Neuroscience and technology enhanced learning

Extracts from ‘Neuroscience and technology enhanced learning’ published by Futurelab.

“Neuroscientists generally believe that human learning, as in the formation of memory, occurs by changes in these patterns of connectivity between neurons – or ‘synaptic plasticity’. …. In education, of course, we think about learning in ways that extend well beyond the concept of memory. …. For that reason alone, neuroscience cannot offer anything like a complete story of learning in the classroom.”

This is not the same as saying that we should ignore the increasing discoveries of neuroscience! This report describes findings from neuroscience which may help understand how better to facilitate learning in our schools.

Vive la difference! How neuroscience helps us understand the need for differentiation and personalisation.

Hoeft et al 2008 describe “gender differences in how individuals respond to video games”. Feedback also appears to be age related. Van Duijvenvoorde 2008 suggests that older people are more influenced by negative than positive feedback. Luna et al 2004 “shows how a range of factors that are critical to successful self-regulated learning (processing speed, voluntary response suppression, and working memory) mature across different age groups”. This insight may better inform our expectations of how children of different ages can self-regulate their learning.

Digital technologies can increase pupil engagement by catering for individual differences including ability, gender and age.

Special needs can be targeted. Kucian et al 2011 “used an educational game based on neuroscientific understanding to demonstrate remediation of dyscalculia in terms of numerical performance and brain function”. Butterworth and Laurillard 2010 suggest that using digital technology to help with dyspraxia can:

• provide easily-accessed and unsupervised repeated practice
• be age-independent
• be sensitive to individual needs
• be meaningful by linking the physical to the abstract, “such as when a learner ‘zooms into’ a 1–10 number line to discover decimal numbers”
• be unthreatening
• offer feedback in an “endlessly patient fashion”.

But personalisation can go further than this. “Technology can adapt dynamically to the changing needs of the learner based on an automatic assessment of their responses.” In Graphogame, a game which teaches children to associate graphemes with phonemes, “online algorithms analyze a child’s performance and rewrite the lesson plans ‘on the fly’ depending on which specific confusions the learner shows.”  

If a picture says a thousand words … Or, two senses are better than one.

Illustrating text enhances memory (Pavio and Csapo 1973). Brain scan experiments (Beauchamp et al 2004) suggest that multimodal stimuli produce more brain activity than unimodal although the “effectiveness of multimodal presentation as a memory/ learning strategy appears to rely on whether it encourages processing related to educational objectives.” (Dubois and Vial 2000)

“Adding auditory cues to a virtual reality environment (comparing unimodal with multimodal) increased activation in the hippocampus, a region strongly

associated with memory.” (Andreano et al 2009)

Neuroscience also suggests that learners should also be encouraged to touch things. “Object recognition by touch and vision activate several overlapping and closely-related brain regions;” again this leads to enhanced brain activity.

Collaborative learning: two heads are better than one too.

“Technology is providing new opportunities to share ideas”.  Dumas et al 2010 found that “several aspects of social interaction that may support collaborative learning, such as interactional synchrony, anticipation of other’s actions and co-regulation of turn-taking, are associated with neural synchronisation between collaborators’ brains as measured by EEG.”

Other researchers (King-Casas et al 2005, Miller 2005, Boudreau et al 2009 show how trust between potential collaborators develops through reciprocity and how different contexts engender different types of trust.

Collaboration may also enhance creativity by reducing the tendency to fixate on one’s own ideas according to neuroscientific evidence from Fink et al 2010.

Do those brain training things really work?

There is “accumulating evidence” that video games enhance some cognitive skills. However, computer based ‘brain training’ does not seem to transfer to everyday learning. But Jaggi et al 2008 found that “when young adults undertook a 19-day computer-based training program that focused on developing working memory for 30 minutes a day, it was found that not only their working memory, but also their …ability to solve problems in new situations.”  

Sleep deprivation: the dark side of technology

Technology is ubiquitous and pervasive and this may pose a problem for learning.  “Sleep plays an important role in memory, so ‘when’ we learn influences ‘how well’ we learn, with better recall following a period asleep than after the same period awake. Since technology now makes it easier for us search out, learn, communicate and apply knowledge all day and all night, this access can impact negatively on our sleep. For example, hormonal developmental influences produce a phase delay in the circadian timing mechanism of teenagers, but the use of mobile technology has also been shown to contribute to their sleep loss [Van den Bulck 2004]. A recent study in the US [Calamaro et al 2009] showed the average teenager indulging in around four activities involving technology after 9.00pm, spending over an hour on each. …. Not only does sleep support our recall … it also supports our ability to make links between [new] memories and older ones, which is important for our creative functioning.” So, when access to technology impacts on our sleep habits, it can be detrimental to both our learning and our creativity.

You can access the full report here. 

References

Andreano, J., et al., 2009. Auditory Cues Increase the Hippocampal Response to Unimodal Virtual Reality. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 12(3): p. 309-313.].

