Learning in vivo

Workplace-based mobile-enabled learning is gaining importance

“Work-based mobile learning is increasingly becoming one of the most important means of providing knowledge, skills and competencies to the workforce” reports Auer, Edwards and Zutin (2011: 219). They point out that whereas traditionally on-the-job training had been prevalent, increased access to Internet and enhanced wireless communication resulted in individuals training themselves in any location of their choice.

The rudimentary model of the master-crafts-person teaching one of more apprentices worked well for many centuries. Fast-paced progress; reduced learning time and more complexity with regard to knowledge, skills and competency; resulted in a need for more rapid learning and continuous adaptation to changes.

Auer, Edwards and Zutin (2011: 229) caution those designing and implementing work-based mobile learning to consider adult learning theories such as:

• The experiential learning theory of Charles Rogers (1969) focussing on significant learning only when people actually do things. Cognitive learning according to Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956) often represents knowledge of encyclopaedia nature; which become irrelevant if not complemented by affective and psychomotor dimensions. Laird’s (1985) sensory stimulation theory advocates that increased incorporation of the senses in instruction consolidates learning. Sight and sound enhances learning; as does kinaesthetic/tactile or learning-by-doing that involves actual manipulation of objects. Action learning and action research stems from these foundations.
• Adult learners bring past experiences—both positive and negative—into the new learning situation; which suggests that the learning contexts must be non-threatening. Whereas young learners can be coerced by grades; adults adapt to cope with life’s changing demands. Often work-based learning opportunities are pursued in order to take advantage of developmental, advancement or promotional opportunities. Learning therefore takes place because of its relevance to immediate needs.
• Stephen Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis (Krashen, 1987) postulates that when a person is threatened or the what is learned conflicts to the person’s existing views; then the learning would not be as fruitful as when the learning reduces perceived threats or complements existing thinking.
• Malcolm Knowles promoted andragogy as adult learning theory in the 1970ties and gained a substantial following; but not without resistance. Zemke (1984) emphasise four important aspects of andragogy, namely: (a) adults learn best if they perceive immediate value; (b) when included in the organisation more learning takes place and learners are more satisfied; (c) actually doing things (kinaesthetic learning) consolidates theory by pooling the senses; (d) and previous experiences are used to relate current learning to.
• The Characteristics of Adults as Learners (CAL) model of Patricia Cross (1981) takes into consideration both personal (such as physical—eye sight, hearing, reaction time; stage of life; experiences; cognitive development—degree of independence, decision-making, vocabulary and reasoning abilities; as well as psychological, social and cultural variables) and situational characteristics (for example, voluntary versus obligatory learning; full or part-time engagement; etc.).

Four aspects to take into consideration when designing mobile work-based learning (p. 233):

1. Explain why specific matters (for example commands, functions, and operations) are being taught.
2. Make instructions task-orientated and contextualise learning activities within performance requirements.
3. Keep in mind the potential wide variety of learner backgrounds and make provision in instructions for various levels and types of previous experience.
4. Make use of the self-directedness of adults and enable learners to discover things for themselves; but provide guidance and corrective assistance where necessary.

Auer, M.E.; Edwards, A & Zutin, D.G. 2011. Online laboratories in interactive mobile learning environments, pp. 119-248. In N Pachler, C Pimmer & J Seipold (Eds). 2011. Work-based Mobile Learning — concepts and cases. Oxford: Peter Lang.

E-portfolios and assessment via mobile technologies

The South African Council for Higher Education (CHE) imperatives with regard to programme (qualification) accreditation include, among others:

• That the programme must bring about an understanding within students about the specifics of the occupation for which they are being trained.
• That the students should master the techniques and skills required for a specific profession or occupation.
• And where feasible that work-based learning and placement in a work-based environment should form an integral part of the curriculum.

The CHE imperatives with regard to work-integrated learning further include (1) a mentoring system that enables the student to recognise her/his strengths and weaknesses in his/her work, to develop existing and new abilities, and to gain knowledge of work practices; as well as (2) regular and systematic monitoring. Mobile devices may well enable both these.

However, Coulby, Laxton, Boomer and Davies (2011) caution that without a sound pedagogical rationale for the use of mobile devices; technical and infrastructural realities may very possibly reduce student engagement.

Higher educational health and social care curricula often comprise a blend of classroom instruction (in residential education); simulations and work-based placement/s. The latter provide for learning opportunities and the assessment of competencies and professional attributes that cannot be cannot be replicated in the former two. The authentic nature of work-based placement/s enables holistic preparation; preparing graduates for professional practice, including the culture and practices of the particular community of practice. Primary care community clinics are utilised for placements in teaching. (Coulby, et al citing Billet, 2001; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Vygotsky, 1978).

Although work-based placements are regarded essential; Coulby, et al realise that these learning and teaching environments are challenged by practical and sometimes complex issues such as:

• Unreliable or restricted access to PCs and IT infrastructure; resulting in a lack of access to contemporary information; learning materials and social networks.
• Students experiencing uncertainty due to inadequate feedback on their performance resulting in unpreparedness; as well as insufficient monitoring, mentoring and tutoring (pastoral care) due to inadequate resources.

