Innovating Pedagogy 2015: Open University Innovation Report 4

This series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. This fourth report proposes ten innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education. To produce it, a group of academics at the Institute of Educational Technology in The Open University collaborated with researchers from the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. We proposed a long list of new educational terms, theories, and practices. We then pared these down to ten that have the potential to provoke major shifts in educational practice, particularly in post-school education. Lastly, we drew on published and unpublished writings to compile the ten sketches of new pedagogies that might transform education. These are summarised below in an approximate order of immediacy and timescale to widespread implementation

Learning to teach ideas and evidence in science: a study of school mentors and trainee teachers

This article reports on a small-scale evaluation of how beginning teachers undertaking a PGCE in secondary science worked collaboratively with their school based mentors to enhance practice in the use of ideas and evidence in science. Mentors and beginning teachers were introduced to the resources and teaching strategies previously developed at King’s College London as part of the Nuffield funded IDEAS curriculum development project (Osborne, Erduran & Simon, 2004a). The judicious selection of resources and strategies from the IDEAS pack formed the basis of mentors’ workshops, where mentors were encouraged to put into practice IDEAS and other argumentation activities and strategies. Collaborative work with their mentors enabled the BTs to initiate their teaching of ideas and evidence. They experienced both positive aspects and limitations when attempting IDEAS activities in their science classrooms

Kaleidoscope JEIRP on Learning Patterns for the Design and Deployment of Mathematical Games: Final Report

Project deliverable (D40.05.01-F)Over the last few years have witnessed a growing recognition of the educational potential of computer games. However, it is generally agreed that the process of designing and deploying TEL resources generally and games for mathematical learning specifically is a difficult task. The Kaleidoscope project, "Learning patterns for the design and deployment of mathematical games", aims to investigate this problem. We work from the premise that designing and deploying games for mathematical learning requires the assimilation and integration of deep knowledge from diverse domains of expertise including mathematics, games development, software engineering, learning and teaching. We promote the use of a design patterns approach to address this problem. This deliverable reports on the project by presenting both a connected account of the prior deliverables and also a detailed description of the methodology involved in producing those deliverables. In terms of conducting the future work which this report envisages, the setting out of our methodology is seen by us as very significant. The central deliverable includes reference to a large set of learning patterns for use by educators, researchers, practitioners, designers and software developers when designing and deploying TEL-based mathematical games. Our pattern language is suggested as an enabling tool for good practice, by facilitating pattern-specific communication and knowledge sharing between participants. We provide a set of trails as a "way-in" to using the learning pattern language. We report in this methodology how the project has enabled the synergistic collaboration of what started out as two distinct strands: design and deployment, even to the extent that it is now difficult to identify those strands within the processes and deliverables of the project. The tools and outcomes from the project can be found at: http://lp.noe-kaleidoscope.org

Report on argumentation and teacher education in Europe

This document will ultimately form part of a comprehensive package of materials for teacher education and professional development in argumentation. The initial deliverable from Kaunas University of Technology described the rhetorical basis of argumentation theory for pre‐ and in‐service teachers, whilst this state of the art report sets out the current and rather unsatisfactory status of argumentation in curricula, initial teacher training/education and teacher professional development, across the fifteen S‐TEAM partner countries. We believe that this is a representative sample and that the report can be taken as a reliable snapshot of the situation in Europe generally

Innovating Pedagogy 2017: Exploring new forms of teaching, learning and assessment, to guide educators and policy makers. Open University Innovation Report 6

This series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. This sixth report proposes ten innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education. To produce it, a group of academics at the Institute of Educational Technology in The Open University collaborated with researchers from the Learning In a NetworKed Society (LINKS) Israeli Center of Research Excellence (I-CORE). Themes: • Big-data inquiry: thinking with data • Learners making science • Navigating post-truth societies • Immersive learning • Learning with internal values • Student-led analytics • Intergroup empathy • Humanistic knowledge-building communities • Open Textbooks • Spaced Learnin

