Over the past few months, I have been thinking through how our sites (e.g. ChinesePod), which are primarily designed for individual, adult students could be better adapted to serve the needs of groups of students learning together. These ‘enterprises’ - in the sense of the French verb ‘entreprende’ (to undertake) - could be corporate, non-profit, academic or government groups. In contrast to individual students, groups have unique needs around (i) security, (ii) group formation, and (iii) organized curriculum structure. The working name for this emerging platform is an ‘enterprise learning network’ or ELN.
WHAT IS AN ELN?
Extending the thinking behind our Personal Learning System, the service should essentially be a ‘remote control’ to help each student organize and manage all their formal and informal learning resources within their own personal learning environment. This network-cluster within one’s PLE is helped along by a number of platform services: (a) group formation, (b) social collaboration, (c) course & class management, (d) publishing tools and (e) a learning portfolio. Communication is not focused on a central website, but instead de-centralized and brought into the context of one’s individual life through ‘learning pipes’ such as RSS, email, IM, SMS, desktop app’s, smart phone apps (iPhone, Android), Second Life, etc.
Both ChinesePod and traditional learning management systems are a little bit outdated and could use some new plumbing. Something to look forward to in 2009!
While at Learning 2008 I got to thinking about the learning implications of Kevin Kelly’s concept of the ‘One Machine’, or the idea that the increasing global, interconnected, virtual world is leading to an emerging global ‘machine’ with the Internet as its operating system. Metaphorically, this concept can be conceived as cloud-shape brain that scaffolds the planet. In Kelly’s words:
There are 20 billion visible, searchable web pages and another 900 billion dark, unsearchable, or deep web pages (for instance pages behind passwords or the kind of dynamic page that Amazon will produce when you query it). The average number of links found on each searchable web page is 62. Assuming the same count for dynamic pages that means there’s 55 trillion links in the full web. We could think of each link as a synapse — a potential connection waiting to me made. There is roughly between 100 billion and 100 trillion synapses in the human brain, which puts the Machine in the same neighborhood as our brains.
The learning node
Judy Breck is a thought-leader promoting the unbundling of online learning resources into individual ‘learning nodes’ so that they can be discovered by search engines and linked to by others.
By using podcast XML distribution, Praxis initially let the characteristics of the medium define the form that our lesson media would take. Each individual XML item in an RSS feed is modular by nature, so it made sense to design each lesson as an individual, non-sequential object. By designing lesson objects in this fashion, it was thought that it would be possible to empower others, such as teachers, to re-mix individual lessons into courses that would be more tailored for the needs of their students. Adults adopting kids from China could get one type of course, business professionals could get another.
A second-characteristic of podcast technology is the ability to push content out to users. Instead of investing in a static archive of a hundred, or a thousand lessons, we have found it important to publish new lessons daily, not only to keep the overall lesson archive fresh, but importantly to help focus student attention and fuel community conversation. The down-side of this approach is that a less self-motivated student will, by habit, default to the publication schedule as a pseudo-course - an unintentional result. We see this phenomenon with our products as the vast majority of student attention focus on the most, recently published podcast lessons.
Language students may be drawn to individual lessons that they are interested in, but ambitious students need courses and structured pathways to help them reach their learning goals. While lesson modularity provides the basic building blocks for high levels of customization, the fact is teachers, software agents or the community need to fill the gap of course construction. A balance needs to be struck between modularity and tailored structure. Social networks combined with learning frameworks can fill that gap.
Social Learning Networks
In a recent post, Breck argues that while learning objects should be broken down for the above reasons, there is value in the course as a bundle - or as she carried on an analogy from network science, a ‘hairball’.
From a curriculum design perspective her logic is clear, but one wonders where the interactions and motivations of students and teachers come into play. From our experience with individual, adult students motivation is absolutely critical. This motivation may be internally-driven (aspirational) or standards-driven (e.g. HSK), but social networks can also definitely amplify socially-driven forces (e.g. camaraderie, competitive pressure, etc) to provide further nudges. With all the competing demands for one’s time from work, to family, to hobbies a helpful nudge or two is often necessary to play that next lesson on your MP3 player, rather than you favorite song.
Jay Cross’ argument, that learning is increasingly seen as optimizing one’s network, further points to social networks for inspiration:
Schooling has confused us into thinking that learning was equivalent to pouring content into people’s heads. It’s more practical to think of learning as optimizing our networks.
Define social networks as self-forming organizations around tasks its members like to do and - again - it is obvious the importance of user contribution. The fact is human motivation, measured in attention, is what powers social networks.
In addition to focusing on instructional design, new learning models need to start incorporating users wants/needs/preferences to ensure student motivation. Instead of a ‘hairball’, something more akin to a ’solar system’ metaphor seems appropriate where a structured learning course (sun) needs to attract (as with gravity) the students that orbit it.
Just back from Elliot Masie’s Learning 2008 conference in Orlando last week, I was reminded of the one-way, teeter-totter shift in representation from digital immigrants to digital natives. As the theory goes digital natives, or millennials, have a better innate understanding of technology because they have grown up with the Internet and can’t imagine a world without social networks, mobile phones, etc. Essentially, they have been able to ‘reset’ and see the world with fresh eyes.
One could easily argue the pace of change in China is significantly more dramatic with rapid economic, social and globalization change cascading on top of the technological changes the world as a whole is adopting. China has its own new generations, specifically the 八十年代 (80’s born) and the 九十年代 (90’s born), each of which are ‘resetting’ as they come of age inheriting the fruits of change as if it always existed.
The effect?
The revitalization of the narrative of China as a vibrant and creative superpower.
While ~250-year old America sees China as an emerging power, new generations of Chinese growing up with no memory of being poor or downtrodden will increasingly reach into their 5000-year historical narrative to help define their new place in the world. This rich history full of creativity and innovation will inspire future generations of Chinese entrepreneurs, who - in turn - will not be able to imagine a world when China was not vibrant, creative and prosperous.
In my last post, I wondered what might follow mobile learning. On the same day, fellow 上海人 Carsten Ullrich posted on just that topic. Nice little hub we are building in Shanghai.
Carsten cites a research paper (PDF download) “Computer Supported Ubiquitous Learning Environment for Vocabulary Learning Using RFID Tags” by Hiroaki Ogata, Ryo Akamatsu and Yoneo Yano, in which it is proposed that ‘ubiquitous learning’ is what is destined to follow mobile learning. Key characteristics of ubiquitous learning would include:
a) Permanency: Learners never lose their work unless it is purposefully deleted. In addition, all the learning processes are recorded continuously everyday.
b) Accessibility: Learners have access to their documents, data, or videos from anywhere. That information is provided based on their requests. Therefore, the learning is self-directed.
c) Immediacy: Wherever learners are, they can get any information immediately. Thus, learners can solve problems quickly. Otherwise, the learner can record the questions and look for the answer later.
d) Interactivity: Learners can interact with experts, teachers, or peers in the form of synchronous or asynchronous communication. Hence, the experts are more reachable and the knowledge becomes more available.
e) Situating of instructional activities: the learning could be embedded in our daily life. The problems encountered as well as the knowledge required are all presented in their natural and authentic forms. This helps learners notice the features of problem situations that make particular actions relevant.
This should help inspire some of our future product design.
Mobile learning is just the latest step in the integration of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) with traditional classroom learning. Building on the benefits of the introduction of (a) computer labs and (b) web-based learning managements systems, mobile learning extends these benefits beyond the computer and allows the student to study anywhere. Mobility will be the tipping point where education is dramatically re-structured around the needs of students. This leads to our core vision at Praxis Language that:
Students should not have to adapt to learning, instead learning systems should adapt to students - that is, learning on your terms.
Changing Role of the Classroom
At every evolutionary stage the role of the classroom changes. The classroom performs certain value-creating functions, e.g. course & class organization, student motivation, lesson input, opportunities for feedback, etc. As ICT is introduced into this environment certain functions can be migrated out of the classroom (e.g. moving lesson input to pre-class podcasts) thereby allowing classrooms to better focus on their remaining functions. As classrooms and ICT are integrated a better learning experience is created.
