When questions pop up inside our head we no longer grab a heavy encyclopaedia volume, but we do a search on the Internet instead. People in different age groups approach this search in different ways: the younger ones no longer search for articles, but find answers directly on video hosting platforms like YouTube. Online video is becoming more important each year. In the VIDEO EDUCA Master Class at ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN 2012 a team of highly experienced broadcast and film professionals shared their expertise with delegates on how to make video in learning even more effective.

By Abe Pazos

The language of video

The decreasing cost of video production and post-production makes it easy for educators and enthusiasts to create video material and share it online. Unfortunately, affordable technology does not magically create good content. Quality still requires expertise in the language of video, and those with no previous film-making experience have to learn what it is that makes an educative video successful.

Adam Salkeld from Tinopolis, UK, directed the VIDEO EDUCA Master Class. He argued that “the technology is there, the audience is there” and praised “the incredible talent and knowledge the young people have, who are exploring video making themselves”. Salkeld used his experience as a documentary filmmaker to direct the participants’ attention to different segments of Hollywood films and carefully study how cameras and sound are used, how scenes are edited and how directors approach storytelling on film. Comparing successful films with a variety of learning video content found online is a great exercise which helps us notice quite how much we might be missing in educational video.

Laurie Burruss, from Lynda.com, shared a perfect example of what to avoid during a presentation titled “Online Video: How It Changes & Enhances the Way We Learn!”. She showed a very long lecture recording produced by a recognised university. The video included a still professor, shot entirely from one static camera, with poor audio quality, unreadable slides and with students walking in and out of the classroom in front of the camera.

Salkeld pointed out during Wednesday’s Masterclass that “from all the wonderful things you can do on film, you don’t have to just put a camera in front of the teacher and record it. It’s not using video to anywhere near its potential. It’s actually making the content worse! Of course there are budget constraints and time constraints, but there are still things you can do to make it a little bit more of a pleasant experience rather than torture,” he joked.

Emotion and connecting with the audience

The Master Class continued with Martin Addison sharing the story of how Video Arts has used humour during its 40 years of existence while adapting to media and technology available in each decade. Humour is a very effective technique for connecting with the audience. On Friday’s session Ms Burruss made obvious the importance of this connection by showing a video clip in which a teenager explained how to create a certain hair styling – this clip being much more popular than other pieces produced by professional and experienced hairdressers of older age.

As Salkeld pointed out, “we must think about who we are communicating with, and we must be extra careful when talking to a younger audience. They are much more demanding”. During the session the participants could see many examples of corporate videos that completely missed this connection with the audience: they felt utterly ridiculous and embarrassing.

Talking to a person right next to the camera instead of talking to a camera standing on its own, and having people talk in natural environment with no artificial light were some of the ideas suggested that make recordings more natural.

Performance

The former BBC television producer added, “Performance is a big part of making an entertaining video. You do have to consider performance of the people you are going to be using”, which led to ideas from the audience like “making the teacher a movie star”. Maybe there is space for a new profession: the educator-performer?

Storytelling and emotion

The presenters in the Masterclass made it very clear that “you need a message. If there is no message, it doesn’t matter which techniques you use”. Rebekah Tolley, from Tarian Films, emphasised that “emotion is very important and not necessarily extreme emotion, but an emotion you can connect to. If you got a good story to tell in your film then you can film it in a simple way, with very little budget”. Two examples with powerful stories but low budgets were screened: Baseball in the Time of Cholera and Caine’s Arcade. Salkeld stated that “even the dullest lecture should have a story that you can tell”.

Is video the solution?

It’s important to keep in mind that video is not always the right format. Sometimes a good solution is a combination of media: maybe a short exciting introduction video covering the most important aspects, working together with longer audio and text documents. We must consider “what is video going to provide that other media fail at?” Salkeld advised.

As a finale to the Masterclass Steve Anderson, Editorial Director of the Tinopolis Group, led the “Video Doctor” session, which screened material submitted by the attendees. Mr Anderson provided ideas for improvement and all attendees shared comments and related experiences.

The VIDEO EDUCA Masterclass was a fantastic opportunity for exchanging video production knowledge and learning from experienced creative professionals.

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Collaboration in practice and content is increasingly accepted as a component of forward-looking educational thinking. In this session on the last day of ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN 2012, the presenters took a broad look at how the use of digital technologies supports creative collaboration, including examples which illustrate how content and collaborative practice change education for the Arts.

