Visual Learning – Seeing the Meaning

During the past ten years governments and education departments across the world have invested significant sums of money in a range of whole-class visual display technologies such as data projectors, interactive whiteboards and visualisers (Cuthell, 2005a; 2008). There have been many reasons for their adoption: the technologies have been seen as a way of meeting government targets for ICT implementation, for providing access to the latest educational resources or as a way of transforming and modernising the outcomes of educational systems (Cuthell, 2005a). The high capital cost of these technologies has meant that individual teachers and schools have rarely been able to specify or select the tools for themselves. One result of this has been that the technologies, and the changes that they produce, are often seen by teachers to be externally imposed on them and their classrooms (Cuthell, 2006). Staff development is often limited to a brief instructional session that focuses on basic ‘mastery of the controls’, rather than an exploration of how the tools can be integrated into teaching and learning (Moss et al, 2007).

However, expectations of these technologies are artificially high, and researchers are often pressured to produce findings that justify the high capital investment. Assumptions that the introduction of a new technology will per se achieve pedagogical change and an improvement in learning outcomes are difficult to substantiate through research, and research findings are often lost by politicians and misrepresented in the media (Kennewell, 2006). Many surveys produce results that are limited by respondents being given neither enough information, intellectual space nor time to make a useful judgement or evaluation of visual display technologies and visual learning (Smith et al, 2007).

These resources are based on a project at The Centre for Excellence in Work-Based Learning for Education Professionals (WLE Centre) at the Institute of Education, University of London that provides the opportunity to draw together a number of studies and assign a developmental typology of visual learning implementation and approaches to provide a unique resource to support further research and professional pedagogical development.

The Centre for Excellence in Work-Based Learning for Education Professionals (WLE Centre) at the Institute of Education, University of London, is an initiative to encourage excellence and innovation in Higher Education. The WLE Centre aims to develop new approaches in work-based learning through facilitating innovations in learning at work and through professional practice; teaching and assessment modes for work-related and work-located learning; uses of e-learning and digital technologies and developing new conceptual and theoretical approaches to work-based learning.

Current literature in the use of technologies that support visual learning tends to focus on the evaluation of government-supported initiatives to embed visual display technology in classrooms, the their impact on pedagogy. Averis, Glover and Miller (2005) examined IWB technology within the mathematics classroom; Cuthell (2005; 2006; 2008) examined IWB and visualiser use and their impact on teaching and learning, both in a UK and international context. Kennewell (2006) drew together research and examined the impact of the technologies on pedagogy. Smith et al (2007) and Moss et al (2007) conducted detailed studies nationally (Smith) and across London (Moss). Whilst some of these studies focus on the pedagogies and perspectives of the teachers there are no case studies accompanied by practitioner commentary that provide exemplars of practice of material for analysis. It is the aim of this project to provide just such materials.

The 2008/9 WLE project ‘Seeing the Meaning’ combined a metastudy of existing literature on the technologies of Visual Learning, an evaluation of effective models of pedagogical and curriculum development through professional learning and case studies, some of which were streamed video. A particular focus was on the ways in which work-based learning can support curriculum and institutional change.

The online multi-modal resource relates to the policy, theory and practice of all aspects of Visual Learning and brings together academic studies from international research; policy and best practice disseminated through Becta and other government agencies; case studies focused on classroom best practice and innovative technologies from industry. This is freely available online and forms a growing knowledge base for academics, students, schools and teachers. The project also provides video evidence that links to other work-based learning projects.

The 2009/10 project built on ‘Seeing the Meaning’ with a range of downloadable video resources. These examined the ways in which practitioners and their pupils use a range of innovative visual learning technologies and techniques in the classroom and focus on the ways in which they can support learners in a range of activities and outcomes. Video interviews explore the pedagogical and organisation strategies embedded in practice, and the ways in which these can support curriculum change both with and across institutions.

The case studies focus on classroom best practice and the integration of innovative technologies from industry. An important element is the ways in which teachers use the technologies and affordances of their personal learning networks – wikis, FlashMeeting, Twitter, MirandaMods and unConferences – both to advance their techniques and strategies and obtain feedback from critical friends.

‘Seeing the Meaning’ is a freely available online knowledge base for academics, students, schools and teachers. The project links to other work-based learning projects, and identifies:

• a range of pedagogical strategies to support and reinforce Visual Learning;
• the ways in which it can be integrated across age-related curricula;
• models for deployment across institutions;
• the integration of Visual Learning into assessment practice;
• the role of work-based learning to support the integration of visual learning technologies into existing and developing pedagogical practice;
• learner perceptions of the impact of visual learning on personal learning and progress;
• the use of personal learning networks as a forum for development and dissemination.

