The Wales-Wide Web

A quick rant on a story from the BBC. "Every adult in Scotland is being offered up to £100 to develop and improve their computer skills", they say.

The funding forms part of a Scottish Executive drive to extend learning.

The Individual Learning Account (ILA) Scotland scheme offers low income learners up to £200 a year for courses to help them get back into work.

This has now been extended to provide funding of up to £100 a year for basic information technology training to everyone in Scotland over 18."

So far so good - but then things get really silly.

Deputy Minister for Lifelong Learning Allan Wilson said: "We have chosen information and communications technology (ICT) training for the universal offer because learner research showed us that even where people might consider themselves to have basic ICT skills, relatively few have any formal qualifications as proof of their expertise."

So instead of providing funding for people to learn, the money is being provided so that people - even if they have already got basic skills - can have a formal qualification as proof.

We need learning not qualifications, knowledge not certificates, wisdom not Deputy Ministers of Lifelong Learning.

Here endeth todays rant.

Technorati Tags: education policy

Guardian Unlimited | Online | Soft sell:

Excellent article in the Guardian by Richard Stallman on the demise of the Software Directive. Stallman rightly points to the undemocratic nature of the European Commission and puts forward ideas for change. Lets hope more people join in this debate.

"Europeans are fortunate that French and Dutch voters conclusively rejected the proposed EU constitution. The document explicitly prioritised the interests of business over the public. It slightly increased the power of the parliament while greatly increasing the power of the council of ministers: in other words, it would have made the union less democratic. The rejection provides an opportunity to consider something better. I have a proposal.

The unelected European commission and the national governments that cannot stand up to business pressure should have no role in forming EU directives. Instead, every directive should start in the European parliament. If approved there, it should go for ratification by an "upper house" representing the people of Europe by means of referendums. These might be arranged in many ways; one would be for each directive to require the approval of a majority of the electorate in countries whose combined populations add up to two-thirds of the EU. Referendums would discourage the EU from adopting directives over things that could well be left to individual countries to decide."

In May I asked for your help. I said "I'm helping organise this conference and would be very grateful for any help in publicising the event!

Conference on Open Source for education in Europe – Research and practice

Conference web site is http://www.openconference.net/index.php?cf=3

The conference is jointly sponsored by SIGOSSEE, JOIN and the Open University of the Netherlands.

The conference will be held at the Open University of the Netherlands Educational Technology Expertise Centre, Heerlen, The Netherlands on November 14 - 15, 2005."

We've had a fantastic response to the call with some 50 proposals from all over the world. I'm going to work with Fred, Alexandra and Ray - who form the organising committee - to develop a draft programme which I hope we will get out in the next couple of weeks. We will also be announcing key note speakers.

Meanwhile thanks for all your help - and don't forget to register for the conference. We are limited to 120 participants and it looks like it will be full. So register now.

Hi - been quiet lately. too busy writing to post a lot. But I do have a backlog of posts for the next two weeks.

for the last few days I have been working on a draft discussion paper for the European Commission sponsored research project on the use of ICt for Learning in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). It will not be a shock to most of you to learn that we are finding that few SMEs are involved in 'formal' elearning but that many, many SME employees use the internet everyday for learning at work. I am looking forward to writing a paper on this which I have been invited to present at Educa on-line Berlin. But, before i can get on to that,

I have to produce a thematic issues paper on Quality and the use of ICT for learning in SMEs. It is not finished. But I am happy to share with anyone who reads this blog the work I have done so far. As I say in the paper "This document is only intended as an unfinished public beta version. Just like unfinished beta software, I have published it in this form for feedback from project partners, friends, colleagues and anyone else interested in the subject." It is as yet unreferenced and one section, on evaluation tools, is not yet written.

So much for the health warning. But I really would appreciate feedback. If you press more at the bottom of this entry, you will get the introduction. A draft copy of the paper is provided as a downloadable rtf document. But, if you really are interested, and I realise that quality and ICT based learning is not the sexiest of subjects, I have created a wiki version. Please go to the wiki, create yourself an account and add your ten-pennyworth.

Daniela just emailed me suggesting dates to meet up. Meeting people is hard at the moment with so much travel.

Anyway I have set up an on-line calendar which I will try to keep up to date. If you are anywhere near me - give me a shout

I am working on two papers at the moment - one on e-learning in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the other on portfolios. I seem to increasingly write papers in chunks rather than as linear output.