By Abe Pazos

Sarah Eagle, from the University of Bristol, started by presenting examples of learning that involve collaboration and creativity. She described how a successful scientific team worked smoothly together, never really needing to explain matters to each other, because they had developed short-hands in communication. However, “by bringing somebody else in from a completely different discipline, they had to start explaining things. Suddenly, the light bulb went on, and there were new scientific discoveries. This justifies why we now see many artists in residence at scientific laboratories”. Eagle mentioned the work of Gerhard Fischer, whose team “looks at using technology to support breakdowns in processes or teamwork, because it’s at those moments when creative insights take place.”

Eagle continued detailing the results of two different CoCreat projects, whose objective is to enable creative collaboration through supportive technologies. In one of the projects, pupils in elementary schools create digital stories in order to illustrate their home area. The stories are shared in an online portal in order to promote knowledge exchange. A second project involves aged people working in groups, who together find ways to manage their everyday duties and hobbies and to contact their relatives and friends. One surprising outcome of the research was that difficulties with technology improve social interaction. The collaborative learning took place because the technology was not just in the background, but it had to be dealt with.

The second presenter was Gisle Johnsen, founder and CEO of Grieg Music Education, Norway, who talked about an online music learning platform for children which allows students to listen to each instrument in a symphony one by one, then collaboratively mix popular musicians with instruments played by students from other countries to create complete songs and discuss the pieces online. It results in students who are more engaged in the music production. “When the education system focuses on music education, it only focuses on people who want to play an instrument.” That means, according to Johnsen, leaving behind 80% of the students with no interest in playing instruments. “This project is not just about music, but about enhancing creativity”. Johnsen argues that “the European society now needs creative people who can find new ways of earning their money and creating new businesses. If you look at the time schedule of any schools you won’t ever find the subject creativity. Music is a great way to be creative if you provide the right tools.”

To complete the session, Nicoletta Di Blas, from Politecnico di Milano, HOC-LAB, Italy, introduces PoliCultura, a project in which groups of students are given three months to create a multimedia story which is later shared online.

“Teachers tell us students are engaged, they love doing stories, they are willing to work the night to finish the story. But do they learn?” asks Di Blas. “Many times when you introduce technology in schools the students are very happy. But do they really benefit from the experience in an educational sense?” PoliCultura uses mandatory questionnaires before and after the experience, meetings and Skype interviews to carefully evaluate its effects. The findings are encouraging: students not only gain a better understanding of the presented subject, but also get “atypical benefits like development of professional skills. They begin to understand what a deadline is, they learn to be tolerant towards other students, they learn to listen to each other, and, surprisingly, they increase proficiency in all school subjects because they experience what it’s like to be good at school, and want to taste this again.”

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In business we are frequently told that success depends upon us standing out from the crowd. Whether you are selling a product or a service, you have to prove yourself to be better than all the rest. There are times, however, when the crowd can be your best friend. Two sessions at the recent Business EDUCA 2012 gave practical examples of how moving within the crowd can help you to achieve success. The news team tagged along to find out more.

By Alicia Mitchell

Charles Jennings, a strategic consultant who aims to help organisations to ‘work smarter’, invited delegates to take part in a highly interactive afternoon of solution seeking through crowdsourcing. Sharing a model that aims to draw upon the expertise and experience of every participant, Jennings explained that, within any organisation, valuable knowledge can often lie dormant.

When communication channels are only vertical, he says, it is possible for specific issues or successes to go unnoticed, even in a single department. Jennings’s crowdsourcing method can open up dialogue between colleagues who may have the answers to each other’s questions. The method is highly flexible, and discussion points can be either general to the health of an organisation or specific to pertinent trouble points within a team.

Example topics chosen for discussion in the interactive session included push and pull learning models and inspiring examples of good practice witnessed or implemented by attendees. Participants worked in groups to gather information on their assigned topic and finished by presenting their findings. Jennings’s method results in every participant sharing their views on every discussion topic; everybody’s voice is heard.

