Beyond Boundaries:some consequences of the

Open Context Model of learning

Fred Garnett – London Knowledge LabNigel Ecclesfield - Becta

The background to our sessionLearner Generated Contexts Group

A Coincidence of Motivations leading to Agile Configurations

In a User Generated Content world how do you structure learning?

The LGC group is concerned to explore the pedagogic consequences of learner-centricity whose key themes are; The Ecology of Resources context model of education Changing; roles, expertise, knowledge, pedagogy,

accreditation, power, technology, participation and democracy

Open Context Model of Learning – Luckin et al 2009 This is a co-creation model of learning drawing on Vygotsky

and the concept “obuchenie” A Pedagogic Model designed to create self-management in

learning and is “fit for context” .

The background to our session

The PAH Continuum

Pedagogy Andragogy Heutagogy

Locus of Control teacher learner learner

Educational sector schools adult education doctoral research

Cognition Level cognitive metacognitive epistemic

Knowledge Production Context

Subject understanding Process negotiation Context shaping

The background to our session

REVEEL

Research exploring the impact of e-learning on post-16 institutions; “learning in technology-rich environments/societies” Leaders empowering cultures of

learning and enabling new learning contexts into education

Staff developing wider range of roles than being subject specialists integrating formal/informal

Learners valuing learning, developing learning literacy & evaluating learning resources

System Issues – UK

Learning seen as the acquisition of desirable employment skills with the needs of employers prioritised at policy and delivery levels

Change seen as being in response to the demands of globalisation with other issues such as climate change not influencing educational policy and practice e.g. Leitch without Stern

Educational policy not seen as having relevance in the context of teaching and learning – dealing with system and organisational issues - Jephcote

Learner and practitioner experiences A national curriculum where neither content,

delivery or assessment are open to negotiation Learners and staff drawn into a target culture

using KPI’s (key performance indicators) to provide justification for policy initiatives, which undermines the capacity of staff and organisations to respond to changes at global and local levels

Historical and contemporary boundaries to learning created by policy and organisational rigidities and embedded practices with the result that, policy has little effect as a factor in changing educational practice and organisational adaptiveness and is constantly being revised and updated

Co-Creation & Boundary issues

Leaders are rewarded for delivering against negotiated targets leading to self-developing, adaptive institutions (self-regulation model?)

Teachers aware of and experts in the PROCESS of learning as well as their subjects and so able to model lifelong learning

Learners supported to engage in managing their own learning. Collaborative learning fully rewarded.

Some consequences of the Open Context Model of Learning

A Co-Creation Model requiring; Leaders who facilitate and sustain the use

of multiple contexts for learning Teachers who develop learners’ abilities

to create and manage their own learning Learners who develop new collaborative

and personal literacies for learning

Addressing boundary issues Whitworth – Information Obesity;

cognitive schemas of disciplines Sharples – Theory of Mobile Learning;

semiotic layer between informal & formal learning

Luckin – Ecology of Resources with filters; participatory design with stakeholders

NEFG – Networked Public Value; stakeholder-responsive negotiated outcomes. Enables boundary issues to become learning drivers

Responding to a world in flux Adaptive institutions working across

collaborative networks Dialogic systems Public Value model as a test of relevance

to needs, requiring filters to help establish the utility and relevance of policy and knowledge

Dynamic targets that can be negotiated and adapted to circumstance

New conceptions of professionalism Genuine participation and effective

feedback loops in policy development and implementation

Some conclusions A learner-centric approach to education

surfaces the boundary issues around learners, classroom and institution and these can only be addressed by dealing with issues of value and power at these boundaries.

This needs both a new pedagogy, Open Context Model of Learning, and a new way of valuing institutions

Adaptive institutions working across collaborative networks

Learner experiences inside and outside boundaries YooDoo and South Downs School

JISC Programmes Issues

learners excluded from schools for their behaviours interviewing learners excluded as a consequence of the behaviours of their peers

Younger learners showing their capacity to organise their own learning and negotiate their needs

Older learners reviewing their use of technology in higher education

Knowledge Curriculum

Resources

Administration

Organisation Environment

Underpinning concept: The Ecology of Resources model of context

Knowledge Curriculum

Resources

Administration

Organisation Environment

The Ecology of Resources model of context: for LGC we need bi-directional arrows in all parts of the model

Knowledge Curriculum

Resources

Administration

Organisation Environment

The Ecology of Resources model of context: we also need to identify appropriate boundaries or filters

Boundaries Organisational

Competition Funding Roles

Professional Discipline/subject Organisational Curriculum

Learner Economic

Digital exclusion Community access to learning resources

Geographical Passivity – learning about vs learning from or

with