A potential solution explored is the ‘Assessment and Learning in Practical Settings’ (ALPS) programme, which employed mobile technologies. Common competencies, representing ‘readiness’ for professional practice were identified and developed into mobile assessment tools—which enable and encourage students to seek a spectrum of assessment opportunities such as from peers in the health and social care professions; from service users (patients); and self-reflection. The ‘ALPS’ assessments are completed are automatically captured online in e-portfolios; which in turn enable tutor and student review and commentary—in this way future practice of students are shaped and high-level scaffolding feasible. The University of Leeds, for example, has several hundred students in six different discipline/qualification cohorts.

Coulby, C; Laxton, J; Boomer, S & Davies, N. 2011. Mobile technology and assessment: A case study from the ALPS (Assessment and Learning in Practical Settings) programme, pp. 51-70. In N Pachler, C Pimmer & J Seipold (Eds). 2011. Work-based Mobile Learning — concepts and cases. Oxford: Peter Lang.

Simulation-based learning defined

Learning through simulation may occur in one of two or both ways, namely (a) observation—the simulation serves as illustration of the content to be learned or understood; and (b) direct interaction— learning induced through experience.

Simulation-based learning comprises two parts, namely learning and simulation—the term suggests learning through the use of simulation/s.

• With a simulation one process is imitated by another process (Hartmann, 1996).
• Simulations often focus on the structural aspects of a model rather than the dynamic characteristics, making them relatively static (Hughes, 1999; Grüne-Yanoff & Weirich 2010)
• A simulation is a manifestation of a model, providing a description through a set of intertwined elements (Grüne-Yanoff & Weirich 2010)
• Frasson and Blanchard (2012) concludes after citing the above that simulations entail the action of imitating a model’s dynamics and/or structure with its resulting element; including either static and/or dynamic features.

Frasson and Blanchard (2012) report several features discussed in literature about simulation-based learning opportunities and their classification:

• Realisation—three main groupings of models are differentiated, namely those (a) involving humans; (b) mechanical; and (c) computer enabled.
• Fidelity—the extent to which the model correctly represents—on a continuum from low to high. High fidelity represents more coherently, but do not always provide the best pedagogical opportunities. Low fidelity focus mainly on pedagogically relevant aspects (with fantasy elements possibly added) and as result sometimes more adequate.
• Interactivity—refers to the degree of passive observation versus acting and influence the evolution.
• Immersiveness—is the degree of enabling fidelity and interactivity resulting in accurate real-situational feelings.
• Intelligence—intelligent components often enhances user interaction and allow for various constructive alternatives.

Frasson, C. & Blanchard, E.G. 2012. Simulation-Based Learning. In Seel, N.M. (Ed.) Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer Science+Business Media.

WIL “is not as intuitive as it may seem”

The 12 points below originates from a summary and explanation by Annie Murphy Paul about a recent report on the science of training. She points out that there are right ways and wrong ways (myths) regarding how to design, deliver, and implement training. I adapted the 12 points to work-integrated learning (WIL):

1. It’s what happens before and after WIL that matters. Universities should clearly communicate to students what the WIL is about and how it relates to curriculum of the qualification and the day one competencies expected from graduates.
2. The WIL guidelines should clearly specify what a student need-to-be master versus learning where and how to find information rather than be expected to retain all information in memory.
3. WIL would be more effective when it’s presented as an opportunity of which the benefits to students are emphasised.
4. Decay of skills acquired during WIL may be reduced by giving students subsequent opportunities to practice the skills and/or refresher orientation upon employment.
5. Workplace mentors could increase the motivation of students by making clear the link between what is being taught during WIL and how it will be used in the careers of students.
6. The best WIL occurs through the practice in the workplace and feedback by workplace mentors — the effectiveness of WIL can be increase by making the process more active and engaging for students.
7. Mentors should be made aware that unstructured practice by students without clear objectives; without relevant stimulation; and without appropriate feedback can teach students wrong lessons. Students “will get the most out of practice when they are provided with constructive and timely feedback that identifies what they may be doing wrong and how to fix it”.
8. Superficial exposure during WIL leads to poor retention and poor transfer; whereas deep learning promotes retention and transfer.
9. There is value—both strategically and emotionally—in teaching students to cope with errors made. Workplace mentors should guide students to correct mistakes made which will help students to understand the task in greater depth and will help them deal with errors on the job.
10. Technology and contemporary gadgetry would not necessary improve WIL. However, if implemented appropriately it may add to the effectiveness of WIL.
11. Left to their own devices, students “may not be knowledgeable or motivated enough to make wise decisions about how and what to learn”, sound guidance is important.
12. The “psychological fidelity—how accurately it evokes the feelings and the responses the worker will have on the job” of simulations is more important than physical fidelity a student will encounter as worker on the job.

Paul, A.M. 2012. Learning on the job: myth vs science (How do we really learn to do our jobs?). A post published 2 July 2012 on Wray Herbert's blog We're only Human.

