Media-Based “NeoMillennial” Learning Styles

1. Media-Based“NeoMillennial”Learning Styles Chris Dede Harvard University Chris_Dede@harvard.edu www.gse.harvard.edu/~dedech/

2. “Learning Styles” • Sensory-based • Visual, auditory… • Personality-based • Myers-Briggs… • Aptitude-based • Multiple Intelligences • Media-based

3. Media Shape Their Participants Regardless of Age“Millennial” Learning Styles- I • Web rewards comparing multiple sources of information, individually incomplete and collectively inconsistent(mindlessly accumulating orseeking, sieving, synthesizing) • Digital media and interfacesencourage multi-tasking(superficial, easily distracted data gathering ora sophisticated form of synthesizing new insights)

4. “Millennial” Learning Styles -II Personalization and Customization • Customized services based on data-miningfor personal characteristics and behaviors • “Napsterism”: recombining others’ designsto idiosyncratic configurations(Me + +, William Mitchell, ‘03)

5. Evolving towardDistributed Learning • Sophisticated Methods of Learning and Teaching • Guided learning by doing • Apprenticeships, mentoring • Learning communities • Orchestrated across classrooms, homes, workplaces, community settings • On demand, just-in-time • Collaborative distributed across space, time, media

6. “Next Generation” Interfacesfor Distributed Learning • World to the Desktop:Accessing distant experts and archives forknowledge creation, sharing, and mastery • Multi-User Virtual Environments:Immersion in virtual contexts withdigital artifacts and avatar-based identities • Ubiquitous Computing:Wearable wireless devices coupled tosmart objects for “augmented reality”

7. What is a MUVE? • A representational container that enables multiple simultaneous participants to access virtual spaces configured for learning. • A place where learners represent themselves through graphical avatars (persona)to communicate with others’ avatars and computer-based agents, as well as to interact with digital artifacts and virtual contexts. • A learning experience that provides diverse activities in support of classroom curriculum.

8. Findings from Gaming Research Massively multi-player online games (MMOG) and complementary fan-fiction offer rich learning and identity formation, but peripherally linked to life Everquest game has 77th largest economy;over 120,000 fan-fictions online about Harry Potter

9. Figure 2: River Water Sampling River CityCurriculum Figure 1: Lab Equipment inside the University

10. Added Features Microscope Movie

11. Findings from Our Research • enhancing motivation (challenge, curiosity, beauty, fantasy, fun, social recognition) • reaching learners who don’t do wellin conventional classroom settings • learning both sophisticated content andhigher order skills • building fluency in distributed modes of communication and expression -- rhetoric http://muve.gse.harvard.edu/muvees2003/

12. Findings from Related Research • Quest Atlantis: Storyline and player “levels” enhance motivation, integrate content and skills • Whyville: Identity play complements simulation-based learning about science and society

13. Powerful Pedagogical Models • guided inquiry learning withactive construction of knowledge • apprenticeship/mentoring relationships • collaborative learning:social exploration of multiple perspectives How People Learn(National Academy Press, 1999) http://www.nap.edu/books/0309070368/html

14. Situated Learning • constellations of architectural, social, organizational, and material vectors that aid in learning culturally based practices • apprenticeship (the process of moving from novice to expert within a given set of practices) • legitimate peripheral participation (tacit learning similar to that involved in internships or residencies)

15. Learning Community A culture of learning, in which everyone is involved in a collective effort of understanding • Shares and develops a repertoire of resources: experiences, tools, stories,ways of addressing recurring problems • Allows a close connectionbetween learning and doing • Addresses the informal and tacit aspectsof knowledge creation and sharing Within courses (lc-light) andin world (community of practice)

16. Distributed-Learning Communities • Range of participants’ skills and interestsgoes beyond geographic boundaries • Asynchronous media enable convenient participation and deeper reflection • Emotional and social dimensions intensifiedby synchronous virtual interchanges • Broader range of participants engagein dialogue Mediated, Situated Immersion