Key issues of visual learning, its technologies and its pedagogies are illustrated, both in the video case studies and the practitioner commentaries. They explore and develop the relationship between technology, theory, pedagogy and learning; the relationship between work, learning and professional practice and the relationship between pedagogy, assessment and visual learning.

This project enhances the existing investment by the WLE Centre in ‘Seeing the Meaning’ and provides a resource for all those wishing to use findings and information on the subject of visual learning and its technologies to further their own professional development, or to implement it in the workplace. This project links to, and supports, the WLE aims of identifying and exploring:

• the relationship between work, learning and professional practice with a particular focus on work-based pedagogies, assessment and self-evaluation strategies;
• the relationship between pedagogy, assessment and learning with innovative technologies;
• the role and use of new technologies (especially those of learners) across a range of curriculum areas;
• conceptualising and theorising the workplace as a site for learning, and the relationship with industry
• collaboration, partnership and innovation within and across institutions through personal learning networks.

The informal dynamic knowledge creation in collaborative contexts occurs as participants move from textual debate in a conventional mailing list to video conferencing, micro blogging contributions and collaborative concept maps. This collaborative technology can be seen as creating a liminal space – a passage, in which a person moves from one state of being to another. Participants in this liminal space are transformed by acquiring new knowledge, a new status and a new identity in the community. This change is of critical importance if learning is to be successful. Whilst remote and informal learning is largely is what has been understood about mobile learning, the concept can now be extended to include these informal spaces in which learning takes place – the liminal spaces that those who push the boundaries of digital possibilities now inhabit intellectually (Cuthell, Preston, Kuechel and Cych, 2009).
This paper aims to extend understanding of liminal spaces and their contribution to the learning process. Evidence from participants from the United Kingdom, Europe, West Africa, the United States and Australasia is used to estimate the value of such informal learning for professionals. The qualitative and quantitative research tools that record both the numbers involved in the different activities, levels of participation and the extent of the professional knowledge created are identified. The processes can be described as Bricolage (Levi Strauss, 1962), in which people build new knowledge from what is at hand. Some consideration will be given to the long-term impact of building professional knowledge in a range of media that are not subject to conventional peer review. Finally the advantages and disadvantages of informal learning against formal learning will be summarised.
Learning in Liminal Spaces

Summary

This ICT CPD Landscape study reports on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes available to teachers in England in 2010. Data collection took place in the Autumn of 2009. Although the project findings are based on some desk-based research, the findings are mainly derived from primary data collection through traditional interviews, questionnaires and focus groups.

One outcome of the project, derived on the basis of an experimental methodology, a remotely authored digital domain map, loosely represents the prevailing ICT CPD Landscape. This mapping method was used to ascertain the value of mapping to conceptualise complex domains such as ICT CPD. The map was intended to capture and aggregate perceptions of the landscape held by representatives of the following groups: researchers and providers of, experts and teachers in and leaders receiving ICT CPD. As such the map is invariably subjective.

The map has three branches: Climate focusing on socio-cultural and technological as well as policy factors at local, national and international levels that impact on ICT CPD Provision; Supply plotting providers; and Demand mapping stakeholders, influential groups of professionals, both formally and informally constituted. It has to be noted, though, that these sub-domains are increasingly overlapping.

On the Demand side, this study investigated the opinions of 60 practitioners, 20% of whom were reluctant to use digital technologies in classrooms. 40 informants were ICT CPD leaders in schools. 30 providers were chosen to represent all the key categories identified in the domain map on the Supply side.

In terms of methodology, the project used largely qualitative data collection methods: 90 questionnaire responses were supplemented with in-depth individual and some focus group interviews. Given the small sample size of 130 the findings need to be treated with caution and should be viewed as emerging trends.

The findings are discussed in relation to five categories: providers, leaders, practitioners, field forces and some general observations about the market.

Providers felt they were limited in their provision by market conditions. As a result they were rarely in a position to lead schools into new areas or challenge school priorities. The market is also small and uncertain because schools do not have ringfenced funds for CPD in general and ICT CPD in particular. A wide disparity was noted between individual teacher’s technical skills and competence among those who attended training.

The main means of advertising courses was via fliers, emails to schools, course brochures, and newsletters. Very few Providers used online advertising or social networking sites, although they noted that a number of teachers found out about their courses via word of mouth.