Dr. Patrick Blum, Managing Partner of the Inside Business Group and attendee to the session, described the concept as one that he would definitely be implementing into his business. Blum’s task had been to gather examples of best practice, and he was inspired by the responses he found, including the Scottish Social Services’ ‘ideas platform’ and a Swedish learning project that connected students across the globe to work on communal learning activities. “All four topics were interesting”, he said, “but especially the projects our group uncovered”.

Crowdsourcing can also generate new working relationships. When asked if he would be keeping in touch with any of his fellow crowdsourcers, Blum’s answer was direct: “Yes, definitely! I have swapped business cards. It is a fun opportunity to meet other people.”

But it is not only on the micro-scale that crowds can be useful. In her Learnshop, Kirsten Winkler shared practical tips for entrepreneurs hoping to extract capital from the global crowd by using crowdfunding, or a “pooling of funds from people who are passionate about the same idea”.

Winkler writes her own widely followed blog on educational technology trends and is the founder of EDUKWEST, an on-line channel broadcasting interviews with start-ups and ‘teacherpreneurs’. EDUKWEST is also an official partner to Indiegogo, one of the leader crowdfunding platforms.

Although it can be a useful and low cost way to generate investment, there are plenty of other benefits to be found in the crowd. Platforms are able to provide extensive data on your potential customer base and campaigns can offer pre-launch marketing to build hype about your product and potential PR coverage. Crowdfunding campaigns can also provide useful feedback on how viable your idea really is: if the crowd has not stumped up $10 after two weeks, you might want to head back to the drawing board.

So how can you be sure of successfully channelling funding and support from the crowd? Kirsten points to video and social media, which is now a necessity to a successful campaign. A well-produced video that shares the personal story behind your project can increase funding by 114%, whilst four active social media accounts can push it up by 103%.

But, Winkler warns, do not let things slide. Just as social media can launch a campaign into viral stardom, unattended or impersonal accounts can draw vitriol from the crowd, casting your dream onto the scrapheap.

Whether you are seeking solutions within your workplace or seeking financial backing for your entrepreneurial ideas, turning to the crowd can offer useful support. What is more, these methods require minimal to no initial investment and have the potential to draw rich rewards.

If you are thinking about how the crowd can help you, take a moment to consider Winkler’s final and favourite benefit of crowd resources: serendipity. If you never have a go, never seek help or share your ideas, you will never know what you have missed.

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ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN 2012 was a great success and featured three outstanding sessions that focused on the role of social media in education both inside and outside the classroom.

Though these sessions differed in style, and their speakers came from varied fields, each presenter illustrated different ways in which social media is being used to enhance education and create a range of opportunities for both students and teachers alike.

By Claire Adamson

The social media theme began with Enhancing Participatory Culture: How to Design International Collaboration with Social and Mobile Media? Ilona Buchem along with three of her students demonstrated their work as part of the ‘Icollaborate project’ in which they used Mahara, a social media platform, to aggregate the produced content, document their findings, blog their opinions and importantly receive peer feedback from other students all over the world.

It was discovered that though Mahara was a ‘new media’ for all students, it operated similar to many of the more popular social websites, thus it was easy for students to assimilate themselves into documenting and sharing their projects on this platform. The students were positive about the use of Mahara and, in particular the ability to receive praise and constructive criticism from other students of diverse cultures, which was seen as hugely motivating and important. The initiative is to be replicated in future programs at Beuth University.

The next session to provide commentary on the use of social media in education was Facebook for Education: Passing or Failing the Test? This session discussed the successes as well as the dangers of students using social media as part of their education.

Providing a valuable presentation of ‘lessons learned’ Colin Gray of Edinburgh University explained how instead of using an existing social network such as Facebook, a social network called ‘Napier Exchange’ was built, so students and teachers could collaborate and share. While similar to Facebook it allowed teacher and students also to blog, create wiki’s, share documents and have discussion groups. Napier Exchange has had unprecedented success, in particular with the rich student-teacher discussions.

On the trail of Napier exchange’s success, Nick Kearney explained how using an existing platform, Facebook, was not successful. This was explained by the social media website’s association with leisure time and fun; students were very talkative but never produced any materials. Kearney explains that “Facebook is a social space, and not a work space… it is not good for structure, but very good for communication.”

The final social media specific session was Social Media: A Teaching and Learning Experience with Facebook, one of several ‘learning cafes’ that were popular at ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN.  The session was aimed towards educators and with a tagline as bold as ‘how to implement Social Media into your teaching without increasing your own workload’ it had a popular turnout.

