 (1), 83-97. Green, H. & Hannon, C. (2007) Their space: education for a digital generation, Demos Green, H. & Hannon, C. (2007) Their space: education for a digital generation, Demos report available at www.demos.co.uk/publications/theirspace Madonald, J. (2006) Blended learning and online tutoring. Gower

38. References Sharpe, R. & Benfield, G. (2007) Wider opportunities for reflection, learning and development (myWorld): Evaluation Report. January 2007. Sharpe, R., Benfield, G., Roberts, G. & Francis, R. (2006) The undergraduate experience of blended e-learning: a review of UK literature and practice undertaken for the Higher Education Academy. At www.heacademy.ac.uk/4884.htm Sharpe, R., Benfield, G., Lessner, E., & DeCicco, E. (2005) Learner Scoping Study: Final Report, available from www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=elp_learneroutcomes. Sweeney, J., O'Donoghue, T. and Whitehead, C. (2004). 'Traditional face-to-face and web-based tutorials: a study of university students' perspectives on the roles of tutorial participants.' Teaching in Higher Education9(3). July 2004, 311-323