Beauchamp, M.S., et al. 2004, Integration of auditory and visual information about objects in superior temporal sulcus. Neuron 41 (5): p. 809-823

Boudreau, C., McCubbins, M.D. and Coulson, S. 2009. Knowing when to trust others: An ERP study of decision making after receiving information from unknown people. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 4(1): p. 23-34

Butterworth, B. and Laurillard, D. 2010 Low numeracy and dyscalculia: identification and intervention. ZDM 42(6): p. 527-539.

Calamaro, C.J., T.B.A. Mason, and S.J. Ratcliffe, 2009.Adolescents Living the 24/7 Lifestyle: Effects of Caffeine and Technology on Sleep Duration and Daytime Functioning. Pediatrics, 123(6): p. E1005-E1010.]

Dubois, M. and Vial, I. 2000 Multimedia design: the effects of relating multimodal information. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 16(2): p. 157-165

Dumas, G., et al., 2010 Inter-Brain Synchronization during Social Interaction. PLoS ONE 5(8)

Fink, A., et al., 2010. Enhancing creativity by means of cognitive stimulation: Evidence from an fMRI study. Neuroimage, 52(4): p. 1687-1695

Hoeft, F., et al., 2008. Gender differences in the mesocorticolimbic system during computer game-play. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 42: p. 253-258

Jaeggi, S.M., et al., 2008. Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 105(19): p. 6829-6833

King-Casas, B., et al., 2005.Getting to know you: Reputation and trust in a two-person economic exchange. Science, 308(5718): p. 78-83

Kucian, K., et al., 2011 in press  Mental number line training in children with developmental dyscalculia. Neuroimage. Corrected Proof.

Luna, B., et al., 2004. Maturation of cognitive processes from late childhood to adulthood. Child Development, 75(5): p1357-1372

Miller, G., 2005 Neuroscience - Economic game shows how the brain builds trust. Science 308(5718): p. 36-36

Paivio, A. and Csapo, K. 1973. Picture superiority in free recall: imagery or dual coding? Cognitive Psychology, 5: p. 176-206

Van den Bulck, J., 2004. Television viewing, computer game playing, internet use and self-reported time to bed and time out of bed in secondary-school children. Sleep, 27 p. 101-104

van Duijvenvoorde, A.C.K., et al., 2008 Evaluating the negative or valuing the positive? Neural mechanisms supporting feedback-based learning across development. Journal of Neuroscience 28(38): p. 9495-9503

Effective Questioning

In 2002 Trevor Kerry estimated that teachers ask on average 43.6 questions per classroom hour. Given this frequency it is perhaps not surprising that they don’t wait very long for an answer: Kathleen Cotton (1988)  estimated that the average time allowed a pupil to begin answering was less than one second.

Some of the purposes of questioning (after Cotton 1988) include:

• To motivate learners
• To assess learners
• To revise previous learning
• To nurture insights
• To develop learning skills

"These purposes are generally pursued in the context of classroom recitation, defined as a series of teacher questions, each eliciting a student response and sometimes a teacher reaction to that response." (Cotton 1988). Students have to:

• Pay attention to the question
• Understand what the question is asking
• Think of an answer
• Articulate the answer.

Cotton's meta-analysis of research led to some general conclusions:

• Asking questions improves learning
• Frequent questions improves learning of facts but does not improve learning of complex material (some suggest it can make such learning worse)
• Oral questions are more effective than written questions
• Questions which focus attention on key features result in better comprehension

For years, before watching a video, I gave students a list of questions to be answered during the video. I assumed that this would encourage them to pay attention to the video and result in enhanced learning both for the things specifically targeted by the video but also for other information (because they are more focussed). Cotton (1988) seems to imply that this is effective for students who are older, cleverer and more motivated but that younger children and poorer readers will focus exclusively on the questions and may miss out on other material. Nevertheless, it still seems worthwhile.


Another technique I have used in class is the quick-fire quiz. This started when I was teaching a modular Science GCSE which was assessed using short fact-based questions from a question bank. Very quickly I became able to predict the questions so I started every class with a quiz using the same questions. My favourite one was 'What does background radiation come from?' to which the answer was 'the sun [1], the stars [1] and rocks [1] especially granite [1]'. I tried this with a  very low achieving class. One lad averaged 2/60 on these module tests. On the Radioactivity test he scored 6/60, the difference being the 4 marks for the background radiation question. My triumph was spiled only by the realisation that he had given the same answer (the sun, the stars and rocks especially granite) to several questions. 


Nevertheless, rote learning seemed to have a part to play. I persisted. Another class included a very able but very lazy lad (later he became a crack addict) who averaged about 15/60 on these tests because he did absolutely no revision. On the Radioactivity tests he scored 45/60 because I had forced him to do the revision. There are times when you can lead a horse to water and make him drink!