I will post the 'edited highlights' on the blog - both to aid my own thinking and in the (perhaps vain) hope of eliciting some feedback.

So here is the first of a series of posts - hence the part 1 in the title above - on e-learning in SMEs. This is based on work for Knownet as part of a European project on the use of ICT for Learning in Small and Medium Enterprises. Each of the seven project partners is committed to undertaking 15 case studies in local SMEs during the three year lifetime of the project. Due to staff changes, Knownet is somewhat behind in this part of the work - the case studies have to be completed by November. I am attempting an initial analysis of the outcomes based on written reports and telephone conversations with Al who is making the case studies in enterprises in north Wales.

These notes sum up what we have found out so far. The next part (part 2) will attempt an analysis of these findings in terms of what they mean for learning theory and pedagogy, whilst part 3 will look at the policy implications of the findings..

Technorati Tags: non formal learning, Small and Medium Enterprises, work based learning

I got involved in developing educational technology about six years ago. Why is a question I've asked many times since. Basically I wanted software which would do the things I wanted to do pedagogically - and couldn't find anything. I wanted social software but it didn't exist.

Now things have changed. There is great software being developed. True most of the best stuff is not designed for learning but who cares? But whilst social software, primarily, has advanced so far - we have failed to keep up with the pedagogy.

I am working in two projects on using e-portfolio software for recognising non formal learning. One project, ICOVET. is aimed at socially disadvantaged young people; the other, Workplace Learning partnerships, is aimed at apprentices.

I am using two different systems. one project will work on the Elgg system, the other with Knownet's Knotes system.

I should add that the projects both involve partners from five or more different European projects - adding problems in arriving at shared understandings of meanings.

Over the last two weeks I have had a number of pleas from the partners. One said: "Translation of Graham`s text is hard for me. I can`t understand the difference between the words validating - assessing, and identificating - recording."

Another said: "I had some problems with working with the portfolio. Simply not knowing how to start. Would need some inspiration." and a third asked "What is the didactic concept".

These are not easy questions to answer. But if ePortfolios are to make any impact we must be able to answer them. I have talked to dave Tosh from Elgg and he recognises the problem. We are going to try to write some resources together. As Dave says: "we can continue building features etc but if people are a little lost as to what to do and how to use the system there is no point."

I think it goes beyond ePortfolios. We have great software for learning but first people need to know how to use it in a pedagogic sense.

i have been working for some time to get enhanced versions of my presentation at Bucharest on e-Portfolios onto the web. Will keep trying - in the meantime here is a very plain Powerpoint version.

icovetportfoliosrev.ppt

Last week I posted e-Learning in Small and Medium Enterprises (Part 1) and promised you the second part this week. I have not forgotten. In fact you do not only get Part 2 but parts 3, 4, 5 and 6 as well. Its a min series! Why so many? Well, the paper has grown much longer than I expected, the content is much more interesting than I though it would be and I think shorter posts work better in a blog format. This is work in progress - I dare say there are a few typos and I will revise the whole lot in the next few weeks. At that point I will post teh finished paper on the web and provide a reference to it for thsoe of you who still prefer reading pdf papers - rather than following the story in your RSS readers.

As some of you might recall, the paper is based on a research project Knownet has been carrying out for the European Commission funded ICt and SME project.

In this post I briefly recap on the main findings from our case studies. The following posts will present a discussion on the findings. Whilst I would not claim that our sample is in any way representative, I think that the findings are exciting in terms both of the future of learning and of the use of ICT for learning.

Technorati Tags: non formal learning, Small and Medium Enterprises, work based learning

Part 3 of my mini series on e-Learning in Small and Medium Enterprises
Perhaps the most significant finding is the use of ICT for non formal learning. In order to discuss this finding it is necessary to look more closely at the nature of informal learning. Definitions of informal or non formal learning are problematic and contested. Helen Colley, Phil Hodkinson and Janice Malcom have undertaken an extensive review of literature on this subject. In the review they identified eight different theoretical models of informal or non formal learning. These are summarised below in some detail as they are critical to understanding the use of ICT for informal learning in the workplace.

Technorati Tags: describing knowledge, knowledge development, non formal learning, Small and Medium Enterprises, work based learning

Part 3 in my series on e-Learning in Small and Medium Enterprises. In the last part ,I said that to fully understand the uses of ICT for non formal learning in SMEs we need more detailed understandings of the different type of knowledge being acquired and developed.

