10 characteristics of authentic learning

I argued yesterday that authentic learning is a vital part of education in the 21st Century. The need to create learning opportunities that are grounded in reality, and form a concrete basis for real world transferable knowledge and skills has never been more important. We also need authentic assessment for learning. Too often in school classrooms around the world the delivery of content is abstract, disconnected and decontextualised. Students are then regularly tested on their recall of what they have 'learnt' and graded as successes or failures. But exactly what is their success or failure? And what does this process of assessment teach students about the school system? Part of the problem is that content is delivered, with little opportunity for students to make personal sense of that content. Another problem is that students are then expected to replicate that 'knowledge' in a form that is recognisable as the original. Students are therefore learning exactly what is already known, rather than exploring new knowledge and gaining fresh insight on the world. 

Some have previously argued that students at this stage in their education require some knowledge that they can build on. True, but how long should this priming of initial knowledge be allowed to go on? When do we begin to develop independent, autonomous lifelong learners? Authentic learning (and authentic assessment) are related not only to the knowledge students receive, but also to the knowledge production they can themselves achieve. Such learning is not instant, nor can it be achieved over a brief time period. But it can be nurtured early. Complex and iterative learning of this kind takes a lifetime of study, and is always grounded in real world experience. Reeves et al (2002) have much to say about the characteristics of authentic learning, including an emphasis on personalised learning that can be achieved through ill structured problem based learning, where meaning is negotiated within collaborative learning environments, and learning can be situated within multiple contexts and perspectives. Their list of 10 characteristics below are a very useful toolkit for any teacher who wishes to ensure that authentic learning is supported in their classroom:  

1. Real-world relevance: Activities match as nearly as possible the real-world tasks of professionals in practice rather than decontextualized or classroom-based tasks.
2. Ill-defined: Activities require students to define the tasks and sub-tasks needed to complete the activity. 
3. Complex, sustained tasks: Activities are completed in days, weeks, and months rather than minutes or hours. They require significant investment of time and intellectual resources. 
4. Multiple perspectives: Provides the opportunity for students to examine the task from different perspectives using a variety of resources, and separate relevant from irrelevant information. 
5. Collaborative: Collaboration is integral and required for task completion. 
6. Value laden: Provide the opportunity to reflect and involve students’ beliefs and values.
7. Interdisciplinary: Activities encourage interdisciplinary perspectives and enable learners to play diverse roles and build expertise that is applicable beyond a single well-defined field or domain. 
8. Authentically assessed: Assessment is seamlessly integrated with learning in a manner that reflects how quality is judged in the real world.
9. Authentic products: Authentic activities create polished products valuable in their own right rather than as preparation for something else. 
10. Multiple possible outcomes: Activities allow a range and diversity of outcomes open to multiple solutions of an original nature, rather than a single correct response obtained by the application of predefined rules and procedures.

How much of this is currently being achieved in our schools? What would it take for schools to adopt some or all of these approaches?

'In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra.' - Fran Lebowitz.

References 

Reeves, T. C., Herrington, J., & Oliver, R. (2002). Authentic activity as a model for web-based learning. 2002 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA, USA.

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Authentic learning

In his 1970 book Deschooling Society, the radical philosopher Ivan Illich wrote: 'Most learning is not the result of instruction. It is rather the result of unhampered participation in a meaningful setting. Most people learn best by being "with it," yet school makes them identify their personal, cognitive growth with elaborate planning and manipulation.' 

This is a real challenge to many schools. Some of the most effective learning methods involve students doing and making, problem solving, and playing games, all of which comply with the notion of being in a meaningful setting. This kind of situated learning is powerful because it immerses students in contexts that are authentic. Medical students learn through problem based learning, often a complex situated form of education that places them in the role of decision maker. Pilots do a lot of their training in simulators, where 'real life' problems and challenges can be presented to them, and to which they must respond. This kind of learning, according to Jean Lave (1988), is powerful because it is rooted in context, and avoids much of the abstract nature of content that is delivered traditionally. Brown, Collins and Duguid (1989) agree, believing that authentic learning contexts are vitally important if students are to acquire and develop cognitive skills that are transferable to real world living. 

