Smart Learning

Smart Learning is an emerging field that is in the shaping.
The adjective ‘smart’ in Smart Learning involves some similar characteristics to the ones attributed to a person that is regarded as being ‘smart’. Some of these characteristics include the ability to “adapt in creative and innovative ways to novel or unusual circumstances”, to engage “in appropriate planning prior to making a decision or taking an action”, and to engage “in doing things that are generally effective and efficient.” In other words, being ‘smart’ is attributed to “an action or decision that involved careful planning, cleverness, innovation, and/or a desirable outcome.”
Smart learning environments encompasses “intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs)”, “adaptive learning systems”, “technology-enhanced learning”, “web-based learning”, “mobile learning”, “context-aware ubiquitous learning using sensing technologies”.
As stated by Hwang (2014), “A smart learning environment not only enables learners to access digital resources and interact with learning systems in any place and at any time, but also actively provides the necessary learning guidance, hints, supportive tools or learning suggestions to them in the right place, at the right time and in the right form. Basically, a smart learning system can be perceived as a technology-enhanced learning system that is capable of advising learners to learn in the real-world with access to the digital world resources.”
Hwang (2014) summarizes the potential criteria of a smart learning environment as follows :
# A smart learning environment is context-aware; that is, the learner’s situation or the contexts of the real-world environment in which the learner is located are sensed, implying that the system is able to provide learning support based on the learner’s online and real-world status.
# A smart learning environment is able to offer instant and adaptive support to learners by immediate analyses of the needs of individual learners from different perspectives (e.g., learning performance, learning behaviors, profiles, personal factors) as well as the online and real-world contexts in which they are situated. Moreover, it can actively provide various personalized support to the learners, including learning guidance, feedback, hints and learning tools, based on their needs.
# A smart learning environment is able to adapt the user interface (i.e., the ways of presenting information) and the subject contents to meet the personal factors (e.g., learning styles and preferences) and learning status (e.g., learning performance) of individual learners. The user interface is not necessarily a conventional computer. Instead, learners can interact with the learning environment via mobile devices (e.g., smartphones or tablet computers), wearable devices (e.g., Google Glass or a digital wristwatch), or even ubiquitous computing systems embedded in everyday objects. Therefore, it is a challenging issue to adapt the user interface to meet the learners’ needs in a smart learning environment.
Researchers are striving to merge pedagogy and technology in order to create what is called “smart learning”:
* Pedagogy: learning paradigms, assessment paradigms, social factors, policy
* Technology: emerging technologies, innovative uses of mature technologies, adoption, usability, standards, and emerging/new technological paradigms (open educational resources, cloud computing, etc.)
* Fusion of pedagogy and technology: transformation of curriculum, transformation of teaching behavior, transformation of administration, best practices of infusion, piloting of new ideas
References:
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External links:
Smart Learning Environments Journal: http://slejournal.springeropen.com/
International Association of Smart Learning Environments: http://www.iasle.net/
Blog to discuss and share thoughts on Smart Learning: http://www.kinshuk.info/2015/05/smart-learning/

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