This was more than a simple session where the speakers present their latest findings. Participants were encouraged to discuss the topics in groups with the presenter acting as a guide and mediator between groups. This workshop was of particular importance as it countered the previous session’s argument that Facebook was a poor platform for education because of its close link with ‘social time’. Wim Oostindier explained his success using Facebook and Twitter with his language-learning students, by utilising the websites as continual reservoirs of knowledge and information – even after the course was finished.

The success that Wim Oostindier had using Facebook and Twitter, which was in sharp contrast with the failures observed by Nick Kearney can be explained by the differing usage by their students. Oostindier used Facebook as an educational ‘supplement’ and a way for motivated students to continue their learning, long after classes were over. On the contrary, Kearney’s example of Facebook’s failure as an educational tool had students thrown into a vast pool of strangers, telling them to start socialising and forming groups, a very different and ultimately disastrous approach.

The sessions heard many stories of success as well as a few failures, but the overarching opinion of using social media as an educational tool, was extremely positive. Educators walked away from the session with the knowledge that though social media changes the focus of education from single person to groups, the students’ individual learning experience is enhanced through collaboration and informal learning with their peers.

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One of the key questions asked by speakers and attendees alike at ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN was why educators were not making better use of the advanced piece of technology sitting in the pocket of most school and university students these days – their mobile phone. Speakers from Blackboard and Pearson, as well as various startups and universities from around the world talked about the different ways in which mobile phones could be used to enhance the learning experience, both inside the classroom and in various other extra-curricular ways.

By Claire Adamson

Friday’s plenary session ‘Learning Futures: Over the Horizon’ featured a talk about mobile disruption from Blackboard Mobile General Manager Kayvon Beykpour. By citing examples of various industries which have been turned on their head by mobile innovation like taxis, personal assistance and photography, Beykpour was able to make a case for why education is ready for this kind of disruption. He talked about Blackboard Mobile and how the app was helping to facilitate the connection between users and their institutes. The idea is to allow students and staff to connect with the university simply using devices they already own. He finished his talk with a quote from American philosopher Eric Hoffer, who said: ‘Change prepares the ground for revolution.’

‘Innovative Uses of Mobile in Education’ featured several speakers who expanded upon Beykpour’s ideas about mobile technology and its potential uses in education. The session, which was so popular that there were a few rows of people standing at the back, provided real life examples and user cases where mobile technologies are already providing students with new ways of learning.

Johanna Salmia of HAMK University in Finland demonstrated various ways on which smartphones could be used to take lessons and assessment out into a real world environment. She used the example of learning about plants outside. Students were able to follow a map that had been laid out by the teacher and answer questions while they were in the garden amongst the plants. Salmia suggested that new education models and processes needed to be created to take advantage of the rising number of students with smartphones.

Harri Ketamo introduced eedu, a character-based mobile learning game that was created with children in mind rather than teaching. By making learning into a game to be played outside of school time, it allowed children to explore different characters within the game. He explained how children have a greater interest in characters they’ve created than they do in themselves, and how creating a character can give a child something to blame failure on, letting them pursue trial and error without fear. Ketamo also pointed out the potential of the game as a social interaction tool, suggesting that children who played the game together would talk about it together.

Another point that Ketamo touched upon in his talk was how there is more access to Internet in the world then there is to schooling, and how this meant that there was huge potential for learning apps and games to have a real impact on students in developing countries.

Gail Krovitz of Pearson asked why some schools had policies banning mobile phones in the classroom and how this was a huge missed opportunity for educators. She gave an example of how a lesson could run entirely using mobile phones, and was quick to point out how all mobile phones could be used in learning, not just smartphones. As well as apps and Internet access, Krovitz suggested how everything from texting to QR codes could be used to enhance the learning experience. By using technology and devices that the students already owned, she emphasised how this engagement with technology was a low cost one for schools.

Krovitz ended her talk by countering the question of ‘texting in class’, suggesting that teaching students how to use mobile phones in a respectful and non-disruptive way in class was a potential learning opportunity in itself.

