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epic.co.uk

www.epic.co.uk. Research: a consumer’s perspective. Donald Clark - CEO Epic Group Plc. Research. What do we look for? What do we use? Real examples Where do we get it? What do we want?. Problems with learning profession. Gulf between theory and practice All art no science

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epic.co.uk

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  1. www.epic.co.uk

  2. Research: a consumer’s perspective Donald Clark - CEO Epic Group Plc

  3. Research • What do we look for? • What do we use? • Real examples • Where do we get it? • What do we want?

  4. Problems with learning profession • Gulf between theory and practice • All art no science • Legacy practice • Few would be able to cite any research • Professionals don’t read the research

  5. Problems with the domain • Fuzzy set of concepts • Mixture of psychology, sociology and technology • Technology is always ahead of the sociology • But the sociology always wins out • Technological base changes rapidly

  6. Problems with the research • Faddish and non-empirical • Not demand driven • Skew towards education • Often dated • Confusing and contradictory • Sometimes excellent

  7. What do we look for? • Address practical problems • Distinguish fact from faddish fiction • Recognise that there’s empirical and non -empirical research (Prefer empirical) • Recognise quantitative and qualitative techniques - welcome both • Take and immediately apply

  8. What do we use? • Market research • Learning research • Human factors research • Technical research • Standards research • Implementation research

  9. What do we use? Market research • Professional research companies (IDC, Gartner etc) • European (Various DGs, CEDEFOP) • OECD • Analysts (largely US, some in London) • nobody knows the size and shape of the UK market • major investment decisions (UKeU, UFI, NHSU, OU in US) • life and death issues

  10. What do we use? Learning research • general psychology (memory, cognitive overload, retention, habituation etc) • psychology of learning (NHSU - Peter Honey - no real consensus theory) • a mass of confusing and contradictory theory • no language and discourse - pedagogy • base psychology often ignored - memory, practice and retention • behaviourism, cognitive psychology, constructivism

  11. What do we use? Human factors research • screen design • navigation • usability • accessibility • media mix (Clark & Mayer) • media psychology (Nass & Reeves) • Nielson on usability

  12. What do we use? Technical research • P2P • open source (sourceforge.net, slashdot.org) • blogs, RSS (wired.com, smartmobs.com etc) • LMS/LCMS/VLE/MLE - Brandon-Hall problem • collaborative software • authoring tools • innovation largely in private sector • Shawn Fanning, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak • moves quickly - web is the obvious source • no more technology please

  13. What do we use? Standards research • interoperability • reusability (lego brick problem) • AICC, IMS, ADL, ISO • no tipping point on operability • branding confusion • over-engineered • Occam’s razor • enough is enough

  14. What do we use? Implementation research • evaluation case studies • conferences • really valuable • success and failure criteria • real projects in the real world • not enough engagement with companies who do this for real • huge projects not being evaluated • empirical research opportunities being lost

  15. Where do we get it? • Web • Useful sites • Blogs • RSS • Books • Mostly US • Conferences • Mostly US • Techlearn/Online Learning/ASTD/Online Educa • Networking • Trade associations • Government

  16. Research centres • Learning Lab (University of Wolverhampton) • annual conference just cancelled • companies listed in liquidation • Ultralab (Anglia Polytechnic University) • good reputation • schools focus • UKeUniversity elearning research centre • no idea what’s happening • does it exist? • NESTA futurelab • not sure

  17. Professional associations • BLA • training • E-learning forum • good meetings • ALT • education • CIPD • training • Fragmented and all too small • Some dissemination but not adequate

  18. EXAMPLE: Learning Styles • Widely quoted in education and training • Learning and Skills Development Agency Frank Coffield • ‘bedlam of contradictory claims’ • ‘proliferation of concepts, instruments and strategies’ • 71 competing theories • most dismissed outright - 13 chosen