Jenny Hughes (unpublished text) has produced an analysis of different forms of knowledge based on the Welsh language. Whilst English has few words to differentiate knowledge, in Welsh there are at least six different terms for knowledge processes and six different terms for different types of knowledge, each with their own distinct meaning.

The general word for knowledge in Welsh – the translation from the English word knowledge is Gwybodaeth. Even this is not an exact translation. Gwybodaeth means something like ‘knowing-ness’, rather than knowledge.

However, the word Gwybodaeth – or knowing-ness comes in different forms defining different types of knowledge.

The first six words would appear to relate to knowledge processes. They can, in turn be divided in two – the first three possibly dealing with Knowledge ‘absorption’ and the following three referring to knowledge generation:

1. Cynnull (gwybodaeth) – to gather knowledge (as in acquisition) ‘along life’s way’
2. Cynhaeaf (gwybodaeth) – to harvest (purposefully) knowledge– or set up systems for harnessing knowledge or organise knowledge
3. Cymrodedd (gwybodaeth) - to compromise what you know to accommodate the unknown
4. Cynnau (gwybodaeth) - to light or kindle knowledge (in someone else) – can also be used to ‘share knowledge’ but implicit is that it is an active process not simply an exchange of information, which is an entirely different concept.
5. Cynllunplas (gwybodaeth) - to design (new) knowledge, paradigm shift
6. Cynyddu (gwybodaeth) - to increase or grow (existing) knowledge

The second six terms deal with different types of knowledge. The first three are arguably internal and the second three external.

1. (Gwybodaeth) cynhenid - original, congenital knowledge
2. (Gwybodaeth) cynhwynol - innate knowledge (collective)
3. (Gwybodaeth) cymrodeddol - compromised knowledge – knowledge adjusted to cope with the unexpected or unknown
4. (Gwybodaeth) cymdeithasol - sociable knowledge – not ‘social skills’ but knowledge about the social context in which the knowledge is used and the appropriate way of using it
5. (Gwybodaeth) cynefin - shared and passed on knowledge – implies usual, accustomed knowledge
6. (Gwybodaeth) Cynddelw - archetype /model / exemplary knowledge

These distinctions are very important and could prove extremely powerful in analysing non formal learning and knowledge development processes in Small and Medium Enterprise. For instance both ‘Cynnull (gwybodaeth) – to gather knowledge (as in acquisition) along life’s way’ and ‘Cynhaeaf (gwybodaeth) – to harvest (purposefully) knowledge – or set up systems for harnessing knowledge or organise knowledge’ take place in SMEs. But there is a very different quality to the different processes and the implications in terms of learning are quite distinct. It would be very interesting to go back to some of the SMEs we have studies and to analyse which of these processes in taking place.

In a similar vein the idea of ‘Cynnau (gwybodaeth) - to light or kindle knowledge as an active process” as opposed to passing on information is a very useful distinction.

Most valuable of all may be the distinction between ‘Cynyddu (gwybodaeth) - to increase or grow (existing) knowledge’ and ‘Cymrodedd (gwybodaeth) - to compromise what you know to accommodate the unknown’. As a quick hypothesis I would suggest that much of formal learning is ‘Cynyddu’ – increasing and building on existing knowledge. Much of the non formal learning using ICT that we have observed falls in the definition of ‘Cymrodedd (gwybodaeth) - to compromise what you know to accommodate the unknown’. This may be why non formal learning using ICT can be so powerful.

I also particularly like the idea of ‘(Gwybodaeth) cymdeithasol - sociable knowledge – not ‘social skills’ but knowledge about the social context in which the knowledge is used and the appropriate way of using it’ as a way of explaining the social contexts to which knowledge is used in SMEs.

Technorati Tags: describing knowledge, knowledge development, non formal learning, Small and Medium Enterprises, welsh langauge, work based learning

Stalker Gen says:

"So, who's up for BarCampUK? We need a venue. A date. Wifi. Maybe some T-shirts. And a bunch of geeks who want to just get together and throw ideas around."

Track back to get the context.

Seems a cool idea. and nice to seed in the comments lots of people (well 2 or 3) want to have it in Wales. wales could be in the process of becoming an Open Source centre. How about a Wales Open Source BarCampWales? Anyone offering to organise it?