Salas, E.; Tannenbaum, S.I.; Kraiger, K. & Smith-Jentsch, K.A. 2012. The Science of Training and Development in Organizations: What Matters in Practice. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13(2) 74–101.

Are computer games constructive tools to foster learning?

Konstantin Mitgutsch (2012: 572) shares “insights into the experience-based process of learning and its recursive motion, structures, and patterns”—“the recursive process of experiencing unknown situations and of restructuring former experiences”. He starts (p. 571) by asking the blog title question and by indicating it “reaches back to the roots of the institutionalization of education in general”. He continues to indicate that “ludologists, educators, psychologists, anthropologists, and philosophers” in the 18^th and 19^th centuries recognised and promoted the potential of playing. He adds that “players achieve an enormous amount of information through playing digital games”.

Digital games have been capturing academic interest since the early 1980s. Initially the dominant focus of research had been on risks and environmental effects. In contrast the focus of contemporary research shifted to the “positive and beneficial aspects of playing”—“A frequently applied term used to describe learning in games is digital game-based learning (DGBL)” (Mitgutsch, 2012: 572-3). He quotes the Federation of American Scientists (2006: 3) believes that “computer games are a constructive tool to foster learning”:

The success of complex video games demonstrates games can teach higher-order thinking skills such as strategic thinking, interpretative analysis, problem solving, plan formulation and execution, and adaptation to rapid change.

Although the PC-games industry develop and sell games that foster learning, it must be kept in mind that the focus is on profits and market preferences, rather than on an educational rationale. Mitgutsch (2012: 574-5) summarises literature that focus on reasons why computer games engage learners as well as several aspects that support the learning process.

Learning “is often reduced to an act of acquiring” while it is often overlooked “that every learning process starts with a particular experience of something”—people cannot necessary “choose to make a particular experience like” ordering from a catalogue; instead experience happens (Mitgutsch, 2012: 575). John Dewey in 1916 pointed out that learning from experience entails making backward and forward connections between what is done/tried and what is gained as result—it is not a linear act of acquiring; but rather “a circular process of suffering, doing, experimenting, transferring, and playing”. Games offer exploratory territories and therefore serve as powerful learning enablers.

Mitgutsch, K. 2012. Learning through play – a delicate matter: experience-based recursive learning in computer games, Chapter 36, pp. 571 - 584. [Retrieved 25 June 2012 from: http://www.springerlink.com/content/h2534141vvm55m32/fulltext.pdf] in J. Fromme & A. Unger (eds). 2012. Computer Games and New Media Cultures—A Handbook of Digital Games Studies. Dordrecht: Springer Science and Business Media. Retrieved 25 June 2012 from: http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-94-007-2776-2/#section=1083651&page=1

Simulations may achieve the positive impacts and learner motivation of real-world learning

Contextual dichotomy has been found to negatively impact and adversely affect learning. Situated in real-world contexts, on the other hand, has been found to positively impact learning and learner motivation reports Lunce (2006: 37). Although the article referenced below reports on research about simulations in classroom contexts, it contains important pointers that may apply to distance education.

Educational simulations are based on internal model of a real-world systems or phenomena. In order to facilitate learning certain elements, however, may have been simplified or omitted. Lunce (2006: 37) identifies three general types of models on which educational simulations are built:

• Continuous models which are constructed using calculus in order to represent systems with infinite numbers of states.
• Discrete models employing statistics and queuing theory to represent systems with quantitatively discrete states.
• Logical models making use of sets of heuristics, implemented through a high-level computer programming language.

The latter (logical models) are most often used in educational simulations; whereas continuous and discrete models are most often found in scientific and engineering simulations, says Lunce (2006: 37) who groups (p. 38) educational simulations into four categories:

• Physical simulations allow the learner to manipulate variables in an open-ended scenario and observe the results, for example weather patterns in which the student can manipulate certain parameters and observe the outcome.
• Iterative simulations allow for focussing on discovery learning not readily observable in real-time, for example, phenomena from biology, geology or economics; by providing the student with opportunities to conduct scientific research, build and test hypothesis and observe the results.
• Procedural simulations give students the opportunity to manipulate simulated objects with the goal of mastering the skills required to correctly and accurately manipulate physical objects in a real-world setting with the goal of preparing the student for working in a real-world setting.
• Situational simulations model for example human behaviour as a vehicle to allow students to explore different options and decision paths. Situational simulations often employ role playing and are usually designed to be run several times with each participant playing different roles in various iterations. Situational simulations tend to be the most difficult to design due to the open-ended design and complexity of modelling human behaviour and attitudes of individuals or groups in different settings.

The notion fidelity of simulation refers to the extent of accuracy with which the simulation models the real-world system or phenomena. It further refers to the realism of learner interaction facilitated by the simulation as well as the type and frequency of feedback provided. “A well designed simulation can maintain a high degree of fidelity while abstracting or omitting distracting elements that would otherwise be present in a real-world situation”, indicates Lunce (2006: 38).

Lunce L. M. 2006. Simulations: Bringing the benefits of situated learning to the traditional classroom. Journal of Applied Educational Technology, 3(1), 37-45, Spring/Summer, 2006. Accessed via Internet on 18 May 2012 from: http://www.eduquery.com/jaet/JAET3-1_Lunce.pdf.

Replacing natural experiments by computer simulations

Simulations as viable alternative to doing experiments on natural systems, offer anchor points to integrate scientific discovery learning or inquiry learning with instructional support in educational settings (for example distance) where for a number of reasons actual experiments may not be feasible, because (Van Joolingen & De Jong, 2003: 1):

• the natural system may not be accessible due to expense of the measuring equipment required or non-availability
• of safety hazards, such as radioactive samples, toxical chemical substances or populations of certain bacteria
• performing the experiments may be unethical, for example in the case of experiments with livestock
• time scale of experiments on natural phenomena may not fit with the educational timeframe— some experiments take days, months or even years to complete or may happen so fast that it is hard to visualize the processes the learning is about
• experiments may consume rare resources

“Simulations are computer programs containing an executable model of a natural or other system, capable of computing the behavior of the modeled system by means of dedicated algorithms and presenting the results of these computations to the user” (Van Joolingen & De Jong, 2003:2).

However, caution Van Joolingen and De Jong (2003: 3-4) the creation of computer simulations embedded in instruction is out of reach of most lecturers; and off-the-shelf simulations often do not match the specific teaching requirements. Creating simulations require specific skills for the various steps in the process:

1. Creating the model that would drive the simulation—Capability to do this requires expertise of either a programming language or a special simulation language; expertise in the domain simulated and knowledge of the target language; and in the case of a general purpose programming language one must also create the algorithm to simulate the model.
2. Creating the learner interface to the simulation—Including visual representation, using graphics representing domain elements, graphs, numbers, etc. Capability to create interfaces requires expertise of the available tools as well as to create the domain specific graphics within the interface.
3. Creating the instructional design of the environment from the perspective of the learner— Instructional design expertise, such as which activities to be performed; the goals of such activities; what information/explanations would be needed at specific moments (discipline knowledge); knowing/awareness of frequently occurring misconceptions; and which instructional interventions should form part of the simulation?
4. Integrate the parts of the simulation environment to a complete system in order to create a coherent integrated simulation— This means that all parts need to co-operate and that the interactions between simulation model, learner interface and all instructional interventions should be smooth and stable. This step requires programming skills in order to create an efficient and transparent environment.

The remainder of the referenced article discusses SimQuest—a simulation authoring system developed as free and open software by University of Twente for the designing and creating of simulation-based learning environments for discovery learning—downloadable for free.

Van Joolingen, W.R., & De Jong, T. (2003). SimQuest, authoring educational simulations. In: T. Murray, S. Blessing, S. Ainsworth. Authoring Tools for Advanced Technology Learning Environments: Toward cost-effective adaptive, interactive, and intelligent educational software. pp. 1-31. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Accessed from Internet 18 May 2012 from: http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/19/06/76/PDF/SimQuest-VanJoolingenDeJong.pdf

Placement of students for practice-based experiences is insufficient

The topic of this post partially reflect one of the five key knowledge contributions derived from Professor Stephen Billett’s ALTC National Teaching Fellowship on curriculum and pedagogic bases for effectively integrating practice-based experiences. The five include (emphasis added):

• “Firstly, it is necessary to include the personal processes of experiencing and reconciliation what is experienced by learners in each of the settings”;
• “Secondly, consideration of how students engage with the experiences and pedagogic practices is central to the richness of learning”
• “Thirdly, merely providing practice-based experiences for students is insufficient unless those experiences are enriched through preparation, engagement and opportunities to share and reconcile what has been contributed by these experiences”
• “Fourthly, the findings highlight the importance of enacting pedagogic practices that are most likely to develop engaged and critical practitioners”
• “Fifthly, the need to engage, prepare and extend students as active and agentic learners is central to the effective integration of experiences across practice and higher education settings, their ability to engage in professional practice and their becoming effective critical and reflexive practitioners”.

Work integrated learning (WIL) is defined as “the process whereby students come to learn through experiences in educational and practice settings and reconcile and integrate the contributions of those experiences to develop the understandings, procedures and dispositions, including the criticality and reflexivity, required for effective professional practice”.

The curriculum includes “the kinds of learning experiences in practice settings and higher education institutions and how they are organised, sequenced and enacted”. Sub-categories of curriculum are identified, namely:

• “Intended curriculum – what is intended to occur by sponsors or developers in terms of educational goals (i.e. what should be learnt) and learning outcomes as a result of the curriculum being implemented.”
• “Enacted curriculum – what is enacted as shaped by the resources available, the experiences and expertise of teachers and others, their interpretation of what was intended, their values and the range of situational factors that shape students experiences.”
• “Experienced curriculum – what students experience when they engage with what was intended through what is enacted, and how they learn through that experiencing, even that which is unintended by those who plan and enact the curriculum.”

