This project builds on previous work undertaken by MirandaNet to explore the possibilities of teacher continuing professional development (CPD) in a time of increased workload, budget constraints and the need for professional change. The importance of work based learning, and the emerging informal processes by which theory can be transformed into practice by education practitioners themselves, (‘praxis’: Freire, 1970) has become more important as teachers respond to the twin drivers of personalised learning and technology integration. Traditional CPD offerings are not positioned to respond to such demands: one-day general courses struggle to provide the transformational elements that today’s education professionals need. (Daly, Pachler & Pelletier, 2009a; 2009b; Pachler, Preston, Cuthell, Allen, 2010)
The Becta-funded 2009-10 project explored mobile learning from a range of perspectives in eight MirandaMods . These involved simultaneous virtual and face-to-face debates between professional educators in a global context. Resources were then made available to the wider community through reports, video recordings and interactive concept maps. Multidimensional concept mapping was developed as the data collection method because this medium stimulates the creation and dissemination of collaborative knowledge within the profession (Preston 2009a, 2009b).
From practice to praxis
Communities of Practice
The pace of change in Education often means that teachers carry a train of conceptual baggage, with expectations as to what should be taught and why it should be taught. These conflict with students as practitioners, who battle with the teachers and academics who act as the gatekeepers over what constitute standards. … One of the most powerful ways of changing our thinking about how we teach and learn is to experience for ourselves the power of collaborative experiential learning.
Communities of Practice hold the key.
New resources are being added to this section.
Download the Virtual Learning book
Over the past 15 years a significant number of students have had access to computer facilities of one kind or another at home. The ways in which they have learned to use these devices, and the uses to which they are put, are shaped more by personal experience and input from their peers than by their schools. The programs they use, the ways in which they learn and the work they create mean that the education system struggles to meet the demands and expectations of these young people. What follows, of course, is that those who do not have this technology at home are doubly disadvantaged if their schools and teachers cannot compensate.
The full text of the book can be downloaded through the Virtual Learning section of the site.
News
About Virtual Learning:
We specialise in aspects related to e-learning in educational and vocational contexts:
- Research
- Evaluation
- Postgraduate accreditation and school improvement
- Learning Platforms
- Continuous professional development
- Visual Learning
- Materials development
- Communities of Practice
We also provide support for Autonomous Learning and Key Skills in education and industry.
Welcome to the new Virtual Learning site
This site contains updated content and details of a number of recent projects.
*homepage ICT CPD
ICT CPD
Virtual Learning collaborates with a number of organisations to research the current state of ICT CPD, and to explore and develop innovative and effective methods for Continuous Personal Professional Development that utilise ICT, Social Media and collaborative interactive technologies.