Oluf Danielsen

Dialogue design - With mutual learning as guiding principle

This article describes a large European research and development project on Multimedia and Network in Co-operative Research and Learning (MANICORAL) from the point of view of participating human-computer interaction (HCI) researchers. The project developed the methodology of dialogue design, drawing on two sources: participatory design (PD) and dialogue research (DR). Action research is understood as the historical basis for the two strands, where PD has focused on research in working life, and DR has focused on living conditions. However, dialogue design as a methodology differs in a number of aspects. In dialogue design, the carrying principal is mutual learning, focus is on working life of high resource groups, and users are themselves developing parts of the technologies. The techniques applied and the role of HCI researcher as mediator creating dialogues are introduced and reflected upon. Dialogue design is discussed within the theoretical concepts of communication and learning.

Children's informal learning in the context of schools of the knowledge society

This paper builds on a key finding of a 5-year Danish research project con-cerning children in the 7 to 15 age group: children’s principal use of computers and the internet takes place in their spare time, and it is during their spare time that the majority of children really learn how to use interactive media. The project shows that in children’s spare-time use of ICT they employ informal forms of learning based to a large extent on their social interaction both in physical and virtual spaces. These informal learning forms can be identified as learning hierarchies, learning communities and learning networks; they are important contributions to the school of the knowledge society. The ICT in New Learning Environments project based on anthropologically inspired methods and social learning theories shows that students bring their informal forms of learning into the school context. This happens particularly when the school has undergone physical alterations and when its organisation of learning and teaching are also restructured, with project-based learning becoming an important part of the school work and with the media available in the learning environment. Using organisation theory, the school working with ICT and project-based learning is shown to simultaneously constitute a mixed mode between the school of the industrial and the knowledge society. The research shows that it is possible to tip the balance in the direction of the school of the knowledge society, and thus of the future, by comprehensively using ICT and project work in the day-to-day activities of the school, alongside and integrated with the traditional forms of learning, and not least by employing the informal learning processes children develop outside school. For teachers this will mean an extension of their function: no longer merely communicators of knowledge, they will have to become knowledge managers and overall leaders of projects, and this entails much more dialogue with the pupils.

Problem-Oriented Project Studies: The Role of the Teacher as Supervisor for the Study Group in Its Learning Processes

Focus is on problem-based learning in a networked learning context with focus on the use of technologies in the communicative processes among the participants. Especially, the role of the teacher in such a context is analysed. The classic, traditional role as an expert deciding the curriculum, providing lectures and seminars, giving assignments, and marking papers and essays is complemented and in some ways overruled by a new role as supervisor and facilitator for the group of students working with a research problem that they have picked themselves. However, different dimensions of this new teacher role can be observed – from expert in an academic field to a role that focuses more on processes, methodological dimensions, and the importance of a reflexive approach. In some situations, the role as social mediator is needed questioning and assisting the members of the group in the complex task of interacting with fellow students in an uncertain and volatile context and environment. Successful network learning requires teachers or supervisors who are reflective and able to take the other’s perspective.

Large-scale wind power in Denmark

Abstract The goal of the official energy plan for Denmark is to produce 10% of the countrys electricity from wind power. A total of 3% has so far been achieved, but it now looks as though there will be a moratorium on further wind power development. If the 10% target is to be reached stricter planning control will be required so as not to destroy the landscape through the building of windfarms and clusters of wind turbines, and in the long run offshore windfarms will be the way forward. However, there are currently obstacles arising from conflicting interests, and there is also a ban on private ‘windmill guilds’ as operators of offshore windfarms. The private guilds have during the last 20 years been the primary driving force behind the dissemination of wind energy in the national energy system.

User requirements capture for a multimedia CSCW system

The early stages of a Europen Union funded multimedia CSCW project scheduled to run for several years are described. The project, called Manicoral, concerns the definition, design, development and implementation of a CSCW as well as a study of cultural, collaborative and communications aspects of a scientific community to whom the interaction media are new. The CSCW system encompasses both data visualisation and communications tools. These are being developed iteratively together with user requirements which are expected to change as the project matures and the user groups become accustomed to using the tools. The Scandinavian perspective and Human Factors analyses are broughttogether in a wholistic conceptual framework in the project to cover both technical requirements and collaboration, communication and cultural issues. Methods applied so far and early results are reported.