Billett, S. 2011. Curriculum and pedagogic bases for effectively integrating practice-based experiences (final report). Australian Learning & Teaching Council (ALTC).

This work is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia Licence. Under this Licence you are free to copy distribute, display and perform the work and to make derivative works. Download Billett-S-Griffith-NTF-Final-report-2011

Experiential training in distance education for socially vulnerable persons

Combating poverty and social exclusion calls for more flexible forms of training and skills development of vulnerable groups such as lone parents. The European Community defines lone parent families as those in which under aged children grow up with one parent. The absence of the other parent could be due to for example death, divorce, neglect, or casual absence.

When devising effective education or training programs for lone parents the barriers confronting these individuals must be considered and measures developed to overcome them. Primary barriers are low self-esteem; diminished personal quest due to unpleasant circumstances; lacking information and desire to enrol for training; limited accessibility due to family commitments; inadequate training methods, techniques and principles appropriate to their circumstances; and vague relevance of programme content to their needs, interests and characteristics. International adult education literature the personal experiences of adults must inform the design of learning opportunities and that continuing adult education more efficient when a hybrid or blended education approach is offered. In addition to class room teaching/training the following methods are encouraged: distance education; experiential learning; learning by doing; self-learning; collaborative learning; and adaptive learning.

Emphasis on the notion that people are not mere receivers of new knowledge and experiences, disharmony is used as a driving force for learning. Past lived experiences and current perspectives of social reality is contrasted with what potentially could be. Out of this interpretation of disjuncture learning can be derived. Experiential learning principles and student-centered techniques, such as brainstorming, role-playing, simulations, group exercises and case studies provide socially vulnerable persons to draw from previous experiences and knowledge, and to share these with members of the rest of the group in order to find solutions to problems.

Distance education, through Internet and personal computer, enable lone parents to engage in educational programmes. Technology allows chatting with one or more participants, through text, sound and even video. Web casted scenarios in the form of case studies or role plays enable participants to develop capabilities through analysis and reflection.

Papadakis, S; Fragoulis, L & Phillips, N. 2008. Supporting lone parents: experiential training techniques in distance education. Development and Learning in Organizations, 22 (5), 9-11. Electronically accessed from Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1477-7282.

Doing law as means to learning about law

In the developed, technocratic world people—especially younger generations—became accustomed to virtual realities on PC screens. Interactive PC games offer excitement, insight and fulfilment. Clinical simulations could offer similar stimulus, engagement observation how law works. Brayne, Duncan and Grimes (1998: 173) state aptly “doing law as means to learning about law is different from learning the law by reading it”. Reconstruction of legal incidents through the vehicle of simulations; and the presentation of social problems as law ‘cases’; are but two examples. A legal problem on paper does not contain the uncertainties, emotions and interactions that form part of the real-world realities of, for example, the attorney’s office, the police station or the courtroom.

Brayne, Duncan and Grimes (1998: 174) observes that “simulation is commonly regarded as a valuable part of clinical teaching, but one which is the poor relation of the real-client clinic”, because simulation lacks the “startling and awakening encounters … of coping with people” present in legal practice “who have a need of legal expertise”. On the other hand, simulations can provide opportunities not readily available and can invoke the emotions and flow of adrenalin associated with daily client work.

In undergraduate legal education, simulations would inculcate appropriate behaviours in addition to the realisation that there is more to lawyering than mastery of legal knowledge. Simulations further offer students safe opportunities to experiment and to learn from mistakes.

Brayne, Duncan and Grimes (1998: 183) emphasise that simulation can never be an alternative to real client work, but within a spectrum of teaching methods simulations could contribute to effective law learning.

Brayne, H; Duncan, N & Grimes, R. 1998. Clinical legal education: active learning in your law school. London: Blackstone.

Simulations in context

Simulations have the power to challenge and alter the beliefs, as well as to promote flexibility with regard to decision making and management styles, argue Wolfe and Keys (1997). They emphasise the value of sensitivity to cultural diversity and appreciation for different values and perspectives, particularly in foreign global situations. “Unlike games, where everyone has a role of player with a duty to try to win, simulations require ‘professional behaviour, including professional ethics”, assert Jones (1995: 7). Simulations in group-settings offer experiential and active learning opportunities that are reasonably realistic and psychologically safe learning situations in that in these contexts psychological assumptions can be challenged; perspectives broadened; and critical reflection simulated (Wolfe & Keys, 1997).

