Emerging Mediaand Technologies

That EnableDistributed Learning

Chris DedeHarvard UniversityChris_Dede@harvard.eduwww.gse.harvard.edu/~dedech/

Presentational/Assimilative Model of Instruction

• Loss of natural curiosity and motivation• Superficial comprehension of

low-level content and skills• Limited retention• Inability to transfer or generalize• Students with other learning styles

left behind

Substituting Efficiency for Effectiveness

Powerful Pedagogical Models

guided inquiry learning withactive construction of knowledge

apprenticeship/mentoring relationshipslearning communities:

social exploration of multiple perspectives

How People Learn (National Academy Press, 1999)

http://www.nap.edu/books/0309070368/html

The Challenge of Educatingfor the 21st Century

Mastering a broader range of knowledgeDecision making given

incomplete informationand uncertain goals

TeamworkFiltering rather than finding

in contrast to “industrial era” education

The Partnershipfor 21st Century Skills

Six Key Elements of 21st Century LearningICT Literacy Framework Linking

21st Century Tools to Learning Skills21st Century ContentMilestones for Improving

21st Century LearningNine Steps to Build Momentum

www.21stcenturyskills.org

Educational Implications ofA Flattened World

Emerging interactive media now empower not only countries and companies, but also individuals to collaborate, to accomplish, and to learn in new and powerful ways

The Role of Media in“Next Generation” Education

channels for sending contentanyplace, on demand

“representational containers”for new types of messages

contexts that empower collaboration

evolving new kinds of meaning aswe sense and act and learn

across barriers of distance and time

Evolving towardDistributed Learning

Sophisticated Methods of Learning and Teachingguided construction of knowledge and meaningapprenticeships and mentoringinfusion of research into teaching

Orchestrated across classrooms, homes, workplaces, community settings

On demand, just-in-timeCollaborative

distributed across space, time, media

My Distributed Learning Course

http://my.gse.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?course=gse-t502

face-to-face interactionvideoconferencingwireless, handheld devicessmall group collaboration via groupwaresynchronous interaction in virtual environmentasynchronous, threaded discussioninformal website-based learning experiencesshells for course authoring

New Forms of Rhetoric

Lessons Learned

• Richer, deeper learning from mixturethan from any subset• Participants “Find Their Voice”• Time for Communication and Reflection• Peer Mentoring and Collaboration

• Very different individual patterns of preference for mixture of media

• Instructional design complex mixof cognitive, affective, psychosocial

learning styles

What is a MUVE?

A representational container that enables multiple simultaneous participants to access virtual spaces configured for learning.

A place where learners represent themselves through graphical avatars (persona)to communicate with others’ avatars and computer-based agents, as well as to interact with digital artifacts and virtual contexts.

A learning experience that provides diverse activities in support of classroom curriculum.

Synchronous Learning Environments (MUVEs)

Facilitate brainstorming and social interaction Encourage shy students to participate Enable “authentic” presentation of the self

by some learners Alter the pattern of intercommunication Allow covert and meta-communication Foster convenient access Require mastering a new type of rhetoric Require rapid reading and typing skills Require novel forms of instructional design

Enhance student participation face-to-face

Tapped In: www.tappedin.org

Learning Community

A culture of learning, in which everyone is involvedin a collective effort of understanding

Shares and develops a repertoire of resources: experiences, tools, stories,ways of addressing recurring problems

Allows a close connectionbetween learning and doing

Addresses the informal and tacit aspectsof knowledge creation and sharing

an alternative means of teaching/learningand of professional development

Distributed-Learning Communities

Range of participants’ skills and interestsgoes beyond geographic boundariesand face-to-face opportunities

Asynchronous media enable convenient participation, deeper reflection,and archiving of insights

Emotional and social dimensions rely on synchronous virtual interchanges

Broader range of participants willactively engage in dialogue

Compared to face-to-face communities,more investment required to participate

Synchronous Learning Environments (Groupware) Facilitate small-group collaboration,

brainstorming, and expression Foster convenient access Help some students to “find their voices” Enable sharing and annotating

complex artifacts and products Require mastering a new type of rhetoric Require collective time management Require rapid reading and typing Require recognition of time and effort Require time and effort to install and master

Enhance student participation face-to-face

http://moonedit.com/

Distributed Cognition

• “dispersal of intellectual functioning across physical, social, and symbolic supports” – graphing– word processing

• Vygotskyan mentoring• Handheld devices and ubiquitous

computing

Why Ubiquitous Computing

• One-to-One Student to Tool Ratio• Wireless Handheld Devices (WHD) offer

approximately 60% of the computing powerof laptops of a few years ago

• One WHD is approximately 10% of the costof one modern laptop

• Handheld ubiquitous computing – instant on, anytime, everywhere, and in the hand of the user

Emerging Digital Media MayPervade All Aspects of Life

MWDs access every type of data service anywhere (banking and stock market information, weather, tickets/reservations, transport schedules)

MWDs access data connected to locations (street signs linked to online maps), objects (books linked to online reviews), and locations (restaurants linked to ratings by their customers)

MWDs locate strangers nearby who have identified themselves as having common interests (friends of friends, fans of an actor or author)

Rheingold, Smart Mobs (‘02); W. Mitchell, Me + + (’03)

Requisite Information Infrastructure is Emerging

One-third of U.S. households now have broadband access to the Internet.

In the past three years, 14 million U.S. families have linked their computers withwireless home networks.

Some 55% of Americans now carrycell phones

The first WMD data services--radio, photos, and short videoclips--are starting to take off

Harvard’s Handheld Devicesfor Ubiquitous Learning Project

http://gseacademic.harvard.edu/~hdul/

Findings from HDUL

Wireless Handheld Devices can serve as:

o Portable research assistantso Assess what people knowo Collect people’s opinionso Digitally record interviews and capture digital imageso Collect real-time data via probeware and calculation softwareo Aggregate individual datasets

o Traveling conduits for online learningo Vehicles for participatory simulationso Artifacts that enhance thinkingo Means for locating learning resources

Media-Driven Learning Styles

Asynchronous Learning Environments (Threaded Dscssns)

Allow time for reflection and expression Enabled flexibility in participation patterns and

in provision of aid Increase the total amount of communication Alter the pattern of intercommunication Help some learners to “find their voices” Convey a sense of “publishing” Require mastering a new type of rhetoric Require management of time Require filtering skills and novel instructional designs Require recognition of time and effort

Enhance student participation face-to-face

http://concord.org/elearningmodel

Emerging Interactive Media

Podcastinghttp://epnweb.org/

RSS Feeds and Accumulatorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format)

Blogginghttp://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=126

Conditions for Successin Technological Innovation

High-quality learning tools and materialsExtensive professional developmentStrong technical infrastructureOrganizational shifts to enable

deeper content, powerful pedagogiesEquity in Content and Services

as well as Access and LiteracyStakeholder Involvement

Meeting the Challenge ofTransformation via “Unlearning”

Developing fluency in usingemerging interactive media

Complementing presentational instructionwith collaborative inquiry-based learning

Unlearning almost unconscious assumptions and beliefs and values about the nature of teaching, learning, and schooling

crucial issue for professional development

Four Levels ofLearning Technologies

Device (cell phone, HDTV,personal digital assistant)

Application (word processors, intelligent tutoring systems, educational simulations)

Medium (shared virtual environments, interactive television, worldwide web)

Infrastructure (Internet, telephone system, cable and broadcast television, cyberspace)

Beyond McLuhan

Media shape their messages

Media shape their participants

Infrastructures shape civilization