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Jan Herrington |
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Professor
Jan Herrington |
Biographical
note
Dr
Jan Herrington is Professor in Education at Murdoch
University in Perth Western Australia, researching and
teaching in the undergraduate and post-graduate programs
in the School of Education.
Jan’s current research focuses on the design of
effective web-based learning environments for higher
education and the use of authentic contexts and tasks
as a central focus for web-based delivery of courses
(http://www.authentictasks.uow.edu.au/).
She is also researching other ICT–related areas
such as mobile learning (http://mlearning.uow.edu.au/)
and design-based research.
Jan
has published over 130 refereed journal articles, conference
papers and chapters, and several books including a co-edited
book (with Anthony Herrington) entitled Authentic
Learning in Higher Education, and most recently
in 2010, a co-authored book (with Thomas C Reeves and
Ron Oliver) A
Guide to Authentic e-Learning.
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An edited
book on pedagogies appropriate to mobile learning entitled New
Technologies, New pedagogies
is also available for download. She has won many awards for her
research including a Fulbright Award, the Association for Educational
Communication and Technology (AECT) Young Researcher of the Year
Award, and several Outstanding Paper awards at international conferences.
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Abstract
Authentic learning and emerging technologies
As
a pedagogical model, authentic learning has prevailed for over two decades.
Reflecting a constructivist philosophy, and strongly informed by situated
cognition, it has served as a robust guide to the creation of authentic
and innovative learning environments. But where does it stand now in an
education environment moving rapidly towards the participatory culture
of web-enabled communities, and the Œlifestream¹ contexts of
personalised dynamic content? This presentation will review authentic
learning in relation to mobile technologies and a broad range of web affordances
and tools, and illustrate how authentic tasks and contexts are more important
than ever in a rapidly transforming educational landscape. There will
also be discussion on the complex nature of authentic tasks, and how they
can be designed to maximise learning opportunities. Finally, the presentation
will conclude with discussion of the need for further research and how
these environments can be effectively studied.
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