28% of respondents reflected on the need for changed leadership priorities at school and government level also mentioning the loss of ICT advisers as a critical factor in the lack of ICT CPD now taking place. School management or agendas were the most frequently mentioned drivers of ICT CPD. This was followed by government and Local Authority policies; 23% of the sample of provider training focused on software without apparent reference to learning outcomes or teacher confidence.

Most providers referred to the necessity of accommodating school needs even if the provider identified other strategies.

The type, number of courses and number of participants varied across the group. LAs were most consistent offering half to full days, series of sessions and in-school CPD. Some Providers had a group maximum – this occurred mainly within commercial respondents while others take whoever attends. Course content is overwhelmingly about skills and ICT in classrooms, i.e. on the curriculum application of the technology rather than pedagogy. Apart from university provision there are limited opportunities to consider wider issues such as pedagogy or change management.

There was consensus that supply cover and funding had become major factors impacting on teachers being able to attend courses, their ability to learn or to find uninterrupted time to develop what they had learnt. Many providers saw the future for CPD in blended learning, i.e. online, self-directed and face-to-face models.

Most providers have a Mission statement or Vision that they link to the evaluation of course objectives. However, the overall quality and breadth of provision could seemingly be improved if more robust evaluation were undertaken, focusing particularly on relevance to classroom practice and change management.

Techniques such as evaluation by outcomes are also seemingly in need of strengthening.

The providers identified two new directions for ICT CPD: a change from skills training to strategies around the embedding of ICT and an increase in influence of face-to face conferences, educational blogs and micro-blogging such as Twitter.

The majority of leaders found out about CPD opportunities via their LA or through their own initiative, primarily searching online or though professional networking.

Leaders tended to promote CPD opportunities via informal colleague networks or by passing information to certain staff members who they felt would benefit. The selection of CPD programmes for staff appears to be based on an assessment of needs although it was not always clear what form this needs analysis takes. The cost and time required for training as well as the location were frequently given as factors in deciding which CPD to undertake. They were also cited as barriers preventing ICT CPD from being undertaken. Leaders also suggested the refusal of some senior management to see the benefits of ICT CPD as a barrier.

Leaders described a significant move towards in-house ICT CPD provision, provision through communities of practice and learning informally using Web 2.0 applications.

The majority of ICT CPD leaders consider themselves to have high levels of skill in the application of digital technologies. A few leaders of ICT CPD in schools suggested that they are not receiving enough CPD at a high enough intellectual level to deal with the dangers and demands that digital technologies can present. These few leaders also wanted provision that focuses on the innovative pedagogical opportunities that digital technologies offer, the management of change and media issues. Some leaders also thought that some senior management teams might do more to tackle the issues that make teachers reluctant to use ICT in classrooms.

Practitioners complained about the lack of entitlement to CPD in general and seemingly a number of in-house CPD leaders appear to be ignoring the desire of some practitioners to pursue formal qualifications through external courses as a career enhancement move. More practitioners than leaders expressed a keenness to learn and to belong to communities of practice in order to fulfil this learning desire.

Linked with this interest in informal learning, practitioners stated that the most effective CPD they had attended varied enormously. Several cited the face-to-face and online meeting through professional communities and micro-blogging as being good forms of CPD.

Some practitioners felt that issues about the use of digital technologies in classrooms were not being addressed by providers or leaders ranging from reliability problems to concerns about e-safety, unreliable equipment and web services, poor support services, ethical and moral concerns, poor pedagogical practices and fears about social isolation, lowering achievement and celebrating limited achievements too highly. Many of the teachers who are reluctant to use digital technologies in classrooms said they would welcome more professional debate at a higher intellectual level about the role of digital technologies in education and more evidence about their effectiveness as well as discussions about good practice.

External factors impacting on ICT CPD delivery. Five factors were identified on the basis of the study of background literature and baseline data; these were validated by the primary data gathered:

•the availability of external courses to meet individual and institutional needs;

•staff expertise within institutions to provide in-house CPD;

•robust ICT infrastructure and support;

•the length and timing of ICT CPD offerings;

•leadership and vision.

A number of additional factors were identified that had not emerged strongly from the baseline data but were mentioned by the participants who were most active in seeking out opportunities for their own learning:

•professional e-communities of practice;

•informal CPD networks run by teachers’ professional organisations;

•personal Learning Networks, maintained through services such as Twitter and the Blogosphere.

In addition some factors that were identified as constraints were policy and funding driven. These were:

•dedicated time for CPD: teacher tiredness in twilight sessions was cited by providers, leaders and practitioners;

•the lack of a national framework for CPD;

•no compulsion for schools to provide appropriate CPD;

•funding issues;

•CPD being driven by perceived current needs, rather than long-term strategy.

