Technology-enhanced Learning in Europe

Marco Marsella

Cultural Heritage and Technology-enhanced Learning Unit

Information Society and Media Directorate General

Overview of the presentation

– DG INFSO– Digital Agenda– Historical elements – Some results – Future work

European CommissionInformation Society and Media DG

DIGITAL AGENDA FOR EUROPEhttp://ec.europa.eu/information_society/digital-agenda/index_en.htm

DG Information Society and Mediahttp://ec.europa.eu/information_society/index_en.htm

ICT RESULTS http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm

Education and Training at EU level

• ICT in education and training at EU level:

- Connectivity/Access (Broadband,etc.)- Quality content and services- Research and technological development- Best practices

• Member States retain responsibilities - principle of subsidiarity

• EU actions are geared towards improving the quality of our education and training systems

Innovation in E&T through ICT

• Improve effectiveness and efficiency

• Build flexible and responsive learning environments

• Meet different learning styles/needs

• Engage and involve learners, teachers, parents, …

• 21st century skills

“Are the New Millenium Learners Making the Grade?”

“…it is the quality, rather than the

quantity, of ICT usage that determines the contribution that these technologies make to students’ academic performance”

(OECD: Technology use and educational

performance in PISA)

ICT for learning

• Catalyst for change– Empowering through richer and

active experiences – Personalised opportunities– Assessment– Digital literacy & 21st Century Skills– Upskilling / re skilling– Alignment competencies/business

needs

Some EU initiatives

The European Digital Agenda “Every European Digital”

Life lifelong Learning Programme (LLLP) - Transversal Key Action on ICT for Education and Training

The ICT Policy Support Programme (IST PSP - CIP) - Wider uptake and best use of ICT by citizens, governments and businesses

Research and Technological development - TEL

Innovation and Skills- Flagships Innovation Union/Youth on the Move/New skills for jobs- Digital competencies and e-Skills

The European Digital Agenda

- Europe's strategy for a flourishing digital economy by 2020

- Policies and actions to maximise the benefit of the digital revolution for all

- Digital Single Market ; - Interoperability and Standards; - Trust and Security; - Very Fast Internet; - Research and innovation; - Enhancing digital literacy, skills and inclusion; - ICT for Societal Challenges; - International aspects

Action 68

• Mainstream eLearning in national policies for the modernisation of education and training, including in curricula, assessment of learning outcomes and the professional development of teachers and trainers.”

Digital Agenda Assembly

Workshop “Mainstreaming eLearning in Education and Training

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/events/cf/daa11/item-display.cfm?id=5989

Change is necessary – inevitable – but difficult and too slowNeed to scale up, learn from each another

Be clear about the vision and the goalsGrassroots reforms

Top/bottom approaches…

• Provide stimulus and support

• Demonstrate potential benefits and raise awareness

• Support capacity building

• Disseminate best practices

• Engage and involve stakeholders

• Create new opportunities for enterprises

Our contributions

Key data on learning and innovation through ICT at School

in Europe

• Although ICT as a subject or as a tool for learning within other subjects is recommended in almost all countries, international survey data reveal a different picture of classroom practice.

Eurydice, 2011

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice

ICT in education in Europe

• Less disparity between schools regarding ICT equipment

• Lack of adequate learning software and support staff is still affecting students' instruction

In European countries, according to PISA2009, at least 50 % of students were in

schools where one computer is available forevery two students.

On average, almost 55 % of students in thefourth grade and 45 % of students in the

eighth grade have computers available duringtheir mathematics lessons.

Eurydice, 2011

Delivery of ICT learning objectives Primary Level

Source: Eurydice.

A. ICT separate subjectB. ICT included in tech subjectD. ICT as tool for other subjectA+B+C

Source: Eurydice.

A. ICT separate subjectB. ICT included in tech subjectD. ICT as tool for other subjectA+B+C

Delivery of ICT learning objectives Secondary Level

A RANGE OF INNOVATIVE TEACHING METHODS BASED ON

ACTIVE AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ARE WIDELY PROMOTED IN EUROPE

Source: Eurydice.

Project-based learning

Personalised learning

Individualised/student-centred learning

Scientific investigations

Online learning

Primary education

Recommendations or suggestions Support

Source: Eurydice.

