New Learners | EDUCAUSE

Action Research Meets Outcomes Assessment: UA's VALA and the D2L LMS

Monday, January 26, 2004
1:05 p.m. - 2:05 p.m. CONSES09

John Baker, President & CEO, Desire2Learn Inc.

Garry Forger, Development and Grant, The University of Arizona

Jennifer Franklin, Instructional Dvlp & Assessment Specialist, The University of Arizona

NLII Key Theme - New Learners/New Roles

The use of learning management system (LMS) software affords new opportunities to infuse and support a scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education. The Virtual Adaptive Learning Architecture (VALA) project at the University of Arizona has partnered with Desire2Learn (D2L) to adapt a powerful, standards-compliant LMS to create an environment in which faculty can use actual learning-outcomes data to conduct formative evaluation/action research on the consequences of the choices they make as they structure learning environments for their students. VALA ultimately aims to support learner-centered practices by creating and supporting inquiry-driven teaching with an expert system linked to D2L LMS course environments, study design tools, and an online resource library, making it possible to bring good research practices to evaluate the impact of instructional design choices on learners.

Postconference Resource

Constructivist Learning Environments: Active Online Learning

Monday, January 26, 2004
3:20 p.m. - 4:20 p.m. CONSES18

Kaye Bragg, Director, Faculty Teaching & Learning Center, California State University, Bakersfield

Joan Canfield, Director of E Learning Services, California State University, Bakersfield

Penelope Swenson, Associate Professor of Education, California State University, Bakersfield

NLII Key Theme - New Learners/New Roles

Today's students come to us from a wide range of ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds. While they vary in age, each one has a vast experience with the media. Generally, they are not passive learners and require active, engaging activities within their online courses. A constructivist learning environment (CLE) can spur the development of a dynamic learning community, supporting students as they share personal learning, acquire new knowledge, and develop additional understandings. The CLE blurs the traditional roles of teacher and student by creating a new, dynamic environment. This session explores the NLII Research and Analysis question regarding the new roles learners play individually and in interaction with each other. In addition, we discuss how technology enables learners to be effective in these new roles.

Postconference Resource

Insurgence, Emergence and Convergence

Tuesday, January 27, 2004
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. CONSES36

Brian Lamb, Manger, Emerging Technologies & Digital Content, The University of British Columbia

NLII Key Theme - New Learners/New Roles

Insurgence: to take account of the radically new structures and behaviors that result when physical media is supplanted by digital media, among them information streams and tools that allow non-professionals to create, manipulate, and recombine media.
Emergence: to consider how such acts, in concert with unprecedented ease of publication, transmission, and communication, support the formation of novel, amorphous, and dynamic structures of social interaction. Are individuals—by using simple publishing tools, audio tools, and digital imaging—contributing to emerging communities, or even to a form of collective intelligence?
Convergence: to explore how "traditional" media forms, institutions, and practices (focusing on education) are responding to the challenges and promise of new media and to speculate on the nature of future adaptations.

New Learning Ecosystems

Tuesday, January 27, 2004
10:40 a.m. - 11:50 a.m. CONSES24

Bryan Alexander, Director for Research, National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE)

Joel Foreman, Associate Professor, George Mason University

Diana G. Oblinger, Vice President, EDUCAUSE

Ellen D. Wagner, Senior Director, WW eLearning Solutions, Adobe Systems, Inc.

Van Weigel, Professor of Ethics and Economic Development, Eastern University

NLII Key Theme - New Learning Ecosystems

The theme of this meeting is learning ecosystems, where learning is characterized as an open system that is at once dynamic and interdependent, diverse and partially self-organizing, yet adaptive and fragile. A learning ecosystem is characterized then by the dynamic web of relationships, interactions, and roles that the organisms (the players within the systems) have, and the conditions that are created by, among other things, emerging technologies. In a series of mini-lectures alternated with facilitated small group discussions, speakers from other related sessions will grapple with these questions:

What are the new "user-sensitive technologies" that are emerging, and how might they change how we interact with each other and the technology itself?
What are some new ways of understanding and talking about interactivity?
How might peer-to-peer technologies enter into this question?
What are the likely impacts of mobile technologies on learning ecosystems?
In what ways might next-generation learners differ in how they think, learn, and interact due to deeper enmeshment "in a non-biological matrix of machines, tools, props, codes, and semi-intelligent daily objects" - including games - than previous generations?
What are the co-evolutionary influences likely to be?

