Jan 15 2012
#BETT2012 post 2 – Musings on future of eLearning
I think, finally, that this #2012BETT, is the one that I sort of get a feeling for what e-learning might be in the future. Excuse all the fudging adjectives but who knows really…
My reasons are saying this far are as follows…
1. Annotating digital content
The real spark was www.redpentool.com, an annotating tool developed for MAPS, on the TAG stand. I have blogged on my photography site already about annotating electronic documents. In the same way that I have always used ‘typing an address label’ on a typewriter and sometimes easier than picking out one label on an 7 x 3 address label sheet, I have always been concerned about how teachers AND students keep track of their learning using electronic files.
Redpentool for me is a significant ingredient for the future, as it allows video, audio, highlighting and text comments in a transparent layer over any web-based document you care to mention. I say in the future, because again, Pearson and Fronter, are the furthest away from agreeing to use this product…
The exciting aspect of me is that I can see a Redpentool type tool allowing formative assessment on the fly for teachers and students…
2. Devices
Talking with Dawn Whitaker, on the Toshiba stand, when talking about digital leaders, I was introduced to the phrase, ” bring what you’ve got” (BWYG by my reckoning) although the more common phrase turns out to be Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). The digital landscape in the next few years is not going to be one-to-one netbooks nor tablets… this is just not affordable/manageable for many schools or students but it ‘could’ be whatever digital device students have… ie. BWYG. There were signs that this will become a reality in all sorts of ways – Fronter are updating their JavaScript, so Fronter can be used on iphones and ipads; the products with penetration IMO are the ones that can be the simplest accessed…
3. Content
I talked with Autology, having tried their content search system up to a year ago. They have a new management team in place, and a much better idea of how published digital content can be affordable and deliverable to learners. I put forward the idea that any closed system has to have ‘hooks’ on the outside which will fit into an open system such as delicious for sharing links globally…
4. Communication/Collaboration
Having an iPhone this year at BETT changed the way I did BETT! Navigation around Olympia was a combination of stands/people I knew I needed to see; and recommendations via my PLN about things I wasn’t aware of – including for example, Redpentool. It should be changing the way that we run schools… and learn…
Conclusion
So my overall vision might be a BWYG to school mobile device; a framework of learning through some sort of VLE/shared cloud mechanisms for both collaborative and individual work; shared software; Students learning via annotating digital texts and formative assessment using Redpentool; Digital leaders working with teachers on co-collaborative learning…
With this in mind, I can now start working with colleagues and students (including digital leaders) on the small steps to move towards this… currently we have a VLE with some use across school; PC Suites; and nearly every student and teacher with a computer and Internet connectivity at home…
The elephant in the room with all of this of course, is assessment. Will we have 150 very basic electronic input devices in exam rooms in the future? Students are getting more and more adept touch typing – why will we be assessing their writing?? I won’t be holding my breath…
If anybody who has been going to BETT in the last 15 or so years knows, this is not straightforward stuff…
Would be very interested in what others think??