Overall the findings raise questions about how the CPD in ICT Landscape might be defined beyond 2010. The patterns emerging suggest a far more decentralised, informal and fragmented picture than had been the case in the past. The varied offering by providers and the diverse background and training of the trainers make it difficult to evaluate the impact of existing programmes. Limited rigour in evaluation of provision increased the challenge of identifying relevant and challenging course content and effective ICT CPD models.

There exists a concentration of effort into programmes about skills and curriculum applications. Harder to find are courses that link classroom applications to pedagogy, underpinning theories of learning, ICT management and the management of change.

The mismatch between supply and demand appears partly to be caused by the lack of availability and funding for high-level training for providers and leaders and a lack of understanding at senior management level about how digital technologies best be deployed through school development plans in terms of pedagogy and management infrastructure.

Some groups of school practitioners do not have the support of their schools to pursue their own professional development because of the time and cost involved.

Others complain that existing ICT CPD programmes do not meet all their needs. A few early adopters amongst these professionals elect to join national and international communities of practice to improve their informal learning opportunities – largely online.

In this context, the most significant insights appear to be around the growing ‘selfhelp’ agenda. As leaders and practitioners have become more self reliant, more schools have begun to manage their ICT CPD agendas in-house which points to even more fragmentation of the factors and field forces in this area in the future.

The trend towards fragmentation of the ICT CPD landscape shows no slowing down. On the contrary, there appears to be a growth in informal learning opportunities organised and directed by practitioners themselves. These fledgling grassroots developments can, perhaps, be harnessed to enrich more formal ICT CPD provision.

Recommendations

Entitlement to professional learning

Entitlement to professional learning in general should be a priority for practitioners and leaders. In the ICT field, it was felt courses should include coverage of eassessment and evaluation as well as covering matters such as classroom application, subject pedagogy, underpinning theories of learning, ICT management and the management of change. Importance was attached, in addition, to entitlement to professional learning about educational issues such as e-safety and filtering for technical staff and network managers.

Most providers, leaders and practitioners asked for national policy and guidance that identifies protected, dedicated time for teachers, leaders, senior managers to attend, participate in and/or develop continuing professional development in the field of ICT.

Consideration might also be given to funding personal CPD budgets for teachers separate from the school’s CPD budget. Support for informal communities of practice might be one cost-effective way to increase the amount, relevance and immediacy of ICT CPD that can be offered online in a professional context significantly.

Some requested national CPD framework prompts that would emphasize the value of informal personal learning networks as a means of learning and recognise that online events should be accommodated and recognised within a new framework.

Evaluation and assessment of professional development and learning

The evidence collected suggests that the evaluation of CPD programmes needs to be improved including the incorporation of methods that measure impact on achievement over time. Providers should be encouraged to undertake robust evaluation of their provision, focusing particularly on relevance to, and impact on classroom practice and change management. More thought should be given to the potential role of digital technologies in assessment, including making use of the multimodal and collaborative affordances of digital technologies.

Senior management issues

Concerns about the lack of value accorded to ICT CPD by some senior managers might be addressed by provision of leadership courses that cover questions of theory, ethics, pedagogy, the integration of ICT in learning processes and change management as well as issues associated with running a network. Senior managers it seems also need to ensure the reliability of equipment in school in order to enable staff to be more comfortable using ICT in classrooms.

Support for schools

In order to extend and develop ICT CPD input through groups such as ASTs and SiPs, relevant case studies should be developed that exemplify good practice. ASTs and similar groups might be offered relevant CPD opportunities that develop their potential as multipliers.

Provision for an overarching national online community of practice

Social learning online over a sustained period of time appears to be an effective way of learning about how to use ICT for teaching and learning. Therefore, the development of an overarching national online community of practice providing a one-stop shop for access to informal and formal CPD and expert providers might be a useful way of harnessing increasingly fragmented individual endeavours.

Improving ICT CPD Provision

Based mainly on the data gathered from providers the following recommendations can be made:

• That policy and guidance identifies protected, dedicated time for teachers to attend, participate in and develop continuing professional development.
• That funding supports dedicated time for teacher’ CPD. Consideration could be given to funding for teachers’ personal budgets discrete from a school’s CPD budget.
• That providers undertake robust evaluation of their provision, focusing particularly on relevance to classroom practice and change management and, where possible, that they follow up evaluation of outcomes.
• That more courses go beyond acquiring technical skills and focus on pedagogical practice as well and that they also include strategic and pedagogical considerations. Provision of courses with relevance to management should also be safeguarded.

