Schools are preoccupied with Virtual Learning Environments that are actually just Learning Platforms with very little virtual about them. A classroom is the narrowest definition of a non-virtual environment. However, any physical (or even social) environment is a learning environment; at home, school, clubs, groups of friends with their implicit learning. The teacher role is fluid in these situations and can even exchange during a learning session. There is no restriction formed of age, gender or race - only of experience and knowledge.
Vocational applied learning has re-established authenticity in learning environments and we have seen hairdressing salons, professional kitchens, travel agents and simulated offices built in UK schools. The application of knowledge and understanding to real-life tasks makes this learning space more valuable than ‘empty space’ classrooms. More recently, we have seen technology enhanced learning spaces especially with the advent of BSF schools. The use of collaborative knowledge building wikis, online cloud based software like Google docs and Virtual worlds like Second Life, mean the actual ICT room can be anywhere with wifi.
Let’s consider the advantages of Outdoor learning; this is ‘real life’ in the extreme, whole-body learning, challenging to comfort, group building and when guided meta-cognitive in the reflective process. The outdoors can be a highly beneficial place to learn and long established as such by groups like scouts, Kingswood, Brathay and others. Coupled with wifi Internet access and portable, mobile computing there are even more possibilities.
My recent experience at Kingswood near Penistone introduced the use of Samsung NC10s, Flip Ultra usb cameras and USB ’3′ modems. Learners were able to use Blogger to record ideas and review their experiences, Flickr to upload still photos and You Tube for video. From the concrete experience of climbing a Climbing Wall with ropes, they could reflect on the experience, discuss abstract ideas – Emotional Intelligence summaries like how nervous they were before, what might happen, risks, personal challenges, what support their teams gave them and how it felt to complete the task. Given the next task of abseiling, learners could test out their theories in new situations – who was the chief motivator of the team, who was most supportive?
For the practicalities of the British summer, the netbooks were restricted to indoor use only (netbooks not wetbooks) but the Flipcams were taken everywhere and used at all times. Some thoughts for future Outdoor ICT:
- PDAs? Data logging on the spot
- Geocaching – iPod Touch and Google maps if not real GPS handhelds
- Game-based M-learning (see eMapps.com)
Posted by damoward 