1. Era of the Classroom
(from our corporate site) Traditional education is a product of the 19th century: mass-produced programs, delivered in a teacher-centric, ‘one-to-many’ format. In that model, learning was organized around the needs of teachers and institutions, while content and objectives were imposed upon the learner, rather than being chosen by him. The learner was forced to adapt to the needs of the system.
Study location:
Classroom
Impetus for next evolution:
Why can’t I take advantage of multimedia in my studies?
2. Introduction of Computer Labs
In the 1980’s computers with multimedia software were introduced to compliment the classroom learning experience.
Study location:
Classroom + computer lab
Impetus for next evolution:
Why can’t I study at home?
3. Introduction of the Web
Network connectivity enabled synchronous/asynchronous distant learning which led to the rise of various LMS’s. As the tools evolved, network connectivity sparked Web 2.0 and all its community-nurturing features. Centralized databases allowed for high-levels of personalization.
Study location:
Classroom + web-connected computer
What slowed adoption?
Transition from dial-up to broadband.
Impetus for next evolution:
Why do I have to sit in front of a computer to learn?
4. Introduction of Mobile
Mobile removes the awkwardness of needing to sit in front of a computer to learn and adjusts the learning system to the learner’s specific needs and context – this is the full realization of learning on your terms. The goal of mobile should be to build upon the strengths of classroom and web study, but reduce the number of necessary classroom functions and remove the location-bound computer from the process.
Study location:
Anywhere
What slows adoption?
Usable web browsing on a mobile device & broadband mobile networks.
What happened to podcasts?
The iPod & podcasting were only a half-step to mobile because they had no network access which limited availability, community and personalization. The iPhone completes the full evolution to mobile.
With the mobile phone being such a personal device one wonders what will be the next stage in this evolution.
What might a university look like with a fully deployed program of converged devices like the iPhone? Connected is one possible vision. This fictional day-in-the-life account highlights some of the potential benefits in a higher education setting when every student, faculty, and staff member is “connected.” Though the applications and functions portrayed in the film are purely speculative, they’re based on needs and ideas uncovered by our research - and we’ve already been making strides to transform this vision of mobile learning (mLearning) into reality.
One of my favorite quotations is from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Wind, Sand and Stars, 1939):
It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
… or in less zen-like terms: keep it simple, stupid (KISS).
The more I am using the iPhone app store, the more I am understanding how simplicity will be the key factor in driving adoption of mobile web applications by the mainstream. In 5 taps of my finger I can quickly get a full-fledged application on my device. After a quick download, I can immediately start using it. Then when that application is updated I am clearly notified (unlike Nokia Symbian app’s) that a new download is available. Simple to understand. Easy to use.
Users should not have to contort their behavior to use your service. I see this as an area where our own Praxis Language mobile sites fall down a bit. ChinesePod Mobile is an extremely flexible and convenient way to learn Chinese on the go - if, one goes through the effort of setting up an account, configuring their RSS feed, downloading the lesson files, adopting a suggested study approach, and so on. While theoretically possible, this is far too convoluted of a process for an average student to go through. Technology is supposed to assist in learning, not construct additional barriers. Learning should adjust to students, not the other way around.
A 2005 Educause report “Enabling Mobile Learning” listed five lessons from the deployment of e-learning that they suggested by kept in mind for m-learning. The fifth point stuck out for me (bold highlights mine):
The better the experience and the more intentional the results, the greater is the likelihood that learning will occur. In reflecting on the importance of experience design in software development, Kevin Mullet has noted that early software users were themselves programmers and consequently were highly tolerant of complex interactive models and primitive visual displays. Today’s users are very different. Interactive software is now considered useful only to the extent that ordinary users can understand and take advantage of the functionality it provides. Looking at it from a learning-oriented perspective, when technology can help strengthen learner motivation, focus attention, make a learning moment more memorable, or demonstrate the relevancy of learning to performance, the greater is the likelihood that technology will have a direct positive effect on learning. To this end, one exciting possibility of the coming mobile movement is an opportunity for a sharper focus from instructional technology and instructional design programs on the value of experience design for learning.
