Abstract

This is a joint report by John Pallister and Paul Mayes.

The learning environment provided by schools is now complemented by environments enabled by technology. If learning is metered-out and controlled by teachers in a ‘traditional learning environment’ during school hours, the learner can now access learning opportunities whenever they want to, as long as they have internet access; the required skills and the motivation. The boundaries between formal, planned learning and unplanned learning are likely to evaporate as the internet increasingly provides, and is recognised as providing a spaces and a tool-sets capable of supporting learning.

Author: John Pallister and Paul Mayes

Publication Date: 2009

The tools and technology required to create a Personal Learning Environment are available now. Learners, generally outside of the classroom, are increasingly experimenting with the tools. Whether schools are ready or not learners are beginning to personalise their learning. Whether planned or otherwise learners will find themselves having to take decisions about their learning.

Curriculum choice is an important component of personalised learning whether you believe that it is the learner who should be personalising the learning for themselves; or that it is the teacher who should be personalising the learning for the learner. In either scenario the learner will make decisions about what they need to learn, how and when they learn; they will have a ‘say’, a voice in the design of their learning experiences. They will be ‘active’ learners who value their own ideas and respect those of others; they will have the confidence an ability to put their ideas forward; they will reflect on their learning, identifying how they can improve and exercising choice as they develop as independent, lifelong learners. It is likely, in the twenty first century, that learners will be following the ePortfolio process.

In addition to being able to select from the curriculum opportunities offered by their school they will also be able to benefit from those available from a wide range of other sources. They will decide what is appropriate to their learning needs or plans. They will follow a personalised learning journey, sharing their thinking and reflections with their teachers, peers and others. Schools and providers will need to investigate how they can make sure that their curriculum ‘offer’ is visible and accessible to learners.

There are implications for schools and providers. Schools no longer have ‘captive’ learners; learners have personal learning environments that enable them to access learning opportunities 24/7, opportunities that can be provided by anyone, anywhere in the world. Personal learning environments are here already. Schools need to package up their learning offer and make it accessible and available to learners who ever they are where ever they are. The competition is no longer just the school next door.

There are implications for learners. If they do not have the opportunities to develop the skills that they need to manage their own learning they will struggle in their personal learning environment. They will not be able to take maximum advantage of the available learning opportunities.

In this new learning environment, where the emphasis shifts from teaching to learning, the learner takes on new roles and responsibilities. They will be expected to reflect on their learning; identifying how they can improve and exercising choice as they develop as independent, lifelong learners. They will need to be self motivated and self regulated making decisions about what they need to learn, how and when they learn.

It will require imagination, determination and significant curriculum planning on the part of schools, if they are to create a new learning environment; if they are to make the shift from teaching to learning happen. Traditionally, teachers would plan a curriculum and deliver it by guiding the learner; by metering out and controlling the learning diet. Controlling not only the formal learning experiences but the pace at which they are experienced.

The teacher driven curriculum will need to evolve, to be developed into a curriculum that supports the individual learner. It needs to become something that the learner can use to help them make their own decisions about what it is that they learn; when and how. To be able to make these decisions the learner would need to know what it is that they need to or are expected to know, to be able to do or learn. The tools and techniques that we currently use to ‘push’ learning towards the learner need to be either adapted, or traded-in for something that will support and service this learner ‘demand’

To support the shift from teaching to learning that Personalised Learning requires we need to work out how we can ‘ensure’ that young learners have access to, and can navigate through the prescribed national, and any local curricula. The curricula that will provide the set of “essential learning experiences that will provide them with the knowledge, skills and competencies that they will need to develop as successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens”. Somehow, learners will need access to a ‘curriculum map’, or menu of opportunities, that they could use to help them to decide what learning they need to plan, before they take over the planning and doing.

It would be unwise for us to delegate, to young learners, total responsibility for their own learning, without having first given them access to something that provides them with suggested learning opportunities and learning expectations. It would make sense for teachers to design these ‘curriculum maps’ and for teachers to ‘teach’ learners how to use them until they are motivated and have the skills to take over the planning and management of their own learning.

