Micromedia and Corporate Learning

CONFERENCE SERIES Micromedia and Corporate Learning Editors: Martin Lindner, Peter A. Bruck Proceedings of the 3 rd International Microlearning 2007 Conference innsbruck university press CONFERENCE SERIES Series Editors: K. Habitzel, T. D. Märk, S. Prock, B. Stehno iup • innsbruck university press www.uibk.ac.at/iup innsbruck university press in Conference Series: Series Editors: K. Habitzel, T. D. Märk, S. Prock, B. Stehno Also available by iup in this series: Contributions – 2nd International Conference on Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry and Its Applications, ISBN-10: 3-901249-78-8, ISBN-13: 978-3-901249-78-5 Editors: A. Hansel, T. D. Märk 41st Symposium on Theoretical Chemistry – Innsbruck, Austria September 5–7, 2005 ISBN-10: 3-901249-80-X, ISBN-13: 978-3-901249-80-8 – Editors: B. M. Rode, B. R. Randolf Contributions – 15th Symposium on Atomic and Surface Physics and Related Topics ISBN-10: 3-901249-82-6, ISBN-13: 978-3-901249-82-2 – Editors: V. Grill, T. D. Märk Microlearning: Emerging Concepts, Practices and Technologies Proceedings of Microlearning 2005: Learning & Working in New Media Environments ISBN-10: 3-901249-83-4, ISBN-13: 978-3-901249-83-9 – Editors: T. Hug, M. Lindner, P. A. Bruck Zukunftsplattform Obergurgl 2006: Forschungsplattformen innerhalb der Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck ISBN-10: 3-901249-86-9, ISBN-13: 978-3-901249-86-0 – Editors: M. Grumiller, T. D. Märk Bildung schafft Zukunft 1. Innsbrucker Bildungstage, 17. – 18. November 2005 ISBN-10: 3-901249-87-7, ISBN-13: 978-3-901249-87-7 – Editor: Heidi Möller Die Wiederentdeckung der Langsamkeit Tagungsband zum gleichnamigen Symposion anlässlich des Tages der psychischen Gesundheit 2005, ISBN-10: 3-901249-88-5, ISBN-13: 978-3-901249-88-4 Editors: Matthias A. Brüstle, Wolfgang Weber Pangeo Austria 2006 ISBN-10: 3-901249-93-1, ISBN-13: 978-3-901249-93-8 – Editor: Monika Tessadri-Wackerle Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Adjoint Applications in Dynamic Meteorology ISBN-10: 3-901249-98-2, ISBN-13: 978-3-901249-98-3 – Editors: M. Ehrendorfer, R. M. Errico Micromedia & e-Learning 2.0: Gaining the Big Picture Proceedings of Microlearning Conference 2006 ISBN-10: 3-901249-99-0, ISBN-13: 978-3-901249-99-0 – Editors: T. Hug, M. Lindner, P. A. Bruck Contributions – 3rd International Conference on Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry and Its Applications ISBN-10: 3-902571-03-9, ISBN-13: 978-3-902571-03-8 – Editors: A. Hansel, T.D. Märk Micromedia and Corporate Learning Proceedings of the 3 International Microlearning 2007 Conference rd Editors: Martin Lindner, Peter A. Bruck Printed with support of Vizerektorat für Forschung – Universität Innsbruck Austrian Research Centers GmbH Research Studios Austria © 2007 1st edition All rights reserved. c/o Vizerektorat für Forschung Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck Christoph-Probst-Platz, Innrain 52 A-6020 Innsbruck www.uibk.ac.at/iup Editors: Martin Lindner, Peter A. Bruck Publishing staff: Carmen Drolshagen, Jasmine Luger Organisation, Layout: Wolfgang Hagleitner Produced: Fred Steiner, Rinn – Book on Demand ISBN: 978-3-902571-09-0 Table of Content Forewords Peter A. Bruck Welcome and Introduction to “Micromedia and Corporate Learning” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Martina A. Roth Welcome to Microlearning 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Tilmann Märk Preparing for the Digital Knowledge Society at the University of Innsbruck . . . . . . . . . 6 Introductory Note Martina A. Roth Global Economy & Microlearning: The Intel® Education Initiative for the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 David Smith Messiness, Education, Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Teemu Leinonen Building the Culture of (e-)Learning in Microcontent Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Ajit Jaokoar Mobile Web 2.0: Designing Open Gardens for Tomorrow’s Microcontent-based Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Stephanie Rieger Mobile Micro-learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Martin Lindner What Is Microlearning? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Table of Content Papers Norm Friesen The Microlearning Agenda in the Age of Educational Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Jana Herwig The Dark Side of the Force: The Issue of Microplagiarism in Microlearning . . . . . . . . 79 Andreas Schmidt Microlearning and the Knowledge Maturing Process: Towards Conceptual Foundations for Work-Integrated Microlearning Support . . . . . . 99 Junichi Azuma, Hermann Maurer From Emoticon to Universal Symbolic Signs: Can Written Language Survive in Cyberspace? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Andreas Walbert, Mirko Ross Small Portions of Knowledge – Training for highly educated service engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Linda Johanna Castañeda On-line learning in on-site institutions: The challenge to try new pedagogical models in higher education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Markus Appel Some ideas on learning through fictional (micro-) narratives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Thomas Sporer, Ulrich Fahrner, Ruben Schulze-Fröhlich, Tino Jahnke, Frank Vohle Transforming traditional classroom lectures into interactive digital media experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Taiga Brahm The Development of Team Competencies through Social Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Table of Content Best Practice Reports Abdullah Lin Learning and Competency Development at Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. – A Practical Approach Towards Developing People in Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bachok M. Taib, Waidah Ismail Developing CGPA planner by using PDA for Islamic Science University of Malaysia (USIM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Azza H. Amer, Mahmoud M. El-Khouly, S.M. Khaled Web-based Graduate Diploma in Computer Sciences – A Case Study – . . . . . . . . . Tanja Jadin, Paul Maderthaner Laptops as a resource for microlearning scenarios? Findings from a survey on the implementation of laptop classrooms in Austrian upper secondary education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christian Petter, Kathrin Helling 365 Mini-Lessons to Learn English Module development for the project EIT – English for IT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yu-Hsiu Chou, Li-Wen Wang Web-based Instruction – Two Empirical Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Martin Ebner, Walther Nagler, Anna Saranti TU Graz goes Podcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pedro P. Sanchez-Villalon, Manuel Ortega, Asuncion Sanchez-Villalon AIOLE and AWLA application to e-Learning 2.0: an ePortfolio with an eDossier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 179 187 197 211 214 221 234 Short Biographies (Key Speakers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Welcome and Introduction to “Micromedia and Corporate Learning” (Foreword) Peter A. Bruck Austria Research Centers GmbH, Salzburg/Vienna (Austria) General Manager Dear Readers, This book serves to prepare and record the discussions at the 3rd international conference on Microlearning organised by the Research Studios Austria at the University of Innsbruck. When we started to organise the first conference in 2005, microlearning was an entirely new term and concept and the keywords “microcontent” and “Web 2.0” had just been coined and were still only used by a very small circle of information architects. Microcontent, micromedia, and microlearning, we were using the three terms to reference what appeared to us new forms of knowledge and learning in a digital networked environment. We wanted to pull together observations and interpretations of the new trends into a conversational space from which new concepts and empirical theories can emerge. This was - and still is - the ambitious goal of the Microlearning Conference Series. Thanks to the work of the team members of the Research Studio “eLearning Environments” and especially the program chair, Martin Lindner in preparing the last three conferences, including his active blogging and web publishing, microlearning is becoming a recognised field of inquiry and practice in the area of technology enhanced learning. Simplicity and Effectiveness The 2007 conference has a number of key topics spanning from Micromedia to Corporate e-Learning and including Schools Without Walls, Enterprise Trainings, Social Software developments and Peer2Peer Learning. 2 Foreword: Peter A. Bruck The main objective of and reason for our focus on microlearning in the Research Studios Austria is to make learning through the support of new media technologies more simple and more effective. Simplicity and effectiveness are the keys to success in learning. Too much of technology including recent online media developments tends to make learning more complicated and more intransparent to learners. Learning with the support of technologies should not require one to become an internet engineer or software specialist. And learning should be more effective with the use of technological resources and aids. We bring this objective also to the conference and its discussions. Micromedia and Corporate Learning Our 3rd International Microlearning 2007 Conference is entitled “Micromedia and Corporate Learning”. The term and concept of “micromedia” respond to the calls from ICT users for the design of innovative experiences, processes and technologies: personal and dynamic, casual and volatile, but still complex and effective. In corporate learning the changes through the development of micromedia are most profound. This we want to explore in the next pages and the sessions of the conference. Microlearning 2007 brings together media technologists and academics, visionaries and practitioners, entrepreneurs and corporate professionals from around the world to discuss new visions and analysis, innovative concepts, projects, and best practice results related to the impact of the emerging new digital micromedia ecology and corporate learning strategies. We cherish the multi-facetted expertise of the participants and the interdisciplinary of their approaches to e-learning. Formats and Outcome The Microlearning conference series is discussing informal and formal learning as well as the acquisition of information and knowledge in the context of new, microcontentbased media technologies, practices and environments. We try to improve the formats of the conference and to increase the outcome for participants. We are trying to create a different kind of conference by • blending the different perspectives putting a sharp focus on the intersection and inter-action of technologies, markets, information design/architecture and the Humanities; • not restricting participation to a particular in-group or network, but bringing together international experts and leaders from different fields: teachers, educators, and learning techno-logists; entrepeneurs in the field of Web 2.0 and Welcome and Introduction to “Micromedia and Corporate Learning” 3 the Mobile Web; academic scholars, consultants, and corporate practitioners; information architects and designers; experts in mobile data services … • keeping it smaller-sized (ca. 100 participants), allows intensive and focused discussions instead of a multitude of different sessions and frontal presentations; • inviting participants from many corners, from Western and Eastern Europe, USA, Canada, Japan – even people from Africa and Australia have been participating in earlier conferences. Key inputs and key people Many of the most recognised people in field of the microcontent based Web (“Web 2.0”), “Learning 2.0”, and mobile Web are taking or have take part in our meetings. Stephen Downes, the “godfather of e-Learning 2.0”; George Siemens, the evangelist of “connectivist knowledge” in the new networked era; Thomas Vander Wal, a consultant and information architect, who coined the very influential term “folksonomy” for Web 2.0 tagging practices. We welcome them and all others who contribute to the productive exchanges characteristic of the Microlearning conferences Partners and friends The 2007 Conference is special also thanks to Intel Education which is joining as Head Sponsor of Microlearning 07. For the second time, Intel is demonstrating that it sees technology as a means to put learning at the fingertips of users. “Classroom Without Walls” is the Intel® Education Initiative to close the digital gap and assist pupils and teachers in the use of the most up-to-date technology. System One has been a friend of the conference since the start, sponsoring the informal get2gethers. This is quite in keeping with a young start up company which breaks into the market with a new technology providing instant knowledge connections to ongoing information work across all technology platforms and data formats. I especially welcome and thank Martina Roth to join me as Conference Chair for Microlearning 2007. We hope that this book and the conference will be useful to you in your endeavours in using technology to make learning more simple and effective. June 2007, Salzburg/Seibersdorf/Innsbruck Prof. Dr. Peter A. Bruck Ph.D. General Manager Research Studios Austria Austrian Research Centers GmbH – ARC Welcome to Microlearning 2007 (Foreword) Martina A. Roth Director Education, EMEA, Intel Corporation (Germany) Ladies and Gentlemen, As a Conference Chair of Microlearning2007, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the third conference of this annual series in the beautiful city of Innsbruck. My greetings go to all the participants, of course, but also to all those who take part indirectly by reading the collection of introductory texts, research papers, and reports. Thank you all for your engagement! Microlearning2007 is at the intersection of many different interests, perspectives and experiences that make this conference a quite unique event. This is a main reason why Intel Education is proud to be Head Sponsor of this conference for the second time. “Microlearning” stands for new ways to develop, use and apply digital learning experiences in a digital environment that is characterized by always having an overwhelming amount of information “at the fingertips”. This year, a special focus of the conference lies on the “Classroom Without Walls” or in other word, the Virtual Classroom: In such a kind of media environment, what are the fundamental changes and challenges, that have to be met by teachers, administrators and partipating students alike? The Intel® Education Initiative is a very ambitious initiative to help bridging the digital divide and preparing schools and teachers for the knowledge economy of the 21st Century. If you want to know more about the Intel® Education Initiative, a large-scale, sustained and long-term commitment to accelerate education improvement for the knowledge economy, I’d like to invite you to have a deeper look at the paper on page Welcome to Microlearning 2007 5 eight, describing in detail the mission, the objectives, the results and the accompanying reflections. As a Conference Chair, I would like to wish you a very successful and interesting conference, and I hope that you will benefit from it as much as I do. Yours sincerely Preparing for the Digital Knowledge Society at the University of Innsbruck (Foreword) Tilmann Märk University of Innsbruck (Austria) Vice-Rector for Research Ladies and Gentlemen, It is my great pleasure to introduce this third volume of conference proceedings. My greetings go to all the participants, and a special welcome to all the keynote speakers from inside and outside of Europe. I want to thank Prof. Peter A. Bruck, Head of ARC Research Studios Austria, for the inspiring and fruitful collaboration, and finally all the authors and presenters for contributing to these Proceedings which we are glad to publish in our own publishing house, Innsbruck University Press (IUP). The University of Innsbruck is proud to be a partner in this emerging and strategically important field of science. The third Microlearning conference is proof that this unique series of events is now well established. Innsbruck has become a well known place on the international map of cutting e-learning research and studies in the digital “Knowledge Web”. The emergence of new hybrid forms of technology and humanity is a fascinating field. Still I am relieved to see that personal contact is not completely replaced by digital technologies – there seems to be a special quality in meeting and discussing things faceto-face. In the field of e-learning and microlearning, the ARC Research Studios Austria, organizers of the conference, are closely cooperating with professor Ostendorf at the “Institute for Organisation and Learning” (IOL) at the Department for Economics. But there are also synergies with the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI) at the Department for Informatics, the eTourism Competence Center Austria (ECCA), and the “Innsbruck Media Studies” network (IMS), which is bundling all the multiple media initiatives across the borders of departments and faculties, be they theoretical or practical, research-orientated and teaching-orientated. Preparing for the Digital Knowledge Society at the University of Innsbruck 7 This conference is only one prominent example for the collaboration between the Austrian Research Studios and the Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck (LFUI), which has already generated innovative and competitive research, with some impact on the national and international scientific community – not only in respect to ICT, but in the field of biotechnology as well. The main goal is to intensify the relationship between academic research and R&D, in order to intensify the development of products and services in the field of e-technologies, smart contents and new media. Tyrol is a region with a highly innovative profile in eHealth and eTourism. The University of Innsbruck is well aware of the dramatic changes in the information and knowledge environment induced by digital media – we have seen some already, but more is yet to come. To keep being prepared for the digital future, initiatives like the international Microlearning conference, or the 4th European Semantic Web Conference being held in Innsbruck only two weeks earlier, are of great importance. To meet the challenges of the future, we need research activities at the international level, bridging the borders between academia, technology and economy. I am proud that through cooperation with the ARC Research Studios, the University of Innsbruck has become a central node in the international microlearning research network, and am looking forward to an inspiring conference. Global Economy & Microlearning: The Intel® Education Initiative for the 21st Century (Introductory Note) Martina A. Roth Director Education, EMEA, Intel Corporation (Germany) Introduction Today, it is nearly undisputed, that knowledge is the most valuable resource of most nations. And technology clearly is the backbone of modern growth economy. It changes how we live, what we do and how we communicate by enabling the rapid evolution of ideas and industries. Within this frame, the Internet can be seen as the “railroad” of the 21st century – it enables information and knowledge to transcend national borders and helps to bridge digital divides across the globe. Being connected to the Internet, knowledge workers can work anytime, anywhere. Geography is no longer a destiny. The world economy is growing at astonishing pace: We have seen 3 billion new participants over the last 15 years, coming from India, China, Eastern Europe and various other parts of the world. As a result, competition is increasing – and thus are the opportunities. As the future will be even more dynamic, countries must address these changes or they risk of being left behind. Knowledge is the new principal commodity to face the challenges, not natural resources or financial capital anymore. Those who benefit most in the knowledge economy are those who can innovate and adapt most quickly. In the new global economy, where technology and knowledge are the key factors of production, access to and effective use of information and communication technology (ICT) is a necessity for individuals and economies to be competitive. Clearly, one key area to increase access to ICT is in Education. According to a recent 2006 World Bank survey on Information and Communication for Development, policy makers found that connecting schools to information and communication technology (ICT) is one of the top e-strategies to help promote economic growth and reduce poverty. It states that “E-education is a focus area in 88 percent of national ICT strategies surveyed. The principal objective of this focus is e-literacy in the formal and informal Global Economy & Microlearning: The Intel® Education Initiative for the 21st Century 9 education system. In addition, using ICT in education to improve teaching and school administration… to all levels of school system…”1 The benefits of ICT in Education What are some of the benefits of ICT in education? According to a 2002 report “Technologies for Education”, prepared for UNESCO by Knowledge Education Inc., it states “The benefits are clear. Technologies are only tools − but powerful ones. They have the potential to contribute to different facets of educational development and learning: expanding access, promoting efficiency, improving the quality of learning, enhancing the quality of teaching, vitalizing management systems, boosting the possibilities for lifelong learning, and offering e-training in the workplace.”2 The same report states another major reason: ”One of the most powerful reasons for using ICT in an educational system is that they put learning in the hands of the user. They facilitate individualizing curriculum, permit learners to dictate the pace of learning, and widen sources of information. ICT also promotes active learning and allows for interaction between and among peers and mentors.”3 st 21 Century Learning Efforts such as UNESCO’s Economic and Social Commission or the CEO Forum’s School and Technology Readiness Report have identified key skills necessary for success in the knowledge economy—called the 21st century skills. More and more world leaders today realize that educators and students will need more than just having access to ICT in schools to succeed in a knowledge economy. To become tomorrow’s innovators (the ones that power local economies) students need to develop those 21st century skills today: • Technology and Digital Literacy: The ability to access, manage, analyze, integrate, evaluate and create information in a variety of forms and media • Effective Communication: Understanding, managing, and creating effective oral, written, and multimedia communication in a variety of forms and contexts. • Critical Thinking: Exercising sound reasoning in understanding and making complex choices, understanding the interconnections among systems. • Problem Solving: Ability to frame, analyze, and solve problems. 1 Source: 2006 World Bank – Information and Communications for Development, pp. 95-99 2 Source: Wadi D. Haddad and Alexandra Draxler, Technologies for Education, Prepared for UNESCO by Knowledge Education, Inc. in 2002 3 Source: Gajaraj Dhanrajan, Technologies for Education (Chapter 5), Prepared for UNESCO by Knowledge Education, Inc. in 2002 10 Introductory Note: Martina A. Roth • Collaboration: Demonstrating teamwork and leadership; adapting to varied roles and responsibilities. 21st century learning is critically important, as new careers increasingly require digital fluency and students need to comfortably use technology to think critically and collaborate with others to solve complex problems. Companies are looking for employees who have a combination of hard and soft skills. They need employees that are adaptable, self-directed, ICT savvy but at the same time, have so called “people skills” and social competency as most innovation involves communicating and collaborating with large teams of people from different cultures. In addition, 21st century learning will also give students a basis for life-long learning and skills to participate in other areas such as civic and global issues. Here is what Thought Leaders, who recognized the importance of life-long learning, are saying about 21st century learning skills “Kids also must learn to think across disciplines, since that's where most new breakthroughs are made. It's interdisciplinary combinations – design and technology, mathematics, and art - that produce YouTube and Google…"(Thomas L. Friedman, author of “The World is Flat”). “All governments face the same challenge, to provide their citizens with the opportunity to succeed in the global economy. Increasingly, that success is linked to the quality of education.”(Dr. Craig R. Barrett, Chairman, Intel Corporation). In an educational ecosystem for 21st century learning, three key pillars need to exist: improvements to a school infrastructure, updated curricula and standards that promote 21st century learning, and an education community that wants to advance education. To achieve this ecosystem, government collaboration through public-private partnership and NGOs is a must. Intel works with educators and governments to pro¬mote excellence in education. We also collaborate with multilateral organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); UN and UNDP, the Global Education Initiative (GEI) of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Bank, to promote economic development through 21st century education. It’s this foundation that sets the building blocks to form a beneficial transformative effect for a country’s citizens to successfully participate in a global knowledge economy. As a driving force for the digital transformation sweeping the globe, Intel® Education is uniquely positioned to help governments transform and enhance their teacher professional development efforts through its Intel® Teach Program. Global Economy & Microlearning: The Intel® Education Initiative for the 21st Century 11 This paper will not only argue the importance of effective use of Information and Communications Technologies as new means for creating learning opportunities in the preparation and support of the 21st century learning but will present evidence of solutions that lay in the teacher’s education and forums for knowledge building and applications. By doing so, micro-learning extends to become the new paradigm shift in learning and presents the vehicles for individualised and personalised learning that are compatible with diverse students’ learning styles while manipulating new emerging learning tools such as PDA, SMS, and so forth. Preparing a Knowledge Economy and Effective Citizenship In a recent address, the UK Secretary of Trade and Industry shared his concern with the world when he posed the following question: “How can we compete in a global economy if research indicates that the entering workforce lacks the skills they need and university students have some ‘adequate’ skills rather than ‘excellent’ skills?” This situation is not unique to the UK but it is mirrored in all developed countries. It is, therefore, needless to emphasise the criticality of the learning situation in the developing ones and the pressing need to take this concern seriously for all current educational contexts. The current educational set-ups were seen as not adequate and the immediate answer to the earlier question is rather another question: “How to improve every aspect of teaching and learning, as well as providing integrated services to families and pupils so they can take full advantage of the educational opportunities available?” Explicit in this question is the fact that young people urgently need new skills to succeed in the Global Economy and that technology should not be looked in isolation. Schools and technology should be pulled together. The ultimate outcome is the 21st Century adult. We don’t want 21st century students being taught by 20th century teachers in 19th century classrooms. The schools of the future and their set-ups for accessibility and connectivity do not represent the challenge per se. The connection between these two parameters lay in the teaching and learning activities whereby a considerable shift in education from an emphasis on 'teaching' to an emphasis on 'learning' should be manifested. The focus of attention should firmly be focused on the learners, their needs, interests and aspirations by matching the right technology to the learning experience for the benefit of the learners. This should be central of the new education systems and in the heart of the new paradigm shift in learning. Therefore, if we were to encourage and embrace different approaches to teaching and learning, and new relationships between students and learning, we need to understand, 12 Introductory Note: Martina A. Roth create, and support new ways in which teachers present learning opportunities, adapt, and make such new approaches a reality. Microlearning and Intel® Teach The recent shift to microlearning can be characterized and determined by the burning need to reduce the information overflow and to structure it into small but well connected links. New didactic models need to be in place for this, as this reduction has to be undertaken from the perspective of the user. And finally, technology is a key enabler as individual learners need to choose the time, the pace and the place for learning. “Normal” eLearning does not fully support the demand for continued learning, mainly as it does not “accept” the difficulties of the user to create large time-islands for learning4. Intel® Teach - Advanced Online and Collaborative has emerged as a model for professional development that builds on teachers’ collaboration in the design, delivery, and assessment of the National Curriculum. It is an online professional-development community that seeks to develop and support highly skilled and innovative teachers, helping them take full advantage of 21st century pedagogic practice and technology. And it aims to do this by providing on demand high quality training, resources, support and collaborative tools developed with educators for educators. The Intel® Teach Program is a proven, worldwide professional development that has trained more than four million teachers in 40 countries on integrating technology and 21st century learning. The program is regularly, independently evaluated and consistently ranks among the most effective programs of its kind in existence. A range of program offerings provides flexibility which adapts to a country’s evolving infrastructure and addresses the readiness of individual teachers. Its curriculum is developed by educators for educators. Building on three main educational pillars: Teaching Strategies, Teaching Methods and Learning Styles, this training empowers in-service and pre-service teachers with Learning Paths as tools for teachers’ collaboration that are embedded with effective pedagogies. The micro-learning and training which is based on their needs analysis within a personalized and self-paced learning path has the following steps: Teachers work in groups to discuss requirements and objectives, based on their personal needs analysis and requirements, teachers select from the learning paths5 available on the platform, implement in the classroom, reflect, and evaluate. Finally teachers are certified. Once they have developed an effective method that is working very well in their teaching 4 Source: Peter A. Bruck: Microlearning as strategic research field: An invitation to collaborate, Paper presented at Microlearning 2005 Conference 5 A learning path is a teaching method that is selected based on needs' analysis and it is implemented by a group of teachers within their lessons and across different subject areas. Global Economy & Microlearning: The Intel® Education Initiative for the 21st Century 13 and has shown good results with their students, teachers are encouraged to share this creativity by fitting this method within the pedagogical template and then posit it on the platform for other teachers to benefit from. By doing so, teachers own and create a wealth of effective material and move from learners, to developers, to creators. Accordingly, micro-learning becomes a catalyst for an effective and powerful macro-learning that extends beyond walls and boundaries. Moreover, this training provided through ubiquitous networked technology offers the potential to create a more complete picture of each teacher-learner that includes information about their learning activities across multiple learning paths and over time. Intel® Teach - Advanced Online and Collaborative builds on teachers’ skills in order to promote team work and collaboration among teachers as well as effective practices in the use of ICT. Teachers also join effort to evaluate their learning individually and collectively and devise ways and strategies for further enhancement and extension. By doing so, teachers become reflective practitioners who know how to embed research and continuous evaluation in their day-to-day teaching. Intel® Teach - Advanced Online and Collaborative becomes a joined-up approach to Professional Development - by teachers for teachers, connects micro learning to macro learning through partnership to link all available national and international resources in an easy to find format. It also accepts that teachers are learners too and have different needs - often learning through using teaching resources. Intel® Teach - Advanced Online and Collaborative provides practical multi-level support and makes good use of collaborative networks using simple open source tools by collating and making available open source and free software tools to enable material creation. Finally, Intel® Teach Advanced Online and Collaborative offers a demand led “Pull CPD” approach. By being self-paced and based on the teacher’s selection of the teaching method, Intel® Teach - Advanced Online and Collaborative contains further elements of micro learning, the course can be completed during a set period of time that could be as little as a school term and could extend to a school year. Evaluation for Refinement and Scalability Evaluation for learning is an integral part of the Intel® Teach Program. It is done systematically and governed and examined by academic institutions that act as our external evaluators. The aim is to provide evidence for an effective curriculum, pedagogy and process of classroom interaction that directly influences learning. Independent evaluation from Educational Data Center shows the program is having a measurable impact, consistently ranks among the most effective programs of its kind in 14 Introductory Note: Martina A. Roth existence and has continuously supported the Intel® Teach Program methods used to improve teaching and learning. Globally, the program has strong success rates6 : • 84 % of teachers increase use of technology for lesson planning and preparations • 75 % of teacher respondents indicate increased use of technology activities with their students • 75 % of teachers use the unit/lesson they developed in training back in their schools • 61 % of teachers increase use of project-based approaches in their teaching External credible evaluators collect data and observe the extent and quality of teacher implementation of new techniques in the classroom each year in each country Intel programs have been implemented. This helps us determine the effectiveness and impact of K-12 programs on teachers’ classroom performance as well as how to improve the effectiveness of the programme. We also communicate effectiveness and results with all stakeholders, thus encouraging participating teachers to continue learning and implementing new techniques and encouraging nonparticipating teachers to participate as well. The evaluation for Intel® Teach - Advanced Online and Collaborative is unique as it embeds unprecedented means to evaluate the impact of online interactions. The scope of this evaluation will cover the impact of the program on: 6 • Enhancing the effectiveness of learning and the quality of the learning experience inside the classroom by providing a better fit between the needs of learners at a particular time and the range of learning paths provided • Increasing the scope of professional development to promote a lifelong learning which in turn will increase the skills of the in-service teachers in an increasingly knowledge intensive world economy. • Changing teachers’ behaviours by promoting and encouraging creativity, collaboration, and problem solving as part of the core training experience. • Increasing access to learning opportunities within each participating country by broadening the set of e-learning resources and forums available to learners • Increasing access to learning opportunities and shared experiences across borders Source: EDC International Impact Survey Results, July 2006 Global Economy & Microlearning: The Intel® Education Initiative for the 21st Century 15 Using a comparative - multiple case studies allows the authentication and replication of the model across any country that joins with slight modification specific to culture and context. Corporate Responsibility for the Knowledge Society For over 35 years, Intel® Corporation has developed technology enabling the computer and Internet revolution that has changed the world. Founded in 1968 to build semiconductor memory products, Intel introduced the world's first microprocessor in 1971. Today, Intel supplies the computing and communications industries with chips, boards, systems, and software building blocks that are the "ingredients" of computers, servers and networking and communications products. These products are used by industry members to create advanced computing and communications systems. Intel's mission is to enhance lives by accelerating access to uncompromised technology for everyone, anywhere in the world. With breakthrough technology, Intel continues to enable advances in living standards worldwide. Corporate Social Responsibility is incremental part of the company’s culture from the very beginning. And Education is in its heart. Intel’s commitment to education is longstanding and deep. Since the company was founded in 1968, Intel has been actively engaged in improving education and promoting math and science programs in the local communities where we operate. Intel invests more than $100 million each year in our education programs, which have been the cornerstone of our strategic global philanthropic efforts since Intel was founded. By now, we have invested more than $1 billion worldwide in Education. We believe that educa¬tion is critical to inspire creativity and innovation. Working with educators, governments and industry, we design and deliver innovative and unique programs in more than 50 countries on six continents. By the end of 2006, over four million teachers have been trained in more than 40 countries worldwide. Our mission continues, and the goal has been set to reach 10 million teachers worldwide by 2011 - our efforts in education grow stronger each year. The Intel® Education Initiative seeks to accelerate improvement in education for the knowledge economy and has three core objectives: • Improve teaching and learning through the effective use of technology. • Advance mathematics, science and engineering education and research. • Advocate for and celebrate 21st century educational excellence. We strive to work together with educators and governments around the world to improve teaching and learning. We collaborate with governments, educators and leading institutions in every community in which we have a presence. We also recognize the expertise and reach of multilateral development organizations like UNESCO. In 16 Introductory Note: Martina A. Roth November 2004, we signed an MOU with UNESCO around the creation of a worldwide framework for teacher training in the use of ICT to build 21st century skills in today’s students. We are currently working with the Information Society Division of UNESCO to finalize and present this framework. Social and cultural adaptation processes generally are much slower than the overheated IT innovation cycle. The Intel® Education Initiative acknowledges its Corporate Responsibility to narrow that gap, our education programs seek to accelerate improvement in education for the knowledge economy. We strive to be a trusted partner to educators and governments worldwide and integral to this mission is a focus on “success for all. At Intel, Corporate Responsibility means doing what is right, respecting people and the world around us. As a corporate leader, we work with governments to focus shifting from computer education to computers in education and help the overcome these challenges by helping them provide IT access, connectivity, training and content to all teachers and students. As a trusted educational partner, we assist in developing policies for the effective use of ICT in education and by helping shape and define goals, objectives, and scope of ICT in education. One of the main components for the success of these programs lays in the design and implementation as a Public-Private-Partnership model, where Intel and local or national governments and multilaterals agree explicitly to offer this program jointly to the teachers. It therefore usually becomes an integral part of the various national teacher training curricula. Intel sees it as its mission to find and drive the next leap ahead—in technology and manufacturing, but also in social responsibility, education, culture, and more. Concluding Remarks Teachers and students make the difference. Therefore, teaching and learning activities should be adopted yet adapted to promote a different kind of learning that is facilitated by the new and continuously emerging new technologies that are presenting themselves as opportunities for individualised and personalised learning, micro-learning. Students are becoming creators of content rather than receivers of information and time has come where teachers are assisted to act as facilitators that recognise the potential of the technologies themselves as means for collaborative knowledge building within communities of learners that serve this purpose for micro-learning and provide social support for knowledge creation on the macro levels. Yours sincerely Messiness, Education, Mobility (Introductory Note) David Smith Director of ICT St. Paul’s School (London, UK) 1. Messiness and Education Back in 1999, the CEO of CISCO said, “The next big killer application for the Internet is going to be education. Education over the Internet is going to be so big it is going to make e-mail look like a rounding error”1. Eight years on, the killer app has not yet appeared and this despite massive investment in ICT within schools2. For some time now, the best voices in the world of e-learning have been saying something else. In 1998, Marc Eisenstadt was arguing3, “… the Web even at its most ideal is a pretty awful medium for studying and undertaking course work. … Even when the interfaces are stunning, and connections are smooth and ultra-fast, we need to remind ourselves that we are still, after all, only looking at a computer screen. … there are creative things we can do with those stunning interfaces that put books to shame: we can motivate and empower learners, reach disabled students, simulate existing and as-yet-unimagined worlds, forge new relationships, create communities, and launch whole new endeavours of study. All of this is wonderful, but we mustn’t let it go to our heads. ‘Studying courses on the Web’, in our experience, is a sad misconception.” And in 20044: 1 John Chambers at the COMDEX ‘99 conference; cited http://www.westga.edu/~bquest/2001/killerapp.htm. 2 See http://www.preoccupations.org/2006/10/the_future_of_e.html. 3 See his summary post http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/marc/2007/04/13/show-time-on-death-of-elearning/. 4 KMi: Chief Scientist: ‘E-Learning is Dead’, http://news.kmi.open.ac.uk/rostra/news.php?r=11&t=2&id=546 18 Introductory Note: David Smith “In a presentation of ‘what works’, ‘what fails’, and ‘what’s next’ … Prof Eisenstadt listed E-Learning itself as a prominent item in the ‘fails” column. [He was] equally dismissive of ‘Learning Management Systems’, ‘Learning Objects’, ‘Virtual Learning Environments’ … Items in the ‘what works” column included star teachers, social networking, simulations, peer-to-peer networks, certain ‘banned” games, and tasks that engendered creativity and content ownership directly in learners … The greatest challenges, argued Eisenstadt, were to ‘attain results at large scale, maintain a degree of warmth and humanity that is often lost in digital media, and ensure the buy-in of the highly over-stretched teaching workforce.’” A WSJ piece of 2001, No Substitute: the internet does NOT change everything5, explored the criticisms of distance- or e-learning voiced by Marc Eisenstadt, John Seely Brown, Donald Norman, Alvin Toffler and Seymour Papert, and then commented on what online learning can do for education: “… make learning more interactive and more interesting than standard lectures and textbooks. … help enable ‘lifelong learning’… provide access to ‘distributed knowledge’” “In fact, by making it possible to ‘customize’ curriculums to suit the needs of individual children, online education could invert some of the main assumptions of traditional education. ‘The key thing is that you don’t have to have the same curriculum for everyone,’ says Seymour Papert, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has studied the interaction of kids and computers for decades. ‘It is being able to take charge of learning and feel that you’re in control, that makes the difference.’” Today, we need to pay renewed attention to what Marc Eisenstadt, John Seely Brown, Donald Norman, Alvin Toffler, Seymour Papert and others have been saying. And, of course, it is not only educators and educational theorists who are saying things which can teach teachers how to make better use of ICT. As we move into the age of everyware6, designers are no longer promoting seamlessness as the desirable goal of ubiquitous computing. Seamfulness is the new meme: it’s not always good to seek to tidy away mess. There is a lesson here for teachers. Seamless, monolithic virtual learning environments are what systematisers should be dreaming of, not educators. Recently, Dave Winer, commenting on the significance and value of the web “microblogging” service Twitter, wrote7, “Calling a technology a coral reef is the highest 5 http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/marc/wsj/index.html 6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyware 7 Twitter as coral reef, http://www.scripting.com/stories/2007/04/28/twitterAsCoralReef.html Messiness, Education, Mobility 19 compliment I can pay. ”Evolving e-learning within educational institutions is to seed and cultivate a coral reef. It’s what Dave Snowden meant when he said8: “You can’t manage knowledge but you can create a knowledge ecology”. It’s what John Seely Brown means when he speaks of “learning ecologies”9. To achieve this, to put digital technology to good use in education, requires, of course, that schools learn. To adapt John Seely Brown’s question10, substituting ‘schools’ for ‘universities’: schools are institutions of learning but are they, themselves, learning institutions? In truth, as John Naughton, writing in the Observer earlier this year11, has said: “Our schools are providing ICT training, whereas what is needed is ICT education.” This year at Microlearning, I would like to explore further some of these issues. 2. The future of e-learning Posted October 20, 2006, at the Preoccupations weblog by David Smith. Tagged with: Education, Internet, Web 2.0, Web/Tech < http://www.preoccupations.org/2006/10/the_future_of_e.html > [shortened version] On Monday of last week, I went to the Oxford Internet Institute for the The future of elearning. Andrew Pinder, Chairman of the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) spoke on “his vision of the future of e-learning”: “What are the key challenges for building a technological and institutional infrastructure for education in the 21st century?” The webcast will be available soon from the OII. He was candid about not being an educationalist and the tension some of his words created springs, I am sure, from this difference of background, knowledge and experience: “Between October 2000 and August 2004, Andrew was the UK's E-Envoy, responsible directly to the Prime Minister for co-ordinating the development of the knowledge economy in the UK. … During that time Andrew had significant involvement with the education sector, especially in relation to the large investment that has been made over the last few years in technology. Before becoming E-envoy, Andrew had a long career in 8 Quoted, http://theobvious.typepad.com/blog/2007/03/my_favourite_dr.html 9 http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/419/ 10 ibid. 11 http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/comment/story/0,,1984347,00.html 20 Introductory Note: David Smith both the public and private sector. … Andrew left the E-Envoy role in August 2004. He now runs a small management consultancy, and has advised a number of other Governments in Asia, North America and Eastern Europe on how to develop the use of technology in their countries.” Becta Board Earlier this year, Becta published its annual report which has been summed up as saying that much money has been spent on IT in UK education with little discernible return. The report itself puts it somewhat more optimistically: “There is a growing body of evidence that the use of ICT in education has a positive, if small, impact on learner attainment as measured in national tests.” Andrew told us Becta research concludes that about 15% of the UK's 25,000 schools have shown some gains in performance as a result of the technology that's been poured into them. Faced with such modest benefit, one has to ask, he said, was the technology wrong or was it just not used well? The core of his answer is that schools have lacked a business model, a comprehension of themselves as businesses — something that is required if they are to be able to discern how to put the technology to effective use. With respect to technological investment in particular, 'what is not happening is the industrialisation of education'. Andrew was, as he said, trying to be provocative in his choice of language. I'd noted back in May that he was linking industry and education, talking directly of the 'education industry'. “Schools are "one of a relatively small number of industries that do not look as if they have changed much over the past 30 years". (From a BBC piece from then that I quoted when I spoke at Reboot 8, see here.) 'The education industry': it is, I believe, an unfortunate turn of phrase. Amongst my notes from what Andrew said during last Monday's OII session: the education industry doesn't see itself as an industry; teaching is still a cottage industry, whereas in the wider world processes have been devised to implement technology and effect change; teaching is still conducted as something that works from the ground up (professionals often pride themselves on their own, separate expertise) – 'what's not happening is the industrialisation of education'; the supply side is 'hopelessly disorganised – tens of thousands of little "garage software" firms'; schools are rigid in nature, not exposed to dynamic pressures or to consumer demand … (That last took my breath away. My experience in the private sector doesn't square with that, but I was really thinking of a good friend who teaches in a state primary school and who faces, daily, 'dynamic pressures' and 'consumer demand' – ceaselessly revised demands made via management and LEA and DfES, a very large number of statemented children, with all that that means, and parents who are not slow in coming forward with their take on things.) Messiness, Education, Mobility 21 Unsurprisingly, Andrew faced some strong reaction from the floor. I was impressed with how quickly he read the mood and came to feel that some of his language had not helped him advance his case. I was heartened by this because there is a great deal that we agree on and in the work that's to be done to implement technology in schools we don't want to be side-tracked by fighting each other. I quite agree that schools are resistant to change – schools are, almost always, it seems, inherently conservative institutions – and I know from my own experience that collaborative work on projects with business teaches teachers to open their eyes much more, to consider both their own institution's development/business plan, or lack of it, and how organisations in general think of and organise themselves. Professor John Furlong, Director of Educational Studies at Oxford, did a great job, I thought, in responding to some of the issues raised by Andrew. Homing in on things he mentioned which really interest me here: the great gap between the confident, skilful ways in which children handle technology at home and out of school — and the ways schools then expect them to handle it; how school authorities still often see themselves as owners of the knowledge they impart; how IT is profoundly disruptive to schools, teaching and teachers — so schools find IT very hard to work with. (Tony Hart, Commercial Director, Handheld Learning, later remarked that the real challenge of the new technologies in schools is to the role and nature of the teacher.) Andrew, John said, is asking the right questions but starts from the wrong place in his attempt to find the answers. I'm with Andrew when he came back after these points to say that, in order to change things, you need to change the whole institution. Agreed — but this certainly doesn't mean that we need an imposed, top-down solution. What we need (and we could also agree on this!) is two kinds of pioneer: the inspiring, individual teacher (Andrew was fulsome in his praise of such) and the organisational pioneer. I was struck that no-one used the term 'digital divide' — Prensky's digital natives and digital immigrants — but it is precisely this that makes for a significant, added difficulty in the use of the new technologies in schools. I read this in yesterday's Guardian: “This week Schmidt warned an audience in Washington of the struggle Google faced with politicians.’The average person in government is not of the age of people who are using all this stuff,’ he told a public symposium hosted by the National Academies' Computer Science and Telecommunications Board. ‘There is a generational gap, and it's very, very real.’ Just so. 22 Introductory Note: David Smith 3. Mobility Issues in Schools Posted September 20, 2005, at the Preoccupations weblog by David Smith. Tagged with: Browsers, Communication, Culture & Society, Design, Digital life, Education, Hardware, Mobility, Moblogging, SMS, Technology, Wireless, e-Mail <http://www.preoccupations.org/2005/09/mobility_issues.html> [shortened version] We have been thinking about the ways in which pupils and staff in our school will be connecting to the web in the months and years immediately ahead. Both campus-wide wireless provision and the expectation that hand-held devices will be common figure prominently in our planning. The huge success of hand-held devices, in particular mobile phones and their everevolving range of roles, may make the latter appear a no-brainer, but the laptop isn't dead yet. Time will come, though, when we take our hand-helds with us around the campus, perhaps docking them back in our studies and using there a standard keyboard/screen combo. (On the integration of WiFi into mobile phones, see, for example, this Time article.) Some colleagues are concerned about increased distraction in classes when powerful mobile devices become ubiquitous. William Blaze has some interesting thoughts about this, including the idea that laptops are primarily a problem as they can create a physical shield between student and teacher/class. “[…] there are three main uses for the computer in a meeting or classroom, note taking, distraction and instant research. … Using the computer for distraction is the classic anti laptop in the room case, but I'm not sold. Sure their is a certain dynamic to IM that might pull people farther away from the topic at hand, but just how much does it differ from someone handwriting a love letter, doodling or reading all the small print on whatever they pulled from their briefcase? … I like laptops being in a classroom for about two reasons, google and wikipedia. Fast, cheap information. An in room error correction machine. When used correctly the internet can transform a room from a closed information space, into an open one.” ***** There is no finer enthusiast for the mobile phone than Russell Beattie: “Mobility is going to change life as we know it - in some places it has already shaped world events and changed history. The ubiquity of the technology is the key to all of this and the lowly mobile phone is the shape of the box in which all of this possibility is kept in. It’s not the computer or the laptop or the PDA, and it’s not WiFi or WiMax, it’s the modern mobile phone. That’s just the way it is …” Messiness, Education, Mobility 23 So what makes the mobile phone different from a laptop? Janne Jalkanen and Charlie Schick from Nokia comment on this: “… Mobile phones are not just bad browsers on resource-constrained devices with crappy connectivity and non-free voice. … mobile phones are mostly background devices, whereas a laptop has a tendency of consuming all your attention, becoming a foreground device. The usage patterns are fundamentally different: a mobile phone is always on, always connected, always with you. It's not a Big Brother, but more like a Little Brother, if you excuse the pun.” “I definitely see that a pocketable, networked, one-hand operated device is the core of the mobile lifestyle. A laptop can never be a true part of one’s mobile lifestyle. … the phone sits in the background, waiting until you need it. Then - a call comes in, an item comes into view that is great for a video or photo, a calendar reminder goes off - and you make the choice to bring it into the foreground. … to create an app that is truly geared for the mobile lifestyle, you need to take advantage of the background status of the mobile device and not bring it too far or often into the foreground.” Building "background-ness" into the hand-helds of the future can only add to their value in the classroom. ***** 'Next year there will be more than 2 billion mobile phone users in the world. … Mobile phones today have become ubiquitous, embedded into the fabric of everyday life. They have become a mobile essential. If someone owns a mobile phone today it is likely to be one of the three things that she always carries with her, the other two being keys and some form of payment.' (Marko Ahtisaari) The Communities Dominate Brands blog, on the same subject: “The research organisation Ovum and the GSM Association released the data on Sept 18, 2005, that worldwide there are now 2 billion mobile phone users. … Putting the number in context. There are twice as many mobile phones, than there are internet users of any kind. There are three times as many mobile phones than there are personal computers. There are more mobile phones than credit cards, more mobile phones than automobiles, more mobile phones than TV sets, and more mobile phones than fixed/wireline phones. In fact a staggering 30% of the global population carries a mobile phone. … It is the only digital gadget carried by every economically viable person on the planet. ... It is the only universal device, and the device of the Century.” The future is definitely mobile. Schools must look to it and work out their strategies now. In fact, Marko's figures are already out of date, as Russell Beattie's post here makes clear ('Yep, we’ve hit the 2 Billion Mobile Phone mark ahead of schedule'). Building the Culture of (e-)Learning in Microcontent Environments (Introductory Note) Teemu Leinonen Leader, Learning Environments Research Group Media Lab - University of Art and Design (Helsinki, Finland) 1. (Critical) history of ICT in Education – and Where We Are Heading? Posted at the FLOSSE Posse weblog in Social Software, June 23, 2005 by Teemu Leinonen. < http://flosse.dicole.org/?item=critical-history-of-ict-in-education-and-where-we-are-heading> The use of computers in education is much more a series of failures than success stories. I agree with Erik Duval that in general, in a large scale, the impact of technology on the way people learn have been minimal.1 In open distant learning and military training (simulations) there are examples of success, but these models do not fit very well to school and university context. So, I wouldn’t call them “good examples”. It can be claimed that from the learning perspective the only proof-of-concept cases of using computers in the school and university environments for learning, are the smallscale experiments with CSCL (Computer-supported Collaborative Learning) tools such as the classical CSILE (and Knowledge Forum), Belvedere and later the experiments made with web-based social software tools, such as Fle32 and blogs. Why is the impact of technology on the way we learn so marginal, even though millions of dollars and euros have been spent on to develop educational computer technology? Could it be that there has been some principle conceptual bias and all the minor changes made into it do not help much, as the principle is wrong? 