The final speaker was Steven Warburton of the University of Surrey, who had conducted a study on the way that university students use ereaders and epublications as a replacement to textbooks. He suggested that this was a logical step forward for the industry, because of the increased cost of shipping and production for physical textbooks. The study was carried out on law students who typically use a lot of text, and there was found to be a big digital divide of students who either loved the technology or hated it.  Students who already used smartphones and tablets found the ereader to be lacking, while students who had not yet engaged with mobile technology loved the functionality of the device and its portability.

Warburton pointed out that there were a lot of questions still to be asked regarding the use of ereaders in higher education, mostly surrounding how educational models would change to fit the format, and how the effects of the ereader could be evaluated.

All of the session’s speakers emphasised in their talks that the way mobile devices are being used in education now is just a starting point, and there is a lot of change in thinking, procedure and policy that needs to happen before mobile technology becomes an integral part of education.

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An avalanche is set to transform the traditional university model, according to Sir Michael Barber, Pearson’s Chief Education Adviser. Speaking before an audience of over 2000 participants from an estimated 100 countries at ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN, Barber explained that factors such as the globalisation of education, the changing economy, and the now ubiquitous nature of content are changing the face of education, and a revolution is inevitable.

With 25% of 21 year-old graduates in the UK being unemployed, compared with 20% unemployment among school leavers of the same age, it is clear that the value of a traditional degree in the labour market is decreasing. The discrepancy between degrees, diplomas and employment took centre stage at the annual ONLINE EDUCA debate, where Jef Staes, author of My Organisation is a Jungle (Belgium), and Donald Clark, University for Industry (UK), successfully waged war on diplomas and degrees, while Sue Martin, SAP (Germany ), and Kirstie Donnelly, City & Guilds (UK), mounted an impassioned but ultimately unsuccessful defence.

Under the overall theme of reaching beyond tomorrow, ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN’s 400 speakers have been exchanging their experiences of both experimental and tried and tested technology-enhanced educational models from around the world.

One speaker who has successfully worked with alternative educational models is Dr Mark Milliron, Chancellor of WGU, Texas. WGU is a non-profit, online, learning-centred university that offers affordable and accredited courses. Milliron explains that we are in a time of massive transition, with our education ecosystem comprising a swirl of generations learning and teaching together. In order to be effective, we must move beyond the discussion of whether using technology is a good idea or not: instead, we must focus on using all the tools we have at our disposal and blend our approach as required. Technology should be used to make the human moments precious.

Barber and Milliron were joined by award-winning director Michael Grigsby, who announced the launch of the Video EDUCA part of the programme and celebrated the power of video in education. According to Grigsby, technology is both liberating and constraining us. He explained that, through our increasing reliance on technology, we are increasingly seeking instant gratification, but students must be given space in which to reflect, feel and find their own voice.

Now in its 18th year, ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN has been taking place from 28th – 30th November 2012 and is accompanied by an exhibition area where 85 exhibitors from 25 countries presented their latest products and services. For more information, please visit www.elearning-africa.com.

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Knowing that the learners of the 21^st century are wired 24/7, teachers are increasingly directing students’ natural online proclivity towards school and academic work. It’s referred to as a myriad of interesting-sounding catchwords such as flipped learning, flipped teaching, reverse teaching, reverse instruction and the inverted classroom. Whilst certainly not a new approach to teaching, this method’s momentum is growing. OEB 2012 will feature a number of sessions exploring the effectiveness of the flipped class.

In a flipped class, students read articles online, conduct web searches and research, listen to podcasts and watch videos, and participate in collaborative online discussions and meetings. And this all takes place either at home, on the underground, at school or university, in libraries and dorms – basically anywhere and everywhere. Coming to class then becomes an active experience that is grounded in discussion, debate and analysis of the information gained through the students’ preparation via videos, reading and listening, rather than passive listening.

But how effective is this pedagogical approach? Could it hold the key to the future of learning? At OEB 2012, educational practitioners will debate the effectiveness and applicability of this learning model in the session Flipped Learning: The Classroom of the Future? Jörn Loviscach, Fachhochschule Bielefeld (University of Applied Sciences), Germany, will share his experiences of using YouTube for educational videos, while Mikko Vasko, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Germany will discuss the use of flipped learning in Engineering Studies, and Liora Groen, VU University Amsterdam, will weigh up the pros and cons of using weblectures in learning.

