Making it rich and personal: the personal path to institutional learning environments (Invited talk)

The world is changing and universities must respond to students’ needs and expectations in agile and effective ways. Learners enter university with an inevitable diversity of technological familiarity and a mix of naive and sophisticated approaches to using technology as a part of their learning. The University of Southampton has designed and is implementing a holistic learning environment radically different from the VLEs which have gained widespread use since the late 1990s. Starting from the concept of rich learning environment it became "more than a system, it’s a mindset". Social software, open data, co-creation and co-evolution are some of its hallmarks. We propose a framework for a digital cognitive apprenticeship to meet the combined challenges of ‘living and learning in a digital age’. This presentation examines the roots of personal learning environments and considers the interplay of organisational ambitions and requirements needed to support personal learning in a university context.