An obsession for simplification in design will drive mobile learning into the mainstream.
Cloud learning is a concept being promoted by Judy Breck and plays a critical role in our concept of mobile learning. From one of her blog posts:
It is worth using this analogy in understanding that educational resources online have not yet managed to move much toward the cloud phase. Most online education stuff is embedded in structures like curricula and courses, which are patterns and not miscellaneous. GoldenSwamp.com is dedicated to writing about the cloud of learning resources that surely will be crucial in the learning enlightenment that lies ahead. Patterns are not inherently bad, but nodes that are free to participate in more than one pattern offer a richer learning environment. Cloud learning would be such an environment.
I like the concept, but wonder why she choose a ’swamp’ as her metaphor. Seems rather dark and unappealing, especially compared to a Simpsons-like cloud. More on the topic from her recent presentation at Microlearning Conference 2008:
One comment that particularly resonated was near 27:00 where she recommended un-bundling courses into micro-content to improve their findability. Or, one could just design modular lessons in the first place as we do with our LanguagePod’s.
With the iPhone 3G release, mobile learning has been top-of-mind at Praxis Language. Internally, we have been using Woodill and Cunningham-Reid’s definition as a basis:
True mobile learning is personalized learning that unites the learner’s context with cloud computing using a mobile device.
As we evaluate how to improve our personalized learning system we have been comparing our approach against the above definition and contrasting our approach with other methods to learn foreign languages.
To support this analysis we further fleshed out a few definitions. First, in order to be sensitive to the learner’s context one must take into account their current proficiency level, learning goals, personal interests, and other personal/environmental contextual variables. A learning service needs to be able to be personalized to accomplish this. Specifically, it must have the ability to (i) identify student learning goals, (ii) remix lessons into customized courses that can set students on the pathway to these goals, (iii) provide one-to-one practice opportunities and (iv) facilitate personally-tailored, reinforcement opportunities. Second, ‘cloud computing using a mobile device’ not only represents the ability to access the Internet through an iPod, iPhone, PDA, laptop, etc, but also the social aspect, the community, that goes along with network connectivity.
Textbooks and CD-ROM’s are neither personalized, nor available on a networked device.
Offline classes can offer a degree of personalization, but are not available on a networked mobile device.
Software applications (e.g. iPhone 2.0 app’s), target language media (e.g. Youtube, Youku, etc.), and most language podcasts can be made available on networked mobile devices, but the learning is not personalized.
No existing language learning product currently fits the above description for mobile learning, that is, both personalized and accessible on a networked mobile device.
Customizable courses are the key to breaking down these barriers. Students, or their teachers, should be able to re-mix modular lessons into a course that is specifically designed to solve the student’s individual needs. SafariU is doing this with IT textbooks so why couldn’t the same model - for other subjects - be put online and made available for mobile devices?
The nature of podcasts makes them the ideal ‘plumbing’ to facilitate mobile learning. Being modular by design, podcast lessons could be re-mixed and put into personalized courses. Furthermore, podcasts rely on RSS distribution, which is channel agnostic and can equally distribute learning media to any networked device. Many language podcast publishers have forsaken this opportunity by adopting backward-looking, textbook-emulating linear curriculums.
Imagine a scenario where a student gets a 20-minute needs analysis with a counselor over a phone. The counselor identifies the student’s needs and then re-mixes an appropriate course from an archive of lessons. A family wanting to adopt a Chinese child - no problem. An expat who wants to be able to better work in his Chinese office environment - no problem. The student then starts a daily routine of (i) listening to podcasts on the way to work, (ii) taking 10 minutes in the morning to go onto the website and review the lesson they heard earlier, (iii) practising their new language with a co-worker or a teacher via Skype for 15 minutes at lunch and then (iv) reviewing the vocab they previously saved to the personal accounts by using flashcards on their iPhone on the trip home.
This is the mobile learning vision - that is both personalized and available on a networked mobile device - that our Guided products are trying to achieve.