  19. EXAMPLE: Learning Styles • internal consistency, evidence of application, reliability, predictive validity • ‘they were found seriously wanting’ • ‘serious deficiencies’ • ‘over-simplify, label and stereotype’ • worse than bad - downright dangerous

  20. EXAMPLE: Pedagogy • term itself is problematic • teachers lack an agreed vocabulary and discourse • Professor James Tooley • Educational Research: A Critique (1998) • ‘pretty grim business’ • 41 articles from 4 leading journals

  21. EXAMPLE: Media mix • Ruth Clark and Richard Mayer: E-learning and the science of instruction • strong empirical research • media mix in e-learning • text, graphics, audio, animation, video • use of text/audio, text/graphics together • extraneous & distracting graphics in learning • animation and audio narration • video can be harmful to learning

  22. EXAMPLE: Media psychology • Nass and Reeves: The Media Equation • media equals real life hypothesis • 35 empirical studies, clear hypotheses • social rules • image fidelity on video/audio • politeness • feedback • coaches • voices and gender

  23. EXAMPLE: Programme in Course Redesign • Center For Academic Transformation • $8.8 m - Pew Charitable Trusts • 30 x $200,000 experiments • Is it cost effective? • Are we seeing better learning? • Can drop-out rates be reduced?

  24. EXAMPLE: Programme in Course Redesign Is it cost effective? • all 30 reduced costs by 40% • success = fundamental shift in practice • brimming with proven ideas • online course management systems • automated assessment • online tutorials • shared resources • staffing substitutions • reduced space requirements

  25. EXAMPLE: Programme in Course Redesign Are we seeing better learning? • transformational tactics • concentrate on large courses • don’t fiddle, redesign whole course • don’t stay with unaltered model of classroom instruction • continuous assessment and feedback • increased interaction among students • continuous support online tutorials • undergraduate learning assistants

  26. EXAMPLE: Programme in Course Redesign Can drop-out rates be reduced? • US term DFW (drop-failure-withdrawal) • significant decreases across a range of subjects • 45% to 11% • 42% to 25% • 39% to 25% • 28% to 19%

  27. EXAMPLE: Military research (US) • military spending is $956 billion - almost half of this is the US • since 1950s DoD has spent $150m on research per year • ADL and SCORM • superb work on simulations, games, teamwork • Tobias and Fletcher Training and Retraining • American Psychological Association

  28. EXAMPLE: Games and learning • Digital Game-based Learning Marc Prensky • What Video Games have to teach us about learning and literacy James Gee • Military miles ahead on this one • University of Abertay

  29. L/DWP IOP Menu

  30. L/DWP IOP Questions

  31. Games and learning

  32. L/Zaks wordgames

  33. L/PwC Pistart Story

  34. What do we do about research? Email newsletter - monthly • Think-tanks (14 to date) • Case studies (lots) • Show reports (16 over 3 years) • Book reviews (30) • Interviews (just started) • Surveys, research, myths etc.

  35. General Markets for e-learning Return on investment in e-learning Organisational benefits of e-learning Innovation Napsterisation of learning (P2P) Interactive TV and e-learning Simulations and e-learning Games and e-learning Customer e-learning M-learning Psychology The psychology of e-learning Media and media mix in e-learning Motivation and e-learning Education Higher education and e-learning Personalisation and e-learning Blended learning Blended learning Blended learning in practice Definition Pedagogy and e-learning Learning design for e-learning Collaboration and e-learning Induction and e-learning Development Open source and e-learning Usability and e-learning Standards and e-learning Accessibility and e-learning Reusable learning objects Testing and e-learning Localisation and e-learning Delivery Content and context in e-learning Change management in e-learning Learning management systems Knowledge management and e-learning E-tutoring Evaluation and e-learning What do we do about research?

  36. Conclusion • more demand driven research • less technical research • less standards research • more real world, empirical evaluation • work with experienced companies • more media mix, human factors • more dissemination

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