The Open Educational System

Writing this post after completing the DNLE online course from Stanford University. Better late than never!

The bedrock for an open educational system is "relationship building". We exist and are identified by our relationships. During our lives we can explore, discover and apply (use) our relationships with people, concepts, things around us and ourselves. Our relationships are built by chance or by necessity.  There is however another angle; building relationships by choice! Over the centuries our understanding of "relationships" has seen several changes and over the ages the number of relationships that exist between us has grown exponentially. This quantitative and qualitative growth in our relationships can be attributed to various factors, including, human evolution, science and technology.

A person in society presently, leads a complicated life, having to manage a plethora of relationships. The advent of Information and Communication Technology has changed the very fabric of society,  hence, our relationships. Since time immemorial, a way of life, apart from giving us purpose, determined our relationships. Today, more so than before, our relationships determine the way of life

How do I define myself (or just self)? Helping me, find that, is Education. The definition of "self" can be within a context, in which case we have a relative definition of self or it can be independent of a context in which case we have an absolute definition of self.

So, an Open Educational System allows for continuous change and redefinition of "self" through activities (interactions) in ones life.

How do we define an Open Educational System? The primary idea is to integrate education with daily life. An open educational system does not confine learning to a certain space or time or a people or things! It is education based on relationship and interaction and is dynamic! It not only happens in school - when you are with a teacher - when you are sitting at your desk studying or at any predefined place, time or with people.

Unified Training/Learning Paradigm - The Tenets

The Unified Training/Learning Paradigm (ULP - Unified Learning Paradigm) is a framework for training/learning.  I believe that training and learning are concomitant, hence, I choose to go with the word 'Learning'.  However, those who feel like looking at the other side of the coin can use the word training appropriately!

My objective in the next few posts is to provide an overview of  the ULP and seek comments/suggestions and make these blog posts appeal to a wider audience. Please do read my earlier post "The Two Worlds we live in" to get the background or just go ahead and say what you feel/think so that we may travel together, along this path!

There are 4 tenets of the ULP.  I call this the "4 I Model".  Having used them several times in my training programmes over the last few years I am convinced about the efficacy of these concepts. However, the framework needs a lot more "muscle" to be used mutatis mutandis.

The 4 Is' are:

1. Instruction
2. Information
3. Interface
4. Interaction

Note: These tenets are applicable within the ULP (Unified Learning Paradigm)

Tenet 1 (Instruction Rule): Participants and Computers in the Real and Virtual Worlds respectively, work based on Instructions. Please remember that ULP is a holistic concept and embraces both the real and virtual worlds.

Tenet 2 (Information Rule): Information is most useful when it is at the right place, at the right time, with the right people and in the right format.

Tenet 3 (Interface Rule): All communication (with a participant or a computer) happens across an Interface

Tenet 4 (Interaction Rule): No learning can happen without Interaction and all learning involves communication.

Before I exemplify how the 4 I model forms the basis of the ULP. Let me share some more thoughts about the ULP.

The Unified Learning Paradigm (ULP), uses it's own vocabulary and I would not want to turn-off readers who are entrenched in other Learning/Training Models and Methodologies. Hence, I will try my best to refer to other models and methods that I am aware of.  But, in the event you see a resemblence to other models and methodologies do make me aware. Let me also assure you that these concepts have evolved over a decade and are not plagiarized!

Why is it called a "Unified" Paradigm?

The framework combines a number of isolated concepts and attempts to integrate them into a single cohesive unit.

Some Examples are:
* Within the ULP, technical (hard) and non-technical (soft) skills building is unified. So, we will not be having participants take up technical training devoid of soft skills training or vice-versa.
* Interactions that occur in the Real World are not treated distinctly from interactions that occur in the Virtual world. So, a learner's interaction with his/her iPhone (virtual world) is not considere less important to his/her interactions with a printed book (real world) or vice-versa - ULP integrates Real and Virtual Worlds.

* There are NO teachers and learners. This is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the ULP. There are only participants! There will certainly be a need to discuss and deliberate this aspect.

* Having been a Software Engineer and a Corporate Trainer I have seen a lot of similarity in Learning Practices and theory & Software Development methodologies. ULP unifies Software Engineering and Learning concepts. So, many readers may recognise the parallels between current Learning theories and Software Development methodologies in these posts.(E.g.: ADDIE concept in Learning and Waterfall Model in Software Development are similar in principle)


Concluding the Post...

How does a Unified Learning Paradigm come into existence? Does somebody need to create it? Does a Learner need to become aware? How does this whole thing of ULP start and how does one sustain it within a socio-economic system?

