Shaping the Learning Landscape of Tomorrow

In this blog post, we look at some of the themes shaping the learning landscape of tomorrow and how these themes will be explored at the ASCILITE 2019 conference through keynote presentations, namely “Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining”, “Pedagogy-informed Design of New Educational Technology” and “Using Technology to Enhance Team-Based Learning”.

How Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining drive and disrupt the future of learning globally

Professor Koh Hian Chye is a Professor at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) and its Director of Business Intelligence & Analytics, responsible for the implementation of learning analytics in the University, among other things.

At ASCILITE 2019, he will be sharing how learning analytics and educational data mining have been deployed to augment SUSS students’ learning journey.  At the same time, he will also explore how this exciting field continues to drive and disrupt the future of learning globally.

What are the top three reasons for Data Analytics to be just as crucial for education as for the commercial sector?

Prof Koh: Firstly, when people think about data mining and analytics, they frequently think about the commercial sector – where data mining and analytics have very much been developed and deployed. They also realise how analytics is necessary for organisations to gain a competitive edge over their competitors; how analytics is necessary to handle the data explosion.

Secondly, there certainly has been a data explosion for a long time now. Think about the volume and variety of data today, as well as the velocity at which they are generated and collected. Think about how much data is generated in a short span of time by a bank, a telco or a supermarket. But how about universities? Do universities also experience a data explosion?

Thirdly, triggered by advancements in technology, and the increasing use of blended and online learning, there are volumes of data collected in universities too. Think about the data that universities collect when applicants fill in their application forms, when students interact with the learning management system, and when universities measure their students’ performance.

How do these massive data shape the future of education?

Prof Koh: Universities are set up to facilitate learning. So, educational data mining and learning analytics play a critical role to help us transform data into information that supports strategic decision making. In universities, our decisions focus primarily on learning – whether it is curriculum and content development, delivery of seminars or provision of student support.

Pedagogy-informed Design of New Educational Technology

Professor Mike Sharples is an Emeritus Professor of Educational Technology in the Institute of Educational Technology at The Open University, UK whose research involves human-centred design of new technologies and environments for learning. At ASCILITE 2019, he will describe some innovations in teaching and learning informed by new pedagogies such as adaptive, flexible, social and inquiry-led learning, and show how these are being implemented in the classroom and online at large scale. He will also give some examples of new types of technology that are informed by new developments in pedagogy.

How does Educational Technology enhance teaching and learning?

Prof Sharples: Educational technology has an important role to play in educating students for the future. But technology alone will not transform education.

However, behind every educational technology, there’s a pedagogy. A theory, and practice of teaching, learning and assessment. And it’s this combination of pedagogy and technology that can lead to important and effective new ways of teaching and learning.

It’s important to teach the fundamentals of a subject. But also to help students learn how to become more adaptive, design-oriented, technology literate and environmentally and socially aware.

Using Technology to enhance Team-Based Learning

Professor Sandy Cook (Senior Associate Dean at Duke-NUS Medical School), facilitates the design and implementation of the Educational infrastructure for Duke-NUS Medical school.

At ASCILITE 2019, she will be sharing a framework where one can use the introduction of technology to enhance learning. This framework is modeled after Maslow’s needs hierarchy that describes the fundamental environment one needs to make a technology request and identifies issues to consider for successful implementation and ensure the use of technology to effectively impact student learning.

How will technology augment team-based learning?

Prof Cook: This framework helps us guide the development and implementation of technology to enhance the delivery of team-based learning at our school. Without ensuring the proper steps, it will waste resources on unused technology and perhaps have minimal impact on learning, or worse yet, waste learners’ time using resources that could detract from their learning.

The technology identified and used now may not be the technology best for your current or future learning strategies and needs. For example, moving from a face-to-face interaction to blended learning or the need to scale up from small groups to hundreds of learners around the world. You will need to continue to review your existing technology, value and impact. This framework is used for ways to identify and manage the changes that you want to make.

>> Find out more from the speakers on what they will share at this link.

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