Theory and methodology

of e-learning research
Grinne Conole
PhD research day, 21/2/12
University of Leicester

Outline
An overview of elearning research
Empirical evidence
Examples of current
research
Theories underpinning
the field
Methodologies

E-learning research

Learner experience
Teacher practice
Social & participatory media
Learning design
Learning spaces
Mobile learning
Virtual worlds

E-learning research

Learning analytics
Use of Virtual Learning Environments
Open Educational Resources
Pedagogical patterns
Digital literacies
Creativity and technologies
Openness

Cross cutting themes

Affordances of technologies
Barriers and enablers
Case studies of good practice
Emergent technologies
Changing practices
Institutional implications

Learning spaces
Metaphors
Camp fire
Watering hole
Cave
Mountain top

Principle of learning
space design

Comfort
Aesthetics
Flow
Equity
Blending
Affordances
Repurposing

www.skgproject.com

New digital literacies

Play

Performance

Simulation

Appropriation

Creativity

Collective intelligence

Participatory culture shifts

the focus of literacy from
one of individual expression
to community involvement.
The new literacies almost all
involve social skills
developed through
collaboration and
networking

Multitasking

Judgement

Transmedia
navigation

Networking

Negotiation
Distributed cognition

Jenkins et al., 2006

Learner experience
Technology immersed
Learning approaches:
task-orientated,
experiential, just in
time, cumulative, social
Personalised digital
learning environment
Mix of institutional
systems and Cloudbased tools and
services
Use of course materials
with free resources
8

Sharpe, Beetham and De

Freitas, 2010

EDUCAUSE study
Students
drawn to
new
technologies
but rely on
more
traditional
ones
Consider
technologies
offer major
educational
benefits
Mixed views
of VLEs
9

Teacher practices:
paradoxes
Technologies not
extensively used
(Molenda)
Lack of uptake of OER
(McAndrew et al.)
Little use beyond early
adopted (Rogers)
Despite rhetoric and
funding little evidence
of transformation
Pandoras box
(Cuban, Ehlers) What would it mean to adopt more
open practices? Open design, open
delivery, open research and open

Open practices
Open design

Open delivery

Pandoras box

11

Open
dialogue

Open
research

Open design
Shift from belief-based,
implicit approaches to designbased, explicit approaches
Learning Design
A design-based approach
to creation and support of
courses

Encourages reflective, scholarly

practices
Promotes sharing and discussion

Course views
Learning outcomes

Course map
Pedagogy profile

Course dimensions

13

Task
swimlane

But does it work?

I find the document quite thoughtprovoking, especially as a starting
point in this journey for developing
good understandings
It is iterative and so
helps with ironing out
any issues
I could understand the
learning design process
and would feel able to
use this when designing
some learning activities
14

Open resources

Open courses: MOOC

Massive
Open
Online
Course

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc
http://mooc.ca/

Open accreditation

Peer to Peer University

OER University

http://www.p2pu.org/en/http://wikieducator.org/OER_univ
ity/

Open dialogue:
Cloudworks
A space for sharing and
discussing learning and
teaching ideas and
designs
Application of the best of
web 2.0 practice for
teaching
To bridge the gap
between technologies and
use
Teachers say they want:
examples, want to share
& discuss
Helps develop skills
needed for engaging with
18 new technologies

http://cloudworks.ac.uk

Community indicators
Participation
Sustained over time
Commitment from core group
Emerging roles & hierarchy

Identity
Group self-awareness
Shared language & vocab
Sense of community

Cohesion
Support & tolerance
Turn taking & response
Humour and playfulness

Creative capability
Igniting sense of purpose
Multiple points of view
expressed, contradicted or
challenged
Creation of knowledge links
& patterns

Galley et al., 2010

Open scholarship
Discovery
Integration
Application
Teaching

Open
Digital
Networked
20

Boyer

Weller: http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/

Open research

The future of learning

Just in time

Distributed

Collective

Personalised

Creative

Blurred

22

Responsive

Open

Empirical evidence
Review of social and participatory media
(Conole and Alevizou, 2010)
Review of e-learning pedagogies (Conole,
2010)
Review of TEL researchers (Conole, et al.,
2011)
Networked learning hotseat on theory
and methodology (Conole, 2010)

Theory

Activity theory
Actor Network Theory
Community of Practice
Social capital
Cybernetics

Activity Theory

Methodology

Case studies
Evaluation
Virtual ethnography
Content analysis
Action research
Design-based research

My influences

Laurillard
Salomon
Lave and Wenger
Engestrom
Wetsch
Cole
Daniels
Schon
Atkins
Seely Brown
Pea
Perkins

Tips
To do list, milestones, deadlines
Share drafts and get
comments!
Present and get feedback at
conferences
Network, network, network!
Publish as you go
Up to date bibliography, use ref
software!
Nail your methodology

Final thoughts
Open, participatory and social media enable new
forms of communication and collaboration
Communities in these spaces are complex and
distributed
Learners and teachers need to develop new digital
literacy skills to harness their potential
We need to rethink how we design, support and
assess learning
Open, participatory and social media can provide
mechanisms for us to share and discuss teaching
and research ideas in new ways
We are seeing a blurring of boundaries:
teachers/learners, teaching/research, real/virtual
spaces, formal/informal modes of communication
and publication