TOWARDS MODERN LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: Experiences from Adult Education

1. TOWARDS MODERN LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: Experiences from Adult Education Seppo Sirkemaa, Turku School of Economics and Business Administration, P.O. Box 300, FIN-28101 Pori, Finland, ssirkem@pori.tut.fi, +358405662708

2. Research focus • This presentation looks at modern learning environments • The role of information technology in distance learning, modern learning environments and virtual learning environment has become important, at least when it is compared to their role in “traditional” university education. • In all education is technology offering new tools for both educators and students

3. Changes - challenges • If we look at education and learning from a time perspective, there has been many changes in the past 10 – 15 years. • The educational arena has changed – new tools - and so has the role of student and teacher • Tools: computers, applications and mobile solutions to support education/learning • Student: motivated, looks for deeper understanding and uses tech as a tool to process data • Teacher: from lecturing to tutoring in virtual learningspace and networks

4. Learning… • Cognitive-constructive: the student constructs data to create meaningful information. Here earlier experiences are important • Learning is not something that happens solely in classrooms. Home, friends, media and society have a vital impact, because… • Learning is a societal process where being a member of a group is important part of the process (Lave-Wenger 1991)

5. Adult education • Ideally, courses for adult students are the same as the courses that are offered fro “normal” students. • However, in adult education • The students are more likely to be older, have jobs and a family • Courses are more custom-made for adult-students with distance learning possibilities • Information technology is used to create a virtual community for between students that do not meet that often

6. Role of IT In distance learning information technology is claimed to have two roles (Salomon-Perkins-Globerson 1991): • Learning with technology: technology is a interesting new tool that gives wider possibilities for education for example distance learning • Learning of technology: a shift from tool to content. When the hype of new technology is gone more emphasis on content and possibilities for deeper understanding emerge

7. Research space Students with family, jobs and experience Selected courses delivered after hours Information technology with numerous possibilities: Multimedia,video-conferencing,email, www, chatting, whiteboards etc. Challenges for both students and teachers

8. Meta-learning… • Meta-learning environment (Sumner – Taylor 1998) is needed as it can • Help in learning to use traditional and digital media in learning. • Provide information on the courses and studies • Understand the relationship between tasks and resources. • Establish and maintain new study habits and ways of working

9. …meta-learning env. • Additional issues in meta-learning environments are (Summer – Taylor 1998; Scott – Phillips 1998) • Integration • Confidence building • Enrichment and annotation • Feedback and motivation

10. Student needs to • In a modern learning environment student should • Be motivated – even more than in “normal” case • Be willing to use technology even though it may not always be that reliable • Learn without “live” teacher • Have friends and connections that work as tutors and experts when (mostly technical) problems arise

11. And teachers… • Teachers have to • Use technology – computers, authoring software, conferencing applications etc. • Be available almost 24 h for tutoring and problem solving • Rewrite most of the course material to digital format

12. Some experiences … • Our experiences indicate that • It takes some time before students learn to use technology well enough to manage distance learning environments • One size does not fit all – some medias and methods may not suite all teachers • people who have new ideas and empower others are needed • “Going to distance learning” is an opportunity to rethink what should be learned and how

13. Future challenges • New methods of learning are not easy to adopt – especially adult students have to get rid of old beliefs • More teachers should be involved – currently only few are interested of teaching in a new way • Discussion forums are needed for both student-to-student, teacher-to-teacher and student-to-teacher • Continuous cooperation among teachers, technical staff, outside experts etc. is needed

14. Last slide… • Seppo Sirkemaa • ssirkem@pori.tut.fi • +358405662708 Comments and questions www.sirkemaa.com