Worldware and the New Personal Learning Environments
Wednesday, July 30, 2008 11:00 am
Gary Brown
Students are no longer anchored to one institution, but now obtain their education from a variety of sources. Clearly, they have a real need to transport their educational experiences, using Web 2.0 tools that have legs beyond a single campus. But current institution-specific ePortfolio programs fall short of this mark, and students’ future employers are seeking job candidates who know the Web 2.0 and worldware tools that they will be using in their real-life jobs, not obscure CMS interfaces. Enter the personal learning environment (PLE)!
This was a very “full” presentation (his PP alone was 32 MB … I’ve included a link below to it.) Gary Brown directs the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology at Washington State University. The essence of his presentation was that students entering college today are fundamentally different in attitudes about school and what role it plays in their lives. NSSE in 2003 note that the majority of students in its 2003 survey were not engaged in their learning. Many more students are now “swirling”, moving from one college to another and sometimes enrolling in classes at more than one school at the same time.
One solution proposed by Gary Brown is for Higher Ed to consider what is now being called “Worldware.” …software based on the internet that allows students to carry their experiences from one school to another and that ties in with the type of work employers are going to want to see. At Washington State University, as part of a FIPSE funded Critical Thinking Project, the school started to use Microsoft’s SharePoint to create ePortfolios for students, programs, and faculty. The effort has led to a distinction between Learner Centered ((students Study material, are tested, and submit work) to Learning Centered (students help define outcomes, study study, collaborate, and discover, and they share what they have learned beyond the school itself.
As I mentioned, the material was very thick…much to ponder. While parts of the PP are difficult to follow out of context, others are very interesting.
PP For Presentation
Gary Brown
Students are no longer anchored to one institution, but now obtain their education from a variety of sources. Clearly, they have a real need to transport their educational experiences, using Web 2.0 tools that have legs beyond a single campus. But current institution-specific ePortfolio programs fall short of this mark, and students’ future employers are seeking job candidates who know the Web 2.0 and worldware tools that they will be using in their real-life jobs, not obscure CMS interfaces. Enter the personal learning environment (PLE)!
This was a very “full” presentation (his PP alone was 32 MB … I’ve included a link below to it.) Gary Brown directs the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology at Washington State University. The essence of his presentation was that students entering college today are fundamentally different in attitudes about school and what role it plays in their lives. NSSE in 2003 note that the majority of students in its 2003 survey were not engaged in their learning. Many more students are now “swirling”, moving from one college to another and sometimes enrolling in classes at more than one school at the same time.
One solution proposed by Gary Brown is for Higher Ed to consider what is now being called “Worldware.” …software based on the internet that allows students to carry their experiences from one school to another and that ties in with the type of work employers are going to want to see. At Washington State University, as part of a FIPSE funded Critical Thinking Project, the school started to use Microsoft’s SharePoint to create ePortfolios for students, programs, and faculty. The effort has led to a distinction between Learner Centered ((students Study material, are tested, and submit work) to Learning Centered (students help define outcomes, study study, collaborate, and discover, and they share what they have learned beyond the school itself.
As I mentioned, the material was very thick…much to ponder. While parts of the PP are difficult to follow out of context, others are very interesting.
PP For Presentation
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