Recommendations or suggestions Support

Project-based learning

Personalised learning

Individualised/student-centred learning

Scientific investigations

Online learning

A RANGE OF INNOVATIVE TEACHING METHODS BASED ON

ACTIVE AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ARE WIDELY PROMOTED IN EUROPE

Secondary education

Training measures and research projects in areas covered by national ICT strategies

2009/10

ICT in schools

e-Learning

e-Inclusion

Digital, media literacy

e-Skills development

Training Research projects

• ICT ARE PLAYING A CENTRAL ROLE IN COOPERATION BETWEEN SCHOOLS AND THE COMMUNITY AND TO ENGAGE PARENTS IN THE LEARNING PROCESS

• ICT IS WIDELY PROMOTED BY CENTRAL AUTHORITIES AS A TOOL FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING BUT LARGE IMPLEMENTATION GAP REMAINS

• ICT IS OFTEN RECOMMENDED FOR ASSESSING COMPETENCES BUT STEERING DOCUMENTS RARELY INDICATE HOW IT SHOULD BE APPLIED

• TEACHERS USUALLY ACQUIRE ICT TEACHING SKILLS THROUGH THEIR INITIAL EDUCATION BUT FURTHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IS LESS COMMON

Key data on learning and innovation through ICT at School

in Europe

Eurydice, 2011

Research and Innovation

• R&I key to strengthen the transformative role of ICT in education and training

• Global patterns from demonstration to adoption

RTD at EU level

European Community Framework Programmes for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration.

A collection of the actions at EU level to fund and promote research.

Participation from countries outside of the EU, enabling international co-operation, foreseen.

RTD on Technology-enhanced learning

• Research aims at improving our knowledge of how ICT enhances learning and teaching.

• The work on learning draws on different research disciplines (computing, technological, pedagogical, cognitive and psychological sciences)

• Focus on how technology-enhanced learning can better facilitate the learning process, in different learning situations, for individuals or groups of learners, motivating and supporting people who learn on their own or collaboratively with others.

Cognitive aspects

Target Groups…….

Organisational aspects

Pedagogical aspects

Technical aspects

Focus on the learning processIntertwined relationship between learner and organisation

RTD on Technology-enhanced Learning

Main characteristics

• Researching & understanding learning problems

• Realistic assumptions about the systemic changes needed to realise the potential benefits of ICT for learning

• Focus on key areas where impact is more likely

Priorities 2000 – 2001

• ICT-based solutions for lifelong learning (inclusion perspective), schools, virtual universities, advanced training systems;

• Infrastructures for broad access to learning resources and services;

• High Quality Educational Content: creation, access, maintenance and brokerage;

• Consensus Building and Standardisation activities in CEN/ISSS Learning Technologies Workshop,

Priorities 2002-2006

The term Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) was introduced

Focus of research was less on integration of technologies but rather on how people learn - through technologies

Three main objectives:

Increase efficiency of learning - for individuals and groups

Facilitate transfer and sharing of knowledge in organisations

Deeper understanding of the learning process

Two lines of Action

Interactions human learning and organisational learning

Links between human learning, cognition and technologies

Priorities 2007-2008

• Technologically-mediated responsive environments for learning – learning environments which motivate, engage and inspire

learners, and make it possible to personalise learning to respond to specific needs and contexts (mass-individualisation of learning).

• Adaptive and intuitive learning systems – innovative systems that self-configure their operations to

optimally assist and respond to the learner’s activities according to their understanding and experience of learners' behaviour. These systems are able to identify learner's requirements from monitoring progress in an intelligent way. They make best use of the individual learning and cognitive abilities of the learner and produce meaningful advice to both learners and teachers.

Priorities 2009-2010

1. The classroom of tomorrow – Large-scale pilots for the design of the classroom of the 21st century

2. Embedding learning experiences in organisational processes and practices and Combining creative, cognitive and computational processes for workplace learning

3. Adaptive and intuitive systems - affective and emotional approaches

4. Learning appliances and cognitive tutors

5. Focused interdisciplinary networks

6. Awareness building, roadmapping, evaluation, showcases

Where do we see potential impacts

• Learning, through life, in extended organisations

– improve return on investment on integrated solutions for learning

– shorter time periods for learning, speeding up time to competencies (goal of 56% of organisations)

– greater efficiency in business processes – speed up and cut costs of on-the-job learning, ease change processes in organisations

– enable capitalisation of organisational intellectual assets

• Improve effective use of ICT-based learning

– research into better conceptual models of technology enhanced learning

– greater capacity to deliver individualised or personalised learning

• Support HE sector in move towards lifelong learning

– coping with increasing diversity in the student population and their modes of attendance

– continuous professional development– competition on a global scale

• Contribute to competitiveness of eLearning suppliers

Where do we see potential impacts

• 32 projects resulted from the 2 Calls in FP6

• 26 projects resulted from the first two calls for proposals under FP7

• 13 projects resulted from FP7 Call 5 (started July-October 2010)

Project portfolio

• Technology blending learning and knowledge management @ workplace

• Supporting individualisation in learning/ adaptive systems, diagnosis and guidance

• Engaging learners in science and maths

• Creativity and learning

• Serious games

Project portfolio

http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/telearn-digicult/telearn-projects_en.html

• Innovative Technologies for an Engaging Classroom• Four year large-scale project starting in September 2010, • 27 partners, including 14 Ministries of Education

Large scale pilots including a sizable number of experiments in real world

to design, build and comprehensively test scalable learning and teaching scenarios for the future classroom.

