Designing For Learning In An Open World

The Internet and associated technologies have been around for almost twenty years. Networked access and computer ownership are now the norm. There is a plethora of technologies that can be used to support learning, offering different ways in which learners can communicate with each other and their tutors, and providing them with access to interactive, multimedia content. However, these generic skills don’t necessarily translate seamlessly to an academic learning context. Appropriation of these technologies for academic purposes requires specific skills, which means that the way in which we design and support learning opportunities needs to provide appropriate support to harness the potential of technologies. More than ever before learners need supportive ‘learning pathways’ to enable them to blend formal educational offerings, with free resources and services. This requires a rethinking of the design process, to enable teachers to take account of a blended learning context.

This book provides state-of-the-art contemporary research insights into key applications and processes in open world learning. Open world learning seeks to understand access to education, structures, and the presence of dialogue and support systems. It explores how the application of open world and educational technologies can be used to create opportunities for open and high-quality education. Presenting ground-breaking research from an award winning Leverhulme doctoral training programme, the book provides several integrated and cohesive perspectives of the affordances and limitations of open world learning. The chapters feature a wide range of open world learning topics, ranging from theoretical and methodological discussions to empirical demonstrations of how open world learning can be effectively implemented, evaluated, and used to inform theory and practice. The book brings together a range of innovative uses of technology and practice in open world learning from 387,134 learners and educators learning and working in 136 unique learning contexts across the globe and considers the enablers and disablers of openness in learning, ethical and privacy implications, and how open world learning can be used to foster inclusive approaches to learning across educational sectors, disciplines and countries. The book is unique in exploring the complex, contradictory and multi-disciplinary nature of open world learning at an international level and will be of great interest to academics, researchers, professionals, and policy makers in the field of education technology, e-learning and digital education. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2015, held in Toledo, Spain, in September 2015. The 27 full papers, 19 short papers, 9 demo papers and 23 posters were carefully reviewed and selected from 176 submissions. They address topics such as blended learning; self-regulated and self directed learning; reflective learning; intelligent learning systems; learning communities; learning design; learning analytics; learning assessment; personalization and adaptation; serious games; social media; massive open online courses (MOOCs); schools of the future.

This textbook considers and addresses the design of online learning objects, electronic textbooks, short courses, long courses, MOOC courses, and other types of contents for open sharing. It also considers the design of online mediated communities to enhance such learning. The “openness” may be open-access, and/or it may even be open-source. The learning may range from self-directed and automated to AI robot-led to instructor-led. The main concept of this work is that design learning for open sharing, requires different considerations than when designing for closed and proprietary contexts. Open sharing of learning contents requires a different sense of laws (intellectual property, learner privacy, pedagogical strategies, technologies, media, and others). It requires different considerations of learner diversity and inclusion. It requires geographical, cultural, and linguistic considerations that are not as present in more localized designs. The open sharing aspect also has effects on learner performance tracking (assessments) and learner feedback. This textbook targets students, both undergraduate and graduate in computer science, education and other related fields. Also, professionals in this field managing online systems would find this book helpful.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2014, held in Graz, Austria, in September 2014. The 27 full papers and 18 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 165 submissions. They address topics such as informal learning, self-regulated and self-directed learning, reflective learning, inquiry based learning, communities of learners and communities of practice, learning design, learning analytics, personalization and adaptation, social media, computer supported collaborative learning, massive open online courses, schools and universities of the future.

The promise of online learning--flexible, learner-centered, responsive--was forward-looking and poised to revolutionize education. But too often online learning courses have little room for student engagement and their design does not reflect the potential for interactive and collaborative learning. Design Alchemy counters this trend by synthesizing the art and science of educational design to model a whole that transcends the sum of its parts. Challenging yet accessible, it clearly sets out steps for harnessing innovative strategies and designer creativity to provide educational platforms that reduce learner boredom and instructor burnout, and encourage deeper interaction with subject matter. Activities, assessment methods, and sample course materials are designed toward improving quality, embracing diversity, and adapting positively to change. And the book's palette of resources enables readers to effectively apply the principles in their own practice: The evolution of Design Alchemy in the context of online learning. Alignment with core theories and practice models. The framework: elements of pedagogy and components of practice. Case studies showing Design Alchemy in real-world learning. Tools, templates, and a sample syllabus. The Design Alchemy Manifesto, summarizing key ideas. Researchers and practitioners in technology and education will look to Design Alchemy as a transformative work to help make the most of student potential, learning opportunities, and their own professional growth.

We live in an era defined by a wealth of open and readily available information, and the accelerated evolution of social, mobile and creative technologies. The provision of knowledge, once a primary role of educators, is now devolved to an immense web of free and readily accessible sources. Consequently, educators need to redefine their role not just “from sage on the stage to guide on the side” but, as more and more voices insist, as “designers for learning”. The call for such a repositioning of educators is heard from leaders in the field of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) and resonates well with the growing culture of design-based research in Education. However, it is still struggling to find a foothold in educational practice. We contend that the root causes of this discrepancy are the lack of articulation of design practices and methods, along with a shortage of tools and representations to support such practices, a lack of a culture of teacher-as-designer among practitioners, and insufficient theoretical development. The Art and Science of Learning Design (ASLD) explores the frameworks, methods, and tools available for teachers, technologists and researchers interested in designing for learning Learning Design theories arising from findings of research are explored, drawing upon research and practitioner experiences. It then surveys current trends in the practices, methods, and methodologies of Learning Design. Highlighting the translation of theory into practice, this book showcases some of the latest tools that support the learning design process itself.

The new field of learning design has the potential to revolutionize not only technology in education, but the whole field of teaching and learning through the application of design thinking to education. Learning Design looks inside the "black box" of pedagogy to understand what teachers and learners do together, and how the best teaching ideas can be shared on a global scale. Learning design supports all pedagogical approaches, content areas, and fields of education. The book opens with a new synthesis of the field of learning design and its place in educational theory and practice, and goes on to explore the implications of learning design for many areas of education—both practical and theoretical—in a series of chapters by Larnaca Declaration authors and other international experts.