One of the most famous forms of flipped learning is video, as popularised by the Khan academy. But a poorly-made video is likely to be received with disdain by learners, particularly those in generation Z, who are highly sophisticated consumers of all types and styles of video and film, as well as native video makers. Through their own practical involvement they understand the everyday grammar of film, and are therefore highly critically aware of the video content they consume.  OEB 2012 will feature a whole host of sessions focusing on making video work for learning. A pre-conference highlight is the expert-led Masterclass, which will cover the key steps and aspects of making education videos. Award-winning filmmaker Michael Grigsby will speak in OEB’s opening plenary session about the role of video in learning, while budding educational filmmakers can take their pick from five different LAB sessions which will provide participants with the tools and techniques needed to succeed in all stages of video production.

Other tools commonly used in the flipped class include interactive quizzes, online collaborative projects and podcasts. But is there a risk that learners, including those of school age, aren’t as au fait with today’s array of technological tools as we might assume? In the session Not All NetGens are Digital Natives: Tailoring Media Education is a Must , Christine Hoffmann, Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg, Germany, Tore Ståhl, Arcada University of Applied Sciences and University of Tampere, Finland and Sylvia van den Berg, AYNI Bolivia Nederland, The Netherlands, will provide an insight into the characteristics and heterogeneity of the learners of today and the future, and will share good practices on tailoring media for education.

To what extent could such pedagogical approaches be used throughout the world, and could they help to provide education for all? The session Meanwhile, on the Other Side of the World… will discuss the merits of blended learning approaches with speakers including a group of students from South Africa, an educator from Cirque de Soleil and a journalism student from far away. African advances in ICT integration will be presented in the session ICT Integration in an African Educational Setting, which will feature speakers from Malawi, Kenya, Tunisia and Nambia.

The session Not All NetGens are Digital Natives: Tailoring Media Education is a Must will be held on Thursday 29th November from 11:45 to 13:15. Meanwhile, on the Other Side of the World… will take place on Thursday 29th November from 14:30 to 16:00 and ICT Integration in an African Educational Setting will also take place from 14:30 to 16:00 on Thursday 29th November.

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In an industry defined by rapid developments in technology and theory it can sometimes be a challenge to spot the next great success stories in amongst the hype. The ONLINE EDUCA news service spoke with an international authority on technological trends and intelligent infrastructure, Ayesha Khanna, to find out her views on the future of learning ahead of her OEB 2012 keynote speech.

By Alicia Mitchell

Khanna is the founder and director of the Hybrid Reality Institute, a research and advisory think tank that specialises in data intelligence, geopolitics and technology trends. She is also the author of several books and is currently working towards a PhD in Information Systems and Innovation at the London School of Economics.

Khanna’s aspirations for her own children give an insight into the educational landscape she hopes will emerge in the coming years. Rather than following the traditional paths of secondary and university education, she hopes they will be “free to create their own learning path” and goes on to describe the student of the future as “a lifelong learner who is constantly educating himself/herself”.

This movement towards self-directed learning has significant implications, both for the opportunities open to students and for the hitherto sanctified position of educational institutions. However, a total upending of educational structures as they have existed for centuries is no mean feat. Khanna points to three trends that she predicts will “change the face of education”: mobile literacy, e-vocational education and algorithmic and robotic teachers.

Mobile literacy is something that is already causing a division of prospects and opportunity. Writing for the EDUCAUSE Review, David Parry defines mobile literacy as a signifier of “what it means to be knowledgeable and educated in our culture”[i], and points to mobile literacy education as a fundamental responsibility of educators today.

E-Vocational education is a rapidly growing sector. With exciting advances in remote learning, such as remote laboratories that enable students to control complex laboratory equipment via an Internet connection and a web cam, students can gain access to otherwise prohibitively expensive or specialised equipment and facilities. Vocational courses that were previously accessible to a limited number of students are now open to participants across the world.

24-hour access to e-vocational resources could also make training in many sectors more economical: fewer teachers and support staff are required as students are guided by remote programmes, and labs do not have to be as heavily staffed. In addition, blended learning frees up the time of teaching staff to focus on practical skills while e-learning resources contribute theory.

When it comes to accreditation, Khanna suggests that universities need to “learn to use artificial intelligence tools that will likely come to the market within five years, to provide education that changes with the skill level of the student”. Algorithmic assessment and robotic teaching are potential directions for e-learning in the future. With current developments in algorithmic educational theory, could it be possible to offer online courses that automatically adjust themselves to suit the individual needs of each student? The idea of automated yet personalised teaching is certainly attractive.

