MuLLLti_International Conference Interactive and Competence-Orientated Education

MuLLLti

Blended Learning for Lifelong Learners in a Multicampus Context.

Conference “Interactive and Competence-Orientated Education” - 04 05 2012

Y. Blieck / M. De Jong / L. Vandeput (KHLeuven)

To conclude: possibilities and challenges for all

LLL1

• Age: 25• Bachelor marketing• Workweek 60-70h

• Interested in master Psychology out of interest and for professional purposes. Would like to graduate at 30

Photo: http://www.cepolina.com/fr/sourire_les_gens_fille_lunettes.htm

LLL2

• Age: 58

• Master Economics

• Currently unemployed

• Looking for a new professional challenge. Interested in a teacher education program

image &copy; <A HREF="http://miro.openphoto.net">MIROSLAV VAJDIĆ</A> for <A HREF="http://23895.openphoto.net">openphoto.net</A> CC:Attribution-ShareAlike

LLL3

• Age: 28

• Master of Law

• Has resigned from job

• Looking for other professional challenge. Not sure what.

image &copy; <A HREF="http://pinarkbulut.openphoto.net">pinar </A> for <A HREF="http://17953.openphoto.net">openphoto.net</A> CC:Attribution-ShareAlike

LLL4

• Age 45

• Housewife

• (did not finish high school)

• Wants to finish high school and then pursue studies at university

image &copy; <A HREF="http://rrosales.openphoto.net">Rene Rosales</A> for <A HREF="http://7624.openphoto.net">openphoto.net</A> CC:Attribution-NonCommercial

Welch, 2007

"Learners should have learning experiences that are tailored to the environment and situation in which they find themselves“ (p.232)

In A. Picciano, & C. Dziuban, (EDs.) Blended Learning: Research Perspectives (pp.5-19). United States of America: the Sloan Consortium

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdenker/6001236724/sizes/n/in/photostream/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Lifelong learning (LLL)

Lifelong learners who are they?

• Age

• Motivation and interest?

• Origin of motivation…

• Workload

• Family

• Prior education

What is lifelong learning?

• Vague concept

= extra learning activities that people undertake after the end of the initial learning career

MuLLLti

We refer to lifelong learners as students in formal Higher Educational Institutions (HEI’s) who often

combine work and study.

Imagine…

• You being one of the people above,• wanting to earn a degree,• in the institution you are currently

working/teaching.

• What influences your chances off success?

Challenges

• Educational

• Social

• Economical

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinvanmourik/488068701/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

LLL and higher educational institutes (hEI)?

Increasing demand

• Knowledge society • Initial diploma quickly loses value• Diploma no lifelong guarantee for proper professional

functioning• Shortage of human capital

=> Lifelong learning high on the agenda in various organisations :

Challenges for HEI

• Face mismatch skills levels and jobs requirements

• Open flexible learning pathways

• A lifelong approach to learning

• Reform themselves in order to adapt

• Be open for cooperation on all levels

Can Blended Learning help?

What is Blended Learning?

• Variety of definitions, but no consensus

• “a combination of face-to-face learning experiences and on-line learning experiences”

• Describes an instructional rather than learning approach

• Danger to define Blended Learning in this narrow way

MuLLLti

“A good blend is a mix of study materials, work forms and learning activities that contribute to the realization of the objectives, which motivate and challenge the students to show the best of themselves.”

(Vandeput, 2011: p.1.11).

Why consider Blended Learning?

1. To increase accessibility to education

2. Can act as catalyst to transform traditional approaches of instruction and teaching

3. Enhance cost and resource effectiveness

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wakingtiger/3157621376/sizes/m/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/xandercage/4642632285/sizes/m/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/drb62/2474763910/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Why consider Blended Learning?

1.

Improved learning outcomes should remain the reason to consider BL

(Mitchell and Honore, 2007; Trasler, 2002 in Poon et al. (2010)).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wakingtiger/3157621376/sizes/m/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/xandercage/4642632285/sizes/m/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/drb62/2474763910/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Types of Blends…What learner activity does the technology allow?

Transforming Blends?

• Four fundamental characteristics of effective learning environments (Roschelle et al., 2000):

(1) Active engagement

(2) Participation in groups

(3) Frequent interaction and feedback

(4) Connections to real world contexts

Hurdles to take…

• ‘The proliferation of superficial Blends’

• ‘A focus on the scope of a Blend’

• ‘Too much consideration to efficiency and productivity at the expense of the goal of effective pedagogy

Blended Courses can offer solutions

• Increased access

• Increased flexibility

• Suited to educational needs

• Suited to social needs

• Active engagement

• Connection to real life contexts

But…

• Sufficient Blended courses have to be offered

• Course design involves a lot of effort (know-how as well as time and costs) for the HEI

• Effective participation of adults in various forms of lifelong learning in Belgium remains low

• Unlikely that HEI’s will be able to redesign any, if enough, courses to increase accessibility for lifelong learners

Can Multicampus education (MCE) help?

Multicampus Education (MCE)

• Multicampus education within KU Leuven Association is defined as

‘Education that is designed, offered, supported and/or assessed between two or more geographical sites’.

Multicampus Education (MCE)

• Spearhead of KU Leuven Association

• Institutions can choose to combine resources (staff and infrastructure)

• Several institutions could provide entire curricula (for lifelong learners)

• Cooperation can be national and international

MuLLLti – 3 MCE groups1. Social Work

2. Teacher Education

3. Business Administration

Some implications of BL in MCE

• New teaching roles for lecturers

• Copyright, Creative Commons and Open Educational Resources

• Quality Control

To conclude: possibilities and challenges for all

MuLLLti

• Project Leader:Luc Vandeput: [email protected]

• Project assisstant: Yves Blieck: [email protected]

• Twitter: @MuLLLti

• Projectpartners:

Relevant literature

• Boeren, E. & Nicaise, I. (2009). Onderwijs voor volwassenen: wie neemt deel en waarom?in L. Vanderleyden, M. Callens & J. Noppe (red.), De Sociale Staat van Vlaanderen 2009, pp. 315-333. Brussel: Studiedienst van de Vlaamse regering 466 p., ISBN 9789018179106 publicatienr. 1277

• Flllex consortium (2012). FLLLEX: Towards an institutional strategy for lifelong long learning in professional higher education (in press).

• Picciano, A. and Picciano, C. (EDs.) Blended Learning: Research Perspectives. United States of America: the Sloan Consortium.

• Roschelle, J. M., Pea, R. D., Hoadley, C. M., Gordin, D. N. & Means, B. (2000). Changing how and what children learn in school with computer-based technologies. Children and computer technology, 10(2), 76-101.

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© 2012 MuLLLti (Blieck, De Jong and Vandeput) under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/.