The curriculum plans currently being used by teachers are teaching plans that are generally not available to learners. We need to investigate ways in which these plans can be made available and accessible to the learner. We need to produce an individual learner facing curriculum by deconstructing the national curriculum/expectations and then reconstructing them in a format suitable for learner consumption.

By being able to ‘see’ the map, learners would be better able to see the ‘big picture’ and that in turn could result in greater learner engagement. Having access to a map that shows learners what their available or ‘planned’ learning diet is, has the potential to support the assessment for learning process and in turn personalisation. When learners get involved in this process they will be using the ePortfolio process. The ePortfolio process will be integrated into their ‘curriculum’; the learner will derive the benefits of the ePortfolio process. Personalised Learning will be happening. Learner accessible curriculum maps would also be a useful ‘scaffold’ to support the learner as the teacher weans them off the support while still ensuring that they have the opportunity to follow a national or local curriculum.

A Busy time for curriculum thinkers and planners

As well as having to develop a learner facing and accessible curriculum map to support the move towards personalised learning, schools also are expected to integrate the generic skills into their curriculum as well as developing and supporting the collaborative palming and delivery that the new curriculum emphasises and demands.

The revised National Curriculum emphases the value of personalised learning and requires schools to re-think their curriculum and practice. Schools are expected to design “dynamic, forward-looking curriculum that creates opportunities for learners to develop as self-managers, creative thinkers, reflective learners, problem-solvers, team workers, independent learners, and effective communicators.” http://curriculum.qca.org.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/skills/index.aspx They will need to provide learners with opportunities that engage them in their own learning and equip them with the Personal, Learning and Thinking skills (PLTs) that they will need to succeed in education, life and work. http://curriculum.qca.org.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/organising-your-curriculum/the_secondary_curriculum/index.aspx

This curriculum, reflecting the UK skills agenda, values skills and gives particular importance to Functional Skills. They are embedded in the revised programmes of study for English, mathematics and ICT and are an essential component of all learning pathways (GCSE, FLT, Apprenticeships and 14-19 Diplomas).

While Functional Skills and PLTs underpin the new curriculum, their introduction is likely to create significant curriculum development challenges. Schools are committing effort and resource to work out what it is that they need to do to introduce Functional Skills and Personal Learning and Thinking skills (PLTs) into their curriculum.

The common message is that Functional Skills are important and should be integrated into the curriculum of all learners; that learners should be provided opportunities to develop the skills and to practise applying the skills in a range of different situations and contexts, before they are placed in an assessment situation. The situations and contexts should be real and should engage learners in problem solving, critical thinking and independent learning. They will be expected to be able to apply their skills to solve real-life problems.

This ‘new’ environment for learning relies on, and values collaboration. Learners are expected to “form collaborative relationships” while schools and colleges are expected to collaborate to design their Diploma courses, and then to collaborate as they deliver them. As learners work in a number of different settings; school based, college based and training provider based it will be vital that all partners have a common understanding of the Functional Skills and PLTs. This common understanding must permeate through into the experiences and opportunities provided for the learner in each of the settings that they work in.

New qualifications, learners working and being assessed in different schools and colleges, the increased emphasis on life long learning and the need support learner progression has led to the development of national frameworks and systems to record achievements in a common electronic format. The learner achievement record (LAR) aims to track all learners’ achievements through the use of a unique learner number (ULN). It is also hoped that it will give the learner control of their record of lifelong learning and achievement, while streamlining the collection, handling and sharing of information. http://www.miap.gov.uk/benefits/

Individual schools and providers will need to review their current curriculum provision and engage in processes that will help them to integrate opportunities that will enable their learners to develop and practise their Functional Skills and PLTs.

Schools are very familiar with change. They frequently audit their curriculum looking at what they need to ‘include’ as a result of their revised thinking, aspirations, external demands or expectations. The revised curriculum will be documented, stored and presented in many different formats ranging from simple text based paper documents to linked database systems.

While common, agreed formats for storing information about learner’s achievements are in place, there does not appear to be any standardisation in terms of the way in which a learner’s curriculum is described or presented. If a learner is to be involved in making choices about their learning, they should be able to ‘see’ their planned curriculum. If a learner in one school gets used to using a curriculum described in one format, it would be useful for them, if the curriculum plan that they access in others schools or colleges that they work in were in the same format. If schools are to collaborate on the design and delivery of courses, it would be useful to provide all partners with access to common curriculum documents. There would be an argument for a common format for a learner’s curriculum plan and for learners and teachers to be able to share and access curriculum plans and documentation.

