Learning and the use of ICT in higher education. Expectations and results.

Prof. Sten Ludvigsen, CET

UCT, October 2010

Structure for the talk

Some assumptions' about the relationship between learning and ICT

Theoretical foundation – Socio-cultural perspective

Empirical section Summary

Higher education and the use of ICT.

The questions are:Which expectations are connected to the use of ICT in

higher education?What do “review studies” and case studies show

about what is actually happening?How can the difference between expectations and

reality be understood?Which theories can provide a better understanding of

the development within higher education?

Socio-cultural perspectives on learning and knowledge construction

An institutional perspective Interaction with artifacts – mediated action

Actions, activities and resources Open ups to understand how knowledge is inscribed in

artifacts and are used in the activities, related to goals, meaning potential, tasks, and different orientations Talk and actions – opens the use of technology up – black box

Rules Community Division of labor

OutputObjectSubject

Artefacts

Cultural historical activity theory

Higher education and the use of ICT.

Evidence and justification – state-of-the-art....

Reforms and significant expectations to higher education

Main factor in the “knowledge economy”

Legitimizing the sector has become a continual process but….

Higher education and the use of ICT.

The use of ICT has become a central theme in these legitimization processes

Dotcom in education Platforms Learning technologies

The number of students using ICTs’ – increases…

Higher education and the use of ICT.

Enormous expectations as to what information and communication technology (ICT) can achieve in terms of increased efficiency and quality enhancement. Acceleration

At the first Kaleidoscope (NoE in the 6th framework program) symposium a representative from the EU claimed that within the field of ICT and learning a lot have been promised, but raised the question about where is the actual results Acceleration versus change – meaning making

Higher education and the use of ICT.

The main characteristics of development in many fields are associated with; increasing diversity, competition, and globalization, selection of ICT strategies will be decisive for the position of

higher education institutions in the market.

Improve position in the higher ed. marked: invest in a technological infrastructure, and ICT must be used in

learning and teaching.

Higher education and the use of ICT.

Higher education systems as loosely coupled multiple activity systems Collective dimensions ”weak”

Tensions between policy, management levels, and empirical objects

Core – teaching and learningAutonomy as norm

Higher education and the use of ICT.

When the scenario “The New Economy” is chosen to set the guidelines for development within higher education, there is a danger of choosing a set of premises that provide little analytic understanding of how higher education actually develops.

It lacks an institutional understanding of how higher institutions work as practical place of learning and research and how development occurs.

Such assumptions can, in the worst case, give policy and decision makers an entirely incorrect picture of which factors are influencing development of higher educational institutions.

Higher education and the use of ICT.

A policy study – one example Collis and Van der Wende

Metaphors A - “back-to-basics”

Strong control – lectures and f2f B - The Global Campus

Web environments C- Stretching the mould

F2f and virtual environments D – The Knowledge Economy

Individualization and globalization

Higher education and the use of ICT.

ProblemsCollis and van der Wende’s study (2002) is

problematic: First, their interpretation of the data is built on a set of normative

assumptions about what would be the best course of development for institutions within the sector. Here, they use the scenarios as the criteria for a goal.

Second, they have ICT as the independent variable when trying to explain the development of universities or other institutions of higher learning. Given the results of both the case studies and review studies, this premise is not valid.

The third point is connected to what is being studied. Conclusions are drawn from the organizational level to the level of individuals without analyzing the pedagogic and content based dimensions of the activities.

Higher education and the use of ICT.

Results Change happening in higher education, but at slow

rate. What's slow?

The global competition that is being emphasized in the field of policy only seems to have a small effect on the choice of the form of teaching and the use of ICT

ICT increase flexibility for the studentsProfessor/teachers work more –unpaid

Change in communication patterns and presentation formats

Higher education and the use of ICT.

• Productive use of ICTs – Such factors can include a teacher’s understanding of ICT as used in

academic situations– The students’ motivation and prior knowledge– The quality of the learning resources that are developed – The quality of the interaction between the teacher and the students, and

between the students• Institutional or collective dimension

– norms and rules, the learning environment to which the students belong, the resources to which they have access, and what kinds of distribution of work that can be identified between teachers and students

Higher education and the use of ICT.

Computer Supported Collaborative Learning studies: In experimental studies and in design experiments

within specific fields of knowledge, it has been possible to show positive results in favor of CSCL environments (mathematics, science, and writing).

BUT – scaling seems difficult – what does this mean? Norms, values, what counts as knowledge?

CHAT

Objects as historical artifacts – re-contextualized in activities

Historical perception Canons of representations

Objects and actions as double change – through activity

CHAT

What kind of theory is CHAT?

HistoryDivision of labor Objects (symbolic - materiality) Change – radical transformation

CHAT

CHAT (Engeström)

Two or more activity system Network of activity systems

Boundaries Boundary object Boundary crossing Boundary zones

CHAT

Expansive learning Question and critical analysis of existing practices Historical analysis Modeling of new solutions Critical views on the model Testing and implementation of a new model Reflection and adjustment Conformation and consolidating the new practices

CHAT

CHAT and socio-cultural perspectives on learning and knowledge construction

Multiplicity as ”starting point”

Institutional development Individual development Social development Technological development – new form of

representationsNot a unidirectional process or development

Higher education and the use of ICT.

PLUTO – teacher education – national program 10 institutions over four years Develop new pedagogic and organizational models for

adapting and performing studies and learning activities where ICT has a substantial roll

Develop, adapt, or make available digital learning materials (software, contents, and services) that support these models

Establish new forms of collaboration with schools where students carry out their student teaching

Establish new forms of assessment and evaluation

Artefacts and objects The empirical basis for the PLUTO reform

Report local National evaluation Survey PhD work

CHAT

Collective aspect of human activity

Tensions Break downs Contradiction – on different levels in and

between activity systems

Higher education and the use of ICT.

Which object?

Impact and why?

Relationship between the individual and collective

Norms and division and labor, boundary zones

Higher education and the use of ICT.

Digital portfolios – creates conditions for new learning trajectories

What about ICT As infrastructure Reorganizing the information Tasks Change communication pattern The students above average users of ICT

Higher education and the use of ICT

Back to the starting point

The assumptions – ICT works on different levels – evidence on one level is not enoughInfrastructure, individual and collective level

Description and theory is needed – not just ….

Higher education and the use of ICT.

Productive use of ICT ICT may be used to develop new activities where writing is intensified and improved.

Knowledge can be presented in new ways. This can be done with the help of a number of various presentational tools. Simulations, animation, and so forth may be used to emphasize specific issues. All teachers in higher education can influence this type of change themselves, as long as the

institution has prepared for the use of virtual environments and presentational tools.

The testing and implementation of other objects such as assessment and evaluation systems, however, affects the entire institution and leads to more systemic changes. This represents changes on a collective level and depends on extensive institutional

negotiations. If one chooses to try this type of change, then the department or section must work on a collective level.

Higher education and the use of ICT.

ConclusionsThe goals and expectation is misleading Evaluation based on goal and policy gives certain

problems Normative models give not valid accounts Clear descriptive premises is needed And of course ICT in relation with social factors

works – the questions is how and what do people learn?

Incremental change leads to....

Higher education and the use of ICT.

Are the expectations or the results the main problemthe expectations as to how ICT could

revolutionize higher education – social practices are changing…..

……“rhetorical suggestion.” We need to study the actual development

Higher education and the use of ICT.

Thank you for the attention!