Distributed-Learning Communities as a Model for Educating Teachers

1. Distributed-Learning Communitiesas a Modelfor Educating Teachers Chris Dede Harvard University Chris_Dede@harvard.edu www.gse.harvard.edu/~dedech/

2. “Test to Standard” Modelof Educational Improvement • Develop content standards basedon knowledge and skillsof disciplinary experts • Implement high-stakes tests that inexpensively document coverage of the attainmentstests can measure • Reward and punish individual students, teachers, schools, and districtsbased on test performance

3. Shortfalls in No Child Left Behind • Twenty-seven years of contentto cover in twelve years • Little prioritization of knowledgecentral to interrelationships, citizenship, lifelong learning • Curriculum driven by low-level content and skills measuredby cheap, drive-by tests

4. The Partnershipfor 21st Century Skills • Six Key Elements of 21st Century Learning • ICT Literacy Framework Linking21st Century Tools to Learning Skills • 21st Century Content • Milestones for Improving21st Century Learning • Nine Steps to Build Momentum www.21stcenturyskills.org

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

6. Learning Community A culture of learning, in which everyone is involvedin 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 an alternative means of teaching/learningand of professional development

7. Evolving towardDistributed Learning • Sophisticated Methods of Learning and Teaching • guided construction of knowledge and meaning • apprenticeships and mentoring • infusion of research into teaching • Orchestrated across classrooms, homes, workplaces, community settings • On demand, just-in-time • Collaborative distributed across space, time, media

8. 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

9. Lessons Learned • Richer, deeper learning from mixturethan from any subset • Participants “Find Their Voice” • Time for Communication and Reflection • Peer Mentoring and Collaboration • Very different individual patterns of preference for mixture of media • Instructional design complex mixof cognitive, affective, psychosocial

10. Distributed-Learning Communities • Range of participants’ skills and interestsgoes beyond geographic boundariesand face-to-face opportunities • Asynchronous media enable convenient participation, deeper reflection,and archiving of insights • Emotional and social dimensions rely on synchronous virtual interchanges • Broader range of participants willactively engage in dialogue Compared to face-to-face communities,more investment required to participate

11. “Next Generation” Interfacesfor Learning and Teaching • 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 “distributed cognition”

12. 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.

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

14. So What?Why Should Teachers Care? • enhancing motivation (challenge, curiosity, beauty, fantasy, fun, social recognition) • reaching learners who don’t do wellin conventional classroom settings • building fluency in distributed modes of communication and expression -- rhetoric • rich, authentic representations(e.g., MedievalWorld) • professional development via virtual communities http://muve.gse.harvard.edu/muvees2003/

15. “Next Generation” Interfacesfor Distributed Interaction • 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 “distributed cognition”

16. Why Ubiquitous Computing • One-to-One Student to Tool Ratio • Wireless Handheld Devices (WHD) offer approximately 60% of the computing powerof laptops of a few years ago • One WHD is approximately 10% of the costof one modern laptop • Handheld ubiquitous computing – instant on, anytime, everywhere, and in the hand of the user

17. 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

18. 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.)

19. Harvard’s Handheld Devicesfor Ubiquitous Learning Project http://gseacademic.harvard.edu/~hdul/

20. “Next Generation” Interfacesfor Learning and Teaching • 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 “distributed cognition”

22. Focus on Our Core Business… Support Portal for Teacher Retention

23. Focus on Our Core Business… CURRICULUM DESIGN ASSISTANT

24. Tapped In: ti2.sri.com/tappedin/

25. Design Heuristics forDistributed-Learning Communities • Transformative goals • Building collective knowledgeand resources • Multiple ways to participate • Mechanisms for sharingvia a range of interactive media

26. Conditions for Successin Technological Innovation • High-quality learning tools and materials • Extensive professional development • Strong technical infrastructure • Organizational shifts to enabledeeper content, powerful pedagogies • Equity in Content and Servicesas well as Access and Literacy • Stakeholder Involvement

27. Meeting the Challenge ofTransformation via “Unlearning” • Developing fluency in usingemerging interactive media • Complementing presentational instructionwith collaborative inquiry-based learning • Unlearning almost unconscious assumptions and beliefs and values about the nature of teaching, learning, and schooling crucial issue for professional development

28. 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, telephone system, cable and broadcast television, cyberspace)

29. Beyond McLuhan • Media shape their messages • Media shape their participants • Infrastructures shape civilization