So how do we bring these powerful ideas into school classrooms? Often, we see children bored or demotivated because they are presented with content that is abstract and meaningless, or without a specific context or 'situatedness'. It's not all bad news though. There is evidence that some schools are beginning to adopt authentic learning methods. Saltash.net, a school near to my home, managed to get around this issue by placing children in situations where they had to use tools and techniques to solve real life problems. In their small working farm located within the grounds of the school, they kept chickens, pigs and goats. The children took turns managing the farm, and were often required to purchase food for the animals, or sell eggs at the market. To do this they needed to know about how a market operates, and had to understand concepts such as supply and demand, profit and loss, sell by dates, and so on. Teaching them how to use an Excel spreadsheet would have been dull and boring if it was kept within the four walls of a classroom or ICT suite. Taking this skill outside and putting them in a position where they had to learn by applying spreadsheets to the problem of buying of corn and the selling of eggs at a good price and maintaining records placed their learning within a meaningful setting. There are endless examples of situated learning in a school near you. 

In one American school I visited, teachers chose two students each day who were tasked to edit and present the following day's morning news programme on school radio. All of the children took it in turns to be the morning DJs and news presenters, and their responsibility was to make sure their school was kept up to date on current affairs through their research, editing, filtering and presentation. Many schools in the UK are adopting the School Radio approach too, and children are relishing the challenge of informing their classmates and teachers, deciding on music playlists, reporting on weather and sport, while acquiring authentic critical, organisational and reflective skills. This is learning by stealth, and it is incredibly powerful.

Ultimately, it is the teacher's role to create learning contexts that support authentic learning. If teachers can situate learning in meaningful contexts and real life (or realistic) settings, not only will students become more motivated, they will also acquire authentic transferable skills that they can call upon for the rest of their lives.

References
Brown, J.S., Collins, A. and Duguid, S. (1989) Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32-42.
Illich, I. (1970) Deschooling Society. London: Marion Boyars Ltd.
Lave, J. (1988) Cognition in Practice: Mind, Mathematics and Culture in Everyday Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Parabolic learning

Reflection and Amplification

Now that I have some time, I can sit down and reflect on an extraordinary two hour session with my BA Education Studies students this morning. They are only a small group of a dozen students, but over the last few months, my elearning module group has created a very large amount of content, including blogs, wiki pages and videos. The group wiki is here if anyone wishes to view some of their content. We have previously explored a number of learning theories, new learning technologies, concepts around crowdsourcing, wisdom of crowds, folksonomies and user generated content, Web 2.0, mobile learning and a whole host of other themes during the course.

Today was different, because normally I prepare thoroughly for the sessions. Today, I took the risk of going  into the room with just a germ of an idea to see how it would develop. That germ of an idea evolved over the course of the two hour session into something beyond anything I could ever have planned. It proves to me that sometimes spontaneity can pay dividends. The incorporation of a number of social media tools into the mix proved to be an amazing platform from which the students and I could reflect on the process of learning, and amplify our ideas to each other and the world.

I started the session with the aim of encouraging the group to learn deeply and critically about a particular topic - MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses). I asked them to prepare for a debate next week, and put up the slide: 'This house believes that MOOCs will signal the demise of campus based higher education'.  I then divided the students randomly into two teams, one arguing for the motion, and the other arguing against. I asked the members of the two teams to research their arguments, with supporting evidence, and blog their ideas in preparation for next week's debate.

As a doorknob strategy, I asked two students to act as content curators. Their task would be to create a new wiki page, and begin to populate it with resources related to MOOCs. This would act as baseline reference materials for the two sides to incorporate into their arguments, but it would also mean that the two students would need to investigate both sides of the argument and post content related to the discourse around MOOCs.