1 http://ariadne.cs.kuleuven.ac.be/mt/blogs/EricLog/archives/000905.html [link broken by 05/05/2007] See also Teemu’s much noticed online column “E-learning is dead. Long live learning!” at the Edusite website (12/21/2004) – http://www.edusite.nl/edusite/columns/13987 2 http://fle3.uiah.fi/ Building the Culture of (e-)Learning in Microcontent Environments 25 With an analogy: if you are sailing somewhere in equator and take a course by mistake to south, even that you should go north, it does not help much if you every year fix your course 5 degrees. You will still end-up to Antarctica. Let’s try to make a critical analyse of the history of ICT in learning. How will the history look like if we try to pull down the mental models and educational thinking behind the promises of different times? Figure 1: Phases of computer-enhanced learning I see four major phases in the history of using computers in education. The fifth: the era of social software and free and open content is still to come – I hope. The phases are: (1) Late 1970’s - early 1980’s: programming, drill and practice; (2) Late 1980’s - early 1990’s: computer based training (CBT) with multimedia; (3) Early 1990’s: Internet-based training (IBT); (4) Late 1990’s - early 2000s: e-Learning; (5) Late 2000: Social software + free and open content. From the history of media we know that new forms never replace the old one. TV didn’t kill radio and Internet didn’t kill TV. New forms of media rather complement the old once, but do not countervail them. This naturally leads to greater choice for people, but also causes fragmentation. Different media devices and formats also get mixed with each other and this way generates new forms that contain features from each of them. iPod is a good example of this. It is a kind of walkman of Internet era that can be used to have personalized radio shows (podcasting). I think this is the case with educational technology, as well. All the old paradigms live with the new once and get mixed to each other. The old models just never disappeared but are present in a form or another in the new paradigms. 26 Introductory Note: Teemu Leinonen The old paradigms seem to get fashionable once in a while, too. For this reason we should not be surprised if many people are excited about the drill and practice exercises and quizzes online: they still live in our minds because we want to believe that the paradigm is right. Let’s have a closer look on the phases in the history of computers in education. (1) Late 1970’s - early 1980’s: programming, drill and practice This is the era when I got into computers in my own school. It was in the early years of 1980’s and our math teacher was teaching also the new school subject called in Finnish “ATK”. The abbreviation stand for “automated data processing” – and the name of the subject already tell you pretty well what it was all about. We were using Nokia MikroMikko Personal Computer. There was not many software at all, but there was MS Basic for programming and naturally that was what the ATK lessons were almost all about. The pedagogical reason to teach programming was not to train programmers, but the belief that it will develop students’ logics and math skills, as it most likely does. In some point there was some educational software running on the MikroMikko. I think it was written by the teacher or maybe she got them from some colleagues. However, these were very simple drill and practice exercises for math and language learning. These exercises didn’t help students to reach any deeper understanding, as they were mainly simulating students’ short term memory and “trial, error, trial, error, trial, past” kind of activity. Anyway, these programs kept the wild children quiet (for a while) when the teacher was teaching those who were more into programming. (2) Late 1980’s - early 1990’s: computer based training (CBT) with multimedia Same point when the multimedia computers, with advanced graphics and sound, came to the mass markets. The claim was that the drill and practice exercises failed to teach much because they didn’t contain multimedia. It was said that students would learn if they could watch animations in colours, small video clips and then do the exercises. This was the golden era of CD-ROMs and multimedia computers. This combination was seriously expected to have a huge impact on the ways we learn. The times were good for CD-ROM producers and multimedia PC manufacturers. The pedagogical mantra behind this phase was that human are different and some students learn better by watching movies / animations and listening audios, whereas some learn better by reading or watching still images. The drill and practice component (now in colours) was kept in there, too, but now it’s role was more to control yourself if you learned what the multimedia application was trying to teach you. Building the Culture of (e-)Learning in Microcontent Environments 27 The multimedia CD-ROMs didn’t get people to deep learning and understanding either. They failed to be useful almost in all study subjects other than language learning, where part of the study work of many people really requires hard practicing and repetition (vocabulary, grammar etc.) (3) Early 1990’s: Internet-based training (IBT) The third wave or hype of using computer in education came with the raise of the World Wide Web. The failure of CD-ROMs were claimed to be related to the challenges to update the content in the CD-ROMs. The promoters of the new paradigm claimed that information changes so fast that one should update it almost every day. The solution is here: the Internet and the Internet-based training. At this point computer-based training was brought to the Internet, but again without multimedia. All you could do on Internet, at that time, was text and pictures and some early experiments with animations, video and audio. Pretty fast it was noticed that clicking and reading e-learning course materials online didn’t make people very smart. And again some people claimed that the problem was the lack of multimedia. The educational ideas behind Internet-based training were not pedagogical at all. The purpose and reason to promote it was the belief that it is cost-efficient as there were no more travelling to training or absence from workplace. Finally it was not that cost-efficient at all. In the end of the day there was very little under the bottom line – people didn’t learn much. (4) Late 1990’s - early 2000: e-Learning The Internet-based training got mature in late 1990’s and early 2000 when it was renamed as “e-learning”. The hype around e-learning is a kind of classical example of creating needs. Thousands of websites, articles and companies made it clear for all somehow related to education that this was something one had to be involved in. The IT managers of thousands of educational institutions and organizations were asked by the educational experts to come up with e-learning solutions and companies were happy to help the IT managers. The e-learning industry was built, even though it was not proven that anyone (except the IT managers) needed these products. The markets for e-learning courses and especially for Learning Management Systems (LMS) were created. The pedagogical thinking around the e-learning is closely related to the computer-based training. The point is to deliver courses for students. Later on the learning platform developers has become more aware that learning requires social activities among the learners themselves and the learner and the teacher(s). Still the user interfaces of the 28 Introductory Note: Teemu Leinonen LMS systems are at least implicitly telling you that you should first read the content and if there is something you do not understand you may ask your peers or your teacher. On the other hand the e-learning field nowadays is so wide that it is hard to nail down the pedagogical thinking behind it. E-learning is no more one. It could be said that all the earlier paradigms live inside today’s e-learning, plus some clues of the future: social software and open content. (5) Late 2000s: Social software, free and open content I really hope that in the late 2000s social software and free and open content will make a real breakthrough in the field of educational technology. Blogs and wikis have already brought web back to its original idea: simple tool for your personal notes that are easily accessible and even editable by your peers and your potential peers. Such projects as the GNU-GPU, Creative Commons, Wikipedia and Open Courseware have shown that free content benefits all – and that people are willing to contribute to the common good. Digital content is such that when you give it away you do not loose it yourself. This makes giving much easier for many people. The pedagogical thinking behind the social software and the free and open content can be located to the social constructivist theory and cultural-historical psychology. “Any true understanding is dialogic in nature,” wrote Mikhail Bakhtin, and Lev Vygotsky said that “all higher [mental] functions originate as actual relations between human individuals”. 3 Learning with computers is not about programming or drill and practice, nor about multimedia, nor about fast updating or cost-efficiency – it is all about people sharing ideas. 2. Mobiles, Micro-content and the Personal Learning Environment Posted at the FLOSSE Posse weblog in Social Software, T08 May, [2007] by Teemu Leinonen. http://flosse.dicole.org/?item=mobiles-micro-content-and-personal-learning-environment In June I am going to the Microlearning conference in Innsbruck. I promised to give a talk with the title “Emerging Microcontent Environments”. First I thought to talk mainly about 3 Bakhtin, Mikhail (1981), The Dialogic Imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press; for Vygotsky see http://www.kolar.org/vygotsky/ Building the Culture of (e-)Learning in Microcontent Environments 29 the MobilED4 project, but after rethinking the theme of the conference I decided to talk about the following things, too, at least, maybe … For some months now I have been a bit hooked to Jaiku. It is the first (3G) mobile application I am using almost daily. Jaiku is a service for sharing presence updated with your contacts on your mobile and the Web. With your Jaiku mobile client you post things like what are you thinking, doing, where are you, where you are going, are you busy or not etc. A lot of this data Jaiku is able to grab automatically from your mobile phone. The mobile client then shows you this information about your contacts if they are Jaiku users, too. Furthermore you may add feeds in your Jaiku web page (see my Jaiku web page5). I am sure they are working on to provide the feeds also in to the mobile client. All in all Jaiku is simple, elegant, and very attractive. Another mobile application I am nowadays using a lot is Widsets. It’s a library of (and a service to create) mini-applications (widgets) for your mobile using RSS feeds. The feeds are simply pushing information from the web on your mobile phone. In addition to this there are more complicate “mobile web 2.0 widgets”, which you can create with the Widsets tools. My favorite is the Wikipedia widget. You may search and will get the article nicely rendered and scaled for your mobile phone screen. Can’t wait to get mobile widgets for other Wikimedia projects: Wiktionary and Wikibooks, at least.6 Think about it! You really may have a huge library and your personalized news services (RSS-feeds) right in your pocket. With you, always. Another nice thing with Widsets is that it works with WIFI, if you happen to have one in your mobile phone. For Jaiku you must, at least now, use the 3G network. No idea why. Like always, I started to think how these Mobile Web 2.0 applications could and should be used in learning. Most obvious answer is that they are making the “personal learning environment” mobile and real. Maybe, but potentially they may offer even more. Actually I am pretty critical about the concept of PLE (Personal Learning Environments). I am critical about it because it doesn’t put community in the center, but emphasizes content. I also do not like the idea of bringing “personal things” to learning. I think meaning making requires groups, communities and societies living in some historical time and space. It asks for “social contracts”, trust and long-standing commitments. Personal things should be kept personal. 4 Information, presentations and papers on MobilED on http://mobiled.uiah.fi/ MobileED is a project developing a learning system for real schools based on the interplay of wikis and mobile phones. Prototypes already have been tested in South African schools. 5 http://teemul.jaiku.com/ – Jaiku (http://www.jaiku.com) is a free personal aggregation service for the Web and mobile phones. 6 http://www.widsets.com; http:// wikibooks.org; http://wiktionary.org. 30 Introductory Note: Teemu Leinonen Mobile phones are social tools. Whatever functions they may have, first of all, they are still phones: You call someone, you talk with someone. This is important if one is asking what kind of user culture one may build on top of the “phone feature”. With a mobile phone, your friends and family are in the center – the people with whom you have strong links. With a mobile phone you are, at first, in touch with those who care about your wellbeing. These people are also interested in your learning. They know that if you are doing well in terms of knowledge and skills, you will do well in everything else, too. In your mobile phone contact list you have people you share a lot with – much more than with the people in your online contacts. If you don’t believe me, check your email contact list and your mobile phone contact list, and you will see the difference. How then could the strong links in mobile systems be used in learning? I don’t know yet.7 Let’s think about this in Innsbruck. 3. Social software may help students to stay on the golden middle road Posted at the FLOSSE Posse weblog in Social Software, 23 May [2007] by Teemu Leinonen. < http://flosse.dicole.org/?item=social-software-may-help-students-to-stay-on-the-golden-middleroad> The Swedish phrase says that one should always look for the golden middle road. The official Sweden puts it in their web site: “in the choice of two roads, we travel the third”. I love our neighbours! A while ago I discussed with my brother about our students’ attitudes towards learning. My brother is a teacher of philosophy and psychology and I teach some courses in the MA program of the Media Lab in Helsinki. I also have done and still do once in a while some teacher training and workshops in different places. We both also have a formal education in pedagogy. This is to say, that what I write now on is not research results from any study, but some insight from practical experiences of two people working in the field of education. By using Fle3 vocabulary8 I could say that this is our “working theory”. 7 Editor’s note: For an idea for using free WIFI/skype phone calls for learning see Teemu’s blog post (02/13/2007) http://flosse.dicole.org/?item=deschooling-society-with-free-phone-calls-skype-on-your-mobile-phone 8 http://fle3.uiah.fi/ – Fle3 is a “Future Learning Environment” software developed by Teemu’s team: Progressive Inquiry Research Group, UIAH Media Lab, University of Art and Design Helsinki, in Building the Culture of (e-)Learning in Microcontent Environments 31 We have recognized that our students can be located to three dimensions related to their attitudes towards learning. We claim that learning may take place only between the extremes of these three dimensions. Another working theory is – if the first one is correct – that meaningful use of social software may help students to stay on the golden middle road, between the extremes of the dimensions. The three dimensions of attitudes towards learning are: (1) Attitude towards myself as a learner (subject); (2) Attitude towards the knowledge under study (object); (3) Attitude towards the learning situation (instruments & community). Figure 2: Attitude towards myself as a learner (subject) This dimension is about how students see themselves as learners. Some of them think, that they already know everything they ever need. There is no reason to study because the course will not teach or give them anything. On the other hand some student’s claim that they don’t know anything about the topics studied, and for this reason they can’t participate to the learning process. They don’t have anything to say. cooperation with Centre for Research on Networked Learning and Knowledge Building, Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki. 32 Introductory Note: Teemu Leinonen Figure 3: Attitude towards knowledge under study (object) The attitude towards the knowledge under study can vary between total dogmatism and scepticism. Student may search for single right answers and they claim that it is all one needs to do to learn and know. For these people the most knowledgeable person is the one who remember by hear the largest part of the Bible, the Koran, Collected Works of Lenin, the Encyclopaedia Britannica (Wikipedia doesn’t work in here because it is not dogmatic, but relative and dynamic knowledge source) or some other source of information that is raised by some community to the position of being the dogma. Once again there is the other extreme: the rigid scepticism and relativism. These students claim that there is no reason to study because everything is changing all the time and nothing is permanent. These students are asking: why should we study, if what we study will tomorrow be wrong anyway, or at least different? Figure 4: Attitude towards the learning situation (instruments & community) The third dimension of attitude is related to the situation where the learning is taking place. Learning may take place in classroom, online or in a small study group. Some students are very pedant and want to focus only on some specific theme in their studies. Building the Culture of (e-)Learning in Microcontent Environments 33 These students are those who are very good in something and for instance in a groupwork they always want to do only those things they already master. They want to get better and better in their own narrow field. In Swedish (and Finnish, too) we have a name for these people. They are called “fackidiot” / fakki-idiootti (in Finnish). The Swedish world fack (facket fack, facken) means a box and a compartment. The word comes from the same Latin origin as the English word faculty. In the other end of this dimension is total overlook and ignorance of the specific topics in the studies. These students feel that there is no need to get into the details. They think that all that matter is the overall picture and that there are always special experts who will taker care of the details. In a group work situations these people try to be the leaders of the group without any real participation to the process or with practical tasks assigned to them. And then a few words about social software. I believe that use of social software (blogs, wikis and a Fle3 kind of CSCL systems) may help students to have the right attitude that supports learning. With social software students may find it easier to stay on the golden middle road. Firstly, the social software makes it very clear for all, that it is hard to be the most knowledgeable person in any field. The social software also shows that often the brightest people are very into learning more about their field than to show off how clever they are. On the other hand social software gives all the users voice to tell their interpretation of the topics under study. They almost scream: “speak up your opinion!” And people speak up. This way it is difficult to claim that you know nothing. Secondly, in social software systems there are hardly dogmas. There are often rules related to the functioning of the community, but no idea that one should first agree on some set of facts before having the right to participate. A total scepticism doesn’t work either. When you build on top of other peoples thoughts you must trust on them. You must believe that what they are saying is based on something. This requires that you are critical and all the time evaluating other peoples thoughts relevance. Thirdly, in social software systems the pedant specialists – or the fackidiots – of some narrow disciplines do not get a lot of points. If you are not able to explain the relevance of you work for other people it easily ends-up to be just useless tinkering. Like in music the technical virtuosity of one instrument is useless if it does not server the entire composition. But, like in all the other dimensions, there is the other extremity in this one, too. Also the people who are just overlooking are easily caught in social software systems. You can’t compose for a symphony orchestra if you do not know what tunes you get out of different instruments of the orchestra. Is there anyone interested in doing some empirical study about these topics? Mobile Web 2.0: Designing Open Gardens for Tomorrow’s Microcontent-based Education (Introductory Note) Ajit Jaokoar CEO, Futuretext (London, UK) 1. Martin Lindner: Introduction Microlearning is coming to be web-based, platform-independent, ubiquituous learning, in a convergent micromedia ecosystem, where the walls have fallen between Web, Mobile – and even “reality” as we knew it. Microlearning includes “mobile learning”, because mobile content has to be “micro” be default to fit onto the mobile screen and into the gaps of the typically “Continuous Partial Attention” of mobile users. And it is quite probable that the use of the upcoming Mobile Web 2.0 for learning will act as a catalyst for cross-platform microlearning as a whole. It is quite a safe bet that in only two or three years mobile devices will have become access points to the ubiquitous Web in a way we cannot fully imagine now. The disruptive consequences for a training and education system that is still relying on the “Walled Gardens” of course rooms and classrooms cannot be overestimated. In large parts, this revolution will be driven not by educators but by communication technology and markets, leading to emerging patterns of media usage. Therefore it is most important to know about the underlying dynamics. When will the Mobile Web infrastructure be able to let microcontent circulate in the free way we see now in the Web 2.0, both from the technological and the economical side? Ajit Jaokar is the person to answer these questions, as a consultant for the mobile industry, CEO of futuretext, and author of the books “Open Gardens” (2004) and “Mobile Web 2.0” (2006). And he has been engaged in a sort of web-based continuing education project as well: Since 2005, Ajit is moderating the University of Oxford's Next Generation Mobile Applications Panel he has co-founded – a joint initiative between industry and the Department of Continuing Education at the Oxford University.1 Here the truly best 1 http://openmoodle.conted.ox.ac.uk/login/index.php Mobile Web 2.0: Designing Open Gardens for Tomorrow’s Microcontent-based Education 35 thinkers and developers of the MobileWeb discuss thoughts and ideas on all aspects of Mobile Applications. Ajit’s own ideas on mobile- and web-based education are very much influenced by Judy Breck, who is blogging at www.goldenswamp.com about “open content and mobile learning” and being the author of the book “109 Ideas for Virtual Learning: How Open Content Will Help Close the Digital Divide”.2 2. OpenGardens, Walled Gardens and Mobile Web 2.0 Posted in the OpenGardens weblog by ajit at June 23, 2006 7:37 PM URL: http://opengardensblog.futuretext.com/archives/2006/06/ Open systems Historically, major technology vendors have used the philosophy of “walled gardens”, often with considerable success. However, over time, we see walled gardens crumbling all around us and being replaced by Open systems and Open source. If ‘customer lockin’ was the byword of the older players, Web 2.0 / Mobile Web 2.0 are all about relinquishing customer control. Openness is a philosophy as opposed to a specific technical standard. For instance, AOL, although deemed a walled garden, uses RSS feeds to open up their ecosystem. Similarly, Microsoft uses an open standard called SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) for Internet telephony instead of using its own standard or another proprietary standard. ‘Openness’ itself can mean many things: Openness of access for the customer: The ability to access any content Open APIs/ Open platforms: A level playing field for third party applications as compared to the provider’s applications and the ability for any developer to use a published API(Application programming interface) or ‘Open source’ as defined by <http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition_plain.php> There are many areas on the web where open systems are playing a role (and will play an even greater role in future). These include elements like Identity, Open Media, Microcontent Publishing, Tags and so on. What is apparent is: Open systems are fast 2 Breck, Judy (2006), 109 Ideas for Virtual Learning: How Open Content Will Help Close the Digital Divide. Rowman & Littlefield Education: London. Foreword by John Seely Brown. 36 Introductory Note: Ajit Jaokoar becoming pervasive over the web. The Mobile ecosystem cannot remain in isolation locked up from the rest of the world for long. Open Gardens and Walled Gardens We (Ajit Jaokar and Tony Fish) first coined the phrase ‘Open Gardens’ as a title when we wrote the book late in 2004. Open Gardens is the opposite of walled gardens. A ‘walled garden’ is a mechanism to restrict the user to a defined environment i.e. forcing them by some means to stay within the confines of a digital space. This restriction, often defined by a single company, is a means of exercising control and supposedly maximising revenue. What are the ‘bricks in the wall’ i.e. the elements that make up a walled garden? A walled garden is any mechanism for an entity (not just a Mobile operator) to restrict the user experience by confining the user to a specific region / space as defined by the entity. The rationale is – the user is served better and the service is more profitable for the provider. In an Internet/Mobile environment, this can often take the guise of restricted browsing but has other facets as we see below. From a developer perspective, a walled garden could mean ‘restricted access’, i.e. - your application in some way cannot access all customers OR the provider’s application has access to some features that you cannot access. These restrictions can be commercial or technical. In conversational terms, walled gardens are deemed to mean any restriction placed on users or applications, which are aimed at confining the user to a set of features controlled by the provider. Within the Mobile data industry, a Mobile operator has some elements that lend considerable power i.e. a large customer base, Knowledge of the subscriber’s location, Billing relationship to the customer and Customer services and marketing reach There are others especially on the voice side but these elements are critical for data applications. In addition, in a portal situation, the Mobile operator has the ability to control the positioning of the user on the menu, which is yet another ‘Brick in the wall’. Extending the concept even further, mobile operators are not the only ones in the walled gardens game. Brands are often viewed as a safe bet, especially branded content. A friend uses the colourful and insightful expression ‘Elephants mate with elephants’. This means the large content providers of the world may well have done deals with the large Mobile operators leaving little scope for the smaller player. There is already evidence of this with some content deals in Europe. The issue of walled gardens first arose with WAP (Wireless access protocol) phones, which are used to “browse” content. It arose due to a specific legal situation with a European Mobile operator who prevented users from changing the default settings on Mobile Web 2.0: Designing Open Gardens for Tomorrow’s Microcontent-based Education 37 their phone. This means, users always started with a specific WAP site (i.e. home page) as directed by the Mobile operator and further they could not change the home page itself. While this model was commercially appealing to the Mobile operator and also the advertisers, it was not conducive to the small developer. A developer successfully appealed against the Mobile operator and won. In retrospect, the whole issue seems irrelevant in the case of WAP - because for various reasons, consumers never used So, do walled gardens exist? While the ‘hardcoded WAP home page’ does not, there are indeed other ways to create restrictions. A true OpenGardens ecosystem would exist if ‘all applications had a level playing field’. Where ‘menu positioning’ seems to be the most obvious ‘choke point’, there are other ways to cripple applications belonging to external developers specifically if they are denied equal access to certain resources for example location information. Certainly, Mobile operators and developers have a different mindset. One person (working for a Mobile operator) referred to a quaint phrase ‘revenue leak’ – and no prizes for guessing who they think the revenue is ‘leaking to’. While most Mobile operators genuinely don’t know how to tackle the brave new world of applications development, there are other factors at play here. Some Mobile operators are concerned about pricing a service ‘wrongly’ in their view. Their fear is – the service will be popular but not profitable. Hence, a further reluctance to relinquish control since a global ‘free for all’ access tends to reduce prices. The sad by-product of this limited thinking is: the service is never launched at all!. In addition, there are some issues which are controlled by neither the Mobile operator nor the developer – such as legal and statutory guidelines. Thanks to a certain measure of control, the Mobile data industry has been spared the worst excesses of the Internet such as SPAM, copyright violation, privacy violation etc. As the industry matures and adopts more guidelines – the question is that of ‘intent’. Is control a sign of maturity or is it a smokescreen? Clearly, the Mobile operator cannot flow against the rising tide of the Internet and the global flow of information i.e. the Internet is the driver to mobility and not the other way round. OpenGardens The phrase ‘OpenGardens’ evokes a variety of responses, ranging from the open source evangelist who gets misty-eyed thinking of ‘Linux on every Mobile device’ to the Mobile operator who insists: ‘There are no walled gardens!' OpenGardens is not an anti Mobile operator stance. But that does not mitigate the fact that the mobile network operators are the biggest culprits. 38 Introductory Note: Ajit Jaokoar OpenGardens / Open systems primarily means ‘open platforms’ when applied to the mobile network operator. By ‘openness of platforms’, in the Mobile applications context, we mean the Mobile operator’s infrastructure. An OpenGardens ecosystem is a holistic/inclusive environment, which could foster the creation of next generation utility led (as opposed to existing entertainment led) Mobile applications. These applications could often span multiple technologies/concepts and are created by ‘assembling together’ a number of existing applications. In web 2.0 terminology, that’s a ‘mashup’. Technologically, in its ultimate form, this approach can be viewed as 'API enabling’ a Telecoms network. API (Applications Programming Interface) is the software that enables service provision by the Mobile operator. The external application can make a software call via the published API, thereby creating a 'plug and play' ecosystem. The API model is also called by other names such as ‘networked model’, ‘Bazaar model’ or ‘web services model’. Mobile Web 2.0 and OpenGardens It is in this context that we need to look at OpenGardens again. Specifically, as web 2.0 and mobile web 2.0 become prevalent because Web 2.0 is all about harnessing collective intelligence. To harness collective intelligence effectively, we need a large ‘body of intelligence’ i.e. a large body of people. Walled gardens, closed standards, proprietary systems hinder web 2.0 / collective intelligence in two ways: firstly by reducing the number of participants in an ecosystem and secondly by limiting the activity of the participants who are in an ecosystem. The Web is one big ecosystem. By fragmenting the web through proprietary standards, we create smaller silos within the one large ecosystem. Will walled gardens work? Walled gardens are not new. One of the best-known instances was the early AOL. On an extreme case, in the early days, users could not email others outside AOL! (Remember this was only about eight years ago). However, the early users liked these restrictions since there was the perception of ‘the big bad world out there’ and AOL was deemed to be a trusted provider. As users matured, they realised that the restrictions were often a hindrance and ultimately, there are lot less restrictions now on AOL. It appears that walled gardens do not stand the test of time and become irrelevant as the medium matures. We believe this will happen in the Mobile data industry. Mobile Web 2.0: Designing Open Gardens for Tomorrow’s Microcontent-based Education 39 3. The Three Characteristics of Mobile Web 2.0 Posted at OpenGardens-Blog by ajit at April 21, 2006 11:19 AM http://opengardensblog.futuretext.com/archives/2006/04/the_three_chara.html Building on the seminal definition of the “Seven Principles of Web 2.0” from Tim O’Reilly3, I see Web 2.0 as the ‘Intelligent Web’, ‘harnessing (and filtering) collective intelligence’. Mobile Web 2.0 extends this principle to restricted devices. The seemingly simple idea of extending Web 2.0 to mobile has many facets – for instance: • What is a restricted device? • What are the implications of extending the web to restricted devices? • As devices become creators and not mere consumers of information – what categories of intelligence can be captured / harnessed from restricted devices? • What is the impact for services as devices start using the web as a massive information repository and the PC as a local cache where services can be configured? Restricted devices A broad definition of a ‘restricted device’ is not easy. The only thing they all have in common is – ‘they are battery driven’. But then, watches have batteries too. A better definition of restricted devices can be formulated by incorporating Barbara Ballard’s Carry Principle: “Jef Raskin coined the term “information appliance” to mean a device designed not to do everything, but to do a small set of tasks very well and be closely matched to the needs of the people using them. They tend to be simple, always deal with information, and tend 3 The catch phrases for Tim O’Reilly’s “seven principles” were: 1. The Web As Platform (Web 2.0 services are relating to the Web/browser infrastructure like traditional software to the OS); 2. Harnessing Collective Intelligence (users become part of the service); 3. Data is the Next Intel Inside (Web 2.0 services are hybrids of software/functionality and database); 4. End of the Software Release Cycle (as Web 2.0 services are not mere software anymore); 5. Lightweight Programming Models (modular, quick, focused on simple and clear functionalities); 6. Software Above the Level of a Single Device; 7. Rich User Experiences (ebanbled by client-side AJAX and similar technologies). 40 Introductory Note: Ajit Jaokoar to share information. ... Thus, I introduce the carry principle: Devices which are always carried, such as mobile phones, can not be mass-market information appliances precisely because they are always carried. We expect flexibility in exchange for the cost of always carrying (or using) a device. Thus, a restricted device could now be deemed as • carried by the user • battery driven • small (by definition) • probably multifunctional but with a primary focus • a device with limited input mechanisms(small keyboard) • personal and personalised BUT • not wearable (that rules out the watch!). But, there is a caveat: A mobile device in the future could be wearable and it's capacities may well be beyond what we imagine today. The input mechanism in the future may not be a key stroke on such devices, but a movement or sound. So, this is an evolving definition. Finally, there is a difference between a ‘carried’ device and a ‘mobile device which is in a vehicle’. For example – in a car, a GPS navigator is a ‘mobile device’ and in a plane, the in-flight entertainment screen is also ‘mobile’. However, both these devices are not ‘carried by a person’ and do not have the same screen/power restrictions as devices that are carried by people. However, whichever way you look at it, it's clear that the mobile phone is an example of a restricted device. From now on – we use the definition of mobile devices interchangeably with ‘restricted devices’ and the meaning will be clearer in the context. Extending the web to restricted devices It may seem obvious – but Web 2.0, as we came to know it, is still all about the ‘Web’. In a ‘pure’ definition, Web 2.0 is about ‘harnessing collective intelligence via the web’. When we extend this definition to ‘mobile Web 2.0’, there are two implications: The web does not necessarily extend to mobile devices. But even though the web does not extend to mobile devices, intelligence can still be captured from mobile devices. Mobile Web 2.0: Designing Open Gardens for Tomorrow’s Microcontent-based Education 41 O’Reilly’s seven principles of Web 2.0 speak of this accurately when they discuss the example of iPod/iTunes. The iPod uses the web as a back end and the PC as a local cache. In this sense, the service is ‘driven by the web and configured at the PC’ but it is not strictly a ‘web’ application because it is not driven by web protocols end to end(ipod protocols are proprietary to Apple). Tim O Reilly puts it succinctly in his response to my post on the O’Reilly radar when he says: 4 “[Ajit Jaokar] is absolutely right: the web is mechanism only. And it's ‘web’ only by naming convenience, because much as the internet was originally defined as ‘a network of networks,’ the Web is becoming ‘a web of webs,’ as various mechanisms for harnessing and aggregating collective intelligence start to interconnect. In particular, Ajit's focus is on the Mobile Web, which doesn't have much in common technically with the http-based Web, but everything in common with Web 2.0.” Thus, the distinguishing principles of Mobile Web 2.0 are: a) Harnessing collective intelligence through restricted devices, i.e. a two way flow where people carrying devices become reporters rather than mere consumers; b) driven by the web backbone – but not necessarily based on the web protocols end to end; c) use of the PC as a local cache/configuration mechanism where the service will be selected and configured. As usual, I seek your thoughts and feedback on this concept. 4. The dawn of the Widget Widget Web Posted at the OpenGardens weblog by ajit at October 1, 2006 12:34 AM http://opengardensblog.futuretext.com/archives/2006/10/the_dawn_of_the_1.html The World Wide Web as we know it, is exploding. From its fragments emerges a new 'container based' Web based on Widgets. For the lack of a better word, I shall call it a Widget Widget Web. I have long advocated the power of Widgets to transform the Web 4 http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/04/principles_of_web_20_make_more.html 42 Introductory Note: Ajit Jaokoar as we know it. Hence, I am starting a new set of blogs on the future potential and evolution of Widgets. Recently, Om Malik also wrote a great article. Suddenly everything's coming up widgets. The goal of the Widget Widget web series of blogs is to discuss the evolution of the Web using the Widgets philosophy. Modularization of software and applications is not new. The idea is simply 'moving up the software stack'. I remember the time when Object Oriented Software was a such a big buzzword ... Following on from there, the SOA folk talked about service modularization and rehashing at a service level. And now, we in the Web 2.0 era, are talking of Widgets at a user interface/browser/business level. The simultaneous of evolution of widgets, Ajax and other technologies is no accident since they are all feeding off each other to create a powerful new ecosystem. … In keeping with my background, Widget Widget Web will discuss Widgets in context of Mobile Web 2.0 in addition to the Web in general. With the emergence of the full web browsers on mobile devices, there is a natural tendency of web widgets to 'cross the chasm' to the mobile web. Let me throw up a few ideas, both existing and forthcoming. a) Widgets are currently performing a single specific task. b) Like RSS, they are sending out information from the parent site and enabling the recipients to use that information in their own sites (for example: the use of YouTube videos in MySpace). c) Widgets have widespread support from Operating system vendors and browser vendors. d) Widgets have support from major web services/sites like MySpace and YouTube. e) A cottage industry is emerging in the creation of Widgets and new Widget authoring tools are becoming mainstream. f) Other applications like Salesforce.com are adopting widgets. What else? My favourites are g) Widgets on the Mobile Web (which I have already talked about before). h) Widgets calling Widgets (hence leading to whole applications based on widgets - not just small functional applications). Mobile Micro-learning (Introductory Note) Stephanie Rieger Head of Strategy, Yiibu Mobile (Edinburgh, UK) 1. Introduction What's so exciting about mobile learning is that we are all learners (and teachers), in some way, and we all have a mobile device (phone, PDA, laptop, PSP, Game Boy, iPod), in some way. And being “micro” by default, complexity is not a requirement. Mobile learning is about simplicity: Building on simple interactions with a mobile device to create enriching and compelling experiences. So what could mobile (micro-)learning be? A classroom exercise enhanced by a mobile practice game, an SMS homework reminder at the week-end, the ability to collaborate with other learners on a mobile blog, SMS quizzes or trivia in the weeks leading up to an exam, a portable just-in-time reference for learners in the field, QR or short-codes scattered around a cultural exhibit, a dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopaedia in your pocket, the freedom to study, submit work and receive feedback while on the bus, discovering the experiences of others through location-based "virtual sticky-notes", an audio recording of a missed lecture, an easily accessible photographic "how-to" record of a task, a thumb-drive to carry and exchange learning materials on the go, SMS-based translation services while travelling, or simply-the ability to record and recall information that's important to you. 2. Casual Mobile Snacks for Everyone This entry was posted on Thursday, June 22nd, 2006 at 12:15 AM by Steph and categorized in Content, Personalization, Design, Play.1 1 http://stephanierieger.com/content/casual-mobile-snacks-for-everyone 44 Introductory Note: Stephanie Rieger Juniper Research has just released a white paper (PDF) on future trends and market opportunities in mobile gaming.2 The casual games sector is going to be the market driver, even though it may not be at the leading edge of mobile games technology. Casual games make most use of the inherent advantages of the mobile platform. People want to fill ‘dead time’ with easy to use, but fun games. This is the same in just about every culture. This is hardly news. Casual games, content and entertainment are ideal to fill those ‘inbetween-moments’ you spend with your devices. Dave Gosen, CEO of I-Play calls it “snacking“: “Mobile gaming is a snack, console gaming is a 3-course meal. They are a different user experience.” At the Vidfest conference last week, I overheard Pierre-Paul Trepanier, Director of Marketing for Nintendo Canada explain that with Brain Age, they’re starting to see a shift in game and device buying patterns. A Cingular webcast I sat in on yesterday listed the top 5 casual game genres as * Arcade/Puzzle (32.1%) * Casino (20.7%) * Card (19.1%) * Retro Arcade (14.2%) * Strategy (12.2%).3 This is all well and good and certainly would indicate that the casual game market will grow; but I think the term ‘casual game’ may be a bit narrow. Let’s forget games for a moment and talk about play. Think back to your typical ‘break-time’ at school, as a child. Twenty kids scattered around the room. Some are alone—reading, building stuff, sorting stuff, examining stuff, breaking stuff, staring out the window, contemplating the pattern in the weave of the carpet. All good stuff. Others are in small groups—maybe 2-4 kids—doing very much the same thing—just together in some way. Even there, differences emerge. Some participants are passive. Others prefer to lead the interaction or instruct others. Then you have the kids who roam or browse around the room. Call it low attention span or call it curiosity. (Does it really matter?) 2 juniper 3 Top 5 Mobile Game Genres by Country: % of Average Monthly Downloaders, quarter ended Jan 2006, via Cingular “Introduction to Downloadables”. Mobile Micro-learning 45 Now look around the office during break time. Are adults really that different? And do our current casual ‘games’ offer something for all these different types of ‘users?’ (nasty impersonal word btw…must stop using it…) Do current mobile games allow for: quiet time, playful time, competitive time, learning time, contemplative time, silly time..? (See the Yiibu presentation on the Web for details.)4 We have a unique opportunity with mobile devices in that they can be insanely personal and private while being incredibly social and contextual (presence, location etc.) They can offer small moments of quiet play or learning –d no peers, no pressure – or small moments of highly networked interaction and competition. Not to mention hybrids of the two. I think we’re currently just scratching the surface. 3. Mobile Learning Reading List (Excerpt) This entry (permalink5) was posted on Monday, October 9th, 2006 at 11:43 AM by Steph and categorized in User Experience, Learning, Reading List, PDAs, Pocket PC. After a far too long hiatus I’m back (from Bangkok!—more on that very soon.) So for starters, a bunch of new mobile learning material ☺ Mobile and Media Literacy Equitycampaign, out of the UK, is an initiative that hopes to decrease the digital divide in the EU. Not specifically mobile focused but some of their rationale can easily be applied to justify mobile learning and I’m sure there will be some mobile components in all of this. In essence, the digital divide is the difference in access to learning resources that modern technology offers young people, usually a working computer and an Internet connection. While our schools are better equipped than ever before, the variation in the quality of learning that takes place at home is huge. And as children only spend 15% of their lives at school, the learning that takes place at home is extremely important to their future success. 4 http://yiibu.com/resources/downloads/presentation/yiibu_content_for_the_mobile_long_tail.pdf 5 http://stephanierieger.com/user-experience/mobile-learning-reading-list-part-2 46 Introductory Note: Stephanie Rieger Technology offers us a unique opportunity to extend learning support beyond the classroom, something that has proved impossible to do until now. But the digital divide means that millions of children are currently denied this help. On a somewhat related note, the European Centre for Media Literacy (ECML) was a 24 month program from 2004-2006 with the following objectives: With media technology becoming so prevalent in homes, and with multi-media education more possible now with student access to computers and the Internet, “media literacy” expands the basic concept of literacy (i.e. “reading” and “writing”) to all forms of communication - from television to T-shirts, from billboards to multi-media environments. ECML project would like to help stakeholders to understand why teaching media literacy is so important and give students new education tools. And finally, an ambitious Mobile Content Education campaign from the Australian Interactive Media Association: With increased sophistication, comes an increased burden on the consumer to understand, interact with, and consume mobile content. Recent reports such as the Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index, international research and much consumer feedback shows that only a relatively small group of early adopters are engaging with mobile content. Early experiences with mobile content—good or bad, will spread quickly via word of mouth. We need to ensure that consumers overwhelmingly have positive experiences with mobile content—and tell their friends! The AIMIA Mobile Content Industry Development Group is inviting mobile content companies to join with operators, content providers, trade associations and handset manufacturers in developing a cross-industry national education campaign focusing on: * What is mobile content? * Why engage with mobile content? * How much does it cost? * How do I get it? * What do I do if I have a problem? The campaign is envisaged to include television advertising, in-store brochures, web site and a mobile site and will be ‘owned’ by the industry as a whole. Mobile Micro-learning 47 Lowest Common Denominator In my research into best practices for designing mobile learning, I’ve recently come across a number of sources that advocate, strongly, that a LCD (Least/Lowest Common Denominator) approach to designing mobile experiences is a bad thing. An LCD approach to interface/activity design is one that caters for the widest range of platforms by creating a single, non-adaptive document designed to be viewable on the most basic and least functional of those platforms. The currently prevailing philosophy regarding resource generation for the mobile web is that documents should be designed to exploit the functionality of any platform on which they render, to maximise the user’s viewing experience. This view is strongly advocated by leading mobile web commentators, researchers and academics, and indeed, the W3C itself through its Mobile Web Best Practice standard and MobileOK project. My feeling is that web content design guidelines used to be centred around avoiding problems; current mobile content design guidelines are centred around maximising user experiences. Both perspectives have pros and cons - what do you think? This on the heels of a recent announcement by the W3C of a workshop on the Mobile Web in Developing Countries. Mobile learning is such an obvious fit for many emerging nations as larger numbers of the population have mobiles compared to PCs. That said— content creation for mobile is still relatively difficult and for this reason, many mobile learning initiatives still focus on PDAs rather than handsets. With inexpensive or free applications like mobile Word, Excel and Power Point, a good PDA with memory card and wi-fi can easily be incorporated into both lesson planning and student generated mobile activities. As for mobile web on PDA, it seems to be limited to surfing and I’ve yet to hear of any projects willing to take the leap into actual content creation via XHTML and CSS for the browser environment—possibly because it’s still too difficult and/or unpredictable in its results. 4. Computer and Handset Literacy Checklist This entry (permalink6) was posted on Friday, August 25th, 2006 at 2:46 AM by Steph and categorized in EdTech, Learning, Series 60, Mobility, Literacy. I’ve been trying to formulate a reasonably plausible handset literacy checklist to inform some upcoming projects. Since a handset is the closest many people will come to 6 http://stephanierieger.com/edtech/computer-and-handset-literacy-checklist/ 48 Introductory Note: Stephanie Rieger owning a personal computer and may be used to accomplish similar tasks, I thought I’d start with a list for computer literacy and see how they compare. Computer Literacy My list … in no particular order … 1. Use of input device: Mouse, keyboard etc. 2. Knowledge of working parts: This may sound silly but I still know lots of people who think the computer monitor is the actual computer. What they think the CPU is for is anybody’s guess. So this includes knowing how to turn the computer on, what each part does, how to restart etc. 3. Knowledge of basic peripherals: Mostly a printer but possibly an external drive, Flash memory, thumb drive etc. 4. File structure: Folders, directories, understanding where stuff lives on your drive(s), how to keep things organized. 5. Menu system: How to find, install or uninstall an application, create shortcuts etc. 6. Common UI elements, navigational elements and widgets: Discovering cues that define interactivity (ex. windows that are resizable or dragable,) closing or docking a window, menu or toolbar, scrolling, toggling, using sliders, understanding tabs and their relationship to content etc. 7. Saving, Cut, Copy, Paste: Saving something somewhere then knowing how to find it again (!!), understanding the difference between save and ’save as.’ Understanding how to duplicate and move data around. 8. Data transfer: Getting stuff on and off your computer via email, USB, floppy, burning a CD, Bluetooth, maybe even FTP. 9. Communication: How to use email, IM, VOIP, web mail etc. A few years ago this might have been considered a separate set of skills but I think they’re now just standard computer literacy requirements. 10. Internet use and internet literacy: What is a browser? How does it work? What is a search engine? A blog? Also speaks to information literacy. How to search, how to evaluate search results, how to determine if a web site is a valid or reliable source of information (Wikipedia? blog? news portal?). 11. Safety: Avoiding spam, viruses, staying safe on IM, blogs and in chatrooms, applying parental filters, safe online shopping etc. Mobile Micro-learning 49 12. Etiquette: How to write a proper business email, how to comment or post to a list, how to use emoticons but also, how to use a laptop at meetings (how NOT to check mail and IM three different people while talking to a client ☺ Is it proper to blog while listening to a speaker at a conference? 13. Self-reliance, personalization, respect for the device, ability to troubleshoot: May be best illustrated with a story: Once upon a time my job was (amongst other things) to provide tech support for a small office of media sales people who spent their days on the computer inputting media data, cpm numbers etc. One day, a coworker called me complaining there was a CD ROM was stuck in her desktop computer drive. When I asked if she had tried re-starting her computer, she said yes and proceeded to flick her monitor on and off saying “See, it doesn’t help.” That was when I discovered that her computer had been on for several years as all she did each night was shut the monitor off. For arguments’ sake I then asked if she had tried anything else. She then responded “I shook it and held it upside down but that didn’t help either.” At some point computer literacy should translate into some sort of self-reliant yet appropriate behaviour or ability to care for the device—even in a very basic way. And somewhat related, it should also translate into an ability to personalize your device and/or applications while maintaining an understanding of what types of personalization are acceptable on a private vs public device (internet cafe, school library etc.) 14. Software: Opens a big can of worms with the open source/Mac/PC community as to what is considered ’standard’ software but really—you should be able to send an email to multiple parties with attachments, create a document, a spreadsheet, a short presentation and ideally; edit or manipulate simple graphics. 15. In case you’re wondering, I expected to find a whole bunch of lists like this on the web but ended up mostly finding definitions of the term or academic papers on the subject. I wonder if we’re not getting a bit complacent about this stuff with the assumption that it’s all common knowledge now? Handset Literacy Does the above list map to mobile? What are the differences? 1. Use of input devices: Keys, navipad, joystick, sylus, QWERTY etc. 2. Knowledge of working parts: A bit less relevant but could translate to a knowledge of the various ‘ports’ on your device (memory card, data synchronization cable, infra-red etc.) Could also include a general knowledge of standard device keys or controls like soft-keys or a navi-pad and how they 50 Introductory Note: Stephanie Rieger vary from device to device (i.e. being able to successfully locate the equivalent key on a new device to make a call, send an SMS.) 3. Knowledge of basic peripherals: Bluetooth headset, USB connector, USB keyboard etc. 4. File structure: Folders, directories, understanding where stuff lives on your drive/memory card, how to keep things organized, how to access your drive via your computer (device and O/S dependant of course.) 5. Menu system: How to find an application, install and uninstall, configure basic device settings etc. 6. Common UI elements, navigational elements and widgets: Cues that identify interactivity (ex. tabs, scrolling, toggling, using sliders, collapsable lists etc). 7. Saving, Cut, Copy, Paste: Saving something somewhere then knowing how to find it again. Understanding how to copy, duplicate or move data around. Obviously O/S dependant. I know how to do some of this in S60 but have no clue if it even maps over to my Sony Ericsson. 8. Data transfer: Getting stuff on and off your device via USB, memory card, Bluetooth, responding to a WAP push (all somewhat operator and device dependant.). Could also include an understanding of data itself. Is 5kb bigger than 5MB? 9. Communication: How to initiate a voice call, send an SMS or MMS (device and operator dependant of course.) 10. Internet use and internet literacy: What is a mobile browser, how does it work? What is a WAP browser? What is an on-device-portal? Walled garden? What is a data connection? What are the costs involved in consuming data? How can you minimize them? 11. Safety: Avoiding spam, staying safe on IM, using Bluetooth/LBS for social interaction, understanding your rights relative to mobile marketing and opt-in services, keeping your personal data safe etc. 12. Etiquette: On a device, this goes way further than just knowing how to send a proper and polite SMS. What is the etiquette in various situations? When do you stop a conversation to take a call? When do you shut the phone off? On a date, in a meeting, at home? How does your ability to make good decisions regarding etiquette affect your dealings with others? How does carrying a mobile affect your ability to follow other types of etiquette? Mobile Micro-learning 51 13. Self-reliance, personalization, respect for the device, ability to troubleshoot: A bit different here as a mobile is rarely a truly public device—rather a private device used in a public space. How does your ability to understand your device affect others around you (ex. the ability to quickly switch to vibrate mode in a meeting or place of worship.) How can you personalize the device it ways that reveal different personas to those around you? How can you maintain and safeguard personal data on the device (ex. the Paris Hilton address book theft via Bluetooth incident.) 14. Software: Do we have ’standard’ handset software at this stage? (Does S60 count?) Once you know how to send an SMS, take a picture (somewhat software related in my opinion) what else should you be able to do? What applications are we missing? 