A simulation should not attempt to reproduce reality, says Jones (1995: 9-10). The more an attempt is made to reproduce the real world with all the intricate complexities, he cautions, the more unworkable the simulations becomes. He puts forward four essential characteristics, namely:

• Simulation participants each have functional roles to fulfil, including the authority
• Given adequate information about the setting, problem or issue is essential — participants should not be required to invent the key facts (however improvisations and using imagination is encouraged); if participants are required, it is not a well designed simulation
• The lecturer does not play an active part in the carrying out the required action — a simulation is “a NON-TAUGHT event” [emphasis added], during which mistakes are “inevitable and desirable” — best characterised by “what actually goes on in the minds of the participants” (p. 12)
• Simulations are concluded with debriefing and reflection in order to appraise what happened and consolidate the learning

Jones (1995: 14) emphasises a clear differentiation of terminology and caution that wrong word-choices could cause simulations to go terribly wrong, because (wrong) words lead to (wrong) expectations which in turn lead to (inappropriate) behaviour:

Appropriate	Inappropriate
Simulation, activity, event Participant Facilitator (or organiser) Behaviour, function, profession Role (functional) Real-world responsible behaviour Real-world ethics Professional conduct	Game drama, role play, exercise Player, actor, puzzler, trainee, student [Lecturer, tutor], teacher, trainer, instructor Player, acting, staging, puzzling Role (acting a part) Winning (losing) the game Point scoring, having fun Performing the exercise (game, etc)

Jones, K. 1995. Simulations, a handbook for teachers and trainers. 3^rd edition. London: Kogan Page.

Wolfe, J & Keys, JB (eds). 1997. Business simulations, games and experiential learning in international business education. New York: International Business Press.

Use simulations to enable authentic learning

Simulation technology became good enough to let students believe that they have encountered an accurate representation of reality, observes Magee (2006). This allows for acting virtually in ways acting in the real world would have required.

Research about trends in implementation of educational simulations indicates differential philosophical perspectives on the nature of knowledge, learning and instructional design in, for example, specialties of military, medical, business and educational gaming (Magee, 2006). Different models for creating simulations and games for learning experiences exist.

According to Shirts (1975: 76, in Magee 2006: 9) “A pure simulation represents a set of rules that define a specific model that reflects reality”. Based on Feldman (1995, in Magee 2006: 9) Magee asserts that a “simulation is a model of events, items or processes that do or could exist” and present some examples:

• Verbal models present statements about the world
• Visual models can present graphic representations of abstract concepts
• Operating models represent the dynamic nature of systems, allowing observers to view not only a single point in time in the model but also how it changes under different parameters
• Research models represent the focus a researcher is investigating
• Educational models represent the issue or concept an educator is teaching to students

Magee (2006: 9) elaborates that a simulation “is not meant to be a complete representation of an event but rather an abstraction that focuses on a specific aspect of that event”. Simulations “provide a venue where new ideas can be explored and complex interrelationships examined”; and “can provide a variety of outcomes” when experimenting with different variables.

Magee (2006: 9-10) further differentiates:

• Non-game simulation challenges — only designed to simulate real life conditions without any artificial constraints
• Simulation challenge games — participants are experiencing a contest, either against themselves, others or resources.
• Non-challenge simulation games — focused mainly on the rules that are imposed by the game elements and reacting to the environment created by the simulation

Magee, M. 2006. State of Field Review: Simulation in Education (Final Report, 12 May 2006). Calgary AB: Alberta Online Learning Consortium. Electronically retrieved 19 October 2011 from: http://www.ccl-cca.ca/pdfs/StateOfField/SFRSimulationinEducationJul06REV.pdf

Get education into simulations rather than the opposite

The same probably applies to simulations, namely: “Rather than striving to get games into education, educators should be investigating ways to get education into games.” (Royle, 2008).

Although gamers often claim that playing is educational; gamers concede (laughingly) that much of this learning has little relevance to ordinary life. Teacherised commercial games that embed, add or link educational/curriculum content are questioned. A new genre is emerging characterised by gamelike learning instead of purely entertaining based on the pedagogy of problem-based learning. The real learning does not happen in game; instead players must solve problems to progress through the game; they can only solve a given problem by accumulating the necessary tools and experience in lower levels of the game.

Storytelling is a further potent learning tool, because they enable listeners to make connections between what is said and their own experience—this helps create meaning and can trigger people into action.

Royle, K. 2008. Game-Based Learning: A Different Perspective. Innovate, 4(4), April/May 2008. Retrieved electronically 23 October 2011 from: http://innovateonline.info/pdf/vol4_issue4/Game-Based_Learning-__A_Different_Perspective.pdf

Three-prong implementation plan: Workplace learning and/or simulations

The point of departure ought to be the institutional Team Approach Framework to Curriculum and Learning Development (TAFCLD). This framework specifies with regard to both Step 1: Academic Review and/or Feasibility Study; and Step 2: Curriculum Planning; that the team involved ought to include occupational field representation. The inclusion of relevant industry; commerce; local, provincial and central government; relevant NGOs; relevant professional and/or vocational bodies; and potential employers is of particular importance should workplace learning be agreed upon as a curriculum requirement. The initial representation serves as spring board for further networking in order to secure sufficient workplace learning hosting partnerships.

