Does Web2 fundamentally alter the learner-teacher relationship?

Vic Lally and Richard Noss

An Invitation…and some preliminary thoughts

• Our dialogue is exploratory and not definitive: we invite you to join in

• We are taking a playful approach…because we think this is at the heart of creativity, and creativity is at the heart of learning design

• We are trying to be somewhat controversial…but also rigorous and clear, as befits the context

• Learning and teaching, and the relations between them, are a complex area to study, and require an interdisciplinary approach

• Creativity is playful, and benefits from being supported with tools,skills and [just enough] structure

Aims

• To explore ideas around:– ‘movements towards the centrality of the learner’ and

– ‘learner control’ and

– The use of technologies to support this…

– Where this takes us…

The format for this session

• This presentation, its notes and the accompanying audio discussion can be thought of as a whole, or separately. However, the audio recording is not a slide by slide audio commentary, but rather a discussion encapsulating some of the main points

• The presenters will be available for further discussion during the online conference

What do we mean by Web2?

Some key starting ideas

• Learning and teaching are in ‘dialectical’ relation to each other

• In thinking about learning and teaching, we are thinking about processes as well as outcomes

• Three kinds of processes are at work (at least)

• Individual and Group Processes are inextricably linked

Relations between Learning and Teaching in Web2

• Learning and teaching are not ‘separate entities’; they are related aspects of our cognitive processes

• Informally, we almost always engage in both, in conversation, in interaction, socially

• The best learning designs understand this at some level, and build ‘teaching’ into ‘learning’ activities, whether individuals are ‘teaching themselves’, or ‘teaching’ others.

• It’s only ‘traditional’ formal education that separates learning and teaching so markedly

Web 2 Processes and Outcomes

• Learning consists of complex processes occurring over time, in the individual learner, and in the group

• In thinking about the kinds of learning outcomes we want, we also need to think about the learning processes that will support these

• We need to understand the relations between process and outcome in learning

• We need learning designs that support and enhance this linkage

Three Kinds of Interacting Processes in Web2

• Cognitive (and metacognitive)

• Social

• Emotional

Web2 and Inextricable Nature of Individual and Group Processes

• We often think about how to manage individual learning, without thinking about the group

• Learning is partly a social activity

• Individual and group learning are in constant interaction

• Group learning can be a tremendous resource for individual learning

What Can We say So far?The ‘realities’ of educational

relationships(i) Learning and teaching are in close relation to

each other

(ii) In thinking about learning and teaching, we are thinking about processes as well as outcomes

(iii) Three kinds of processes are at work (at least)

(iv) Individual and Group Processes are inextricably linked

Implications of these for Web2

• Learner Control and the Centrality of the Learner• The roles of the ‘teacher’• Learning designs• The roles of technology• The evidence and theories we need

– Web2 is changing the teacher-student relationship– It is, in some cases, being ‘renegotiated’– Existing expectations can make this difficult– Sharing ‘power’ in the ‘learning relationship’ can become explicit

in Web2– Changing the role of the learner needs careful planning,

otherwise the changes may be detrimental in new ways (e.g. some participants dominating the open environment of social learning)

– Traditional boundaries between the teacher and the student blur…– This requires ‘new clarity’ about the rules of engagement

Web 2 and Learner Control

Role of the teacher in Web2– Still crucial to success, acting as a domain expert, coaching

participants to become more involved– Needed to act as animator, facilitator– In tension, because her presence may be inhibitory to student

expression in many realistic/authentic settings– Requires new learning designs in which the teacher role is

articulated– Requires ‘handing over’ some functions to students as the

‘situation’ develops – The ‘interplay’ between ‘self regulation’ and ‘external

regulation’ needs to be managed (and is also a meta-cognitive skill that learners can acquire

Learning designs in Web2

– If we are to go beyond the ‘participation’ metaphor, and move towards shared knowledge creation, as heralded by Web2, then we need to think about :

– How we establish Web2 communities

– How we maintain these communities

– How we manage communities

– Roles and relationships of participation

– Maintaining the primacy of learning

– Keeping the community and its learning authentic and grounded in the realities of Web2

Summing upThe roles of technology in Web2

Web2 is no ‘guarantee of success’

We need to understand the forces at work and their competing demands and directions

If we buy in to the argument around ‘authentic learning’, and the ‘available evidence’ from implementations of Web2 in HE, then (maybe) we have a basis for ‘shaping the technologies’ in ways we want to go…rather than these technologies being diminished by serving existing purposes?

• Two projects related to Web2.0Ensemble: Semantic Technologies for the Enhancement of Case-Based

Learning (2008-2011)PI Dr. Patrick Carmichael, University of Cambridge

Inter-Life: Interoperability and Transition (2008-2011)PI: Dr. Vic Lally, University of Glasgow

• Just off the pressEducation 2.0? A commentary on the potential of Web 2

for learning

References and Bibliography 1

• This is intended to provide background to some of the ideas discussed, and sources of further reading

References and Bibliography 2