The road is open

In spite of the trials and tribulations of international travel, I actually had a wonderful time in Elmshorn, Germany this week during the two day Moodlemoot event. I met a lot of smart people, and engaged in some very valuable conversations about learning, technology, culture and life in general. The Sounds of the Bazaar Internet radio guys were also present and I managed to squeeze in a live interview on Day 1 with Klaus Rummler on the 'future of learning', as we stood outside in the spring sunshine. My opening keynote focused on openness in education, and I made a call for more open scholarship and open educational practices. Because I was 'preaching to the converted' (the audience was made up of around 300 teachers and other professionals who were already sold on the idea of using open source tools such as Moodle and Mahara in their work), my presentation was very well received, and there were some excellent, thoughtful questions at the end. My slides are here.

It was also a great pleasure to hear two other keynote speakers, Martin Dougiamas, Moodle's founder, who spoke live via Skype from Perth in Australia, and Max Woodtli, a Swiss academic who spoke on 'Visible Learning' - highlighting the work of New Zealand academic John Hattie. Although Dougiamas's presentation was marred by technical difficulties, he was nevertheless able to make his point, via a series of technical illustrations, including the announcement that a set of new mobile phone apps for Moodle will be released in the coming weeks. Max Woodtli was more pedagogical in his focus, talking about the most effective approaches to securing good learning outcomes. Although he spoke in German, I had the excellent services of Stephan Rinke, translating simultaneously for me. Woodtli showed how through a vast range of metastudies ranging from primary to tertiary education research, distance education and online web based methods have no more impact than traditional teaching, and in some cases have poorer outcomes. It is only when teachers forge strong working relationships with their students, and promote the use of methods such as concept mapping, reciprocal teaching and other active forms of problem based learning, that learning outcomes are strong and long lasting. How we transfer those methods effectively into digital learning environments will determine the future of learning platforms such as Moodle, he said.

My thanks go to all who organised Moodlemoot, and in particular, Sigi Jakob-Kühn, who invited me to speak at such an enjoyable event.

Image source by Stephan Rinke

The road is open by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

In the clouds again

Tonight I'm travelling up to Loughborough University to speak at tomorrow's Google Apps for Education User Group meeting. Together with the University of Portsmouth's Manish Malik I will be presenting a paper on our latest thinking around Cloud Learning Environments. Other speakers include Tony Hirst and Niall Sclater (both at the Open University), Nick Skelton (University of Bristol) and presided over by Martin Hamilton (Loughborough University). You can follow the entire day's proceedings by checking the Twitter hashtag #guug11. Here's our abstract:

Manish Malik (Faculty Learning and Teaching Coordinator at the University of Portsmouth) and Steve Wheeler (Associate Professor of Learning Technology at the University of Plymouth) discuss the recent developments and the patterns emerging within the CMS/LMS/VLE product sector. From BB & Moodle 1.0 to BBoogle & Moodle 2.0/Google to Sakai 3.0/Canvas to a GApps based learning environment. Also they highlight and demo an application that shows the potential that Google Apps and other loosely coupled Web 2.0 services have in creating an open Virtual Learning Environment that is cloud based or a "Cloud Learning Environment."

Image source by Marcos Papapopolus


In the clouds again by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Web 3.0: The Way Forward?

Web 3.0: The way forward?

View more presentations from Steve Wheeler.

There were some interesting presentations at the Vital Meet seminar tonight, held at St James' School in Exeter. Chris Fuller (Follow him as @ChrisFullerisms on Twitter) spoke about Moblogging and argued that blogging while mobile fits into the ethos of a lot of young people. They enjoy living in the 'here and now' so would probably benefit from posting their observations and thoughts on the move rather than wait until later. Dan Roberts (@ChickenSaltash) reported on how his School, Saltash.Net in Cornwall is using a number of Web 2.0 tools to promote collaboration and creative approaches to learning in school. Peter Yeomans (@ethinking) from my own Faculty of Education at the University of Plymouth provoked some interesting discussion around the problems of trying to encourage undergraduate students to collaborate in online learning environments. Alistair Fitchett, an Assistant Head teacher at Tiverton High School in North Devon, gave an excellent opening talk on how his school is harnessing the power of new technologies to create excellence in learning. The team from The Welsh Connection, including St James' own Stephen Farmer (@StephenFarmer) spoke on how they were using a number of open source web tools to connect schools across the South of Wales and the West Country of England. I won't forget the pronouncement of the trio of awesome - Moodle, Elgg and Mahara. (I know that will please a number of people I know, not least @Networking_lady)!

My own presentation was entitled Web 3.0: The Way Forward? in which I attempted to paint a picture of future emerging technologies for learning. It's a very difficult task, because often we are wide of the mark when we try to predict technology trends. However, I called upon a number of my recent posts, such as e-Learning 3.0 and Anatomy of a PLE to illustrate what I think may happen in the next year or two, and how the Semantic and Pragmatic aspects of the Web, coupled with smart mobile devices may extend, enhance and transform the learning experience. I hope you find the slideshow useful and very much welcome your comments.

Related posts:

The eXtended Web and the Personal Learning Environment: Rita Kop
X Web: George Siemens
Web 3.0: The Way Forward? Stephen Downes


Web 3.0: The Way Forward? by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at steve-wheeler.blogspot.com.

From HEL to Weinheim

You won't believe the view I have here from this terrace so here's a photo to capture at least a little of the beauty and serenity of this spot. It's a poor substitute for actually being here and experiencing to the birds singing and the peacefulness. I'm staying with Sigi Jakob-Kuhn and her husband Manfred, in Weinheim, just outside Heidelberg, in Germany. You can follow her on Twitter as @networking_lady, and she also has an excellent blog of schools using technology, called School Networking which you should take a look at if you work in schools too. I first met Sigi in Salzburg two years ago when we were both attending a conference there run by the Salzburg Research Foundation - we hit it off, and have been in touch ever since. So when she found out I was taking part in this week's International Network Conference (INC2010) - which for the first time is being hosted outside of Plymouth, in Heidelberg - she invited me to sat with her before the conference.

Last night I flew in from Helsinki and was driven in an open top convertible by Manfred, who I think believes he is the inspiration for Sebastien Vettel (look I'm joking, OK - he drives more like Michael Schumacher), from Frankfurt airport and arrived windswept but happy in Sigi's hillside house. We talked late into the night about all things digital and pedagogical. Sigi's school teacher friend Ulrike Montgomery was also there, and we enjoyed a very stimulating conversation over a few glasses of wine. Sigi has some great ideas about how to incorporate e-portfolios such as Mahara into the formal learning environment. One of her slideshows (presented at a recent German Moodlemoot is linked here). The common theme seems to be teacher resistance to change, and Germany seems to have its fair share in the classroom. Although Moodle is used as a centralised tool by many schools, teachers don't seem to like it, and the same applies to interactive white boards, which if used at all, tend to be teacher tools rather than student ones. It's the same wherever I go in the world. Although there are pockets of excellence where these tools are used appropriately, interactively and with the student in mind, many teachers still see them as mere extensions to the overhead projector or traditional resources set. They are not. They extend, advance and enhance the learning environment if the student is placed in the centre. Use them as presentation tools, and they lose their potency.

Today we are going to explore the town of Weinheim, where I have previously been with some of my Atlantis students (we visited a brewery here last October with staggering results). Then tonight I am off to Heidelberg to get ready for tomorrow's conference.

From HEL to Weinheim by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at steve-wheeler.blogspot.com.