Similar techniques could be used to provide accreditation to students, or replace our traditional system of certificates and qualifications altogether. Khanna envisions a point at which accreditation could be entirely superseded by algorithmic scores, “mined from all a person’s activities within a ubiquitous computing environment”. She says that these scores could potentially asses a candidate’s skills, influence, leadership potential and specific suitability for a project or team, drawing data from the thorough integration of information processing into our everyday lives.

Although we have handed over control of many aspects of our lives to algorithms, most notably in the financial industries, will we be comfortable with totally a-human teaching? And what could become of all that data drawn from every aspect of our lives? Khanna says she is deeply concerned by the privacy issues new technologies raise. “Technology”, she notes, “is a double-edged sword, and we must always be vigilant of what we lose as we increase its presence in our lives.”

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Ayesha Khanna will give her keynote speech Technology as a Friend and Foe: Mastering Education to Succeed in the 21st Century, during OEB 2012’s academic plenary session Learning Futures: Over the Horizon on Friday, November 30^th, 09:30 – 11:00. From 11:45 – 13:15, participants will also have the chance to discuss Khanna’s ideas with her in more detail at the session Meet with Ayesha Khanna.

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Exciting and innovative learning technologies are produced every day, each with the capability to enhance the ease with which education can be administered and accessed. But are we really paying attention to the potential drawbacks of all this “progress”? Seb Schmoller, former Chief Executive at the UK-based Association for Learning Technology and OEB 2012 keynote speaker, outlines some instances where education has taken a step backwards, rather than forwards, as a result of Technology Enhanced Learning.

“[The step backwards has occurred] to the extent that technology-enhanced learning seeks to represent things using technology. But not everything can be represented with technology (for example, ideas, processes, techniques), and there is a danger that this will narrow a learner’s experience. Furthermore, technology-enhanced learning encourages a focus on measurement, when not everything can be measured.” In some cases it can even be “a force for impoverishment rather than for good – perhaps we see this in the US school system, with the new focus on measuring learner progress and teacher effectiveness with online tests.”

While the plenary session in which Schmoller is delivering his keynote speech is titled Learning Futures: Over the Horizon, he believes that there is a danger in constantly looking ahead for the next new technology and neglecting the present.

“William Gibson wrote ‘the future is already here: it’s just not evenly distributed’. For this reason, I am sceptical about ‘technologies on the horizon’, because what is on the horizon for some is in the here-and-now for others. And I think we should concentrate on the smooth and effective use of technology rather than on technologies per se.”

With technology-enhanced learning comes great change, such as the digitisation of educational books and journals, but many academic publishers are placing the contents behind paywalls. Schmoller feels that these inhibit learning and that they are often priced unreasonably compared to their paper counterparts.

“When a paywall requests a small payment, then I am usually content to pay. But when a paywall is requiring me to pay more to access a digital copy of a 15-page scholarly paper than it would cost me to buy a physical copy of a 200 page book – just on the basis of reading the paper’s abstract – then I think that the publisher is taking advantage of me.

I think the current situation could be improved either by articles being published in journals as open access material, with the production costs met by reasonable article processing fees, or by articles being placed in open access repositories so that readers without access to a journal subscription can read the same, or nearly the same, material from the repository in which it has been placed, instead of in the journal in which the article has been published.”

Furthermore, he argues that in the future, academic publishers will have to get used to openness and re-evaluate their business models “…because this [openness] is increasingly the expectation of citizens, especially in relation to knowledge produced as a result of publicly-funded research. In addition, publishers will have to consider the long-term impact of the Internet and of the zero marginal cost of extra copies of published works once digitised. Both will force publishers to find new business models.”

With all this talk of innovation and the future, what does Schmoller regard as the most important changes afoot in today’s technology-enhanced learning industry?

The first is “doing some things on a very large scale, supported by technology”, as demonstrated by the current crop of MOOCs, while the second is the change in perception of technology-enhanced learning from “a delivery medium or method for education”, to “a crucial and central part of the underlying environment in which learners learn.”

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Seb Schmoller will be a keynote speaker at the plenary session, Learning Futures: Over the Horizon on Friday November 30^th from 9:30 – 11:00.

