ccclearning

(post 6 of 7) education.au seminar 4th August 2006, Sydney
(main post + links to speakers)

Speaker – Annika Small – CEO of Futurelab UK

How can technology transform the way people learn?

The Podcast

Via video conference – Futurelab bring together communities that don’t usually have an opportunity to work together with concept development. To explore what the learner of the future might look like – what are the implications for educators. everything we do is put the learner at the heart, everything else enables the learning to take place.

user driven revolution
pervasive and ambient technologies – tiny computers can be integrated into clothing etc it’s the use of technology that’s changed.
open source and social software – By throwing open the code to users eg game creation there is a sense of ownership
The implications with open source is huge
games environments – the rich immersive environments, immediate responsiveness and responsibility, the feedback is personal; to their progress, identities and lives

our education system is out of sync with this research
Research of children’s progress in knowledge and skills acquisition when they are out of the school environment. eg Manga cartoons popularity -  a group of UK students learnt how to translate Japanese so they could share these cartoons – all out of school

learning is collaborative, embedded in our lives, online, face to face
MMORPGs multiple skills to become experts in these games, same in sci-fi sites. one Harvard professor cites a 14 y.o. girl as his mentor

Learners sharing their learning
Networked and Collaborative learners
Changing ‘identities’
Changing conceptions of production and consumption
Expectations of agency and feedback

Future of the Learner
C-learning not e-learning
connectivity, community, collaboration, creativity
(the concept of digital content is likelty to change dramatically as students can chan ge their own structures, new ideas, modelling, interaction - high speed instant access and collaboration is at the heart of all this)

Authentic learning
- immersion and simulation
- participation in real action
… there is now a huge divide between learning and doing, when they leave school and get a job their learning is not relevant. Students are already challenging this.
To not only learn about but participate ‘for real’ in issues across the globe.

Making learning Visible
- to understand what is learning – how and why
- crude assessment techniques dominate
intelligent tools can extract the learning from online logs of learning, young people are figuring out how they are doing, what they need
even now ‘comments give better results thyan grades’

reputation management learning, online communities, instant records of collaboration
not isolated learning in an isolated environment

What will be the role of the educational professional? 
What is needed to learn in these environments – need to be expert participants, to connect with learners as individuals and their personal learning needs, researchers of, guide skill development embedded in the learning environment
creating a learning hub – for connectivity

What will be the role of the educational institution? 
School not a focus for educational experiences but a site to go to share experiences and make learning local, personalised

How to get there – these new tools offer the potential not the answer
learners as co-designers
innovative applications of technology to support learning
new sites and spaces of learning
shifts to our curriculum and assessment systems

These new models are based on research not ‘pie in the sky’ ideals
Different environments are emerging all around us

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it”  Douglas Adams
We can invent the future to make it meaningful, stimulating and rewarding for all learners
Questions and Answers with Annika Small – CEO of Futurelab UK, responsible for developing the strategic direction, establishing partnerships and exploring new opportunities for Futurelab. Annika has focused on developing compelling interactive learning resources for those excluded from traditional education.

Q: (James Farmer) are these tools and processes sustainably -or do they need a lot of money to support them?
A: (my brief summary)yes young people are finding  and creating these tools about us all the time eg games do not have to have all the pretty graphics (eye-candy)

Q: a lot of this stuff isn’t new eg going outside with a video camera
A: using resources kids have and feel comfortable might be the better route to take

Q: the moment game designers attach the word ‘educational’ to games it becomes unsexy and will lessen the profit
A: I’m against the concept of ’stealth learning’ – kids love learning make it visible, fun not 30 kids in a classroom in rows not something negativeMy shameless (and proud plug) for my miniLegends’ learning with computer games
http://alupton.wordpress.com/learning/game-maker/
**** Annika asked for and welcomes any feedback and ideas from Australia  During this session we saw 3 video vignettes with Futurelab UKExample ‘Virtual Savannah’ in the back streets of London – Futurelab UK video
Kids with portable devices (pda) walked around their oval (a Virtual Savannah) and were a pride of lions. They were mapped onto a computer which was observed in the classroom and displayed on an interactive whiteboard. They had to go out into the field (mark their territory) even experience failure so they were motivated to learn more. the next stage was level 2 – lionesses had to go out and hunt. Energy levels, thirst/hunger levels indicated on pdas. later discussion – “What were you attacking over there?” Also learnt about the nature of a challenging educational experience – not just pretty pictures. “It was a lot better than reading a book, you actually felt like you were a lion.” – student

Racing Academy Game – students can change features of the cars,  using most advanced simulator ever PLUS collaborative software eg chat areas
To collaboratively explore the environment
3 stages (science/psychics)
1 – change the engine
2 – change tyres
3 – change gears

Space Mission: Ice Moon
Simulation using video conferencing
Students have to save 4 astronauts trapped under the ice, they experience what it might be like to be a scientist. multimedia, collation of data, drawing graphs, computer animated person talks to students, live ‘astronauts’, data heart beats … download data, request more, “normal air pressure has been achieved” your mission is successful