But "Should we be asking questions which require literal recall of text content and only very basic reasoning? Or ought we to be posing questions which call for speculative, inferential and evaluative thinking?" asks Cotton (1988). The research suggests that:
Lower cognitive level questions are better than high cognitive level questions at primary; at secondary it is better to use a mix of levels.
Teachers ask lower level questions to those students they perceive as less able.
If you as lower level questions you should make them easy enough to answer.
Lower level questions are better if you want to teach knowledge (ie lower level questioning for lower level cognitive aims: not a surprise!)

Teaching students to draw inferences results in higher learning gains.
For secondary students using significantly more than the 20% average of higher level questions produces greater learning.
For secondary students using 50% or more higher level questions gives:

• Better behaviour
• Longer answers with a greater number of complete sentences
• A greater number of both relevant answers and relevant questions asked by students
• A greater number of student-student interactions

Wait time



On average teachers allow students less than one second to answer. They give less time to those perceived as less able.


The best wait time for lower cognitive level questions is 3s. For higher level questions the longer the better.


If you wait longer than 3s this will give:

• Better achievement
• Better memory
• A greater number of responses especially at a high cognitive level. This increase is greater for student reluctant to participate.
• Longer responses more often backed up by better evidence
• A greater number of unsolicited responses, student-student interactions and questions posed by students.
• Teachers will listen to students more carefully and engage in discussions more often.
• Teachers will expect more of students.
• Teachers will ask more varied questions with a higher proportion at a higher cognitive level.

Given how important questions are it is worth asking how they can be made more effective. These ideas come from John Mason.

·        Use assertions rather than questions to control behaviour. This keeps questions pure for pedagogy.

·        Develop a questioning classroom by praising pupils for attempting answers and for changing their minds when necessary.

·        Don’t play ‘guess what I’m thinking’ but ask genuine questions. “Be genuinely interested  not only in what learners are thinking, but in how they are thinking, in what connections they are making and not making.”

·        Don’t ‘funnel’ down to the ‘correct’ answer by asking simpler and simpler questions. Many pupils know this game and will wait before answering until the teacher has done all the thinking work!

·        Scaffolding (using direct questions) is good at the start of learning but you need to fade the support away using increasingly indirect prompts so that pupils learn to think for themselves.

·        Learn how to wait a little longer by formulating an answer in your own mind while you are waitin-g for the pupil to respond.

·        Learn what a pupil sees as important in a problem by asking them to read it aloud and listening to the words they stress.

·        Ask meta-questions such as ‘Is this always, sometimes or never true?’ or "What is the same and what is different about …?"

·        Get pupils to classify information or problems and ask them to explain their classification system.

·        Get learners to make up their own questions. 

Unlearning through Cognitive Dissonance

"To learn requires facing and embracing differences .... between deeply held ideas and beliefs and new ideas".

(Kolb and Kolb 2005; p207) 

Builders demolish old buildings and clear the site before starting to
build something new.
It is a little more difficult with learning.

Builders demolish old buildings and clear the ground before building something new. It is a little more complicated with learning. First we have to persuade the learner that their previous understanding was inadequate. 

Watson and Kopnicek (1990) describe pupils in a primary science class believed that warm clothes create heat. Repeated experimentation was used to confront a class with evidence that this belief was wrong. The aim was to destabilise the pupils' naive beliefs so that new ideas could be taught.

Kuhn (1996; pp52-53) describes the same phenomenon in the history of science: “Discovery commences with the awareness of anomaly."

The idea is to set up a cognitive dissonance which will create a mental tension and motivate the pupil to resolve the differences. But the most common way of dealing with such a tension is to either deny the new evidence, or to downplay it; or to select those features of the new evidence that confirm the previous beliefs whilst ignoring contradictory evidence. For example, some students fixate on the word "theory" used to describe  Darwinian evolution to preserve their beliefs in the biblical accounts of creation.

Furthermore, as  Atherton (1999) points out, confrontation and destabilisation have a significant cost: they entail "a drop in morale which comes from temporarily diminished competence." This transforms the implied incrementalism of Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development into a roller-coaster of a learning journey.

Learning has been described as a journey from one state to another:

For example, before you start learning to drive a car you have no real understanding of the skills that will be required. The first phase of learning is to find out! You clutch the steering wheel ferociously and stare at the road immediately ahead of you as you kangaroo hop forward inch by inch. You are blindingly aware of your own incompetence. Slowly you learn new skills. Now you can drive smoothly although you are still concentrating furiously on the next few metres. This is the stage of careful and conscious competence. When you change gear the shift in your attention can cause you to swerve. Hours of practice makes your actions more fluent. Now you change gear automatically. You are tuned in to the car. You look much further ahead, anticipating potential hazards. You have reached the stage of unconscious competence. You might even pass the test!

But that first stage is hard. Moving from blissful ignorance to a stark awareness of your lack of skills and knowledge can crush confidence. You may indulge in defence mechanisms to protect your own self-esteem. This is why people deny evidence and ignore new ideas.

Confronting students with evidence that their old ideas are wrong implicitly devalues their prior knowledge (Smith et al 1993). It is also likely to change the learner's identity from competent to incompetent which is likely to damage self-esteem at the very point that extra motivation is needed.