15. And what am I missing? How does my lack of device literacy affect the list i’ve created? ☺ Only the most significant references are given here in the printed version. For the numerous hyperlinks of the original blog posts, please look up the web version at the keitai-blog <http://stephanierieger.com>. What Is Microlearning? (Introductory Note) Martin Lindner Research Studios Austria (Austria) Abstract: What is Microlearning? A vague term like this may be used in many ways. But unlike other buzzwords, it indeed has some theoretical and practical substance. In all the discussions and presentations we had at two Microlearning conferences, three dimensions of "microlearning" have become visible so far: First, "Microlearning" is pointing to the theoretical and practical problem of reframing learning for a new ecosystem built on digital "microcontent" and digital "micromedia". Second, "Microlearning" poses a severe challenge to existing theories of instruction and education, as it is implying new concepts of "loose and distributed knowledge", "instant knowledge", "connectivist knowledge" and the like. Third, because it is in the first place not a theoretical, but an empirical concept, "microlearning" calls for a laboratory aproach – analyzing, designing and developing concrete "microlearning applications" and "microlearning content". 1. A Quick Answer “What the heck is ‘Microlearning’? (Arnaud Leene, 2005) The way people have to learn anyway in digital micromedia ecology. Microlearning is what people are doing, knowingly or not, when they face the challenge to find new informations and build new knowledge in new networked digital media environments. With e-mails, mobile phones, Google and the Web 2.0, professional and private users increasingly have to deal with small chunks of “microcontent”, loosely joined, permanently changing, re-arranging and circulating. This leads to the famous crisis symptoms of “Information Overload” and “Attention Disorder”, but trying to shut oneself out from the new micromedia ecology is not an option. The solution for overcoming the new problems and grasping the new opportunities is more information, delivered in new ways (David Weinberger). In this respect, an indispensable pre-requisite for designing “microlearning” experiences is analyzing and understanding the new disruptive behaviours and practices emerging around new forms of “microcontent” and “micromedia”. What Is Microlearning? 53 A challenge to pedagogy and instructional design. To design new ways and forms of technology-enhanced microlearning, one has to develop a kind of learning theory. In principle, “microlearning” is pedagogically agnostic: It can be multiple choice test questions as well as any form of self-directed knowledge acquisition enabled by new microcontent-based Web 2.0 structures and technologies. The crucial challenge is the seamless and organic integration into the daily digital workflows and lifestreams. Basically, microlearning is about pragmatically designing microlearning user experiences – it’s not about the transmission of “content” or “matter”, as in (old) instructional design theory, nor is it dealing with an abstract, media-independent “human individual” or “human mind”, as in (traditional) hermeneutical Humanities. But of course, such an approach has deeper implications on all levels: In a more fundamental perspective, it is related to changes in learning content production and delivery, to ongoing transformations of education/training systems, to discussions about a different understanding of “learning” and “knowledge” in general, and even of technology-enhanced humanity itself. A matter of designing microcontent-based learning applications and services. “Microlearning” is about design driving pedagogy, not the other way round. In fact, the term and concept initially had been derived (in 2004) from the concrete development and design of a plain &simple, platform-independent learning application.1 The last years have seen the grassroot development of a multitude of microcontent applications working on networked cross-platform micromedia devices. Widget-based services of the Web 2.0 enable new ways of microcontent production, circulation and “peripherical” consumption. At the same time, this is converging with Mobile Web services. In both cases, new ways of bringing microinformation to the user are explored which have to be very different both from traditional “desktop/office/file”-architectures and from a Web made for “page-browsing”. To integrate into the multitasking and microtasking environment of the typical digital information worker of today, “microcontent experiences” have to be designed as flows of very short and quick impulses and activities, similar to everyday tasks and threads that 1 “Integrated Microlearning” is a branded concept closely connected with a concrete e-learning application. Called “Knowledge Pulse”, it has been introduced and further developed by the Research Studio eLearning Environments (Innsbruck, Austria). It is designed to unobtrusively push digital learning content into the everday digital workflow and lifestream of anybody who is daily using digital and mobile media. 54 Introductory Note: Martin Lindner are followed through the day simultaneously, across media platforms (e-mails, phone, Web, face-to-face) and across permanent interruptions and distractions. 2. A Very Short History of Buzzwords “Did you hear? e-Learning is Dead. That's right... dead. Shot down in the prime of its life. Six feet under. Kaput.” (eLearning Guild Newsletter, 2003) Since the annual Microlearning conference series has been introduced in 2005, the question is being asked now and again: What the heck is “microlearning”? And how is it related to “e-learning” and the all too numerous secondary buzzwords derived from it? Buzzwords in general are following a stereotypical pattern: First, a rather concrete concept is borrowed from some “hard discipline” that is dealing with something that is can be numbered: code and numbers (programming), money and numbers (management), or physical matter (engineering). In a second step, this concept (or just the catchphrase) is put out of original context and then applied to “soft” fields that have to do with human interaction and communication – like, most notoriously, human learning. The results are the flavors of the season for the learning market, getting promoted every new year as the latest patent medicine: Before Personal Computers, it was “study technology” (L. Ron Hubbard), “programmed learning” (B. F. Skinner), or mediaenhanced “Superlearning”. This was then followed by “computer-based training”, “Internet-based training”, and, of course, “e-learning” itself. And in every case these concepts were failing to live up to the promises. The “e” in “E-learning” is standing for “electronic”, but this is somewhat misleading, as the term had been coined in 1998 (by Jay Cross) in direct analogy to “e-mail” and with reference to the World Wide Web, which at this time just had become visible as the ubiquitous, disruptive mainstream meta-application of today. E-learning was initially meant as a label for a innovative new learning culture enabled by digital networked media, but the buzzword was too easy to grab and mainly used in the goldrush of the Dotcom years as a new label for “Internet-based training”, combined with closed “learning platforms” that were just digitally modelled replica of classrooms and courserooms, minus the most important factor that make courses and classes successful in physical reality: the real-life interaction with teachers and peers. Along with e-learning, and afterwards, we then had “Learning on Demand”, “Just in Time Learning”, “Workflow Learning”, “Rapid Learning”, “Agile Learning”, “E-learning 2.0”, What Is Microlearning? 55 “Nanolearning”, Whatever Learning … The term and concept of “microlearning” emerged in 2004, when the failure of macro-sized e-learning had become obvious.2 Without further explanation, it is true, it would be just another post-e-learning buzzword, vaguely relating to “Microsoft”, the futuristic appeal of microchip-based ICT innovation cycles and the tendency of all electric media to become ever smaller and ever more powerful. But if “micro” is been read as a concrete reference to “microcontent” and micromedia”, it is the form e-learning is necessarily taking on as the walls of the Microsoft Office are breaking down and as the information environment is widening into the Google Galaxy, into Web 2.0 and finally into the converging mobile/ubiquitous Web of tomorrow. 3. Microcontent, Micromedia, and the consequences for learning “There is a world of difference between the modern home environment of integrated electric information and the classroom.” (Marshall McLuhan, 1967) E-learning has been suffering from a special kind of Digital Divide. Web-based media are developing much faster than institutions, staff and learners can adapt. They are taking on a life of their own, calling for new roles and practices, and even new communities and personas. To understand the new Web, the traditional tool paradigm has to be complemented by a media paradigm. It has to be conceptualized not only as a technological and educational infrastructure, but as a complex and dynamic ecosystem based on microcontent: very small pieces, loosely joined, permanently rearranging to form volatile knowledge clouds, and making necessary new forms of microlearning. Microcontent When usability guru Jakob Nielsen introduced the term “microcontent” in 1998, it just meant “ultra-short abstracts” of “associated macrocontent”3 – like short subject lines in emails, titles of webpages, or the metadata-section within the HTML code. But only four years later, after the introduction of Google, wikis, blogs, and RSS, the term has been rediscovered and redefined: 2 As a conceptual term, it seems to have been introduced in 2004 simultaneously, but indepently, by the Research Studios Austria, organizer of the Microlearning conference series, and by a small French consulting firm designing “e-earning objects” delivered daily by e-mail (http://www.microlearning.net). See also Gassler/Hug/Glahn (2004) and Gstrein/Hug (2005). 3 Nielsen, J. (1998), Microcontent: How to Write Headlines, Page Titles, and Subject Lines. http://www.useit.com/alertbox/980906.html 56 Introductory Note: Martin Lindner “Microcontent is information published in short form, with its length dictated by constraint of a single main topic and by the physical and technical limitations of software and devices that we use to view digital content today. We've discovered in last few years that navigating the web in meme-sized chunks is the natural idiom of Internet.” (Anil Dash).4 the the the the Such microcontent can be all kinds of micro-chunked digital content: very small texts, pictures and graphics, and combinations thereof; links; short low-resolution audio or video clips… Dash’s further definitions then boil down to three basic points: Microcontent is self-contained, enriched with metadata, and appropriately formatted for easy processing and re-processing. And, most importantly: Microcontent is double encoded. The three characteristics have to be applied to both the human side and the computer side, which are not necessarily the same. Some content may be “micro” for computers, but not for human attention, and vice versa (Lindner 2006; Leene 2005). Although this is not limited to blogs at all, the archetypical chunk of microcontent may still be a blog post in a MySQL database, a body with title line, author, time-stamp, category and tags, and a “permalink” that makes it individually addressable and processable for further re-use. Microcontent is as much about circulation as about transmission: In many cases these items still act as pointers to some other content, but not to “macrocontent” anymore, but to other microcontent items, forming an unlimited texture of references. Micromedia Digital microcontent is not just very “small pieces, loosely joined” (Weinberger 2002), but at the same time a media phenomenon of its own right, producing whole new forms of “loosely joined” media content, new practices, new experiences, new forms of circulations, new business models. Until now, “micromedia” has been associated with two independent definitions that both are contributing to an understanding of the phenomenon. Web economist Umair Haque is concentrating on the radical impact of new microcontent-based technologies, applications and services on traditional mass media, especially the news and the music industry. In the context aof an emerging highly dynamic, open and fragmented digital “attention economy”, “micromedia” (plural) are digital atomized media “that can be consumed in unbundled microchunks and aggregated and reconstructed in hyperefficient ways.” (Haque 2005) 4 Dash, A. (2002), Introducing the Microcontent Client. http://www.anildash.com/magazine/2002/11/introducing_the.html For a more detailed discussion of the “microcontent” concept see also Lindner (2006a). What Is Microlearning? 57 While this definition of “micromedia” certainly includes the transfer to mobile devices (like mp3 files, ringtones, news snippets), it is not dealing with the level of micromedia experiences that is differing with platforms and device types. This was addressed by Manovich (2000) who used therm himself to characterize the opening gap between broadband and multimedia technologies aiming toward ‘more’ (“more resolution, better color, better visual fidelity, more bandwidth, more immersion”), and media technologies that are on the contrary “characterized by low resolution, low fidelity, and slow speeds”. With respect to “networked mobile phones”, Manovich prophesized that what he called “minimalist media or micro-media” would “not only successfully compete with macromedia but may even overtake it in popularity”. The Web 2.0 did prove him right in a more fundamental way than he may have thought himself. Discontinuous and Peripherous Partial Attention Up to this time, e-learning has been designed for an ideal “healthy and productive user”, focusing on one subject at a time for longer time spans, opening one application and taking step after step until finishing a larger task. But in today’s information work, starting with e-mail, googling and mobile phones, there is no way back from “Information Overload” and “Attention Disorder”. Over a decade ago, John Seely Brown published an important essay on border and periphery as the main challenge for information design. He was stating that he world seen through the computer screen is lacking the “peripheral vision” needed to provide the context that alone makes information really useful and meaningful for a human user (Brown 1994). A similar observation was made by Linda Stone, then a researcher for Microsoft: “[W]e keep the top level item in focus and scan the periphery in case something more important emerges. Continuous partial attention is motivated by a desire not to miss opportunities. We want to ensure our place as a live node on the network ...”5 This is becoming typical not only for “digital natives”, but also for mainstream information/knowledge workers – and learners. The cure for information overload is more information, delivered in different ways, David Weinberger said.6 Microlearning has to be designed for such a situation. 5 Linda Stone, keynote to the conference Supernova2005, transcription by Torkington, N. (2006), ETech: Linda Stone [Entry in weblog “O’Reilly radar”, 03/12/2006.]http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/03/etech_linda_stone_1.html 6 Joho the Blog, posted 05/24/2005 – http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/004037.html 58 Introductory Note: Martin Lindner 4. Microlearning and the crisis of learning "Those of us in the training/learning industry are the only ones who call workers learners. The learners don't call themselves learners either." (Jay Cross, 2003) It is not just “e-learning” or “microlearning”. Learning itself has become a buzzword too. The more the l-word is proclaimed as a universal solution for the “Information Society” or “Knowledge Economy”, the less clear seems to be what learning is and what it should be. In fact, the common sense appeal of “learning” is widely used to conceal growing contradictions: On one side, the rhetorics and theory of learning is emphasizing the qualities of selfdirectedness, openness, informality and the social dimension. Put to an extreme level, one gets to the tautology that living is learning. On the other side, exactly because of the unsettling openness of the new information ecologies, formal learning is more and more reduced to collecting "credit points" in closed certification systems. This requires the standardization of learning "content" to a point it becomes totally meaningless: learning is being tested. The interesting thing is that both contradictory learning paradigms are borrowing very much of their reputation from ICT. The open theory of learning is very much inspired by hypertext, personalized media, and, most of all, the Web. So inevitably, the "Web 2.0" led to a new paradigm that at first has been called "E-learning 2.0", but now is going under the simple name of "Learning 2.0" (Downes 2005, Alexander 2006). A strong accent is laid here on activities of the users/learners within complex and demanding forms of learning (problem-based learning, scenario-based learning). While these kinds of informal learning are modelled after the Web, rigid formal learning/training is modelled after the mainframe computer paradigm. In this reductionist perspective, digital technology is about 0 and 1, like a Multiple Choice test. In principle, “microlearning” could be used in both ways. On one side, people who need to learn within new micromedia environments, using the new digital devices and technologies, will just have to “microlearn” in some way or another. In this perspective, the challenge would be to introduce some “structured mirolearning” into open and informal learning environments. This would put the emphasis more on the side of “semantic networks”, as opposed to the “Web 2.0” evangelists’ current obsession with “social networks”. But finally, these are two sides of the same coin. What Is Microlearning? 59 On the other side, using a mobile device for drill & practice to get through multiple choice tests like SAT, LSAT, GMAT and TOEFL can also rightly be called microlearning. Here the challenge would be to create learning experiences that are strengthening the central role of the user: People using digital media don’t want to feel like “learners” when they are learning. They like to see themselves as a kind of competent “information managers” – like students learning from going through their own cheat sheets. Instructional design for microlearning in a rigid certification context would have to take this into account. Currently it is not clear what a theory of instructional design tailored for microlearning might look like. It would certainly require some theory of “networked knowledge” like currently is being discussed, among others, by Stephen Downes and George Siemens. But the Microlearning conference series has been starting from the assumption that such a learning theory at first has to be developed empirically, by observing and analyzing the ways people are actually aquiring information in micromedia environments, and also by actively experimenting with microcontent applications in a learning context, or even by designing and testing new prototypes. 5. Designing microlearning experiences “Working in a field of constant change, information technology designers habitually deal with evolving practices, fluid conventions, and unpredictable uses.” (Brown/Duguid 1994) “Microlearning” is about design driving pedagogy, not the other way round. Basically it is a modest approach. In the most simple form, it means a user/learner to whom a series of very small preconfigured information objects is presented, be it continuously, one shortly after another, or discontinuously, covering longer time spans. Activity here is restricted to low-level interaction with the media device. This may seem simple, even primitive, but it is not quite if the micromedia context is really taken into account. This poses two crucial questions: How can microlearning (in this narrow sense) become integrated into the complex context formed by the usage of one device (or the simultaneous usage of multiple devices), by the workflow, by the personal flow of tasks (be it professional or private), and finally by the sociocultural context of the media being used? And what forms of guidance and steering could possibly be designed to feel natural for a micromedia user? 60 Introductory Note: Martin Lindner In another paper, a collection of basic concepts and guidelines has been outlined which are important benchmarks for successful microlearning design (Lindner 2006b). The catch phrases are: point of presence, flow, embodied interaction, periphery/casuality, openness, simplicity. Just a few hints, because here is not the place to discuss these concepts in detail: Periphery/casuality: Microlearning applications have to feel peripherous and casual, for being usable in a state of (more or less) “Discontinuous Partial Attention”. Being a “foreground device” that is requiring full focus, the PC can only be simulating periphery and casuality within the main screen: as additional layers and items at the level of the the desktop interface (e.g. widgets, e-mail alerts …) or the browser window. The mobile phone is casual by nature, being a “background device that makes it easy to pop into the foreground for a brief moment before simply falling into the background once more”.7 Successful microlearning applications must be designed for this kind of unstable, peripherous attention. Flow: A main challenge of microlearning is to design microcontent structures in a way that these are not experienced as de-contectualized fragments, but as small particles that over the day are together forming some continuous structure in the user’s mind. This has many facets, but in any case it is important to design for the implicit flow structure of different types of media devices and usage. Point of Presence: In the microcontent-based Web, stable roles and pre-defined identities become much more unimportant than in a software environment or in the pagebased “Web 1.0”. The “Point of Presence” is more of a ‘blank page’, a field of of possible connections, an ‘anything, anytime, anyone’-position waiting for the user to step in. Thus microleaning applications cannot rely on an existing motivation of the learner. They have to gain and to manage the learner’s attention with every new “micro-impulse”, using skilled user experience design. Gesture-driven: Microlearning can be conceptualized as a flow of micro-impulses and responding micro-activities. Some activity has to be demanded to draw the user into the application, but at the same time these activities have to be as low-threshold as possible, like for example the thumb-gestures used to navigate the interface of a mobile phone. Openness: A “feeling of openness” is crucial for a microlearning experience that has “to put the user in the center”. Still this can be created in different ways: on a symbolical level (like the feeling of ‘playing a game’, although the game’s content is not “open” at all), on the level of ‘Continuous Partial Attention’ (easy change of focus between 7 Schick, C. (2005) What are the true qualities of mobility? Posted at Lifeblog, 09/06/2005. http://cognections.typepad.com/lifeblog/2005/09/what_are_the_tr.html What Is Microlearning? 61 background and foreground) and finally on the level of content (open content, usergenerated content). Simplicity: Microlearning must be experienced as a simple activity on each device. Of course, this always been recognized as a key factor in user-centered design. But mediaorientated simplicity is not necessarily the same as usability. Rather it is “perceived simplicity”, which is for a large part an aesthetical quality. These concepts may look vague at first, but taken together, they can be used as a sort of benchmark test for microcontent or microlearning applications. Each quality that is lacking is diminishing the microlearning experience. 6 References Alexander, B. (2006), Web 2.0: A New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Learning? EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 41, no. 2 (March/April 2006): 32–44. http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/erm06/erm0621.asp?bhcp=1 Brown, J.S. (1994) Brown, J. S., Duguid, P. (1994), Borderline Issues: Social and Material Aspects of Design. Human-Computer Interaction, v 9, n 1 (pp. 3-36), 1994. http://www.johnseelybrown.com/Borderline_Issues.pdf Downes, S. (2005) E-learning 2.0. In: eLearn Magazine (10/17/2005) [Feature]. http://elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=29-1 Gassler, G.; Hug, T. & Glahn, C. (2004), Integrated Micro Learning – An outline of the basic method and first results. In: Auer, M. E. & Auer, U. (eds.), International Conference on Interactive Computer Aided Learning, ICL 2004, Sept. 29 - Oct. 1, 2004, Villach, Austria (CD-ROM). Gstrein, S. & Hug, T. (2005), Integrated Micro Learning during Access Delays – a New Approach to Second Language Learning. In: Zaphiris, P. (ed.), User-Centered Computer Aided Language Learning (Chapter 7). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Haque, U. (2005) The New Economics of Media. Micromedia, Connected Consumption, and the Snowball Effect [especially slides 32 – 35, 51]. http://www.bubblegeneration.com/resources/mediaeconomics.ppt 62 Introductory Note: Martin Lindner Leene, A. (2005) Microcontent is Everywhere. In: Hug, T., Lindner, M. and Bruck, P. A. (Eds.) (2006) Microlearning: Emerging Concepts, Practices and Technologies after e-Learning. Proceedings of Microlearning 2005. Learning & Working in New Media (Innsbruck/Austria, June 2005), Innsbruck University Press: Innsbruck. http://www.sivas.com/microcontent/microlearning2005/microlearning.pdf Lindner, M. (2006a), Use these tools, your mind will follow. Learning in immersive micromedia and microknowledge environments. In Whitelock, D. & Wheeler, S. (Eds). The next generation. Research Proceedings of the 13th Association for Learning Technology Conference (ALT-C 2006), pp. 41- 49. Lindner, M. (2006b), Human-centered Design for 'Casual' Information and Learning in Micromedia Environments. In Holzinger, A. et.al. (Eds.) M3 - Interdisciplinary Aspects on Digital Media & Education. Proceedings of the 2nd Symposium of the WG HCI&UE of the Austrian Computer Society, pp. 52 – 60. Manovich, L. (2000), Macromedia and Micro-media. Retrieved on February 8, 2006 from http://www.manovich.net/docs/macro_micro.doc Siemens, G. (2004), Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Retrieved February 16, 2006 from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm Weinberger, D. (2002). Small Pieces, Loosely Joined. A Unified Theory of the Web. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing. The Microlearning Agenda in the Age of Educational Media (Paper) Norm Friesen Thompson Rivers University (Canada) Abstract: Nearly half a decade after its inception, microlearning –teaching and learning on the scale of the "teachable moment" or the space of a cellphone screen-- has been conceptualized and explored using a wide variety of frameworks and technologies. These range from constructivist and Montessori methodologies (Mosel, 2006; Tscherteu, 2006), through mobile and situated applications (Gugerbauer, 2007; Frankl, 2007), to calls for new pedagogical and research agendas (Hug, 2006; Gabrielli, Kimani, Catarci, 2006) to cite just a few examples. This paper begins with a brief review of the research and informal literatures that have been quickly amassed in this new field. From this overview, it develops the thesis that the "microlearning agenda" –as an explicit emphasis on the minute and particular in teaching and technology—presents valuable lessons for research into technology and media in education generally. Microlearning is revealed in these contexts not simply as one approach among many, but as something that goes on continuously, whether it is an explicit focus for research and technology development or not. As such, the lessons gained through microlearning are shown to have a generalized applicability to the studies of media and technology in education in the broadest possible sense. 1 Introduction In the rapidly-changing world of the Internet and the Web, theory and research frequently struggle to catch up to developments, interactions and permutations in technology and the social forms and practices evolving with it. In the social sciences generally, Internet and Web Studies have emerged to address this situation by developing and adapting ethnographic, social-psychological, linguistic, critical and other methodologies. These now serve as ways of investigating new online manifestations of identity, language use, and other cultural, commercial and technical forms –-from blogging through YouTube. In educational research, a similar proliferation of novel practices, applications, and forms-from online educational games to learning objects, from bulletin boards to wikis— have 64 Papers: Norm Friesen come to be addressed under rubrics such as "e-learning," "distributed education," or "networked learning." Naturally, a number of more specific catchphrases and terms have been circulating to label, categorize and also promote more particular practices, ideas and forms. These include e-learning 2.0, personal learning environments, game-based learning, and more. Together these terms and rubrics help to map out an emerging sociotechnical landscape. However, this terrain is itself shifting and changing, constantly underscoring the provisional and negotiable nature of terms and labels. In many cases, terms attempt to stake out terrain that is as of yet emerging, sometimes going too far off the mark, and (less frequently), being too conservative in their estimation of the richness or extent of the terrain identified. With this in mind, this paper will look at the specific term "microlearning" as it has emerged and developed over the past five years or more, and consider how it helps to organize and order a set of pedagogical and technological phenomena and concepts in new and interesting ways. This paper will also examine how the emergence and development of the term "microlearning" presents lessons for a range of interrelated concerns that continue to proliferate at the intersection of sociotechnical and educational. The sources relevant to this paper are generally those associated, with varying degrees of directness, to microlearning conferences and related events held at Innsbruck University/Siebersdorf Research Studios in 2005 and 2006. Academically, these have taken the form of two publications of conference proceedings, as well as a forthcoming book on microlearning from Waxmann publishers. Less formally or traditionally, these sources include blogs, wikis and other online resources treating the subject of microlearning either directly or tangentially. Most prominent among these are, of course, the resources collected at www.microlearning.org, but other informal sources also include www.downes.ca, infocult.typepad.com or www.mediendidatik.de, to provide just a few examples. The discourse, or rather, multiple discourses that have emerged and developed around microlearning are above all polyvocal and international. In addition to a strong centraleuropean presence, a glance at the tables of contents of the published collections in microlearning reveals contributions from North America, Asia, Australia, as well as other parts of Europe. Such cultural, geographic and linguistic heterogeneity underscores the fact that the technology central to microlearning –like any technologies or technical systems—are not constituted in isolation, producing the same results in different The Microlearning Agenda in the Age of Educational Media 65 institutional, social and cultural contexts. Instead, this technology and these systems are inextricably intertwined, and this embedding of the technical in the social and cultural is given expression in this paper by referring to the "socio-technical" (e.g. see Hughes, 2001). Attempts to present an overview and to draw out commonalities from such a wide-ranging collection of contributions and discourses will inevitably privilege some voices, ideas and visions over others. All the same, such a retrospective overview affords an opportunity for reflection and analysis which is likely to be of value for microlearning as a set of goals and visions, and for other terms and movements similarly located at the conjunction of the social, technical and educational. 2 Definition and Context "Microlearning" is generally defined in terms of content, processes and technology, in each case emphasizing that which can be located on the level of "micro" –as opposed to the meso or macro: Minutes or seconds of time instead of hours, days or months; sentences, headlines, or clips opposed to paragraphs, articles, programs or presentations; and portable technologies, loosely-coupled distributed environments rather than monolithic or integrated turnkey systems. These definitions were generally offered early in the micro-learning discussion, specifically surrounding and during the first microlearning conference in 2005 (e.g., Hug, 2006; Langreiter & Bolka, 2006; microlearning.org, 2005). The context identified in these early, definitional discussions is significant: Many appeal to Blogs, Wikis, RSS feeds, and related innovations associated with "Web 2.0." In a relatively early contribution to this discussion, Arnaud Leene (2005; 2006) invoked this general context using the term "microcontent," or more specifically, "structured microcontent." Speaking both descriptively and proscriptively, Leene sees this as content which is or should be small, self-contained, addressable, structured, flexible, modular, and digital. An emphasis on blogging and RSS especially in other early presentations and writing provide concrete examples of formats, technologies and architectures associated with microcontent (e.g. Fischer, 2006; Langreiter & Bolka, 2006). A broader context for the definitions of microlearning is provided by characteristics and dynamics associated with "knowledge economies." These characteristics include, of course, an increasing economic dependence on the generation, circulation and utilization of productive knowledge, and attendant pressures for instant access, workforce retraining and lifelong learning but also are seen to involve increasing nomadicity of 66 Papers: Norm Friesen those generating and using knowledge, and also decreasing longevity and even coherence of knowledge itself: Microlearning as a term reflects the emerging reality of the ever-increasing fragmentation of both information sources and information units used for learning, especially in fast-moving areas which see rapid development and a constantly high degree of change. (Langreiter & Bolka, 2006) Although the absolute novelty of the current situation –and the absolute centrality of knowledge in it—are subject to debate (e.g. Seidensticker, 2006; Friesen, 2006), it is difficult to dispute the increasing speed, fragmentation and mobility of information production and consumption. 3 The Politics of Architecture Speaking of network openness, Mitch Kapor, the inventor of Lotus 1-2-3, insightfully observed in 1991 that "architecture is politics." "The structure of a network itself, more than the regulations which govern its use," Kapor argued (and has argued since), "significantly determines what people can and cannot do" using that same network (Kapor, 2006). Think, for example, of diagrams emphasizing the the distributed nature of the Internet, with multiple nodes or routing locations connected in multiple ways with others, and with any one capable of routing additional network traffic should a neighboring node become unavailable. This is typically presented as opposed to a centralized networks, such as those represented by the telephone system, with a single central node. As it has developed, microlearning can be said to have brought with it a kind of politics, and this politics is nowhere easier to trace than in architectures proposed for its technologies and applications. This politics, moreover, is primarily a politics of the institution versus the individual. Certainly there are a significant number of contributions to the microlearning discussion that emphasize its relevance to existing educational institutions and practices, or that focus on applications or studies situated within given institutional boundaries (e.g. Newman & Grigg, 2007; Oliver, 2007; Schachtner, 2006). But these are outweighed by contributions critical of existing and traditional educational institutions and practices. This is evident in calls to go beyond "the institutional shackles of today's state education systems" (Krieg, 2007), the questioning of the "sustainability of The Microlearning Agenda in the Age of Educational Media 67 traditional models" (Fiedler & Kieslinger) or the outright rejection of "traditional pedagogies, frameworks and roles" as "ineffective" (Molnar, 2006). But revolutionary rhetoric aside, diagrams such as those provided by Fiedler and Kieslinger (2007), Downes (2006) and Wilson before him (2005) make clear the difference between traditional and microlearning visions. In the first diagram adapted from Fiedler and Kieslinger for example, is illustrative of architectures associated with conventional "institutional" settings. The diagram shows "participants" (the white circles on the right) as connecting to "forum," "calendar," and "content" tools or functions, which are supplied by a single, centralized learning management System (LMS). The diagram could just as well have shown these same participants as similarly connecting to the "email," "conferencing," and other communications tools. Additionally, it could have also shown all of these tools or functions as associated with a single Learning Management System, combining both content, calendaring and communication functions in a single, integrated suite of tools. All communication or connection between these participants, moreover, is ultimately mediated through these centralized systems. This is precisely what the leading Web-based learning and teaching environments – WebCT, Blackboard and Moodle— accomplish. And they do so in such a way that they allow for the surveillance of online student activities in a manner that has been described as "panoptic." As is the case in Bentham's prison design, these learning management systems allow the behaviours of students to be visible to the teacher in individual and aggregate form, while the actions of the teacher are in no way open to such scrutiny (Land, 2004). In addition, the roles and actions that students and teachers are actually able to undertake are similarly constrained and standardized. "Bricks-and-mortar" institutions, like any other organizations, are "full of heterogeneous actors, with complex identities." These are also developed, changed and improvised as necessary: students may lead a class, and may evaluate themselves and others. However, in learning management systems and organizational information systems generally, "everyone and everything is formalised, represented in a standardised form, with certain roles and responsibilities towards the system." The result with such systems is that "we risk destroying or submerging those interactions that are tacit, informal, flexible." Teachers are not learners, and learners do not teach; instructors or automated systems evaluate students rather than students evaluating themselves, and all actions remain inauthentically isolated from real-world with a password-protected "garden wall." 68 Figure 1: "Institutional Setting" Papers: Norm Friesen The Microlearning Agenda in the Age of Educational Media 69 Figure 2: "Individual Setting" The diagram showing the "individual setting," on the other hand, shows a single participant at the centre, and a wide range of entities arrayed around him or her. These entities include not only the familiar institutional functions or tools for email, messaging, calendaring, etc.; they also include those sociotechnical developments most closely 70 Papers: Norm Friesen associated with microlearning, such as Weblogs, ePortfolios, RSS readers, etc. Significantly, many of these tools this diagram are shown to be connected to related tools offered through a different "institutional setting" and the central participant in this diagram is also shown as connecting directly to other services or tools offered by this same institution (these connections are indicated by the dashed lines extending on the left of the figure; the entities to which they ultimately connect have been cropped in this version of the diagram). In addition to these tools (which are presumably still offered and centralized in a given institutional setting) the participant is shown as having direct contact with other "participants" --labelled as "family," "friends," "experts" and "peers"-outside of the institution, and involving no mediation by its systems or tools. These, in turn, are connected to further individuals, who bring along their own array of institutional tools and connections (as indicated by columns of institutional services or tools arrayed towards the bottom of the diagram). Of course, the politics of this second diagram are not those of institutional control, but of individual autonomy and self-direction. Specifically interrogating issues associated with the adult or "life-long" learner, Fiedler and Kieslinger describe a "technologically emancipated" education: Do we expect adult students merely to adapt to centrally hosted and controlled landscapes of tools and services? Or do we rather maintain a perspective of (technological) emancipation, which suggests that adults should also control, at least partially, the tools and services that they integrate into their personal workflows? (2006) This is perhaps even more explicit in the descriptions and the diagram of the "Personal Learning Environment," provided by Downes and mentioned earlier. The diagram in question, although not reproduced here, does not even provide a single instutional frame of reference. Instead it shows a central environment (a "Virtual Learning Environment" or a "Personal Learning Environment") as connecting to some half dozen services and technologies, with institutions such as "Learndirect" or the Bolton Institute having same diagrammatic status as Flickr or del.icio.us: "It becomes," as Downes explains, "not an institutional or corporate application, but a personal learning center, where content is reused and remixed according to the student's own needs and interests." Writing elsewhere, Downes is even more explicit: "It’s just you, your community, and the web, an environment where you are the centre and where your teachers - if there are any - are your peers. It is, I believe, the future - and where, one day, the next generation of Blackboards and WebCTs and Moodles and Sakais will make their mark" (2006a). The Microlearning Agenda in the Age of Educational Media 71 The discourses and diagrams of microlearning, in this way, have provided a place for articulating and sketching out visions of a politically progressive, post-institutional education. Ways and means of learning are envisioned as being freed –at least to various degrees-- from the old ways, forms, structures and limitations. One potential challenge that arises from these developments, though, is that they blur the distinctions separating education and from more generic information and service provision, creation and consumption. For it is in some ways the "bundling" of communication, content provision and other functions and tools that characterizes their current educational use. And, more importantly, it is the embedding of this use with institutional supports and funding, with communities of teachers and researchers, and with curricular structures and organization that distinguishes it from more generic communication and information access. To be fair, the authors cited above would likely counter that these are precisely the traditional limitations from which education needs to be freed. However the tensions and issues that would be implied in such a debate might become clearer when they are considered further below, in the light of another important theme in the microlearning literature, pedagogy. 4 Microlearning Pedagogies The pedagogy associated with microlearning spans a wide range of possible approaches, from emphases on its inherently "unstructurable" and improvisatory nature (Friesen, 2006) to approaches involving the specification of actions and activities from moment-to-moment. One striking example of the latter is by the (relatively) early contribution to a didactics of microlearing developed by Swertz, and earlier, by his supervisor, Meder. Going by the name of "Web Didatics," this is an eclectic pedagogy, defined in terms of navigation, sequencing, and particular content types: Web-Didactics does not offer a single instructional design model (e.g. Problem Based Learning, Tasks Oriented Learning) but a choice of didactical models, that where approved in the educational tradition. These models were specified concerning the granularity of the computer screen. (2006) Swertz explains that the granularity of content called for by the computer screen is relatively small, and that contents at this level of granularity need to be disaggregated ("decontextualized") to form general knowledge bases, in which these contents are labelled according to specific knowledge types. These types include "orientation" "action" "example" "explanation," video animation, "drawing" "text." Swertz reasons that each of 72 Papers: Norm Friesen these types can be sequenced (generally in linear fashion) according to a number of "micro models," including models he identifies "abstracting," "concretizing," "theorydriven" and "problem-based." Abstracting involves a progression from text through drawing and animation to video, with concretizing reversing this order. Omitting some intermediate stages, the problem-based model involves progressive moves from task contentthrough explanation and example to an activity and overview. This overall approach --re-arranging small, recombinant resources to constitute given instructional sequences-- will likely sound familiar to anyone who has been exposed to learning objects and technical e-learning standards. For similar processes have been envisioned as occurring with learning objects as they are "packaged," "sequenced," or "scripted" in linear, hierarchical and/or recursive order. A similar emphasis on structure is evident in discussions of the "knowledge pulse" tool that has been developed by Research Studios Austria, one of the sponsors of the microlearning conferences. This is a cell phone application used for second language acquisition, designed to prompt the user at pre-determined (and also customizable) intervals with questions concerning vocabulary, grammar, phrases and basic comprehension in a foreign language. These intervals can be tracked to ensure that they are optimized in accordance with psychological studies in memory and retention. The result is a product which has shown some promise in early studies (Hagleitner, Drexler, Hug, 2006), and which can be integrating in new and interesting ways into everyday practices and routines. This is described as occurring almost "interstitially," under the aegis of "integrated microlearning:" [In between] periods of intensive media usage, transitions and ‘empty spaces’ emerge: Between e-Mails and phone calls, after sending a SMS and when closing an application— and we are also spending time in between, in weird nonspaces: before a meeting and after a phone call, at the airport and in the office corridor, at the bus stop and in the queue. Integrated Microlearning uses those gaps and generates new spaces for learning. The level pedagogical structuring entailed in this kind of interstitial, integrated microlearning is broadly comparable to a rather different pedagogy for microlearning articulated under the titled: "the Dr. Who principle" (Newman & Grigg, 2007). Starting from the assumption that learning and microlearning are "inherently episodic," the The Microlearning Agenda in the Age of Educational Media 73 authors point to the narrative structure of the 30 minute Dr. Who episodes broadcast by the BBC from the 60's to the 1980's as exemplary for microlearning. The two key characteristics they identify are 1) The structuring of "content to fit the episode (and every episode with a cliff-hanger)" and 2) The delivery of "the episodes in appropriate time intervals." Of course, the second point is reminiscent of the mnemonically optimized intervals utilized in integrated microlearning; and the episodic, narrative structure suggested in the first point, is at least morphologically similar to the short sequences suggest in Swertz's "Web Didaktik." If these organizational and broadly didactic strategies be this can be considered as at least a "partially structured" pedagogy for microlearning, they serve as a transition to those pedagogies which advocate an abandonment of structure and regulation, and an autonomous role for the learner. Again, this is described in its clearest form by Downes, not only in terms of the architecture he advocates, but also in terms of an explicit philosophy which he has been consistently articulating. This is a "learner-centered" or "student-centered" pedagogy, requiring above all "the placing of the control of learning itself into the hands of the learner." It is well represented by the likes of Friere and Papert, with Downes citing one of the latter's statements on "games-based learning" as follows: The most important learning skills that I see children getting from games are those that support the empowering sense of taking charge of their own learning. And the learner taking charge of learning is antithetical to the dominant ideology of curriculum design (Papert, 1998). Any explicit structure applying to this "self-directed" learning is minimal: "insofar as there is structure, it is more likely to resemble a language or a conversation rather than a book or a manual," as Downes explains. The learner directs and decides the affiliations, links, contents, forms of guidance and direction (if any) that will be constitutive of the learning process –in some cases creating these him or herself. There is no pre-ordained structure, curricular, sequential or otherwise. 5 Microlearning Lessons The lessons of microlearning are manifold, and can be initially drawn out by comparing microlearning discourses and conceptions to those that developed in a educational 74 Papers: Norm Friesen technology movement that immediately preceded it: learning objects and technical elearning standards generally. Like the ideas and visions that are associated with learning objects, the concepts and challenges that have developed in microlearning discourse are both descriptive and prescriptive in nature. For example, the characteristics of microcontent as outlined by Arnaud Leene at the outset of the paper describe what is already available, but also project what would be possible and desirable. This tension between the possible and the actual is a fruitful one, and should be sustained and exploited productively. After all, microlearning has occurred and continues to occur all around us. Especially on the level of the unformalized and unreflected details of everyday living, it is an ongoing part of what has been labelled "lifelong learning:" Microlearning is not something that has still to be invented. At an informal level, it is already being practiced by knowledge workers and ‘life long learners’ that have no choice but to try and get the information they need out of the World ‘Wild’ Web. (Lindner, 2006) Learning objects provide a valuable counter example in this connection. One could argue that a similar set of common, everyday realities came to be lost in learning object and repository projects and related standards. Just as in the case of microlearning, learning objects were "not something that has still to be invented." They were on the computers and in the filing cabinets of every teacher and professor, and in the notebooks of every student. The challenge was to enable and encourage a humble shift in technology and practice, the sharing and exchange of these resources. However, one could argue that the importance and value of this priority was lost or at least greatly diminished by the complex and demanding tasks of interpreting and implementing the standards to which learning objects were associated. These include the "Learning Object Metadata" standard to label and describe learning objects, as well as a host of others standards to enable sharing of resources between collections of organized and labelled objects. In other words, prescriptive visions of what objects and collections could and should (largely articulated in technical terms) ended up obscuring the descriptive reality of be what already existed –and what might be needed to address and ameliorate this reality. Consequently, the as of yet inconclusive and polyvocal nature of microlearning discourse is a good thing, and should be cultivated and encouraged. Indeed, this openness and heterogeneity may well be, counterintuitive, the agenda of microlearning in the present age. Given the developing and decentralized nature of the technologies and architectures that are associated with microlearning, it seems unlikely that any kind of definitive consensus on microlearning theory and technology is likely to emerge. At the The Microlearning Agenda in the Age of Educational Media 75 same time, the emphasis on moments, interstices, snippets, and fragments that is obvious in microlearning discourses generally is likely to remain important. It is the fragment rather than the Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk that is most suited to the Web, to the cell phone and to various forms of ubiquitous and mobile computing –and to the dispositions and pacing of 21st century life. Similarly, the architectural politics and the various pedagogies articulated in the microlearning discourse also manifest productive tension and difference. Vital issues and questions about the institutions, traditions and practices of education are kept alive and open through this heterogeneity. It is in terms of this final issue of the political and pedagogical that this paper makes one final point. This is to argue for a preservation of institutional and structured pedagogies that are generally critiqued in microlearning. To argue for a completely "emancipated," user- or learner-controlled educational architecture and politics as does Downes and Molnar (and to a lesser extent, Fiedler and Kieslinger) is to misapprehend the multiplicity of roles of the educational institution. And invoking questions about the feasibility of educational institutions is not anything new. Let me reference a 1958 essay entitled "The Crisis in Education" to make both of these points. In this piece, philosopher Hannah Arendt argues explicitly against the notion that public educational institutions are to be understood simply in terms of their overt educational functions –whether these are sufficiently student-centered, or up to the challenges of the present age. Schools and universities are not simply about their overt educational functions. People do not simply become effective knowledge workers or even autonomous individuals there. Instead, the school is also where society reproduces itself, where one generation takes over for another. Learners (above all children) are introduced into a world that is environmentally and politically broken, and for which their teachers, the generation handing it over, must be held responsible. Arendt argues that In education this responsibility for the world takes the form of authority. The authority of the educator and the qualifications of the teacher are not the same thing. Although a measure of qualification is indispensable for authority, the highest possible qualification can never by itself beget authority. The teacher’s qualification consists in knowing the world and being able to instruct others about it, but his authority rests on his assumption of responsibility for that world. Vis-a-vis the child it is as though he were a representative of all adult inhabitants, pointing out the details and saying to the child: This is our world. (1958) 76 Papers: Norm Friesen This responsibility also exists in the undergraduate classroom and in the dissertation supervisor's office: We are obligated to say that this is the past of education and this is its present. Using a different frame of reference, this responsibility is also palpable in terms of the "big spike" and "long tail" that governs the world of the blogosphere. It is the burden imposed by the arbitrary way that things have worked out, or not worked out. It is sometimes called history or tradition. As Arendt argues, it takes the form of the authority that is embodied, however, poorly, in curriculum structure and that constrains the freedom of the student a pedagogical responsibility. It is this ongoing dynamic of history, rather than simply historical inertia or the arbitrary authority that will prevent the most radical versions of "personal" and personalized learning from being realized. The impulse to conceive of microlearning and educationally generally that is freed from these constraints is important and valuable, but it exists only to counterbalance the recognition of the inescapability of this ongoing predicament or crisis. 6 References: Arendt, H. (1958). “The crisis in education,” Partisan Review 25, 493-513. http://www.eco.utexas.edu/Homepages/Faculty/Cleaver/350kPEEArendtCrisisInEd Table.pdf Downes, S. (2006). Learning Networks and Connective Knowledge. Instructional Technology Forum. http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper92/paper92.html Downes, S. (2006a). EduRSS 2.0 http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=33125 Fiedler, S. & Kieslinger, B. (2006). Adapting to Changing Landscapes in Education. Micromedia & e-Learning 2.0: Gaining the Big Picture. Proceedings of Microlearning Conference 2006. Innsbruck: Innsbruck UP. Fischer, R. Moblie Microlearning with Weblogs. In T. Hug, M. Lindner, & P. A. Bruck (eds.) Microlearning: Emerging Concepts, Practices and Technologies after eLearning. Proceedings of Microlearning 2005. Learning & Working in New Media. Innsbruck: Innsbruck UP. Frankl, G. (2007). Mobile and motivating. How something very little turns into something very big. Educational micro-content delivered through mobile devices. In T. Hug, M. Lindner, & P. A. Bruck (eds.) Micromedia & e-Learning 2.0: Gaining the Big Picture. Proceedings of Microlearning Conference 2006. Innsbruck: Innsbruck UP. Friesen, N. (2006). Microlearning and (Micro)Didaktik. In T. Hug, M. Lindner, & P. A. Bruck (eds.) Micromedia & e-Learning 2.0: Gaining the Big Picture. Proceedings of Microlearning Conference 2006. Innsbruck: Innsbruck UP. The Microlearning Agenda in the Age of Educational Media 77 Gabrielli, S., Kimani, S., Catarci, T. (2006). The Design of MicroLearning Experiences: A Research Agenda. In T. Hug, M. Lindner, & P. A. Bruck (eds.) Microlearning: Emerging Concepts, Practices and Technologies after e-Learning. Proceedings of Microlearning 2005. Learning & Working in New Media. Innsbruck: Innsbruck UP. Gugerbauer, A. (2007). Framework for Authoring Mobile Learning Content. In T. Hug, M. Lindner, & P. A. Bruck (eds.) Microlearning: Emerging Concepts, Practices and Technologies after e-Learning. Proceedings of Microlearning 2005. Learning & Working in New Media. Innsbruck: Innsbruck UP. (Microlearning 2005). Hagleitner, Wolfgang; Drexler, Arthur; Hug, Theo (2006). Evaluation of a prototypic version of Knowledge Pulse in the context of a management course. Paper presented at the MApEC (Multimedia Applications in Education Conference) 2006, September 4-6. http://ele.researchstudio.at/download/mapec2006PaperHagleitner.pdf Hug, T. (2006). Microlearning: A New Pedagogical Challenge. In T. Hug, M. Lindner, & P. A. Bruck (eds.) Microlearning: Emerging Concepts, Practices and Technologies after e-Learning. Proceedings of Microlearning 2005. Learning & Working in New Media. Innsbruck: Innsbruck UP. (Microlearning 2005). Hughes, T. P. (2001). Through a glass, darkly: Anticipating the future of technologyenabled education. Educause Review, 36(4), 16-26. Kapor, M. (2006). Architecture is Politics (and Politics is Architecture). Mitch Kapor's Blog. http://blog.kapor.com/?p=29 Kreig, P. (2007). Learning: The Creative Application of Illusions. In T. Hug (Eds) Towards a Micro Didactic. Münster: Waxmann. Land, R. & Bayne, S. (2004) Screen or Monitor? Surveillance and Disciplinary Power in Online Learning Environments, in R. Land & S. Bayne (Eds) Education in Cyberspace. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Leene, A. (2005). MicroContent is Everywhere. http://www.sivas.com/microcontent/articles/microlearning2005/microlearning.pdf Leene, A. (2006). MicroContent is Everywhere. In T. Hug, M. Lindner, & P. A. Bruck (eds.) Microlearning: Emerging Concepts, Practices and Technologies after eLearning. Proceedings of Microlearning 2005. Learning & Working in New Media. Innsbruck: Innsbruck UP. Lindner, M. (2006). Learning in Micromedia Environments? (Introductory Note). In T. Hug, M. Lindner, & P. A. Bruck (eds.) Micromedia & e-Learning 2.0: Gaining the Big Picture. Proceedings of Microlearning Conference 2006. Innsbruck: Innsbruck UP. 78 Papers: Norm Friesen Mosel, S. (2006). Self Directed Learning With Personal Publishing and Microcontent.Constructivist Approach and Insights for Institutional Implementations. In T. Hug, M. Lindner, & P. A. Bruck (eds.) Microlearning: Emerging Concepts, Practices and Technologies after e-Learning. Proceedings of Microlearning 2005. Learning & Working in New Media. Innsbruck: Innsbruck UP. (Microlearning 2005). Molnar, D. (2006). Where Do We Go Now? Possible New Directions for e-Learning 2.0. In T. Hug, M. Lindner, & P. A. Bruck (eds.) Micromedia & e-Learning 2.0: Gaining the Big Picture. Proceedings of Microlearning Conference 2006. Innsbruck: Innsbruck UP. Newman, K. & Grigg, R. (2007). The Dr. Who Principle. In T. Hug (Eds) Towards a Micro Didactic. Münster: Waxmann. Oliver, B. (2007). What is Quality University Learning and how might Microlearning Help to Achieve It? In T. Hug (Eds) Towards a Micro Didactic. Münster: Waxmann. Papert, S. (1998). Does Easy Do It? Children, Games, and Learning. Game Developer. http://www.papert.org/articles/Doeseasydoit.html Schachtner, C. (2006). Precise and Succinct yet Interlinked: Requirements for ELearning in the Workplace. In T. Hug, M. Lindner, & P. A. Bruck (eds.) Microlearning: Emerging Concepts, Practices and Technologies after e-Learning. Proceedings of Microlearning 2005. Learning & Working in New Media. Innsbruck: Innsbruck UP. Seidensticker, R. B. (2006). Future Hype: The Myths of Technology Change. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Swertz, C. (2006) Customized Learning Sequences (CLS) by Metadata. In T. Hug, M. Lindner, & P. A. Bruck (eds.) Microlearning: Emerging Concepts, Practices and Technologies after e-Learning. Proceedings of Microlearning 2005. Learning & Working in New Media. Innsbruck: Innsbruck UP. Tscherteu, G. (2006). The Blogosphere Map Visualising Microcontent Dissemination – Inspired by Maria Montessori. In T. Hug, M. Lindner, & P. A. Bruck (eds.) Microlearning: Emerging Concepts, Practices and Technologies after e-Learning. Proceedings of Microlearning 2005. Learning & Working in New Media. Innsbruck: Innsbruck UP. Wilson, S. (2005). Future VLE - The Visual Version. Scott's Workblog. http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/blogview?entry=20050125170206 The Dark Side of the Force: The Issue of Microplagiarism in Microlearning (Paper) Jana Herwig Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences (Austria) Abstract: Based on the analysis of authentic examples of plagiarism in student assignments, this article proposes the term ‘microplagiarism’ to describe a new kind of plagiarism which uses relatively short sections of arbitrary sources and combines them to form a bigger, seemingly unified text. The author examines to which extent learning through plagiarizing may be an effective strategy in some areas of language learning and discusses the difficulties in separating micro-learning from microplagiarism. The current gap between the digital and the academic sphere and their methods of circulating and perpetuating knowledge is identified as a cause for the increase of plagiarism. The Semantic Web is discussed as a possible solution to bridge the gap between the two spheres and to enable a better cooperation between humans and computers in the academic world. 1 New Plagiarisms The idea to propose a paper about microplagiarism grew out of the confrontation with a situation in which more than 25% of learners in a language course at university level had attempted mild to severe plagiarism in their final written assignment. A cursory examination showed that the quality of plagiarism found in these assignments had little to do with what I had believed to be typical characteristics of academic plagiarism. One of my, probably naïve, prior assumptions had been that the main intention of academic plagiarism was to conceal the plagiarist’s lack of his or her own research and original thought by copying someone else’s work and thus claiming credit for it. In the examples given, the passages that were copied were often simply too short, consisting of no more than one or two sentences, in order to be considered a thought in their own right. Furthermore, the plagiarized segments turned out to be deeply generic: the function they fulfilled in the text could have been fulfilled by many similar text segments that can be found on the World Wide Web, which was indeed the place where the students had found their sources. Criteria for assessing this new type of plagiarism were required urgently, along with a strategy to dissuade these students, who were in their second year of study at the time, from any further attempts at plagiarism. In this paper, I would like to 80 Papers: Jana Herwig propose the term “microplagiarism” to refer to a new kind of plagiarism that uses snippets and clips from various arbitrary sources on the web to form a new text. In the example given, students used these snippets to draft a text in a foreign language which, for reasons that need to be discussed in more detail, may have contributed to them not perceiving of their copying as plagiarism. 2 Analysis of the Plagiarized Texts The task given to students was to write a comparative film review in which they discuss and compare two English language feature films. This assignment was their final written assignment in a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) course entitled “Introduction to Film Studies”. Already in the definition of the task, my intention had been to build in an anti-plagiarism mechanism, in this case consisting of the requirement to compare two films. Most film reviews discuss only one film at a time. My assumption therefore was that a film review meeting the requirements of this task would not be readily available on the World Wide Web. Regarding the structure and content of the film review, students were asked to ensure that their film review contained the following elements, based on a proposal by David Bordwell, author of several seminal books on film studies and film history1: 1 • Introduction: introduction of films, beginning with an attention-grabbing opening • Brief plot synopsis: introduction of the key conflict without giving away the story ending • Discussion: balanced discussion and comparison of the films mentioning specific elements, describing these quickly and vividly • Conclusion: summary of discussion and judgment of quality, concluding with a striking sentence David Bordwell (2001), The McGraw-Hill Film Viewer's Guide. McGraw-Hill, pp. 15-17. The Dark Side of the Force: The Issue of Microplagiarism in Microlearning 81 Figure 1: Typical distribution of the common components of a film review2 As Figure 1 suggests, the biggest part in a balanced film review based on Bordwell’s formula would be consumed by the discussion (paragraphs 3, 6), followed by plot synopsis (4, 5), conclusion (7) and introduction (1, 2). Each of these elements fulfils a particular function within the film review and each requires a specific language and register. What is crucial for this discussion is that these components also vary in the degree in which they, theoretically, could be plagiarized without perceptibly disrupting the flow of reading. An attention-grabbing opening, for instance, could be copied from another film review covering one of the discussed films. Brief plot summaries are available on many pages on the web and would naturally be set off in terms of language and register from their surrounding parts. The discussion, by contrast, is more difficult to plagiarize, as it 2 Demonstrated on a review of Mystic River by Gary Johnson, Images Journal. http:// www.imagesjournal.com/2003/reviews/mysticriver/ (accessed Jan 29, 2007) 82 Papers: Jana Herwig should ideally offer a comparative discussion of specific elements of both films (e.g. of cinematography, storytelling, set design, lighting or acting). The same applies to the conclusion which should correspond to and take up ideas from the previous discussion. A text that would meet exactly these requirements would be difficult to find. Six of the plagiarized film reviews were examined in more detail. Three of these reviews were written by individual students, the other three by teams of two students. Among those who worked in a team, there was one team in which the one student was not aware that the contributions made by his or her partner were plagiarized. In the other two teams, the plagiarizing seemed to have occurred with their mutual consent. 2.1 Criteria for the identification of plagiarism In order to identify plagiarism, both random samples and ‘suspicious looking’ samples of text were extracted manually. In the next step, a search query was performed using Google.com as a search engine. ‘Suspicious’ in this context means ‘as judged by the instructor of the course’ and based on her past experiences with a similar course and with the quality of writing that students at this level are normally able to produce. A first rule of thumb for the ‘human-based’ identification of plagiarism is: ‘The more idiomatic, the more suspicious’. A phrase like the following, occurring in a student assignment, is likely to be a candidate for closer examination: Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) is a cheese-chomping tinkerer of inventions of questionable merit, and Gromit, his silently stoic canine protector who is more nanny and housekeeper than pet.3 Another useful indicator is an apparent contrast in grammatical accuracy between successive phrases or sentences as in the following example, where the degree of accuracy decreases as the paragraph proceeds. 3 Original: “Graduating from their award-winning comic shorts to make their feature-film debut, Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis), a cheese-chomping tinkerer of inventions of questionable merit, and Gromit, his silently stoic canine protector who is more nanny and housekeeper than pet, find their neighbors gripped with veggie-mania as the annual Giant Vegetable Competition nears.” http://www.space.com/entertainment/ 051007_ent_gromit_wererabbit.html (accessed Jan 29, 2007) The Dark Side of the Force: The Issue of Microplagiarism in Microlearning 83 When Jack meets the ghost of Mr. Grady, the former custodian of the hotel who murdered his wife and his two daughters, things begin to get really nasty. Comparing to “Ringu” the scenes are resolved by more simple shots and camera panning then tracking shots to keep the attraction on the highest. The name of the movie “Ringu” is given by the ring of the telephone call and like “The Shining” is “Ringu” a movie version of a novel, both fascinating how their way of style is converted. Very exciting to watch both movies whether they have such a different story, but you will see where the differences are.4 4 Original: “When Jack meets the ghost of Mr. Grady, the former custodian of the hotel who murdered his wife and his two daughters, things begin to get really nasty.” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/plotsummary (accessed Jan 29, 2007) 84 Papers: Jana Herwig Figure 2: Standardized view of the examined text, plagiarized passages are highlighted 2.2 Plagiarized components The analysis of the assignments showed that, as predicted, plot summaries were the most likely to be plagiarized, followed by introductions (figure 2): All six synopses and two introductions contained plagiarized passages. Discussions and conclusions were mostly original pieces of writing. Also, the amount of plagiarized writing was considerably higher in plot summaries and introductions than in conclusions or discussions. The Dark Side of the Force: The Issue of Microplagiarism in Microlearning 85 What could also be observed – in relation to other, plagiarism-free reviews – was a certain tendency of the plot summaries to dominate the film reviews: While a plot synopsis would normally take up a quarter or at most a third of a film review, it consumed a third to a half of some of the plagiarized reviews (Figure 2, reviews B and F). At the same time the discussion, which ought to be the core of the review, was considerably reduced in these assignments. One possible explanation for this phenomenon could be that the students in question were hesitant to write a text of their own that – in comparison to the copied passages – could be faulty with errors or lack elegance and idiomatic expressions. But there were also other examples (in particular reviews C and E) where the writers offered a balanced discussion of the films, but nevertheless resorted to plagiarism when it came to writing the plot summaries. The rule one can extract from these results is that a text component is more likely to be plagiarized the more generic it is, the more similar text segments fulfilling a similar function can be found somewhere on the World Wide Web. “Why should I write it again if it has already been written somewhere else?” was a response along the same vein which I received from a student in another group when we discussed the rising issue of plagiarism. Two things are noteworthy here: Firstly that it did not occur to the student that one could also reference a web resource instead of simply copying it. Secondly, it is very telling that he said “somewhere else” and not “by someone else”, as though the role of the author were irrelevant in this respect. I am going to get back to this question of authorship and the transformation of its function in the era of web-based, computermediated communication in paragraph 4. 2.3 Plagiarized sources The sources the students had used in their reviews were then examined more closely. The first interesting result was that all students had used more than one source (Figure 3). Some of them (D and in particular B) had made a notable effort of combining the different sources to form a single paragraph, or even a single sentence. Another student (F) had initially tried to rephrase and adapt the original source as much as possible, in particular by using synonyms or by changing the word order and often at the expense of grammatical accuracy. As the text proceeded, the student decided to use a different strategy and to imitate only every fourth or fifth phrase of the original text, thus leaving out significant plot points, but still ending up with a synopsis too detailed for the task. The discussion, as a consequence, turned out relatively short and superficial. Another team (C) had produced a particularly awkward mistake by not only copying the plot synopsis from Wikipedia, but also a related image caption: 86 Papers: Jana Herwig […] Wetmore ends up as an inmate at the very asylum he was to have managed. John Coffey being escorted to his execution by Edgecombe and Brutus Howell. Due to the emotional performance he showed in the film, Michael Clarke Duncan was nominated to the Academy Award's Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. Notwithstanding Coffey's incredible abilities and the wrongness of his conviction, he ends up being executed […].5 The most popular source used by students was Wikipedia with five different copied sources in total, followed by several film fanzines and blogs (four sources), commercial music and entertainment platforms, online editions of print magazines and newspapers (three sources each), the Internet Movie Database (two sources), a DVD shop and Amnesty International (one source each). Considering the arbitrariness of the texts, one can assume that students used a search engine like Google, rather than directories or databases, to retrieve their sources. 5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Mile_%28film%29 (accessed Jan 27, 2007) The Dark Side of the Force: The Issue of Microplagiarism in Microlearning 87 Figure 3: Plagiarized passages are highlighted, sources are indicated by colours Judging from this arbitrary selection and the way in which the sources were combined, one can furthermore assume that students were not too worried about their writing being eclectic or incoherent, at least not about it being incoherent as a result of the arbitrariness of these sources. What could not be identified – and what would have corresponded more with my ‘conventional’ notion of academic plagiarism – was that students used an undisclosed source to inform their argument or approach at large. Instead of relying on these sources as a substitute for their own research, most students 88 Papers: Jana Herwig seemed to use them as a repository for prefabricated stretches of content and language that would help them achieve their goal of writing a film review. As I have suggested earlier, students probably did not perceive of their actions as plagiarism. We must also note here that the writing of a plot synopsis is an area in film studies where there is little room for interpretation or original thought, as the content of a plot summary is already restricted by the number of events explicitly presented by the film.6 In that sense, a plot synopsis is not an autonomous, original piece of writing, but one of the film’s paratexts, a “zone between text and off-text” and as such “at the service of a better reception for the text and a more pertinent reading of it.”7 The task of writing their own plot synopsis did apparently not make sense to the students, in particular not in the light of the abundance of similar texts which have already been written and which are available on the World Wide Web. Looking at the plot summary as a paratext, or service text, might also explain why nobody decided to make a reference to the source they had used – who would, for instance, make a reference to a table of contents or the imprint of a book, to draw an analogy to other paratexts? At this point I would like to devote some attention to the thought that copying, in the sense of imitating, can also be a useful strategy for learning, in particular for language learning. The difficulty, however, is to draw the line between microlearning and microplagiarism. 3 Microlearning vs. Microplagiarism All of us who have learned a foreign language at one point in our lives have to a certain extent used imitation as a strategy for language learning. When we are uncertain about the use of a particular word, we will look it up in a dictionary and adjust our use of it to the recommended use of the dictionary. And while most of us would probably agree that this is and always was a form of microlearning avant la lettre, predating the digital age, we would certainly refrain from calling this strategy plagiarism. A language consists of these two main components: the “whole body of words” (lexis or vocabulary) and the “methods of combination of words”8 (grammar). Oral or written texts 6 I am applying the formalist definition of plot – everything that is explicitly presented on the screen (including credits and musical score) – in opposition to the definition of story – the sum total of explicitly presented events (excluding credits and music) and inferred events presumed by the viewer. Cf. David Bordwell (2003), Film Art: An Introduction, Seventh edition, McGraw-Hill, pp. 70-72. 7 Gerard Genette (1997), Paratexts: Thresholds of interpretation, Cambridge University Press, p. 2. 8 Query word ‘Language”, Oxford English Dictionary Online. http://dictionary.oed.com (accessed Jan 31, 2007) The Dark Side of the Force: The Issue of Microplagiarism in Microlearning 89 are considered a manifestation of these words and rules, but the words and rules themselves are not owned by anyone. For instance, nobody can claim the copyright for the English language. But at which level of combinations can one draw the line between words and rules and concrete, copyrightable manifestations? In his definition of the Lexical Approach,9 Michael Lewis proposes an extended concept of lexis, maintaining that “language consists of grammaticalized lexis, not lexicalized grammar.”10 The Lexical Approach shifts the attention away from grammar and to the importance of set phrases in language learning, such as ‘if I were you’, ‘out of my mind’, ‘strong accent’, or ‘brings good luck’, referred to by different and overlapping terms including “prefabricated phrases”, “lexical phrases”, “formulaic language”, “frozen and semi-frozen phrases”, “lexical chunks” and “collocations”.11 Going back to our plagiarized film reviews, the question arises whether it wouldn’t be justifiable to look at them differently and to consider these reviews as awkward attempt to harvest the chunks and collocations found in other plot synopses. The following juxtaposition of plagiarized passage and original source shows that the writers (review C) made at least an attempt at editing the source: Sam Lowry (played by Jonathan Pryce), is a low-level technician who regularily tries to break out of his life in this misserable world by daydreaming and fantasizing. When a bug gets in the system, an innocent man is killed and Sam reexamines what he wants out of life. He decides to fight the totalitarian system in his search for freedom and the woman he loves. „Twelve Monkeys“ is also a future vision by Gilliam. The story opens in the wintry wasteland of the year 2035, where a virus has killed 99% of the human population, forcing the survivors to live beneath the earth’s surface. The original sources: 9 Michael Lewis (1993), The Lexical Approach, Hove Language Teaching Publications. 10 Lewis 1993:9. 11 Carlos Islam, Ivor Timmis, ‘What does the lexical approach look like?’, BBC World Service. Teaching English. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodology/ lexical_approach1.shtml (accessed Jan 31, 2007) 90 Papers: Jana Herwig BRAZIL is Terry Gilliam's masterpiece. Cowritten by Gilliam, playwright Tom Stoppard, and Charles McKeown, the cult-favorite film is set in a futuristic society laden with red tape and bureaucracy. When a bug (literally) gets in the system, an innocent man is killed, leading mild-mannered Sam Lowry (an excellent Jonathan Pryce) to reexamine what he wants out of life. He decides to fight the totalitarian system in his search for freedom--and the woman he loves.12 12 Monkeys combines intricate, intelligent storytelling with the uniquely imaginative vision of director Terry Gilliam. The story opens in the wintry wasteland of the year 2035, where a virulent plague has forced humans to live in a squalid, oppressively regimented underground.13 The aim of proposing this perspective is not to excuse plagiarism and certainly not to inappropriately celebrate it as a successful example of microlearning. But it points us to the difficulty of distinguishing microlearning from microplagiarism and to the arbitrariness of our decision-making, depending on which perspective we decide to adopt. The ability to use foreign language texts as a repository for pre-fabricated phrases is a vital skill, allowing foreign language students to learn independently. The web in particular lends itself to this purpose because it is highly searchable and provides texts for virtually all areas of human interest. It can thus be considered the largest ‘corpus’, i.e. collection of samples of a language, currently available. 3.1 The moral dimension Using the web for this purpose, however, immediately raises moral questions that need to be addressed in the same context. I would like to propose that, although the types of content used for microlearning and for microplagiarism have many traits in common, it is their diverging intent that changes the situation drastically. A decisive criterion for all content intended for microlearning is that single items of microcontent must be addressable: It must be possible to “find the item back”.14 Microplagiarism, however, seeks to evade addressability. It does not want to be identifiable or draw the reader’s attention to it as a separate form or unit. It pretends to be part of a bigger unit, unified by a common author, and it passes as such for as long as it is not conspicuous, for as long as the original source and the original authors cannot be retrieved. 12 http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1282315&style=movie&cart=457851446&BAB=E (accessed Jan 31, 2007) 13 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114746/amazon (accessed Jan 31, 2007) 14 Arnaud Leene (2006), ‘Microcontent is everywhere’, in: Theo Hug, Martin Lindner, Peter A. Bruck (eds.), Micromedia & e-Learning 2.0: Gaining the Big Picture, Innsbruck University Press, p. 25. The Dark Side of the Force: The Issue of Microplagiarism in Microlearning 91 In order not to be exposed, the plagiarist needs to cover the same tracks that he or she followed when searching for suitable sources. The only way of doing that is by editing, rephrasing and adjusting the original source to such an extent that the newly created content can no longer be used as a resource locator. For a language teacher, this effort would be sufficient to acknowledge the product as original and the learning process as successful. Regarding our film reviews, of course, we cannot speak of a successful learning process in that sense. It seems ironic that the plagiarism was exposed using the same instrument that the students most likely used in order to retrieve their sources, a crawler-based search engine. The method of exposure itself, which in most cases pointed to only one possible source on the web, shows that the plagiarized phrases were clearly not examples of pre-fabricated phrases and not shared communally by the users of the language. These were cases of intellectual property theft. But are students aware of that? Awareness of the practical consequences – ‘If you plagiarize, you will fail’ – is easily instilled in students, yet many of them seem to be ignorant of the moral dimension. “How do you always find out so quickly?” complained a student from another course who, together with his ‘co-writer’, had failed after handing in an assignment that qualified as straight-forward ‘macro-plagiarism’: They had purchased a student paper for € 4,99 from a website that advertised itself as a ‘scholarly publishing house’15 and had made just a few superficial changes before submitting it as their own. He admitted that they had even ‘tested’ it with Google beforehand to see whether it could be identified as plagiarism. This example shows that some students have already adapted the formula ‘If you plagiarize, you fail’ into ‘If they find out that you plagiarize, you fail’. Other students seem to assume that anti-plagiarism regulations are just an eccentric invention of a particular university or lecturer, but not a general rule of academic writing. This becomes apparent in the following email from a student who had microplagiarized a jointly written film review without telling her team partner: As you have noticed, a part of the review was copied from the internet. Actually my part (Wallace & Gromit) was copied. I worked together with Claudia (name edited; J.H.) and unfortunatelly [sic!] a misunderstanding occurred. Claudia wrote the review for Corpse Bride and I wrote the review for Wallace & Gromit. I made the mistake and did not tell her that I had some parts from the internet, because I thought when we put the two reviews together it would be our work 15 http://www.grin.com (accessed Apr 2, 2007) 92 Papers: Jana Herwig and not plagiarism. I want to apologise for that. I’m new at the FH and didn’t know all the rules. But I am responsible for that situation. The second example powerfully illustrates the naïveté and unawareness of some microplagiarists towards the ethical implications of their actions. It emphasizes that we as educators, in order to allow students to get the most out of microlearning, must also help them to anticipate the pitfalls of microplagiarism and show them how to deal with these. 4 The Transformation of Knowledge So far we have not explicitly discussed the question of referencing, although this would probably be a convenient way of cutting a long story short: Why did the students in question not simply reference their sources properly? And is this truly their failure or the failure of the lecturer who did not teach them how to write a proper citation? In my view, this is not the issue actually at stake here. Using and responding to circulating ideas within an academic discipline is a prerequisite for a functioning academic discourse, and giving the original author credit is not only a matter of respect or decency, but also an absolute necessity to ensure the continuation of the discipline in question. But outside of the academic disciplines, citations and referencing are rarely demanded from a writer. Journalists do not always reveal or specify their sources, whether this is to protect their sources or to not disrupt the flow of reading, and “cut-andpaste journalism” has become a plague to the craft of writing.16 Instead, I would like to argue that the main cause and issue is to be seen in the transformation of knowledge and subsequently of content in the age of computer and web-based communication and publishing. This transformation includes a different perception of intellectual property and, as a result, also a different perception of plagiarism and the dimension of the transgression it represents in the academic arena. 4.1 The Natural Law of the Digital World The question of authorship and of the transformation that it has undergone in recent years is crucial to the explanation of the emergence of microplagiarism. Authorship in 16 Roy Peter Clark (2004), ‘The Global War on Plagiarism: Fighting the Pirates of the Press’, Poynter Online, August 24. http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=70511 (accessed Jan 31, 2007) The Dark Side of the Force: The Issue of Microplagiarism in Microlearning 93 contemporary Western civilization, as Michel Foucault has shown, is above all a discourse of appropriation: Texts are the objects that are governed by this discourse whose system of ownership and copyright rules was established in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth century.17 These copyright rules, however, have been dramatically challenged by the digitization of their objects. To begin with, by virtue of the system of online distribution, any reader of a document published on the world wide web is, pragmatically speaking, automatically the owner of the document: In order to view an online file, a copy has to be created which is then stored on the user’s computer, mostly temporarily, but possibly permanently. Although the Internet and World Wide Web are often compared to libraries or archives, this situation is fundamentally different from the conventional library set-up where the user is not automatically entitled to a copy of the book or medium he or she takes out on loan. In response to this, various ‘digital rights management solutions’ – effectively copy prevention solutions – have been developed which seek to control the user’s access to a digital file – for instance by restricting the user’s rights to viewing, while preventing editing or printing, or by restricting the number of times that a file can be accessed. None of these solutions, however, seem to be effective in a wired, digital world: Once a file has been hacked, de-restricted versions will come into circulation, with the hacker’s skill encapsulated in code and handed down to all subsequent users.18 “This is a natural law of the digital world, and makes copying on the Internet different from copying Rolex watches or Louis Vuitton luggage,” internet security expert Bruce Schneier argues. “If you have a digital file – text, music, video, or whatever – you can make as many copies of that file as you want, do whatever you want with the copies.”19 One of the things you can do with digital files is to copy them, paste them, tear them 20 apart or edit them; “Find it Rip it Mix it Share it. Come and get it,” is a typical rallying cry among the many parties that warmly welcome this phenomenon as ‘digital creativity’. 17 Michel Foucault (1977), ‘What is an Author?’, in: Language, Counter-Memory, Practice, ed. by Donald F. Bouchard, Cornell University Press, p. 124 et sqq. 18 Cf. Bruce Schneier (2001), ‘The Futility of Digital Copyright Prevention’, in: Cryptogram Newsletter, May 15. http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0105.html#3 (accessed Jan 28, 2007) 19 Schneier 2001. 20 Slogan of the Creative Archive License Group, a joint effort of the BBC, the British Film Institute, Channel 4 and the Open University. http://creativearchive.bbc.co.uk/ (accessed Jan 28, 2007) 94 Papers: Jana Herwig It is a technological and pragmatic rationality that supersedes conventional copyright regulations – if copying is possible at a few strokes of the cursor and clicks of the button, how can it be illegal or immoral? And isn’t it schizophrenic that the same phenomenon is embraced if it is part of a prestigious project, but punished if it occurs in a student assignment? It is ultimately a dilemma of the contradictory rules of the material and the digital world that we are facing – whether we are looking at piracy or plagiarism. The Semantic Web, even if still mainly a vision, might be able to point a way out of this dilemma – even if it might not be able to address the issue of autonomous learning. 4.2 The Semantic Web The Semantic Web, according to the original definition by Tim Berners-Lee, James Hendler and Ora Lassila, is not “a separate web, but an extension of the given one, on which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation.”21 The Semantic Web aims to enrich the documents on the World Wide Web – i.e. information that only humans are able to make sense of – with data, i.e. with information that machines are able to read, to process and to generate meaning from. Ivan Herman describes the practical obstacles currently presented to this form of opening up of “knowledge and working of humankind to meaningful analysis by software agents,”22 by the impossibility of universal data exchange in his introduction to the Semantic Web on the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) webpage: The Semantic Web is a web of data. There is lots of data we all use every day, and its not part of the web. I can see my bank statements on the web, and my photo-graphs, and I can see my appointments in a calendar. But can I see my photos in a calendar to see what I was doing when I took them? Can I see bank statement lines in a calendar? Why not? Because we don't have a web of data. Because data is controlled by applications, and each application keeps it to itself.23 How can such a web of data be achieved? How can computers, independent from applications, be taught to retrieve and combine data that are about the same things, in particular the same real world objects? In order to realize the Semantic web, a model 21 Tim Berners-Lee, James Hendler and Ora Lassila (2001), ‘The Semantic Web’, in: Scientific American, May, http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00048144-10D2-1C70-84A9809EC588EF21 (accessed Apr 3, 2007) 22 Berners-Lee, Hendler & Lassila 2001. 23 Ivan Herman, ‘Semantic Web’, http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/ (accessed Apr 3, 2007) The Dark Side of the Force: The Issue of Microplagiarism in Microlearning 95 that regulates the representation of knowledge on the web is needed. The model recommended by the W3C is called RDF (Resource Description Network).24 RDF is a method for modeling information in two dimensions: On the one hand, it provides a global identification system using so-called URIs: “Associating a URI with a resource means that anyone can link to it, refer to it, or retrieve a representation of it.” 25 RDF/XML on the other hand allows the definition of common conceptualizations of knowledge within a specific domain, so-called ontologies. An ontology is “a data model that represents a set of concepts within a domain and the relationships between those concepts.”26 One example of an ontology is Dublin Core, a model that conceptualizes information related to documents and publishing and that can be used to represent bibliographic information. It was first defined in 1995 and currently includes 22 metadata elements (e.g. Title, Creator, Subject, Description), 33 element refinements (e.g. isPartOf, isReferencedBy) and 12 domain-specific vocabulary terms (e.g. Image, Text, Collection), which are documented in the Dublin Core Metadata Registry.27 Using Dublin Core, it is possible to describe documents in a way that can autonomously be used, reused and integrated by computers. A machine-readable, Dublin Core-based ‘Title’ description of the Registry’s own website would look like this in code: <rdf:RDF> <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dublincore.org/dcregistry/"> <dc:title xml:lang="en-US">The Dublin Core Metadata Registry</dc:title> </rdf:Description> </rdf:RDF> Not all knowledge domains, of course, can be conceptualized with similar ease. Dublin Core is an example of a so-called shallow ontology that “comprise[s] relatively few 24 Further information for the interested reader to follow up at her own pace: RDF (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Description_Framework) is based on two technologies similar to HTML (a mark-up language that describes the format of websites) and the global address system that is used to generate unique web addresses (URLs), but two much more powerful ones: XML or eXtensible Mark-up Language (http://www.w3.org/XML/) and URIs or Uniform Resource Identifiers, (http://www.w3.org/Addressing/#background, all accessed Apr 3, 2007). 25 Nigel Shadbolt, Tim Berners-Lee and Wendy Hall (2006), ‘The Semantic Web Revisi-ted’, IEEE Intelligent Systems, volume 21(3), May/June, pp. 96-101, here: p. 98. 26 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology_%28computer_science%29 (Apr 3, 2007) 27 http://dublincore.org/dcregistry/ (accessed Apr 3, 2007) 96 Papers: Jana Herwig unchanging terms that organize very large amounts of data.”28 Deep ontologies, by contrast, are “often those encountered in science and engineering, where considerable efforts go into building and developing the conceptualization.”29 Any developed ontology will continue to require maintenance and revision by a devoted, small community of experts in the application domain. But thanks to the aforementioned capability of code to encapsulate skill and knowledge, a new concept can be passed on, from experts to software agents, and from agent to agent, and eventually the ordinary users will be able to reap the benefits of the Semantic Web. In that sense, it will not merely be “the tool for conducting individual tasks”, but “if properly designed, the Semantic Web can assist the evolution of human knowledge as a whole.”30 The question this article is concerned with, however, is how the Semantic Web can assist learners and educators to make plagiarism redundant in the near future. 5 Conclusion: The Future Redundancy of Plagiarism I have argued above that the emergence of microplagiarism and of the increase of plagiarism in student assignments in general have to be assigned to the contradictions between the rules of the academic and the digital world. If the promise of the Semantic Web comes true, as was suggested in the original article from 2001, it will “better [enable] computers and people to work in cooperation.”31 The benefits this holds for the world of academia are indeed alluring: Individuals doing research online could harvest all metadata associated with a document using Semantic Web browsers. This information – and for our purpose: in particular bibliographic information, such as provided by Dublin Core – could be reused to generate references and reference lists. Anybody who copies from a Semantic Web compliant website would not merely copy words, but automatically import all the information and meaning that she or he – in order to avoid plagiarism – was required to extract manually in the past. Writing essays and articles that meet the requirements of different style guides would be an easy task for everyone. If this scenario were to come true, the mere possibility of plagiarism would cease to exist. Of course this would change the customs and traditions of the academic world fundamentally and would not be embraced by everyone. Certainly for a transitional period, and probably much longer, some educators might insist that students continue to 28 Shadbolt, Berners-Lee & Hall 2006:99. 29 Shadbolt, Berners-Lee & Hall 2006:99. 30 Berners-Lee, Hendler & Lassila 2001. 31 Berners-Lee, Hendler & Lassila 2001. The Dark Side of the Force: The Issue of Microplagiarism in Microlearning 97 write the reference lists manually, just as there are some today that insist that students refrain from using calculators. The propensity of media technology to serve as an extension to human cognitive abilities has always been greeted with skepticism. One can find a great deal of the criticism that some students’ use of web resources attracts, preempted in Plato’s Phaedrus’ conclusion about writing, one of the first media technologies to fundamentally transform human knowledge and discourse: Once any account has been written down, you find it all over the place, hobnobbing with completely inappropriate people no less than with those who understand it, and completely failing to know who it should and shouldn’t talk to.32 The opportunities for the circulation of content and for informal learning have never been greater than now, in the web-supported knowledge society. Microplagiarism draws our attention to the ‘Dark Side of the Force’ of microlearning, to the flip side of a sociotechnological constellation in which the pragmatic opportunities for copying, using and editing someone else’s work are greater than ever. The problem of microplagiarism will only cease to exist, if we manage to close the gap between the technological and the academic sphere and their diverging rules for the circulation and continuation of information. If ‘copy and paste‘ technically meant to not only copy alphanumeric characters, but also the semantic relations of a particular item of microcontent, then we would know that the gap has been closed. The Semantic Web, the first stirrings of which are already visible in the development of ontologies and Semantic Browser extensions like Piggy-Bank,33 will be able to solve this problem and bridge the gap between human knowledge and computer data. Admittedly, the Semantic Web solution does not address the problem of learning and effective learning strategies, but it can help to raise student awareness of plagiarism and of ways to avoid it.34 For the time being, the best strategy for dealing with the situation seems to be in setting students tasks that rule out or reduce the possibility of plagiarism in general. 32 Plato (2002), Phaedrus, transl. by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, p. 70. 33 http://simile.mit.edu/wiki/Piggy_Bank (accessed Apr 4, 2007) 34 I would like to thank my dear colleague Dr. Colin Gregory-Moores for assisting me with last-minute revisions and sharing his ideas regarding the Semantic Web. 98 Papers: Jana Herwig 6 References Berners-Lee, T., Hendler, J., Lassila, O. (2001), ‘The Semantic Web’, in: Scientific American, May. URL: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00048144-10D21C70-84A9809EC588EF21 (accessed Apr 3, 2007) Bordwell, D. (2003), Film Art: An Introduction, Seventh edition, McGraw-Hill. Bordwell, D. (2001), The McGraw-Hill Film Viewer’s Guide. McGraw-Hill. Clark, R.P. (2004), ‘The Global War on Plagiarism: Fighting the Pirates of the Press’, Poynter Online. August 24. URL: http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=70511 (accessed Jan 31, 2007) Foucault, M. (1977), Language, Counter-Memory, Practice, edited by Donald F. Bouchard, Cornell University Press. Genette, G. (1997), Paratexts: Thresholds of interpretation, Cambridge University Press. Herman, I., ‘Semantic Web’, World Wide http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/ (accessed Apr 3, 2007) Web Consortium. URL: Islam, C., Timmis, I., ‘What does the lexical approach look like?’, BBC World Service. Teaching English. URL: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodology/lexical_approach1.shtml (accessed Jan 31, 2007) Johnson, G. (2003), Mystic River, film review, Images Journal. URL: http://www.imagesjournal.com/2003/reviews/mysticriver/ (accessed Jan 29, 2007) Leene, A. (2006), ‘Microcontent is everywhere’, in: Theo Hug, Martin Lindner, Peter A. Bruck (eds.), Micromedia & e-Learning 2.0: Gaining the Big Picture, Innsbruck University Press. Lewis, M. (1993), The Lexical Approach, Hove Language Teaching Publications. Plato (2002), Phaedrus, transl. by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press. Schneier, B. (2001), ‘The Futility of Digital Copyright Prevention’, in: Cryptogram Newsletter, May 15. URL: http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0105.html#3 (accessed Jan 28, 2007) Shadbolt, N., Berners-Lee, T., Hall, W. (2006), ‘The Semantic Web Revisited’, IEEE Intelligent Systems, volume 21(3), May/June, pp. 96-101. Microlearning and the Knowledge Maturing Process: Towards Conceptual Foundations for Work-Integrated Microlearning Support (Paper) Andreas Schmidt FZI Research Center for Information Technologies (Germany) Abstract: As a response to the new flexibility in work environments, work-integrated learning on demand is an appropriate form of learning which is in line with microlearning ideas. But in a world of microcontent, we need to consider that not all content is appropriate for everybody. The knowledge maturing process allows for distinguishing between different levels of maturity, and technical learning support based on the maturity level can provide automated guidance to make microlearning more efficient. 1 Introduction The new flexibility of workers and work environments makes traditional conceptions of training in advance, in rather large units and separate from work activities, more and more obsolete. It is not only the problem of inert knowledge (i.e., knowledge that can be reproduced, but not applied; Bereiter 1985), but also the degree of individualization of learning paths (especially of knowledge workers) these traditional methods cannot cope with. It is increasingly recognized that what we actually need is a learning on demand, embedded into work processes, responding to both requirements from the work situation and from employee interests, a form of learning crossing boundaries of e-learning, knowledge management and performance support (Schmidt 2005). Such an embedding can be realized with microlearning approaches (Peschl 2006) which can be characterized as forms of learning in which learning processes consist of finegrained, interconnected, but loosely coupled learning opportunities. Such learning opportunities can range from didactically prepared learning objects, via microcontent in the context of social interaction (like weblogs, wikis) up to direct communication opportunities with others. The conception of microlearning corresponds with results from 100 Papers: Andreas Schmidt information behavior research, e.g., Bates’ berry-picking model (Bates 1989) combined with Kuhlthau’s constructivist view of information seeking as a learning process (Kuhlthau 2004): knowledge workers collect bits and pieces from various sources in order to solve their problems, and the whole information seeking process is characterized by an accompanying learning process. Experiences with implementing a microlearning approach for workplace learning have shown we cannot rely on a completely self-directed form of learning, but rather have to find a new form of guidance appropriate for the fine-grained learning experiences. Initiating learning activities within work processes is cognitively challenges because it requires realizing a learning need and translating into searching, structuring, reflection, and other activities – and all this in a world of abundant microcontent and other micro opportunities. In this world of microcontent, which will become even more abundant with empowering every user to contribute their microcontent, we desperately need some form of orientation that allows some form of judgment what is appropriate for whom. It should be obvious that beginners in a topic area have a hard time in learning from informal discussions (instead of high-quality text books) while for expert these contextualized bits and pieces are just what they need. The idea of microcontent does not render quality or pedagogical appropriateness obsolete. So we need a notion of maturity both on the side of the learner and on the side of the content (or the knowledge it tries to convey, respectively). In this paper we want to investigate how the knowledge maturing process model from (Schmidt, 2005), designed as a conceptual bridge between e-learning and knowledge management, is helpful in that respect. In a first step, we provide a brief review of the process model (section 2) before discussing the implications in section 3 and drawing conclusions in section 4. 2 Background: The Knowledge Maturing Process Based on observations in corporate environments, the main driver for developing the knowledge maturing process was to structure the landscape of learning in organizations and to overcome the disruptions between disciplines like knowledge management, human resources development, and e-learning. The starting point was the idea of a “knowledge flow”, which is seen as a metaphor for interconnected individual learning Microlearning and the Knowledge Maturing Process: Towards Conceptual Foundations ... 101 processes where knowledge is passed on and reconstructed and enriched by the individuals involved. Translated into the microlearning environment, this means that learning in such a knowledge flow involves learning from others or their microcontent and further developing and passing on of the constructed knowledge to others by direct communication or producing (micro)content. If we have a closer look at this knowledge flow, we will discover that we intuitively speak of “consolidating” knowledge, “putting things into the context of a bigger whole”, or just about knowledge that is “not mature enough yet”. This applies to both the individual knowledge and the content produced in the course of passing on. In a first step of formalizing these observations, five phases have been identified (see fig. 1): 1. Emergence of Ideas. New ideas are developed by individuals in highly informal discussions. The vocabulary used for communication is vague and usually not shared beyond the originator. Typical microcontent involved are personal notes. 2. Distribution in Communities. This phase accomplishes an important maturing step, i.e. the development of common terminology shared among community members, e.g., in discussion forum entries or blog postings. 3. Formalization. Artefacts created in the preceding two phases are inherently unstructured. In this phase, purpose-driven structured documents are created, e.g., project reports or design documents. In the microcontent perspective, these documents are not necessarily monolithic wholes, but can consist of connected content chunks that are put into a meaningful order (by making explicit their implicit relationships). 4. Ad-Hoc-Training. Documents produced in the preceding phase are not well suited as learning materials because no didactical considerations were taken into account. Now the topic is prepared in a pedagogically sound way, enabling broader dissemination. 5. Formal Training. The ultimate maturity phase puts together individual learning objects to cover a broader subject area. As a consequence, this subject area becomes teachable to novices. 102 Papers: Andreas Schmidt Figure 1: The Knowledge Maturing Process (Schmidt, 2005; Maier & Schmidt, 2007) As (Maier & Schmidt 2007) have found out, there are (among others) three important characteristics to describe what happens along the process: • Interconnectedness/contextualization. “Learning is network creation” (Siemens 2005). With the deepened understanding, connections to other topics become visible. This must not be confused with contextualization of knowledge which decreases in the knowledge maturing process and refers to the degree of implicit linkage to the creation context, so that it cannot be used outside the original context. Contextualization and interconnectedness are inverse properties. • Teachability. As knowledge maturing is basically interconnection of individual learning processes where knowledge is taught and learnt, an important criterion is its teachability. Whereas immature knowledge is hard to teach (even to experts), formal training allows by definition for wide-range dissemination. • Commitment/legitimation. Within organizations, the knowledge along the maturing processes increases with respect to the amount of support it gets. Support can be in the form of commitment by members of groups, teams, communities or other organizational units. Another form of support can be Microlearning and the Knowledge Maturing Process: Towards Conceptual Foundations ... 103 authorization to use knowledge by supervisors, executives or committees as well as legalisation and standardization. 3 Maturity-Awareness for Microlearning Support The knowledge maturing process is an elegant macromodel to analyze the learning in organizations, but if we want to actually provide (technical) support to make this process more efficient or to derive from it something that just makes the individual learning more efficient, what should we do? A generic approach is that we provide an environment where (1) the individual is seen as a consumer as well as a contributor and where (2) suitable forms of learning for each maturity level are fostered. But we want to go beyond these generic issues. As (Schmidt & Braun 2006) have shown with their context-steered learning approach, recommending appropriate learning resources is a good way to support learning on demand from a technical side. The most important observation for supporting learning in the knowledge maturing process in that way is that the maturity of content (or the maturity of knowledge that a person tries to communicate to the learner) correlates with its appropriateness for the learner’s competency level in the topic area. This can be naturally derived from pedagogical results about the appropriateness of different types of learning depending on the competency level (e.g., Röder 2003). An example: for a novice, discussion artefacts are often incomprehensible because they are highly contextualized. On the other side, an expert does not profit much from a textbook on the subject she is expert in. So we should take into account the maturity level together with the competency level of the target learner when recommending appropriate resources: point novices to introductory courses, point intermediates to past experiences and point experts to frontiers of where new ideas are communicated. The idea sounds compelling, but what do we need to realize this? o We need indicators for the maturity of microcontent. How do we determine that a certain resource is of a certain maturity? o We need a relatively fine-grained determination of the competence level of the learner with respect to the topic area. How do we know which level of competence the learner actually has? 104 Papers: Andreas Schmidt o We need to determine the topic area of microcontent and what it is potentially capable of conveying to the learner. This definitely not an easy task, but is it a mission impossible? As in (Schmidt & Braun 2006), the enabling technology is user context management and acquisition techniques like the attention metadata approaches of (Wolpers 2006). These approaches try to capture what the actually does. Based on such an infrastructure, we can estimate the maturity of content based on its creation context, its usage context and explicit user evaluations. The combination of these types of information allows for powerful heuristics, e.g., the average distance of creation and usage context is a good measure for maturity, reinforced by positive user evaluation. Also for determining the competence level of a user (if not explicitly available within skills or competence management approaches), user context over time can provide hints what the user usually does – and thus infer with the help of some background knowledge which competencies the user is likely to have. The topic area, finally, can be determined based on explicit classifications (file system, document management system) or informal tagging approaches. 4 Conclusions The notion of knowledge maturing allows for bringing structure into a world of microlearning with microcontent by distinguishing different levels of maturity and the transitions between them. Furthermore, it provides the conceptual foundations for supporting such learning activities by indicating the appropriateness of content pieces for a specific user. Such a support can be implemented using user context management as an enabling technology. First research results of such context-aware learning support (Schmidt & Braun 2006) are promising and will be further developed towards a maturityaware learning support. 5 References Bates, M. The design of browsing and berrypicking techniques for the on-line search interface Online Review, 1989, 13, 407-431 Bereiter, C. & Scardamalia: Cognitive Coping Strategies and the Problem of 'Inert Knowledge'. In: Thinking and Learning Skills, LEA, 1985 Microlearning and the Knowledge Maturing Process: Towards Conceptual Foundations ... 105 Davis, J., Kay, J., Kummerfeld, B., Poon, J., Quigley, A., Saunders, G., Yacef, K.: Using workflow, user modeling and tutoring strategies for just-in-time document delivery. Journal of Interactive Learning 4 (2005) 131–148 Kuhlthau, C.C.: Seeking Meaning: A Process Approach to Library and Information Services. 2nd edition edn. Libraries Unlimited, Westport, CT (2004) Maier, R.; Schmidt, A.: Characterizing Knowledge Maturing: A Conceptual Process Model for Integrating E-Learning and Knowledge Management In: 4th Conference Professional Knowledge Management: Experiences and Visions (WM 07), Workshop on Convergence of Knowledge Management and E-Learning (CKME '07), Potsdam, März 2007 Peschl, M.: Modes of Knowing and Creating Knowledge in Microlearning Environments. In: Micromedia & e-Learning 2.0: Gaining the Big Picture, 2006, pp. 62-77 Röder, S.: Eine Architektur für individualisierte computergestützte Lernumgebungen. Frankfurt/Main : Lang, 2003 Schmidt, A.: Bridging the gap between knowledge management and e-learning with context-aware corporate learning solutions. In Althoff, K.D., Dengel, A., Bergmann, R., Nick, M., Roth-Berghofer, T., eds.: Professional Knowledge Management. Third Biennial Conference, WM 2005, Kaiserlautern, Germany, April 2005. Revised Selected Papers. Volume 3782 of Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence., Springer (2005) 203–213 Schmidt, A.: Knowledge Maturing and the Continuity of Context as a Unifying Concept for Integrating Knowledge Management and E-Learning. In: Proceedings I-KNOW ’05, Graz, 2005. Schmidt, A.; Braun, S.: Context-Aware Workplace Learning Support: Concept, Experiences and Remaining Challenges. In: Proceedings of the First European Conference on Technology-Enhanced Learning (ECTEL 06), Springer, 2006 Siemens, G.: Connectivism: Learning as Network-Creation. elearnspace, Aug 2005 Wolpers, M.; Martin, G.; Najjar, J.; Duval, E.: Attention Metadata in Knowledge and Learning Management. In: Proceedings of I-KNOW ’06, Graz, 2006 From Emoticon to Universal Symbolic Signs: Can Written Language Survive in Cyberspace? (Paper) Junichi Azuma University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences (Japan) Hermann Maurer Graz University of Technology (Austria) Abstract: This paper first describes the current state of emoticon usage, referring to the recent popularity of graphic emoticons which are especially favored by young Japanese people. Extreme examples of hieroglyphic use of graphic emoticons will be also illustrated. We will also discuss the possibility of universal symbolic signs overcoming the barrier of language difference as offspring of these graphic emoticons. 