Barbara Wasson

Implementing Technology-Enhanced Learning

In this chapter, we look at the implementation perspective from the start- ing point of the fundamental educational aims that unite the academic community. We argue that interactive and cooperative digital media have an inherent educational value as a new means of intellectual expression. Our primary concern is not the op- timisation of knowledge transmission but the use of digital technologies to enhance intellectual expressiveness and creativity: helping the students in their appropriation of the world with a special emphasis on their intellectual development, it is essential for the education system to incorporate new digital media as tools for intellectual ex- pression and production. We outline the main issues relevant to the implementation of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) - the link to overall educational aims, the relationship between innovation and practice, the importance of user engagement, the nature of TEL research, and the characteristics of the local context, and the nature of TEL as a catalyst for change. The chapter concludes with some of the key lessons learned in recent research and development projects that will help to develop more successful ways of ensuring that the technology achieves its potential to enhance learning.

E‐learning in a large organization: A study of the critical role of information sharing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide new insights into the implementation of large‐scale learning projects; thereby better understanding the difficulties, frustrations, and obstacles encountered when implementing enterprise‐wide e‐learning as a tool for training and organization transformation in a complex organization.Design/methodology/approach – Information‐sharing disturbances, one of five categories of disturbances that emerged from a grounded theory open coding procedure applied to empirical data collected through a longitudinal field research, are in focus. Third generation activity theory, specifically the notions network of activity systems, disturbances, tensions and contradictions, is used as an analytical lens through which to understand the role of information sharing in a large‐scale implementation.Findings – The study has identified how information sharing disturbances became a critical factor in the implementation of e‐learning in a large company. A number of tensions that poi...

Coordinating Collaborative Knowledge Building

Abstract This article presents an instructional assistant agent for FLE2, a distributed collaborative learning environment. The authors discuss the role of this agent and how it supports both the instructor and students in coordinating the distributed collaborative knowledge-building process. They emphasize the supplementary role of the instructional assistant agent, which, on the one hand, observes the distributed collaborative learning process and computes statistics for viewing, and on the other hand, detects possible problems and presents them to the instructor so that the instructor can give feedback to students in order that they themselves can regulate the collaboration. By providing advice and learning from feedback, the agent gradually improves its performance and builds up a trust relationship, until a point is reached where the agent is allowed to perform actions without confirmation from the instructor. With the lessons learned from designing and experimenting with the instructional assistant, the authors hope to move one step further towards a plug-in agent that would be able to fit in any distributed collaborative learning environments.

Advanced educational technologies: The learning environment

Researchers of artificial intelligence in education have been developing adaptive learning material for complex domains such as programming languages, mathematics, medicine, physics, avionics trouble shooting, pulp and paper mill factories, and electronics. The actual learning material is itself, however, only part of the total Learning Environment (LE) within which learning takes place. This paper presents an extension to the brief overview of an LE first described by Sandberg and Barnard (1993) and Sandberg (1994), and later augmented by Schneider and Peraya (1995). The LE is presented as a conceptual glue which binds several areas of research in an effort to provide a complete and cohesive environment within which the learner is central.

An Instructional Assistant Agent for Distributed Collaborative Learning

This paper presents an instructional assistant agent for FLE2 -- a distributed collaborative learning environment. We discuss the role of the instructional assistant agent and how it supports both the instructor and students in a distributed collaborative knowledge building process. We emphasize the supplementary role of the instructional assistant agent, which, on one hand, observes the distributed collaborative learning process and computes statistics for viewing, and on the other hand, detects possible problems and presents them to the instructor so that the instructor, if desired, gives feedback to the students so that they themselves can regulate the collaboration.

The Organisation of Interaction in Distributed Collaborative Learning

Organising interaction in distributed collaborative learning can impose a severe workload on the collaborating actors. The organisation of interaction is so complex, that collaborative efforts are just as much about understanding conditions for collaboration and co-ordinating work, as it is a matter of collaboratively constructing knowledge. Understanding and identifying what is required to organise distributed collaboration processes, is thus a key issue when analysing distributed collaborative learning. This paper identifies interactional processes and efforts that are constituent parts of such activities.

Facilitating Dynamic Pedagogical Decision Making: PEPE and GTE.

The Generic Tutoring Environment (GTE) is centred around a generic instructional knowledge base that facilitates dynamic pedagogical decision making. PEPE is a computational framework for representing the pedagogical knowledge required to dynamically tailor instruction to an individual student. Both the GTE model and the PEPE framework form the basis for an instructional component that orchestrates the coursewares interaction with the student. In this paper, the knowledge content of the two is examined and the role of each in instructional planning is described. In general, it is concluded that PEPE and GTE complement one another and a merging of their ideas would be a worthwhile endeavour.

Grand Challenge Problem 11: Empowering Teachers with Student Data

Technology-rich learning environments generate rich streams of data pertaining to students’ and teachers’ actions and their outcomes. This data can be harnessed by teachers to monitor and improve their practice, but new methods and tools are needed that (1) help teachers to harness and interpret this data, and subsequently, (2) incorporate it into a framework of continuous professional development. Approaches and methods from teacher inquiry into student learning (TISL), learning design (LD) and learning analytics (LA) can be combined to support a teacher-led design inquiry of learning and innovation cycle. A transdisciplinary approach, which draws on insights from epistemic practice, pedagogical practice, design inquiry of learning, teacher inquiry, e-assessment, and learning and teaching analytics and visualisation, will produce methods and tools to enable teachers to reflect on their own teaching and student learning in order to improve teaching practice.

Supporting Collaborative Knowledge Building with Intelligent Agents

In the process of collaborative knowledge building, it is usually difficult for students to be aware of others’ activities, for instructors to overview the process and to regulate the collaboration In order to facilitate collaborative knowledge building, intelligent agents were developed to support the awareness and regulate the collaboration. This paper discusses the role of intelligent agents and how they support both students and instructors in collaborative knowledge building. By monitoring the collaboration, the agents compute the statistics, detect possible problems and give advice synchronously and asynchronously to the students and instructor based on their activities and requests.

Design and evaluation of a collaborative telelearning activity aimed at teacher training

This paper describes VisArt, a collaborative telelearning scenario aimed at teacher training. Students at three educational institutions in Norway collaborated at a distance through Team Wave Workplace to design a learning activity for some subject of their choice. At the University of Bergen, VisArt was part of a graduate course assignment where the students had to participate in VisArt and write a report reflecting on their participation from a theoretical perspective. Salomons ideas on genuine interdependence and Gutwin et al.s notions of awareness formed the foundation for the students theoretical reflection. This paper describes the VisArt scenario, the evaluation studies being carried out within the DoCTA project, and summarises the students own theoretical reflections.