However, the trough suggests that there must be unlearning of the old mental models before the new ones can be learnt. Lee (2002) believes unlearning is a "critical element in the learning process." "Before the new ... backhand can emerge," she suggests, "the older, less effective one must wither and die." But the history of Science suggests that before scientists must have an alternative  before they reject an existing theory: "The decision to reject one paradigm is always simultaneously the decision to accept another" (Kuhn, 1996; p77; my italics). The class that Watson and Kopnicek (1990) observed were clearly destabilised and confused by the experimental results that refuted their schemata but it was not until the teacher offered an alternative paradigm that (some of) the students were able to learn the new ideas.

Meyer and Land (2005) see the significant moments of learning as akin to a rites of passage ceremony in some tribes. This can be "often problematic, troubling and frequently involves the humbling of the participant .... the transformation can be protracted, over considerable periods of time, and involve oscillation between states, often with temporary regression to earlier status." (p376). Those who pass through such a learning threshold have their perspectives irreversibly transformed. It is worth it but it is a difficult and destabilising journey.

How can we help a pupil to cope with such a difficult journey? Guy Claxton (2002; p19) emphasises that powerful learners are resilient. This is more than just having good self-esteem. (For a start, it is much more specific to learning; a student who has incredible social self-confidence may still lack resilience. Self-esteem can be a double edged sword; too much becomes arrogance and that seems likely to get in the way of learning. There is a surprising lack of evidence that having a high self-esteem helps people learn but perhaps this is because it is not well defined with respect to learning.)

But resilience as a concept merely begs the question: what is the best way to encourage resilience?

Carol Dweck's work on theories of intelligence suggests that students who believe that intelligence is malleable are better motivated when challenged than those who believe that intelligence is fixed. The latter are more likely to "display mastery-oriented strategies (effort escalation or strategy change) versus helpless strategies (effort withdrawal or strategy perseveration) in the face of setbacks" (Blackwell et al 2007; p247). Presumably, those learners more likely to change strategies will also be more likely to change mental models when challenged. 

Bandura  (reported in Bruning et al (1999; pp112-2) believes that self-efficacy ("a judgement of one's ability to perform a task within a specific domain") will make a student more likely to "persevere in the face of disconfirming evidence and poor performance".

We can try improving the resilience or self-efficacy of our pupils. Alternatively (or as well as) we can create a learning environment which threatens as little as possible.

In my next post I want to consider how e-learning can facilitate the process of unlearning through cognitive dissonance.

References

 Atherton J S (2009) Learning and Teaching; Resistance to Learning [On-line] UK: Available: http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/resistan.htm

Accessed: 5th December 2009

Blackwell L, Trzesniewski K, and Dweck C (2007) Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention in Child Development 78: 1: 246-263

Bruning, R. H., G. J. Schraw and R. R. Ronning (1999) Cognitive psychology and instruction . Upper Saddle River, N.J., Merrill.

Claxton G, (2002) Building Learning Power, TLO Limited, Bristol 978-1-901219-43-2

Kolb A and Kolb D (2005) Learning Styles and Learning Spaces: Enhancing Experiential Learning in Higher Education  Academy of Management Learning & Education 2005, Vol. 4, No. 2, 193–212

Kuhn T, (1996) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 3rd edn University of Chicago Press, London

Lee, V.S. (2002). Unlearning: a critical element in the learning process. Essays on Teaching Excellence, 14(2). Fort Collins, CO: POD Network in Higher Education. avaliable at http://www.elearning.tcu.edu/onlineresources/docs/Newsletter1Unlearning.doc Accessed 5th December 2009

  

Meyer J, and Land R (2003) Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising within the Disciplines Occasional Report #4 ETL Project School of Education, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh

Meyer J and Land R (2005) Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (2): Epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for teaching and learning in Higher Education 49: 373-388

Smith JP III, diSessa A, Roschelle J (1993) Misconceptions Reconceived: A Constructivist Analysis of Knowledge in Transition in Journal of the Learning Sciences, Vol. 3;  http://ctl.sri.com/publications/downloads/MisconceptionsReconceived.pdf   Accessed 22nd November 2009 

Watson B, and Kopnicek R (1990) Teaching for Conceptual Change: Confronting Children's Experience in Phi Delta Kappan May 1990, pp. 680-684 available at http://www.exploratorium.edu/IFI/resources/workshops/teachingforconcept.html (accessed 10th November 2009)

Learning is not just adding information

Be very, very careful what you put into that head,
because you will never, ever get it out.
Cardinal Wolsey

Every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain.

Remember when I took that home wine-making course and I forgot how to drive?

Homer Simpson

You must unlearn what you have learned

Yoda

Naive constructivism has a cheerfully incremental aspect. "Students come into the classroom with prerequisite knowledge (existing schemas) and as they progress through their education these schemas are progressively (or sequentially) built upon." (Thompson & Logue 2006).