•Funding from the European Commission of 9.45 million Euros

www.itec.eun.org

NEXT TELL

• Conceptual framework + resources for designing and implementing formative ICT-enhanced learning

• 12 partners 6 MEUR

• 4 years – Sept 2010

www.next-tell.eu

STELLAR Network of Excellence

• Integrating excellence, structuring research, move tel rtd agenda forward

• Integrations instruments: leadership capacity, key researchers, doctoral academic capacity, community level capacity (stakeholders)

• 16 partners

• www.stellarnet.eu

• Open archive http://oa.stellarnet.eu

GALA Network of excellence

• Games and Learning Alliance– NoE for Serious Games

30 Partners6 MEURSeptember 2010

• www.galanoe.eu

TEL MAP

• POSSIBLE FUTURES FOR TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED LEARNING

• Exploratory and roadmapping activities– Pan european observatory for innovation– Mind the map – building foresight capacity

• www.learningfrontiers.eu

• www.telmap.org

• 10 partners, 2.5 MEUR

COSPATIAL

Collaborative technologies for learning social competencies by children who are typically developing and those with autistic Spectrum Disorders

http://cospatial.fbk.eu

Active surfaces and virtual learning environment

www.youtube.com autism every day

Objective ICT-2011.8.1 Technology-enhanced learning

a) Technology Enhanced Learning systems endowed with the capabilities of human tutors

b) Educational technologies for science, technology and maths

c) Advanced solutions for fast and flexible deployment of learning opportunities at the workplace (targeting, in particular, SMEs) Computational tools fostering creativity in learning processes

d) Exploratory activities

Target outcome a) Technology Enhanced Learning systems endowed with the capabilities of human

tutorsFoci: Advance systems’ capabilities to react to learners’ abilities and

difficulties and systems’ understanding and use of the appropriate triggers (praise, constructive comments, etc.) influencing learning.

Characteristics: • use of systematic feedback based on innovative ways of

interpreting the user's responses - particularly in relation to deep/shallow reasoning and thinking.

• improve learners’ metacognitive skills, understand and exploit the underlying drivers of their learning behaviours.

Technologies: Natural language interaction (dialogues); rich and effective user interfaces; pedagogically sound; smart and personalised instructional design

Target outcome b1) Educational technologies for science,

technology and maths

B1)• Supporting students to understand and construct their

knowledge and meanings of scientific, technological and/or mathematical subjects.

• Characteristics of the solutions:

- accompanying the learners through the complexity of a subject (technologically and methodologically)

How? - activating and feeding curiosity and reasoning- support the creative applications of the theory

Target outcome b2) Educational technologies for science,

technology and mathsB2)

Supporting European wide federation and use of remote laboratories and virtual experimentations for learning and teaching purposes.

Output:

- Services enabling online interactive experimentations accessing and controlling real instruments, or using simulated solutions

- Stimulus to the growth of the network of labs – Open interfacing components for easy plug-and-play of remote and

virtual labs

Research characteristics: user interfaces mediating the complexities of creation and usability of experiments, in pedagogical contexts - in primary and secondary schools, universities, etc..

Target c)Advanced solutions for fast and flexible

deployment of learning opportunities at theworkplace (targeting, in particular, SMEs)

Context: networking/fostering (cross-) organisational learning and help SMEs to adopt and sustain effective learning attitudes.

Characteristics: • faster, situated, just-in-time up-/reskilling • lower the costs/efforts of production quality instructional material - in

continuing education and training processes. • novel business training models – undertanding overcoming barriers to

adoption - take up of the technologies

Focus: specifically on the needs of SMEs - in sectors without an established tradition in the adoption of learning solutions and - facing innovation and competitiveness challenges deriving from efficiency needs or new processes/products development.

Partnership: include SMEs /professional associations. SMEs users actively involved in pilots.

Target d)Computational tools fostering creativity in

learning processes

Context: Creativity in the learning environments

Focus: innovative tools encouraging – nonlinear, non-standard thinking and problem-solving– exploration and generation of new knowledge, ideas and

concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts.

Application: supporting people’s learning as well as the formation and evolution of creative teams

Approach: technological solutions that facilitate questioning and challenging, foster imaginative thinking, widen the perspectives and make purposeful connections with people and their ideas.

Target e)Exploratory activities

Looking ahead – specific exploratory actions – 10+ years horizon - for: Fundamentally new forms of learning through ICT

Networking and test-beds: Establishment of a pan-European network of living schools for validations, demonstrationsand showcases

Use of instruments, budget and call planning

• Budget: – 60 Meur

• Call: 8– opens 26/7/11 – closes 17/1/12

Looking ahead

• Continue exploring links learning and innovation, creativity, productivity at workplace

• Mobilising a more extended research community• Strengthening research capacity around emerging

trends • Supporting technology transfer and take-up – from

research to innovation – with validation, showcasing, best practices

To know more

ICT research results

http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm

Technology Enhanced Learning Research

http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/telearn-digicult/telearn_en.html

Digital Agenda for Europehttp://ec.europa.eu/information_society/digital-agenda/

Thanks !