A typology and modalities of simulations

It is generally understood what is meant by simulation. However, a precise education definition says Guillaume Alinier (2007) presents problems. A six-level typology of simulation methodologies, with their respective characteristics, is proposed, namely:

Level 0	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Written simulations, including images	3-D models, such as a mannequin, low fidelity & part-task	Screen-based simulation software, DVDs, virtual realities	Standardised real or role play, e.g. trained actors	Intermediate fidelity PC controlled, programme-able; but not fully inter-active	Interactive PC controlled model driven; known as high-fidelity simulation platforms

Download Typology of educ focused medical simulation tools 

In addition, the Staff Educator (2009) acknowledges that there is a wide range of simulation modalities and identifies six:

• Low-fidelity simulation modalities — generally static models allowing very little learner interaction
• High-fidelity simulation modalities, e.g. complex simulators
• Standardized patient educators — specially trained ‘actors’ to portray
• Serious gaming — uses video game technology
• Desktop simulations and virtual worlds
• Virtual reality and visualisation

Health Leaders Media. The Many Forms of Simulation Training. The Staff Educator, 3 November 2009, HCPro, Inc.

Strategies for Nurse Managers, Inc. Simulation learning modalities: Going beyond the basics.

The experience of learning from a live person

The words of the post title is taken from the first line of page 277 of 'Poser, my life in twenty-three yoga poses'. Claire Dederer (2011), in my opinion, captured here what true learning-in-experience is about.

A colleague asked me today about terms in use for various kinds of learning from real-life experiences. People assign meaning to terms they embrace or they use terms as vessels to convey meaning they assign. Terms get politised. Terms belong to certain followings or communities of practice (I've used used such).

Imagine the medieval guilds. A master teaching apprentices.

Claire got an assignment to write a piece for The New York Times on the way the Naropa University 'integrated contemplative practice into its coursework' (p. 266). The PR office of the university arranged that she spent a week visiting classes experiencing. Claire took up yoga and meditation several years before. Her experiences at Naropa, however, made a deep impression on her. Synchronistically she enrolled for a beginning class at the Yoga Workshop by the ashtanga yoga master Richard Freeman. Claire watched him performing the jump-through and got so inspired she believed deep in her heart that she can do it (p. 276) and remark: "Yoga is the closest thing many of us will ever encounter to a pure oral tradition. No substitutions, so far, have even come close to approximating the experience of learning from a live person. As I discovered early in my practice, learning from a video doesn't quite work, nor does a book ..."

If a learning enviroment can be created to let students experience this kind of grasp and mastery, then true cooperative & work-integrated education (or whatever terminology is prefered) takes place. In Claire Dederer's words (277) "Many writers have talked about the mystery of transmission. ... Maybe it's simply seeing the [yoga] poses done in three dimensions. But it feels like something more than that. When your teacher [mentor/workplace supervisor] shows you how something is done, there is a feeling of possibility, a transmittal of something like faith. Yes, this can be done [or, oh that is how it is done correctly]. I'm seeing it right before my eyes."

 
Dederer, C. 2011. Poser, my life in twenty-three yoga poses. London: Bloomsbury.

A systemic enabling environment for successful work-integrated learning

Distance education (DE) and work-integrated learning (WiL) appear to be incompatible to the minds of some higher education (HE) open distance learning (ODL) purists. Yet, WiL is supposed to occur in authentic learning spaces, for example the appropriate work-place.

The Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) of the South African Council for Higher Education (CHE) specifies imperatives, which might be foreign to DE academics that are used to purely theoretical teaching and that do not want to deviate from set resourcing models. However, the imperatives are not much different from those recommended for service learning (as a form of community engagement and outreach). Download Extract_Good_Practice_Guide+Self_Evaluation

One of the nine critical success factors the CHE highlights at module level is reciprocity, which entail a state of mutual exchange. A well coordinated collaborative effort, with clarity of roles and databases, are necessary in order to succeed with regard to the obligation of a higher education institutions (HEIs) to place students that need WiL as part of the qualification/programme registered for. Now reciprocity is a foreign concept for an advocate of academic freedom, which in an era of stake holder accountability got replaced by evidence of adequate consultation before the introduction of or changes to a qualification is approved by the CHE.

The people of the ancient world considered the universe to be constructed from the five elements of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire, and Sky. During the past week a colleague sketched—illustrated below—her vision with regard to a WiL enabling environment, comprising fundamentally five elements with interaction in-between. Another colleague immediately picked up on the systemic nature. While looking on Internet for an illustration of five elements interacting, I came across the traditional Chinese philosophy of five elements; as well as the classical Greek five elements, Hinduism (Tattva), Buddhism (Mahābhūta), Japanese (Godai), Chinese (Wu Xing), Modern and Neo-paganism — fascinating!

We have scheduled a workshop to engage with the five fundamental elements, in order to produce a Procedural Manual on Experiential Learning, is a means towards a systemic enabling environment for successful WiL. Here are some of the triggers already generated.

