Model and Methodology for PLE-Based Collaboration in Learning Ecologies

Abstract

Shifting the focus from organisational-driven education to self-directed, networked learning, the research performed in this deliverable indicates that instructional models are of lesser importance than the learner’s environment and the interactions it enables, which is sustained by the following facts. First of all, the context of lifelong learning is very broad, including the participation in formal and informal educational settings as well as learning activities at the workplace or for achieving personal goals. Designing a didactical approach and a technical solution which is useful for all lifelong learning situations is as sophisticated as untying the Gordian knot. Second, lifelong learning requires skills and competencies beyond mastering learning objectives in the cognitive domain and, furthermore, can be characterised through its action-oriented nature, i.e. learners must actively create outcomes. Third, lifelong learners also have to apply various tools and interact with other human actors in order to achieve their goals. Thus, traditional, blended, and e-learning courses are not fully supporting lifelong learners, as they provide pre-defined learning experiences and may not consider the environment of the learner. In practice, learners are part of so-called learning ecologies, complex networks consisting of actors, artefacts, and activities. Herein, the environment of a learner includes the tools used as well as other actors being involved in one’s activities. Typically, lifelong learning activities require learners to interact with the environment, to use the tools for collaborating with other actors to achieve common goals, i.e. to create shared artefacts like documents, chat recordings, forum discussions, images, and so forth. As a basis for a learning community approach and further Web 2.0 concepts this article deals with preliminaries of personal learning environments (PLEs), precisely with environment design and learner interactions. The deliverable is structured as follows. After elaborating the theoretical foundations and models of PLE-based learning ecologies, we analyse the test-beds within the ROLE project and describe exemplary activities from these scenarios. Then, we argue for a learner interaction model for PLE-based activities and propose such an approach based on a scripting language. This model allows materialising learning experiences by recording how learners design their (web-based) learning environments and interact with them. Furthermore, we introduce a user-driven methodology for designing and using PLEs in order to make the interaction model usable for lifelong learners. The model and the methodology for PLE-based collaboration in learning ecologies is necessary for empowering learners to materialise their activities, so that learning experiences can be ‘recorded’ and ‘replayed’. Consequently, these digital activity artefacts can be shared, tagged, commented, recommended, or used for practice sharing in a community. Besides describing the exemplary activities from the test-beds through the learner interaction model, this article also summarises resulting requirements for PLE solutions, outlines features and user interface elements for active environment designers, and indicates relevant socio-technical issues as well as a roadmap towards realising a PLE-based community approach. This deliverable relates to the first two WP objectives (cf. ROLE-DoW, p. 58): • Developing a methodology for building and altering networks of actors, artefacts, and activities on the basis of PLEs • Empowering learners with learning environment design capabilities and facilitating learnability for creating PLE mash-ups It is an outcome of the tasks 7.1 and 7.2 (cf. ROLE-DoW, p. 59) and intended for technologists in the field of technology-enhanced learning. Within the ROLE project, it attempts to fulfil the objectives RO1, RO2, and RO3 (cf. ROLE-DoW, p. 6): • RO1: support the individual assembly of accessible learning services, tools and resources in responsive open learning environments (ROLE) • RO2: research and develop a psycho-pedagogically sound framework for supporting the individual composition of learning services in ROLE • RO3: create new engineering methodologies to enable significant contributions to ROLE from learner and developer communities from outside the project consortium The deliverable is a merge of D7.1 (“Web 2.0 Driven Learning Ecologies and Social Forms from CSCL and CSCW”) and ID7.2 (“Draft Model and Methodology for Collaborative Learning Activities”), avoiding overlaps between these two documents and combining the theoretical background and the technical details of the first WP7 development activity into one document which shall have the title “Model and Methodology for PLE-Based Collaboration in Learning Ecologies”. Parts of the theoretical foundations of PLE-based learning ecologies have been published (cf. Klamma & Petrushyna, 2008), while the development of the scripting formalism for environment design and learner interactions is based on Mödritscher et al. (2008b) and the user-driven methodology for PLE design appeared at the I-Know conference (cf. Mödritscher & Wild, 2009).