Open and Social Technologies for Networked Learning

Voice-based services offer major business opportunities in developing areas such as India and Africa. In these areas mobile phones have become very popular, and their usage is increasing all the time. In this project, we study the deployment of voice-based mobile educational services for developing countries. Our study is based on a Spoken Web technology developed by IBM Research Labs, and our focus is on India’s Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP). It is being built as a service that runs on the telecom infrastructure similar to World Wide Web that runs as a service on the Internet infrastructure. Spoken Web proposes to build an alternate web for the underprivileged population that is yet untouched by the enormous benefits of Internet and World Wide Web. In this research project RuralVoice we also investigate how Finnish service and technology companies can co-create novel services for this challenging target population in three educational areas i.e. agriculture, healthcare and entrepreneurship education.

This paper is based on two studies about mobile learning in one secondary school in Estonia. The main question for this research was how should schools harness the increasing use of mobile phones, tablets at home in order to make it also beneficial for the schools? What are the emerging trends in mobile devices security that schools are facing when introducing m-learning to students? According to our findings, Estonian schools face various problems which must be addressed before any serious attempt at m-learning is made.

A growing interest in research focuses on teachers’ large-scale socio-technical networks. Social learning approaches such as social constructivist theory is well established, however, the current challenges lie in creating reliable methods to gather evidence of how and under which conditions social learning takes place in such socio-technical networks and how does it support teachers’ lifelong learning goals. The field of Learning Analytics (LA) addresses the issue of individual learners, whereas Social Learning Analytics (SLA) addresses that of groups’ processes in knowledge construction.

The eTwinning action is used as a case study for applying the concepts of Social Learning Analytics. Our interest is on teachers’ co-operation behaviour and patterns within a socio-technical network and how that can support teachers’ continuous professional development. The eTwinning platform currently hosts more than 160000 European teachers. We first introduce the underlying pedagogical and lifelong learning related assumptions regarding teachers’ co-operation. To better understand the type of activities that teachers undertake in eTwinning, they are classified according to the OECD‘s indices for teachers’ co-operation. This creates the core of the eTwinning Analytics framework, which operationalises activities and allows them to be better measured and monitored. A snapshot of data from the platform is used as a proof of concept.

Digital spaces designated for learning need to invite to social learning. Oftentimes, however, students express feelings of loneliness in their learning in online courses. Making the students more visible to each other is hence crucial. In this article we present a study of students’ self-presentations. We find that they are rather unelaborated, and we propose an alternative solution to making students identities visible within the learning space. Our proposed solution is a separate system that can be plugged into any digital learning system: the edentity.

In recent years Social Tagging (ST) has become a popular functionality in social learning environments, not least because tags support the exchange of users’ knowledge representations, a process called social sensemaking. An important design feature of ST-Systems (STS) is the tag recommendation service. Several principles for tag recommendation mechanisms (TRM) have been proposed, which are built upon a technical and statistical perspective on STS and based on aggregated user data on a word level. Up to now, a cognitive perspective also taking into account memory processes has been neglected. In this paper we therefore introduce a TRM that applies a formal theory of human memory to model a user’s prototypical tag configurations. The algorithm underlying the TRM is supposed to recommend psychologically plausible tag combinations and to mediate social sensemaking.

As social media tools are increasingly used in e-learning in the workplace, there is also a growing need for case studies to allow us to understand the underlying dynamics in order to develop best practices and to avoid potential pitfalls. Using qualitative approach, we studied a pilot training tailored for a large insurance organization that was conducted largely with chats, blogs, voice conferencing, and discussion forums. Our results show that despite challenges, social media use can produce value to e-learners and thus lend credence to many, so far weakly substantiated claims about their potential. In particular, synchronous tools enabled peer support, experience sharing, and networking. Still, the results also show that interactive learning process does not emerge automatically from adding social tools but needs to be designed and maintained. Based on learner views, we discuss how to improve the overall learning experience and make learning more efficient. Also, we discuss how to improve social media tools to better meet learner needs in e-learning in contrast to their recreational use.

As social technology use is increasing in e-learning, so is the need to complement theoretical work with studies of learner experiences of the new dynamics of e-learning to guide this development. We studied how 15 learners experienced social media tools in a long continuous professional development (CPD) pilot training tailored for a large insurance company. While the training included some contact lectures, it was mainly conducted through blog, wiki, chat, and discussion forum tools. As we have already discussed forum and chat use in another paper on a shorter CPD training (with 40 learners) and this study confirmed the results, we focus here on learner experiences of wiki and blog. While the wiki process was widely misunderstood, wiki and blog experiences organically led learners to consider their uses as a personal learning environment. As to blog, the learners who saw it as a tool for self-reflection perceived it positively while others did not, underlining that the benefits and goals of using social tools need to be explicated. Furthermore, social learning process needs to be designed and maintained, as busy workplace learners tend to focus on fulfilling requirements. Simply adding social technology does not necessarily lead to social e-learning.

