The Principles of Learning to Design Learning Environments

The OECD Handbook for Innovative Learning Environments

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264277274-5-en

A recent study by OECD (June 2017) on Innovative Learning  Environments focus on four areas:

• The principles of learning to design learning environments
• The OECD “7+3” framework for innovative learning environments
• Learning leadership and evaluative thinking
• Transformation and change in learning ecosystems

The full report can be  explored here

The Principles of Learning to Design Learning Environments

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264277274-5-en

The first section on The principles of learning to design learning environments focus on a set of principles and tools. The principles maintain that learning environments should:

• make learning and engagement central
• ensure that it is understood as social
• be highly attuned to learners emotions
• reflect individual  differences
• be demanding for all while avoiding overload
• use broad assessments and feedback
• promote horizontal connections

The seven principles are:

1. The learning environment recognizes the learners as its core participants, encourages their active engagement, and develops in them an understanding of their own activity as learners.
2. The learning environment is founded on the social nature  of learning and actively encourages well-organized co-operative learners.
3. The  learning professionals within the learning environment are highly attuned to the learners motivation, and the key role of emotion in achievement.
4. The learning environment is acutely sensitive to the individual differences among the learners in it, including their prior knowledge.
5. The learning environment devises programmes that demand hard work and challenge from all without extensive overload.
6. The learning environment operates with clarity of expectations and deploys assessment strategies consistent with these expectations; there is a strong emphasis on formative feedback to support learning.
7. The learning environment strongly promotes  "horizontal connections" across areas of knowledge, and subjects as well as to the community and the wider world.

According to the Director for Education and Skills, OECD Andreas Schleicher emphasize 

from the study:

...If there has been one lesson learnt about innovating education, it is that teachers, schools and local administrators should not just be involved in the implementation of educational change but they should  have a central role in its design. 

The tools presented are

Tool 1.1 gets learning environments to interrogate how well they are organised so as to optimise young people’s learning, using either a relatively rapid scan or more profound review. 

Tool 1.2 builds on the Learning Principles through a Spiral of Inquiry as developed in British Columbia, Canada. 

Tool 1.3 puts learners centre stage by getting schools to juxtapose the perceptions of staff with the views of learners themselves. 

Tool 1.4 recasts the Learning Principles so that they are focused on the educators, leading to the identification of priorities and strategies for action.

OECD (2017). "The principles of learning to design learning environments". In The OECD handbook for Innovative learning environments. OECD Publishing, Paris.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264277274-en

Why keep back learners to learn. Re: the OECD report 2015

The OECD report has frequently been discussed in media, and also in social media the last couple of days. I myself wrote about it in my blog from the 29th of September.The OECD report, Students, Computers and Learning. Making the Connection briefly shows that the introduction of digital tools in schools has not had the desired or expected effect on children's learning. It is then of course tempting to blame the tools, they destroy learning. The report says among other things: student who use tablets and computers very often tend to do worse than them who more moderately use computes. The problem is not how much students sit with computers or how little, but what they actually do when they are online. How is teaching structured, what activities do they use these digital tools to? The mainpoint is that  this is the intereting discussion and it is here that the whole problem lies. How do we use the potentials of digitalisation and the increased technology, it is not just about the devices as such, but how it is used.

OECD believes are that educational institutions generally have not cracked the code for how current technology can best be utilized in the classroom. Technology of the 21st century, is often unfortuntly placed in educational practice from the 20th century.

http://www.oecd.

org/publications/students-computers-and-learning-9789264239555-en.htm

 I would argue even stronger. Teacher lack of digital skills,  includes both attitudes and skills mean that our children are not getting the education that is expected of them in the 21st century. We have for too long time been afraid to say this out loud, We can no longer accept this. This report from OECD shows explicit the role of the teachers and their digital scolarship, it is obvious by this report,but also research in the area shows ths very explicit and clear.Teachers unfortunatly lack this expertise. I know from my own experience and numerous reports confirm this. Now this must come to an end!

Sir Ken Robinson explain it like how dowe prepare students/learners for jobs that dont even  exist yet? Look at his short YouTube, it is very clear, about the way forward:

RE: the OECD Report September 2015, it is time to read the full report

...and not just to concentrate on some critical headings from "between the lines" which have been published the last couple of days in all kind of media all over the world.

The OECD has recently published the report entitled "Students, Computers and Learning: Making the connection". This report has caused quite a stir - both in popular media and in professional and academic circles. But what does it actually say? What are the conclusions we should draw from it? What are the consequences and implications we should expect?

Read the full report here

http://www.oecd.

org/publications/students-computers-and-learning-9789264239555-en.htm

The  report discuss: Are there computers in the classroom? Does it matter? Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection examines how students’ access to and use of information and communication technology (ICT) devices has evolved in recent years, and explores how education systems and schools are integrating ICT into students’ learning experiences. Based on results from PISA 2012, the report discusses differences in access to and use of ICT – what are collectively known as the “digital divide” – that are related to students’ socio-economic status, gender, geographic location, and the school a child attends. The report highlights the importance of bolstering students’ ability to navigate through digital texts. It also examines the relationship among computer access in schools, computer use in classrooms, and performance in the PISA assessment. As the report makes clear, all students first need to be equipped with basic literacy and numeracy skills so that they can participate fully in the hyper-connected, digitised societies of the 21st century.

OECD (2015), Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264239555-en

View the presentation from OECD A. Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills below:

Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection (Andreas Schleicher, (Director, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills) from OECD Education

One simple conclusion can be summarized as: You can’t think about technology for learning in isolation from teachers.

The report has been commented at OPEN EDUCATION EUROPA as below:

For some people this report might be the evidence that computers do not improve learning. For other people the findings of this report might prove that teachers still luck the skills to use technology in classroom in an efficient way. Few people can also say that this research has just shown that there is no bad technology but only bad teachers or, from another perspective, what makes technology work is a brilliant teacher and nothing more!

For sure the research findings of the OECD report have been interpreted in different ways and have caused quite a stir - both in popular media and in professional and academic circles. But what does it actually say? What are the conclusions we should draw from it? What are the consequences and implications we should expect?

The report has been commented by some experts at the OPEN EDUCATION EUROPA. You can contribute and join the OPEN debate about the OECD report: Digital technology in schools is it a "benefit" or a "burden"? Follow the link and contribute to the  public debate, and make  your voice heard!