Learning in an age of digital networks

The final years of the twentieth century and early years of the twenty first century have been marked by the rapid rise of digital and networked technologies. Some have even called it a paradigm shift and suggested that it will lead to a dramatic change in the way young people learn (Tapscott and Williams, 2010). As with all commentary on new technologies we should beware of being carried away with the excitement of the new. There is a recurrent innovation cycle beginning with over excitement followed by disappointment and once the reaction has set in against the new it is followed by a move away to yet another new technology, often before a proper assessment and evaluation of the previous cycle can take place. Equally we must be careful not to ignore the profound changes that are taking place and how they may affect universities and learning in society more generally. A recent description by a UK based think tank Demos characterized the kind of university that is emerging from the engagement with new digital and networked technologies as the 'edgeless university' (Bradwell, 2009). The term edgeless is borrowed from work on the city that suggests edgeless cities have the function of cities without being organized in their classic form. In the same way the Demos pamphlet suggests that the university retains an identifiable function but the functions of the university are no longer confined to a single institution nor are they confined to higher education institutions more broadly. Over a decade ago Brown and Duguid (2000) identified the core functions of universities as the capacity to grant degrees, to accredit students and to provide the warrant that guaranteed the credentials obtained by the students from the university. They also suggested that the introduction of what were then new technologies would lead to an increased focus on these core functions. The core role remains in the edgeless university but the boundaries to these may alter. This article tries to provide a way of thinking about new technologies that manages to balance these two conflicting needs. It identifies some current ways of thinking about the changes taking place in universities that are related to digital and networked technologies and to assess their impact. It then goes on to suggest the kinds of choices we may have to make in relation to new technologies at a variety of levels, the personal, the institutional and in terms of society in general. The edgeless university is associated with broad technological change but whether such change is inevitable is still an issue that needs to be discussed

Hidden in Plain Sight : Knowledge Broker Teachers and Professional Development

This qualitative study was prompted by initiatives that addressed the need for teachers to engage in professional development that enables them to be 21st century ready. Recommendations put forth by government and business have stressed that professional development foster connected teaching and create networked educators by emphasizing peer-topeer collaboration and sharing. Despite this focus, little attention has been paid to the role that regular teachers play in becoming professional developers for their colleagues. My study investigated how four K-12 teachers, that I termed “knowledge broker teachers,” created new pathways for informal, teacher professional development in their schools. Extending on the concept of “knowledge brokers” from business studies, knowledge broker teachers serve as an informal source of professional development, moving knowledge from those who have it to those who need it. This study’s purpose was to examine examined how knowledge broker teachers built and shared their knowledge, and to identify their attributes. I applied a situated learning approach to frame this study, emphasizing the social nature of learning. Participants included four K-12 knowledge broker teachers and 12 of their teacher colleagues with whom they shared knowledge. Data collection included the use of interviews with participants and screen casts of the knowledge broker teachers’ online activity. Data analysis employed open coding to generate categories, then themes. Three findings about knowledge broker teachers emerged: brokers, brokering, and brokerage. Brokers encompassed the context-dependent ways the four knowledge broker teachers shape-shifted and assumed different personas (e.g. knower-learner, comrade, cheerleader, shrinking violet) enabling them to be knowledge broker teachers. Brokering entailed the processes they used to build and share knowledge. These included processes of making connections through online and face to face opportunities, taking advantage of moments of kismet, and tailoring knowledge to match their colleagues’ ability. Brokerage involved the actions that affected the quality of social relationships and the emergence of trust between the knowledge broker teachers and their colleagues. Brokerage actions presented by the knowledge broker teachers included giving and taking knowledge with colleagues, recognizing and honoring their colleagues’ potential, and being expected to go above and beyond. My study recognized the existence of knowledge broker teachers and their effect on informal professional development. However, given the findings, formalizing their roles in schools may have a detrimental effect on their ability to build and share knowledge. Considering ways to leverage these findings may provide new ways for thinking about informal teacher professional development

A Participatory Study into the Student Experience of First Year Under-Represented Students in a UK University