1 Introduction Our communication style has greatly changed through the Internet over the last three or four years because of the emergence of new tools for communication such as blogging, social bookmarking, social networking service, mashup service and so on. In the not so distant past, our Web page stood alone as a single static page without a device to encourage interactive communication with the visitors, only to be accessed by anonymous people in principle. Today, various types of dynamic social networks in terms of business activities, hobbies or special interest have become possible on the Web because of the above-mentioned technological developments. Without introducing an expensive groupware system, we can now form a group on the Internet and within this cyberspace we can communicate with each other and sometimes actually manage a project in an organized manner, even free of charge. There has also been a dramatic change in the way we search for information on the Internet. We are establishing various different channels and networks to describe metadata of an object on the Internet. We are moving in the direction of separating the From Emoticon to Universal Symbolic Signs: Can Written Language Survive in Cyberspace? 107 object itself and its metadata.This trend has greatly increased the range of the searchable objects on the Internet. Today we can search for desired pictures, video clips or music pieces quite easily. We also begin to feel that so-called “collective knowledge” implemented through social bookmarking is not only possible but also more informative than we first expected. In a sense, as the automobile became the extension of our legs and feet, and as the computer or a mobile phone became the extension of our brain, the computer network or cyberspace is now becoming the extension of our real world. Or for some people cyberspace may even mean more and it may be more important than the real world. Efficient businesspeople are relying more and more on the network, and those who organize the business calendar online using calendar service of famous portal sites, such as Yahoo! Calendar or Google Calendar are not rare these days. As businesspeople get busy, they also tend to rely on the reminder service of these portal sites, much as if their schedule were carefully organized by a capable secretary. 1.1 Core Components of Cyberspace As we can see, we are relying increasingly on functions in the cyberspace. It is not too much to say that at no other time in history have we witnessed such a strong reliance on technology and such a keen attachment to cyberspace. But what is cyberspace made of? It is of course filled with various types of files and huge amounts of information. However, in principle, it is written language that makes up cyberspace and it is impossible to bring cyberspace into existence without language. We communicate with language when we use our email or blog, we search for necessary information and desired files by means of language and we “social-bookmarking” using language. 1.2 Nature of Cyberspace Communication Communication in cyberspace by means of written language has some unique features. Once transmitted, it is impossible or nearly impossible to recall the message. Non-verbal features such as gesture, posture or facial expressions are rarely visible in cyberspace communication. Unless we use messaging service or other types of audio-visual modes of communication on the Internet, we cannot convey prosodic features such as intonation, rhythm or stress in cyberspace. This situation naturally leads to the difficulty of comfortable and smooth communication in cyberspace, since it is known that the contribution of the purely linguistic elements to our actual face-to-face communication is only about 7%, while non-verbal information accounts about 55% and prosodic features 108 Papers: Junichi Azuma, Hermann Maurer comprise 38% of the whole contents of our real face-to-face communication (Mehrabian, 1971). In fact it is rather difficult to have a language-only communication online especially if both parties have just encountered each other for the first time and share little information about one another. In real life, the first encounter will of course put some pressure on both parties but probably with the help of paralinguistic and prosodic information accompanying the language, they will understand one another quickly and the communication between them will become rather smooth in a short time. In cyberspace we often encounter a very violent argument or in a sense a furious verbal fight. Such a fight might not arise if both parties encountered each other in real life and began the discussion face-to-face. In such a severe verbal fight in a BBS (Bulletin Board System) or in a social network service, we very often see the posting like “I did not mean that in my previous posting.” Then the clarification or meta-clarification of the past postings adds more oil to the flames and the situation will often become uncontrollable. 2 Emoticon as Paralinguistic and Prosodic Features in Cyberspace Emoticons or smilies have gradually entered cyberspace to provide the language-only and seemingly logic-only cyberspace communication with an emotional and human touch. In a sense emotions are considered to be functioning as prosodic or paralinguistic features. Like a sentence “This paper looks quite strange ;-)” they are often added at the end of a sentence or a phrase to show the emotional state of the writer. Thus, an emoticon is a typographic version of paralinguistic features. In East Asia, especially in Japan, people developed their own style of emoticons, or in the Japanese language, “kaomoji” (face mark or face character). Normally these East Asian emoticons are to be read vertically like a sentence “Well, this paper is not so bad as you might think (^_^).” Although their style is different from the Western style, these are also quite intelligible to people all over the world. Figure 1 below shows some examples of the East Asian emoticons. From Emoticon to Universal Symbolic Signs: Can Written Language Survive in Cyberspace? 109 Figure 1: Examples of East Asian Emoticons. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon East Asian languages often have double byte character code system and this allows more variety of emoticons in East Asian languages. The next example of Figure 2 shows some Japanese double byte code emoticons showing the emotion of “fear.” Please note emoticons showing an acute emotional state are normally accompanied with actual linguistic expressions or interjections. Japanese characters shown in Figure 2 are all these interjections representing the feelings of “fear.” Various Japanese writings in kana (phonographic writing) all represent some kind of the feelings of fear. 110 Papers: Junichi Azuma, Hermann Maurer Figure 2: Examples of Japanese Double Byte Code Emoticons. Showing the Emotion of Fear. Taken from http://www.kaomoji.com/kao/text/kowagaru.htm (Emoticon Information Site in Japan) 2.1 Input Method for Japanese Emoticon Westerners may wonder how people in Japan input a huge variety of Japanese double byte code emoticons. The answer lies in the Japanese input method. When we install the operating system for a computer, a certain type of Japanese input system will also be installed. The standard input method for Microsoft Windows series is MS-IME (Input Method Editor) but in Japan other input method systems such as ATOK or VJE are also popular. When you want to write a word with some Chinese characters, you must first input the Romanized reading of the word and then the desired word with Chinese characters will appear. However, the Japanese language has a lot of homonyms, so if you do not like the first option, then you can hit the space bar to open a small pop-up window showing the alternative Chinese characters (see Figure 3) and then choose the characters you want. Of course some intelligent dictionaries are working behind this system. From Emoticon to Universal Symbolic Signs: Can Written Language Survive in Cyberspace? 111 In fact some Japanese emoticons are included in this Japanese input method. Additional free emoticon dictionaries can be also added. Figure 4 shows the list of alternative emoticons presented in the pop-up window when the author looked for an appropriate emoticon to match the Romanized input of “panchi.” This word is the equivalent to the English word “punch” and the emoticons presented here all show the movement of firing a punch. The possible situation when this emoticon would be used would be to indicate something like “Damn you!” Figure 3: Choosing Chinese Character Option (ATOK System) For the Reading “Kanji” (Meaning: “Chinese Character” in Japanese) 112 Papers: Junichi Azuma, Hermann Maurer Figure 4: Choosing a Desired Emoticon using Japanese Input Method 3 Graphic Emoticon as a Linguistic Unit As we notice this when we access the Web-based free Email service of famous portal sites, graphic emoticons are also becoming quite popular in today’s cyberspace. Even when we input the typographic emoticons, some software such as Microsoft Word or email client software programs display the result in graphic emoticons. In Japan, mobile phones also need special kind of Japanese input system similar to the computer-based system and they normally support the input of graphic emoticons. All the major Japanese providers are moving toward the standardization of the codes for graphic emoticons and the use of graphic emoticons is now prevailing in mobile phone communication among young Japanese people. Computer-based communication of course is not an exception. Many Japanese blog services now support the HTML-based posting with graphic emoticons (see Figure 5) and though the input system is still primitive and the repertoire of graphic emoticons is still limited, use of graphic emoticons is expanding. From Emoticon to Universal Symbolic Signs: Can Written Language Survive in Cyberspace? 113 Figure 5: Input Menu for Graphic Emoticons (All with Color in Actual Page). From Livedoor Blog in Japan (http:// blog.livedoor.jp/) 3.1 New Wave of Graphic Emoticon Usage of Japanese Young People Today, young people, especially girls, in Japan have a tendency to use a graphic emoticon together with a relevant word in a sentence. There often exists duplication of vocabulary, i.e., a word and a graphic emoticon that represents the meaning of the word are placed side by side. Here are some examples taken from the actual blog postings of university students: 114 Papers: Junichi Azuma, Hermann Maurer Meaning in English: “dinner… …eating…” Meaning in English: “Found a letter and… …felt very glad. ” Meaning in English: “Got up at 5 and went to Sannomiya… …by subway.” As we can see from these examples, young people in Japan use emoticons not only at the end of a sentence but they tend to use them within a sentence to emphasize or just to decorate a word. 3.2 Replacement of Word by Graphic Emoticon The most recent trend of using graphic emoticons is really extreme and some young people in Japan omit a word in a sentence but use only a graphic emoticon illustrating the meaning of the word. Some examples are shown below: From Emoticon to Universal Symbolic Signs: Can Written Language Survive in Cyberspace? 115 Meaning in English: “…afterwards, suddenly… (mobile phone) …broke down.” Meaning in English: “Was busy because of the part-time job and the… (automobile) …training. “ Meaning in English: “I will never take a… (photo) with this… (Christmas tree) behind me! ” These examples are really extreme and of course there are not so many people in Japan who adopt this style of writing for blog postings or email communication. In addition, many conservative adults, especially educators consider this type of writing to be quite childish and absurd. However, in some sense this tendency of using graphic emoticons as replacement of words will lead to the completely innovative future style of communication, namely communication by means of universal symbolic signs. 116 Papers: Junichi Azuma, Hermann Maurer 4 Idea of Universal Symbolic Signs as Future Language If the trend of the replacement of linguistic units by graphic emoticons seen in the communication behavior of young Japanese people goes further, we will be able to devise universal symbolic signs that will work as a special kind of auxiliary language used for communication using computers, mobile phones and other computer-based instruments. As such symbolic language will make use of simple easy-to-understand pictures, it will really make international communication easy, overcoming the barrier of language difference. It is true that we already have a long history of using pictures for communication since the time of Egyptian hieroglyphs or Chinese inscriptions on bones and tortoise carapaces. The latter developed into Chinese characters but in the Western world, hieroglyphic culture disappeared during the long course of history. Sometimes artificial pictorial languages were devised for universal communication, but they were not put to practical use in our real life widely as an auxiliary language. For one thing, they often needed some amount of learning to use the pictorial language. To take the modern example, Bliss (see BCI, 2004) or LoCos (see Ota, 1987) are both really well designed and well organized visual languages, but they require some amount of learning before one can use and understand the system. Because of this, they still remain to be at the experimental level, being used only in a limited area of our life. Another serious problem of the modern pictorial languages is that they were invented before the emergence of the personal computer and the Internet. Since they depended on the paper media or other type of fixed analog media, they unfortunately lacked the flexibility of communication and ease of authoring. Of course Bliss, LoCos or other types of modern visual languages may have a brighter future in the new era of ICT but if we see the rapid development of real life communication employing graphic emoticons, it seems more probable that the descendants of these graphic emoticons will evolve into the future symbolic language for global communication. 5 Nature of Pictures: Are they Really Still and Two-dimensional? Keeping in our mind that pictorial language will have a strong advantage in this ICT age, let us reconsider the nature of pictures. We tend to think that still pictures, pictograms or other visual signs are really still and motionless, but from the psychological point of view, this is really doubtful. The important fact is that it is our brain that sees the world, not our eyes! We tend to believe what we see is the reality and our seeing is constrained by how From Emoticon to Universal Symbolic Signs: Can Written Language Survive in Cyberspace? 117 our eyes see the world. But the past psychological studies on visual perception tell us that it is our brain that sees the world and not our eyes. There is a lot of evidence from the researches on visual illusions. For example, let us see the famous figure-ground illusion (Figure 6). Although it is just a single picture, the figure and the ground become reversible depending on our capricious preference of seeing the picture. Figure 6: Example of figure-ground illusion. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusion The case of the Kanizsa Triangle is more special (see Figure 7). We can see a floating white triangle, which does not actually exist. Our brain also tells us that there is another lined triangle below the “white triangle.” Actually, no physical triangles are drawn in this picture, but our brain insists that there are two different triangles there, with the one with black outline below the completely white one. 118 Papers: Junichi Azuma, Hermann Maurer Figure 7: Example of Kanizsa Triangle. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusion Pictures or illustrations are of course two dimensional, but normally we get threedimensional information from them. Figure 8 shows another famous illusion called the Ponzo Illusion that illustrates how our perception is easily fooled by the seemingly threedimensional situation. Our brain interprets that the image higher in the picture field is farther away, so it interprets that the light grey bar there is larger than the one that exists in the lower position. Of course, the physical size of these two bars is the same. Figure 8: Example of Ponzo Illusion. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusion From Emoticon to Universal Symbolic Signs: Can Written Language Survive in Cyberspace? 119 5.1 We Can Show Various Degrees of Motion or Feelings by Modifying the Same Picture We can add some accompanying decorative drawings to the same picture and modify the degree of motion or the feelings of a person. This is one of the techniques used in drawing cartoons but can be effectively used for future symbolic signs. Figure 9 is an excerpt from a famous Japanese cartoon series called Sazaesan by Machiko Hasegawa (Hasegawa, 2003) with the leftmost picture being the original used for the actual episode. This shows the scene where the main character, Sazaesan, is running with a bucket full of horse manure. Figure 9: Sazaesan running with a bucket full of horse manure. (Leftmost picture is the original) As the middle picture shows, if the sweat-like droppings and the lines behind her which are seemingly showing the speed of the movement are deleted, then it looks as though Sazaesan is carrying the bucket rather effortlessly. On the other hand, the rightmost picture with more sweat-like droppings, more lines and some balloon-like figures tells you Sazaesan is carrying the bucked with all of her might. 5.2 Pictures Tell us about the Past and the Future Too Pictures of course tell us about something that is happening at a certain point of time. But they also tell us what has happened just before and what is going to happen after the scene is over. Look at Figure 10, a scene taken from a famous Japanese cartoon called Kyojin no Hoshi (Star of the Giants) by Ikki Kajiwara and Noboru Kawasaki (Kajiwara and Kawasaki, 1995). The pitcher, Hyuma Hoshi is about to pitch a ball. What kind of a ball do you expect? A slow ball? No. Probably, we expect he is going to throw a speedball, a very fast one. We will predict so because of his wind-up posture. We can also see a small amount of the sand cloud rising from the ground reaching the pitcher’s right heel. 120 Papers: Junichi Azuma, Hermann Maurer This, as well as the height of his right leg, also enables us to guess the speed and the strength of the pitcher’s right leg movement at the beginning of his wind-up motion. A single picture tells you more than many words and in a sense we can learn a lot from the cartoon drawing technique. Figure 10: Scene from Japanese Cartoon “Star of the Giants” 6 Conclusion So far it has been argued that the development of emoticons, especially graphic emoticons popular among Japanese young people using mobile phones and computers will lead to the next-generation universal symbolic language. Of course the conventional From Emoticon to Universal Symbolic Signs: Can Written Language Survive in Cyberspace? 121 language will be employed in our future communication using computers or other computer-based instruments but we will see more situations where the universal symbolic signs are used. For example, such universal symbolic signs will exert its power in the multi-lingual situation. Suppose that we have a set of core symbolic signs corresponding to the core vocabulary of a language. If several different languages have a similar set of core vocabulary, then we can create a link between a sign and the corresponding word or the phrase of each language. If this is implemented electronically, it will be quite easy for us to create an electronic multi-lingual dictionary (see Figure 11). Figure 11: Sign of “Paper” and Multi-lingual Lexical Explanation as Metadata This just looks like a multi-lingual version of the famous “Duden Bildwoerterbuch” but the difference is that the sign and the lexical explanation in language do not exist in the same object. The lexical explanation in each language exists as metadata outside the picture as shown in figure 11 and this means the same picture object can be used as many times as required. If a phrase “cut the paper with a knife” is included in the electronic multi-lingual dictionary, we can again use the same sign for the “paper” to illustrate the meaning of the phrase. Even composing a simple sentence combining symbolic signs will be possible. If this is implemented, a meeting with people from different countries speaking different languages will be much easier. Any participant can consult the electronic dictionary to identify the sign or the sequence of the signs and show it to other participants. All participants will understand the meaning instantly and if 122 Papers: Junichi Azuma, Hermann Maurer necessary, another person can consult the same dictionary switching to his language to respond the opinion. In the near future, public signs, instructions for vending machines, automated teller machines or other interactive machines will all use the universal symbolic signs. Physically handicapped people will also enjoy the benefit of this new visual language. Even the people who speak different languages will be able to communicate through the email just by using the symbolic signs and a meeting in the multi-lingual situation will be much easier because of the new type of symbolic language. Dynamic and animated symbolic signs will be also integrated into this next-generation visual system. In fact, as Maurer et. al. (2003) argues, within just 10 years, we will be carrying a tiny but powerful computer capable of presenting high resolution movie images that is compatible with the new type of symbolic signs. If this new system of universal symbolic signs is really implemented, and if the set of the symbolic signs is really universal, i.e., without language- or country-specific variations, cyberspace will be a much more comfortable place to live in. 7 References BCI (Blissymbolics Communication International) (2004), The fundamental rules of Blissymbolics: creating new Blissymbolics characters and vocabulary. URL: http://www.blissymbolics.org/downloads/bliss-rules.pdf Hasegawa, M. (2003), The wonderful world of Sazae-san, Kodansha International. Kajiwara, I. and Kawasaki, N. (1995), Kyojin no Hoshi (Star of the Giants) Series, Kodansha. Maurer, H., Stubenrauch, R. and Camhy, D. (2003), Foundations of MIRACLE: Multimedia Information Repository, A Computer-supported Language Effort, Journal of Universal Computer Science, 9-4, 309-348. Mehrabian, A. (1971), Silent Messages, Wadsworth. Ota, Y. (1987), Pikutoguramu "emoji" dezain (Pictogram design), Kashiwashobo. Small Portions of Knowledge – Training for highly educated service engineers (Paper) Andreas Walbert HELLER Services GmbH (Germany) Mirko Ross Rahlfs + Ross Multimedia GmbH (Germany) Abstract: Recently the machine-tool industry started growing again. This growth mainly takes place in the field of professional services, however. Also, growth comes together with dezentralisiation of the organisation. These changes have a radical influence on a rather traditional industry which is not used to reorganize with high pace. For a professional service company the knowledge of their technicians is crucial. At the same time one day of training means one day without income. Under these circumstances one could think that approaches like e-learning and classical ideas of knowledge management would help. However, these companies are typically rather small-scale and also they normally don’t produce thousands of machines from one type. Content development therefore seems unaffordable for them. Using an open-source CMS (TYPO3), it should be possible to develop a smart solution which would help to improve both, in-house training and knowledge-transfer to technicians in the field. With these ideas in mind it is foreseeable that technical trainers will have to undergo a massive change of their training-methods. 1 Changes and Consequences for a Traditional Industry In the last decade radical changes regarding educational methods occurred. Especially education for adults has been influenced. Nowadays even a science of adult education has emerged (andragogy). Buzzwords like “e-learning” floated the market and – after failure – disappeared again. 124 Papers: Andreas Walbert, Mirko Ross Although more and more companies and organisations seem to be interested in new methods of training, interest seemed to be very limited in the field of small-business companies in the field of machines-tools. These companies are very traditional and compared to OEM’s and large global players, changes occur very slow. Therefore buzzwords tend to be unheard in those companies (which might be of advantage in several cases). However, nowadays even traditional companies have to reorganize in order to stay in business. Changes mainly occur on the field of professional services. Customers demand rapid response and start talking about 24/7-support. This means that these naturally slow-changing companies are faced with demands and also with competition of the probably fastest changing industry: the service-industry. Not only have they to move closer to their customers. Also they have to cope with very strict working times, while customers start demanding more and more of the services at times where these companies have to pay very expensive overtime-rates. At the same time, technical changes of their products are becoming necessary faster than maybe one decade ago, mainly because of shorter product-life cycles of their customers’ products (e.g. automotive industry). These technical changes lead to an increasing need for technical training. Unfortunately, with growing competition, servicerates are decreasing. This means that technical training gets more and more expensive for those companies (whereas no training gets even more expensive, but only on long hand). These changes produce a massive necessity for altering training concepts, especially calling for new skills of technical trainers who for decades have mainly be used to only one method: traditional-classroom training. In the meantime also their customers have to change and get used to a shortening halflife of their knowledge. Years ago, after some basic training, service-technicians normally stayed in the field, as it was possible for them to adapt to minor changes without training. Nowadays, radical changes, a broader range of products and highly educated customers lead to a permanent changing environment for those personnel. Also they are used to communicate within their co-workers once problems occur. Decentralisation and cutting of costs eliminate effective communication, however. For traditional service-technicians these changes are taking place at too high pace, as even today many of them are not used to work with computers. Small Portions of Knowledge – Training for highly educated service engineers 2 125 Small Portions of Knowledge – Ideas for Technical Training One of the main problems in smaller companies in the machine-tool industry is that most of them rely on the knowledge of certain persons and that – until now – few of them tried to localize and structure their knowledge in order to distribute it in an organized way. (The process we call knowledge management.) Until now most of these companies think in “project knowledge”: drawings, bills of material, schedules, correspondence with customers, to name some. Normally these documents are related to a specific job. All important documents usually can be found with the help of ERP-systems like SAP, often in combination with classic PDM-systems. Problems start when it comes to find non-job related knowledge, which seldomly is structured in the same way. In our example we talk about the knowledge of a typical service-technician. Normally he is confronted with a lot of information from different departments within his company like controls department, design department, service, training, and so on. Also he has to know a lot about parts and assemblies from subsuppliers. Traditionally every service-technician worked on his private data-basis and also was responsible for keeping it up-to-date. This could lead to situations where technicians had to load 20 to 30 files into the trunk of their car and still were not sure that the proper information needed in the field at this specific customer might be found within these files. All these circumstances lead to the necessity that every technician has to build up his own network over years. Many technicians therefore rely on their cell phone these days in order to solve problems in the field. However, prices dropped and are still under pressure. Many customers don’t want to see service-technicians using their cell-phones all the time. Also one has keep in mind that normally on the other side of the connection there is another service-technician which has to interrupt his current work in order to help his colleague. Therefore the basic idea of a knowledge-management system for small-scale companies in this kind of business would be to supply relevant information problem-related in the 126 Papers: Andreas Walbert, Mirko Ross field. How should these informations be distributed, who should put them together and how could the technician – confronted with a problem – easily find the relevant data? The idea is to get a system “from one practitioner for another practitioner” (compare the private network of technicians as described before, where on technician calls another). Doing this the idea emerges, that technicians by themselves should be responsible in building up a knowledge-platform. However, social software would not be a good idea in this specific field. Technicians typically stay in the field for about 10 to 12 hours daily. Also normally they don’t want to be confronted with explaining their knowledge. Also – regarding the effect of technical knowledge – one could easily assume that knowledge in this relation should be approved by someone before being applied in the field. So the question is who should be responsible for putting together knowledge. Typically there already exists a department which is responsible for structuring and distributing knowledge either within the company or towards the customer: the training department. How should the set-up of such a knowledge platform look like (refer to Fig. 1)? First of all we have to look at the structure of this kind of information typically used by both a service-technician and a trainer. Normally you have all kinds of media like drawings or pictures of a part or assembly. Also movies and animations are very common. In the next step, the working-step is being described. In this context it is useful to talk about the tools which are necessary for the step, too. Also one should think about additional advice (like e.g. torque, type of oil, etc.). From time to time it is also mandatory to remind the user of specific – e.g. health related – warnings. Small Portions of Knowledge – Training for highly educated service engineers 127 Figure 1: Basic idea of “a small portion of knowledge” These basic ideas have been put together in some scribbles and where called “knowledge-items”. They were called items mainly because it was intended to work with closed pieces of knowledge (a small portion of knowledge), as typically they can be used in several context and not only in one linear operator-manual. To take most advantage of such a new system the idea was not only to generate a knowledge platform. Rather the idea was to generate a system which also can be used for training (instead of presentations) and also for generating training manuals and maybe even customer-specific training-files (see fig.2). 128 Papers: Andreas Walbert, Mirko Ross Figure 2: Requirements for the use of the knowledge items The main problem with such a system is not how colorful content should be created, or how powerful user-interaction and statistics should be implemented. The main problem is how to distribute the right amount (portion) of knowledge just-in-time to the right technician who – referring to the platform – normally has a problem in the field and therefore is under pressure. 3 How to get a smart solution The technological infrastructure of the smart training information system needs to handle at least three basic requirements: 1) The middleware should be easy to fit and expand on the needs of the company demands. There should be no restrictions by special hardware, database systems or licence policies. Small Portions of Knowledge – Training for highly educated service engineers 129 2) All content must be stored in a database, where information, structure and output form should be stored separated. A user management system must control the access to the stored content. 3) Software interfaces must be easy to understand and handle. According to these conditions we decided to build the training information system by using the open source based content management system TYPO3. This system fulfilled many of our needs • The middleware is based upon LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), which is easy to handle and maintain. • TYPO3 is delivered by Open Source Licence (GPL) and is backed by a large developer and user community. • Many of our needs will be fulfilled by the common edition of the TYPO3 (e.g. user management, LDAP connection). Some demands call for additional extensions contributed by the open source community (e.g. Glossary, XML Output). • Only for a few of our needs we must develop own extensions (e.g. Tag-SearchEnginge, PDF-Output). The TYPO3 CMS well handled trainings in three ways: • Content-Elements (see Fig. 3) A training can consist of 1 to n Elements. A content element contains of text and/or media (picture, movie, sound). A single content element may be used several times in different trainings. • Structure and Semantics (site-tree, tagging system) To build a training the editor assembles content elements on a site. Each site consists of 1 to n sub-sites. Editors can tag a single site or a complete site tree. The tagging system provides a simple search interface for users. • Output form (XML, HTML, PDF) Multiple outputs of a single training site or a complete site-tree can be created: - XML in order to provide an export of a training - HTML views for the Intranet/Internet or a machine control panel - PDF to create a printed handbook of a training 130 Papers: Andreas Walbert, Mirko Ross Figure 3: Structuring knowledge to small pieces using a CMS Figure 3 shows the complex structure of knowledge-items that have been created with the help of typo3. Not only can pictures directly from the shop-floor easily be integrated, but also to this specific part related documents are linked. Small Portions of Knowledge – Training for highly educated service engineers 4 131 Conclusion Knowledge Management and training merge together. Smart solutions like structuring practical knowledge with the help of a CMS like typo3 have the power to support servicetechnicians in the field and at the same time help to increase customers’ satisfaction. With an increasing number of machine types in the field, and with generally increasing complexity, even highly-educated service-technicians need practical help for their daily tasks. In a lot of cases it’s not important to use state-of-the-art 3D-animations in the field of adult education. Especially highly-trained service-technicians normally don’t need elearning modules for basic maintenance steps. For them it’s rather interesting to get a system which structures all relevant informations (like drawings, manuals, pictures, etc.) in a problem-related way. Such a system can be implemented also with open-source systems. On-line learning in on-site institutions: The challenge to try new pedagogical models in higher education (Paper) Linda Johanna Castañeda Grupo de Investigación de Tecnología Educativa - GITE Department of didactics and scholar organization University of Murcia (Spain) Abstract: In this document we present some general results from the report of the assessment of the first experience of official full on-line courses in degree programs at The University of Murcia (Spain). We want to show the pedagogical point of view of this first year of implementing and their principal conclusions. This report is not more than a portrait of the pioneers’ experience, pioneers in on-line courses in our university. This is a portrait which presents the pedagogical point of view of our first year of implementing online courses in our on-site degree programs. This would be useful in evaluating this implementation and taking individual and institutional decisions about processes, tools, and methods in learning. 1 External situation, the Spanish Universities’ case The fast expansion of ICT in all environments through out society has intensified pressures for our traditional educational institutions to become modern organizations using new possibilities and models of teaching and learning. This pressure is more intensive in Higher education because our responsibility in preparing our students to survive efficiently as citizens and professionals in this technology enhanced society. Both of these concepts have changed. Gerhard Casper (President of Stanford University) said in a conference in 1995 that “The early decades of this second millennium may bring more changes to universities than their first thousand years. Some of these changes will be wrenching” (Casper, 1996). Universities have to change. As Salomon Says, “Information becomes something that seeps out from the once privileged citadel into the homes of everyone who seeks knowledge. Knowledge becomes a fluid, available thing, no more a commodity to own and store but something to be accessed” (Salomon 1999: 44). Consequently universities On-line learning in on-site institutions: The challenge to try new pedagogical models ... 133 have to leave the role of elitist information temples to become new spaces for people to grow in the widest sense of the word. This is the Long life learning society (Lengrand, 1989), when higher education is not only the stage where we can teach people a job, it is more than ever a space to learn through out life. Nevertheless, in spite of this, these reflections demand a change from our institutions. Some reports of the state of Spanish Universities reflect a great sense of resistance to innovate. This resistance is more evident in some aspects: • Traditionally, universities have been the origin of social and scientific revolutions, but at the same time they have been conservative with the same revolutions. In The University 2000 report says “Scientific revolution, and the humanistic movement in the Renaissance, it begun away from the cloisters of university. Indeed, as some authors have said, under the suspicions of Universities” (Bricall, 2000:4) • From the legal point of view, most of the latest Spanish educational laws for “Basic Education” (elementary and secondary levels) have incorporated explicit recommendations about more complex and global education which include emphasis on the development of ICT literacy (i.e. LOCE 2001: Organic Law for Quality on Education). However but our specific laws about universities have not included these kinds of recommendations, and leave to each institution decisions about new abilities and integration of ICT in official programs. • In this sense, the process of every citizen in all the environments becoming more aware of the of Information Society has been one of the most important aims of the European Union; and the initiative eEurope (specified in the programs eEurope 2002 and eEurope 2005) has been the answer to that. In Spain, this program has become reality in program eEspaña, but this program is centred on Basic Education and doesn’t have a specific application for higher education. • Higher Education is perceived in the other learning statements as static. Its models are older. The use of “traditional” practices in its classrooms is common. To exposes and repeats concepts only important for teachers, without criticism, without new media, and these kinds of practices have considered by some academics as “a sample of quality on teaching and a sample of teachers interested in teaching” (Bartolomé, 2004) Consequently, advances in implementation of ICT on official programs of our universities have been slower than in other European institutions. For us more than for other institutions these kinds of changes have been at the expense of many trials and mistakes in order to take a first step on the path to innovate. 134 Papers: Linda Johanna Castañeda 2 The Study 2.1 Internal Background The University of Murcia (UMU) has been, and wants to continue as, a traditional institution of on-site Higher Education. Nevertheless, trying to integrate ICT as new way on teaching and learning on its degree programs, and motivating teachers’ work towards on on-line tools, our institutions have implemented certain programs. These programs attempt to use ICT on courses; first as resources in traditional classrooms and lately, as a channel to do full courses. Therefore, during the academic period 2004-2005 our university has been offering its first experiences of on-line courses for official degrees. This experience consisted of 15 courses approved by the University from different faculties with different pedagogical models from blended-learning to on-line learning. These courses were offered voluntarily from teachers with or without experience on these kinds of learning processes. 2.2 Analysis Model For this study we designed a very ambitious model of analysis. We have made an assessment in three moments (initial, process and final), and we have centred it on three different focuses: Figure 1: Focuses of Analysis The first one is the focus on teacher and the teaching role. The second one is the student and the learner roles and functions; these both include the relationship they have On-line learning in on-site institutions: The challenge to try new pedagogical models ... 135 of the level of people and learning: Cognitive Interactivity (Prendes, 1995) and relationships between content –people and environment-people: Instrumental interactivity. Finally, the third focus is on the on-line information: contents, resources, and coherence between plan, used materials and methods. To appropriately analyse this three focuses we use a model based on four dimensions or cross axis: planning, flexibility, interactivity and virtuality; and we have analysed 7 components of pedagogical models on each course across these four dimensions: Figure 2: Analysis elements As we have said, we have recovered information at three different times, using various instruments: 136 Papers: Linda Johanna Castañeda Table 1: Instruments for information From this first experience we have analysed “naturalistic” courses. The research team didn’t have any control in teachers or students motivating or addressing the information or the choice of the people. They only followed (so decided) our instructions of how to recover the information. In the end we have analysed 15 courses, 18 teachers and more than 200 students. 3 Some Results and Conclusions: In this paper we present a general overview of this analysis. It claims to be the same for each course. In spite of this each course has different issues and for each one we have different conclusions and interesting elements that we have to discuss with each teacher. Nevertheless, there is some general data which give us the first view of some important common aspects: About the access to courses According to our data from UMU, in most cases the students’ demand on vacancies in on-line courses is greater than the supply. Indeed, some cases show 200% and 300% of over booking. Moreover, demand is greater than in respect of the same courses in traditional (onsite) version from the last year. On-line learning in on-site institutions: The challenge to try new pedagogical models ... Figure 3. Some Results 137 138 Papers: Linda Johanna Castañeda Figure 4. Some Results With information from initial questionnaires, we can conclude that students have chosen online courses for three principal reasons: • Curiosity • Flexibility • ICT Interest These three aspects are specifically from online models. Therefore, we can conclude that one of the most important factors for choicing these courses over others and the same courses in other versions is the condition of “virtual” version. The most important thing is the opportunity to work on-line. About Students • Most students in the sample have gained information about their courses before they start (60%), this information habitually come from teachers or classmates. They are in an on-site institution, and they hardly ever use the institutional information. • Students on their courses have a computer at home (82,5%), and half of them are broad band connected. They surf the net an average of 1-5 hours per week, most of the time from university. • 80% have never studied an online course before. On-line learning in on-site institutions: The challenge to try new pedagogical models ... 139 About Teachers • Teachers haven’t enough information to carry out their courses using ICT efficiently. They have not participated in specific training courses to learn pedagogical strategies (88,88%); they have not been students or teachers in an on-line course before (72,22%). • This experience has been a training adventure for teachers: “this is more than an opportunity for our students, a challenge for me, I want to innovate, and this is my chance” (Initial interview, Teacher male). • Teachers need specific pedagogical training, especially when they are involved in innovative programs. However a technical approach to telematyc tools has already being work out. All the teachers in our study consider themselves to be “competent” in ICT use (user level). • Nevertheless, most of these teachers have used the new channels (ICT) in the same manner as traditional channels and tools (80%). They are bigger and faster but have been used in the same way as the previous ones (library, photocopier…). • Some teachers who have really been changing the dynamics and processes, adapting them to the new channel, have had better results and they and their students have being more satisfied by the experience. • They don’t share resources with other teachers. Only one of our teachers currently shares materials with others colleagues from the same department. About pedagogical models and resources • Pedagogical models used in each experience are not really news. Most of them (60%) are the same models used in previous on-site courses but with tasks becoming individualized to the greatest extend. • Teachers didn’t appreciate or motivate interaction between students or between student and teachers. Indeed one of the worst aspects, from the students’ view, was the interaction between students (usefulness, frequency, interest, motivation to, etc.). • Participation and relationship between forums or notice boards have been less valued, most students have made on-site meetings (most of them,80%) and meet each other at the faculty. 140 Papers: Linda Johanna Castañeda 4 Some perspectives about the future As we can see after analyse (in a previous analysis) this first attempt to open traditional courses to new media, we can observe that teachers have not a very clear idea about the final structure of each of theirs courses. Teachers, in most of these experiences, have improvised step by step; they had –most of them- a very nice plan about what and how make the course (resources, times, evaluation, etc.), but always they had not a clear plan about how developing this previous plan. Teachers, on theirs plans, tried to changed their courses and contents in the “microcontent” direction: reducing complexity and size of units, linking contents to each other, giving more choosing power to learners in timetable, places and groups topics, etc. (Bruck, 2005); nevertheless, at the end –as we said before, in most of our analysed courses- change in didactic models have not happened, they continue to develop the courses in the same way as before. Institutions as Universities are forced to change. Some of their work is in a virtual world, supporting and developing professional learning processes without the constrictions of walls and buildings; some of them in blended models. However, some of their field is also for first professional accreditation and, for this first step I think people continue to find on-site environments which can do as bridges between basic education and professional learning. Some things are changing now but this is a long change process, as every change in a social process, as every change in education. 5 References Bartolomé, A. (2004) “Aprendizaje potenciado por la tecnología: Razones y diseño pedagógico”. In Martínez , F. Prendes, M. (2004) Nuevas Tecnologías y Educación. Madrid: Pearson Bricall, J. (2000) Informe Universidad 2000 Barcelona. CRUE. Documento en línea. [Consultado el 20-05-2005] en URL: http://www.campus-oei.org/oeivirt/bricall.htm (accessed April, 2007) Bruck, P. (2005). “Microlearning as strategic research field: an invitation to collaborate”. In Microlearning: Emerging Concepts, Practices and Technologies after e-Learning. Proceedings Microlearning 2005. Learning & Working in New Media. Casper, G. (1996). “Come the millennium, where the university?” In Minerva, V34(1), 6983. On-line learning in on-site institutions: The challenge to try new pedagogical models ... 141 Lengrand, P. (1989). “Lifelong education: growth of the concept”. In C. Titmus (Ed.) Lifelong Education for Adults: An International Handbook . Oxford: Pergamon Prendes, M. P. (1995). “Redes de cable y enseñanza”. In Cabero, J. y Martínez Sánchez, F. Nuevos canales de comunicación en la enseñanza. Madrid: Centro de Estudios Ramón Areces. Salomon, G. (1999). Higher education facing the challenges of the information age. In European Journal for Education Law and Policy, V3(1), 43-47. Some ideas on learning through fictional (micro-) narratives (Paper) Markus Appel University of Linz (Austria) Abstract: (Micro-) Narratives are a promising means to make tiny bits of information part of the things we know. Newer theorizing and research in Social Psychology has identified Transportation as a key process variable in the persuasion through fiction. Based on this literature, we provide evidence that fictional(ized) narratives have a strong and persisting influence on our beliefs and our knowledge. This backs approaches that consider narratives as a powerful means of presenting (micro-) content. 1 Introduction In a mediated world where tiny bits of information may be available everywhere, every time, learning in ‘out of school contexts’ becomes more important. Microlearning is an important approach to realize these new opportunities. From a psychological perspective, it is safe to say that most of the things we have learnt, we have learnt incidentally. And for many people, such involuntary learning has happened mass mediated. We don’t talk about educational programs, not even the news, we want to highlight the children’s series, the soaps, the TV-movies and the novels that have delivered a huge amount of information that constitute our view of the world. Since Aristotle, cultural products have been distinguished in those that relate to things that have really happened, and those that could have happened. The latter products of imagination are usually labeled as ‚fiction’ (e.g., in your TV-guide). But fictional products contain a lot of information that can be applied to the real world (cf. Eco, 1994). Contrary to laypersons’ conceptions, an automatic cognitive switch or toggle, which prevents fictional information from entering real world belief systems, has never been found (Gerrig, 1993). Some ideas on learning through fictional (micro-) narratives 143 On average, people use fictional media for several hours a day. Watching television (including a vast amount of fictional fare), reading novels, or playing computer games are among the most popular leisure activities in modern societies. Often fiction has a narrative form. Narratives or stories are defined as “the representation of an event or a series of events” (Abbott, p. 12) – as opposed to expository texts that contain information typically in a non-narrative format. Note that one or two events are sufficient to constitute a narrative. As the popularity of narrative content in YouTube indicates, short fragmented stories (e.g., about someone trying a skateboarding move) do attract a vast audience. In sum, a) narratives are popular, b) even if fictional, they contain potentially useful information about the real world, c) they may be short and presented in micro-formats. However, people may argue that entertaining narratives do not encourage elaborative or deep processing, thus learning or long-lasting cognitive effects in general are hard to achieve. The aim of the following lines is to introduce empirical research on the impact of information presented in fictional narratives on recipients’ representations of the world (beliefs), which has received increased attention by researchers in social psychology and media psychology. 2 Elaboration and Transportation as process variables Can we expect long-lasting cognitive effects of information that is part of a fictional narrative? We will discuss this question based on research conducted in the field of persuasion, which has been a main research area in social psychology for many years. Two most widely accepted theoretical models of persuasion, the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM, Petty & Cacioppo, 1986; Petty & Wegener, 1999) and the HeuristicSystematic Model (HSM, Chaiken, Liberman, & Eagly, 1989; Chen & Chaiken, 1999) assume that processing may be elaborative or peripheral, systematic or heuristic (as ends of a continuum). Both models predict that the effect of a persuasive message may be expected to last only if it is processed in an elaborative or systematic way. Similar to classical models of learning (Craik & Lockhart, 1972, levels of processing) a high and long-lasting impact is only expected when recipients thoroughly elaborate the material presented. The ELM presumes that elaborative processing occurs only when ability and 144 Papers: Markus Appel motivation to think about a message are high. When people read a fictional narrative, they are typically eager to follow the narration but seldom would they be motivated to systematically evaluate the piggyback information that accompanies the plotline (Prentice & Gerrig, 1999). In short, readers may not be expected to devote much elaborative processing to the information presented in a fictional text which in itself may serve as a discounting piece of information. Prentice and Gerrig (1999), among others, have raised doubts, however, whether general theories of persuasion such as the ELM and the HSM are adequate for explaining belief change through fiction. Fictional narratives differ from texts that have been the typical focus of persuasion research. Whereas these texts present arguments in order to persuade or convince recipients of the truth of factual claims or the appropriateness of ethical and political claims, fictional narratives contain a story line that attracts the recepients’ attention. Because of these important textual differences, it has been proposed that the mechanisms underlying belief change caused by reading fictional narratives are profoundly different. Gerrig (1993) and Green and Brock (2002) have used the metaphor of transportation to describe how readers respond to fictional narratives. Transportation stands for the metaphor that readers undertake a mental journey into the fictional world of the narrative. In a state of Transportation, people have vivid mental images of the events described in a text. The fictional world of the narrative partly replaces the real world while they are reading, a phenomenon often described as “being lost in a book” (Nell, 1988). This mental journey from the real to the imagined world of the narrative critically affects emotional as well as cognitive processes. It is assumed that under high Transportation, recipients integrate information into their existing world knowledge. When readers are transported, they form representations which are high on perceptual, spatial, temporal, and emotional information (cf. Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993), akin to representations of perceived events. Interestingly, previous research indicates, that even in the lab, using demure experimental media fare, people are quickly and deeply immersed into narrations. 3 Support for strong and persisting effects of narrations There are at least four lines of argumentation that support the assumption that fictional narratives have a strong and persisting impact on our belief system and our knowledge about the world (Appel & Richter, in press; Green & Brock, 2000): 1) Vivid individual examples have a strong and persisting effect. Exemplification theory predicts a superiority of vivid, case-based descriptions in the media compared to base- Some ideas on learning through fictional (micro-) narratives 145 rate information in influencing people’s (presumed) knowledge about real-world events (Zillmann, 2002; Zillmann & Brosius, 2000). It is further proposed that such examples exert a persisting influence even revealing their superior impact after some time has passed. Exemplification theory has been convincingly tested in the field of both fictional and non-fictional media fare. For example Gibson and Zillmann (1994) provided true base-rate information about consequences of car-jackings (lethal consequences at about 0.2 percent) and verbal descriptions of example incidents that misrepresented the phenomenon to a varying degree. The more extreme the misrepresentation, the higher was the estimated relative frequency of victim fatality. Most important, this effect was stronger after a delay of one week than immediately after providing the information. One of the reasons for the persisting impact of exemplars might be that it’s difficult to counter personal experiences. And these personal experiences are at the heart of narrative fiction. 2) Fictional narratives fit the cognitive system. Fictional narrations we encounter in the media meet the human tendency to organize information in form of stories (Schank & Abelson, 1995). Stories usually contain more indexes and it is contended that these stories have a greater impact than abstract principles (Schank & Berman, 2002) – which we more often find in expository and pragmatic texts. 3) The pervasive influence of entertainment education. A more indirect argument for long-lasting effects of fictional persuasion is the success story of entertainmenteducation radio and television programs. Those entertainment-education programs are popular entertainment formats, like radio-novelas, which story line is tailored to change recipients’ beliefs and behaviors according to pre-defined goals. Entertainmenteducation has been applied mostly in Africa, Asia and Latin America to promote literacy, to foster beliefs of equal rights for women and minorities, and among other goals, to change HIV-related attitudes and behavior (see Singhal, Cody, Rogers & Sabido, 2004). Evaluations of quasi-experimental data suggest large and enduring effects (e.g. Vaughan, Rogers, Singhal & Swalehe, 2000, for an anti-HIV campaign in Tansania). 