1. Use of Emerging
Technologies and
transformation of
teaching/learning practices
Dick Ng’ambi, PhD.
Centre for Educational Technology
University of Cape Town, South Africa
Presented at Makerere University on 10 Oct 2012

2. Presentation Outline
• Overview of challenges of teaching 21st Century
Students
• Implications of International dashboard on
emerging technologies (ET)
• Definition of ET - why no one knows
• Institutional provided vs Student owned
technologies
• Connectedness and Connectivism
• Report on South African Survey on ET
• Recommendations
• Conclusion

4. 19th Century Pedagogy

5. 21st Century Photo
http://www.edutech.my/technology-in-teaching-super-large-classes-in-
universities/

6. 21st Century Photo
ch ing
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as se
e of
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Learning is a subsidiary outcome

7. ion
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http://www.nolabeez.org/article/2010-0718-new-orleans-agenda-xavier-university-1-in-placing-african-
american-students-into-medical-schools

8. rn ing
a
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Pe
http://clas.sa.ucsb.edu/CLAS_services.htm

9. -w ork
ield
hf
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http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/globaleducation/photos/

10. http://chronicle.com/article/How-Flipping-the-Classroom/130857/

11. http://21stcenturylibrary.com/2010/05/27/changes-in-our-librarian-profession-for-the-21st-
century/

12. http://mastermcdaniel.edublogs.org/2011/05/23/21st-century-teacher/

13. Indicators from international dashboard

14. Promise of emerging technologies
• Use of emerging technologies such as Facebook,
Twitter, blogs and many others among
students and educators is
increasing (Johnston et al. 2011, Johnson
and Adams, 2011)
promise to
• Use of technologies
radically transform teaching and
learning practice (Johnson et al., 2012)

15. Terminologies
• Emerging technologies has a contested
meaning (see Siemens and Tittenberger,
2009; Veletsianos, 2010) but usually mentioned
as if it has a universally accepted meaning
• Attempts to define ET include (New Media
Consortium’s Horizon Reports, 2011 & 2012;
Siemens & Tittenberger’s book, 2009;
Veletsianos’ edited collection on ET, 2010) but yet
its definition is still in flux

16. Emerging technologies
New Media Consortium
“likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning,
or creative expression within higher education”
Siemens & Tittenberger
ET = Social software
Not neutral
Multiple affordances
Veletsianos
“tools, concepts, innovations, and advancements
utilized in diverse educational settings to serve
varied education-related purposes”

17. Rather than define, we opted for characteristics of
ET
1. May or may not be new technologies
2. Evolving organism, that exist in the state
of coming into being
3. Go through hype cycles
4. They are not yet fully understood
5. They are not yet fully researched
6. They are potentially disruptive, but that
potential is mostly unfulfilled
Veletsianos, 2010:13-17

18. Is higher education - passive or
active?
• Increased gap between educators with resources
and the will to experiment and those who cannot
or are not willing to
• Students are increasingly disengaged
• Mismatch between student expectations of HEI
• Opportunities for preparing 21st century
graduates are lost
• Student skills are not visibly assessable
• Missions of HEI tend to be failing students

20. Research Camps
• Learning Objects Camp – design
to
remove humans from the loop
• Learning Communities Camp - design to
bring humans into the loop

21. http://www.malanenewman.com/offline/focus/learning_objects.html

22. http://langwitches.org/blog/2008/09/12/

23. http://www.p21.org/

24. Blended / Mixed approaches on increase

25. http://www.thethinkingstick.com/the-purpose-of-a-back-channel-necc09/

26. Institutions provide emerged
ICTs

27. Students using emerging ICTs

28. History of Learning Management Systems
http://www.mindflash.com/learning-management-systems/history-of-lms

29. What version of education
are you? Authentic human
connections &
Interact with web collaboration
Internet, a & other online
place to go users Education 4.0
for instant
access to Education 3.0 Education 3.0
information
Education 2.0 Education 2.0 Education 2.0
Traditional
Education 1.0 Education 1.0 Education 1.0 Education 1.0

30. Source: http://socialmediatoday.com/kanter/258877/quora-yet-another-social-network-yasn-or-
something-different

32. Image source: http://www.nscorp.com/nscportal/nscorp/Employees/Diversity/Diversity_in_Action/
fitzgerald.html

33. • Problems are broadcast to an unknown group of solvers in the form of an open call for
solutions
Image Source: http://www.greenbookblog.org/2010/11/05/crowdsourcing%E2%80%A6counterintuitive/

34. Danny Goodwin, May 25, 2011 !

35. A connected
new world
Complex network (twitter follower-graph)
Source: http://www.fernfachhochschule.ch/ffhs/afe/lws/forschung/research/view?

36. Source: http://socialnetworksales.net/

37. Changing role of the educators

38. Changing role of the educators

39. Theory of Connectivism
Facilitating continual
learning is a process
of nurturing &
maintaining
connections
Learning =
process of connecting
specialised nodes or
info sources Connectivism
Ability to see
Capacity to know connections
more is more critical between fields,
than what is ideas and concepts
currently known is a core skill

40. Verhagen (2006; as cited in
Veletsianos, 2010),
“…connectivism is more a
theory of curriculum (specifying
what the goal of education should be and the
way students should learn in that curriculum)
than a theory of learning” (p. 35).

41. • Learning is the creation
and
removal of connections
between the entities, or the adjustment of the
strengths of those connections. A learning
theory is, literally, a theory describing how
these connections are created or adjusted.
Source: Stephen Downes (2012) ebook on Connectivism and Connective Knowledge: Essays on meaning
and learning networks

42. •Learning is a
connection-making
process
George Siemens, 2012: Available at: http://
www.connectivism.ca/

43. • Anderson (2008), it helps people to
understand that learning is about
making connections with
ideas, facts, people, and communities.
• Marcum (2006), it goes beyond behaviorism,
cognitivism, constructivism, and learner-centered
approaches to a learner-driven approach.

44. Emerging Technologies Survey
• Part of NRF project
• Target group: lecturers that are known to be open to/
engaged with technology
• Sent by email to contacts in all public HEIs
institution, snowball sampling
• Content: 3 parts, demographic, tools and open
ended questions around practice with ET
• Respondents: 242 (by 31 August 2011)
– 187 (77%) completed second part survey (tools)
– 149 (62%) completed all three parts of survey

45. Conceptual framework
• Mayes and de Freitas (2004) propose three
perspectives that affect choices of teaching
strategies:
–Associative
- Task-focused
–Cognitive and
- Develop autonomous learners
–Situative
- Exploit learning relationships

46. Types of learning strategies
• Prescriptive learning
– Pre-determines what learners should learn (Williams,
2011)
• Emergent / transformative learning
– Learning is through interactions with people, resources
and others (Williams, 2011)
– Technology is used to increase levels of interactions
(Anderson and Garrison, 2003) and lead to deep and
meaningful learning (Anderson, 2003)

47. Analytical Framework
Replicative/Prescriptive Emergent /
learning Transformative
(pre-determined) learning (learning by
engagement)
Associative Associative Associative
(task-focused) Replication / Emergent /
Prescriptive (ARP) Transformative (AET)
Cognitive Cognitive Replication / Cognitive Emergent /
(autonomous Prescriptive (CRP) Transformative (CET)
learner)
Situative Situative Replication / Situative Emergent /
(relationships) Prescriptive (SRP) Transformative (SET)

48. Institutional location Fem Male Total %
University of Stellenbosch 27 21 48 20%
University of Cape Town 24 9 33 14%
Cape Peninsula University of Technology 14 16 30 12%
University of the Western Cape 15 12 27 11%
University of Fort Hare 5 8 2 15 6%
Durban University of Technology 9 4 13 5%
Rhodes University 11 2 13 5%
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University 6 5 11 5%
University of Johannesburg 4 5 9 4%
University of Limpopo 5 2 7 3%
University of the Free State 6 6 2%
Walter Sisulu University of Technology and Science 1 5 6 2%
Central University of Technology 1 2 1 4 2%
Mangosuthu University of Technology 4 4 2%
Vaal University of Technology 1 3 4 2%
North-West University 3 3 1%
University of South Africa 3 3 1%
Other (e.g. overseas) 2 2 1%
Tshwane University of Technology 1 1 0%
University of Pretoria 1 1 0%
University of the Witwatersrand 1 1 0%
University of Venda for Science and Technology 1 1 0%
Total 136 103 3 242 100%