Photo of Jelly by John Trainor
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trainor/402806181/

Learning is a bit like pouring hot water (the new information) on jelly (the stuff already in your brain). The water melts and shapes the jelly. But the shape of the jelly channels and directs the water. The history of what you have learned modifies new learning.

This is true on a historical level as well as for individuals. Thomas Kuhn's study of scientific revolutions (1996) shows the way that one understanding of the world (he calls it a paradigm) replaces another. "Assimilating a new sort of fact demands a more than additive adjustment of theory.” (p53)

The sinking of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor
could be due to an inability to unlearn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USSArizona_PearlHarbor_2.jpg

This makes learning problematic. Old ideas can get in the way of new ideas. In the extreme, individuals ignore new information which runs contrary to deeply held beliefs. Sutherland (2007; pp95-97) describes how an experienced American Admiral persistently and stubbornly (and wrongly) refused to believe the evidence that Japanese forces were gathering to attack Pearl Harbour. The destruction of the American fleet could be ascribed to an inability to unlearn.



Newly presented knowledge is likely to be resisted by the prior knowledge. Even if it seems to be accepted, sometimes it is easily discarded. Lyndon (2003) calls this "accelerated forgetting". 


Multiple studies (for example Caramazza, et al 1981; Helm 1980; Osborne & Gilbert 1980; Shipstone 1988; Watts 1985; White 1983) especially in Science, have shown that most students come to class with mental models full of remarkably tenacious misconceptions. For example, Physics students maintain an erroneous belief in centrifugal force long after they are taught that it does not exist. If you whirl a ball on a string around your head and release it at the moment it is closest to the students in the audience, they will duck (Institute of Physics, 2009). 

Perhaps, the observation that little kids learn more easily than big kids is because big kids have more misconceptions to modify.


In my next post I shall explore the pros and cons of unlearning through cognitive dissonance.

References

Caramazza A, McCloskey M and Green B (1981) Naive beliefs in sophisticated subjects: Misconceptions about trajectories of objects Cognition 9: 117-123 Helm H (1980) Misconceptions in physics amongst South African students Physics Education 15(2): 92-97 Institue of Physics (2009) http://www.practicalphysics.org/go/Experiment_980.html?topic_id=3&collection_id=117 Accessed 23rd November 2009 Kolb A and Kolb D (2005) Learning Styles and Learning Spaces: Enhancing Experiential Learning in Higher Education  Academy of Management Learning & Education 2005, Vol. 4, No. 2, 193–212 Kuhn T, (1996) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 3rd edn University of Chicago Press, London Lee, V.S. (2002). Unlearning: a critical element in the learning process. Essays on Teaching Excellence, 14(2). Fort Collins, CO: POD Network in Higher Education. avaliable at http://www.elearning.tcu.edu/onlineresources/docs/Newsletter1Unlearning.doc Accessed 5th December 2009 Lyndon (2003) The Conceptual mediation program workshop handbook available at http://www.education.unisa.edu.au/physics/specificsteps/Handbookplus2003_V2.doc Accessed 5th December 2009 Osborne RJ and Gilbert JK (1980) A technique for exploring students' views of the world Physics Education 15(6): 376-379 Shipstone D (1988) Pupils' understanding of simple electrical circuits: Some implications for instruction Physics Education 23(2): 92-96 Sutherland S, (2007) Irrationality Pinter & Martin, London 978-1-905177-07-3 Thompson F and Logue S (2006) An exploration of common student misconceptions in science International Education Journal 7(4) 553-559 ISSN 1443-1475 Watts D (1985) Student conceptions of light: A case study Physics Education 20(4): 183-187 White B (1983) Sources of difficulty in understanding Newtonian dynamics Cognitive Science 7: 41-65

Ideas in Mobile Learning

Traxler, J. 2011 Introduction  pp 4-12 in Traxler J and Wishart J (eds) 2011 Making mobile learning work: case studies of practice Higher Education Academy Escalate Education Study Centre available at http://escalate.ac.uk/8250 accessed 10th May 2011

Mobile learning is “learning with mobile devices” including “smart-phones, games consoles, media players, netbooks and handheld computers.” (p4)

The functions of mobile learning devices include “connecting and communicating via telephone network, wireless network and Bluetooth connection; capturing and storing data that might be voice, location, position, change in position, inclination, image, video, text or number; running applications comparable to computer programs; and providing output in the form of documents, movies, music and animations.” (p4)

“By now almost everyone owns one and uses one, often more than one. Not only do they own them and use them but they also invest considerable time, effort and resource choosing them, buying them, customising them and exploiting them. These [//p4//p5//] handheld devices express part or much of their owners’ values, affiliations, identity and individuality through their choice and through their use.”

However, in “comparison with desktop PC devices and technologies, what we see is diversity, transience and incoherence.” (p5) This makes it difficult to leverage learners’ own devices.