4) Information about the source (discounting cue) is forgotten (or disconnected) sooner than the fictional content is forgotten. Recipients know that fiction contains information untrue in the real world (Prentice & Gerrig, 1999) and therefore consider fiction as a low quality source of information. Few minutes after reading a short story or watching an excerpt of a tv-movie, people can very well attribute a given information to the fictional product. Knowledge about a low source reliability reduces persuasion. In some instances, correctness of this attribution will fade over time, while the content itself might 146 Papers: Markus Appel still be present. Most people have the experience of having a certain information in mind, unable to remember what its source was, searching for a clue to the reliability of that source. In such cases the impact of the persuasive message can be stable or even increase over time. After decades of research, the determinants of an increasing impact over time, known as a sleeper effect (Hovland, Lumsdaine & Sheffield, 1949) are still unclear. A recent meta-analysis showed a more persisting persuasion when the arguments and the discounting cue had a strong short-term impact. Increase in persuasion was more powerful, when recipients had a higher ability or motivation systematically process the message and when they received the discounting cue after the message (Kumkale & Albarracin, 2004). While this result supports the ELMperspective that systematic processing is a necessary prerequisite for a sleeper-effect (Priester et al., 1999), studies have demonstrated sleeper-effects under low systematic processing conditions (Weaver-Lariscy & Tinkham, 1999). In recent years, social psychologists have conducted several experiments that clearly indicate that fictional narratives indeed shape our beliefs and knowledge about the realworld (Green & Brock, 2000; Prentice, Gerrig, & Bailis, 1997; Strange & Leung, 1999; Wheeler, Green, & Brock, 1999). However, such belief shifts were assessed short-term. Appel and Richter (in press) investigated whether or not belief shifts were still present two weeks after exposure. Experimental results show that persuasive effects were present when beliefs were assessed immediately and two weeks after exposure. Their magnitude even increased over time. 4 Conclusion This excursion into the world of social psychology and media psychology has demonstrated that fictional narratives are not to be dismissed as the context of cognitive media effects. Although ”learning” has not been the label of these investigations, beliefs and knowledge are closely related - beliefs are typically conceived as pieces of information that are combined with an evaluation of truth or falsity. This research backs the position that narratives are a promising context to make learning environments successful (cf. Arnold, Smith & Trayner, 2006). For some kinds of micro-environments, it seems crucial that learners do quickly perform a cognitive shift between their everyday surroundings and the mediated learning environment. Transportation theory and research suggests that fictional narratives do immerse people quickly, and that information presented within a narrative is likely to yield long-term effects. Some ideas on learning through fictional (micro-) narratives 147 5 References Abbott, H.P. (2002). The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Appel, M. & Richter, T. (in press). Persuasive effects of fictional narratives increase over time. Media Psychology. Arnold, P., Smith, J., Trayner, B. (2006). Narrative: Designing for context in virtual settings. In A.D Figueiredo & A.P Afonso (Eds.), Managing learning in virtual settings: The role of context (pp. 197-218). Hershey, PA: Idea Group. Chaiken, S., Liberman, A., & Eagly, A.H. (1989). Heuristic and systematic information processing within and beyond the persuasion context. In J.S. Uleman & J.A. Bargh, (Eds.), Unintended thought (pp. 212-252). New York: Guilford. Chen, S., & Chaiken, S. (1999). The heuristic-systematic model in its broader context. In S. Chaiken & Y Trope (Eds.), Dual-process theories in social psychology (pp. 7396). New York: Guilford. Craik, F. I. M., & Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 671-684. Eco, U. (1994). Six walks in the fictional woods. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Gerrig, R.J. (1993). Experiencing narrative worlds: On the psychological activities of reading. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Gibson, R., & Zillmann, D. (1994). Exaggerated versus representative exemplification in news reports. Communication Research, 21, 603-624. Green, M.C., & Brock, T.C. (2000). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 701-721. Green, M.C., & Brock, T.C. (2002). In the mind’s eye: Transportation-imagery model of narrative persuasion. In M.C. Green, J.J. Strange, & T.C. Brock (Eds.), Narrative impact: Social and cognitive foundations (pp. 315-342). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Hovland, C.I., Lumsdaine, A.A., & Sheffield, F.D. (1949). Experiments on Mass Communication. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Johnson, M.K., Hashtroudi, S., & Lindsay, D.S. (1993). Source monitoring. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 3-28. Kumkale, G., & Albarracin, D. (2004). The sleeper effect in persuasion: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 143-172. 148 Papers: Markus Appel Nell, V. (1988). Lost in a book: The psychology of reading for pleasure. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Petty, R.E., & Cacioppo, J.T. (1986). Communication and persuasion. Central and peripheral routes to attitude change. New York: Springer. Petty, R. E., Haugtvedt, C., & Smith, S. M. (1995). Elaboration as a determinant of attitude strength: Creating attitudes that are persistent, resistant, and predictive of behavior. In R. E. Petty & J. A. Krosnick (Eds.), Attitude strength: Antecedents and consequences (pp. 93–130). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Petty, R.E., & Wegener, D.T. (1999). The elaboration likelihood model: Current status and controversies. In S. Chaiken & Y. Trope (Eds.), Dual-process theories in social psychology (pp. 41-72). New York: Guilford. Prentice, D.A., & Gerrig, R.J. (1999). Exploring the boundary between fiction and reality. In S. Chaiken & Y. Trope (Eds.), Dual-process theories in social psychology (pp. 529-546). New York: Guilford. Prentice, D.A., Gerrig, R.J., & Bailis, D.S. (1997). What readers bring to the processing of fictional texts. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 4, 416-420. Priester, J.R., Wegener, D., Petty, R., & Fabrigar, L. (1999). Examining the psychological process underlying the sleeper effect: The Elaboration Likelihood Model explanation. Media Psychology, 1, 27-48. Schank, R.C., & Abelson, R.P. (1995). Knowledge and memory: The real story. In J. R.S. Wyer (Ed.), Advances in social cognition (Vol. 8, pp. 1-85). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Schank, R.C., & Berman, T.R. (2002). The pervasive role of stories in knowledge and action. In M.C. Green, J.J. Strange and T.C. Brock (Eds.), Narrative impact: Social and cognitive foundations (pp. 287-313). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Singhal, A., Cody, M.J., Rogers, E.M., & Sabido, M. (2004). Entertainment-education worldwide: History, research, and practice. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Strange, J.J., & Leung, C.C. (1999). How anecdotal accounts in news and in fiction can influence judgments of a social problem's urgency, causes, and cures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 436-449. Vaughan, P.W., Rogers, E.M., Singhal, A., & Swalehe, R.M. (2000). Entertainment education and HIV/AIDS prevention: A field experiment in Tanzania. Journal of Health Communication, 5, 81-100. Some ideas on learning through fictional (micro-) narratives 149 Wheeler, S.C., Green, M.C., & Brock, T.C. (1999). Fictional narratives change beliefs: Replications of Prentice, Gerrig & Bailis (1997) with mixed corroboration. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 6, 136-141. Zillmann, D., & Brosius, H.-B. (2000). Exemplification in communication: The influence of case reports on the perception of issues. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Transforming traditional classroom lectures into interactive digital media experiences (Paper) Thomas Sporer Ulrich Fahrner Ruben Schulze-Fröhlich University of Augsburg (Germany) Tino Jahnke Project Knowledgebay (Germany) Frank Vohle Ghostthinker GmbH (Germany) Abstract: Digital media make it possible to spread lectures of the finest scholars over the internet. One barrier to the widespread availability of e-lectures, however, is the cost of production. This paper shows how we try to solve this problem by 1.) producing e-lectures on the fly in traditional classroom settings and 2.) turning the production process itself into a learning experience. Therefore we describe the current state of our project “knowledgebay” and reflect on the consequences of this approach with regard to the learning effect of the co-production of e-lectures for students. 1 Introduction Since the rise of the term web 2.0 the use of audiovisual knowledge media has gained a lot of popularity. Today podcasting and e-lectures are widely discussed as a means of learning and teaching by educators concerned with the use of digital technology (cf. Alexander, 2006; Campbell, 2005). In this paper we address this topic by reflecting on 1.) how audiovisual knowledge media can be used as a means of distribution of information via podcasting by teachers, 2.) how the learners can participate via tagging, blogging and commenting the contents of the podcasts and 3.) how the classroom lecture is Transforming traditional classroom lectures into interactive digital media experiences 151 transformed into an interactive media experience by re-conceptualizing the production of e-lectures as a part of the learning process (Sporer & Ramm, 2005). 2 Using e-lectures to enhance teaching and learning Utilizing RSS-Technology, the distribution of knowledge on the web shifted from pull to push approaches. In this context fancy terms like “profcasts” indicate that educational institutions finally discovered how students of the net generation prefer to learn, work and play (cf. Tapscott, 1997; Brown, 1999; Oblinger, 2003). "Podcasting allows students to use their technology-based entertainment systems (iPods, MP3 players) for educational experiences. Because students are already familiar with the underlying technology, podcasting broadens educational options in a nonthreatening and easily accessible manner.” — EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (2005) Because educational technologies like podcasting take into account the digital life style of today’s students, they engage them into meaningful learning experiences (cf. Prensky, 2005). From a pedagogical point of view, however, these educational technologies do not qualify as truly progressive learning scenarios, since the learners are reduced to passive recipients of their teacher’s knowledge. To overcome this downside of current push media like podcasting, interactive scenarios using push and pull elements have to be developed. Such scenarios allow navigating the audiovisual content as well as enriching it through categorizing, indexing, commenting and tagging (cf. Lomas & Reeves, 2005) At the University of Augsburg we combine push and pull approaches. As a means of interactively engaging students in a media-enriched learning process, we offer e-lectures as a service of our digital campus over an internet portal (www.knowledgebay.de). This web service combines a face-to-face with a virtual learning scenario as it augments a technology enhanced teaching setting in the classroom on the one hand with the use of e-lectures as a digital learning resource on the other hand. It enables students not only to ubiquitously attend lectures, but also to interact with teachers and fellow students in order to discuss the learning content of the e-lectures by using tools for communication and collaboration (cf. Sporer, Köstlbacher & Erbacher, 2005). 152 Papers: T. Sporer, U. Fahrner, R. Schulze-Fröhlich, T. Jahnke, F. Vohle For instance: Having visited all the lectures of a course that a student attended several semesters ago, he prepares for his final exams. For this task, he downloads and prints out the available course material from an LMS and figures out which parts of the course he still remembers well and which parts he has to repeat to successfully pass his examination. Knowing which parts of the course material he has to refresh, the student visits the archive of e-lectures. He then picks the e-lecture that covers the content in question and navigates to the segment of the document he needs to rehearse. As he still does not understand what his teacher meant, he posts a question in the forum which gets answered by his teacher the same day. The student now fully grasps the content of the course and excels in his exams. Furthermore, the teacher knows where to explain the contents of the next course more carefully through the student’s feedback. 3 Producing e-lectures within the classroom setting As information and communication technology (ICT) is getting cheaper and cheaper, one major barrier to the widespread availability of e-lectures remains the workload for the content producers. To produce available e-lectures at a reasonable ratio between costs and benefits, the effort of the production has to be minimized (cf. Sporer, Köstlbacher & Erbacher, 2005). At the University of Augsburg we thus integrate the production of electures into the classroom setting and edit the digital contents on the fly. The production starts in the media laboratory which is equipped with a live recording system that automatically documents the presentation of the teacher in the classroom. The recordings are transmitted to a streaming server which encodes and splits up the signal into separate audio and video streams. In just about real time a low bandwidth audio stream is casted back into the classroom via wireless technology. In the classroom students run an authoring tool on their mobile computing devices during the lecture (cf. Sporer, Köstlbacher & Jahnke, 2006). This authoring tool enables them to tag and comment the teacher’s presentation as well as to blog associated content from the web. This process is depicted in Figure 1. Transforming traditional classroom lectures into interactive digital media experiences 153 Figure 1: Configuration of the integrated e-lecture setting When the classroom lecture is finished, a team of students trained in producing digital knowledge media edits the audiovisual documentation of the teacher’s presentation and enriches it with user-generated content gathered by the students attending the lecture. Both kinds of information - derived form the teacher and students in the classroom - are then compiled into the e-lecture and get published on a content management system (www.knowledgebay.net). After basic quality assurance the teacher approves the publication of the e-lecture on the portal using the content management system. As described in the previous section the e-lectures can now be used by students at any place they like via the digital campus of the University of Augsburg. 4 Learning through the co-production of e-lectures So far we have shown how we produce and use e-lectures. In this section we reflect on the effects of the co-production of e-lectures on the students’ learning process in the classroom. When students transform the monolithic audio and video documents of 154 Papers: T. Sporer, U. Fahrner, R. Schulze-Fröhlich, T. Jahnke, F. Vohle lecture recordings into semantically segmented pieces of microcontent, this boils down to a combination of three scenarios for the use for audiovisual knowledge media with various degrees of interactivity (cf. Sporer & Ramm, 2006): • Teaching media: This scenario focuses on the distribution of information and the self-directed use of the media by the learners. • Learning media: This scenario highlights the learner’s interaction with the medium as a means to engage with the content. • Educational media: This scenario emphasizes the discursive use of the contents through social software tools by the learners. By transforming the traditional classroom lecture into an interactive e-lecture all three scenarios described above get intertwined and the content of the lecture is remediated (cf. Bolter & Grusin, 2000). As research into hypermedia indicates “students are likely to learn more by constructing instructional materials than by studying them“ (Jonassen et al., 1997, p. 11). To back this argument, we propose the theory of the amount of invested mental effort known as “AIME” (cf. Salomon, 1983). The theory of AIME suggests that students gain a greater quantity and quality of the information conveyed by media through the active transformation of knowledge represented externally into the learner’s mental knowledge representations. According to Salomon the transformation from an external source of knowledge into knowledge structures that are personally meaningful is highly influenced on the learner’s perception of the attributes of the information. These attributes include the characteristics of the medium, the level and importance of the messages mediated and the context and the tasks associated with learning from the medium. The simultaneous transformation of the information from the teacher’s lecture into small units of microcontent certainly increases the amount of invested mental effort by the students. Contrary to this hypothesis on the learning effects of this kind of content processing, however, is cognitive load theory, which points out that the amount of information that can be processed simultaneously is limited by the learner’s working memory (cf. Chandler & Sweller, 1992). Considering this argument it is important that the students are well-trained in performing the task of co-producing the e-lectures. Thus students of the net generation, who use ICT much like a pencil (Papert, 1999) and are quite familiar with multitasking (Foreman, 2003), can fully concentrate on the semantics of the traditional lecture’s content while remediating it into an interactive e-lecture. As described before, students can attribute meaning to the contents and experience selfefficacy in learning with new media (cf. Salomon, 1984). Transforming traditional classroom lectures into interactive digital media experiences 155 5 Summary and future research and development In this short paper we have introduced a prototype of a learning scenario in which students are engaged in the co-production of interactive and audiovisual knowledge media. First we connected this issue to current trends for educational technology in the context of web 2.0. Then we described our approach to using and producing e-lectures at the University of Augsburg. Finally, we reflected on the learning effects of the coproduction of e-lectures for students. This prototype has to be further explored by a series of in-situ-experiments and needs to be re-implemented into a standardized learning infrastructure. The direction of our future research and development therefore will cover the following activities: • Optimizing the prototype for the integrated production of e-Lectures by on-thefly collaboration of students and teachers in the classroom • Organizing the campus-wide utilization of the prototype by establishing a service unit responsible for the professional service operation • Investigating the learning effects of the transformation of knowledge by the students involved in the co-production of e-Lectures These activities are to be conducted in cooperation of the project team of Knowledgebay, the Institut of Media and Educdational Technology (IMB) and the IT-Service Center of the University of Augsburg. First empirical research findings and practical experiences with the implementation of the prototype will be presented at the conference. 6 References Alexander, B. (2006). Web 2.0: A New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Learning? EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 41, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 2006): 32–44. Bolter, J. D. & Grusin, R. (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media. MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass. Brown, J.S. (1999). Learning, Working and Playing in the Digital Age. Presentation at AAHE 1999 Conference “Organizing for Learning”. Washington, D.C. URL: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_edu/seelybrown/seelybrown.html (accessed Feb, 2007) Campbell, G. (2005). There’s Something in the Air: Podcasting in Education. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 40, no. 6 (November/December 2005): 32–47. 156 Papers: T. Sporer, U. Fahrner, R. Schulze-Fröhlich, T. Jahnke, F. Vohle Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (1992). "The split-attention effect as a factor in the design of instruction". British Journal of Educational Psychology 62: 233-246. EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (2005). 7 Things You Should Know About Podcasting. EDUCAUSE Resource Center. URL: http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7003.pdf (accessed Feb, 2007) Foreman, J. (2003). Next generation educational technology versus the lecture. EDUCAUSE Review, Vol. 38, No. 4, July/August, 2003, pp. 12–22. Jonassen, D.H.; Dyer, D.; Peters, K.; Robinson, T.; Harvey, D.; King, M.; Loughner, P. (1997). Cognitive Flexible Hypertext on the Web: Engaging Learners in Meaning Making. In: Khan, B. H.: Web-based Instruction. Englewood, Cliffs, N.J.: Educational Technology Publishing. URL: http://www.coe.missouri.edu/~jonassen/Mindtools.pdf (accessed Feb, 2007) Lomas, C. & Reeves, J. (2005). Podcasting possibilities. EDUCAUSE Resource Center. URL: http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=LIVE055 (accessed Feb, 2007) Oblinger, D. (2003). Boomers, Gen-Xers and Millennials: Understanding the New students. EDUCAUSE Review, S. 37 47. URL: http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0342.pdf (accessed Feb, 2007) Papert, S. (1999). Diversity in Learning. A Vision for the New Millenium. URL: http://www.papert.org/articles/diversity/DiversityinLearningPart1.html (accessed Feb, 2007) Prensky, M. (2005). “Engage Me or Enrage Me”: What Today’s Learners Demand. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 40, no. 5 (September-October 2005): 60–65. Salomon, G. (1983). The differential investment of mental effort in learning from different sources, Educational Psychologist, 18(1), 42-50. Salomon, G. (1984). Television is "easy" and print is "tough": The differential investment of mental effort in learning as a function of perceptions and attributions, Journal of Educational Psychology, 76(4), 647-658. Sporer, T., Köstlbacher, A. & Erbacher, C. (2005). Projekt Knowledgebay - Erfahrungen mit der Produktion und Nutzung von Online- Vorlesungen durch Studierende. In: U. Lucke, K. Nölting & D. Tavangarian (Hrsg.): Workshop Proceedings "eLecture" der DeLFI 2005 und GMW05. S. 49-54. Berlin: Logos Sporer, T., Köstlbacher, A. & Jahnke, T. (2006). Softwareframework für audiovisuelle digitale Medien. In: Proceedings der 9. Tagung der Deutschen Sektion der ISKO 2004. Würzburg: Ergon Transforming traditional classroom lectures into interactive digital media experiences 157 Sporer, T. & Ramm, M. (2006). Lernen durch die Rezeption, Konstruktion und Reflektion digitaler Audio- und Videomedien an der Hochschule. In: C. Rensing (Hrsg.) Proceedings der Pre-Conference Workshops der 4. e-Learning Fachtagung DeLFI 2006. S. 57-64. Berlin: Logos Verlag. Tapscott, D. (1997). Growing up Digital. The Rise of the Net Generation. New York: McGraw-Hill The Development of Team Competencies through Social Software (Paper) Taiga Brahm University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) Abstract: The development of team competencies is regarded as a crucial factor to meet the demands of the networked information society. This paper proposes a model explaining the development of team skills in computer-supported collaborative learning. At the same time, it suggests that social software applications such as blogs and wikis might provide adequate learning environments suitable for the demands of the so-called net generation learners while at the same time supporting the development of complex competencies such as team skills. 1 Introduction and Scope of the Paper Educational institutions are facing many demands nowadays: for instance the emphasis of connecting work and learning or the call for more flexibility with regard to individual learning needs. One of the main challenges is to prepare students for a life in the networked information society (cf. Lehtinen et al., 2000). Besides knowledge as a primary resource, so-called core competencies, such as the ability to communicate, problem-solving skills, and collaboration competencies, are highly demanded by employers (cf. Euler & Hahn, 2004, 200-203; Kirschner, 2004, 40; cf. Mandl & Krause, 2001, 4; McLoughlin & Luca, 2002, 572). Due to the growing division of labor and the emphasis of team work in organizations, above all the ability to learn and work in teams is a crucial qualification for the future (cf. Baskin et al., 2005, 20). To enable the development of team competencies, the usage of social software in collaborative learning processes might prove to be a successful approach. Social software includes newer applications supporting online collaboration and communication such as blogs and wikis (cf. Dalsgaard, 2006). Thus, collaborative learning with social software has to fulfill two functions: a) to support learners with their knowledge development and b) to enhance the development of social competencies, especially team skills (cf. Dillenbourg et al., 1996; Euler & Hahn, 2004, 420; cf. Kirschner, 2004, 40). Team skills or competencies will be defined as the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to learn and work in a team which for instance includes the knowledge about The Development of Team Competencies through Social Software 159 team development, communication skills, meta-cognition and attitudes such as tolerance (cf. Euler & Hahn, 2004, 214; Walzik, 2004, 88-90). Up to now, research on collaborative learning in general mostly focuses on knowledge construction, however, only a few studies deal with the development of social competencies. A study by Baskin et al. (2005) asked whether computer-based group work would lead to the development of team skills. They analysed learner satisfaction, learning and transfer results of the students according to Kirkpatrick (1998). The development of team skills was seen as a very positive outcome of the group learning process (cf. Baskin et al., 2005, 29-30). Nevertheless, a lack of studies on this issue, especially with regard to social software, can be identified. Above all, two questions remain: a) Which factors contribute to the sucess of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) processes with regard to the development of team competencies? b) Could social software applications provide adequate means to further enhance the development of team competencies? This paper aims at addressing these two research questions. First, a model of the development of team competencies through collaborative learning with social software will be proposed. Second, the author will provide an explanation why social software applications could provide an adequate learning envrionment for the development of team skills. 2 Determinants of the development of team competencies through social software 2.1 The process of the development of team competencies The development of complex competencies such as team skills is only possible in learning scenarios addressing authentic and meaningful problems or tasks. Additionally, it is important that the learning objectives are developed jointly among the teachers and learners. Such a learning environment enhances responsiblity and trust among each other. Since collaborative learning environments are particularly well-suited for the creation of such a scenario (cf. Kirschner, 2004, 42), it can be assumed, that collaborative learning 160 Papers: Taiga Brahm provides good premises for the development of social competencies, and in particular of team skills. proposition 1: Collaborative learning with social software leads to the development of team competencies. 2.2 Surrounding determinants To sucessfully learn in collaborating groups, a number of conditions have to be fulfilled. According to Palloff and Pratt (2003) virtual groups require the following conditions: • a high level of communication, interaction, and feedback, • a feeling of community, • sufficient instructions, and • challenging tasks (cf. Palloff & Pratt, 2003, 169-170). 2.2.1 Social factors Although social factors play a major role in collaborative learning, their importance is sometimes neglected (cf. Kreijns et al., 2002, 9). The social determinants of the learning process are described with various terms, e.g. • social presence (cf. Archer et al., 2001; Kreijns, 2004, 25), • trust (cf. Jarvenpaa et al., 1998), • relatedness (cf. Deci & Ryan, 1993). In general, socio-emotional factors are deemed to be relevant for successful collaboration processes (cf. Kirschner & Van Bruggen, 2004, 136). Trust and social presence influence the development of group cohesion and relatedness (cf. Prichard et al., 2006, 257) and thus enhance the interactivity of the learners (cf. Kreijns, 2004, 7-8). proposition 2a: The development of social presence and trust leads to enhanced group cohesion and relatedness. Additionally, relatedness, which is mainly created by communication and interaction with other people, has a positive influence on intrinsic motivation (cf. Ryan & Deci, 2000; cf. Wolf & Prasser, 2006, 23). proposition 2b: Relatedness enhances instrinsic motivation. The Development of Team Competencies through Social Software 161 As stated before, social interaction is of utmost importance for the success of collaborative learning processes (e.g. Häkkinen, 2004; Kirschner & Van Bruggen, 2004, 137; Kreijns et al., 2002; McLoughlin & Luca, 2002, 576; Soller, 2001, 43; e.g. Wolf & Prasser, 2006, 22-23). In general, an active learning process which is mainly characterized by communication and collaboration can be assumed to be a prerequistite for the development of competencies. This relation is "consistent with social constructivist theories in which learners create knowledge and understanding through interaction and conversation with others, enabling articulation, negotiation and reflection on ideas" (auch English & Yazadani, 1999; McLoughlin & Luca, 2002, 576). A model by Kreijns et al. (2002, 11) shows the connection between social interaction and social as well as cognitive processes: Figure 1: Model of social interaction (source: Kreijns, 2004, 16) Social interactions create room for the development of social relations which then lead to relatedness and group cohesion. Since these determinants again contribute to an open communication culture, they in fact reinforce the interaction among learners. proposition 2c: Relatedness and group cohesion amplify interaction in learning groups. 162 Papers: Taiga Brahm In conclusion, it can be stated that social interactions have a positive influence on the development of team comptencies. This assumption is also supported by the fact that knowledge about team development is needed in order to establish team skills (cf. Euler & Hahn, 2004) and the relation between social interactions and learning performance which is described in Figure 1 (cf. Kreijns et al., 2002, 10). proposition 2d: Relatedness and group cohesion amplify interaction in learning groups. 2.2.2 Framework of the learning process Task Besides the social determinants of collaboration, a number of general conditions can be identified as well. Above all, the task strongly influences the sucess of learning processes which can be seen in numerous research on computer-supported collaborative learning (auch Kirschner & Van Bruggen, 2004; also McLoughlin & Luca, 2002, 571, 576; Reinmann-Rothmeier & Mandl, 2002, 48). The development of team skills is deemed to be especially successful in complex tasks in "problem-based learning formats" (McLoughlin & Luca, 2002, 576) which is similar to the concept of authentic learning contexts by Reinmann-Rothmeier & Mandl (2002, 48). Thus, the kind of task seems to influence the development of team skills in collaborative learning processes. proposition 3a: A complex and authentic task positively influences the development of team competencies. Support by teachers Support of instructors or tutors, especially in terms of structure and social integration, is regarded as very important in various research fields (e.g. online learning in general, distance education, as well as CSCL) (cf. e.g. Carell, 2006, 56; Hughes et al., 2002, 88; cf. e.g. McLoughlin & Luca, 2002, 576-577). This support aims at motivating the learners, reducing the complexity of tasks, and obviating anxiety (cf. McLoughlin & Luca, 2002, 578). proposition 3b: Appropriate support by .other persons leads to higher motivation of learners. The Development of Team Competencies through Social Software 163 Technology Additionally, technology can assist students, e.g. by providing (additional) communication possibilities or an online space for material. The usage of supporting technology will enhance the relations among learners and between learners and teachers which then influences the development of social presence. proposition 3c: Appropriate technology support makes the development of social presence more likely. However, technology adoption can also lead to problems. Besides technical problems the users' attitude is an important factor to consider. Thus, the attitude of the learners to a computer which can be defined as "a person's general evaluation or feeling of favour or antipathy towards computer technologies" (Palaigeorgiou et al., 2005, 331), should be considered when thinking about a model of the development of team competencies. This concept is often operationalized by the perceived usefulness and the perceived usability of the technology (Palaigeorgiou et al., 2005, 331; Yuen & Ma, 2002, 368). proposition 3d : The degree of participation increases with the degree of perceived usefulness of technolgy. proposition 3e : The degree of participation increases with the degree of perceived utility of technolgy. 2.3 Individual characteristics of the learner Since self-directed learning is of relevance for CSCL, self-efficacy and motivation can be deemed as major determinants of collaborative learning (cf. Carell, 2006, 45-46). Additionally, a student's previous knowledge in terms of computers will be taken into account since the learning process involves the usage of computers. Self-efficacy The perceived self-efficacy is the belief in one's own capability to reach a certain goal (cf. Bandura, 1997, 3) which will have a positive influence on a learner's strategies and the learning success. 164 Papers: Taiga Brahm proposition 4a: The higher the perceived self-efficacy of the learner, the more likely is the development of team competency in CSCL. Motivation Motivation is a condition for learning as well as for successful team work (Gebert, 2004, 23; Prenzel, 1996, 11). Intrinsic motivation is seen as an importannt condition for higherorder learning processes so that it can be assumed that it is also relevant for the development of team competency in CSCL (also Lehtinen et al., 2000, 8; Ryan & Deci, 2000, 55). proposition 4b: The higher the motivation of the learner, the more interactive is the learning process. Previous computer knowledge Since this setting does not refer to a certain content area, only the previous knowledge regarding computer and internet will be integrated into the model (cf. Schmidtmann, 2005, 18). Research on computer-mediated communication found that basic knowledge of computer and internet usage are necessary to successfully learn and work in computer-supported environments. Thus, it can be assumed that the previous computer knowledge has an influence on the interaction in the learning process. proposition 4c: The higher the learner's previous computer knowledge, the more interactive is the learning process. 2.4 Individual characteristics of the learner Starting point for the model on the next page is the process of the development of team competency (chapter 0). Additionally, the importance of the learning process is emphasized by putting the interaction in the middle of the graphic. The determinants which were explained in chapters 0 and 0 complete the model. The Development of Team Competencies through Social Software 165 Figure 2: Model of the development of team competencies in computer-supported collaborative learning processes 3 The relevance of social software for the development of team competencies Social software, in fact, can be characterized as networked applications helping to establish social relations among the users (cf. Oblinger, 2006). It also provides for personalisation and individualisation of the net (Dalsgaard, 2006). However, its most prominent feature are certainly the social connections and the possibility of communication, interaction, and feedback which is a prerequisite for virtual learning (cf. Palloff & Pratt, 2003, see above). Social software very easily leads to the development of a community feeling which is again necessary for group cohesion and relatedness (P2b). Additionally, it was shown that users are highly motivated when using social software applications (Du & Wagner, 2006). Last but not least, social software (and above all wikis and blogs) are very easy to use (cf. Alexander, 2006) - also for people with hardly any previous computer knowledge. It can be assumed that its perceived usefulness and 166 Papers: Taiga Brahm usability will be very high which leads to more interaction in online environments (P3d+e). As shown above, it is crucial for the success of collaborative learning that interactions take place (P2d). Social interactions are dependent upon motivation (P4b), group cohesion and relatedness (P2c) as well as the perceived usability and the perceived usefulness of the technology (P3d+e). All of these determinants of collaborative learning can be established through social software. Of course, social software should not be used just for the sake of it. The objectives of the learning process and the technology used should be in allignment. Nevertheless. as pointed out above, social software might prove an adequate technology to support the development of team competencies in collaborative learning. The model on the development of team skills in CSCL can be used for further research on this subject and to prove the propositions developed above, especially with regard to social software. 4 References Alexander, B. (2006). Web 2.0 - A New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Learning? Educause Review (Vol. 41, pp. 33-44): Educause. Archer, W., Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Rourke, L. (2001). A framework for analysing critical thinking in computer conferences. In P. Dillenbourg, A. Eurelings & K. Hakkarainen (Eds.), P. Dillenbourg (Vol. University of Maastricht, pp. 59-68). European perspectives on computer-supported collaborative learning: Maastricht. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: the exercise of control. New York: Freeman. Baskin, C., Barker, M., & Woods, P. (2005). When group work leaves the classroom does group skills development also go out the window? British Journal of Educational Technology, 36(1), 19–31. Carell, A. (2006). Selbststeuerung und Partizipation beim computergestützten kollaborativen Lernen: Eine Analyse des Zusammenhangs von Selbststeuerung und Partizipation im Kontext hochschulischer Lernprozesse. Münster: Waxmann. Dalsgaard, C. (2006). Social software: E-learning beyond learning management systems, European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1993). Die Selbstbestimmungstheorie der Motivation und ihre Bedeutung für die Pädagogik. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 39, 223-238. The Development of Team Competencies through Social Software 167 Dillenbourg, P., Baker, M., Blaye, A., & O'Malley, C. (1996). The evolution of research in collaborative learning. In H. Spada & P. Reimann (Eds.), Learning in Humans and Machine: towards an interdisciplinary learning science (pp. 189). Oxford: Elsevier. Du, H. S., & Wagner, C. (2006). Weblog success: Exploring the role of technology. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 64, 789-798. English, S., & Yazadani, M. (1999). Computer-supported cooperative learning in a Virtual University. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 15(1), 2-13. Euler, D., & Hahn, A. (2004). Wirtschaftsdidaktik. Bern: Haupt. Gebert, D. (2004). Innovation durch Teamarbeit - Eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Häkkinen, P. (2004). What Makes Learning and Understanding in Virtual Teams So Difficult? Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 7(2), 201-206. Hughes, S. C., Wickersham, L., Ryan-Jones, D. L., & Smith, S. A. (2002). Overcoming Social and Psychological Barriers to Effective On-line Collaboration. Educational Technology & Society, 5(1), 86-92. Jarvenpaa, S. L., Knoll, K., & Leidner, D. E. (1998). Is Anybody Out There? Journal of Management Information Systems, 14(4), 29-64. Kirkpatrick, D. L. (1998). Evaluating training programs: the four levels (2nd edition ed.). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. Kirschner, P. A. (2004). Design. Development, and Implementation of Electronic Learning Environments for Coliaborative Learning. Educational Technology Research & Development, 52(3), 39-46. Kirschner, P. A., & Van Bruggen, J. (2004). Learning and Understanding in Virtual Teams. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 7(2), 135-139. Kreijns, K. (2004). Sociable CSCL Environments: Social Affordances, Sociability, and Social Presence. Maastricht: Datawyse. Kreijns, K., Kirschner, P. A., & Jochems, W. (2002). The Sociability of ComputerSupported Collaborative Learning. Educational Technology & Society, 5(1), 8-22. Lehtinen, E., Hakkarainen, K., Lipponen, L., Rahikainen, M., & Muukkonen, H. (2000). Computer Supported Collaborative Learning: A Review. Retrieved 2006-11-04, from URL: http://etu.utu.fi/papers/clnet/clnetreport.html 168 Papers: Taiga Brahm Mandl, H., & Krause, U.-M. (2001). Lernkompetenz für die Wissensgesellschaft. München: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Lehrstuhl für Empirische Pädagogik und Pädagogische Psychologie. McLoughlin, C., & Luca, J. (2002). A learner-centred approach to developing team skills through web-based learning and assessment. British Journal of Educational Technology, 33(5), 571-582. Oblinger, D. G. (2006). Listening to What We're Seeing., ALT-C 2006: the next generation. Edinburgh. Palaigeorgiou, G. E., Siozos, P. D., Konstantakis, N. I., & Tsoukalas, I. A. (2005). A computer attitude scale for computer science freshmen and its educational implications. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 21, 330-342. Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2003). Virtual student: A profile and guide to working with online learners. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Prenzel, M. (1996). Bedingungen für selbstbestimmt motiviertes und interessiertes Lernen im Studium. In J. Lompscher & H. Mandl (Eds.), Lehr- und Lernprobleme im Studium: Bedingungen und Veränderungsmöglichkeiten. Prichard, J. S., Stratford, R. J., & Bizo, L. A. (2006). Team-skills training enhances collaborative learning. Learning and Instruction, 16, 256-265. Reinmann-Rothmeier, G., & Mandl, H. (2002). Analyse und Förderung kooperativen Lernens in netzbasierten Umgebungen. Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie, 34(1), 44-57. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations. Classic Definitions and New Directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54-67. Schmidtmann, H. (2005). Gruppenbasiertes Lernen in virtuellen Seminaren. Frankfurt et al.: Peter Lang. Soller, A. L. (2001). Supporting Social Interaction in an Intelligent Collaborative Learning System. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 12, 40-62. Walzik, S. (2004). Teamsituationen Wirtschaftspädagogik. gestalten. St. Gallen: Institut für Wolf, K. D., & Prasser, C. (2006). Motivation und Problemlösefähigkeit in OnlineSeminaren. zeitschrift für e-learning - lernkultur und bildungstechnologie, 1(1), 2131. Yuen, A. H. K., & Ma, W. W. K. (2002). Gender Differences in Teacher Computer Acceptance. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 10(3), 365-382. Learning and Competency Development at Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. – A Practical Approach Towards Developing People in Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication. (Best Practice Report) Abdullah Lin Learning and Competency Development at Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. Northern University of Malaysia (Malaysia) Abstract: Learning is the key to value creation in today’s fast changing knowledge economy. For this reason, all SilTerrians are urged to view training and learning seriously. Silterra is committed to providing continuous training and learning opportunities to all staff. Training and learning activities, undertaken strategically, has helped transform Silterra into a dynamic, effective world-class facility. Keywords: Learning, Competency, Development, Dual-System, Certification and Collaboration. 1 Introduction Creating a learning organization and a knowledge-base organization requires all Silterrians to focus on business strategy and results, teamwork and cooperation, and an open willingness to conduct our training and learning activities in innovative ways. This requires both a constant change in training and learning paradigm and a commitment from management to see training and learning as a broader, more strategic set of activities. As these initiatives take place, training and learning becomes nucleus to SilTerra’s accomplishments. One of the major and latest accomplishments being achieved was Prime Minister Hibiscus Award 2006. In Silterra, for the last couple of years till to-date, it was as close as you could come to an axiom in business: ask typical department heads to name the most valuable assets in their departments, and the answer invariably comes back- people. 170 Best Practice Reports: Abdullah Lin 2 People At Silterra The management of those “indispensable” human resources, frequently took a driving seat to other corporate areas of concern that were more tangible, more accessible to analysis and control – expenses, for instance. Expenses could be quantified, tracked, measured and compared. Human resources were, however far more volatile and their key performance measures more elusive: people’s motivation, use of time, productivity and competencies demanded new measures and sophisticated analysis. Their treatment and compensation were subjected to a plethora of legislation. However we were not perturbed as we followed our belief which paid out handsome dividends…….constant training & development. We started off by copying smart, rallied on by enthusiasm and motivation rendered by being the first fabrication facility in our beloved country, Malaysia going on to become the best facility of the year 2002 within a short span of 2 years - a remarkable feat. All these were made possible by the people of Silterra who were willing to continuously learn, unlearn and relearn to stay current, relevant and ready for tomorrow’s business today. 3 Learning And Development To develop a pool of skilled and dedicated workforce necessary to support the demands of leading edge manufacturing, both technical and management development programs are equally necessary. A typical total training and development solution customized to the company needs is as illustrated below. Learning and Competency Development at Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. 171 Figure 1: A typical total training development solution customized to the company needs Silterra, who’s core competency is Technological Innovation, is very much in tandem with Malaysia’s aspiration of striving toward Vision 2020. Henceforth, two critical orientations molded and followed by Human Resource Development Department of Silterra are: • Due to permanent and rapid technological development, tomorrow’s requirements have to be anticipated. Hence training initiatives in Silterra is anticipatory. • Due to increasing complexity and specialization of work processes and procedures, the individual can no longer be responsible for a complete work process. We need to be able to work in changing teams and networks. Hence training initiatives in Silterra is participatory. The objective is to enhance the learners’ capabilities in terms of anticipation and participation, important aspects, which form part of the key-qualification of the k-worker that we are so fond of. For these reasons we placed high priority on the establishment of a dual system. Basically the mechanics of it are: 172 Best Practice Reports: Abdullah Lin • Public and/or private training institutions are the primary learning environment to acquire the necessary related theory as well as some special skills. • The company is the secondary learning environment where manual skills as well as behavioral patterns and attitudes are being acquired. 4 Collaboration The concept was designed out of the basic recognition that technical education and vocational training should always be closely inter linked with the actual work environment. At SilTerra, the culture and basics are that training must finally be the preparation for performance at the actual place of work and it must therefore encompass the environment. Furthermore, specific manpower needs can only be determined from where they arise within the company. Any fundamental consideration regarding technical education and vocational training should reflect this basic recognition and SilTerra works towards a dual approach of enhancing partnership in training with public/private training institutions. Two such collaborations are with Kedah Industrial Skills and Management Development Center (KISMEC) and Penang Skills Development Center (PSDC) – state owned technical and management development centers set up to meet the needs of the industrial sector in Northern Malaysia. SilTerra works in tandem with the declared objective of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) in the Prime Minister’s Department to look at this comprehensive scenario, to take up where it is and to exert all efforts in improving areas of concern, where it is felt that improvement is needed and feasible. It is the intention that this improvement will follow the general direction towards emphasizing a “dual approach” of training and learning. For strengthening a dual approach in SilTerra, we learned from the experience of our technology partner in the US and Belgium. Moreover it has been classified as a working model in their countries or other parts of the world whereby companies and public and/or private education/ training institutions work in a collaborative manner to achieve technological advancement and management know how. We need to understand the leading principles, which make this approach successful before considering how improvement of the present system of technical education and vocational training can best be initiated along these lines. Silterra has established a business relationship with KISMEC and PSDC in the areas of: KISMEC: Provision of microelectronics training facilities and manpower to train and make ready, quality, certified and ready-to-work manufacturing technicians. This shortterm effort has been implemented successfully with the first 20 batches rolling out Learning and Competency Development at Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. 173 between June 2000 to Aug 2003. Approximately more than 300 manufacturing technicians have been trained in approximately 32 core training modules over a period of 4 weeks each batch. PSDC: Serving the State of Penang community through introduction of electrical/electronics/microelectronics studies to college and university students. Together with Silterra, PSDC will provide best college/university students from around the state for a fresh graduate program (Internship - INSEP) at Silterra in their second-half of studies. If these students are very successful in their final exams, Silterra will absorb these students to become engineers. 5 Certification In order to be aware about what is understood by a “dual approach” in training, it is helpful to note, that any kind of training must have the function of preparing individuals (trainees) for coping successfully at the workplace. Hence, the actual workplace must be the setting on which any training efforts have to focus. No simulation can adequately duplicate all the dimensions, which are found in the actual workplace. Yet, it must also be realized that with the high degree of sophistication, which we encompass in our work in SilTerra we cannot convey everything at the actual workplace. We need room for theory, we need time to deal in a more secluded environment such as the classroom with the related technologies which are involved. For example, one of the more extensive training areas in Silterra is the cross training and job certification called 100 % Proficiency- a registered trademark in the US. All employees are involved in this ongoing training. There is two sections of the training. First the employees attend a three-day classroom based that teaches techniques on “how to learn”. Topical highlights are learning to learn and coaching skills. The how to learn process includes overcoming learning inhibitors, learning at your own pace, clearing words you don’t understand and understanding one section completely before moving on to the next. A simulator in the mode of an assembly of a basic sprinkler system known as the “lawn genie” is used in the classroom to reinforce the theoretical knowledge gained through facilitators The second area is implementing the job certification and cross training program – vocational based. 174 Best Practice Reports: Abdullah Lin 6 Competency For strengthening a dual approach in SilTerra, we are learning from the experience of other industry leaders. We need to understand the leading principles which make this approach successful before considering how improvement of the present system of technical education and vocational training can best be initiated along these lines. Obviously such a concept has to pursue a broad scope of action. Therefore, in order to render it manageable we have defined five major core competencies, which serve as guidelines for any further action to be taken. The details of the core competencies are as follows: 6.1 Core Competency 1: The involvement of the company in technical education and vocational training is continuously enhanced. The component outlines the general direction in which our efforts are aimed. This is in recognition of the basic fact that quality training must always have its major roots at the actual workplace. Hence, in order to follow a “dual approach”, companies have to assume an active role in training- which we have done very successfully. Once they accept the responsibility for partnership in training, we can accept a more effective development of training processes. In conclusion, this component marks the development direction of the main thrust which are behind our efforts in Silterra. 6.2 Core Competency 2: High quality standards are ensured for competency standards, curricula, assessment procedures and instructional materials. The curriculum as an educationally and technologically well adjusted plan for intended learning constitutes one of the two core components of technical education and vocational training. Well defined competency standards and appropriate procedures for assessment form the basis and provide the focus for a needs oriented approach to effective training. Finally, professionally produced instructional materials render the necessary support for a successful implementation of curricula. Curriculum development has to encompass all these inter-related components and it has to establish procedures which ensure the quality of the process as well as of the outcome after training has been conveyed. 6.3 Core Competency 3: The quantitative needs and qualitative requirements regarding SilTerra’s demand for training Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and instructors are fulfilled. Learning and Competency Development at Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. 175 The SME/instructor as the principal agent for making a curriculum operational constitutes the second core component of technical education and vocational training. It will be necessary to determine which different types of SME qualification are needed in competency and skill based training and which are the quantities required. Details such as prerequisites for being admitted to a training program, development of a structure for training competency and skill based SMEs, the final certificate (statement of successful completion) to be conferred need to be explored. Furthermore, a comprehensive approach for in-service training (further training) of SMEs needs to be designed and adjusted with the programs for the pre-service training (initial training) of SMEs. Finally, the programs of the institutions which are currently providing training for competency and skills based SMEs need to be supported, further developed and coordinated and the potential for growth though involving other institutions in training competency & skills based SMEs should be studied. 6.4 Core Competency 4: SilTerra’s network of technical education and vocational training is strengthened to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of training. With the curriculum and SME at the core training there are many other dimensions of the network of competency and skill base which are important in supporting the efficiency and effectiveness of the system. Improvement, e.g. in the management and administration of training, in vocational guidance or even in the vertical articulation of training contents between competency & skill base institutions and pre-vocational education in the general school system, all these dimensions can be crucial in upgrading the efficiency within the system and its effectiveness in providing the skills which are needed in the labor market. These dimensions are inter-related in a dynamic system and it is therefore important to focus on changing the whole network towards enhancing the cooperation with the private sector. Henceforth SilTerra is taking efforts and has made major inroads of establishing such strategic alliances with public/private learning institutions around the country. 6.5 Core Competency 5: The social value of work and training is enhanced. 176 Best Practice Reports: Abdullah Lin After presenting the conceptual layout of the system in terms of its overall direction (CC 1), its core area for intended action regarding the improvement of the system (CC 2 & 3) and the importance of the support competencies within the overall framework (CC 4), the fifth and final expected result addresses the necessary social foundation for long term improvement in technical education and vocational training. The social value attributed to work and training has to sustain SilTerra’s thrust of manpower development by enforcing the aspiration of all individuals for active participation in work and training. This important core competency has to reach out into all cultural aspects of life to function as a “fertilizer” for enabling the growth of a strong common belief in the social value of work and training. Figure 2: Outline of the Concept for the Dual System Approach (DSA) Note: The term technical education in this write up is to mean “theoretical knowledge gained from classroom base activity”. The term vocational training in this write up is to mean “hands on training gained from OJT” Learning and Competency Development at Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. 177 7 Conclusion Learning is the key to value creation in today’s fast changing knowledge economy. For this reason, all SilTerrians are urged to view training and learning seriously. Silterra is committed to providing continuous training and learning opportunities to all staff. Training and learning activities, undertaken strategically, has helped transform Silterra into a dynamic, effective world-class facility. Competency and skill base training in SilTerra is to prepare adolescents to become k-workers as top performers in their respective jobs and capable to succeed in the increasingly global market competition. Their training must be industry oriented and conducted at the workplace under actual work conditions. Specific and rapidly changing manpower needs can only be quickly enough determined by and within companies. Public and private training institutions always lag behind in their adjustment to technological advancement, hence they cannot turn out the skills which are actually required in the workplace. Furthermore, traditional school-based training to required levels can no longer be provided without the involvement of industry. Therefore, strong and committed partnerships between the company and training institutions have to form “dual system” for the delivery of efficient and economically affordable training solutions. 