I then tweeted (and encouraged the students to do the same) a few messages to the online educator community to ask them their views on the question of whether MOOCs would eventually replace traditional forms of education. This kind of crowdsourcing activity is always a risk and quite unpredictable, because you never know who will respond (if anyone) or what they will say. I added the hashtag #moocplym for good measure so we could track the conversation across the community. Next, I projected Twitterfall and VisibleTweets live backchannel feeds of responses on the large screen at the front of the classroom. Another task then came the way of the curator team. Their next challenge was to create an archive of all the tweets, blogs, and other content related to the hashtag #moocplym and maintain a chronological record throughout the week using Storify or some similar curation tool.

Over the coming week, the two teams (with the curation team in attendance) will therefore explore the history, culture, technology and pedagogy of MOOCs, a topic they are not particularly familiar with. They will critically analyse the discourse surrounding MOOCs, create and share content on their learning, and reflect on it. Their ideas, and their associated content will be presented and amplified through the social media channels, and the ultimate act will be the debate, followed by a discussion of the entire process from start to finish. There will be a lot to talk about if it all goes according to schedule. Oh, and why did I title this post parabolic learning? Because a parabolic reflector collects energy, focuses and transforms it, and then reflects it back with greater intensity. That's exactly what I want my students to do.

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Making a difference

Many times I've heard it said that there is no evidence that technology improves learning. This is a vacuous claim, based on ignorance of the research literature, and possibly borne out of a fear or dislike of technology in general. My usual retort to such a claim is that children with special educational needs are a classic example of technology improving learning. For children with special needs, especially those with physical disabilities such as deafness or vision impairment, technology not only improves learning, it actually enables learning. Without adaptive technology, many disabled children could not access certain types of education. But there is a mass of evidence to show that technology is not only making the difference for all learners, it is actually creating new and previously unattainable opportunities for learning. Technology does make a difference.

A recent research study at the Durham University in the North East of England suggests that multi-touch, multi-user surfaces can improve the learning of mathematics. 400 children were involved in the study, which demonstrated that 'smart tables' enabled better collaboration and problem solving during maths lessons. Class teachers receive a live feed of output from the children's interactions on the surface, and can intervene when necessary. Research has shown that the touch surfaces enable children to discover a range of alternative solutions to maths problems, simply through interacting with each other in new ways.

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Are QR codes redundant?

It seems only a short while since we first became aware of Quick Response (QR) codes. In fact, they have been around since 1994, and were originally created to enable the Japanese car manufacturing giant Toyota to track its vehicles during the manufacturing process. Now QR tags are just about everywhere you look, including advertising hoardings, buses and trains, magazines and even coins. They are essentially two dimensional bar codes that you can scan using your mobile device. The beauty (if you can call it that) of the QR tag is that it will quickly take your mobile device browser to a web site with no other effort than a button click. But as many users will tell you, scanning a QR code can be a little hit and miss.

QR codes have polarised the education community over their usefulness. Some argue that they have no real use beyond faddishness and 'wow' factor, whilst other educators are forging ahead, developing ideas for their pedagogical use. Slowly over the last few years, educational uses have begun to emerge, with some pedagogical applications already being tried out in authentic contexts. And yet, even while QR codes in education are still in their emergent state, questions are being asked about their future, and whether they have already become redundant.

Enter Blippar, an augmented reality tool that is hailed as the QR killer. Apparently it can do everything QR codes can do, but a whole lot more too. I first heard of Blippar when I picked up the November 2012 issue of the ShortList magazine, currently the most widely circulated free men's lifestyle magazine in the UK. The banner headline read 'Special Interactive Gaming Issue', which immediately piqued my interest. From cover to cover, the magazine features, articles, adverts and editorial are all marked with a small yellow 'Scan this page for more' symbol. Using the downloadable app from Blippar, readers can capture the image of the page, which takes them to an interactive website or gaming application. Blippar's managing director Jessica Butcher is fairly triumphant about what she naturally considers to be the advantages of Blippar over QR tags, declaring 'Rather than adding an ugly black and white pixellated box to an ad creative, Blippar can take the creative itself (the whole poster, a logo, the product itself) as the trigger for an interactive engagement.'

