Encouraged by the responses I’ve been receiving from my last post, I’ve decided to share another of the diagrams that I’ve been working on in recent months. This one is rather more complicated in a sense, but is an attempt to summarise the range of issues that need to be taken into account when an institution/school is thinking about choosing an OLE. I’ve called the diagram the OLE Matrix Diagram (downloadable here as a PDF) and have written up some notes to try and help make the information on it accessible. Again, any feedback and suggestions would be appreciated.
That’s a really compelling diagram and accompanying discussion Derek, especially for those of us working with schools who are trying to decide on the best model of a learning management system for them. Two points:
?? Are you happy for us to share this with those schools?
?? As you know my own research focuses on the place of current models of high stakes assessment in secondary schools as a possible barrier to more learner-centric and innovative models (of learning and OLEs which support learning).My only comment is that unless we address that as a central policy issue,our secondary schools will remain to the right of your diagram for a very long time.
Cheers
Phil
Another indication that I the MoE is getting good information.
On the Learning Theory scope, I couldn’t help wondering why Constructionism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructionist_learning) wasn’t in there? I think it sits between Conectivism and Social Constructivism.
Phil
more than happy for you to share this diagram with schools – I’ve actually been socialising it to a limited degree through the TUANZ conferences.
Nothing springs immediately to mind regarding the issue of research around high stakes assessment, but will keep my eyes out. The point you make is an important one in terms of regarding the diagram as a continuum revealing “scope” rather than a binary choice thing. It’s going to be important, at least in the short term, that our concept of and OLE embraces those who work in all areas of the spectrum, regardless of how desireable we might regard one end or the other.
Leigh
well spotted – constructionism could well be included, along with several others I’m sure. It would make an interesting activity to develop a list of learning theories such as this and workshop with teachers to find where they might postition them on the continuum. As indicated in my notes – what I’ve got here isn’t exhaustive, and further, the noptional placement of the terms on the continuum is meant more to provoke discussion and debate than set things in concrete.
Thanks for keeping the conversations going!
Hi Derek
It was good to catch up with you @ TUANZ 🙂 You have put these ideas really well though I think that much of what you illustrate above would go over the heads of the average classroom teacher who may be only just starting to understand what ‘the barrel’ is all about. The challenge for us is to support our teachers move further along the continuum before ‘school’ learning becomes totally irrelevant to our kids!