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 Lastly, we drew on published and unpublished writings to compile the ten sketches of new pedagogies that might transform education.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

Assessing a Collaborative Online Environment for Music Composition

The current pilot study tested the effectiveness of an e-learning environment built to enable students to compose music collaboratively. The participants interacted online by using synchronous and asynchronous resources to develop a project in which they composed a new music piece in collaboration. After the learning sessions, individual semi-structured interviews with the participants were conducted to analyze the participants\u2019 perspectives regarding the e-learning environment\u2019s functionality, the resources of the e-learning platform, and their overall experience with the e-learning process. Qualitative analyses of forum discussions with respect to metacognitive dimensions, and semi-structured interview transcriptions were performed. The findings showed that the participants successfully completed the composition task in the virtual environment, and that they demonstrated the use of metacognitive processes. Moreover, four themes were apparent in the semi-structured interview transcriptions: Teamwork, the platform, face-to-face/online differences, and strengths/weaknesses. Overall, the participants exhibited an awareness of the potential of the online tools, and the task performed. The results are discussed in consideration of metacognitive processes, and the following aspects that rendered virtual activity effective for learning: The learning environment, the platform, the technological resources, the level of challenge, and the nature of the activity. The possible implications of the findings for research on online collaborative composition are also considered

The principles of learning and teaching (PoLT)

In Victoria, Australia, under the Blueprint agenda, The Principles of Learning and Teaching (Department of Education and Training, 2005) are being used to operationalise pedagogical change and curriculum renewal. The University of Melbourne is one of the three contracted providers and in 2005 and 2006 has supported 450 teachers from state, independent and special schools in Victoria and 70 teachers in Singapore. The paper outlines the workings of the model and illustrates how through a deeper and renewed focus on pedagogy schools are being asked to examine and change their practice for all students. One benefit of the initiative is that special schools are an integral part of the cluster network and are reconsidering their role in school renewal and systems transformation more broadly. However the regime of pedagogical renewal must be understood as part of the past and the present, multiple transgressions and intense struggles in reform practices more broadly. None the least being the persistent stratification of schooling into special and regular in the Victorian context and professional learning being constructed as weak professional socialization. Working visually and reading intertextually undoing some of the problematics of the implementation process the challenges of system wide professional learning and curriculum reform are exposed.<br /

Guest Editorial: Fostering deep learning in problem solving contexts with the support of technology

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Design-activity-sequence: A case study and polyphonic analysis of learning in a digital design thinking workshop

In this case study, we report on the outcomes of a one-day workshop on design thinking attended by participants from the Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning conference in Philadelphia in 2017. We highlight the interactions between the workshop design, structured as a design thinking process around the design of a digital environment for design thinking, and the diverse backgrounds and interests of its participants. Data from in-workshop reflections and post-workshop interviews were analyzed using a novel set of analytical approaches, a combination the facilitators made by possible by welcoming participants as coresearchers

First Steps into Practical Engineering for Freshman Students Using MATLAB and LEGO Mindstorms Robots

Besides lectures on basic theoretical topics, contemporary teaching and learning concepts for first semester students give more and more consideration to practically motivated courses. In this context, a new first-year introductory course in practical engineering has been established in the first semester curriculum of Electrical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. Based on a threefold learning concept, programming skills in MATLAB are taught to 309 students within a full-time block course laboratory. The students are encouraged to transfer known mathematical basics to program algorithms and real-world applications performed by 100 LEGO Mindstorms robots. A new MATLAB toolbox and twofold project tasks have been developed for this purpose by a small team of supervisors. The students are supervised by over 60 tutors at 23 institutes, and are encouraged to create their own robotics applications. We describe how the laboratory motivates the students to act and think like engineers and to solve real-world issues with limited resources. The evaluation results show that the proposed practical course concept successfully boosts students’ motivation, advances their programming skills, and encourages the peer learning process.

Advancing Philanthropic Strategy Through Evaluative Thinking: One Foundation’s Approach

The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland supports Catholic sisters and their ministries in northeast Ohio through the grantmaking, partnership, capacitybuilding, and evaluation efforts of its Catholic Sisters Program Area. The decline of sisters actively engaged in ministry, due both to their rising median age and a decades-long decline in their overall numbers, called for a reconsideration and likely revision of the CSPA existing theory of change. Unlike other strategic approaches at the foundation, such as ending homelessness or improving health equity, transitioning from sister-led to lay-led leadership of ministries remained largely unexplored: Basic research was lacking, and model practices were simply not available. Therefore, CSPA staff engaged in a disciplined process to explore, measure, evaluate, and enhance its approach to supporting the legacy and current requirements of Catholic sisters within a rapidly changing environment. This article presents findings and lessons learned from a three-part evaluation process designed to offer an inclusive, systems-based approach to evaluation by identifying outcomes critical to CSPA success and salient areas of evaluative inquiry designed to strengthen the program area; develop a framework of key elements of gospel-inspired service as modeled by sisters, rooted in stakeholder and community input; and employ the conceptual framework to develop measurement tools for sisters and lay partners for ongoing data collection to strengthen existing efforts and plan for the future. Learnings from the systems-based evaluation process suggests and will inform a revision of CSPA’s theory of change, ensuring the foundation will continue to support and effectively promote the formation and activities of well-formed lay leaders and organizationally strong ministries to carry forward gospel-inspired service as modeled by sisters. This article concludes by discussing how this three-part evaluative approach contributes to an expanded understanding of how philanthropic strategic initiatives can be assessed and effectively adapted by foundations experiencing generational or leadership transition or other changing contexts. While the work developed from the specific context of a faith-based foundation, there are several tools and approaches that may be considered or adapted more broadly within philanthropy