8 About the Company In Southeast Asia, competition is fierce and rapid time-to-market is crucial. SilTerra was founded in 1997, as one of the first foundries in Malaysia. The foundry, which produces 0.25 µm and 0.18 µm and 0.13 µm CMOS devices on 200 mm wafers, was built in Malaysia in close coordination with LSI Logic Corporation, USA and IMEC , Belgium. The partnering companies adopted a “copy smart” methodology to transfer the 0.25 µm and 0.18 µm technologies from LSI Logic Corporation and 0.13 µm technology from IMEC to a new, state-of-the-art fab facility. SilTerra first developed a macro-level strategy that outlined a schedule for developing the company’s business infrastructure as well as models for financing and budget, fab construction and start-up, deployment of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) and manufacturing execution systems (MES), and other critical components. Managers and engineers hired in Malaysia and abroad were sent to LSI Logic’s campus in Gresham, Oregon and IMEC, Belgium for extensive training. After carefully reviewing the plan, the team generated a solid list of major milestones, goals and deliverables. Then, they developed a macro-level ramping plan for the Fab in Kulim, Malaysia, and began construction in June 1999. 178 Best Practice Reports: Abdullah Lin 9 Acknowledgement The authors would like to thank all personnel in Human Resources Development of Silterra for all the support. 10 References Drucker, P.F.,“Managing for the Future” (1992), Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Easterby-Smith M., Burgoyne J, and Araujo L (1999), “Organisation Learning and the Learning Organisation: Development in Theory and Practice”, Sage Publication, London. French, E., Bell, Jr. C., & Zawacki, R. (Eds.) (2000), Organizational Development and Transformation: Managing Effective Change. Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin/McGraw-Hill, (2000) Hargreaves P, and Jarvis P(1998), “The Human Resource Development Handbook”, Kogan Page Limited, London. Jackson, N. (2001), Are you keeping up with the thirst for knowledge? The British Journal of Administrative Management. Kline P. and Sounders B. (1998), “Ten Steps to a L Great Ocean Publisher, Virginia. Learning Organisation”, 2nd Ed., Knowdell, R. L. (1996) “Building a Career Development Program: Nine Steps for Effective Implementation”. Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black Publishing. Lawrie J (1998). Are Employee using what they learn? April, Personal Journal. Miner, John B. and Crane, Donald P. (1995), Human Resources Management: The Strategic Perspective, New York: Harper Collins College Publishers. Noe, R. (2005). Employee Training and Delopment. Boston: McGraw-Hill, Irwin. Noori, Hamid and Radford, R. (1993). Modelling of a World Class Operation, Industrial Magement. Senge M, Peter (1990), “The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation”, Bantam Dou bleday Dell Publishing Group, New York Developing CGPA planner by using PDA for Islamic Science University of Malaysia (USIM) (Best Practice Report) Bachok M. Taib Waidah Ismail Faculty of Science and Technology, Islamic Science University of Malaysia (Malaysia) Abstract: Mobile learners by definition are non-traditional learners that usually interact with their instructors via a variety of mediums and at various times. This paper highlight on the process of the developing the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) software using Personal Digital Assistance (PDA) for the USIM student that align with the current technology. Hundred respondents from six faculties in USIM participated in this research. Data collected include using questionnaires and interview to all the respondents for the user requirement. The target respondents for the user requirement are lecturers and the testing will be done by students. As for the development of the CGPA software we are using the prototyping methodologies. Among the areas investigated including is the suitability of the software for the students use in developed planning their CGPA. Keywords: CGPA Planner, PDA, Prototype Methodology 1 Introduction PDA is one of the latest mobile technology generations that become more efficient and effective tools in teaching and learning. Mobile learners in the education environment can be more rely on the ability to readily up and load information to and from the university system. The information is stored on a powerful server and the high bandwidth network connections are needed to allow multiple learner access to this environment. By using the PDAs as an attractive tool makes the delivery of teaching and learning materials on a regular basis. This research will produce mobile software for students which can help them to manage their CGPA throughout their studies in USIM. 180 Best Practice Reports: Bachok M. Taib, Waidah Ismail 2 Literature Review The use of advanced educational technology in rural schools as well as cities has made up for the shortage of teachers and textbooks. Many schools in minority regions have also adopted ancillary technologies, including audio-visual teaching aids and satellite teaching programs, which have greatly improved the quality of the teaching environment and the subjects taught. Student ability and interest has been greatly stimulated as a result. In additional by using the mobile solution that not required the users to accessing the system from a LAN-connected desktop PC. As such the solution provides the extra convenience of online/offline access, allowing users to work with the data at their convenience, even when network connections were not available. A uniform architecture was needed to eliminate the development and maintenance workload (Shentu, 2003). China’s Ministry of Education (MoE) has decided to set up experimental schools using modern education technology to develop and reform primary and secondary education, as well as the facilities in vocational schools and adult-education schools. It uses the mobile wireless application development tools and databases. These include Sybase PowerBuilder v9.0, Sybase Pocket PowerBuilder v1.01, Sybase Adaptive Server (ASA), Anywhere v8.02 for Windows and Windows CE and Sybase Mobile Link. Complementing the legacy architecture, several Mobile Software Initiative (MSI) components were added to both client and service side and a new application User Interface (UI) was developed for the client module (Shentu, 2003). In recent years there has been a phenomenal growth in the number and technical sophistication of what can loosely be termed ‘mobile devices’. Increasingly, staff and students within higher education institutions own and make use of these devices, particularly, in the case of students, in the main target age group of 18 to 24 years. Currently this use is often personal, informal and ad hoc, but increasingly universities and colleges will need to respond technically, pedagogically and socially to the large numbers of staff and students familiar with such devices and keen to incorporate them into the process and administration of research and education (Trinder et al., 2005). Wayne State Medical School is in the process of digitizing course content and implementing the use of wireless PDAs into the undergraduate medical curriculum. The wireless PDAs are being used for the delivery of digitized course content, interactive classroom sessions, small group problem-solving exercises, communication, computerbased testing, real-time evaluations, and the collection of patient encounter information Developing CGPA planner by using PDA for Islamic Science University of Malaysia 181 during clinical clerkships. A goal of these initiatives is to facilitate the transition from a passive to an interactive learning environment (Ganger & Jackson, 2003). Students and staff are increasingly likely to be in possession of at least one mobile device and in the near future all these types of increasingly powerful computing devices will be capable of seamlessly connecting to the Internet through a variety of local and wide area wireless networks and a range of third generation cellular networks. These devices will effectively be ‘always on’ the network. This development presents education with a number of opportunities to enhance learning, administration and research, but also presents new challenges for the management and support of university infrastructure. In addition, the markets and technologies associated with these devices are changing rapidly. At the same time there will be pedagogy issues and concerns over security and privacy of information. All these opportunities and challenges will need further work. To date, most work on the use of such devices in UK education has been undertaken in the schools sector, but increasingly, higher and further education will need to take up the baton (Anderson & Blackwood, 2004). 3 Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) Minimum standards have been set that a student must achieve at the end of each semester in order to remain in good academic standing. This minimum academic requirement is classified as cumulative grade point average (CGPA). Classification for the purpose of establishing the minimum cumulative grade point average requirement for each student is determined by the sum of all credit hours and credits points that are attempted in residence in graded courses at USIM. The CGPA upon which academic standards are based is calculated by dividing the total number of grade points earned by the total number of credit hours attempted. The cumulative grade point average as defined is used only for determining a student's academic status and related to the grade point average that governs eligibility for graduation. 4 Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study is to develop the CGPA – PDA software using the prototyping methodologies and help students to plan their CGPA. Assessment is an important 182 Best Practice Reports: Bachok M. Taib, Waidah Ismail component of education as it enables students to evaluate what knowledge they have gained and to identify areas in which their knowledge is weaker. 5 Scope The respondents of the survey involved from six different faculties namely Faculty Science and Technology, Faculty of Major Languages Studies, Faculty Quranic and Sunnah Studies, Faculty Economic and Muamalat, Faculty of Leadership and Management, and Faculty Syariah and Law. The respondents of the survey involved five randomly selected academic staff members and ten selected students who were asked to sit for separate interviews sessions for feedback on the prototyping and if required any new requirement. 6 Research Methodology The acquisition of information is vital in the research process. Information might be gathered from many sources. However, in this project, a few methods of information gathering have been selected. The gatherings of information phase will be through the following methods: a) Interview b) Questionnaire c) Prototyping Framework 6.1 Research Instruments The two research instruments that used in this research as questionnaire and interview to lecturers and students is to be carried out to identify the new requirements and testing of the software. 6.2 Methods of data analysis The method of data analysis employed in this study is in the form of descriptive manner. After collecting the data, analysis of the data is performed by calculating of the percentage by qualitative method. 6.3 Methodological Framework In the new era, organizations increasingly use rapid application development (RAD) methods, which follow an iterative process of rapidly repeating analysis, design and Developing CGPA planner by using PDA for Islamic Science University of Malaysia 183 implementation steps until they converge on the system the user wants. Prototyping is one of the RAD methods which are an iterative process of systems development in which requirements are converted to a working system that is continually revised through close work between analysts and users (Hoffer et al., 2007). Figure 1: The Prototyping Methodology Below are the phases in the developing the CGPA software by using the prototyping methodology Phase 1: Identify Problem Currently, in USIM, there is no PDA software for planning the student CGPA. Students have difficulty in maintaining their CGPA during study in USIM. 184 Best Practice Reports: Bachok M. Taib, Waidah Ismail Phase 2: Develop initial Prototype We have developed the initial prototyping for the software by using Window Mobile 2005 Operating System and Sybase PocketBuilder Version 2.04 as our Rapid Development tools. Figure 2 show the snapshots of the initial prototype. Figure 2: Initial Prototype Phase 3: Revise and Enhance Prototype After we have completed the initial prototype, we conduct interview for the lecturers that have been mentioned in the scope. We will revise the prototype based on the new requirement that we gather from interview. Phase 4: Implement and use Prototype After we have completed the enhancement of prototype, we will implement the software to be tested by the students. Developing CGPA planner by using PDA for Islamic Science University of Malaysia 185 7 Discussion The CGPA tool is developed based to the prototyping methodology. Apart from implementing the CGPA software constructed caters the interests of the students. Generally, students showed positive response to the use CGPA software as they are able to calculate their CGPA. 8 Conclusion The Information technology has rapidly changed how business and educational institutions create, store and manipulate data, especially since the rapid adoption of personal computers in the 1980s. And now, the technology has been changed from the personal computers to the mobile technology. In conclusion, the development of the CGPA software in relation to facilitating the students managing and planning their CGPA should be lauded as they not only are found to meet the new requirement but to positively using and understanding the important for the CGPA among the students. 9 Bibliography Anderson, P. & Blackwood, A. 2004. “Mobile and PDA technologies and their future use in education”. JISC Technology and Standards Watch: 04-03. Bridge, D, P & Ginsburg, A. K. 2001. “An Integrated Approach for Evaluating Students Achievement of Clinical Objectives”. Med Educ Online [serial online] 2001 Ganger, C. A. & Jackson, M. 2003. “Wireless Handheld Computers in the Preclinical Undergraduate Curriculum”. Med Educ Online [ Serial Online] 2003. Hoffer, A. J ,Prescott, B. M & McFadden, R.Fred.(2007) Modern Database Management. 8th Edition. Prentice Hall. Koide, D & Peskin, E. 2005. “New uses for computer in medical education, clinical practice, and patient safety in the US and Japan”. Progress in Informatics. No.2 , pp 3-15.2005. n. a. URL: http://web.pdx.edu/~meyertj/pda.html (accessed Sept, 2006) n. a. URL: http://www.cas.unt.edu/advising/acstand.html (accessed Sept, 2006) Rawlinson, R. D & Bartel, K. 2006. “Implementing Wireless PDA Technology in the IT Curriculum”. No. 1. 2006. Educause Quaterly. 186 Best Practice Reports: Bachok M. Taib, Waidah Ismail Shentu, Z. 2003. “China’s Ministry of Education Uses Mobile Technology to Share Education Data with the Community”. Intel e-Business Center Case Study Education. Trinder, J., Maghill, J. & Roy, S. 2005. “Case Study: Portable Learning and Assessment Towards Ubiquitous Education” Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Educators and Trainers. Issues 1.2005. Web-based Graduate Diploma in Computer Sciences – A Case Study – (Best Practice Report) Azza H. Amer Mahmoud M. El-Khouly S.M. Khaled Faculty of Science Helwan University (Egypt) Abstract: With support from the Higher Education Enhancement Project Fund (HEEPF), the Faculty of Science at Helwan University (Egypt) has constructed a number of on-line courses in support of the graduate diploma in computer sciences program. All courses in the diploma have a Web presence, the course offerings are now moving towards a much more interactive mode of learning, utilizing on-line testing systems and collaborative learning, and incorporating elements of active learning. Starting from Web-Based learning, the site is preparing for the advent of "distance education" by creating a multi-media CD for each course in the diploma program. Keywords: e-learning, Moodle, Web-based learning 1 Introduction Typically active-learning approaches involve mutual learning projects. Karl A. Smith said of the more traditional style of teaching: "When students attend a college class, they typically expect to sit passively and listen to a professor 'profess'; they expect to be evaluated based on their individual course work—exams, papers, and quizzes—and they bring with them a set of norms for interacting with their classmates. Based on their past experiences with school, many students believe that they are in competition with their classmates for scarce resources—good grades". Active learning reverses these roles and attitudes. The responsibility for learning is shared by both the learner and the learning manager. 188 Best Practice Reports: Azza H. Amer, Mahmoud M. El-Khouly, S.M. Khaled To the faculty member the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation suggests1 that active learning is a methodology that: 1. Exercises and challenges the capacities of the learner that are emerging at a given developmental level. 2. Encourages and helps the learner to develop a unique pattern of interests, talents, and goals. 3. Presents learning experiences when learners are best able to master, generalize, and retain what they learn and can relate it to previous experiences and future expectations. The challenge then is to overcome the propensity to easily adapt the web to be a simpler purveyor of reading materials and to develop an interactive learning environment. Key concepts of the (C-037-K0) funded project were to improve CS education in faculty of Science Helwan University by reforming the content and structure of the currently graduate diploma in computer science based on internationally standards. The main objectives/accomplishments were to: 1. Publish a graduate diploma in computer science through WWW. 2. Provide training for undergraduate students in how to implement such programs, and therefore prepare them for job market 3. Enhance the skills of lecturers in different faculties by teaching them, how to use hi-tec and chatting rooms, as well as how to re-write their courses to be used through WWW 1.1 Computer Science at the College/University Level Computer science is well developed at the college and university level. In the United States alone, nearly every undergraduate college offers a major in computer science, and more than 100 universities offer PhD programs in computer science. Together, these programs produce about 45,000 baccalaureate and 850 PhD degrees each year (Taulbee Survey 2002). In Egypt many new faculties had been initiated to offer a major in computer sciences and information system. 1 URL: http://www .ecdgroup.com/guestdoc/hspc.htm Web-based Graduate Diploma in Computer Sciences – A Case Study 189 The current model for college computer science major programs was published in 20012. This model identifies the following “core” subjects in 13 distinct areas that all computer science major programs should cover. 1. Algorithms and Complexity: analysis of algorithms, divide-and-conquer strategies, graph algorithms, distributed algorithms, computability theory 2. Architecture: digital logic, digital systems, data representation, machine language, memory systems, I/O and communications, CPU design, networks, distributed computing 3. Discrete Structures: functions, sets, relations, logic, proof, counting, graphs and trees 4. Graphics and Visual Computing: fundamental techniques, modeling, rendering, animation, virtual reality, vision 5. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI): principles of HCI, building a graphical user interface (GUI), HCI aspects of multimedia, and collaboration 6. Information Management: database systems, data modeling and the relational model, query languages, data mining, hypertext and hypermedia, digital libraries 7. Intelligent Systems: fundamental issues, search and optimization, knowledge representation, agents, natural language processing, machine learning, planning, robotics 8. Net-centric Computing: Introduction to Net-centric computing, the Web as a client-server example, network security, data compression, multimedia, mobile computing 9. Operating Systems: concurrency, scheduling and dispatch, virtual memory, device management, security and protection, file systems, embedded systems, fault tolerance 10. Programming Fundamentals: algorithms and problem-solving, fundamental data structures, recursion, event-driven programming 11. Programming Languages: history and overview, virtual machines, language translation, type systems, abstraction, object-oriented (OO) programming, functional programming, translation 2 A Model Curriculum for K–12 Computer Science. (October 2003): Final Report of the ACM L-12 Task Force Curriculum Committee. 190 Best Practice Reports: Azza H. Amer, Mahmoud M. El-Khouly, S.M. Khaled 12. Social and Professional Issues: ethical responsibilities, risks and liabilities, intellectual property, privacy, civil liberties, crime, economics, impact of the Internet 13. Software Engineering: metrics, requirements, specifications, design, validation, tools, management. 2 Web-based Graduate Diploma in Computer Science (WGDCS) In (WGDCS) project after survey in different universities in many countries (e.g. UK, USA, Canada, …) and taking into consideration ACM-2001 survey2, we reach our optimal structure of the diploma which has two tracks: Track 1: Software Engineering (SE), which contains the following courses: • Data Structure and Algorithms. • Software Engineering. • Object Oriented Analysis and Design. • Database. • Human Computer Interface. • Operating Systems. • Object Oriented Programming. • Discrete Mathematics. Track 2: Networks and Internet (NET), which contains the following courses: • Computer Networks. • Network Management and Security. • Database. • Internet Application Development. • Networking and Distributed System. • Operating Systems. • Object Oriented Programming. • Discrete Mathematics. Web-based Graduate Diploma in Computer Sciences – A Case Study 191 In both tracks two selective courses should be taken among the following courses: • Internet Application. • Project Management. • Information Retrieval. • Data Warehousing and OLAP. • Artificial Intelligence. • Computer Graphics and Image Processing. • Analysis and Design of Algorithms. Finally, a project for each student should be submitted at the end of the academic year. 2.1 Target Student Population This diploma is intended for graduate students from any faculty with appropriate background. It is recommended that this diploma should be taken in one academic year which consists of two semesters. 2.2 Moodle: An open-source Learning Management System (LMS) The LMS called Moodle (http://moodle.org/), is open source software, and can be configured to run on most operating systems (Macintosh OS X, Windows XP and Linux). Moodle was developed from a social constructivist perspective by Martin Dougiamas at Curtin University in Western Australia (cf. Dougiamas, M., & Taylor, P. C. 2003). Moodle has features not found elsewhere, including the ability to embed resources, communication and/or activities centered on a topic of study. The instructor may also specify a variety of modes of operation (from weekly formats, topic-based to social formats). The acceptance and adoption of Moodle has been extraordinarily successful. At the time of writing, there were more than 100,000 registered users in Moodle site, speaking 70 languages in over 150 countries. In WGDCS project, we used Moodle as a learning management system to manage both teacher and students activities. 2.3 Project’s home page The diploma offers a central home page (http://www.wgdcs.com/) which serves as a main entry point for students (as shown in Figure 1). It includes general information regarding the diploma, such as registration procedure, a list of courses provided by each track (as shown in Figure 2). The course websites provide an interactive learning environment. Each course website contains the following learning and administrative elements: 192 Best Practice Reports: Azza H. Amer, Mahmoud M. El-Khouly, S.M. Khaled Figure 1: Login page for WGDCS Web-based Graduate Diploma in Computer Sciences – A Case Study 193 Figure 2: Diploma Courses descriptions • Interactive learning - Provides for one-to-one and group interaction among students, tutors and course coordinator. The main means of interaction in the course website is in the form of an asynchronous discussion group where students post questions and comments regarding the course material, the exercises and the exam. It has been shown that effective online discussions are considered to support good online learning (cf. Mazzolini, M., and Maddison, S. Sage 2003). On many occasions the students respond to each others questions and the discussion takes place. Student to student interaction encourages students to feel that they are part of an online learning community (cf. Mazzolini, M., and Maddison, S. Sage 2003). The course tutors and coordinator follow and contribute to these discussions. The role of the course staff is to motivate and monitor the discussion. Our staff is careful not to overdo their participation because we, as well as other researchers, have found that excessive staff intervention reduces student to student interaction (Paloff, R. M. and Pratt, K. 2001). In addition to the asynchronous discussion it is also possible 194 Best Practice Reports: Azza H. Amer, Mahmoud M. El-Khouly, S.M. Khaled communicate through a chat technology which is integrated into the course website. • Supplementary learning materials - Including: electronic presentation of course' materials such as tutorial lecture notes, exercises, sample exams and links to additional materials and data-sources on the internet. • Course bulletin board - The bulletin board appears in the main page of the course website. It is used mostly by the course coordinator for announcing schedule changes, important notices and special events. • Personal activity schedule - This tool gives the student a monthly view in the form of a calendar. This view shows all activities related to the course, such as the learning material which has to be covered on every week, exercise submission dates, class tutorial dates and exam dates (as shown in Figure 3). Figure 3: Personal activity schedule Web-based Graduate Diploma in Computer Sciences – A Case Study 195 • Personal notebook - This tool allows the student to personalize the website by grouping together pointers to selected items and activities such as an important comment in the discussion group, or a particularly helpful example or exercise solution, etc. • List of fellow students - The list contains e-mails of students who wish to be in contact with other students in the course. This list is extremely important because it enables contact between students who are spread out throughout the country. • Course staff - The list contains office hours and e-mails of the course coordinator and the tutors. • Web-based assignment submission system - A fully integrated system used by students, tutors and course coordinators. The students submit their assignments by the required deadline. The Students receive, through the system, the graded assignments. The grades are automatically updated in the students' records so the tutor does not need to manually submit grades at the end of the semester. The course coordinator can enter the system at any time and monitor the status both of students and tutors regarding assignment submission and grading. The course coordinator also has access to both the original and graded assignments. • Administration - On-line administrative services such as registration, notification about grades, etc. 3 Conclusion Web-based learning is a growing phenomenon that has yet to reach its full capability. The general tenets of Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) can now be implemented in a Web-based learning environment built and maintained on the basis of a digital library. The rapid expansion of the Internet and increasing software capabilities are influencing the dynamics of teaching and learning on many different levels. Web-based learning tools are constantly being re-designed by the developers to improve their effectiveness. MOODLE is a very well LMS, however, it needs to allow video streaming to help teachers/students chatting. In conclusion, besides the diploma discussed herein, we have worked on a wide range of objectives around the theme of improving learning by increasing interactivity and by applying digital library concepts, content and systems. As a result, a new infrastructure has emerged (with a very power laboratory which contains more than 20 PCs and notebooks), our pedagogy has been transformed, utilization of the courseware we 196 Best Practice Reports: Azza H. Amer, Mahmoud M. El-Khouly, S.M. Khaled developed has grown rapidly both locally and remotely, and many tools have been constructed. Students learn new topics, often in new ways, and we have continued to progress in developing digital library content (for all other majors in the faculty), systems, and interfaces. 4 Acknowledgments This study was supported by HEEPF Grant in 2005 (C-037-K0) and Helwan university. We would like to acknowledge the support of many staff members who helped develop the various activities over the past two years. Finally, we’d like to thank our students who have explored the possibilities of many LMS and selected MOODLE as our LMS and created the multi-media CDs for the courses, especially Wael Mohamed, Doaa Sabry, Zienb Mohamed, Mahmoud Attaya, Nermen Mostafa, Zakaria Mahmoud and Azmy Hamed. 5 References: Dougiamas, M., & Taylor, P. C. (2003), Moodle: ‘Using learning communities to create an open source course management system’, In D. Lassner & C. McNaught (Eds.), ED-MEDIA 2003: Proceedings of the 15th world conference on educational multimedia and hypermedia & world conference on educational telecommunications (pp. 171.178). Norfolk, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education (AACE). Karl A. Smith, URL: http://www at http://www.unca.edu/et/br120996.htm (accessed April, 2007) Mazzolini, M., and Maddison, S. Sage, (April 2003), guide or ghost? The effect of instructor intervention on student participation in online discussion forums. Computers & Education 40, 3, 237-253. Paloff, R. M. and Pratt, K. (2001), Lessons from the cyberspace classroom – the realities of online teaching. San Fr ancisco: Jossey-Bass. Taulbee Survey. (March 2002), Computing Research News 4–11. URL: http:// www.cra.org/CRN/articles/march02/bryant.vardi.html (accessed April, 2007) Laptops as a resource for microlearning scenarios? Findings from a survey on the implementation of laptop classrooms in Austrian upper secondary education (Best Practice Report) Tanja Jadin Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences (Austria) Paul Maderthaner Johannes Kepler University (Austria) Abstract: In Austrian upper secondary education, laptop classrooms are frequently introduced in order to foster shifts in classroom work towards a ‘new learning culture’. The present paper outlines essential findings from a survey of Austrian schools which implemented laptop classrooms and attempts to analyze whether laptops currently act as a resource for innovative classroom scenarios. Data from a nationwide survey of 101 schools give insight into the implementation process of laptop concepts and are used to assess whether a sustainable fundament for microcontent-based activities has been developed in these schools. 1 Introduction As the increasing number of initiatives aiming to promote ICT innovations in Austria’s school system demonstrates, new technologies are on top of the political agenda to modernize the public school system. New media are commonly expected to act as catalysts of change by having far-reaching effects on the development of a ‘new’ learning culture. During the last years various scenarios of integrating new media into everyday classroom activities have been developed. While the use of PCs and video beamers to enhance teacher instruction has become a ‘standard practice’, innovative pilot schemes currently focus on the educational use of mobile devices such as PDAs, cellular phones or Apple iPods (Dorninger 2006a; Haller 2006). Another – at present dominating – approach is the implementation of laptop classrooms, i.e. concepts where each student works with an own (mostly privately possessed) laptop computer. These notebook 198 Best Practice Reports: Tanja Jadin, Paul Maderthaner concepts are regularly given high priority in the development of school profiles (e.g. ‘IT HAKs’ – IT commercial colleges). In order to support dissemination, a national e-learning cluster as a network of innovative schools has been introduced. Concerning the initiation of the projects captured in the present study, three phases of notebook integration in Austrian upper secondary education can be derived: • In phase 1 (1996 – 1999) particularly innovative schools took part in the pilot project ‘Innovative technologies in education. Notebooks as a permanent educational and learning tool’. As the evaluation report by Bruck et al. (1998) indicates, this period was dominated by experiments concerning the applicability of laptops for educational purposes. • In phase 2 (2000 – 2003) a boom – supported by a nationwide BMBWK programme (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture) – could be observed. 82.4 % of the projects captured were initiated during this period. • For the current phase 3 (2004 onwards), data indicate a rapid decline of new projects (2004: 5 new projects, 2005: 3). Despite previous research work (Bruck et al. 1998; Kysela-Schiemer & Bratengeyer 2002; Spiel & Popper 2003) and extensive financial resources invested in laptop initiatives, knowledge about school development activities and conducive conditions of laptop implementation within schools is still poor. Previous studies focused on a very early stage of the laptop projects (Bruck et al. 1998) or included only small samples (Baumgartner 2002; Kysela-Schiemer & Bratengeyer 2002). Furthermore, international research primarily attempted to capture ‘objective’ effects of laptop classrooms, whereas the subjective perspective of decision-makers is seldom analyzed. Though, particularly this aspect can be regarded as crucial for the initiation and the design and as a consequence for the effects of implementation projects. It can be assumed that the individual expectations of decision-makers (in the context of laptop classrooms: school heads as local managers) towards the potential of new media is a decisive factor of project success. 2 Goals of the study The study whose selected findings are outlined in this paper took the ‘gaps’ of previous Austrian ‘laptop research’ as a basis for an attempt to gain further insight into school development in such ICT projects. Two major objectives for the study were identified: Laptops as a resource for microlearning scenarios? 199 1. Initially, the status quo of laptop projects in Austria was to be captured. This seemed worthwhile due to the unavailability of comprehensive current data. 2. On this basis, further focus was to be placed on the implementation of laptop classrooms, thus to analyze goals, expectations, implementation strategies, problem fields and perceived effects. It was assumed that in numerous cases local decision-makers have simplified, hence unrealistic expectations towards the innovation potential of ICT in schools. Under this perspective, laptops are regarded to have inherent effects on learning and to immediately contribute to a far-reaching modernization in education. This attitude can be subsumed under the ‘treatment hypothesis’ according to Kerres (2003) and may evoke negative consequences on the implementation process: When individuals believe that – as soon as the required hardware and software resources are available – new media lead to the desired changes (and act as a ‘treatment’ for the education system), ICT integration focuses on technology and pedagogical effects are partially disregarded. The present paper outlines central findings from this second research question. Finally, data are used to approach the question whether the current situation at these ‘laptop schools’ fosters shifts in traditional didactics and t hus forms a sustainable fundament for introducing microlearning activities. 3 Methodology As target group of the study head teachers of Austrian schools in upper secondary education (‘Sekundarstufe 2’: including academic secondary schools as well as technical and vocational schools and colleges) which had already launched a laptop initiative were selected. The focus on school managers is due to their decision-making authority and their major influence on school development. They bear final responsibility for the entire organization and may therefore provide in-depth information on school development issues. According to address data obtained from the online platform E-Teaching-Austria (www.e-teaching-austria.at) and additional web search, total population – as in February 2006 – consisted of 141 persons. As an instrument for data collection, a mail questionnaire was prepared which measured expectations in the laptop project, implementation activities, components of media concepts, supportive measures, problem fields and perceived effects. It xxx primarily composed of 5-level rating scales (level 1 indicates a respondent’s total rejection of a 200 Best Practice Reports: Tanja Jadin, Paul Maderthaner statement, level 5 stands for full agreement to a statement). As validated scales for these issues were not available, all scales are own constructions. The questionnaire and an additional reminder were mailed between March and April 2006. A total of 101 head teachers participated in this postal survey (rate of return: 71.1 %). 4 Results 4.1 Goals of the laptop project In an open-end question, head teachers were asked to express the objectives they had pursued when initiating the laptop project. By applying a frequency analysis on the goals mentioned, a relatively broad range of motives was identified which can be reduced to two levels: On school level (approximately 1/3 of a total of 250 goals mentioned) ‘marketing aspects’ such as signifying innovativeness, establishing enhanced practiceorientation and achieving higher attractiveness in local competition with other schools dominate. On the level of classroom work (2/3 of goals mentioned), important motives are the integration of new technologies in general (i.e. use of e-learning sequences during lessons), different teaching methods and students’ IT skills. These levels differ in the underlying intentions: On school level, the external presentation of innovative technologies and practices – resulting in expected higher student enrolment – is in focus. The level of classroom work emphasizes the change of instructional settings, primarily concerning IT training and constructivist approaches to education. Previous research work (e.g. Rockman et al. 1998; Carlsen et al. 2001; Garthwait & Weller 2005) supports the dominant status of didactic objectives of laptop integration, whereas the high proportion of goals established on school level – and in this context the emphasis on marketing issues – found in the study is surprising as these aspects are – with the exception of Altrichter et al. (2005) – commonly not discussed. Further analysis of the goals revealed that all goals mentioned were vaguely formulated and thus lacked major dimensions of specified goals (Heinrich et al. 2004) such as goal dimension, goal benchmark and extent of goal achievement. Typical examples of such unspecified goals are: ‘to respond to the challenges of information society’, ‘to establish modern teaching’, ‘to introduce new forms of learning’, ‘to improve teaching quality’ or ‘to promote key competencies’. Laptops as a resource for microlearning scenarios? 201 4.2 Expectations in the laptop project At project start, head teachers set – as a tendency – high expectations in the effects of laptop classrooms. Table 1 depicts a selection of important fields of expectations – including cognitive and affective effects on the part of students, a shift to constructivistoriented teaching and enhanced school image. Seven statements have a mean of 4.0 or higher indicating a high level of respondents’ consent to the respective item. Table 1: Expectations in the laptop project (5-level-scale; sample statement: ‘From the implementation of laptop classrooms, I expected an increase in students’ computer skills.’) 4.3 Implementation activities It was assumed that technical/administrative activities – compared with pedagogical measures – were given priority in the implementation process. In order to test this hypothesis, a 10-item-scale implementation activities was constructed. It measured the extent to which selected areas of activities were performed during the implementation process (table 2). 202 Best Practice Reports: Tanja Jadin, Paul Maderthaner Table 2: Extent of implementation activities (5-level-scale) Five items related to technical or administrative aspects (items 1, 2, 5, 8 and 10) have relatively high means between 4.47 and 3.73, whereas the four items with the lowest means (items 4, 6, 7 and 9) focus on pedagogical areas of laptop implementation. Item 2 – teacher training in the field of media didactics – is an exception. Comparison of item means indicates the assumed dominance of technical/administrative activities. This was verified by constructing scores for both factors1 and conducting a t-test for paired samples, which yielded a highly significant result (t(97) = -5.063, p = 0.000). A dominance of technical/administrative activities could be observed. Analysis of the scale ‘media concept’, which measured the extent to which schools reflected on the didactical framework of laptop use in formal concepts, yielded similar results. Media concepts are recommended as an essential component of school development strategies (Wiggenhorn & Vorndran 2002). They describe how a school intends to cope with the demands of ‘information age’ and how students can acquire relevant skills (Detering et al. 2003). 1 After performing a factor analysis, each score was constructed on basis of the 4 items with highest factor loadings and Kolmogorov Smirnov tests for normal distribution were conducted. Laptops as a resource for microlearning scenarios? 203 As table 3 shows, several central components of such media concepts were frequently not well developed. While attention was given to finding alternative teaching methods appropriate for laptop classrooms and to defining functions of laptops as educational media, the schools spent less time on addressing other questions such as measures of self-evaluation or multidisciplinary project work, an issue frequently emphasised as an opportunity of laptop use (Bruck et al. 19998; Spiel & Popper 2003). Table 3: Components of media concepts (5-level-scale) The extent of supportive measures to facilitate teachers’ adaptation to new situations in classroom work is very diverse. Respondents rate the availability of training courses for teachers – as well in the area of computer skills as in specialized didactics – as high. Conversely, there are deficits concerning support within schools (internal support), which literature empasizes as a key factor to successful laptop integration (Saunders & Quirke 2002; Ferrero 2002; Granger et al. 2002): The schools’ IT staff (‘EDV-KustodInnen’) are not adequately remunerated for the amount of time which is necessary for resolving technical problems. The low level of internal exchange of information (e.g. in the form of regular team meetings) can as well be regarded as a sign of insufficient support structures. However, internal deficits are not compensated – as the low mean of the item concerning external experts shows – by external advice, for instance by inviting experts in school development or laptop-experienced teachers from other schools. 204 Best Practice Reports: Tanja Jadin, Paul Maderthaner Table 4: Supportive measures of laptop implementation (5-level-scale) 4.4 Problem fields As table 5 shows, the lack of suitable instruction resources (e.g. software), teachers’ low method skills and technical defects during lessons in some cases pose major problems that potentially threaten the success of laptop implementation. Item means demonstrate that problems are on a moderate level. However, responses indicate that the situation needs to be analyzed more differentiated: Although several head teachers stated that problems hardly exist, other respondents faced serious difficulties. Table 5: Problem fields (5-level-scale) Laptops as a resource for microlearning scenarios? 205 4.5 Perceived effects of laptop classrooms As a consequence of the survey design, effects of laptop projects could not be measured on the basis of ‘real’ outcome (for this purpose different settings such as classroom observation or competence tests would have been indispensable but not feasible due to resource restrictions). Though, the study analyzed project results from the perspective of head teachers, which allows conclusions regarding perceived effects. Highest effects are: computer skills, instructional efficiency, increased public image of schools and higher practice-orientation. Considerably lower means were discovered for enrolment rates, learning outcomes and social skills. Table 6: Perceived effects of laptop classrooms The items for the scales expectations (chapter 4.2) and effects were identical and captured participants’ ratings for two different points during laptop implementation (expectations refers to the time of project start, whereas effects measured outcomes for the time of survey). Comparison of these scales gives insight into how expectations were fulfilled during the projects. Again, methodical limitations have to be considered as the 206 Best Practice Reports: Tanja Jadin, Paul Maderthaner study was not longitudinal and therefore expectations could only be measured on a retrospective basis. Table 7 shows additive scores for both scales: The score of expectations amounts to 42.77, whereas effects has a lower score of 38.13. A significance test for this difference (t-test for paired samples) yielded a highly significant result (p = .000), which indicates that the effects of laptop classrooms had been overestimated at the time of project start and expectations could not be fulfilled to their full extent. Further analysis of single items revealed that for each of the 10 aspects expectations exceeded effects. Particularly high (and significant) differences were observed for ‘motivation during lessons’, ‘practiceorientation’, ‘learning outcomes’ and ‘image gains in public’. Table 7: Additive scores for the scales ‘expectations’ and ‘effects’ 5 Conclusions and recommendations The survey gave insight into the implementation processes of notebook classrooms in Austrian upper secondary education. Major findings are: • School managers mentioned vague, unspecified goals. These goals are situated on two levels: organizational level and classroom work. • Head teachers’ expectations were high and diverse: They range from cognitive and affective effects, a constructivist learning culture to a better school image. • Schools primarily focus rather on technical than on pedagogical issues. High priority is given to establishing the hardware for laptop use, whereas lower attention is paid to didactic measures. • Media concepts or media curricula are frequently vague and often do not include precise statements on the intentions, conditions and desired effects of classroom work with mobile computers. • Deficits in supportive measures for laptop integration can be observed concerning internal (technical) support and external support by experts. By Laptops as a resource for microlearning scenarios? 207 contrast, the availability of training courses for general computer skills as well as for special didactics was rated as good. • The perceived effects are situated on a lower level than initial expectations, which is a sign that the high expectations could not be fulfilled during the project. In conclusion, the technology orientation Bruck et al. (1998) found in their previous evaluation of Austrian pilot projects is still a central characteristic. Although the current survey indicates that the technology focus has decreased and efforts are at present being undertaken to enhance didactic integration, concepts of classroom work with new media are still not as widespread as literature on ICT school development commonly suggests. This is partially due to unrealistic expectations of decision-makers on school level: it becomes evident that notebooks are given the status of ‘catalysts of change’ (Venezky & Davis 2002) which are expected to stimulate far-reaching changes in traditional classroom work. This attitude can be insofar problematic as it has immediate consequences on the implementation process: in many cases didactic issues are poorly reflected and comprehensive strategies for laptop implementation and use are not introduced on school level; it is left to the individual initiative of teachers to develop appropriate practices. Data indicate that Kerres’ ‘treatment hypothesis’ applies for the majority of participants of this study. Laptops together with tangible adjustments in the school building (e.g. IT infrastructure) seem to be considered as such innovations themselves that further changes in the didactical field are partially neglected. Although alteration of specific classroom practices was not in the focus of this study, results of the scale perceived effects show that the desired shift from traditional didactics to a ‘new’ learning approach did not take place. As best-practice reports (e.g. Dorninger 2006b) show, laptops can be a powerful resource for innovative e-learning scenarios such as webquests, simulations or eportfolios. Their flexibility allows various fields of application and makes them a suitable hardware tool for the dynamics of ‘microactivities’ such as editing blogs or communicating through groupware during lessons as well as in private contexts. Though, it becomes evident that current practices of laptop implementation are not a stable basis for the sustainable introduction of innovative classroom practices such as microlearning activities. The majority of ICT school development initiatives can be described as technology projects, which prevents the didactic potential of laptop use (e.g. social 208 Best Practice Reports: Tanja Jadin, Paul Maderthaner software and other Web 2.0 applications) from unfolding. In order to enhance didactic integration of new media, further efforts seem to be indispensable. In addition to the variety of detailed suggestions from research on media integration (e.g. Rolff & Schnoor 1998; Honegger & Stähli 2001; Lindau-Bank 1998; Spiel & Popper 2003), two general fields of action can be recommended on the basis of the present survey: • It became clear that the attitudes of local decision-makers towards new media are crucial for the design of ICT implementation projects. Head teachers’ expectations are a critical factor which can either foster or constrain the broad dissemination of e-learning innovations within the education system. In order to avoid persistence of traditional instruction in new learning environments equipped with state-of-the-art technology, national e-learning initiatives should emphasize this aspect and attempt to draw practitioners’ attention to shaping the learning culture. • That sustainability of implementation projects can only achieved by integrating new media into a school’s long-term strategy is a common recommendation (Nattland & Kerres 2006; Wiggenhorn & Vorndran 2002). Nevertheless data indicate that in a number of schools laptop classrooms have not yet became an integral part of school programs and are not linked to other didactic initiatives. According to Rolff & Schnoor (1998), these ‘additive media schools’ do not have coordinated media concepts and launch numerous single projects of limited duration. To become ‘self-renewing media schools’, efforts in the field of school program and the development of media concepts or curricula are advisable. 6 References Altrichter, H., Prexl-Krausz, U. & Soukup-Altrichter, K. (2005), Schulprofilierung und neue Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt. Baumgartner, P. (2002), Unterricht mit Notebooks. Ein Experiment in Schulentwicklung. URL: http://www.peter.baumgartner.name/download/Notebook_und_Schulentwicklung.pd f [20. 1. 2007]. Bruck, P., Stocker, G., Geser, G. & Pointner, A. (1998), Noten für’s Notebook. Von der technischen Ausstattung zur pädagogischen Integration. Zweiter Zwischenbericht Laptops as a resource for microlearning scenarios? des Forschungsprojekts ‚Vernetzte Bildung’. URL: kapfenberg.ac.at/edv/notebook/noten4notebook.pdf [20. 1. 2007]. 209 http://www.htl- Carlsen, A., Broe, L., Drewsen, U. & Spenceley, L. (2001), Case studies of ICT and organisational change in Denmark. OECD/CERI ICT and the quality of learning programme. URL: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/45/25/2737085.pdf [20. 1. 2007]. Detering, U., Brichzin, P., Göhler, T. & Waidelich, K. (2003), Medienkonzepte im Schul¬entwicklungsprozess. In: O. Vorndran & D. Schnoor (eds.), Schulen für die Wissens¬gesellschaft. Ergebnisse des Netzwerks Medienschulen (pp. 273-285). Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung. Dorninger, C. (2006a), Mobile Technologien machen Schule. Erziehung und Unterricht, 156, 702-711. Dorninger, C. (2006b), eLearning-Didaktik an Österreichs Schulen – Ein Überblick. Wien: BMBWK. Ferrero, S. (2002), Two generations of teachers. Differences in attitudes towards ICT. EMILE research project. URL: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/minerva/meet/minutesfe v2002.pdf [20. 1. 2007]. Garthwait, A. & Weller, H. G. (2005), A year in the life: Two seventh grade teachers imple¬ment one-to-one-computing. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 37 (4), 361-377. Granger, C. A., Morbey, M. L., Lotherington, H., Owston, R. D. & Wideman, H. H. (2002), Factors contributing to teachers’ successful implementation of ICT. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 480-488. Haller, P. (2006), PDA macht Schule. Erziehung und Unterricht, 156, 772-777. Heinrich, L. J., Heinzl, A. & Roithmayr, F. (2004), Wirtschaftsinformatik-Lexikon (7th edition). München: Oldenbourg. Honegger, B. D. & Stähli, R. (2001), Empfehlungen zur Planung und Umsetzung eines Ein-Notebook-pro-StudentIn-Programmes (ENpS). URL: http://www.swisseduc.ch/informatik/berichte/enps/docs/enps.pdf [20. 1. 2007]. Kerres, M. (2003), Wirkungen und Wirksamkeit neuer Medien in der Bildung. In: M. Kerres & R. Keil-Slawik (eds.), Wirkungen und Wirksamkeit Neuer Medien in der Bildung. Education Quality Forum 2002 (pp. 31-44). Münster: Waxmann. 210 Best Practice Reports: Tanja Jadin, Paul Maderthaner Kysela-Schiemer, G. & Bratengeyer, E. (2002), eLearning in Notebook-Klassen. Empirisch-didaktische Begleituntersuchung. URL: http://wbt.donauuni.ac.at/notebook/Archiv/eLearning_in_Notebook-Klassen.pdf [20. 1. 2007]. Lindau-Bank, D. (1998), Wie man die Einführung neuer Medien als Prozeß gestalten kann. Journal für Schulentwicklung, 2 (4), 15-26. Nattland, A. & Kerres, M. (2006), Computerbasierte Medien im Unterricht. In: K.-H. Arnold, J. Wiechmann & U. Sandfuchs (eds.), Handbuch Unterricht (pp. 422-432). Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt. Rockman, S., Walker, L. & Chessler, M. (1998), Powerful tools for schooling: Second year study of the laptop program. A project for Anytime Anywhere Learning by Microsoft Corporation. URL: http://www.microsoft.com/education/download/aal/research2.rtf [20. 1. 2007]. Rolff, H. G. & Schnoor, D. (1998), Multimedia verlangen nach Schulentwicklung. Journal für Schulentwicklung, 2 (1), 4-14. Saunders, B. & Quirke, P. (2002), ‘Let my laptop lead the way’: A middle eastern study. Educational Technology & Society, 5 (1), 135-140. Spiel, C. & Popper, V. (2003), Evaluierung des österreichischen Modellversuchs‚ eLearning und e-Teaching mit SchülerInnen-Notebooks’. Abschlussbericht der Evaluierungsergebnisse und Maßnahmenkatalog mit Handlungsempfehlungen zur Implementierung von Notebook-Klassen. URL: http://www.e-teachingaustria.at/evaluierung/evaluation.pdf [20. 1. 2007]. Venezky, R. L. & Davis, C. (2002), Quo vademus? The transformation of schooling in a networked world. OECD/CERI Report. URL: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/48/20/2073054.pdf [20. 1. 2007]. Wiggenhorn, G. & Vorndran, O. (2002), Integrating IT into schools. An international study on regional implementation strategies. URL: http://www.netzwerkmedienschulen.de/dyn/bin/4869-5169-1-00_bis_02_textegesamt_neu3.pdf [20. 1. 2007]. 365 Mini-Lessons to Learn English Module development for the project EIT – English for IT (Best Practice Report) Christian Petter Kathrin Helling IFS - Institute for Future Studies (Austria) Abstract: Keeping in mind that IT is a fast-developing field, any course designed for the target group of IT professionals needs to account for that fact. The project EIT – English for IT - focuses on the need to provide an up-to-date ESP (English for Specific Purposes) teaching/learning module, which is flexible enough to enhance self-study and encourage life-long learning. The module will comprise 365 mini-lessons, multilingual glossaries and other interactive features. Besides addressing language skills, a strong focus is put on the development of learning and communicative skills. 1 The project The project “EIT-English for IT”, funded by the Leonardo da Vinci program of the European Commission, aims at developing relevant and innovative e-learning materials for learning and teaching English in the field of IT. The materials are particularly designed for IT specialists – working professionals and students – as well as English language tutors working with these specialists. One main objective is to bridge the current gap in the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) IT-related materials. Moreover, the project aims at facilitating the work of tutors, enhance self-study and encourage lifelong learning. Research on the availability of ESP materials for IT confirmed the need for up-to-date materials which target IT professionals with an elementary level of English. Available ITrelated materials were either found to be outdated and inflexible or not fitting learners’ needs. In order to account for the fact that IT is a fast-developing field that printed materials cannot keep up with, there is an obvious need for online English Language 212 Best Practice Reports: Christian Petter, Kathrin Helling Teaching (ELT)/ESP materials in the field of IT designed for elementary and postelementary learners. 2 Course design The project product is an ESP teaching/learning module. It will be designed as a 1-year learning, calendar-like programme (an Internet portal) for IT professionals and students of IT, comprising English lessons at the post-elementary level with a strong emphasis on learner training and autonomy. The product is aimed at improving the skills of the targeted professional group by helping them pass the communicative barrier and develop their language and communicative skills. Moreover, working IT professionals are provided with an e-learning module to promote everyday self-study and ensure language learning progress. The materials to be developed are essentially meant to be adapted to learners’ needs. Moreover, learners will be offered the opportunity to use the module as independent users for self-study. Therefore, learners will get the opportunity to build their own English language course, which best fits their specific needs. On the other hand, the materials can be employed by any language teaching centre, college or university, providing IT studies, with English language included into the curriculum. 2.1 Learning sections The online tool will be essentially comprised of three sections. The tool is not only aimed at developing language skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking, use of English), but will also emphasise learning and communicative skills. The Learning skills section will provide the learner with information on what kind of learner they are – i.e. visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, etc. Furthermore, materials of this section will also highlight learning styles preferences as well as most efficient methods of self-study, etc. The Communicative skills section is particularly aimed at enhancing the communicative skills development of IT people, who are stereotyped as having a lack of these particular skills due to the specifics of their sedentary and reserved work style. This third section will therefore focus on conversation strategies, and provide a variety of open dialogues, examples and practice of spoken English. 365 Mini-Lessons to Learn English Module development for the project EIT ... 