However, mobile learning offers some distinctive advantages:

• Learning can take place as and when required (this is called ‘contingent’ learning). For example, learners can feedback their understanding of a concept by texting or twittering during a presentation or they can process fieldwork data in situ rather than retreating indoors.
• Learning can take place “in surroundings that make learning meaningful” (p6), such as in a cathedral, at sea or abroad; this is ‘situated’ learning.
• Learning can be ‘authentic’, for example doing drugs calculations on hospital wards.
• Learning can be ‘context aware’. For example when a learner is in an art gallery looking at an old master the mobile device can provide background information about the painting, the artist or the culture.
• Learning can be ‘personalised’ to the learner.
  
  

Mobile learning can reach geographically distant communities and solve the problem of sparsity allowing communities of learners to become established regardless of separation. It can reach those socially excluded such as travelers and those excluded by disability such as dyslexics.

Mobile learning can provide “extra opportunities for learning“(p8) because “mobile devices can be used in dead-time, small bursts of otherwise unused time, such as waiting in lifts, cafes, buses or queues. This is also significant as an example of bite-sized learning. Although possibly educationally limited and perhaps even educationally trivial, mobile phones will always be carried by learners whereas books or laptops might not be.”  (p8)

Cornelius, S, Marston P, and Gemmell, A 2011 SMS text messaging for real-time simulations in Higher Education pp 13-17 in Traxler J and Wishart J (eds) 2011 Making mobile learning work: case studies of practice Higher Education Academy Escalate Education Study Centre available athttp://escalate.ac.uk/8250  accessed 10th May 2011

Final year undergraduates studying Applied Geomorphology took part in a flood disaster simulation. Having read a briefing pack they were then sent a text alerting them to forecasts of heavy rain. Further texts were sent at intervals; some required them to make a decision. Their responses influenced subsequent messages. “At any time during the activity learners could seek additional information to help them make their decisions. The tutor played the role of a representative from civil defence HQ and pointed them towards further information in response to specific requests.” The simulation was assessed through a reflective blog.

Mobile learning “allowed the activity to take place in real-time, at realistic times, and beyond the normal classroom environment.”

Having constructed the decision tree with the appropriate messages the texts could be sent automatically requiring little time commitment from the tutor. This means that the exercise is scalable to virtually any size.

Learners were given the option of using email to keep their costs down but all used texts. They were unconcerned about working outside normal hours and looked forward to the messages: one said “you feel more involved in the thing because you didn’t know when you were going to get the updates …that was fun.” (p15)

Issues could involve the potential for failure (mobile networks go down from time to time) and the need for some students to turn off their phones whilst at work (or in other lessons).

Beddall-Hill, N. 2011 Postgraduates, field trips and mobile devices pp18-22 in Traxler J and Wishart J (eds) 2011 Making mobile learning work: case studies of practice Higher Education Academy Escalate Education Study Centre available athttp://escalate.ac.uk/8250  accessed 10th May 2011

“There may be problems accessing personal devices in regards to sensitive data and m-safety issues.” (p20)

Woodgate, D. Stanton Fraser D and Martin S 2011 Bringing school science to life: Personalisation, contextualisation and reflection of self-collected data with mobile sensing technologies pp 23-28 in Traxler J and Wishart J (eds) 2011 Making mobile learning work: case studies of practice Higher Education Academy Escalate Education Study Centre available athttp://escalate.ac.uk/8250  accessed 10th May 2011

“Mobile sensing enables groups of learners to collect environmental data in their local area using a simplified version of the equipment used by professional scientists. For example, pupils can collect data on parameters such as light and humidity to help them understand the reasons for variations in plant species occurring in different locations, such as under trees as opposed to open grassland, or to monitor carbon monoxide levels around their school at different times of the day, to help them understand the impact of road traffic. When such data are displayed in compelling ways, children not only gain insights into aspects of the underpinning science (which can of course be built upon in class), but can be encouraged to engage in other learning activities as well, such as discussion, presentation of their findings and report writing. Since these are activities that professional scientists engage in, they can thus gain insights into aspects of the working lives of scientists.” (p24)

Data was mashed into either Google Maps or Google Earth to provide visually compelling displays.

Digital rights (and responsibilities?)

Independence Hall in Philadelphia; they talked of rights here

Tettner (2011) has used crowdsourcing to collate a list of proposed digital rights. This is a fascinating and thought-provoking list although I would argue with several contributions.


I am sceptical of the modern mushrooming of rights. I agree with Chafee (1919) that "Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man's nose begins". Humans have evolved in tribal groupings with competing characteristic behaviours. For example, fierce loyalty to the tribe is generally seen as a good thing ('team spirit') but loving your neighbour can easily mean hating your enemy and lead to conflict with other teams, tribes, groups, ethnicities, religions, nations. Groups are defined by excluding.

