The UK's Futurlab research team have come up with an analysis of what is needed to re-balance the UK schools curriculum into one which is better suited to the needs of the 21st Century and better meets the needs of young people. The report can be accessed here.
The fundamental questions the research explored were; What skills and competencies do young people need to service and flourish? and How do we prepare young people for life leisure and work today?
These questions are fundamental to creating a 21st Century curriculum that is fit for purpose for the future and the report recognises that the questions are being asked by almost anyone with an interest in education, As with almost any discussion about education and attempts to develop new structures and learning opportunities a significant concern that always creates tension is that of assessment. It states that it is this issue that creates the most polarised views. The tension between an "external/national" and a "personal/local" focus for assessment. Compliance with external measures are often placed as a higher priority and of greater importance than the more personal aspirations of young people who may wish to develop competencies and skills that are of more immediate importance to them. The tension is a real one as the national assessments are designed to provide young people with the evidence that can take them on to richer opportunities for learning and work while meeting the often more narrow personal need might limit opportunity in the future.
The report cites a number of projects that provide variations to the more traditional programme or that attempt to blend learning experiences to retain the motivation and engagement of young people but concludes that more research is needed before a way forward can be defined and agreed by all those involved - including the learners.
Users of online learning environments have often referred to students that take little part in online discussions or class online activity as 'Lurkers'.
This term is said by some to originate from work done by the Open University but probably was already in use in the early days of chat rooms. It refers to online users that will often read material posted by other students and teachers but who will not take part themselves.
Research undertaken by a Research Fellow at Lancaster University into learner dynamic in a local project would suggest that while lurkers may well exist collaborative communities can provide a real outlet for learners who regard themselves as 'shy or quiet' individuals and who you might expect to fall into the lurker category.
In the local research, which was focused on the 14 to 19 age group in a number of UK schools, it was found that the opportunities provided by online collaborative spaces is actually having an impact on these ‘quiet’ learners. The report stated that;
"There appears to be a particular emphasis of certain impacts on ‘quiet’ boys (even though there were fewer of these that self-reported as being ‘quiet’), but the impacts on both groups were potentially important. It should also be noted that ‘quiet’ is likely to encompass at least three different groups of learners: those who are naturally reticent in terms of offering their ideas in classrooms; those who find difficulty for emotional or social reasons with engaging in a classroom learning environment; and those who do not want to be seen by others as being engaged or interested in the topic or lesson."
(Report Soon to be made available online - this citation to be updated on publication)
Many learning environments that are solely concerned with course delivery or assessment may well be missing a trick as the true potential appears to come from extending the routes by which learners can engage with the learning process even where the actual engagement is more about meeting their personal needs or providing an outlet for social interaction.
If we are determined to provide learner access to online learning then it must go well beyond access to content, their coursework or communication between teachers and their class group. The greater the opportunity to collaborate and communicate the greater the opportunity for quiet learners to find their voice.
Alan November is well known in countries around the world for his work on Information Literacy. His book 'Empowering Students with Technology' is an essential read for anyone trying to harness the use of the net to support learning.
Alan has also been in a position to visit a number of the most innovative schools in the US and elsewhere and in his usual candid way is well able to set out his opinions about everything from e-safety to school and curriculum design.
After the BLCO7 conference in Boston this year I asked Alan to take part in a discussion about the future of learning via Skype.
We discussed a number of issues as always Alan brings his experience to bear on the issues and provides insightful comments on the challenges that are ahead.
WebQuest UK was produced by the Worcestershire Learning Technologies team in 2001 following a visit to Quebec in 2000 with a group of secondary teachers looking at the way in which ICT was being used for learning.
Among the 'gems' you find on such trips was WebQuests which had been developed by Bernie Dodge as San Diego State university as a means of harnessing the then emerging use of the net in classrooms throughout the USA. The concept was soon to go way beyond this initial aspiration to create a tool for higher order thinking that challenges learners to investigate an issue or area of learning by exploring the web. The Webquest format has not changed much in the various countries that now use them but sadly in the UK this approach to learning is still not extensively used.
As we move into the worlds of social networks and learning platforms or VLE's the need to provide new structures for learning materials and for scaffolding the learning experience become ever more important and that must be a key skill of the educator.
Creating young people with the skills they will need in the web wide world is a major challenge and WebQuests provide a model for allowing kids out onto the net (rather in closed spaces) but with the structure they need to make their research productive and efficient.
Bernie spoke to an interviewer on the US web station KidCast in June this year during which he considers the future of WebQuests. He evidently has the same enthusiasm for his creation as he did way back when WebQuests were first thought of.
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