I have been a practicing teacher since year 2000 and are now involved as instructional designer with focus on Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL). The e-Learning Ecologies MOOC provide valuable insights on the future of education and the Learning Society. There will be four peer reviewed updates for a Coursera Course Certificate and the course will focus the seven affordances of e-learning ecologies and that allow a connected reflexive pedagogy [1].

Our week 1 update was about the ways in which ubiquitous learning technologies can change the nature of the Spatio-Temporal Dimensions of Learning, but I also find it interesting to address the principles for new learning and will reflect on assessment.

The concept Affordance is used to investigate the possibility of an action on an object or environment [2] (read more) and during the course we will look at interactions among humans and digital devices from the idea of an e-learning ecology. In the book “e-Learning Ecologies: Principles for New Learning and Assessment” [1] edited by Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis explore seven New Learning affordances opened up by digital media.

An example from my classroom practice that illustrate New Learning affordances was when the student's written essay in Ecology and Sustainable Development was replaced by using Web 2.0 tools to create their individual film presentation. The students collaborated on environmental threats to their biome and recorded an individual discussion involving a) the most efficient solution, b) different stakeholders or c) probable future scenarios. The most challenging task, for me as a teacher, was the process of a fair assessment. We decided on a time limit of five minutes and that the student should be visual in through looking into their camera in the bottom right corner (i.e. not reading from a manuscript). Most students used Screencastify [3] (view video).

We learnt that Ubiquitous Learning means that we have transcended the confinements of time (i.e. on-demand repositories of content), space (i.e. visit places through video chat online) and modality (i.e. visual learning with 3D-simulations). Personal digital devices are more accessible, mobile and less expensive, which allow us to integrate technology seamlessly into our life. We expect on-demand access to learning anywhere and anytime. Teachers are able to create open online spaces where they can supply activity scaffolds, enriching classroom practices with constructive online class discussions, peer-to-peer evaluation and posing critical thinking problems. Some of the affordances might involve:

• Everyone responds
• Lowered barriers
• Differences become visible
• Engage in interpersonal interaction
• Backward-and-forward process
• Asynchronous discussion
• Anyone can be an initiator
• A new transparency for learning analytics and assessment

My second example from my own practice is when I used peer assessment as an opportunity to improve the student’s first draft on their assigmnent Evolutionary Strategies for an Organism’s Ability to Survive. This time we agreed that giving peers another perspective and present arguments for possible solutions in their own text would count towards the final grade. This was done in our Learning Management System (LMS) called Canvas, that gave me the possibility to assign anonymous peer reviews [5] (read more). This image show the backward-and-forward process of improving the draft of a peer in a Google document linked to the assignment in Canvas LMS.

Future opportunities: In the course it is mentioned that computers only enhance learning when teachers are well trained on how to use the technology appropriately, utilize a variety of effective strategies such as peer learning or feedback, and when students take responsibility for their learning.  In Sweden the government has addressed this by creating collaborative learning modules for professional development, with focus on changing classroom practice.

Professional Development Modules

I'm using this material in my own classroom practice and also train teachers in Technology Enhanced Learning. This is a video where Gunther Kress discuss lhe link between semiotics and education (view video). The digital media allow means for students to use to their own interest and creates a fundamental social shift. Students have agency and affordances amplify their own interest, where the teacher becomes a designer of learning environments [4].

References:

[1] Cope, Bill and Mary Kalantzis, eds. 2016. E-Learning Ecologies: Principles for New Learning and Assessment. New York NY: Routledge. | Link

[2] James J. Gibson (1977), The Theory of Affordances. In Perceiving, Acting, and Knowing, edited by Robert Shaw and John Bransford, ISBN 0-470-99014-7

[3] Screencastify (2017), Screencastify Welcome Series Part 1 - Recording Your First Video, Youtube | Link [retrieved 2017-07-20]

[4] Visualisation and Gamification of e-Learning and Programming Education. | Link [retrived 2017-06-09].

[5] Canvas (2015), Canvas New Feature Screencast, Canvas LMS Community | Link [retrieved 2017-07-20]