All secondary schools are re-thinking their curriculum and are working through an audit and mapping process as they attempt to introduce Functional Skills and PLTs. Tens of thousands of teacher hours are being consumed by this process.

Web-based curriculum mapping is a process that focuses on what is taught, how it is taught, when it is taught and how it will be assessed. Teachers start by translating an existing planned curriculum into a standardised digital format. The format requires the curriculum to be broken down into topics or units that are then defined in terms of content, skills, assessment methods, the resources required and the teaching strategies that will be used. The topics or units are allocated learning/delivery time and are organised on a timeline.

The immediately obvious outcome from the mapping process is the curriculum map itself, however the actual process of constructing the map has the potential to engage and empower the teachers involved. This would be a very valuable by-product from a curriculum development process that in turn can feed the process. Supercharged curriculum development! It might prove useful in the current environment as teachers review what they teach and more importantly how they organise and provide learning opportunities.

Most of the demands or initiatives that present themselves to schools require a change in the way they organise their teaching, or manage and support their learning environment. The initiatives or challenges often require a shift away from traditional teaching towards independent or personalised learning.

A Web-based mapping package with search and export facilities would allow the learner to select courses, modules or activities that would help them to meet their personal learning needs. By selecting programmes and materials that are ‘visible’ and available to them in the curriculum maps, they will use the curriculum maps to support their personal learning. This would go some way to satisfy the requirement for learners to be “actively engaged with, and help to shape, the curriculum they experience.”

http://curriculum.qca.org.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/organising-your-curriculum/personalisation/index.aspx?return=/search/index.aspx%3FfldSiteSearch%3Drevised+curriculum%26btnGoSearch.x%3D28%26btnGoSearch.y%3D9%26btnGoSearch%3DGo

By being able to ‘see’ the map, learners would be better able to see the ‘big picture’ and that in turn could result in greater learner engagement. Having a map available that shows them what their available, planned learning diet is, and has the potential to support the assessment for learning process and in turn improved achievement. If we encourage learners to use maps showing their planned curriculum it might help them to understand what the Functional and Personal Learning skills are. The conscious competence model suggests that this would, in turn, help them to realise that they need to do something to develop their competence.

http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Conscious+Competence+model

Curriculum mapping can support reflective learning. Reflective learning can benefit the learner in two ways; firstly, the teacher, by reflecting on the learning that they had planned and what the learner had actually learnt or experienced, will refine and adapt their practice. This in-turn should improve the learning opportunities available to the learner. Secondly, if the learner is encouraged to use curriculum maps to plan their own learning and if they are encouraged to reflect on what had actually happened prior to revising their learning plans, they will develop their own reflective practice. They will develop as reflective learners, selecting and using appropriate curriculum mapping tools as part of their Personal Learning Environment.

The natural place for the teacher to record their reflections would be their Professional Development ePortfolio; the natural place for the learner to reflect on what they had planned to learn and upon what they had actually experienced or learnt would be their learner ePortfolio. Providing learners with access to Curriculum Maps and encouraging them to use them forces them to use the plan, do and review process that underpins the Personal Learning and Thinking Skills. Asking learners to record their experiences and reflections would help to support their Personal Development Planning and would satisfy the requirement for them to evidence their Personal Learning and Thinking skills.

The developing 14-19 curriculum requires teachers working in a range of different institutions to collaborate in the planning and delivery of the new 14 -19 Diploma Courses. A Web-based Curriculum Mapping tool would have a lot to offer. It could provide both teachers and students, regardless of the institution that they are currently working in, with access to a common view of the planned curriculum. This would go some way to provide the consistent approach that both the learners and teachers, working in this new environment, will need. It could become both the catalyst that promotes the dialogue and collaboration between teachers that will be needed at the planning stage and the vehicle for communication that will be needed between the teachers in the delivery team and between teachers and learners.

Curriculum development is a continuous process. Web-based Curriculum Mapping tools have the potential to support the constant dialogue, evaluation, revision and communication that the process requires.