Work organisations face demanding challenges, such as expectations to be creative, innovative, agile, competitive, efficient and adept at using employees’ knowledge while understanding and taking care of employees’ wellbeing. Organisations are actively implementing new ICT systems and environments because they seem to increase the effectiveness of interaction and collaboration, workplace learning and work performance. Employees are expected to learn and to innovate continuously. Thus, managers often need to be social acrobats, combining basic tasks, managing projects and creating and meeting innovative goals. Work units may be potential and versatile learning and development spaces, but at the same time, existing routines, traditions and power relations in organisations create different kinds of boundaries and conflicts. Dialogic leadership might be one of the key factors in successful modern organisations. Dialogic leadership is a prerequisite to meeting the challenges mentioned above. In this paper, we examine the potential and challenges of dialogic leadership and learning when adopting and using e-Calendar (eC) in one of the Dinno programme’s professional case organisations.

A growing number of higher education institutions have adopted asynchronous and synchronous Web-based learning platforms to improve students’ learning efficiency and increase learning satisfaction. To understand how students use e-learning platforms and what the implications are, we conducted an empirical study of the iCAN e-learning platform, which has been widely used in Fu-Jen Catholic University. We use the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), a multi-criteria evaluation approach, to compare five practices of the teaching platform. We designed a questionnaire to measure learners’ perception of the e-learning platform based on the theory of knowledge transforming process in knowledge management. Accordingly, the model considers functioning and objectivity in terms of the following three dimensions of learning effectiveness:individual learning, group sharing and learning performance. Twelve criteria with twelve evaluation items were used to investigate the effectiveness of the five practices. We also evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of the functions based on the types of courses in the iCan platform. We expect that the empirical evaluation results will provide teachers with suggestions and guidelines for using the e-learning platform effectively to facilitate their teaching activities and promote students’ learning efficiency and satisfaction.

This paper discusses the conceptual design of Digital Learning Ecosystems, which, as we argue, are becoming the foundation of next-generation Technology-Enhanced Learning systems (TEL systems). We illustrate our argument by a case study on design and development of a Dippler ecosystem. First, the framework for identifying the generations of TEL systems is described and expectations towards next generation of TEL systems are drawn from the literature review. After that, the dialectics of ongoing mainstream discourse (LMS vs PLE) is analysed and platform for reaching the synthesis is drawn. As we argue, the next-generation TEL systems are better understood if not referred as “learning environments”, but rather as Digital Learning Ecosystems. Finally, process and results of a design-based research on Digital Learning Ecosystem called Dippler is described and discussed.

In this article, we introduce the concept of learning analytics in the context of TUT Circle, a social media enhanced web service for learning in use at Tampere University of Technology. Through three case studies, we apply the methods of learning analytics for insight into the bursty nature of learning activities, procrastination, peer learning, and co-operation between two academic tribes. We found learning analytics useful in providing information to improve the pedagogical practices of online courses, as well as the quality of web-based learning in general.

As students operate increasingly in digital environments populated by social media tools, they need to leverage them effectively to access online resources and stay connected to the physical environments which they inhabit. This paper reports on a practitioner research project to reconfigure a traditional Computer Information Systems (CIS) tutoring lab at a business university into the “CIS Sandbox.” The physical facility launched with an aligned online presence intended to engage students and contribute to their learning about CIS topics. The paper presents the rationale, design, and implementation of these collaborative tools, and their impact on the students’ and tutors’ educational experience. Qualitative analysis from interviews with Sandbox staff and quantitative analysis of data from a preliminary survey suggests that creatively drawing upon collaborative tools and methods enables the integration between physical and virtual spaces.

This paper introduces a university course in which digital video composing was used as a study method. The aim of the course was to empower future teachers to use digital and multimodal literacy practices in their own teaching. Students in education, 13 in total, participated in the course on digital literacies. The course achievement was measured with the task in which students composed a video in small-groups. The students’ videos were supposed to convince a pedagogical target group about the usefulness of a teaching method or need for a reform. In the last meeting, student’s videos were watched and the contents of the videos were discussed. The experiences on composing a digital video were also shared. In the last meeting, the students answered to a questionnaire on their experiences on video composing. After the course the students wrote a self-evaluation about their own learning. This paper seeks to clarify students’ experiences on learning of multimodal literacy practices, ICT use and course content. Most of the students reported that they learned to create and interpret multimodal texts. New ICT-tools were also learned to use. The study showed that video composing can be used to study content knowledge at the university course.