49. Institutional location Fem Male Total %
University of Stellenbosch 27 21 48 20%
University of Cape Town 57% 24 9 33 14%
Cape Peninsula University of Technology 14 16 30 12%
University of the Western Cape 15 12 27 11%
University of Fort Hare 5 8 2 15 6%
Durban University of Technology 9 4 13 5%
Rhodes University 11 2 13 5%
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University 6 5 11 5%
University of Johannesburg 4 5 9 4%
University of Limpopo 5 2 7 3%
University of the Free State 6 6 2%
Walter Sisulu University of Technology and Science 1 5 6 2%
Central University of Technology 1 2 1 4 2%
Mangosuthu University of Technology 4 4 2%
Vaal University of Technology 1 3 4 2%
North-West University 3 3 1%
University of South Africa 3 3 1%
Other (e.g. overseas) 2 2 1%
Tshwane University of Technology 1 1 0%
University of Pretoria 1 1 0%
University of the Witwatersrand 1 1 0%
University of Venda for Science and Technology 1 1 0%
Total 136 103 3 242 100%

50. Respondents by gender
43% 56%

51. Level of appointment
Junior lecturer
Non-Academic 10%
21%
Professor
7% Lecturer
33%
Associate Professor
8%
Senior lecturer
20%

52. Associative / Replication /
Prescription
Distributing routine lectures (associative) as
Podcast / vodcasts
Lecturer generated podcasts/vodcasts

53. Notices on demand – use of a virtual noticeboard

54. Students work collaboratively (situative) to produce
podcasts/vodcasts and distribute via a LMS
Situative Emergent / Transformation
Student generated podcasts / vodcasts

55. Task focused (Associative) and prescriptive yet could
Associative replication / prescriptive
be transformative if students answered questions
Use
to answer critical &
reflective questions
about today’s lecture

56. Emergent transformative - example
An autonomous learner (cognitive) learning through
• …I run an adaptive management
course where students were given a
engagement (emergent)
fish in a tank to take for and to keep a
personal blog journal of how often
they changed its water, feed the fish,
what plants they introduced, what was
the quality of water and where they
kept the fish… (E5)

57. Situative Replication / prescriptive - example
Learning through relationships (situative) and applying
• …the students would then be
fixed knowledge on video story telling
paired up with those people in the
community who have been trained
by our local newspaper in basic
print journalism. Students trained
them in video storytelling and then
had to shoot their own clips… (E4)

61. Emergent transformative - example

62. Pulling web resources in a single space

63. Blending ‘new’ with the ‘old’ approaches
http://www.thethinkingstick.com/the-purpose-of-a-back-channel-necc09/

64. Backchannel
Students use Twitter or Instant Messaging tools to interact with each
other and with presenter
http://www.thethinkingstick.com/the-purpose-of-a-back-channel-necc09/

67. Observations
• Most (28%) of educators use of
emerging technologies for T&L is self-
motivated
• It was evident from data that most
institutions provided neither incentive
nor supportive environment to use
ET for teaching (e.g. lack lack of
policies)

68. Conclusion 1/2
• Technologies emerging amongst
HE educators’ in South Africa
–Low bandwidth intensive
technologies
–Prevalence of LMS
• Motivating factors guiding
educators’ use of ET
–Passion and availability of
technologies

69. Conclusion 2/2
• ET potential to transform teaching
and learning practices
–Spectrum of uses as per our
framework
–Though potential to transform
T&L practices exist, educators not
exploiting the opportunity

70. Further research
Further research is required to
establish whether there is a
relationship between awareness of
technologies and use for teaching
and learning.

71. Any questions?
See more information
on our project on our blog:
http://emergingicts.blogspot.com/

72. Thank you
Contact details:
Prof Dick Ng’ambi
Centre for Educational Technology
University of Cape Town
Dick.Ngambi@uct.ac.za