John Cook

Reconceptualizing Design Research in the Age of Mobile Learning.

The purpose of this paper is to begin to examine how the intersection of mobile learning and design research prompts the reconceptualization of research and design individually as well as their integration appropriate for current, complex learning environments. To fully conceptualize and reconceptualize design research in mobile learning, the authors address and unpack the unique affordances of mobile learning and implications for design research as well as the design process that has impact on both. Asserting a socio-cultural view of learning, investigating mobile devices as cultural transformational tools is proposed to potentially expand perceptions and access to resources not only in how we view teaching and learning (as a form of social capital), but also in how we design for it and conduct research in complex settings.

KnowBrain: An Online Social Knowledge Repository for Informal Workplace Learning

We present KnowBrain (KB), an open source Dropbox-like knowledge repository with social features for informal workplace learning. KB enables users (i) to share and collaboratively structure knowledge (ii) to access knowledge via sophisticated content- and metadata-based search and recommendation, and (iii) to discuss artefacts by means of multimedia-enriched Q&A. As such, KB can support, integrate and foster various collaborative learning processes related to daily work-tasks.

Using social network sites and mobile technology to scaffold equity of access to cultural resources

Abstract: Using social media and personally-owned mobile devices as a means of providing a bridge from media use in everyday life to the expectations of school and higher education potentially has enormous attraction. This chapter discusses access to ‘cultural resources’ facilitated by digital media from a wide perspective (e.g. learning resources, health information, cultural events, employment opportunities, etc.). The purpose of the chapter is to reclaim the notion of ‘cultural resources’ for educational discourse as it seems powerful to us in the context of discussions about social mobility and fairness of access. Following a practical example which underscores the motivation of our discussion, key concepts are defined, particularly forms of ‘capital’ through the lens of the following question: how can we enable learning activities in formal and informal contexts undertaken by individuals and groups to become linked through scaffolding as a bridging activity mediated by network and mobile technology? As this is a large problem space, the literature is selectively reviewed in order to provide an overview of the current state of the art in terms of using network and mobile technology for bridging what we call ‘social capital’ (which emphasises the informational benefits of a heterogeneous network of weak ties). Tentative conclusions are drawn in an effort to further debate.

Scaling Informal Learning: An Integrative Systems View on Scaffolding at the Workplace

While several technological advances have been suggested to scale learning at the workplace, none has been successful to scale informal learning. We review three theoretical discourses and suggest an integrated systems model of scaffolding informal workplace learning that has been created to tackle this challenge. We derive research questions that emerge from this model and illustrate these with an in-depth analysis of two workplace learning domains.

“Cascades, torrents & drowning” in information: seeking help in the contemporary general practitioner practice in the UK

ABSTRACT This paper responds to the Alpine Rendez-Vous “crisis” in technology-enhanced learning. It takes a contested area of policy as well as a rapid change in the National Health Service, and documents the responses to “information overload” by a group of general practitioners practices in the North of England. Located between the spaces identified by Traxler and Lally as “competitive industrialisation” and web 1.0, and the consumer/ customer focus and ubiquitous ownership enabled by portable and devices and web 2.0, in this work we see the parallels of the responses of publicly funded bodies moving towards privatisation as part of a neo-liberal agenda. Interviews with health professionals (HPs) revealed marginalised spaces for informal learning in their workplaces, and a desire to build a community that would enable them to overcome the time/space barriers to networking. The EU Learning Layers Integrating Project develops mobile and social technologies that unlock and enable peer production within and across traditional workplace boundaries. Through the HP narratives, we capture insights into their daily life, which enable the articulation of their needs for an online “Help-seeking” networking service, underpinned by their desire to consult what Vygotsky calls “the more capable peer.”

Social network innovation in the Internet’s global coffee houses: designing a mobile Help Seeking tool in Learning Layers

In this paper, we argue that there is much that we can learn from the past as we explore the issues raised when designing innovative social media and mobile technologies for learning. Like the social networking that took place in coffee houses in the 1600s, the Internet-enabled social networks of today stand accused of being the so-called “weapons of mass distraction” or worse. However, we point out that modern fears about the dangers of social networking are overdone. The paper goes on to present some of the 1930s ideas of Vygotsky. Part of the Learning Layers project builds on this work; we report on extensive initial co-design work and significant barriers with respect to the design of a mobile Help Seeking tool for the health care sector (UK). We then provide an account of how the Help-Seeking tool is being linked to a Social Semantic Server and briefly report on a follow-up empirical co-design study. We conclude by highlighting associated challenges.

Patterns of Practice and Design: Towards an Agile Methodology for Educational Design Research

This paper proposes a framework which attempts to address the barriers to the development of successful educational design research through a process which identifies gaps in current practices and devises innovations to target them. Educational design research assumes an ambitious position: a dual commitment to understand and contribute to both theory and practice. This task is confounded by the complexity of the domain and the inherent multi-stakeholder nature of most initiatives. Three barriers to success are identified: the shortage of mechanisms for cross-stakeholder dialogue, the failure to account for existing practices and contexts, and the rigid processes dictated by the dynamics of research projects. We report early findings from an attempt to address these barriers, based on an extension and adaptation of the Participatory Pattern Workshop (PPW) methodology (This paper has received the support of the Learning Layers project co-funded by the European Commission; Grant Agreement Number 318209; http://learning-layers.eu/).

Mobile Medien als Kulturressourcen für Lernen, ein kulturökologischer Beitrag zur Medienbildung

Die mittlerweile weltweit alltaglichen Handys und Smartphones sind der Anlass, einen kulturokologischen Rahmen fur Medienbildung zu skizzieren. Ausgangspunkt ist die Uberlegung, mobile, digitale und konvergente Medien als Kulturressourcen zu verstehen. Dazu schlagt der folgende Beitrag ein Triangulationsmodell vor, das hilft, gesellschaftliche und kulturelle Strukturen zusammen mit Handlungskompetenzen und Handlungsoptionen (Agency) sowie mit Kulturpraktiken als interdependent zu analysieren. Ziel dieser Dreiecks-Argumentation ist es, die Passung von mobilen, digitalen Medien mit der Personlichkeitsentwicklung der Kinder und Jugendlichen kritisch abzuschatzen. In einem weiteren Gedanken geht es darum, die ‚innere’ Verbindung von Mediennutzung und Lernen als Bedeutungskonstitution herauszuarbeiten. Darauf aufbauend folgt der Vorschlag zur Assimilation der Alltagsnutzung mobiler, digitaler Medien in die Schule. Ausgehend von den neuen nutzergenerierten Kontexten in der mobilen, individualisierten, konvergenten Massenkommunikation folgt ein didaktisches Analyse- und ein Planungsstrument. Der folgende Beitrag fasst den in den letzten funf Jahren im Rahmen der London Mobile Learning Group (www.londonmobilelearning.net) entstanden Ansatz zum mobilen Lernen zusammen.

Kulturökologie, Medien und Mediennutzung

Bei Kulturokologie geht es zum einen um den systemischen Zugang zu Kultur mit ihren Artfakten, dazu gehoren Medien, und zum anderen um die Frage nach Ressourcen. Artefakte und Ressourcen definieren Kindheit z. B. in der Weise, wie die Elterngeneration ihre Kinder als Teil der Gesellschaft z. B. der Wissensgesellschaft oder der Mediengesellschaft sieht (vgl. Araya/Peters 2010). Weiterhin pragen die von der Elterngeneration bewusst oder beilaufig bereitgestellten Artefakte die Entwicklung der Kindergeneration.