Postconference Resource

2004 Annual Meeting		New Learners Action Research Meets Outcomes Assessment: UA's VALA and the D2L LMS Monday, January 26, 2004 1:05 p.m. - 2:05 p.m. CONSES09 John Baker, President & CEO, Desire2Learn Inc. Garry Forger, Development and Grant, The University of Arizona Jennifer Franklin, Instructional Dvlp & Assessment Specialist, The University of Arizona NLII Key Theme - New Learners/New Roles The use of learning management system (LMS) software affords new opportunities to infuse and support a scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education. The Virtual Adaptive Learning Architecture (VALA) project at the University of Arizona has partnered with Desire2Learn (D2L) to adapt a powerful, standards-compliant LMS to create an environment in which faculty can use actual learning-outcomes data to conduct formative evaluation/action research on the consequences of the choices they make as they structure learning environments for their students. VALA ultimately aims to support learner-centered practices by creating and supporting inquiry-driven teaching with an expert system linked to D2L LMS course environments, study design tools, and an online resource library, making it possible to bring good research practices to evaluate the impact of instructional design choices on learners. Postconference Resource Constructivist Learning Environments: Active Online Learning Monday, January 26, 2004 3:20 p.m. - 4:20 p.m. CONSES18 Kaye Bragg, Director, Faculty Teaching & Learning Center, California State University, Bakersfield Joan Canfield, Director of E Learning Services, California State University, Bakersfield Penelope Swenson, Associate Professor of Education, California State University, Bakersfield NLII Key Theme - New Learners/New Roles Today's students come to us from a wide range of ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds. While they vary in age, each one has a vast experience with the media. Generally, they are not passive learners and require active, engaging activities within their online courses. A constructivist learning environment (CLE) can spur the development of a dynamic learning community, supporting students as they share personal learning, acquire new knowledge, and develop additional understandings. The CLE blurs the traditional roles of teacher and student by creating a new, dynamic environment. This session explores the NLII Research and Analysis question regarding the new roles learners play individually and in interaction with each other. In addition, we discuss how technology enables learners to be effective in these new roles. Postconference Resource Insurgence, Emergence and Convergence Tuesday, January 27, 2004 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. CONSES36 Brian Lamb, Manger, Emerging Technologies & Digital Content, The University of British Columbia NLII Key Theme - New Learners/New Roles Insurgence: to take account of the radically new structures and behaviors that result when physical media is supplanted by digital media, among them information streams and tools that allow non-professionals to create, manipulate, and recombine media. Emergence: to consider how such acts, in concert with unprecedented ease of publication, transmission, and communication, support the formation of novel, amorphous, and dynamic structures of social interaction. Are individuals—by using simple publishing tools, audio tools, and digital imaging—contributing to emerging communities, or even to a form of collective intelligence? Convergence: to explore how "traditional" media forms, institutions, and practices (focusing on education) are responding to the challenges and promise of new media and to speculate on the nature of future adaptations. New Learning Ecosystems Tuesday, January 27, 2004 10:40 a.m. - 11:50 a.m. CONSES24 Bryan Alexander, Director for Research, National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE) Joel Foreman, Associate Professor, George Mason University Diana G. Oblinger, Vice President, EDUCAUSE Ellen D. Wagner, Senior Director, WW eLearning Solutions, Adobe Systems, Inc. Van Weigel, Professor of Ethics and Economic Development, Eastern University NLII Key Theme - New Learning Ecosystems The theme of this meeting is learning ecosystems, where learning is characterized as an open system that is at once dynamic and interdependent, diverse and partially self-organizing, yet adaptive and fragile. A learning ecosystem is characterized then by the dynamic web of relationships, interactions, and roles that the organisms (the players within the systems) have, and the conditions that are created by, among other things, emerging technologies. In a series of mini-lectures alternated with facilitated small group discussions, speakers from other related sessions will grapple with these questions: What are the new "user-sensitive technologies" that are emerging, and how might they change how we interact with each other and the technology itself? What are some new ways of understanding and talking about interactivity? How might peer-to-peer technologies enter into this question? What are the likely impacts of mobile technologies on learning ecosystems? In what ways might next-generation learners differ in how they think, learn, and interact due to deeper enmeshment "in a non-biological matrix of machines, tools, props, codes, and semi-intelligent daily objects" - including games - than previous generations? What are the co-evolutionary influences likely to be? Postconference Resource
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