The island at Runnymede where the Magna Carta was signed

Another example. "An unfair society is a society that makes it possible for you to exploit your abilities to the limit." (Murakami, 1987, 2000, 2003; p266). It is paradoxical that the British Conservative party seeks to be the party of law and order whilst at the same time being the part promoting free enterprise since crime is as free an enterprise as you can get. Societies have evolved laws as a way of coping with the tensions and conflicts that inevitably arise through such conundrums. The law essentially places a marker on the spectrum between, in this case, a totally fair society (no enterprise allowed) and a totally unfair society (no restrictions; 'might is right'). This marker moves up and down the spectrum in different cultures, in different societies and in the same society at different times. When Samuel Pepys was young in 1660 there were no moral qualms about trading in or owning slaves. His wife was 14 when they married.

The fact that we have to move the marker as times change is for me an argument against having a fixed moral code enshrined and fossilised in a 'holy book'. This makes me impatient with those whose moral authority relies on quoting ancient scripture. I feel it is morally lazy not to revisit the fundamental arguments each time.

I apply this 'spectrum' approach to morality to the issue of rights. Rights necessitate responsibilities and duties. If you have the right to swing your arm you incur the responsibility not to hit my nose. If you have the right to freedom of information I have the duty to provide you with that information should you ask.

So I am miserly about rights. The only fundamental right I would grant is the right not to be discriminated against when the basis for the discrimination is something over which you have no control, such as your gender or the colour of your skin. (It always perplexes me that the right to practise a religion, over which you have some control, is usually seen as more fundamental than the right not to be discriminated against because you are a woman.) All other rights need negotiation. As Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr said: "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic."


So let us examine Tettner's crowdsourced rights. I have simplified the ideas considerably and this may have distorted the original intentions; please see the original blog posts.

• The right to access the internet;
• The right to access information; presumably a balance needs to be negotiated between this and the right to privacy
• The right to be digitally literate; whatever this means
• The right to share information;
• The right to modify the information;
• The right to free music; this and the previous two rights start to nibble away at the concept of intellectual property
• The right to unplug;
• The right to not know;
• The right to have multiple identities;
• The right to change one's mind;
• The right to lurk.

Some of these seem somewhat trivial compared to the grand rights of freedom of speech or the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.



The most interesting concepts are the right to unplug and the right to not know. 


One of the pressures imposed by the internet is the expectation of immediacy. If you send an email or a text you expect an immediate response. I have been required to assist a colleague when they are in work and I am on holiday on a beach staring at a beautiful sunset and talking on the phone. I have been asked by my boss at 8AM in the morning whether I have read the email he sent at midnight. I have been woken at 3AM by a text from my stepson telling me to switch off his alarm clock set for 6AM because he isn't coming home. I have even been told (by someone I will not name) that it is assumed I agree to the proposals sent in an email because I have not answered. I believe I have the right to silence. To put it another way, your right to send me a message does not mean I am obliged to read it.


And the right to not know? It has always seemed to me selfish for those having an affair to confess it to their spouses. It might help you with your guilt but it sows the seeds of doubt in your partner's mind such that nothing will ever be the same again. I think I would rather not know. I am not sure whether I would want to know if I had some terminal disease involving rapid degeneration and imminent death but I am sure that I would like the right to choose whether I know or not.

References


Chafee, Z. (1919) Freedom of Speech in Wartime, Harvard Law Review 32: 932, 957


Murakami, H. (1987, 2000, 2003) Norwegian Wood translated by Rubin, J (2000) Vintage, London edition (2003) ISBN 9780099448822


Tettner, S. (2011) I believe that .... should be a right in the digital age11) blog posting dated 28th March 2011in The Centre for Internet and Society blog available at http://www.cis-india.org/research/dn/i-believe-that-______-should-be-a-right-in-the-digital-age accessed 24th April 2011


Wendell Holmes, O. (1919) Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47, 52 (3 March 1919).

The Cha Cha Challenge

Photo by 'catface3' 

The Cha Cha Challenge

Reflections upon Learning

Dave Appleby

Matt is a ballroom dancing champion having been learning for only three years. He is also one of my sixth form students. The cross symmetry of expert and novice in dancing meet novice and expert in teaching seemed too good to waste.


The cha cha was his choice.


Unlike the vast majority of learners, I planned my learning. My time with Matt was limited so I intended to supplement the face to face learning with YouTube and lots of practice. Moreover, unlike most learners I am confident about learning so I was able to take charge at certain points during the lesson. When I got lost or confused I could stop Matt and ask for specific guidance; after he had shown me the first three steps and started showing me the fourth I was able to insist that three was enough for now; when I reached the point where my head was bursting I could stop the lesson. These are privileges that students rarely possess. In essence, I was being proactive in my learning and most students are, of necessity, reactive.


Some of the barriers to my learning were intrinsic to the task. I had to move, fluently, in sequence, quickly and in time to the music. Watching the videos I felt like someone confronted with a new language: it was a babble of movement; I could not even pick out the ‘words’ of the dance. Norman (1993; p28) suggests that “when there isn’t a good conceptual background, then accretion is slow and arduous”; it was to prove so in my case.
I believe I am primarily a visual learner and that auditory and kinaesthetic learning (key components of dance!) are not really my forte. This has been reinforced by the "humorous" comments of both dancing partners and spectators. So I needed to change my self-perception. When I failed my first driving test I told myself that if lorry drivers could drive lorries, I could drive a car. I now told myself that dancing was no more difficult than walking for a baby. I suppose I was repairing my damaged identity, as described by Gee (2003; p61).