This thesis explores the experience of ten undergraduate students at Southeastern (a UK post-1992 university) as they transition into higher education (HE) during their first year. The research focuses on the widening participation (WP) agenda at Southeastern and across the sector, which aims to address inequalities in student outcomes and experience. Specifically, this research concentrates on students considered to be under-represented in HE, based on their socio-economic backgrounds, because local and national WP research point to under-represented students encountering difficulties during their transition compared to their peers, including higher non-continuation rates and lower attainment. This research helps address these inequalities by filling a knowledge gap at Southeastern concerning students’ early university experience and offering practice-based recommendations to facilitate student-staff partnerships, which will result in tailored activity that better supports under-represented students’ success. A Participatory Pedagogy approach, underpinned by student partnership and co-participatory principles, provides a unique opportunity to explore the experience of under-represented students by engaging participants and providing a platform to share powerful testimonies of their experiences in HE. This co-participatory process ensured the research avoided a potential deficit-model construct by rebalancing the researcher-participant relationship and encouraging participants to co-generate aspects of the research. It was paired with an innovative artful inquiry methodology and collage making method to capture deep, reflective data on participants’ transition into Southeastern. Participants’ experiences are analysed in relation to a conceptual framework, drawing on Bourdieusian notions, a capability approach and transitional models, which provides a more nuanced understanding of their experience at Southeastern by considering their behaviour and agency in relation to their habitus, values, capabilities and conceptions of transition. It also influences this research’s contributions to future practice by informing discussion on how to support under-represented students at this institution and across the sector. This framework also accounts for the role neoliberalism plays in shaping students’ performativity and transitional experiences, which little previous research on the student experience has sought to do. Findings reveal that neoliberal attitudes and actions permeate participants’ decision-making in accessing HE, which when considered in relation to Bourdieusian notions of social gravity and illusio, demonstrate these students exhibit a feel for the game that other WP research has not accounted for. However, participants then endured difficult transitional experiences during their first term at Southeastern, mainly due to mismatches in expectations. Although participants’ experience improved as they formed friendship and support groups, this period highlights a form of institutional misrecognition of their habitus and reinforces the deficit-model approach that is prevalent in institutional practices designed to support the student experience. A capability approach analysis of findings explains how students’ choice, aspiration and agency in accessing and performing in HE can be reclaimed away from deficit-model discourses and instead positioned around what under-represented students value, such as financial independence and personalised opportunities to develop relevant skills and careers. This re-conception of the student experience towards a more individual understanding of needs and desired outcomes is a crucial step in providing more meaningful support for under-represented students. The research’s findings challenge institutional practitioners, leaders and researchers to think differently about the early experience of under-represented students in HE. Southeastern is encouraged to adopt a number of recommendations to address the transitional challenges participants faced, including an innovative, step-by-step guide for staff-student partnerships to develop meaningful forms of support, as well as specific practices, such as embedding the formation of peer groups and more focused career planning during induction. Finally, researchers across the sector seeking to carry out their own investigations of under-represented students’ experiences can learn from this research’s adoption of Participatory Pedagogy, both conceptually and practically, to uncover important reflections and experiences in their environments. The research suggests entering into co-participatory partnerships with under-represented students will develop practices that support individualised transitions into university, while ensuring students feel valued and retain ownership of their own HE experience.

Educational Innovation with Learning Networks: Tools and Developments

Professional Development is ill served by traditional ways of learning. It can profit from a Learning Networks approach, which emphasizes logistic, content and didactic flexibility. Learning Networks are online, social networks that have been de- signed and tooled to foster informal learning. Three European projects are discussed – idSpace, LTfLL, Handover - which have developed tools befitting networked learning. Each in its own way, the projects illustrate the benefits of a networked learning ap- proach. This goes for all three flexibilities but in particular for the need to be didactical- ly flexible. Finally, it is argued that formal education could profit from the tools dis- cussed

Ayitic goes global : evaluation report for training round 2

The training rounds 1 and 2 (2018, 2019) focused on Internet and Data Practitioner (IDP) for high school and university graduate females, and Network Management and Security (NM&S) courses for ICT professionals. The report analyzes and evaluates factors that affect successful completion of the program by participants, and monitors the performance of different implementation stakeholders, towards recommendations for training round 3. Detailed programmatic recommendations are built upon the main findings, to support successful elements of the program while making refinements to those that require improvement