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 Lastly, we drew on published and unpublished writings to compile the ten sketches of new pedagogies that might transform education.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

Open World Learning

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

Open World Learning

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

Language learning and technology

By and large, languages, both as first, second or foreign languages remain one of the most important core subjects at every educational level. In early stages, their inclusion in the curriculum is intricately connected with (pre-)literacy practices, but also as a main driver for the successful integration of minority students learning a second language. In addition, the attainment of a certain level of a foreign language by the end of compulsory education is a common goal in most educational systems around the globe. Arguably, the key drivers of success in learning a language range from motivational to attitudinal, but ultimately they also have to do with the amount of target language use, the access to quality input, and especially language teachers' readiness to incorporate the latest educational trends effectively in the language classroom, educational technologies amongst them

The potential of mobile phones to transform teacher professional development

Futures thinking is used by governments to consider long-term strategic approaches and develop policies and practices that are potentially resilient to future uncertainty. English in Action (EIA), arguably the world’s largest English language teacher professional development (TPD) project, used futures thinking to author possible, probable and preferable future scenarios to solve the project’s greatest technological challenge: how to deliver audio-visual TPD materials and hundreds of classroom audio resources to 75,000 teachers by 2017. Authoring future scenarios and engaging in possibility thinking (PT) provided us with a taxonomy of question-posing and question-responding that assisted the project team in being creative. This process informed the successful pilot testing of a mobile phone-based technology kit to deliver TPD resources within an open distance learning (ODL) platform. Taking the risk and having the foresight to trial mobile phones in remote rural areas with teachers and students led to unforeseen innovation. As a result EIA is currently using a mobile phone-based technology kit with 12,500 teachers to improve the English language proficiency of 700,000 students. As the project scales up in its third and final phase, we are using the new technology kit—known as the ‘trainer in your pocket’—to foster a ‘quiet revolution’ in the provision of teacher professional development at scale to an additional 67,500 teachers and 10 million students

Autonomy of English language learners : a scoping review of research and practice

Learner autonomy is a vibrant and diverse field. In its approximately 40-year history, it has drawn liberally on theoretical constructs and research methodologies from other disciplines. In turn, it has contributed to the field of applied linguistics by drawing attention to the fundamental importance of understanding the language learner as an active agent in the learning process. To understand the role of autonomy in, and its connections with other areas of study, it is important to ask how it has been conceptualized and operationalized. In addition, given its elusive and amorphous nature, it is timely to ask if and how (the development of) learner autonomy has been evaluated. In this article we conducted a scoping review, or a systematic and comprehensive literature review, of 61 empirical studies in this field. The results show a rich array of conceptualizations and numerous operationalizations, in addition to a somewhat limited use of evaluations. We draw from this a number of implications for research. In particular, we encourage learner autonomy researchers to make explicit their theoretical frameworks, extend their investigation to the role of language learning beyond the classroom in promoting learner autonomy, and diversify their use of research methods.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

MASELTOV Deliverable Report 7.2: Feedback and Progress Indicators

This document explores the range of feedback and progress indicators (FPIs) that can be used to support incidental, mobile learning for the target MASELTOV audience, recent immigrants to the EU. We propose that feedback, and progress indicators (we differentiate between the two) should play an instrumental role in helping learners reflect upon individual, often isolated learning episodes mediated by single MASELTOV services, and enable them to reconceive them as constituting elements of a coherent, larger learning journey. The goal of feedback and progress indicators is to support the motivation for learning and from this the social inclusion of recent immigrants. Our underpinning assumption is that the MASELTOV software designers’ goal should be to encourage not just resolution of immediate challenges (e.g. finding a doctor, translating a sign) but a user’s reflection on their continuing progress towards integration into the host country, including improving their language skills. We define feedback as responses to a learner’s performance against criteria of quality and as a means of directing and encouraging the learner; and progress indicators as responses indicating the current position of a learner within a larger activity or journey (often related to time). Drawing partly from the worlds of web-based language learning and video games, we identify which feedback and progress indicators may best support incidental mobile learning, and the major challenges faced. For some MASELTOV services, feedback and progress indicators for large scale learning journeys are less apparent (e.g. TextLens, the MASELTOV tool that enables a user to take a photo of a sign and convert the image into text, potentially for future viewing or translation), while some services are explicitly educational (e.g. language lessons). However we see all of these as potentially part of an ecology of services that can support social inclusion, so all tools should include FPIs that encourage broader learning goals. In this document we draw on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages as appropriate, and also reflect on learner perspectives (derived from WP2 and WP9 findings) to identify suitable FPIs, as well as being informed by academic literature. Furthermore, we recommend FPIs that would be suitable for the MASELTOV tools and services. The remainder of the deliverable handles the four identified key areas where mobile incidental learning particularly requires FPIs: 1. encouraging reflection 2. future goal setting 3. planning 4. social learning It should be noted that this document is a high level review, identifying significant literature and key examples of FPIs in practice. This document offers recommendations therefore in general terms. Decisions about specific FPIs to be implemented will be made in coordination with technical partners to identify which MASELTOV services and tools will support which specific feedback and progress indicators, and how they will be implemented within the system