For more information on the upcoming ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN sessions, as well as the full programme and list of speakers, please click here.

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As students become more disengaged with traditional methods of learning and more and more students drop out of school, it is important for educators to examine the mechanics of motivation. New technologies surrounding gamification and augmented reality are giving schools new and innovative ways to engage and motivate, and offer different strategies to pique a student’s natural desire to learn. ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN will look at the possibilities, challenges and the future of gamification and augmented reality in education.

By Claire Adamson

The use of games in education has been a widely accepted method of learning for many years, but as technology evolves, so does the level of engagement students have with the games they are playing in class. It can be argued that school and the system of grading students is like a game anyway – students are given the opportunity to make achievements and go up levels until they eventually ‘master’ school, or graduate.

Games provide students with a more incremental sense of achievement, offering badges, trophies, points and the chance to ‘unlock’ achievements, rather than assessments and grades. As a student makes small gains and earns points or badges, the sense of motivation and achievement is constant and small, rather than being a long haul with a big test at the end. A really important factor in this kind of achievement system is the allowance of students to experience trial and error – by allowing students to make mistakes and fail in a low-stakes environment, they can learn by doing and experimenting. The word ‘failure’ is a terrifying one for students, but it is a necessary part of the learning process.

There are other benefits of gamification in education. By giving students a new way to engage with the course material, there is a possibility to alter their own perceptions of themselves when it comes to learning and schoolwork. A student who has a hard time fitting into a classroom environment can try a different persona in a game setting and has the freedom to experiment within that. If explored correctly, this can be a boost to a student’s self-confidence and a real motivating factor.

Of course, the gamification of education brings with it challenges and pitfalls. Children are smart, and will not respond well to games where the learning is sneaked into the story. There is also the issue that when a student is made to play a game, some of the freedom and fun of the game evaporates – it becomes more and more like schoolwork. Games that are created specifically for education need to look closely at these problems and find creative solutions to properly complement coursework.

Gamification and its different educational applications will be explored thoroughly at this year’s ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN. The panel discussion Enhanced Skill Development with Games and Augmented Reality, which will be led by Dr. Iain McLaren of the National University of Ireland, will address some of the main trends in the gamification of education. Manuel Oliveira will discuss possibilities for serious games in the development of learning in corporate environments. Carsten Busch will discuss his research on the practical learning applications of the Journey of the Hero and the ways that digital media can enhance this, and Hariklia Tsalapatas will talk about developing analytical thinking skills through the use of serious games that apply programming concepts.

Augmented reality, or the addition of a layer of digital media to enhance the real world around us, offers a similar set of benefits and drawbacks to gamification in education. The technology associated with augmented reality has a real wow factor and the novelty is immediately engaging for students. But there are deeper, more ongoing benefits with augmented reality, and tools are being created to provide engaging learning strategies for students.

Educators are already using geotagging and airtagging to let students find extra digital information in real locations using smartphones, a technique that can be used on field trips or in scavenger hunts and gives the student a real sense of discovery. Augmented reality can also be used to visualise diagrams or concepts – for example, students could see a real life model of the human respiratory system mirroring their own when they look at certain screens.

The benefits of augmented reality are not just centered around novelty –the technology can increase the potential for conversational learning. Children have been observed to learn better in groups and augmented reality educational tools help to provide a more 3D focal point for students to gather around.

The applications of augmented reality will also be explored in detail at the conference. The pre-conference workshop Augmented Virtuality supports sharing of Corporate Experience will allow participants to explore new methods of knowledge transfer and the different spheres in which these techniques can be used, while the session Digital Tools and Aids for Teaching Maths and Science: Theory and Practice will focus on applications surrounding these two subjects.

The pros and cons of gamification and augmented reality are numerous and complex, and this year’s ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN will offer many opportunities to discuss specific ways in which these technologies can help students connect with their coursework and enhance the learning experience.

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The pre-conference workshop Augmented Virtuality supports sharing of Corporate Experience will take place on Wednesday November 28^th from 10:00 to 13:00. Enhanced Skill Development with Games and Augmented Reality will take place from 11:45 – 13:15 on Friday November 30^th, while Digital Tools and Aids for Teaching Maths and Sciences: Theory and Practice will also be held on Friday November 30^th, from 16:30 – 18:00. For additional information, please click here.

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