She has a point. We certainly wouldn't wish to ruin the aesthetics of adverts, would we? Seriously, I have always thought QR tags to be a little ugly in their appearance. The Blippar app is designed to recognise an image from almost any angle, at a distance, and even in poor light conditions, depending on the quality of your mobile device camera. This makes it a whole lot more reliable than scanning a QR tag, in my experience at least. Just like QR codes, Blippar can also recognise where the user is geographically through the GPS system on the mobile device they are using. For advertisers this is a distinct advantage, but I can also see many educational uses for these features.

Ultimately, those who are speculating on the future of paper based resources might like to consider Blippar and other similar data capture augmented reality tools. The future is likely to see a combination of paper based and e-books, or more likley a hybrid of paper based and AR enabled products, designed to function together with the user's mobile device, working in concert to provide students with interactive learning experiences wherever they are. Paper is not dead yet. It's just become enhanced.

Read the full article here: Can Blippar make QR codes redundant?

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Teaching artistry

I taught my first art lesson today. Ever. Passing colleagues were a little surprised to see me teaching in the art room, completely out of context. Normally I'm found teaching a session on educational theory or psychology, or information and communication technologies. Teaching an art lesson is therefore a little outside my comfort zone. And yet, earlier today, I found myself surrounded by students with easels, wielding pencils, as we conducted a drawing class.

The drawing session was a part of our BA degree in Education Studies, and the module we were teaching - 'Creativity in Education' - which encourages students to explore through embodied practice the theoretical and practical relationships between education and creativity.  Throughout the year we will be exploring creativity through a range of activities, including dance, photography, video, music, and art. During the module the students will be asked to keep a reflective blog or video diary. At the end of the module they will present their work as a creative portfolio, and the final session will see a public performance of their work. Many of the sessions will involve some aspect of learning by making, a powerful pedagogical method also known as constructionism.

I say the drawing session was outside my normal comfort zone, because it is quite a departure from my normal teaching topics. And yet those who know me will recall that when I was younger I studied fine art and graphic design for a couple of years at Hereford College of Art. I have never stopped being an artist. Whether painting a water colour landscape (my favourite medium) or making a new slideshow for a talk, I always try to portray my ideas creatively, in a manner that is pleasing to the eye. Although I have never given an art lesson before, it seemed fairly natural to me to do so now. With the students we explored a range of drawing activities, from conventional still life drawing, through to speed drawing, where the objects were constantly changing. Of particular interest to me, as always, was the conversation I had with the students as we were working. Many also admitted to being outside their comfort zones as they participated in the drawing exercises, because they professed no skill or expertise in art. Their willingness to engage spoke volumes, because ultimately, the session was not about learning how to draw, but learning an appreciation about how creativity can be applied to classroom layout, curriculum design and teaching. One aim of the module is to encourage students to think creatively about education, using their imagination, and exploring a variety of perspectives on how creativity can be unleashed in the current school systems.

Most of us would acknowledge that teaching is an art as well as a science. There is a certain artistry that educators need to acquire and practice if they want success in the classroom. Teaching is a performance, and those who are creative are constantly able to reinvent lessons, resources and spaces. Creative teachers tend not to worry too much about barriers or constraints, but are constantly seeking solutions and new ways to do things, to improve and enhance learning. Too often, teachers and learners are constrained by their environment, time, school culture, legislation or simply not having access to appropriate resources. Probably the worst barrier to good teaching and learning though, turns out to be lack of imagination.