17. “Next Generation” Interfacesfor Distributed Learning • World to the Desktop:Accessing distant experts and archives forknowledge creation, sharing, and mastery • Multi-User Virtual Environments:Immersion in virtual contexts withdigital artifacts and avatar-based identities • Ubiquitous Computing:Wearable wireless devices coupled tosmart objects for “augmented reality”

18. Ubiquitous Computing • One-to-one student to tool ratio • Wireless Mobile Devices (WMD) offer approximately 60% of the computing powerof laptops of a few years ago(a WMD is approximately 10% of the costof a modern laptop) • Wireless mobile computing – instant on, anytime, everywhere, and in the hand of the user “Smart objects” and “intelligent contexts”enable “augmented realities”

19. Emerging Digital Media MayPervade All Aspects of Life • MWDs access every type of data service anywhere (banking and stock market information, weather, tickets/reservations, transport schedules) • MWDs access data connected to locations(street signs linked to online maps), objects(books linked to online reviews), and locations(restaurants linked to ratings by their customers) • MWDs locate strangers nearby who have identified themselves as having common interests(friends of friends, fans of an actor or author) Rheingold, Smart Mobs (‘02); W. Mitchell, Me + + (’03)

20. Requisite Information Infrastructure is Emerging • One-third of U.S. households now have broadband access to the Internet. • In the past three years, 14 million U.S. families have linked their computers withwireless home networks. • Some 55% of Americans now carrycell phones • The first WMD data services--radio, photos, and short videoclips--are starting to take off

21. Augmented Reality Computer simulation on handheld computer triggered by real world location • Combines physical world and virtual world contexts • Embeds learners in authentic situations • Engages users in a socially facilitated context

22. Proof of Concept • Environmental Detectives • Players briefed about rash of local health problems linked to the environment • Provided with background information and “budget” • Need to determine source of pollution by drilling sampling wells and ultimately remediate with pumping wells • Work in teams representing different interests (EPA, Industry, etc.)

23. Drilling Wells • Choose • Sites to Sample • Sampling Methods • Influence budget, accuracy, and timeliness of samples Drill Wells Collect Samples Interpret Data

24. Conducting “Desktop” Research • Triggering of media events at specified locations • library → web documents • machine shop → video interviews with personnel

25. “Neomillennial” Learning Styles • Fluency in multiple media, valuing each for the types of communication, activities, activities, and expressions it empowersThis goes beyond “millennial” learning styles, which center on working within a single medium best suited to one’s styleand preferences

26. My Distributed Learning Course http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~dedech/502/ • face-to-face interaction • videoconferencing • wireless, handheld devices • small group collaboration via groupware • synchronous interaction in virtual environment • asynchronous, threaded discussion • informal website-based learning experiences • shells for course authoring New Forms of Rhetoric

27. “Neomillennial” Learning Styles • Learning based on collectively seeking, sieving, and synthesizing experience, rather than individually locating and absorbing information from some single best source This goes beyond “millennial” learning styles in preferring reflective, communal learning via diverse, tacit, situated experiencesover solo integration of divergent, explicitinformation sources

28. “Neomillennial” Learning Styles • Co-design of learning experiences personalized to individual needsand preferencesThis goes beyond “millennial” learning styles, which emphasize selectinga pre-customized variant froma range of services offered

29. Implications for Design and Professional Development • Co-Design:Developing learning experiencesstudents can personalize • Co-Instruction:Utilizing knowledge sharing among studentsas a major source of content and pedagogy • Guided Social Constructivism and Situated Learning: Infusing case-based participatory simulationsinto presentational/assimilative instruction • Assessment Beyond Tests and Papers:Using peer-developed and peer-ratedforms of assessment

30. The Evolution of Education • shifts in the knowledge and skills society values • development of new methods of teaching and learning • changes in the characteristics of learners emerging information technologiesare reshaping each of these

31. Four Levels ofLearning Technologies • Device (cell phone, HDTV,personal digital assistant) • Application (word processors, intelligent tutoring systems, educational simulations) • Medium (shared virtual environments, interactive television, worldwide web) • Infrastructure (Internet, wired and wireless telecommunications, cyberspace, cable/broadcast television)

32. “Neomillennial” McLuhan • Media shape their messages • Media shape their participants • Infrastructures shape civilization