Computers, creativity and learning

Ben Goldacre is my hero

I am very excited today because I met Ben Goldacre at graduation! He is an intellectual rockstar- my hero! For once the statisticians in the department did something sensible and decided to give him an honouraray doctorate for his work in public understanding of science, particularly responsible journalism.  He has a book and a regular Guardian column, both of which I recommend heartily if you are in possession of a brain. It is slightly amusing to me that our esteemed Chancellor (Baroness Greenfield) has recently been mauled by our new Honourary Doctor for her irresponsible and non-evidence based mumblings about social media. Ho-hum. Pity they didn't meet at some university luncheon and have a food fight.

Also at graduation  Sandy and me got our Learning and Teaching Award and got our photie took. And lots of my little chickens graduated, all spruced up in their Sunday best. For non Scottish readers, I recommend the sight of kilts and graduation gowns. Most entertaining.

Arrrrr: Self directed learning in computer science students

Alright me hearties! I bring you the treasure trove that is Cap'n Judy's map of self directed learning. Yarrrrrrr. Download SelfDirectedLearningSkillsJudyRobertson.

Black hearted scoundrels who are a-thinking I made it up off the top of my pirate head would be wrong. No, me pretties, this all comes from the high seas of student learning logs. Tham tharr 113 computer science scallywags that were in my crew last Autumn wrote 12 weeks worth of journals for me to scour for gems of learning. I've been hoarding them for months and plotting them on me pirate chart.

I'll parlay with any other pirate what wants to have his say. [i.e. comments welcome as usual. And don't worry, the document is not in pirate speak.]

Aye avast!

Our changing world: 21st century learning (with actual slides this time)

Download ScholarKeynoteJudyRobertsonFInal

I don't know who thought of the talk title for me for this keynote, but it is a rather broad topic to cover in 30 minutes, no? 20 seconds per year from now to the end of the century, I make it.

I suspect people usually mean 21st century learning to mean "interesting web 2.0 or games stuff which has been around since the late 90s". But since I went to CAL 09, I have ben meaning to catch up on the Beyond Current Horizons project which is really cool. So my talk is based on this, and looks at the future of learning about 30 years out. It was a nice excuse to read some of their papers and scenarios. It's mind boggling in fact. The scenarios are like near future science fiction but based on serious academic literature reviews and heavy public consultation. Well worth a read. Also, they have workshop packs for people who want to prepare their school or uni for the future. It would be fun to do one in my uni but I can't quite imagine it.

Please take a moment to admire the futuristic slides backdrop which I got from the Office community site. Well seeing I was "too busy" to attend my uni corporate branding seminar yesterday. :-)

 

Update on windows onto learning

It occurred to me that I haven't updated you on Windows onto Learning for a while. That was the idea I had about a year ago to have a way of sharing and celebrating student work on screens around the department.  Two exciting things have happened since then:

1. My very clever student Pawel developed a prototype peice of software to support it called WonderWOL, developed using a user centred design methodology. You can find out more here: http://windowsontolearning.wetpaint.com/photo/1891769/WonderWOL+logo+1.2.
2. We got a research infrastructure grant to kit out our student coffee area with lots of sensors and plasma screens. This means we have something to display WonderWOL on, plus some money to refurbish the manky old room (addressing the student wishlist we gathered last semester.) We may even have goldfish (yes, I know I am obsessed) although one of my students told me she is scared of fish the other day. (Who knew there are fish phobics? Mind you, I have long been tormented by a nightmare in which my first goldfish leaps from the jar when I clean his tank and lands gasping on the floor. Panic!)

This just goes to show the good things come to those who... wait. And also those with colleagues who are good at writing proposals and those with good students.

Metacognition unravelled

Yesterday I asked myself: "Metacognition, self regulated learning, self directed learning - which is which? And what is motivation? Affect? Metacognitive experience? How does motivation relate to metacognition?"

