Slides here - VTT Virtual project pages

Learning by content
creation
Seija Ristimäki
Pentti Viluksela
Taru Koivulehto
Topics
• EVTEK University of Applied Sciences
• Changes in learning environment and theoretical
background
• Projects in learning in EVTEK
• Learning material creation as a student project
– Case studies
• Experiences from teacher´s and student´s point of
view
EVTEK UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES
• EVTEK Institute of Technology
• EVTEK School of Business and
Administration
• EVTEK Institute of Art and Design
EVTEK Institute of Technology
• 10 B.Sc.
programmes in
Finnish
• 2 B.Sc.
programmes in
English
• campuses in
Vantaa and Espoo
Degree Program in Media Technology
• Two specialization areas
– Graphic Media
– Digital Media
• 80 new students yearly
• Adult education
• Strong role of eLearning
– educational applications,
projects
– student participation
Changes in learning environment
and theoretical background
Changes in learning environment
• Revolution of information
• Complexity of the forthcoming problems
• Solving of complex problems presumes
adoption and understanding of huge amount
of information for the learner especially in
knowledge–rich areas
• New requirements of the working life
– E.g innovation, social skills,project working skills
• New learning theories and models of human
cognitive processes
– Knowledge is not just remembering things
• Requirements from the authorities
– The law of The Universities of Applied Sciences
in Finland presumes close collaboration with
industry and working life
Comment of a scientist
• “Today´s educational
systems are not
flexible enough to
solve the problems in
working life tomorrow”
• New approach is
needed
Learning theories
• Modern understanding of
learning tends to emphasize
the active role of the learner
– Constructivism
– Collaborative learning
– Problem-based learning
– Project-based learning
Learning by developing, LbD
• Learning by doing real projects
• Application of theory to practical problems
• Intellectual research process
• Problem solving
• Developing of high level intellectual and practical
skills
• Collaborative learning, team working
• Critical evaluation of the information
• Less traditional class room teaching more practical
problem solving,examination product development
• Sharing of expertise
Aims of LbD
• Learning of:
– the content, the subject area
– social working, team working
– search of information
– problem solving
– project work
– critical information assessment
– self assessment
– self-direction
Learning by teaching, LdL
• Lernen durch Lehren (LdL)
• Concept was developed by Jean-Pol Martin in
the early eighties
• Students to prepare and teach lessons or parts
of lessons
• Students do not only convey a certain content,
but choose their own methodological and
didactical approach
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_by_teaching
Advantages in LdL
• In university level research and teaching can be
combined efficiently
• Students work on the material more intensively
and are more active
• Next to subject-related knowledge students gain
important key qualifications like
– working in teams
– planning abilities
– reliability
– presentation and moderation skills
– self-confidence
Disadvantages in LdL
• The introduction of the method requires a
lot of time.
• Students and teachers have to work more
than usual.
• The danger of monotony if the teacher does
not give didactic impulses.
Monological, dialogical and trialogical
learning metaphors
• Monological
– Knowledge
acquisition metaphor
of learning
– “know that”
conceptual
knowledge
emphasized
– Knowledge and skills
of individuals
• Dialogical
– Participation
metaphor of
learning
– Interactive approach
– Participation in a
social community
emphasized
– “know how” –
cognition
– Collective work
practices
Source: Häkkinen Kai & al; KP-Lab project rationale, 2005
Trialogical learning
• Knowledge creation
metaphor of learning
• Collaborative ,
systematic developing
of new products and
practices
• Creative “scientific”
approach
• Discovery and
innovation perspectives
• “Know why and what
for”
• Individuals and
organizations interact
Source: Häkkinen Kai & al; KP-Lab project rationale, 2005
EVTEK approach
Pedagogical strategy in EVTEK Media
Technology
• Diversified pedagogical
solutions
• Significant role of
network based learning
• Linking of research and
development to
teaching
• Pedagogical solutions
promote
entrepreneurship
Projects in the programs
• Integrating project courses in the
curriculum
• Project based learning inside the course
modules
• A special Project method course in some
programs
• Some programs have no project courses
Project types
• ”Toy projects”, no real customer
• Internal EVTEK projects
• ”Free” customer projects
• Semi-commercial customer projects
• Commercial customer projects
• Learning in working life -projects
Customer projects
• Real customer projects are a systematic
part of learning
• Motivation: real customer, real money
• A path to entrepreneurship
Why commercial customer projects?