Going Beyond the Games with iCivics. A Response to “The Challenges of Gaming for Democratic Education: The Case of iCivics”

Stoddard, Banks, Nemacheck, and Wenska suggested that there is a tension between the goal of the iCivics games and the goals of democratic education. In this response, we suggest that iCivics can be utilized to help meet the goals of democratic education and to encourage our nation’s youth to become active civic participants if used alongside other instructional practices, such as Action Civics. We offer three important reasons for the use of iCivics as a tool for democratic education and engagement. Firstly, we describe the affordances of several other iCivics games not explored in Stoddard’s study as well as other elements of the iCivics program including lesson plans, impact points, and discussion boards. Secondly, we suggest that iCivics games should not be a stand-alone curriculum and describe ways to extend the iCivics games to inspire students to consider issues in their community and engage them in action civics. Thirdly, we describe the need for high quality professional development which is central in using iCivics games as part of a comprehensive civics curriculum. Our response extends the findings of Stoddard et al.’s study by suggesting ways educators can go beyond the games to utilize iCivics as a tool for democratic education

Cognitive and affective perspectives on immersive technology in education

This research explains the rationale behind the utilization of mobile learning technologies. It involves a qualitative study among children to better understand their opinions and perceptions toward the use of educational applications (apps) that are available on their mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. The researchers organized semi-structured, face-to-face interview sessions with primary school students who were using mobile technologies at their primary school. The students reported that their engagement with the educational apps has improved their competencies. They acquired relational and communicative skills as they collaborated in teams. On the other hand, there were a few students who were not perceiving the usefulness and the ease of use of the educational apps on their mobile device. This study indicates that the research participants had different skillsets as they exhibited different learning abilities. In conclusion, this contribution opens-up avenues for future research in this promising field of study.peer-reviewe

Re-playing Maimonides’ Codes: Designing Games to Teach Religious Legal Systems

Lost & Found is a game series, created at the Initiative for Religion, Culture, and Policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology MAGIC Center.1 The series teaches medieval religious legal systems. This article uses the first two games of the series as a case study to explore a particular set of processes to conceive, design, and develop games for learning. It includes the background leading to the author\u27s work in games and teaching religion, and the specific context for the Lost & Found series. It discusses the rationale behind working to teach religious legal systems more broadly, then discuss the hermeneutics influencing the approach to understanding the legal systems being modeled, and closes with a discussion of the kind of teaching and learning involved in the design of the games and early stage data on the public play of the games

Does epistemology matter for educational practice?

Lankshear, Peters & Knobel (2000) suggest that 'The digital age is throwing many of our educational practices and emphases and their underlying epistemological assumptions, beliefs, concepts and substantive theories into doubt'. In particular, because of new technology, educational philosophers must reconsider 'epistemological matters in relation to educational theory and practice' as a matter of 'very high priority'. Of course, philosophers need no excuse at all to reconsider anything; but since Lankshear, Peters & Knobel argue forcefully that 'key elements of the epistemological model that has underpinned education throughout the modern-industrial era' are brought into question by the fact of a 'digital age where more and more of our time, purposes and energies are invested in activities involving new communications and information technologies', it is perhaps worth asking whether the advent of new technology can, in itself, have profound implications for epistemology, and' more fundamentally – how exactly does epistemology 'underpin' or 'underlie' educational practice? In what follows, the main practical educational questions that I have chosen to consider with respect to issues of epistemology are: – What should be taught? – How should it be taught? – How can one tell what has been learned? This paper is in four parts. The first part outlines the case made by Lankshear, Peters & Knobel that traditional versions of epistemology must be replaced by a post-modern social epistemology because of changed social practices brought about by new technology; and that educational practice must consequently be reconsidered. The second part of the paper considers some of the claims made about the influences of technology on contemporary knowledge practices. The third part of the paper suggests that the argument offered by Lankshear, Peters & Knobel works as a whole if 'epistemology' is identified with 'accounts of knowledge practices'. The final part considers whether there may be more to epistemology than just social epistemology