Qualitative research methodologies

The use of digital concept maps was found to provide an effective means of collaborative conceptualising of a complex domain across a distributed group of experts and other informants. Researchers may wish to consider the use of concept mapping for data the collection of perceptual data.

Authors

Norbert Pachler, Christina Preston, John Cuthell, Allison Allen, Catrin Pinheiro-Torres

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The full report is also available online from the WLE Centre, Institute of Education, University of London.

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The drive for e-learning as a cost-effective and flexible channel for distance and life-long learning has focused on the benefits of a just-in-time delivery of content to the learner. The assumption is that knowledge is inseparable from, and follows, content. An obvious and important aspect of e-learning has been the need for online tutors to deploy a range of Soft Skills to support learners. E-learning relies on e-tutoring: the concept of e-tutoring embodies mentoring, coaching and facilitating techniques. In an online environment in which student discussion forums constitute one of the tools for knowledge construction the role of the facilitator assumes greater importance that of mentor, moderator or coach. The ability to facilitate a discussion or a debate becomes central to the construction of new knowledge for the participants (Holmes et al, 2001) In spring and early summer 2004 a group of teachers from diverse backgrounds engaged in an intensive course in e-facilitation techniques. This paper describes how they learned and were taught, and evaluates the ways in which an online collaborative environment enabled the development of the basic skills required for e-facilitation. The paper then assesses the effectiveness of individuals as both contributors and e-facilitators in a range of online educational forums. It examines the contribution seach made, and details the e-facilitation techniques deployed in various forums. Outcomes are measured against the input that individuals made. The ways in which the participants were able to construct new knowledge in the online communal context are detailed. These are compared with some other models of learning in an online environment: Cuthell (2001); (Salmon (2002). Finally, the paper evaluates the ways in which e-facilitation enables individuals to construct new knowledge, both with and for others. An interesting consequence of participating in a course of this nature is that perceptions of teaching, learning and knowledge change. Do these perceptions follow through into the daily praxis of the teachers? The implications for teaching and learning in a range of educational environments are identified.

Beyond collaborative learning

This chapter investigates four threads in the role of online communities in teacher development.

The first thread examines the ways in which the learning community can be seen as a form of distributed cognition. The second deals with factors contributing to teacher participation, the ways in which the online learning community itself requires, and develops, new skills and concepts. The third thread deals with the re-conceptualisation of learning, whilst the final aspect focuses on the co-construction of knowledge in an online environment.

This chapter was originally published in the International Journal of Web Based Communities as: Cuthell, J. P. (2008) The Role of a Web-based Community in Teacher Professional Development. International Journal of Web Based Communities, Vol. 2, No. 8 2008, pp. 115 – 139. Geneva, Inderscience

Teacher development and web-based communities

Traditional models of learning have reified into concepts of learning, with the teacher frozen as the embodiment of skills and knowledge that have to be passed on to students.   In the United Kingdom, the New Opportunities Funding CD-ROM, produced to develop teachers’ ICT curriculum competence, was the embodiment of that viewpoint at the junction of the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

The pace of change in industry and technology had burst through into schools.   The syllabus had been expanded to the point of absurdity: the application of knowledge became a critical issue for those who navigated these shoals as captains of industry.   Just-in-Time became the watchword for Learning, as it was in industry.   Whereas Industry had re-engineered itself, however, Education, like Lot’s Wife, looked backwards.

The pace of change 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.

Knowledge is seen as contained in artefacts – ‘knowledge artefacts’, whereas for many students knowledge is contained within the artefacts of production: the artefacts produced.

The MirandaNet community consists of teachers and academics as practitioners, who embody the problems faced by their students at the bleeding edge of technology.   Within this community cognition is manifested as both materiel and social.   New technology is both the network for communication and also the collective memory of the community.

The website acts as the repository of memory: newsletters, case studies, the forum for meetings, workshops and conferences; the source of expert knowledge, with the posting of questions and collaborative learning.

This paper examines the ways in which MirandaNet, as the social construction for how we learn and why we learn, forms the focus for life-long learning.   The distributed cognition manifested within this grouping of practitioners disseminates into the wider structures of education.

This paper was originally published as:

Cuthell, J. P. (2002). A Community of Learners In: Distributed Cognition Karasavvidis I (ed.). Journal of Interactive Learning Research. 13 (1/2) (pp. 169–188) Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education Norfolk, VA

A Learning Community