• Real customer is a motivation factor for students
• Commitment of the customer, when paying
• The student appreciates his/her work
• Developing entrepreneur attitude
• Company contacts for the teacher
• Challenge in life ;-)
• Extra money for students and school
• Best marketing of EVTEK
Learning by content creation
Case studies
PrintSim
• Commet supported project
of EGIN ( European Graphic
Industries Competence
Network) in 1992-1994.
• digital multimedia learning
material was developed to
support learning with print
simulator developed in the
project by VTT
In the beginning
• The student´s knowledge of
the subject area was minimal
• The digital publishing
platform was new both for
the teachers and students
• All the students did not know
each other
• The working concept was
new for everybody
• The aim was to develop a
commercial multimedia
product
In the end
• four CDs were published
• The CDs were sold
worldwide and they
came into active use in
many institutions
ww
/
/
p:
htt
w
t
.v t
.f
m/
i
s
int
r
p
e/
t
t
/
i
Post Press Sim
• EU-funded project
• Multimedia learning
material was
developed about print
finishing operations
as a student project
• Students as content
creators and technical
producers of the
multimedia product
The students learned
• the facts and theories of the subject areas they
were dealing with
• applying technical tools and use of information
technology which was very new for the students
in the beginning
• real project working in international environment
• working in teams combing different kind of skills (
content writing, information technology, visual
design)
• language skill ( the final material was published
in English)
• solving unexpected problems
• basics of pedagogical issues
• enduring frustrations and occurred helpless
feeling
• a pilot project in the
Leonardo da Vinci II program
(EU) carried out between
December 2000 and
December 2003.
• The aim of the project was to
build a web-based system
that supports the creation,
management, updating and
use of different types of
training material, and to
produce training material on
digital printing
http://www.vtt.fi/tte/customdp/
• Developing an
eLearning content
community that
creates and shares
eLearning content
dealing with graphic
and media
communication
technology
• Student participated
as content creators
SELEAC team of EVTEK
Taru Koivulehto
Pentti Viluksela
Chief editor,
Materials
Krista Timonen
Content creator,
Finishing
Content creator
and technical
coordinator
Vesa Heikkinen
Content creator,
Paper
Seija Ristimäki
Chief editor,
Finishing
Mari Ali-Raatikainen
Content creator, Inks
Learning results
– Searching of information
– Content itself ( subject areas in digital printing)
– XML authoring
– Writing
– Visualization
– English language
– Peer review
– Pedagogical aspects
– Collaboration and working in international
project
Experiences
Teacher´s point of view
• Students are in general good
– in searching information
– in writing what they have learned
– in visualization (e.g. making animations)
– in managing the technical tools
– i.e technical matters in general
• Tutoring and mentoring is needed in conceptual
things as
– Pedagogy
– Planning
– Keeping the timetables
Problems
• How to support poor students ?
• How to get the students committed to the
timetables and quality requirements?
• How to go over frustrations?
• Salary matters in commercial customer
projects
• Writing and content creation is not the top
favorite topic among industrial projects;
motivation
Student point of view
• Traditional teaching vs. content creation
lectures and theory not
digested, forgotten quickly
creation demands digesting
information, easier to
remember
information structures and
information is more
relations can be fragmented structured and easier to
relate to old/new
information
tasks are often finished
without really trying,
“copy/paste”
creating content yourself
can bring out the best in
you, merely copying is not
possible
lack of motivation
content creation of
interesting topics
motivates!
Student point of view
• students creating content should have:
– initiative
– linguistic abilities
– be interested in learning
– ability to piece together information
– ability to sum up information!
– ability to visually represent structures
Student point of view
• critic of content creation:
– can feel tiresome compared to traditional methods
– motivation problems
– content quality suffers, if importance of structure and
processing information not understood and maintained
– requires verbal abilities --> not suitable to everyone
– finding relevant, new and reliable information sources
can take a lot of effort and frustrate students even
before properly beginning
Student point of view
• What motivates students?
– money
– interesting subjects
– opportunity to practice desired skills (animation,
graphic design, image manipulation, www-design,
software)
– getting references for CV
– hope of getting a job
– getting good grades and credit units
Student point of view
• What did I learn?
– new information
– more thorough understanding of previous studies
– project management
– content management
– verbal expression
– utilization of xml
– independent work
Further thoughts
Thank you.
www.evtek.fi