:sync: GELO and GreX: A Framework and Dashboard to Investigate Technology Competency and Online Readiness

Authors: Roland van Oostveen, Elizabeth Childs
Institutions: Ontario Tech University, Royal Roads University
Country: Canada

Topic: Applications of Open Education Practices/Open Pedagogy/Open Education Research
Sector: Higher Education
UNESCO Area of Focus: Facilitating int cooperation
Session Format: Workshop

Abstract

Participation in 21st century society is increasingly dependent upon competencies related to the use of digital technologies for a wide variety of purposes. A person’s competence in the use of digital technologies has implications for a wide variety of contexts and situations, including learning in physical as well as virtual spaces, career choices and employability, digital citizenship, and even democracy (Erstad, 2010). This workshop will provide an overview of the Global Educational Learning Observatory (GELO) project and invite participants to experience a variety of self-assessment tools accessed through the customizable dashboard, the Global Readiness Explorer (GREx). The GELO project attempts to provide a framework for an international network of institutions utilizing data-driven evidence to inform evolving best practices for online and mobile learning.

To achieve this, the project (i) assembles a nucleus of formal educational institutions, (ii) constructs the necessary tools to extend research on formal learning models, and (iii) reaches into the workplace as well as other more public spaces to integrate with informal learning settings. The primary source of data derives from a customizable dashboard, the Global Readiness Explorer (GREx), and the tools that can be implemented within it. These tools are designed to give individuals, organizations and institutions the means to construct complex profiles that can be used to identify gaps in competency attainment and development. Through small group activities, participants will examine and discuss the various tool suites in the GREx including the digital learning competency profiler (DCP); the fully online learning community survey instrument (FOLCS); the Personal Cultural Orientation Scale (PCOS) and others. In this workshop, participants will choose a self-assessment instrument to participate in and then discuss their experience with a focus on improving the GREx tool suite for global use. In addition, participants will examine the GREx for use with their students as a component of determining readiness to moving into fully online learning environments. The workshop will conclude with an explanation of the global educational learning observatory (GELO), and participants will be invited to join into this global research network. The intended audience for this workshop are individuals and institutions interested in taking a look at fully online learning with community supports; those interested in assessment tools that speak to the readiness for participation in fully online learning environments; those involved in the creation of supports required by institutions for students and faculty.

Keywords

online learning, online readiness, fully online learning communities

Here’s the recording of the session: