Patrick Joseph Wall (IT Carlow) Biography
P.J. Wall lectures on a number of courses in both Institute of Technology Carlow and Kildare VEC. P.J. has completed a number of assignments for APSO (Agency for Personnel Services Overseas) in South America and Africa. His most recent assignment for APSO was in Nairobi, Kenya, where he designed and implemented an online personalised “Training for Trainers” programme developed specifically for the staff of a large Kenyan NGO.
The uses of Information and Communications Technology in Personalised Learning and Individualised Learning Programmes
This presentation will outline the successes and failures of "Personalised Learning" programmes as experienced by P.J. Wall in his work with both APSO and Kildare VEC, and how information and communications technology (ICT) has helped with the personalisation of individual student learning programmes. The presentation will also outline the failings of ICT in a personalised learning environment.
P.J. Wall has been involved in the design and delivery of a number of personalised learning programmes both in Ireland with Kildare VEC and in Africa with KANCO (Kenya Aid’s NGO Consortium). Kildare VEC offers a variety of full-time courses to adult learners in a number of dedicated centers in Kildare. For the last number of years Kildare VEC has been implementing "Personalised Learning" programmes that allow individual students to tailor their learning needs around their own unique goals and aspirations. Learning takes place at the student’s own pace, and assessment/examinations (as far as possible) take place when the individual student is ready to be assessed. KANCO is a large NGO based in Nairobi, Kenya. KANCO provides information on HIV and Aid’s to a wide variety of individuals and organizations in East Africa. KANCO decided to implement a “Training for Trainers” programme for its staff in 2000. The “Training for Trainers” programme was designed to provide highly personalised training to each KANCO staff member, specific to their own background and position within KANCO.
Personalisation of individual students learning programmes is a difficult and time-consuming task for both the student and the lecturer. The students must figure out exactly what he/she wishes to learn, and at what speed he/she wishes to learn at. The lecturer must be able to provide a range of realistic learning options to the student, and organize courses in such a way that students can learn at their own pace and be assessed when they are ready. Both the student and the lecturer must be very flexible and individual student learning plans must be capable of being changed at very short notice. This goes against “traditional” methods of teaching, which assume that all students will learn the same thing, at the same time, and be assessed by means of an exam on a set date.
ICT can help greatly with the design and delivery of personalised learning programmes in a number of ways. However, ICT can also be an obstacle to the development and implementation of individualized learning programmes. The presentation will outline in detail:
- The process of designing a personalised learning programme for an individual student
- How ICT can be used to assist in this process
- How ICT can hinder this process if used inappropriately or incorrectly
- How ICT can allow course materials to be made available to students in a way that suits the individual students learning plan
- How ICT allows communication between the student and the lecturer
- How ICT can assist in flexible means of assessment of student progress
- How ICT can be used to monitor and assess student progress where the lecturer is geographically distant from the student
The presentation will also outline in detail the future direction of the personalised learning programmes in both Kildare VEC and KANCO.