These new demands on schools will mean that it will no longer be possible to plan individual courses in isolation. Whole school curriculum demands require whole school planning; the new Diploma courses require schools, colleges and training providers, to collaborate in the design of the course, and then to collaborate as they deliver them.

Increasingly, learners will work in a number of different settings; school based, college based and training provider based. All partners will need to share a common understanding of the Functional Skills, Personal Learning and Thinking skills, Diploma requirements etc. This common understanding must permeate through into the experiences and opportunities provided for the learner in each of the settings that they work in.

Schools are very familiar with change. They frequently audit their curriculum looking at what they need to ‘include’ as a result of their revised thinking, aspirations, external demands or expectations. The revised curriculum would be documented, stored and presented in many different formats ranging from simple text based paper documents to linked database systems.

If a learner in one school gets used to seeing and accessing a curriculum described in one format, it would help them if the curriculum plan that they access in the others schools or colleges that they work in were in the same format. If schools are to collaborate on the design and delivery of courses, it would be useful to provide all partners with access to common curriculum documents. There would be an argument for a common format for a learner’s curriculum plan and for learners and teachers to be able to share and access curriculum plans and documentation.

With this backdrop, we set out to explore whether existing curriculum planning processes could support personalised learning and support the collaboration required. Collaboration; that pointed us towards Web 2, that in turn refined our focus to Web based Curriculum Planning or Mapping tools. The UKAN-SKILLS project had began to explore the potential of Web based curriculum mapping in a HE/FE environment.

Web-based curriculum mapping is a process that focuses on what is taught, how it is taught, when it is taught, how it is resources and how it will be assessed. What follows is a commentary written by a secondary school teachers who experimented with Web-based mapping:

“I started out on my curriculum mapping learning journey by finding my way around the RubiconAtlas software. I translated an existing Key Stage 3 and 4 ICT course into the curriculum mapping format. A format required the curriculum to be broken down into topics or units that are then defined in terms of content, skills, assessment methods, resources required and the teaching strategies that will be used. The topics or units are allocated learning/delivery time and are organised on a timeline. I used Janet Hale’s book, ‘A Guide to Curriculum Mapping: Planning, Implementing, and Sustaining the Process’ (www.curriculummapping101.com) to develop my understanding of the Curriculum Mapping process. I was very fortunate in that I was able to call upon Janet, via Skype, for advice and the support.

I found the process of translating the existing course to be time consuming in that it forced me to think about what it was that I wanted students to learn, what activities and opportunities that I would need to provided them with to encourage the learning to happen and how I would assess them. Although the process did take quite a lot of time, I think that the process was really useful and valuable in that it did promote reflection about objectives and practice that in turn influenced the planning.

Although I worked through the process as an individual, I recognised the value and potential of the process if a team of teachers were to work together, to collaborate on the planning process. While one outcome from the mapping process would be the curriculum map itself, the actual process of constructing the map has value and has the potential to engage the teachers involved.

Having planned the Units for years 7, 8, 9 and 10 I was running short on time. As I was defining the content and skills sections, I found that I reverted back, and rather than using the quite precise conventions of the curriculum mapping process, I tended write/define the content and skills in my own words. I convinced myself that by getting the volume of the content and structure set-up first was the best way forward, allowing me to explore the potential of the tools and process more quickly. I planned to revisit and re-word/structure the Units at a later stage.

At this stage I was able to select, for each Unit, the ICT Functional Skills performance criteria that learners would be introduced to, or have the opportunity to develop, master or reinforce. I repeated this for the Personal Learning and Thinking Skills.

I was then able to generate reports that showed, for either particular years or for years 7 to 10, what content had been planned, what skills were scheduled to be developed, what activities and what assessments were being used.

The analysis tools enabled me to generate reports that showed what Functional ICT skills were not being developed, when and in what Units specific skills were being introduced, developed etc.

The hard work of setting up the curriculum map was starting to pay dividends. “

We now have now set up curriculum maps that we can use to demonstrate and explore the potential of the curriculum mapping process. The intention is to identify sources of funding that will allow us to move this project forward; to create a learner facing view of the curriculum map that can support personalised learning and support the ePortfolio process.