1. • Educating Professionals • Creating and Applying Knowledge • Engaging our Communities
Embodied learning on the network:
Experiences from the field
Benjamin Kehrwald
School of Education, UniSA
April 2014
2. How would you feel knowing your
…did his/her training online?
3. Why are we here?
• What is embodied learning?
• How does is it relevant to professional degree
programs?
Examine embodied learning as it relates to
professional practice as an outcome of
professional degree programs
• What is common about ‘embodied learning’ and
‘networked learning’?
• Can embodied learning be supported on the
network?
Identify the common ground between
embodied learning and networked
learning, including how embodied learning
might be facilitated on the network
• How do we support embodied learning on the
network when a) this is technology mediated
and b) the learners and teacher are not co-
located?
Begin to identify implications for networked
learning design, development and
teaching practices
4. Lets focus…
Professional
practice is
usually
embodied Embodied
learning
leads to
embodied
practice
Professional
degree
programs
should
included
embodied
learning
How do we
support
embodied
learning on
the
network?
5. Embodied learning
Not just ‘knowing, but ‘doing’
Doing involves physical manipulation,
movement and whole body experiences.
Engages not only the mind, but the body
Performance includes affect: beliefs,
feelings, attitudes, dispositions and values
Not ‘new’, but perhaps not well understood
relative to ‘in the head’ learning
9. Common ground for NL and EL
Learning
is
active
cumulative
individual
self-
regulated
goal-
oriented
See Goodyear, 2002
10. Common ground for NL and EL
Learning
is
active
cumulative
individual
self-
regulated
goal-
oriented
What is the learner
doing as part of
learning?
Is the learning activity
online or offline?
How can both types of
activity be used to
support one another?
…to support the
intended learning
outcomes?
11. Common ground for NL and EL
Learning
is
active
cumulative
individual
self-
regulated
goal-
oriented
What do learners bring
to the learning
situation?
What are the physical
requirements of the
learning?
How are is the intended
learning conceptualised
as a developmental
process?
12. Common ground for NL and EL
Learning
is
active
cumulative
individual
self-
regulated
goal-
oriented
Learning is idiosyncratic
What needs do individual
learners have?
What learnplaces are
learners working in?
Do we provide
parameters for
learnplaces OR help
learners use their
learnplaces better?
13. Common ground for NL and EL
Learning
is
active
cumulative
individual
self-
regulated
goal-
oriented
Learners exercise
agency over their activity
Goals provide the ‘why’
of ‘Why would I engage
in this activity?
Authentic activity is
valued and provides
motivation
14. A Case: MBET program
• 4-Year, undergraduate, pre-service teacher education
• Delivered on 4 sites as blended learning and
‘externally’
• Requirement for in school practical placement
• Graduates must meet national standards for teacher
accreditation
Project: redevelop each course in the program for
flexible blended or online delivery
16. Challenges re Embodied Learning
• Explicating the intended learning outcomes
• conceptualising the relationship between the virtual
and the physical (or ‘real’) experiences of learners
within each course
• structuring and support for physical activity through
both a) the definition of appropriate physical
environments for learning tasks and b) the provision
of physical resources for use in those environments
AND understanding how learners work in those
environments, e.g., how they use learning materials
19. MBET Development
• Structured Process:
• Analysis
• Planning
• Design
• Development
• Teaching
• Evaluation
Analysis and Planning:
• What type of learning is
required? In the head?
Something else?
• What can learners physically
do? What are their limitations?
• Where will they learn?
• What conditions/
tools/materials do they need?
• What do they already have that
they can use?
20. MBET Development
• Structured Process:
• Analysis
• Planning
• Design
• Development
• Teaching
• Evaluation
Design:
• Identify activity that leads to
the intended learning.
• Define learning environments
and materials required for
success: real and virtual
• Consider technical,
procedural and academic
dimensions.
• How will learning materials be
presented?
• How will they be used?
21. MBET Development
• Structured Process:
• Analysis
• Planning
• Design
• Development
• Teaching
• Evaluation
Development:
• How will learning materials
be presented?
• Media development to
match intended use: online,
offline and blends
• Development of technical
and procedural information
• Testing
• Representations of practice
• Student generated content
22. MBET Development
• Structured Process:
• Analysis
• Planning
• Design
• Development
• Teaching
• Evaluation
Teaching (and support)
• Tracking student activity,
use of materials
• Provision of feedback
• Connecting learners on the
network
• Representations of practice
(teacher generated)
• Representations of practice
(student generated)
• Reflective practice
24. Conclusions
• So far, so good…
• Hey, there is more work to do
• Initial successes, but ongoing refinement
• Evaluation is important
• Working toward innovation
• Be aware of other dimensions of this work
• Staff development
• Change process
• Organisational culture