Student — What is needed in order to enable students to successfully complete their WiL? For example:

• The students in need of WiL placements need to be known
• Unisa need to be know when and where such students are likely to be required to do their WiL
• Students need to know when first registering for a programme/qualification that contains one or more WiL modules that they would be required to complete such and what is involved
• Students need clear guidelines of what learning is required and what learning evidence must be submitted, e.g. portfolio or logbook.
• And?
•  

 Academic — What must lecturers do and/or provide to enable completion of WiL? For example:

• A vocational programme is designed, developed and offered in close collaboration with the fraternity/profession/industry it intends to produce qualified people for—a functional advisory committee with adequate representation of stake holder if critical. Collaboration is the second critical success factor of good practice identified by the CHE.
• The contact details of committed employers, willing to offer our students WiL opportunities, should be accessible on a central database
• The academic designs and develop suitable learning enabling material
• Academics provide guidelines to work-place mentors
• Academic management and lecturers responsible for programmes that entail WiL should continuously expand their networks and recruit employers that are willing to offer our students WiL opportunities
• Lecturers undertake monitoring visits and the summative assessment of the WiL evidence students submit, as well as their mentor assessments
• Where mentors/employers indicate that they are prepared to host other students for WiL, such details should be centrally captured, in order to be available to regional support staff.
• And?
•  

 Regional Support — What is it envisaged, how would regional staff support students regarding WiL? For example:

• Regional staff need access to various data bases:
  • Which students need WiL placements in a particular semester
  • Employers in the area that indicated willingness to take our students for their prerequisite WiL
  • The mentor agreements outlining the role of the workplace mentor (suitable remuneration for mentors need to be addressed)
  • The employer contracts, setting out roles and accountability
• Would identify potential employers in the geographical area concerned and endeavour to recruit such in conjunction with the academics concerned
• Would identify community service need/opportunities that could equate/substitute work-integrated learning and develop such in conjunction with the academics concerned
• Would facilitate preparation of students prior to selection by would be host employers
• And?
•  

Employer — What do employers need and what does the role of employers include regarding the WiL of students? For example:

• Both those of current employed students and those that host students for placements need clarity on the role of the employer, what is expected from the mentor (often the student's workplace supervisor), what the university expects the student to learn and to submit as learning evidence
• Need to be made aware of Sectoral Education & Training Authority (SETA) funding benefits accessible for offering our students workplace experience (SETA terminology) towards obtaining a higher education qualification
• And?
•  

Coordination — What is the expected role of a central unit and what services are expected? For example:

• A comprehensive database of the students involved, who need placements, etc.
• A database of employers that declared willingness to host students for WiL.
• And?

The other seven critical success factors of good practice identified by the CHE are: Needs assessment; Alignment; Student placements; Student orientation; Role clarification; Reflection; and Logistics

Workplace learning is learning-work

How is experiential learning structured for life in beta? In fast-paced realities the luxury of going into design-mode, to develop something, may not be feasible because the problem may have changed whilst not looking.

Simple work is outsourced and even complicated work automated. Holding onto best practices may result in falling behind. Emerging practices for continual changes requires knowledge-sharing. Complexity is often the order of the day, requiring problems-solving and continuous learning by probing. Learning is work.

The workplace learning part of educational programmes, I believe, should therefore be focussed on identification and solving of real-problems by applying knowledge gained from theoretical study and by making use of social-media to pool the expertise of others. Structured learning should entail the identification of a real complex problem in conjunction with a workplace mentor, not mundane recording of time spent in a logbook. Structured learning need not imply predetermined exposure and collection of a portfolio of evidence in this regard.

Academic staff need direct exposure to the field they are teaching for

Guess what Jones (1999), Stern & Rahn (1995) and I had in common in the late nineties.

Visit my blog post INC-CEL-FAR (what?) at http://psychsoma.co.za/learning_in_vivo/2008/08/inc-cel-far-wha.html

I based my mnemonic on the then South African technikons education paradigm espoused by the Certification Council for Technikon Education (SERTEC), a former statutory body for quality insurance of the former technikons. The mnemonic spelled the essentials: IN (Industry Needs) + CC (Continuous Consultation) + EL (Experiential Learning - as it was known then) + FA (Faculty Abreast) + R (Reciprocity) = Cooperative Education. SERTEC suggested regular and at times prolonged exposure of academic staff to the realities of the 'world of work' they are treaching for.

Jones (1999) reported that the East Mississippi Community College is sending its teachers back to 'school' by placing them in internships, because they want teachers to see what is needed in the classroom. Stern and Rahn (1995) offered some recommendations with regard to the work-based learning:

• "Most academic teachers will need some direct exposure - possibly in summer internships - to the industry in which their students are working".
• Academics need to work together with employers to develop integrated curriculums.

References:

Jones, B. 1999. Getting back into the 'real world'. Community College Week, 12(8), 22-24.

Stern, D. & Rahn, M. 1995. Preparing students for the world of work: how health career academics provide work-based learning. Educational Leadership, May 1995, 37-40.

Every new challenge a learning opportunity

Cairns and Stephenson (in Young & Stephenson, 2007: 2) remark that "every time people engagte with new challenges they have opportunities for significant learning". However tutorial support is required to assist such learners to (1) articulate their acquired learning and plan ways of making current learning from work explicit, and to (2) obtain formal recognition for the new learning achievement.

Source:

Young, D.A. & Stephenson, J. 2007. The use of interactive learning environment to support learning through work leading to full university qualifications. AERA 2007.