213 2.2 Course elements The online teaching/learning module will comprise of 365 daily mini-lessons aimed at developing 2-4 skills of the three major sections: essential English for IT professionals, communication skills and learning skills. The module will be presented as an interactive calendar-like website, where each page of workdays (Monday-Friday) will comprise a set of exercises to develop reading, listening, speaking, writing, as well as grammar and vocabulary skills. Additionally, learners are offered materials to develop learning and communicative skills. Saturday pages will comprise revision tasks and Sunday pages will contain progress tests. Each page will be equipped with answer key, interactive pop-up hints, links to both glossaries (IT terminology and general English), language reference windows, or useful websites. These features will provide learners with complementary information on the current mini-lesson. In order to stimulate additional engagement of both learners and tutors using the course, an online forum for the online exchange of ideas will be provided. In addition to the default interface mode (calendar-like design) users will have the chance to switch to the contents-oriented interface. In this way learners will be able to choose and follow the topics they fell to be most relevant to them. Eventually, this feature will add to the flexibility of the module and enable users to create their own ESP course, tailored to their needs. Figure 1: EIT course elements Web-based Instruction – Two Empirical Classes (Best Practice Report) Yu-Hsiu Chou National Taipei University of Education (Taiwan) Li-Wen Wang Taipei Municipal Bai Ling Elementary School (Taiwan) Abstract: The era of the Internet has noticeably influenced teacher-student interaction in many institutions. To show this, I have recently offered two empirical classes; each with 50 students from many different academic departments. The topic of one class was educational thought, while the other was about experiential education. Each class involved Internet discussion activities that included aspects of teacher-student interaction, student-student interaction, learning behavior and teaching strategies designed to share and link information in a teaching community. By displaying the curriculum's design and evaluating the results of the two courses, this qualititive study presents comparisons of technological instruction vs. lecture-discussion instruction, showing that the heavily interweaved technology of today's world can be used in the classroom to produce better educational results. Keywords: Web-based instruction 1 Introduction The relationship of technology and human minds has undergone investigations since 1980 (Gardner, 1985). In the last decade, the structure of student models and pedagogical strategies in Taiwan has been transformed due to the rapid growth of the Internet and web population. Teacher-student interactions have now become close, yet more distant. The Internet has existed for nearly 30 years. Following the popularization of the Internet, information from every domain of knowledge can be easily accessed. The use of technology in the classroom has increasingly been one of the main means of instruction Web-based Instruction – Two Empirical Classes 215 in recent years. Nevertheless, students have been observed lacking critical and reflective thinking because of the convenience of data retrieving and downloading. One of the most important missions of the National Taipei University of Education is to encourage student teachers to be critical and reflective in their thinking so that this skill could be used in their future profession. Being a professor at this University, the study I present in this report is an attempt to show the students’ thinking models and visions expanded by ways of digital experiential learning, ascertaining the positive effects of web-based instruction. 2 Curriculum of the Two Classes The curriculum of the web-based instruction includes materials retrieving, discussion and reporting through the software system phpBB (2001, 2005)1 which functions like a broadcasting system that the instructor can switch a hardware panel to talk and display the course materials to all students on each screen before discussing in class and students’ feedbacks can be viewed too on the system immediately. Student learning processes and learning patterns had been photographing and student’s activities video recording in class. I then input the photographs and videos into phpBB to reinforce their e-learning effects. 2.1 Curriculum Design 2.1.1 Educational Thoughts In this trial curriculum, the pedagogical strategies used were traditional lectures, text readings, cartoon interpretation, group discussion and follow-up reporting, films watching, transcript reading, discussion and reports. The first two were delivered through lecture-discussion instruction, while the others were given through digital learning. Cartoons were retrieved prior to the class lecture on internet and then presented in class. Then, a group discussion followed this presentation. After that, students elaborated on their statements and posted their reports through the software phpBB (2001, 2005). 1 See http://doelearning.ntue.edu.tw/LearningForum/ 216 Best Practice Reports: Yu-Hsiu Chou, Li-Wen Wang 3-minute films were retrieved from two sources2 and then presented in class. These films are cross-cultural. Contents of films were transcribed by the lecturer and then input into phbBB before each class to assure understanding of the contents and then were handed out to the student teachers in class for further reading and group discussion. After this step, reports had to be posted on phpBB in three days. By all above means, student learners can expand their visions of the global village such as the school life in Korea, the high education policy in Sweden and the language policy in Germany and then can reflect on and compare with those in Taiwan. 2.1.2 Experiential Education In this course, Experiential Education student teachers designed an advertisement on the Web to enroll young learners in a mathematics class. 20 students ranging from the 5 th to 7th grade were then recruited through the Internet. These students came to the mathematics classes twice a week and received the individual instruction for one and a half hours from the student teachers. After 6 teaching simulation activities, they did the actual teaching while being recorded. Each evaluation was completely based on these student teachers’ performance in the classroom and their students’ achievements. The novices used technology to obtain information on web, and then continued to show their originality and creativity in the teaching practice. Student teachers could flexibly adjust their teaching strategies and tempos according to their actual teaching experiences and mistakes, be acquainted with teaching materials, sense their young learners’ thinking styles and languages, exchange teaching information online, and ask for assistance from supervisors or mentors, and independently regulate their own teaching resources. The following effects were that the intern teachers became more responsible and when facing difficulties, they automatically retrieved more pseudo-concepts from previous online research, including articles and supplementary mathematical materials. They also naturally constituted an informal team to share their experiences on guiding students in studying mathematics with a positive attitude, and inducing them to do more challenging exercises at home. These trainees increased capabilities can be attributed to the following external facts: • 2 The student teachers discussed the assignments with the teachers on MSN, through email and through cell phone calls after class. e.g http://wstreaming.zdf.de/zdf/300/060928_schule_dde.asx Web-based Instruction – Two Empirical Classes • 2.2 217 Organization of their lesson plans were more efficient due to the use of several inland web programs. Findings and Results Learning behaviors were evaluated by the cooperation of groups, learning progress and assignment and its submission times. On phpBB, IP numbers, the names of each group member who turned in their work, on what date, time and the title of an article can be seen. Compared to traditional lecture-discussion classes, the results show that webbased instruction allows more teacher-student interaction through the benefits of technology instruction. The course, Educational Thoughts, began in Mid-September, 2006. By October 2, there were only 2 online feedbacks required. However, at this time many students had already submitted multiple reports showing an increase in student enthusiasm and interest in the course material. Using technology the students could create their own ways to achieve the object of each assignment. They could give responses immediately and discuss topics further. By tracing IP numbers, reports were handing out at home, dormitories, and even web cafés. Through phpBB, during the learning process, group members monitored and reminded each other before report deadlines. For example, a discussion group of 4 or 5 people had to cooperate to finish a discussion report and one of them did nothing for the paper. Members of the group announced it on phpBB and the member turned out to finish his job two days later and informed everybody on web that he did do the report (Figure 1). For the monitoring and peer pressure, and the power of press pressure, better result came out. Contrarily, if these student teachers hand in their assignments individually, only the instructor of the classes would know which paper is missing and the submission task could be postponed or even undone. 218 Best Practice Reports: Yu-Hsiu Chou, Li-Wen Wang Figure 1: discussion and report on phpBB system. Quote from the above report “Wei did not do his report.” “Wei: I made it up.” Photographs (Figure 2) and videos taken weekly in class created some unexpected results. Student teachers can surf these images on phpBB, recall and review what they have involved in the class. They can see if they are the center of a frame, like a star. As a result, expressing gestures and skills were improved, and they started to care about their appearances and deportment in class by ways of their hair-do and dressing. Web-based Instruction – Two Empirical Classes 219 Figure 2: Students Students were able to utilize their learning materials. Because of easy accessibility, relaxed learning atmosphere and teacher absence thus no authoritative pressure, there was much more productive and creative learning to be observed. Copyrights marks were seen on their reports and some requested not to post their reports on phpBB to avoid third party downloading. In addition, they are more sensitive on screening and examining the accuracy of the downloading materials. These trainees could submit assignments many days ahead of time, however hot hours usually were the few hours remaining before deadline. The e-learning system does influence the students’ learning either privately or publicly. We can see from this that learning in not restricted to any fixed place and time. Actually that is no sense of place for technology user (Meyrowitz,1985). 220 Best Practice Reports: Yu-Hsiu Chou, Li-Wen Wang 3 Conclusion Teacher-student interaction is not necessarily restricted to classtime only. And the virtual web signs replace the face-to-face body languages. Research has indicated that webbased learning techniques and positive learning achievements are very closely related, that is, web learning allows more transaction between learner and milieu to produce more active participation, opinion raising, discussion, and self-estimate. Roles of teachers and students, barriers of communication were broken. This is important because learning is built upon communication in order to achieve learning goals (Turkle, 1997). The speed of learning is faster than ever. The student teachers made use of any available time, weekdays and weekends, submitting assignments and discussing ideas publicly, hence, generating fundamental and solid domain knowledge. In the consecutive 6-week mathematics didactics teaching, the student teachers used e-learning to increase their self-concepts, mathematical cultivation, and materials editing ability through teaching activities. This study, by means of two empirical classes, involving Internet discussion activities and digital tools, studied the patterns of teacher-student interaction, learning behaviors and teaching strategies, and has shown the degree and depth by which technology and the era of Internet has changed the way we teach and learn. 4 References Beard, Cohen & Wilson, John P. (2002): The Power of Experiential Learning. A Best Practice Handbook for Educators and Trainers. UK: Kogan Page. Beck, Ulrich (1999): What Is Globalization? Cambridge: Polity Press. Dewey, John (1938): Experience and Education. Gardner, H. (1985): The mind’s new science: A history of the cognitive revolution. New York: Basic Books. Meyrowitz, Joshua (1985): No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behaviour. New York: Oxford University Press. Turkle, Sherry (1997): Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York: Simon & Schuster. Wallace, Patricia (2001): The Psychology of the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. TU Graz goes Podcast (Best Practice Report) Martin Ebner Walther Nagler Anna Saranti WG Social Learning, Computer and Information Services Graz University of Technology (Austria) Abstract: This paper presents the first results of the implementation of podcasting in computer supported teaching at the University of Technology of Graz. It gives an overview on the state of the art activities on this modern field of educational experience. A comparison between different didactical settings of practice on base of evaluation data is given as well as perspectives for the future usage of podcasts for higher education. 1 Introduction “In a blog entry dated September 28, 2004, Doc Searls … discussed podcasting in some detail and noted that a Google search on “podcasting” brought up twenty-four hits. Searls went on to predict that in another year, the same search would “pull up hundreds of thousands, or perhaps millions,” of hits.” — Campbell, G. (2005) Today (2007-01-24) Google offers a result over 46.8 million hits for podcasting. Even very optimistic prognoses underestimated the enormous growth of podcasting. But why is there such a boom? The Web2.0 hype may hold the answer to this question. The buzzword “Web 2.0” and all its applications have caused a revolution concerning the way we work with the internet during the last two years. Emphasizing this argument it must be pointed out that “podcast” was chosen to be the word of the year 2005 in Great Britain (Gamböck and Pichler, 2006) and “You” was elected as Person of the Year 2006 by the Time Magazin 222 Best Practice Reports: Martin Ebner, Walther Nagler, Anna Saranti (Grossman, 2006). Due to the fact that Web 2.0 does not describe new web technologies rather than a new and especially easier handling of the World Wide Web. The “user is the content” is often used as synonym for this trend. Considering this phrase in detail there are two very interesting facts: user and content are in the centre of all activities. This approach differs from technology driven approaches in the past. Nowadays web software becomes easier and friendlier to use so that the typical internet user can finally do what he/she has wanted to do since years: active participating. Tim Berners-Lee1 has already suggested the so called “Read/Write Web” in 1989 which may now become reality. Needless to express that it doesn’t matter whether the content consists of video, audio or only text, the crucial factors are easy to produce and easy to publish to a large community. In this context podcasting means the distribution of prevalent audio files and nowadays often also combined with video data. In this paper the terminology of podcasting is explained and the way the Graz University of Technology uses this methodology as well as results of practical experiences, a discussion and future steps are presented. 2 Theory, Methods and Experimental Setting 2.1 Theory and didactical aspects The first attempts of transmitting voice over distances had been done in 1783 in Paris by releasing a project titled “Über die Fortpflanzung des Schalls und der Stimme in Röhren”. The invention of telegraphing leads to the one of telephoning. At the same time in 1877 Thomas Edison presented his “Phonograf”; the first analogue record was born. A decade later radio-broadcasting was brought to life and enabled the transmission of audio data from one station to an undefined numbers of consumers without problems regarding to bandwidth. With the rise of internet this evolution went a step further by making Voice over IP possible. After the compact disc as a main carrier for digital music has displaced the traditional analogue record it is now being displaced by music from internet download since about ten years – from “Napster” to “iTunes”. The term “podcast” is a mash of Apple´s mp3 player “iPod” and the word “broadcast”. A definition of “podcast” as Wikipedia sees it (2007-01-24): “A podcast is a media file that is distributed by subscription over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. Like 'radio', it can mean both the content and 1 http://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html (last visit 2007-01-29) TU Graz goes Podcast 223 the method of syndication. The latter may also be termed podcasting. ... Though podcasters' web sites may also offer direct download or streaming of their content, a podcast is distinguished from other digital audio formats by its ability to be downloaded automatically, using software capable of reading feed formats such as RSS or Atom.” RSS is an XML based data format that carries the content of a website in a strict standardization which is similar to content organization of a weblog. Therefore the breakthrough for RSS goes hand in hand with the one of weblogs in 2002 although the beginning of RSS technologies goes back to 1995 (Nagler et al., 2006). In summer 2002 Dave Winer released RSS2.0 with the enclosure tag-element which allows connecting any kind of file to a RSS feed automatically. But the beginning of (RSS-transmitted) podcasting goes back to summer 2004 when the former MTV-link man Adam Curry wanted to implement a search script that looks for mp3 files within a RSS file. At least he himself programmed a small AppleScript called “iPodder” the first software reading and downloading RSS-Enclosures. The process of podcasting starts when the sender releases a media file on a web server included in a RSS surrounding. The media file is now automatically sent to all the subscribers to this RSS surrounding. Users may subscribe to feeds using "podcatching" software (audio-video RSS aggregators or feed-reader), which periodically checks for and downloads new content automatically. Podcatching software enables the user even to copy podcasts to portable music & video players automatically only by plugging in to players to the local station. Enhanced podcasts include chapter marks the user can browse through and hyperlinks to websites. These qualities fit in didactical scenarios perfectly. There are many of possibilities why and how to use podcasts especially for the interests of higher education: • To record live lectures • To catch up missed lectures • To handle big lectures better in case of room problems • For courses of LifeLongLearning • For short tutorials and instructions of any kind • For short sequences of definitions and summaries • For self-preparation of courses or practices or even excursions • For archival purpose • For assessment purposes – podcasts made by students as a part of the marking 224 Best Practice Reports: Martin Ebner, Walther Nagler, Anna Saranti It is doubtless that podcasting has risen to be an important medium within a few years. The first steps to the usage of podcast in the higher education have already been done. The Stanford University even has an own platform on iTunes for its podcasts (Ebner et al., 2007). 2.2 Methods The most interesting thing about the definition by Wikipedia discussed above is that a podcast is exclusively distributed over syndication feeds. In the broader sense an audio file or a video file published on the internet or made be downloadable but not being distributed automatically often is also being called a “podcast”. In the following the meaning of podcast is to be seen in that second way. Already there are several courses being podcasted at the TU Graz. The following list overviews the activities: • Podcasts included in the LifeLongLearning program “Traffic Accident Research” of the TU Graz by recording the courses called “Mechanik 1” and “Verkehrspsychologie” • Recording of the Programmierung” • Recording of the university course „Elektrische Energiesysteme 1“ • Recording of the university course “Informatik 1” university course “Einführung in die strukturierte The settings of these recordings were different due to their goals. Our main goal was to create live recordings of the lectures held during the courses, rework the record for quality aspects and offer them on the TU Graz Teach Center (TUGTC - e-Learning platform for teachers of the TU Graz, http://tugtc.tugraz.at) in several formats. The recordings were all screen-capturing recordings in connection with a beamer for lecture room presentation without a live shooting of the teacher. Most of the recordings were done by the use of common laptops except the course “Mechanik 1” which was captured using a tablet pc. This one has a unique position within the podcast activities at TU Graz because the lecture was held as an interactive presentation where the teacher was generating the content in real time during the lecture. Most of the time the recordings took place during the lecture was held. Because of several reasons like sound quality aspects or failed recordings some of the recordings had to be done after the lecture. TU Graz goes Podcast 225 The recordings have been taken with the Camtasia for Screen/Desktop Recording software. The two main methods supported by the Camtasia software are: • Desktop Recording (the computer screen is recorded) • Desktop Camtasia (recording started through a PowerPoint presentation) Figure 1: Reworking steps after recording After setting all Camtasia related parameters for data recording and the microphone – a process that may not take more than approximately 5-10 minutes to achieve the best audio / video quality and at the same time to minimize the size of any generated files – the recording was done. The process of data recording by Camtasia should not interfere with the person giving the lecture and therefore a wireless microphone was used. After the recording the files were reworked in different steps by the use of several additional software (see figure 1). Given the recorded .camrec file, it was possible to produce with Camtasia an .avi container video file and an .mp3 audio file. In some cases, certain parts of a recording were not needed and were easily deleted with a video editor such as VirtualDub or AviDemux. In case of bad recordings (because of e.g., insufficient sound check, bad positioning of microphone, no pop shield) audio tracks needed extra processing to achieve better sound quality. When the recording has static background noise and/or many “clicks” and 226 Best Practice Reports: Martin Ebner, Walther Nagler, Anna Saranti “pops”, a noise reduction and “click” and “pop” removing process was applied. This was achieved with Gnome Wave Cleaner (GWC). The selection of the used algorithm and the respective parameters depends on the circumstances. Sometimes a “brighter” sound was desired or the elimination of low-frequency noisy parts. In such cases a high pass filter with cut off frequency of approximately 100 Hz was applied. A DC-Offset remover altered the volume / amplitude of the recording without any distortion including a normalization process afterwards. For lessening purposes – the difference between the loud and the quiet parts of a recording – level compression was achieved with a compressor. Finally, in order to smooth the audio both at the beginning (and end) of the recording, a fade-in (or fade-out) was applied. Afterwards the processed audio track is introduced back into the video track. Video editors, such as VirtualDub or AviDemux, can facilitate this process and the resulting .avi container video has better sound quality. Given this new .avi, it was possible to create a variety of video formats, such as .wmv, .rm, .mov, .m4v, etc., with Camtasia or the Mencoder program. The latter program was mainly used for the production of iPod video file .m4v, because the video generation process took less than 10 minutes and the size of the resulting video files was smaller than the ones generated by Camtasia. Finally flash files (.swf) were produced with Camtasia because of the need for marker positioning. 2.3 Experimental Setting The research work aimed to find out whether podcasting has a potential to enhance teaching and learning or not. Due to this fact a pre-/post-test design with questionnaires for the participants of the lecture „Elektrische Energiesysteme 1” and “Informatik 1” was used. The students of the course “Mechanik 1” were evaluated orally because of the small number of participants (11). 3 Results and Discussion In this chapter we like to present and discuss our experiences made during our recordings as well as the results of the evaluation process. The difficulties were manifold – from the very first beginning during the recording in the lecture room to the final play on the devices of the learners. 3.1 Experiences and results The evaluation before starting of a course was necessary to relative the evaluation after the course. The method of using a tablet pc and editing the content during the lecture TU Graz goes Podcast 227 hour keeps the fact that the content covers many arithmetic operations in good stead. The fact that some of the recordings had to be done a second time after the lecture may have let to a better quality but disagreed to our main aims to catch the live-character. 3.1.1 Experiences during the recording For the purposes of the project the method of “desktop recording” (name by Camtasia) was selected. Although it produces larger files and doesn't set markers, it makes using other programs during a lecture easier for the presenter. Furthermore the use of the “Power Point started recording” method may result in data loss as lecturers tend to exit Power Point in haste or often neglect to save recorded data. It always was essential to carry out a sound check to ensure that audio levels are between acceptable values, as too high values could lead to audio clipping. An audio check is easily done in Camtasia in the form of adjusting a parameter before the actual recording, but sometimes it is necessary to adjust the overall system volume. Besides this, in order to have less “clicks” and “pops”, it is important to use a pop shield. Furthermore the position of the microphone is crucial as it must not interfere with clothes such as scarves or be suppressed by the lecturer's neck. However as the largest section of a video’s file size represents the video track, audio encoding requires extra attention. Certain problems have been identified with the use of Camtasia. In certain cases audio and video asynchronisation has occurred. When attempting to cut parts of the stream, the resulting video has skipping frames. With Mencoder a higher level of control of the encoding process (especially for the audio) can be achieved. 3.1.2 Evaluation results In the pre-test the status of podcasting among the students was checked. Who knows about podcasts, who listened, watched or already created podcasts or mp3 files? Which mobile end devices are used? The post-evaluation concentrated on the use and the quality of the offered podcasts. Why has it not been used? The results of the written evaluations were different. The oral evaluation results very positively. Nearly all of the students watched each podcast up to 240 minutes. Some results of the written evaluation in detail: 228 Best Practice Reports: Martin Ebner, Walther Nagler, Anna Saranti Research Question 1 (pre-test): I have already heard about podcasting? (1=never, 5=sure, I know all about it) Table 1: Research Question 1 Research Question 2 (pre-test): I have already heard a podcast? (1=never, 3=heard, 5=heard and produced) Table 2: Research Question 2 Research Question 3 (pre-test): I listen to ordinary .mp3 files … (1=never, 5=nearly daily) Table 3: Research Question 3 Research Question 4 (pre-test): I have a mobile device? Table 4: Research Question 4 TU Graz goes Podcast 229 Research Question 5 (post-test): I have used the podcasts of the lecture “Informatik 1”. (1=once, 2=more than once, 3=all, 4=never) Table 5: Research Question 5 Research Question 6 (post-test): The quality of the podcasts was … (1=bad, 4=very good) Table 6: Research Question 6 3.2 Discussion The results of the first experiences towards podcasting at the TU Graz showed that it was possible to minimize technological problems occurring at the very beginning. The problems concerning the recording during the lecture as well as to the further treatment of the records especially the audio track. It is now possible to generate and distribute a podcast easily and quickly. The aspects of quick production and distribution are confronted by the quality aspect, because the voice is of major importance to the acceptance of the audience (Gamböck, Pichler 2006). The quality of the podcasts were rated good (Research Question 6) but should be improved. Only 12% of the users stated some technical problems when consuming the podcasts. Without any doubt the driving force of the whole process is its simplicity. The learners have to concentrate on learning, on the content themselves, not on technological issues. Almonte (Almonte, Gilroy 2005) mentioned: “Podcasts are portable and re-useable, and with subscription, podcasting goes to a new level of ease and simplicity”. 230 Best Practice Reports: Martin Ebner, Walther Nagler, Anna Saranti Though the media MP3 is very well known, podcasting is familiar only to a small group of students but no one has produced a podcast on his/her own. Lane (Lane, 2006) reported in her study that about two thirds of the students have iPods. This evaluation confirms the result of Lane insofar more than 90% of the students have a mobile player. The didactical scenario is of major importance to the acceptance of the use of podcasts in higher education. A question given to all students who never used podcasts before pointed out that about 30% mentioned that the podcast is not relevant for the examination; furthermore 30% are not interested in podcasts in general. Except of a few recordings after a lecture unit all podcasts result from live-recordings. Though the average duration of a podcast was about one hour and therefore lasted much more longer than recommended by Wunschel (Wunschel, 2007) “The perfect podcast lasts about 20 minutes and shall be occur once in a week whereby the size of the downloaded file is of no greater importance.” The acceptance of the podcasts did not depend on the time factor but on the way the content was presented. The lecture “Mechanik 1” was recorded by using a tablet pc on which the professor was able to develop the learning matter (mainly mathematic calculations) step by step. The acceptance for those podcasts was very high (mentioned by oral feedback of the students).The benefit for the students declined without the possibility of reproducing so to say “growing content” and “only” consuming prepared content having been recorded during presentation with PowerPoint or similar software (as it was done in the lectures “Informatik 1” and “Elektrische Energiesysteme 1”). Nevertheless the students appreciated the live character of the recording as an important quality and reason to listen to the lecture again. This statement points out the importance of the human factor within podcasting and teaching in general. Students are used to hear lecturers not in a very professional manner. Live recording includes of course speech mismatches or some other noises but the live character may be one of the crucial factors for hearing podcasts. Burgos (Frank Burgos by Campbell 2005) described that aspect in the following way: “Podcasting, done the right kind of way, can … make a newspaper sound like a human being. Because that’s what newspapers are: they’re a collection of human beings”. 4 Conclusion and Future Work The usage of podcasting lectures is not to replace presence-lecture times but to enrich them. To reconstruct particular learning content such as difficult mathematic equations it TU Graz goes Podcast 231 is of high purpose when the student is able to follow it step by step explained and worked out by the teacher. Furthermore the student can do this not only when ever but also where ever he/she wants to because of the independency from end devices. This is also a further step to fulfill the demands of usability engineering which can make learning more effective. With other words (Almonte, Gilroy 2005): “Unlike streaming audio, which requires you to listen in real-time, podcasting lets you control how and when you listen offline.” Shall the work with podcasts become one of the preconditions for passing examinations? Will podcasts be a good method during preparation times within blended learning scenarios? Which purposes can be reached better by producing short podcastsequences instead of recording whole lectures? Will there be a significant influence on the attendance at the lecture room when podcasting the lecture? Considering theses issues it can be said that podcasting will play an important part in the future of e-education. The use of podcasts is rapidly and steadily growing mainly at the expense of radio and is therefore no current hype (Wunschel, 2007). Wunschel mentioned that 46% use podcasts for educational purposes; which is a 59% raise according to previous year’s value. 62% consume video-podcasts as well as audio podcasts. Podcasts are heard in a commute way by two thirds of the users; podcasting can therefore called to be a “commutainment media” (Wunschel, 2007). Furthermore video podcasts are being demanded by many students as well as a download version preferred to a streaming version (Swiss 2006). Future aims will be to enable searching of written and spoken content within the podcast itself and a central recording control. The first steps towards search within a audio file have already been done by Podscope (http://podscope.com) “the first search engine that can find podcasts according to the words spoken during them! (New York Times, July 27, 2005)" and by Yahoo which has an audio search engine (http://audio.search.yahoo.com). However, it must be pointed out, that among technological aspects we strongly have to bear in mind that the profit and success of podcasting definitely depends on the didactic concept surrounding it. 232 Best Practice Reports: Martin Ebner, Walther Nagler, Anna Saranti 5 Acknowledgements We would like to express our gratitude to the people who used the podcasts and gave us feedback about their experiences. Special thanks to the Vehicle Safety Institute (a Member of the Frank Stronach Institute Graz) and the Lifelong Learning department of the University of Technology of Graz for their help. In the end we are equally indebted to Professor Dr. Lothar Fickert, Professor Dr. Frank Kappe and Professor Dr. Ulrich Walder for their activities and the possibility to provide their lectures with podcasting. 6 References Almonte, A., Gilroy, K. (2005). Podcast for Learning, © The Otter Group | Cambridge, MA. URL: http://www.ottergroup.com/blog/_archives/2005/9/16/1232728.html (accessed 2007-01-24) Campbell, G. (2005). There´s Something in the Air - Podcasting in Education, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 40, no. 6 (November/December 2005): 32–47. URL: http://www.educause.edu/er/erm05/erm0561.asp (accessed 2007-01-24) Dorok, S. (2006). Podcasting im Unterricht, lehrer-online, Schule ans Netz e.V. URL: http://www.lehrer-online.de/dyn/9.asp?path=/podcasting (accessed 2007-01-24) Ebner, M., Stöckler-Penz, C., Gugler, J., Hoschopf, H. (2007). Podcasting – Zukunftschance für die universitäre Weiterbildung?, Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung, ZFHE Jg.2/Nr.1 (März 2007), in print. URL: (http://www.zfhe.at) (accessed 2007-04-25) Gamböck, B., Pichler, M. (2006). Schöne neue Welt des E-Learnings, Haufe Fachmedia, URL: http://www.personal-expo.de (accessed 2007-01-24) Grossman, L (2006). Time’s Person of the Year: You, 2006 issue of Time magazine. URL: http://www.time.come/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00html?aid=434&from=o&to=http%3A//www.time.com/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2 C1569514%2C00.html (accessed 2007-01-29) Lane, C. (2006). UW Podcasting: Evaluation of Year One, Office of Learning Technologies, University of Washington, URL: http://catalyst.washington.edu/research_development/papers/2006/podcasting_year 1.pdf (accessed 2007-01-24) Nagler, W., Korica-Pehserl, P., Ebner, M. (2006), RSS – the Door to E-Learning 2.0, Tagungsband 13. Tagung FNMA-Austria, in print TU Graz goes Podcast 233 Swiss Banking Institute of the University of Zurich (2006), Bildung für unterwegs: Evaluationsresultate der Semester 04/05 und 05/06, eCF Corporate Finance, Swiss Banking Institute of the University of Zurich. URL: http://www.getinvolved.unizh.ch/podcast.html (accessed 2007-01-24) Townend, N. (2005). Podcasting in Higher Education, Media Onlinefocus 22, British Universities Film & Video Council, URL: http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/publications/mediaonlineissues/mof22_vf61.pdf (accessed 2007-01-24) Wunschel, A. (2007). Die deutschen Podcast-Hörer – Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse der zweiten Podcast-Umfrage. URL: http://tellerrand.typepad.com/tellerrand/podcastumfrage/ (accessed 2007-01-24) AIOLE and AWLA application to e-Learning 2.0: an ePortfolio with an eDossier (Best Practice Report) Pedro P. Sanchez-Villalon EOI Ciudad Real and Universidad de Castilla La Mancha (Spain) Manuel Ortega Universidad de Castilla La Mancha (Spain) Asuncion Sanchez-Villalon Universidad de Castilla La Mancha (Spain) Abstract: A fast evolution from Learning Management Systems to Online Learning Environments to Personal Learning Environments is taking place, allowing the implementation of lifelong learning on the Web, based on the application of pedagogical foundations to previously technology-focused content delivery. The integration of Web resources for developing knowledge and language skills, such as our wiki-based AWLA (A Writing e-Learning Appliance) resource for writing on the Web, in blog-like Interactive Online Learning Environments (produced by our AIOLE generator) where learners can be first guided by tutors (with easily-designed lesson plans) and institutional guidelines, such as the descriptors of the Common European Framework for Languages. All this will enable learners to develop their personal ePortfolio, following the European Portfolio of Languages initiative including the e-Dossier as the main innovation. Then, learners can go on organizing their personal learning environment to develop their lifelong learning, following the trend of e-Learning 2.0. 1 Introduction The use of the Web for learning has widespread with the profusion of LMS-based online courses. However, these learning environments only offer access to content, organized by the teacher who is usually driven by strict, inflexible conditions of huge software programs, such as WebCT and Blackboard. A new approach to online learning is making e-Learning evolve to more constructionist practices (Papert, 1991) by aggregating resources and content in the form of little widgets to be collected and placed in personal learning environments (PLE – Wiley, 2005). Basic interactive communication on the AIOLE and AWLA application to e-Learning 2.0: an ePortfolio with an eDossier 235 Web with forms and forums has been improved with new technologies such as wikis and blogs, two examples of micro-software which allow writing on the Web, making webpages into writing surfaces to publish information. The Web itself is being transformed from what it has initially become, the so-called “the Read Web” to the “Read-Write Web”, which was in fact the original vision of Tim Berners-Lee (1999). New trends focus more on the learning design. The e-Learning 2.0 perspective shifts the focus from the organizational aspect to the learner’s ability to design their own learning environment. This paper proposes the application of the e-Learning 2.0 infrastructure to an online learning environment generator where the learning design of any activity can be easily described and later the learning experience reported as evidence in an ePortfolio by directly writing on the Web. This is applied to language learning by enabling writing activities in task-based scenarios to develop the language skills in a combined way. This allows language learners to become permanent learners who, after an initial stage of being guided to learning with technology, will be able to design their own learning plans and make use of the Web as a social network, accessing information, publishing their language learning practices and editing their achievements in ePortfolios. They can share their learning experiences, using micro-resources known as widgets on what has been termed the Web 2.0 (O’Reilly, 2005), which applied to education in the e-Learning 2.0 perspective can be addressed to develop their lifelong learning. 2 Wikis and other Web technologies The Web offers not only browsable access to the information, but it also facilitates interactive agent-like services (Sánchez-Villalón and Ortega, 2004). The writing facility on the Web offered by wikis and blogs make the Web more interactive for learning. This kind of interaction (between users, content and context) is provided by the aggregation of resources and services aimed at designing and enabling technology-based educational activities that can be integrated in the online learning environments and adapted to the interface required by any specific discipline. It is the job of the teacher to organize learning activities in tasks and design them to accomplish the teaching objectives in the first instance. Later, by interacting with the learning environment, the learners can be capable of designing their own path in their lifelong learning process. Learning design of any activity can be easily described using XML-based RSS aggregators and be placed on Websites for easy availability of contents and resources. Integration in these environments is feasible in a simple way. The integration through 236 Best Practice Reports: P.P. Sanchez-Villalon, M. Ortega, A. Sanchez-Villalon XML (as is the case of RSS aggregators - Winer, 2002) is enabling different applications and environments to communicate and share these services for the design of more comprehensive learning environments. Integration in online learning environments is rapidly being implemented through APIs and RSS invocation from different platforms, such as Yahoo MyWeb and Google Readers and Personalised Homepage. That is the new goal in our online learning environments, to enable the transition to personal learning environments by integrating these kinds of learning resources in small widgets, ready to be aggregated by the learner as required. 3 AIOLE as a generator of integrating Personal Learning Environment The facility of writing on the Web has been the basis for our developments: AIOLE and AWLA. AIOLE stands for An Interactive Online Learning Environment, and facilitates the design of the learning from institutional guidelines to the teacher’s course management to the learner’s personal learning. AIOLE derives from and integrates AWLA, a Writing eLearning Appliance to write on the Web anywhere anytime, designed to practise writing on a task basis in appropriate teacher-designed scenarios for language learning. The aspects of the changing infrastructure, the methods, the learning design and scenarios in this new way of learning enhanced with technology are the basis of this new resource, together with the functionalities offered by the AWLA resource for writing, for learning how to write and for learning in general. AWLA allows the mixture of traditional face toface learning with learning online in a Blended Learning environment. Considering the student-centred feature that effective online learning environments should have AIOLE facilitates the capacity offered to students to design their own learning. Online learning environments should offer tools for collaboration in the design of tasks and activities. Our developments allow this in a very simple and easy way as is the case of AWLA and AIOLE, the two resources developed to demonstrate the research presented here, as we will see below. Downes (2005) provides a definition for PLE: “Personal Learning Environments are systems that help learners take control of and manage their own learning”. Some components that are usually included in PLE are RSS feeds and a writing facility. PLE environments are designed by the learners themselves making use of a series of Web technologies and applications that they collect from the Web and place in their environment. These applications are situated around the Web 2.0 technology, where wikis and blogs play an important role offering the facility to write on the Web. AWLA and AIOLE developments aim to contribute to these technologies but they offer an AIOLE and AWLA application to e-Learning 2.0: an ePortfolio with an eDossier 237 intermediate solution, since learners need some guidance in their initial stages for eLearning with these tools and with learning design. Later, they are enabled to go on learning in the same scenario without a teacher. Thus, they can start learning formally and then go on learning in a progressively more independent, informal way, leading to lifelong learning. Figure 1: AIOLE basic OLE components as widgets AIOLE was first conceived to be an evolution from Learning Management Systems to Online Learning Environments to Personal Learning Environments, based on the application of more pedagogical foundations to previously technology-focused content delivery. Thus, after decomposing (by disaggregation) a learning environment into the basic components, AIOLE offers learners the capacity to use a file management widget and the activity-design resource, among others (Fig. 1). The integration of Web resources for developing knowledge and language skills, such as our wiki-based AWLA (A Writing e-Learning Appliance) resource for writing on the Web, in blog-like Interactive Online Learning Environments (produced by our AIOLE generator) where learners can be first guided by tutors (with easily-designed lesson plans) and institutional guidelines, such as the descriptors of the Common European Framework for Languages (CEFR, 2001). 238 Best Practice Reports: P.P. Sanchez-Villalon, M. Ortega, A. Sanchez-Villalon Figure 2: AWLA integration and aggregation 4 THE EUROPEAN LANGUAGE PORTFOLIO This deviation from formal learning is a must if we see PLEs as the ideal framework to develop personal e-Portfolios (Wilson, 2005). Portfolios measure learning and development over time (Barrett, 2000). The digital version is the e-Portfolio. When ePortfolios appeared in the educational scene, some researchers (Tosh, 2004; Hiebert, 2006) considered they were conceived to be “A learner controlled space where they can keep a record of what they have done, what they are doing and plan where they want to AIOLE and AWLA application to e-Learning 2.0: an ePortfolio with an eDossier 239 go” (Tosh, 2006). From Hiebert’s perspective, they should be used to collect, reflect, connect and publish (Hiebert, 2006), extracting the most outstanding steps from the different kinds of Portfolios established by Barrett (2000), and following some principles of the Engagement Theory of Learning. However, they were mainly used for reporting achievements from the perspective of certain established goals. They were taken by educational institutions and fixed in the way that they were reports of past achievements, assessment-focused, and so, not much learner controlled any more. Thus, PLE are seen as an unstructured, really learner-controlled alternative parallel to e-Portfolios. One of the first Portfolios implemented in education was the European Language Portfolio (2000), published just before the final draft of the CEFR came into the scene. However, it includes the selfassessment grid, an essential part of the Portfolio. It appeared to give learners the responsibility of their own learning and thus become really aware of their progress, of their strengths and weaknesses, and of their specific goals. The European Language Portfolio consists of three parts: The Language Passport, the Biography and the Dossier. The European Portfolio for Languages (CoE, 2000) allows learners to reflect and determine their level of domain and skills following the guidance of the Passport and the Biography, which includes questions on every strategy to produce a final document for certification, proven upon showing the evidence in the Dossier. In order to convert it into an e-Portfolio, a great deal has already been done by automatising the filling-in of the Language Passport in an easy, fast, updatable way on the Web, which in this digital version becomes the EuroPass. The Biography writing is also easy to store in personal computers or on the Web. On the other hand, the Dossier is something that seems to be necessarily physical and not digital. However, a lot of certificates are first written digitally and then printed and signed. The electronic signature, and just scanning of physical documents can allow having an e-Dossier available on the Web. Additionally, digital photos and multimedia files will make it possible to store any kind of evidence on the Web, say, drawings, travels, buildings, sports competitions, not to mention video and sound-recorded activities that can demonstrate the user learning experiences and achievements. A subdirectory or web space in a server will allow users to store their experience as image, video and sound files. Appropriate language learning environments should support ways to implement this e-Portfolio in a digital way. All this will enable learners to develop their personal ePortfolio, following the European Portfolio of Languages initiative (CoE, 2000), including the e-Dossier as the main innovation. And AIOLE achieves this aim to a great extent including an innovative proposal for an e-Dossier, as shown in Fig 3. Additionally, it can provide a space for the Learning Plan. This seems to be an important part of PLE 240 Best Practice Reports: P.P. Sanchez-Villalon, M. Ortega, A. Sanchez-Villalon environments and something that both AWLA and AIOLE allow and facilitate, with direct and easy access to CEPR Guidelines. Figure 3: ePortfolio implementation with the EuroPass and eDossier 5 Conclusions PLE environments are designed by the learners themselves making use of a series of Web technologies and applications that they collect from the Web and place in their environment. AWLA and AIOLE developments aim to contribute to these technologies AIOLE and AWLA application to e-Learning 2.0: an ePortfolio with an eDossier 241 but they offer an intermediate solution, since learners need some guidance in their initial stages for e-Learning with these tools and with learning design. Later, they are enabled to go on learning in the same scenario without a teacher. Thus, they can start learning formally and then go on organizing their personal learning environment in a progressively more independent, informal way, leading to lifelong learning, following the trend of eLearning 2.0. The facility to write on the Web has been applied with AIOLE as a set of integrated micro-resources to implement and easily use an ePortfolio for language learners to keep control and track of their learning process by reflecting on their learning skills and objectives with the Europass and the electronic Linguistic Biography, and show evidence of their language competence with the eDossier. 6 References Barrett, H. (2000). Create Your Own Electronic Portfolio. Learning & Leading with Technology (April, 2000) CEFR (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Language Learning, Teaching and Assessment. Council of Europe. URL: http://culture2.coe.int/portfolio/documents/Common European Framework hyperlinked.pdf (accessed April, 2007) CoE, (2000), European Language Portfolio, Language Policy Division of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 1998-2000. URL: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/portfolio/ (accessed April, 2007) Downes, S. (2005) e-Learning 2.0, URL: http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm? section=articles&article=29-1 (accessed April, 2007) Hiebert, J. (2006) e-Portfolio Model, Blog entry, retrieved from URL: http://headspacej.blogspot.com/2006/02/e-portfolio-model.html on 16 September 2006. (accessed April, 2007) Berners-Lee, T. (1999). Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by its Inventor. San Francisco: Harper. O’Reilly, T. (2005) What is Web 2.0? O'Reilly Network. Retrieved on 16th September 2006 at URL: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/ 09/30/what-isweb-20.html (accessed April, 2007) Papert, S. (1991). Situating Constructionism. In I. Harel and S. Papert (eds.) Constructionism, , 1-11. Norwood NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation. 242 Best Practice Reports: P.P. Sanchez-Villalon, M. Ortega, A. Sanchez-Villalon Sánchez-Villalón, P.P., Ortega, M. (2004) Writing on the Web: a Web Appliance in a Ubiquitous e-Learning Environment, M. Singhal (ed.) The Reading Matrix Online Conference, 15-26. Tosh, D. (2004). Creation of a learning landscape: weblogging and social networking in the context of e-portfolios. URL: http://eradc.org/papers/Learning_landscape.pdf Retrieved on 16 September 2006 Tosh, D. (2006). PLE's - are they what the ePortfolio promised to be? Blog entry retrieved from URL: http://elgg.net/dtosh/weblog/7365.html on 16 September 2006. (accessed April, 2007) Wiley, D. A. (2006). The Current State of Open Educational Resources. URL: http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/247 . Retrieved on 1 September, 2006 Wilson, S. (2005). The PLE debate begins. URL: http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/blogview?entry=20051126183704. Retrieved on 16 September, 2006 Winer, D. (2002), What is a News Aggregator, http://davenet.smallpicture.com/2002/10/08/whatIsANewsAggregator.html (accessed April, 2007) URL: Short Biographies (Key Speakers) Peter A. Bruck (A) E-technologies & Smart Media Head, ARC Research Studios Austria (Salzburg); Conference Chair Peter A. Bruck is the founder and General Manager of the Research Studios Austria, and division head for e-technologies and smart media at the ARC Austrian Research Centers GmbH, the national public-private technology research organisation. His many international activities and positions include being member of the UNESCO ICT Task Force (2001–2005). He continues some teaching as Honorary Professor of Information Economy and New Technologies at the University of Salzburg, and holds an appointment as Research Professor of Communication and Journalism at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Norm Friesen (CAN) Microlearning Didactics, Microlearning Genres Canada Research Chair in E-Learning Practices at Thompson Rivers University, British Columbia Norm has been developing and studying Web technologies in educational contexts since 1995, and is the principal investigator in the SSHRC-sponsored learningspaces.org” project. His main research interest is exploring the cultural and human dimension of emerging new technologies in the fields of learning and knowledge building. Norm is Principal Investigator of the SSHRC project »Learning Spaces: A Phenomenological Comparison of Simulated and Mediated Computer Worlds«. Ajit Jaokar (UK) Mobile Web 2.0 & Education CEO, Futuretext, London; Chair, Oxford University’s Next generation mobile applications panel, Oxford Ajit is a specialist on disruptive technologies and developments in the field of ›Mobile Web 2.0‹, having written the authoritative book on this subject. He is a member of the web2.0 workgroup and blogs at Open Gardens. Besides chairing Oxford University’s Next generation mobile applications panel, he plays an advisory role to a number of mobile start-ups in the UK and Scandinavia. 244 Short Biographies (Key Speakers) Teemu Leinonen (FIN) Knowledge Building in New Media Environments Research Group Leader, Learning Environments research group, Media Lab – University of Art and Design Helsinki Teemu has led a number of innovative research projects dealing with Future Learning Environments and Collaborative Learning and Knowledge Building, among them MobilED and LeMill. Teemu is a frequent speaker on conferences, has given in-service courses for teachers and conducted consulting and concept design for several Finnish ICT and media companies. He is a leading activist at FLOSSE (Free, Libre and Open Source Software in Education). Martin Lindner (GER, A) Learning Experiences in Micromedia Environments Program Chair, Microlearning2007 After some years of teaching as a visiting professor of German Literature and Media Studies, Martin realized to be witnessing a fundamental techno-cultural paradigm change and specialized in Next Generation e-learning. At the Research Studio e-Learning Environments he is responsible for R&D strategies focusing on microcontent and micromedia, having created the concept of the Microlearning conferences and building an international network of transdisciplinary experts. Stephanie Rieger (UK/CAN) Learning & Lifestyle for Mobile CEO, Yiibu (Glasgow, Vancouver) Stephanie’s company Yiibu creates unique and engaging content for emerging mobile technologies and devices, with a special interest in developing new kinds of ›casual‹ learning experiences. A true mobile avant-gardist, she writes on mobility, culture and user experience at her blog Keitai. She was speaker on several cutting-edge technology conferences, including the organization of the Mobile Monday Vancouver. Martina A. Roth (GER) Technology Fuels Knowledge Director Education EMEA, Intel Corp.; Conference Chair Up to this day, Intel has invested over 1 billion US$ in Education worldwide. Martina A. Roth is Director (EMEA) of Intel’s Education Initiative and responsible for all Intel Education programs (i.e. Intel Teach or Higher Education Programs) successfully implemented in over 30 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Short Biographies (Key Speakers) 245 David Smith (UK) Microlearning and mobile Micromedia Director of ICT, St. Paul’s School (London) In previous lives David was Head of English at Marlborough College, Director of Studies at Charterhouse, and teaching English at Radley College. Along the way he became a specialist in the new disruptive digital technologies, and even more in the new practices and experiences that emerge under these conditions. David writes a blog on these subjects (www.preoccupation.org) and spoke at conferences on emerging technologies and their impact on a new culture of learning and education. Micromedia respond to the calls from ICT users for the design of innovative experiences, processes and technologies: personal and dynamic, casual and volatile, but still complex and effective. In corporate learning the changes through the development of micromedia are most profound. Microlearning 2007 brings together media technologists and academics, visionaries and practitioners, entrepreneurs and corporate professionals from around the world to discuss new visions and analysis, innovative concepts, projects, and best practice results related to the impact of the emerging new digital micromedia ecology and corporate learning strategies. What impact does a cumulative fragmented digital communication and information flow have on educational issues in formal and informal learning environments in vocational training, higher education and professional training? The Proceedings of the 3rd International Microlearning 2007 Conference contribute to answering the questions of new media users in six main subject fields: New Media in Organisations, Classroom Without Walls, Corporate Learning, Mobile Trainings, Web 2.0 & Education, Micromedia Environments. This is a physical hyperlink to http://www.microlearning.org/whatismicrolearning What is Microlearning? For the answer, get a free QR-reader for your mobile camera-phone, focus this code and your mobile browser will automatically take you to the website. ISBN: 978-3-902571-09-0