I lost track of time at the start of my first lesson; I was concentrating furiously (clearly this is not the experience of “flow” as described by Csíkszentmihályi[1]; I may have been in a state of high challenge but I was not highly skilled). Matt showed me the first two steps and then I tried to copy him; as I did he suggested small corrections and talked about controlling my balance. We practiced and I became marginally faster and more fluent. Then he added the music. For a moment I was dancing in time. I knew that I looked nothing like the swaying elegance of my teacher; nevertheless I was a dancer! I was excited. I had upgraded my A-identity (Gee, 2001).


The first lesson should have ended at this point but the time was not yet over. As an experienced teacher there are times when I know that my students have learned as much as they can take; I try to end the lesson there. Matt is less experienced; he added the third step.

The “New Yorker” adds a twist and an arm movement. Things began to go wrong. When we added it to the other two steps, I began to muddle them all up. My feet were in the wrong place. I improvised a shuffle. I got tangled. I fell over.

I have experienced this same type of confusion when learning languages (something else I have always found difficult). I particularly muddle Italian and Spanish (eg gracias and grazie). Presumably the more similar things are the greater the likelihood of confusion (is this a version of Paivio’s Dual Coding theory?[2]). I think I should have learned one step to a much greater degree of mastery before attempting to learn another. When Matt tried to add a fourth step I insisted we stop.

After my first lesson I quickly forgot even the basics. Within two days I had forgotten how to count! My problem was the "4 and 1, 2, 3” system; being a logical person I needed to start on 1. I had encountered the same difficulty years ago in my one and only samba lesson: asked to count "1, 2, 3, rest, 5, 6, 7, rest", I could not resist adding a four which destroyed the rhythm. This difficulty was solved when I watched a YouTube video[3] in which the instructor counted "cha cha cha, 2, 3"; suddenly I remembered how to do the step!
In some ways this is the same problem as with the confusion described above. This time, however, the confusion involves unlearning something I have learned thoroughly (how to count); in that way it is the opposite of the previous problem. It is difficult to know which is harder.

A third sort of confusion arose with YouTube: there are many alternative versions of the cha cha and even more ways to teach them. I sought a video that taught me in the same way as Matt did. This must be like a child who asks their dad for help with homework and is shown a different way of solving the problem. This might be a good idea because it equips the learner with multiple alternative strategies; on the other hand it might confuse the learner. When a learner has failed to understand one explanation should a teacher try an alternative one or just reiterate the first? Reiteration seems like speaking English abroad loudly and slowly.
I scrutinized every step on YouTube but I couldn't ask questions. I knew I was doing it wrong but I didn't know why; even if I did, I didn't know how to do it right.

Despite assiduous practice I am stuck with the performing the first three steps. I have travelled from Unconscious Incompetence to Conscious Incompetence[4]. According to the literature I can expect to “exist in this state for a long time”; I will need “determination” and “persistence”[5] to reach the stage of Conscious Competence.

The identity changes described by Gee (2003) and Wenger (1988) seem relatively pain free. The situation I am in is more like that described by Meyer and Land (2005; p376):  "This transition [to a new identity] …  is often problematic, troubling and frequently involves the humbling of the participant .... the transformation can be protracted, over considerable periods of time, and involve oscillation between states, often with temporary regression to earlier status."

In conclusion the barriers to my learning have been the lack of a conceptual background, my belief that I couldn’t dance and the confusions I encountered (trying to learn two similar things before achieving mastery in one, trying to relearn how to count, and the different approaches adopted by different teachers).
The key thing I learned was how easily confusion can damage learning and, therefore, how important it is to be sure that a student has mastered one stage before proceeding to the next.

Bibliography
Gee J, 2001 Identity as an analytic lens for research in Education Review of Research in Education 25: 99-125


Gee J P, 2003 Learning and identity: What does it mean to be a half elf? Pp 51-71 in Gee J P, 2003 What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy Palgrave Macmillan Basingstoke 978-1403961693


Meyer and Land (2005) Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (2): Epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for teaching and learning in Higher Education 49: 373-388


Norman D, 1993 Experiencing the world pp19-41 in Norman D, 1993 Things that make us smart; Addison Wesley

Wenger E, 1988 A social theory of learning pp 3-17 in Wenger E 1988 Communities of practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)#cite_note-CM1990-5 Accessed 16^th November 2009

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-coding_theory Accessed 18th November 2009

[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOroZ47kj7U&feature=related accessed 15^th November 2009

[4] http://www.businessballs.com/consciouscompetencelearningmodel.htm accessed 15th November 2009

[5] http://changingminds.org/explanations/learning/consciousness_competence.htm Accessed 15th November 2009