Category Archives: Learning at Scale

Learning at Scale SIG: An Exclusive Session on Digital Badging

Please join us for the next Learning at Scale Special Interest Group on Tuesday 14th December (10:00-12:00):

Digital badging as a way of accrediting learning at scale

Title: Digital Badges in Context: Looking behind and beyond the digital badge

Speaker: Dr Simon Cross, Senior Lecturer and Associate Director at the Institute of Educational Technology (IET), The Open University

Abstract:

Digital badges possess affordances that position them well as an option for reward and recognition in digital learning and teaching at scale. However, the processes and structures required to issue and value badges may not be as compatible with such scaling. What are the factors that limit and enable their use at scale?  How can we better understand the application of digital badges in the digital and actual contexts in which they are employed? How can we strategically and practically exploit the constructive disruption that digital badges can cause to create a productive dissonance? Continue reading Learning at Scale SIG: An Exclusive Session on Digital Badging

Don’t be afraid to question information from the network

The Learning at Scale (L@S) Special Interest Group included presentations from two members of the Knowledge Media Institute at The Open University. Professor Anna De Liddo and Research associate Tracie Farrell shared their exciting work about  Contested Collective Intelligence and  Mis(sing) Information on Tuesday, October 12th.  Continue reading Don’t be afraid to question information from the network

Learning @ Scale SIG – 12th October 2021

Tuesday 12th October 11:00 – 12:30

Join us online for presentations from Anna De Liddo and Tracie Farrell plus facilitated discussion with Special Interest Group lead, Rebecca Ferguson.


Contested Collective Intelligence: Harnessing the power of coming together, even when we disagree. 
Anna De Liddo

Abstract:
Technology has brought the world closer together than ever before. However, today it is often blamed for sewing social division. We can’t overlook the internet’s role in fanning the flames of division. Fake news and social media bubbles filter our reality and have the power to entrench us on one side of the argument and prevent us from understanding others’ views. However, my research also finds that technology can be a powerful tool to help us find common ground, even in cases when it appears we couldn’t be farther apart.

In this talk I will present intuitive online technologies to help people think critically, make sense and build consensus, even when they disagree. I will then discuss research results from real-life applications of such tools to bridging divides in political communication, healing divisions in post-war situations, and crowdsourcing community capabilities toward learning at scale.

Mis(sing) Information: Investigating the Role of Values, Ideologies and Events on How We Become Misinformed
Tracie Farrell

Abstract:
Misinformation is everywhere on social media. It spreads faster and deeper than other forms of information because it surprises us, triggers our fears, and raises strong emotions within us. Computational research tends to focus on Continue reading Learning @ Scale SIG – 12th October 2021

L@S: The New SIG of openTEL

The launch of our new Special Interest Group: Learning at Scale (L@S SIG) happened on Wednesday, May 26th, 2021. Dr Shi Min Chua led the first online meeting of the SIG, which featured a presentation from a Senior Lecturer at The Open University (The OU). The interdisciplinary event welcomed 21 people across the university who had the opportunity to share their work on L@S with others.

Dr Anna Comas-Quinn kicked off the session with her presentation: Learning beyond the classroom: online volunteer translationShe shared findings from her doctoral research project that explored the experiences of a global sample of online volunteer translators. Anna also reported on two action research projects (Comas-Quinn & Fuertes-Gutiérrez, 2019Cámara & Comas-Quinn, 2016) that piloted and implemented the use of online volunteer translation activities in language and translation teaching.

The meeting was then followed by a roundtable discussion with academics and researchers interested in learning more about the SIG. Attendees mentioned how their research and practice related to learning at scale. All the members in the meeting agreed that The OU is a pioneer of this learning modality, considering the large number of students taking distance learning modules at our institution since 1969.

The organiser also prompted the attendees to think of the aspects they would like to explore further in the upcoming sessions of the SIG. They mentioned the following topics for the L@S SIG agenda of 2021:

  • Impact on learners & educators
  • The methodology and data used to research L@S
  • The context of L@S in developing countries, including F2F and community centres
  • Automated feedback
  • Learning Analytics
  • MOOCs
  • Digital badges
  • Microcredentials
  • Self-regulated learning
  • Learners’ disposition and cultural influences
  • Assessment at Scale
  • The distinction between delivery and learning at scale

One of the members shared their thoughts on L@S and wrote: “What dimensions can ‘scale’ have? Obviously, the number of learners, but inspired by Anna’s talk and other comments, others come to mind. E.g. number of Learners, Teachers, Subjects (Sciences, Languages, Arts etc.), Pedagogical approaches, Technologies used, Communication media (audio, video, text, image, hypertext etc.), Distance (various forms: physical, transactional…), Languages, Emotions”. Another attendee shared an interesting article on students who set up their study support at scale in places like YouTube and Reddit. These platforms are part of The Study Web, “a constellation of digital spaces and online communities—across YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, Discord, and Twitter—largely built by students for students”.

The discussions from the meeting will inform the future SIG events. If you would like to keep up to date with the Learning At Scale SIG agenda, please email us to add your name to the new L@S mailing list.  

New Special Interest Group: Learning At Scale

openTEL are pleased to invite you to join our first Learning@Scale SIG in OpenTEL. In this first event, Anna will present her research about online volunteer translation. After her presentation, we will have a roundtable to discuss the agenda for our SIG in the future.

You are welcome to join any of the programs. Please email openTEL or ShiMin for an invite.

Programme (26 May 2021)
15.30 Introduction
15.40 Dr Anna Comas-Quinn presents Learning beyond the classroom: online volunteer translation (see info below)
16.30 Roundtable: What do we want for our SIG
17.00 End

Speaker Bio
Dr Anna Comas-Quinn is a Senior Lecturer at The Open University, UK, where she has been teaching languages and translation for the last 20 years. She has led teaching and research projects, edited two volumes on open practice in language teaching, and published on open education, technology-enhanced language teaching and the integration of online volunteering in language and translation education.
Continue reading New Special Interest Group: Learning At Scale