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Thoughts on AI and education: the quest for productive education and the need for human context
Opinion piece. This post is definitely outside my comfort zone with reference to artificial intelligence (AI) and certainly beyond my qualifications in this area. I am writing as an educationalist and as a human being trying to make sense of my own values of education and my feelings about the potential of AI. There is…
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Metaphors of learning design: LEGO
Metaphor and analogy are both powerful ways to convey complex concepts, representing ideas in different ways that better relate to individuals prior knowledge or contexts. Though sometimes metaphors and analogies can be just plain confusing. In this post, I’m having a little fun for a change and will attempt to convey curriculum and learning design…
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Online education portfolio strategy and learning design
This article explores the relationship between online education portfolio strategy and learning design within higher education. It suggests four groups of learning experience aligned to addressing professional learning needs and the relationship between different learning experiences as part of a portfolio or product mix. Online education portfolio strategy An online course portfolio represents the combination…
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Reflection on 2022 and a view to 2023
As 2022 closes, I realise that I have had a busy year and not necessarily kept my reflections posted in a timely manner on my blog. I share a few thoughts on the year that’s been and include a reflection I hope will resonate with colleagues in the online and digital education sector to take…
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Desire lines in online education: learning design
This is the second of two posts that look at the metaphor of ‘desire lines’ as applied to programme design and learning design. In the first post Desire Lines in Programme Design, the unnecessary barriers of formal programme architectures were reconsidered through ideas of flexible programmes, unbundling and microcredentials. In this post, the metaphor is…
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Desire lines in online education: programme design
This is the first of two posts exploring the metaphor of ‘desire lines’ and its applicability to programme design and learning design. In a recent webinar, Quentin McAndrew (2022) drew parallels between the stackability of online learning and the way that people will organically form new routes that may deviate from planned and paved paths,…
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The evolving role of open online courses in lifelong learning journeys: the MOOC isn’t dead
This article summarises the evolving role of massive, open, online courses (MOOCs) in the context of lifelong learning and professional learning. As a form of self-paced, and in some ways self-directed, online short course, the MOOC format lends itself to a variety of pedagogical approaches. Some focus on content delivery, others on activity and learner…
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Sustaining the digital transformation momentum through collaboration: why I have a problem with hero rhetoric
Opinion piece. Whatever the job title, whether it’s learning technologist, educational developer, learning designer, in my roles I’ve always seen myself as an enabler. The work I do has meaning only through the collaboration and partnerships with others. This work with others has a common goal, usually around enhancing the student learning experience as an…
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ALT Trustee Elections 2022 – My statement
The Association for Learning Technology is electing two trustees to its Board this year and I’ve put my name forward. ALT is an important organisation for those working in a range of educational sectors and professions, and for me has been a vital network in my career. I am most grateful for the support of…
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Microcredentials gain status and find their value for lifelong learners
The institutional barriers to microcredentials are coming down as UK regulatory recognition kicks in and creative thinking begins to support populations of lifelong learners. For those new to the concept, in this simplest of definitions, microcredentials are equivalent to taught higher education modules. Whilst the concept of taking individual modules rather than a full programme…
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Enabling learners to continue learning beyond programmes of study
Following on from a Twitter chat on the role of learning design that took place in 2020, I was invited back to follow up on one of the questions which focused on how educators can support learners to learn, both during and beyond programmes of study. Co-leading again with Sandra Huskinson, the six questions we…
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Early-career learning technologists professional development: What is the role of a learning technologist?
This month, for the Early-Career Learning Technologist professional development group on LinkedIn, which I coordinate with Daniel Scott and Sandra Huskinson, our starter posts are on the theme of ‘the role of the learning technologist’. What is already apparent is that the role definition of a learning technologist can be very broad, and has been…
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Between the trend lines: the digital university in 2021
The Association for Learning Technology (ALT) conducts an annual survey of professionals and researchers working in learning technology, supporting and delivering services in educational institutions and other organisations. The most recent data was collected between December 2020 – January 2021, and the report published in February 2021. This post captures my thoughts as I looked…
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Accessibility, balance and confidence: three areas of development for higher education
I’ve been looking at various surveys, analyses and reports recently to understand trends and the ongoing development in the higher education sector as online learning becomes established as embedded, rather than emergency provision, for campus-based programmes. In this post I explore Jisc’s Student digital experience insights survey (Jisc, 2021), which provides a useful snapshot of…
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Reading: Becoming digitally literate (Eynon 2021)
Reading notes. How we support learners from all backgrounds to be able to engage with online learning is of particular interest to me. Online learning can be transformative, it offers the possibility of open access, wide reach, international learning communities and learning for all levels of prior knowledge. In order for online learning to be…
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Reflections on SRHE seminar on mature students and adult learning in higher education
I have previously written in an opinion piece about my view of the role of education, and specifically online learning, to enable and empower all people as lifelong learners. This is a fundamental need in an age where careers change, technology advances and unpredictability reigns. To realise the advantage of online learning, learners need the…
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Learning technologists as learning designers: towards sustainable online education
This post explores some of the themes from a short workshop Sandra Huskinson and I ran for the ALT Winter Conference on 15 December 2020 (Huskinson and Cornock, 2020a). At the end of the session we invited participants to reflect and set a professional development goal. After you’ve read this post, I’d encourage you to…
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Does learning need to be designed and what roles are involved in learning design? Initial reflections of #LTHEchat
I was delighted to be asked to work with Sandra Huskinson to pose the questions for a #LTHEchat on Twitter on 8 October 2020 exploring learning design. Particularly when many educators are shifting to online learning, by choice or necessity, the role of critical discussions about what works, and what doesn’t, in different modes of…
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Blended hybrid online digital dual delivery learning and teaching – will students get lost in the design?
The approaches taken by higher education institutions to continue teaching and learning during the Covid-19 pandemic have shown the imagination and creativity of the sector. New ways of thinking about the purpose of higher education, how learners can achieve the same objectives through different learning media and be more responsive to external factors is certainly…
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Enabling professional development by letting go of the pedagogical paradigms: considering the role of learning design, data and research in my practice (part 4 – learning rhythms)
This is the final post of four capturing my paper presented at the ALT Conference, 3-5 September 2019, Edinburgh (abstract, annotated slides, video recording). This section looks at the contradictions prevalent in designing MOOCs (massive open online courses) and expands upon the presentation with exploration of personalised learning. Previous posts explored: professional learning perspectives, contradictions in open…
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Enabling professional development by letting go of the pedagogical paradigms: considering the role of learning design, data and research in my practice (part 3 – data)
This is the third post of four capturing my paper presented at the ALT Conference, 3-5 September 2019, Edinburgh (abstract, annotated slides, video recording). The first post explored learning design perspectives that influence online professional development for teachers. The second post looked at the contradictions prevalent in designing MOOCs (massive open online courses) and explored personalised learning. This section…
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Working from home: changes to my use of tech
How we are all working has changed rather a lot for most people. There’s a statement of the obvious! Having been working in an office shared with twenty other people to now working in a 2×1 metre cupboard, it is most definitely a different experience. At least I now have a window seat. Aside from…
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The role of a learning technologist during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic
Personal reflection. The last three weeks have been, how shall I describe it, unique. Before I start, although those in the learning technology profession have, most likely, been put under a lot of pressure recently, I hope we can all agree that we are not under the same demands as those in health, care and front-line…
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Scaling up online learning during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic
As universities begin to mitigate against risks posed by coronavirus (Covid-19), with some such as Durham and LSE indicating a complete shut-down of face-to-face teaching, online learning is coming to the foreground as a route for continuing business as usual. In this post, I’ll look back briefly at a similar situation ten years ago with…
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BETT 2020 Review – A learning technologist’s perspective
I managed to get to #BETT2020 for the Friday afternoon. It’s only my second time going to BETT, the massive expo for educational technologies and the like, even though I’ve been a learning technologist for quite some time now. I go in knowing that BETT is geared up for schools, and FE/HE/professional education providers are…
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Enabling professional development by letting go of the pedagogical paradigms: considering the role of learning design, data and research in my practice (part 2 – contradictions)
This is the second post of four capturing my paper presented at the ALT Conference, 3-5 September 2019, Edinburgh (abstract, annotated slides, video recording). This section looks at the contradictions prevalent in designing MOOCs (massive open online courses) and expands upon the presentation with exploration of personalised learning. The first post explored learning design perspectives that influence…
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Enabling professional development by letting go of the pedagogical paradigms: considering the role of learning design, data and research in my practice (part 1 – dilemma and direction)
This reflective article is a version of my paper presented at the ALT Conference, 3-5 September 2019, Edinburgh (abstract, annotated slides, video recording), exploring the ideas that have influenced how I view online learning design for open online courses. It draws upon my experience as programme lead for online CPD at the National STEM Learning…
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Learning harder, for longer
Opinion piece. Open online learning has a huge part to play in addressing the skills and education needs of a growing population, a workforce requiring re-skilling and economies shifting as a result of technological developments. It is no surprise then that one of the topics of discussion at the FutureLearn Partners’ Forum, kicked off by…
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Revisiting my position statement
In May 2016 I submitted my application for Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. I did this through the University of York’s professional and academic development ‘YPAD‘ accreditation programme and was successfully awarded FHEA in June 2016. Three years on, now working outside higher education, I am of course ineligible to renew. However, through an…
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Reflections on image hotspot activities for retention and e-training packages
I gratefully received feedback from the learning technology community, via the ALT Members mailing list, on my previous post on the learning that takes place through image hotspot activities. As is typical, broader issues with online learning were touched upon that are worthy of follow up and reflection. What follows draws out further discussion on…