Student-Centered Learning: Functional Requirements for Integrated Systems to Optimize Learning

The realities of the 21st-century learner require that schools and educators fundamentally change their practice. "Educators must produce college- and career-ready graduates that reflect the future these students will face. And, they must facilitate learning through means that align with the defining attributes of this generation of learners."Today, we know more than ever about how students learn, acknowledging that the process isn't the same for every student and doesn't remain the same for each individual, depending upon maturation and the content being learned. We know that students want to progress at a pace that allows them to master new concepts and skills, to access a variety of resources, to receive timely feedback on their progress, to demonstrate their knowledge in multiple ways and to get direction, support and feedback from—as well as collaborate with—experts, teachers, tutors and other students.The result is a growing demand for student-centered, transformative digital learning using competency education as an underpinning.iNACOL released this paper to illustrate the technical requirements and functionalities that learning management systems need to shift toward student-centered instructional models. This comprehensive framework will help districts and schools determine what systems to use and integrate as they being their journey toward student-centered learning, as well as how systems integration aligns with their organizational vision, educational goals and strategic plans.Educators can use this report to optimize student learning and promote innovation in their own student-centered learning environments. The report will help school leaders understand the complex technologies needed to optimize personalized learning and how to use data and analytics to improve practices, and can assist technology leaders in re-engineering systems to support the key nuances of student-centered learning

Distributed Learning System Design: A New Approach and an Agenda for Future Research

This article presents a theoretical framework designed to guide distributed learning design, with the goal of enhancing the effectiveness of distributed learning systems. The authors begin with a review of the extant research on distributed learning design, and themes embedded in this literature are extracted and discussed to identify critical gaps that should be addressed by future work in this area. A conceptual framework that integrates instructional objectives, targeted competencies, instructional design considerations, and technological features is then developed to address the most pressing gaps in current research and practice. The rationale and logic underlying this framework is explicated. The framework is designed to help guide trainers and instructional designers through critical stages of the distributed learning system design process. In addition, it is intended to help researchers identify critical issues that should serve as the focus of future research efforts. Recommendations and future research directions are presented and discussed

Supporting strategic cultural change: The Strathclyde learning technology initiative as a model

This paper describes the strategies being developed at the University of Strathclyde in response to the vision in the Dearing Report of a learning society in which Communication and Information Technology (C&IT) is central to students' learning experiences. The Strathclyde Learning Technology Initiative aims to support strategic change in the development and use of new learning technologies to improve the quality and efficiency of teaching and learning within the University. In order for a major cultural shift in teaching and learning to take effect there are three main areas that need to be addressed: (i) many academics still work within a traditional teaching framework and believe that these methods can simply be transferred to the Web, (ii) students who have been taught in a traditional teaching environment need support in acquiring new learning skills for an electronic learning environment, and (iii) new methods of learning and teaching can only be successfully integrated within the environment of a supporting infrastructure and institutional climate. These key elements are further explored, drawing on the lessons learned from the implementation of the Initiative, and suggestions are made for ways of surmounting the barriers to the uptake of C&IT perceived by academics

Learning Outcomes at the Open University

This report describes the background, role, use of and support for learning outcomes at The Open University, UK (OU), which defines them as: A learning outcome is a statement of what a student is expected to know, understand and be able to do at the end of a module or qualification. All modules and qualifications have learning outcomes which explicitly describe the learning central to that study and to which the award of credit and qualifications is linked. Learning outcomes are intended to empower students by clearly setting out the expected achievements of study. Central to this definition is the need to offer opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate the knowledge, skills and other cognitive achievements they describe

Wolf review of vocational education: Government response

"This document sets out the Government’s response to Professor Wolf’s recommendations. We accept all of them, and what follows sets out how we will take them forward. Rather than simply take each recommendation in turn, it considers her report thematically and sets out how the Government will implement not just the letter but the spirit of her report, transforming the quality of vocational education for young people in this country." - Page 3

External pressures on teaching

[FIRST PARAGRAPHS] The primary role of the PRS-LTSN is to improve the quality of education by encouraging the sharing of good practice and innovation, and the discussion of common problems. However, there are other forces at play, which are pursuing the same end by different means. The purpose of this article is to explain what these forces are, and how the PRS-LTSN can help departments to satisfy their demands. The first set of pressures comes from the Government via the funding councils, namely the requirement for higher education institutions (HEIs) to be publicly accountable for the services they provide with Government funding. The assumption is that the two main activities of HEIs are teaching and research: ● The Research Assessment Exercise2 (RAE) is conducted by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) on behalf of the other funding councils, and research ratings have a major influence on funding. ● The assessment of the quality of teaching and of institutional quality assurance mechanisms is the responsibility of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) (see Appendix), which is an independent body funded jointly by the funding councils, Universities UK (UUK) and the Standing Conference of Principals (SCoP). Ratings do not affect funding, except that there is the ultimate sanction of withdrawal of funding for persistently unsatisfactory programmes of study. ● More recently, the Transparency Review commissioned by the funding councils evaluates the extent to which funding for research is actually spent on research, and funding for teaching is actually spent on teaching

Intelligent and adaptive tutoring for active learning and training environments

Active learning facilitated through interactive and adaptive learning environments differs substantially from traditional instructor-oriented, classroom-based teaching. We present a Web-based e-learning environment that integrates knowledge learning and skills training. How these tools are used most effectively is still an open question. We propose knowledge-level interaction and adaptive feedback and guidance as central features. We discuss these features and evaluate the effectiveness of this Web-based environment, focusing on different aspects of learning behaviour and tool usage. Motivation, acceptance of the approach, learning organisation and actual tool usage are aspects of behaviour that require different evaluation techniques to be used