I'm sorry to interrupt my series on e-learning in Small and Medium Enterprises but this is exciting news.

The Wales Wide Web has stuck gold. We are big. If you put 'passive offside' (a soccer term for you north American readers) into Google what do you get - UEFA - No, FIFA - No, the English football Association - No, CNN Sports No - it is the World Wide Web in first and second place.

Yo

A wee bit more on 'the new digital divide'...:

From Brian on the Abject Learning blog "My experience with students at UBC supports Jeff’s assertion — I recently gave two weblog workshops to two cohorts of Education students and was struck by the vast disparities in technical skills, web literacy and comfort with the approach."

Thank goodness for a bit of reality. I have offices in Wales and in the University of Bremen in Germany. I am the only blogger out of 60 employed in the Institute of Education and Technology in Bremen. In Wales I know of only one colleague with a blog - and that is Mike who has developed the software.

I also work for the JISC e-learning programme and of the people I know there IU think only Scott has a blog.

That does not play down the potential. Last week I gave a kind of impromptu workshop for a group education technologists from Chile. They started out wanting me to tell then how to produce learning materials. I said I did not think this was the question - it is a question of how we use ICT for learning - the pedagogy. I showed them a few sites and applications. They got really excited when I showed them the South African education e-books project. They could not believe their was so much free materials available. Before they had felt totally constrained by an insufficient budget to buy materials from publishers.

It was a little difficult with languages but we got by - but I was still not sure they had 'got it' until they went to go.

The 'leader' thanked me saying "Graham has shown us we do not need more software or systems but a paradigm shift in our thinking."

The problem with our ed-tech blogs is far to often we are talking to ourselves. We need to find new ways of getting out there and showing people what can be done.

Technorati Tags: e-learning, open content, open source

EducationGuardian.co.uk

Interesting little nugget from the Education Guardian. Seems like we get a report every day on whether computers are a good or bad thing for kids. Either way they are a reality. Not sure what I think about this one. I am not sure you can blame computers per se for boys playing games and the widening gender gap. Are they saying boys play games more now because of computers?

I would have also liked some analysis based on class. Sadly there is no link to the full report.

"Computers are widening the gender gap in schools, as boys spend their spare time playing games while girls use them for homework, new government research has found.

The report, carried out for the Department for Education and Skills by academics at Leeds and Sheffield universities calls on schools to try to "redirect" boys' use of computers towards school work.

It found that pupils who used computers for their school work scored higher grades in their GCSEs and national tests than those without access to computers at home.

But children - mainly boys - who regularly played computer games achieved significantly lower grades.

The research comes as the latest GCSE figures showed boys are still lagging behind girls in many key subjects.

The academics, working with BMRB market researchers, said their findings reinforced the view that computers are "boys' toys".

"Girls were more likely than boys to use home computers for school work, reflecting their more conscientious attitude to study rather than a preference for ICT," they said.

"This pattern has implications for the gender gap, given that high leisure use was a negative factor for progress."

Technorati Tags: e-learning

Daniela says: "Graham saw your note on games and gender gap.

No, it is not the computers, it is the content on them, e.g. of the games which splits the users, most girls simply miss the narrative in shooter games. It is the stories which have been developed with girls and by girls as designers. (Such studies look at the use of applications developped by others, not so much on the ideas of kids as designers.)"

Technorati Tags: e-learning

I've posted this because I think it is an excellent illustration of the way people are using ICT for learning. It is a message posted to the UK based, BECTA ICT Research Network which operates through a list server.

Firstly, the 'learning' is problem based - the message is inspired by a practical problem, rather than a research hypothesis.

Secondly, it is posted to a list which represents a distributed community of practice.

The practitioner is hoping to gain ideas, knowledge and ultimately learning from a more experienced member or members of the community of practice.

This matches perfectly the way in which we have found non formal learning to take place in Small and Medium Enterprises using ICT.

"Hello all!

I was wondering if anyone had any experience or references as to how to
set up moblogs for young learners. Is there any way that you can have
e.g. a class run their own private moblogs that are not available to the
public but at the same time have them be able to respond to one
another's blogs?

My wish is to set up an experiment where students aged ca. 16 are given
free reign to make their own blog using texting and pictures from camera
phones and thereby creating a kind of community around the blogs. My
problem is that my funding is pretty much nonexistent (surprise...). Any
ideas on how this can be done on free software?"

Technorati Tags: e-learning, non formal learning