"Anything can make you look, but only art can make you see."

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Next generation learning

In my previous blog post, the architecture of learning, I outlined some of the key characteristics of learning in a digital age, and started to identify some of the main differences between Learning 1.0 (before social media) and Learning 2.0. In the summary of the article, I suggested that the distinct differences between the two types of learning are mostly based on how learners are changing the ways they interact, and their increased ability to create, share and organise their own learning. Learning 2.0 is socially much richer and more participatory, and relies more on interaction with other learners than any previous learning approach. This change has been realised through access to inexpensive internet tools that offer easy ways to connect with others of similar interest. There is a growing understanding that it's not so much what you know anymore, but who you know. No longer is the computer your only mind tool and extension of your memory - now you can also call on everyone else in the world. Social media are enabling learners everywhere to connect and work together with each other, forming convenient communities and networks of shared interest. The full power of the Learning 2.0 approach has yet to be realised, but already we are seeing radical shifts in the way learning is conducted. I also argued that if we view sequenced versions of the Web, based on the way learners use it, we will inevitably have to think of Learning 3.0, and beyond. This led me to think about what we might see in the future of learning, based on present trends, and our anticipation of what new technologies and approaches we think are on the horizon. So here we go - Learning 3.0...

Learning 3.0, if we are to believe all the hype, will be located within a semantic based architecture of webs - a 'meta-web'. I see it arising partly from what is happening on the web right now, but also as a result of new intelligent filtering tools. Increasingly, as users contribute to the content, links and pathways of the social web, it will become more 'intelligent', and will recommend to its users the best ways to find what they are looking for. It will also recommend things that users don't know they need yet, predicting their 'needs' based on their previous behaviour and choices. Learning 3.0 will see learners using sophisticated new web tools that are intricately connected to each other, are context aware, and are accessed through intuitive and natural interfaces. Here we begin to think not only of voice activated, gestural controlled interfaces, but we also need to start considering biometric recognition systems such as retinal scanning, facial recognition and even directly implanted devices that allow us to control our devices merely by thinking (see the table below). Where Learning 1.0 was organised around taxonomies and content was largely expert generated, Learning 2.0 has seen as shift toward user generated content, and the emergent property of folksonomies. We have known for some time that people learn better when they are actively engaged in making things, solving problems and engaging with others. Social media have provided the tools to achieve this on a global level.

Learning 3.0 will be user and machine generated, and will in all respects be represented in what I will call  'rhizonomies'. The rhizonomic organisation of content will emerge from chaotic, multi-dimensional and multi-nodal organisation of content, giving rise to an infinite number of possibilities and choices for learners. As learners choose their own self determined routes through the content, so context will change and new nodes and connections will be created in what will become a massive, dynamic, synthetic 'hive mind'. Here I do not refer to any strong artificial intelligence model of computation, but rather a description of the manner in which networked, intelligent systems respond to the needs of individual learners within vast, ever expanding communities of practice. Each learner will become a nexus of knowledge, and a node of content production. Extending the rhizome metaphor further, learners will act as the reproduction mechanisms that sustain the growth of the semantic web, but will also in turn be nurtured by it. Learning 3.0 will be a facet of an ongoing, limitless symbiotic relationship between human and machine.

Whatever Learning 3.0 is or will become, we can be assured it will be completely different to what has preceded it. We will witness new modes of learning, new ways of interacting and new ways of representing knowledge that will be both robust and mutable, personally contextualised, but without boundaries. I believe the future of learning is going to be very exciting indeed.

Postcript: My thinking in this blogpost is embryonic and is as ever, open to challenge. I may be hopelessly off target here, because this is uncharted territory for me. But I am taking the risk to air my views in public about this topic just to see what feedback I will receive from my professional learning network. I therefore value any dialogue (on this blog and elsewhere), corrections, advice and suggestions as I attempt to navigate my way through the thinking process about what kinds of learning we might see in the future.

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