Personalisation and the Online Video Narrative Learning Tools V-ResORT and the ViP

This chapter describes two tools for personalised learning that were outcomes of projects led by the author for use in educational settings. These are the Virtual Resources for Online Research Training (V-ResORT) and the Virtual Interactive Platform (ViP) learning tools. The former was designed to support post graduate research students to develop an understanding of educational research through an exploration of researcher video narratives. The latter was designed to support online communities in sharing and critiquing videos of practice. These tools support the development of a learner identity characterized by proactive participation in construction and reconstruction of knowledge rather than pure consumption. This involves an engagement with communities of practice which it is argued is central to personalised learning.

Physical Metaphorical Modelling with LEGO as a Technology for Collaborative Personalised Learning

LEGO Serious Play is a business development process where users build metaphorical models from LEGO bricks in order to explore and share their perceptions of various aspects of their working lives. They model important symbolic elements of their personality, emotions, working practices, organization, and the relationships between these elements in order to share stories that aid the construction of organizational knowledge. This chapter reports on trials using LEGO Serious Play with HE students from a range of subject areas who used metaphorical modelling to articulate their learning autobiographies, current situations, orientations to learning, and aspirations. The models helped students make informed choices and helped staff to understand their needs and personalise the learning provision appropriately

Into the Great Wide Open

Personalisation is a key requirement to motivate learners to use learning technology and self-paced content. Whereas most research and technologies focus on personalisation of content, this paper focuses on the personalisation of the tools and platform technologies for learning. When designing a learning environment, most organisations worked in the past on their internal business processes and content but did not focus on what the learner really does with the learning tools the organisation provided to them. Changing the perspective to the user shows, that they create today “around the organisational solutions” their own technology-enhanced learning world using a whole set of technologies: Learning management system (LMS) of the company, learning management system of a further education institution or of a university, different social network platforms, search engines, open web services in the internet like blogs or wikis, and a lot more other applications. Therefore the challenge for organisations today is how they can manage this variety of technologies by also enforcing the creativity and motivation of the users to personalise and individualise their learning environment. This paper proposes a solution by describing an architecture for a responsive and open learning environment. It delivers examples and a procedure how such a solution can be built step-by-step. The approach can be used in schools, higher education institutions, corporations or further education institutions.

Using ePortfolios to Evidence Practice Learning for Social Work Students

The University of Kent is piloting the use of ePortfolios in a number of departments; the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research took the opportunity to pilot ePortfolios to investigate whether ePortfolios could improve communication and collaboration between student, placement supervisor and academic tutors whilst Social Work students are out on work-based placement. Social Work students are required to complete two reflective practice documents during each of their two placements during Years 2 and 3 of their degree to assess their competence against a set of National Standards. The chapter will discuss the adoption of a Personalised Learning Environment for recording assessed practice and how the tools provided can enhance the different categories of users’ experiences both in terms of reflective practice and personal development. The chapter gives a background to the pilot and describes the different profiles of each user group which are students, academic staff, practitioners, and other stakeholders. It will also examine to what extent the pilot is in line with government initiatives such as the Leitch Review and Burgess Report and research into the use of ePortfolios for reflection; the issues surrounding the introduction of new technology to non-traditional students and outside organizations; how technology has changed student and practitioner’s perceptions and expectations in the production of a collaborative body of evidence; and the future pedagogical implications of using technology with Social Work students and practitioners.

Contemporary Music Students and Mobile Technology

Five billion songs, and counting, have been downloaded (completely legally) through Apple Computer’s online iTunes Store. The iTunes University links free educational content from over seventy tertiary institutions worldwide, and is now available to New Zealand tertiary institutions. The Internet has revolutionised the delivery and access of media and education – making access to a worldwide audience or market merely a Google (or iTunes Store) search away! But, what are the real-world practicalities of this for contemporary music students and teachers today? How can these tools be utilised to facilitate personalised learning environments. Within this context, this chapter presents and evaluates a mobile learning case study at Unitec in the Diploma of Contemporary Music on the Waitakere campus.

Effective Assignment Feedback through Timely and Personal Digital Audio Engagement

Audio feedback is a method that can provide rich, personal and detailed feedback that can convey more than the written word. This is particularly achieved through the capturing of the expressive quality of the speaker’s voice. Audio feedback has the potential to promote student engagement in the feedback process, as it is not associated with the negative connotations of written feedback. This chapter will draw upon the growing literature base and recent research. It will indicate how different approaches to using audio technology can enhance the learning experience and the feedback process through its personal and timely qualities. The chapter will conclude with guidelines for best practice for implementation of audio feedback.

Shared Spaces and ‘Secret Gardens'

This chapter illustrates a curricular intervention carried out at Coventry University (UK) with undergraduate students reading English. It explores how the students maximised their use of the tools available within the ePortfolio software PebblePad. It discusses how the software tools were used to enhance and personalise the students’ learning experience and engage in the discourse of ‘becoming researchers’ in the second year module Dissertation Methods and Approaches. It proposes that the use of some ePortfolio tools helped many students to become critical and to actively engage in their ontological journey of transition to becoming independent thinkers. However it also reports that some problematic issues surfaced following the implementation of the curricular action: some students find active learning and active engagement in the scholarship of research ‘troublesome’. Finally this chapter gives consideration to how to integrate the lessons learned from this experience into the curriculum for the next cohort of students.

Personalised Learning

The authors consider personalised learning in the context of delivering a specialist postgraduate course – ClinEd 711, ELearning and Clinical Education – at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland. They describe the pedagogical theory underlying the course design and their experience of delivering ClinEd 711 with particular reference to the personalised learning process that the course design facilitated. They present their research results for the student experience of ClinEd 711 and discuss changes made to the course as a result of student feedback. They make reference to the introduction of student-led modules to further personalise the students’ learning experience. ClinEd 711 is a specialist postgraduate course with low student numbers; with this in mind the authors discuss the implications of their pedagogical approach for those educators involved in teaching larger classes. They conclude their paper with a discussion of the role of the educator in personalised learning.

Research-Led Curriculum Redesign for Personalised Learning Environments

This chapter provides a case study outlining strategies which represent a starting point in the development of a personalised learning environment (PLE). The initial strategies focus on student engagement in two units run by the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University, Australia. The case study looks at changing the approach to a more personalised learning environment in the respective IT units, and it also outlines how the changes were made based on a meta-analysis research of the Australian Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ).

Video-Enriched Learning Experiences for Performing Arts Students

To close the gap between formal education and professional practice, Higher Education (HE) practitioners need to be aware of the importance of offering realistic learning scenarios where students can profit from personalised learning opportunities and meaningful learning. In this chapter, the authors study the extent to which viewing video recordings of the individual performances of dance and music students benefited the learning process. Evidence was gathered from two groups of undergraduate performing arts students at a HE institution in the United Kingdom, and from their corresponding teachers, who independently offered their students a personalised way of accessing visually relevant feedback on their performances via a virtual learning environment. Results suggest that this access to personalised learning facilitated critical reflection and learning from experience. It enabled the students to reposition themselves in relation to their actual performance, fostered their will to learn, and reaffirmed them as potential professional performers.