If I was an educationalist, I would just be content to raise the questions and not bother answering them (OK, that may be unfair :-P ). However, as a computer scientist, I feel compelled to make a tree like structure to represent the hierarchical structure of these concepts. The beauty of doing something so structured is that it becomes very apparent when there is conflict between different researchers' definitions. There was an issue of Educational Psychology Review in 2008(vol 20) devoted to unravelling some of these issues, and it would have been very helpful to me if one of the authors had bothered to draw such a diagram. The closest someone came to it was Kaplan, who said that metacognition, self-regulation and self regulated learning should "be considered subtypes of the general abstract phenomenon of self regulated action" (Kaplan, 2008; p477). Well, that can't be right, unless you're going to allow non-useful overlap between these definitions. Researchers generally consider metacognition to be part of self regulation, so they shouldn't be on the same level in the hierarchy. Furthermore, self regulated learning is considered by Dinsomore and pals (Dinsmore, Alexander and Loughlin, 2008) to be a field developed to take account of both metacognition and self regulation. So go figure. It shouldn't be a sibling of them in the hierarchy either.
If you're a big fan of metacognition and know your onions on this stuff, please do let me know if you have a correction (I will update as I read more). I may be missing some big obvious part of the literature. If you're not a big fan of metacognition you probably haven't read this far. Very wise.

References
Boekaerts & Monique (2003). `Towards a model that integrates motivation, affect and learning'. BJEP Monograph Series II, Number 2 - Development and Motivation1(1):173-189.

S. Coutinho & G. Neuman (2008). `A model of metacognition, achievement goal orientation, learning style and self-efficacy'. Learning Environments Research11(2):131-151.

D. Dinsmore, et al. (2008). `Focusing the Conceptual Lens on Metacognition, Self-regulation, and Self-regulated Learning'. Educational Psychology Review20(4):391-409.

A. Kaplan (2008). `Clarifying Metacognition, Self-Regulation, and Self-Regulated Learning: What's the Purpose?'. Educational Psychology Review20(4):477-484.

Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive-developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34, 906-911.

S. Loyens, et al. (2008). `Self-Directed Learning in Problem-Based Learning and its Relationships with Self-Regulated Learning'. Educational Psychology Review20(4):411-427.

A. Vrugt & F. Oort (2008). `Metacognition, achievement goals, study strategies and academic achievement: pathways to achievement'. Metacognition and Learning3(2):123-146.

(Need to find better reference that this: ERIC #: ED502151
Title: Cognitions about Cognitions: The Theory of Metacognition
Authors: PP, Noushad
Publication Date: 2008-07-20
Pub Types: Reports - Descriptive
Journal Name: Online Submission
Journal Citation:
Publisher:
Descriptors: Metacognition; Problem Solving; Motivation; Learning Strategies
ERIC Full-Text: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED502151)

'Our changing world - 21st century learning'

Suppose, and this is purely hypothetical of course, that you had been asked to give a talk at a conference for teachers at the last minute with the title 'Our changing world - 21st century learning'. What would you say?
(Apart from "arggh" of course.)
On the plus side... people have been producing such talks since at least 1999, so Google will help. :-)

Flaming psychologists

Can these psychologists not get their definitions sorted out? Metacognition, self regulated learning, self directed learning - which is which? And what is motivation? Affect? Metacognitive experience? How does motivation relate to metacognition? Bah. I am getting very grumpy trying to write this paper about my little first year's learning logs. My problem is I am trying to classify their blog excerpts in terms of these theoretical concepts but this is proving to be pretty difficult as the theory is all blurred. I can't remember the last time I had such trouble writing a paper. (That last sentence would be hard to classify too. I think it would count as an example of meta-cognitive experience).

Off to read yet more articles on the topic.

Quack

Here's me, as proud as a mother duck after our exam boards this week. Various of my students have done very well indeed, and one of them will be staying on to be  my new PhD student in September (having already carried off 2 prizes for his amazing degree results). I always forget how satisfying this time of year is. I get all nostaligic for the students who are leaving (even if I moan about them the rest of the year).

Quack quack quack.

 

Note to self: Analyse your data before giving talks

I am wading through the analysis of learning logs from my Second Life module. There is a lot of it. 138 students writing a couple of times a week for 12 weeks generate a lot of text.
It is an absolute goldmine, and what is becoming obvious to me now is that there was a whole lot of peer support going on in the blog comments. And I gave a talk a few months ago where I seem to recall down playing this or possibly denying that the students comment on each others' blogs. I hope my audience have shorter memories. The moral of which is: finish analysing your data before you give talks.
I reckon I am about 2 days away from coming up with a glorious consolidation of what all my analysis may mean for metacognition and peer support. This stage of analysis is always fun!

Outraged researcher required to justify her "fragile" research

I'm applying for promotion at the moment, and I was gobsmacked to learn that someone in the senior management team thinks my research impact is fragile. Fragile? WTF?

I have to write a paragraph justifying the impact my research has on the UK economy and society. Help, blog readers! Answers on the comments page, pls: how does educational technology research impact society?

I don't think I can get away with my standard shorthand this time: "I help the little children".