Next Post...ULP - An Introduction





 

The two Worlds we live in

The Real world is the physical world that we live in ... here we, eat, breath, play, sleep, visit places, get away to be alone, see beautiful places, meet beautiful people, experience various emotions, show some hide others, et cetera.


The Virtual world is the world created by Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The Virtual world consists of the Internet, all your bank transactions and employee records in databases, smart phones, television, radio, digital equipment, and the like. The Virtual world is made up of two resources: Hardware and Software. These two resources always co-exist in the Virtual world.




An Educational System should be capable of addressing "learner's needs" in the real and virtual worlds. The Open Educational System that is likely to evolve over the next few months will try to address the needs of "next generation learners". Learners, world over have already started embracing "new" ways to learn.

"How we learn is more important than what we learn". (When, why, who, where are also to be considered!)

It order to understand an Open educational system, we need to understand the world around us...the Real and Virtual worlds!  How do we explore, discover and apply concepts in these two worlds?

Where does one start? How does one gauge progress?

More about Open Educational Systems

Let us explore Open Educational Systems by an analogy...the analogy between a chess game and open educational system.

The players are, "the system" and "the learner".  The game being played is akin to "the study". The board is "the context" of the study.  The pieces along with the rules form the elements of "the study".

In an Open Educational System the learner does not focus on a single subject.(It would amount to playing only with your knights or bishops!) Open Educational Systems look at "the study" in a holistic  way the study is not subject-specific, the learners study the subject in "relationship" rather than in "isolation".

Like "moves" make-up a chess game; "interactions" make-up a study. Open Systems are meant for multi-skill building (in the conventional sense). Each interaction is based on the "stage of the study" and the status of the players!

The information to be delivered is assembled Just-in-time (JIT) for that particular interaction.  This aspect of open systems helps customised and personalised content to be delivered as the learners interact with the system.

One of the many implications of JIT content production is, books, hand-outs, et cetera. can be printed at the school or by the learner when its is required and not earlier! This helps preparation of custom books and notes, checking of malpractices, implementation of standards and changing content centrally.

Each game is unique! each learner's study is unique.  The response to each learner by the system is distinct; hence, the system is learner-centric.  Since, the rules determine the game, Open Systems are capable of playing different games with different learners or the same game with different learners. The System and the learner can frame rules mutually rather than the system enforcing rules all the time!

The focus is on "the study" rather than conformance to "rules". Though the study occurs within the scope of the rules, the rules can be made flexible or rigid as the study progresses and these changes will be learner-specific rather than system-specific.

What are Closed and Open Educational Systems?

The mesmer (Multimode Educational Services for Mass Education and Regeneration) has been my hobby horse for sometime.  I just decided to start blogging about it...hoping that somebody may benefit from these musings.

There are primarily two kinds of Educational Systems: Open and Closed. An Open Educational System is characterised by integration, inclusion and cooperation; Closed Systems on the other hand are characterised by differentiation, exclusion(or filtering) and competition.

Understanding Closed Educational Systems

As a Learner (participant) you need to "enter" a closed system.  Closed systems have boundaries; you are either inside or outside, further, there are entry and exit criteria. Once inside there are a number of things-to-do, which are based on the system's "needs", learners who cannot perform as per the system's needs are compelled to exit.

These exit and entry criteria form the bedrock of a closed educational system. Call them exams, interviews, tests, assessments et cetera, eventually learners (participants) who wish to engage with the system must meet the criteria put down by the system. The system does not serve the learner, instead, the learner must be "deserving" to be part of the system. A closed educational system is not learner-centric; it is not meant to be learner-centric! A Closed Educational System serves itself!

An Educational System is part of a socio-economic framework and needs to cater to individuals and societies in a holistic way. Be it employment opportunities, pursuit of individual interests, economic growth and well-being, health and happiness, et cetera the educational system plays a pivotal role. Closed Educational Systems by definition cannot address the dynamic needs of society or individuals. Lacking a holistic approach they end up creating silos of specialists!

The Educational System needs to serve as an enabler - enabling individuals, groups (teams) and organisations to explore without inhibitions, feel the delights of discovery and the eventual satisfaction of applying that which they learnt.

The analogy between an educational system and an assembly line (or transformation tunnel), where learners enter "raw" and exit "ripe" is a perspective belonging to the Closed Educational System.
 

The Concept of an Open Educational System

You are always part of an Open Educational System! An Open Educational System as the name suggests is not characteristised by any boundaries; there are no entry and exit criteria. There is no inside and outside! Everybody is part of it!...

More in the next post