The introduction of open and networked learning practices in formal higher education regularly collides with the personal beliefs and convictions that students hold in relation to their own capacity for learning and the structural and procedural conditions that they expect to be met in such settings. A series of systemic intervention studies at Tallinn University highlighted the disabling role that these personal learning myths can play when students are confronted with practices that promote a new culture of learning. This paper offers some selected examples from a qualitative data analysis and discusses the possibility to embrace personal learning myths as a core concept for further research and the development of more effective intervention instruments and approaches.

This paper explores ways that open and social technologies relate to educational transformation, analysing three case studies of exemplar school-based projects. Schools in England have been asked to develop ‘educational transformation’. Although there is no single definition, aspects of community and social interactions and networking are intended, as is development of appropriate uses of digital technologies. Managing educational transformation with digital technologies requires knowledge, levels of expertise, and willingness to manage innovation. Curriculum position and intention, management models and roles of intergenerational learning are fundamental to developments. Future implications for educational support and schools are considered.

There are many opportunities for social technologies to create wider and more valuable educational communities. This paper presents an analysis of a Government initiative to create educational communities around schools in Victoria, Australia using social networking systems. The analysis, comparing several systems, shows that a number of factors, including interpretation of reactions by actors are crucial to the success of applications of social technologies in an educational setting.

The purpose of this study is to introduce a new paradigm called “Smart Learning” in South Korea. The adoption of highly advanced Information Technology (IT) in education has been a global issue for many years. The Smart Learning paradigm in Korea is a convergence concept of Ubiquitous Learning (u-Learning) and Social Learning. This study examined the Smart Learning education system through a SWOT analysis of Korean public education. Thus, this study provides strategic implications for the countries that are in the process of promoting the Smart Learning education program.

The emergence of Digital Ecosystems can be endorsed by creating shared conceptualizations. Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS) form a backbone of organizing knowledge. Focusing in developing KOS and having its present and future requirements in mind would eventually support knowledge sharing and learning at collective level. Three types of KOS are distinguished: a) private level KOS; b) arbitrary KOS; c) methodic KOS. Knowledge Maturing can be described as goal-oriented learning on a collective level. In line with the knowledge maturing model, we assume that stabilizing and dynamic forces co-exist in all organizations which seek a dynamic equilibrium between further development and stabilization. Identifying and measuring these forces would help in the effective development of Knowledge Organization Systems and consequently support planning and development of information systems.

With this paper we will be exploring the usage of Collaborative Tagging in administrative Information Systems of the Estonian Defence Forces (EDF), which is currently using Information Systems (IS) mainly for administrative purposes. The potentials of using Collaborative Tagging in Inter- and Intra-organizational settings for knowledge management and sharing are not well understood at present. Moreover, military applications of Collaborative Tagging have not been reported. The paper will therefore explore some initial use cases of the use of Collaborative Tagging and from these identify potentials and threats. Does collaborative tagging in semantic environment help us better organize knowledge in the EDF Information Systems? Semantics can foster to gain individual knowledge in the community.

This paper is based on a survey that addresses two main hypotheses - that there is a positive correlation between students’ level of participation and their privacy awareness, and students with high levels of privacy awareness need to be assured that their open learning activities are protected from potential threats in order to achieve positive results. Results show that in fact there is a correlation between students’ awareness of privacy and their predisposition to share and to participate in open leaning contexts. This is especially evident when students share their school assignments, grading results and teacher’s feedback or even their comments with others.

Social learning is dependent on social interactions. I am exploring ways to promote interaction in Digital Learning Spaces. As theoretical framework I use the types of interaction between learner, instructor and content. That learners feel isolated and lonely in DLSs is a problem which comes at high cost for social learning. My aim is to promote social interaction by offering the edentity: a system for making participants visible to each other by creation of a digital student identity.

The use of technology in education specifically for enhancing learning is of immense value for improving education delivery. This article serves to highlight the research project to be done by the University of Tampere, University of Botswana and Catholic University of Mozambique. The aim of the research is to investigate how low resourced higher education institutes could make use of free and open source technologies to enhance education delivery. The community of inquiry is used as background theory because it also seeks potential to break new ground pedagogically by addressing the challenge to scientifically explore the combination of pedagogical principles and new technology that will advance the evolution of higher education. The expected results include critical success factors in implementing learning management systems in developing countries and models of open source learning management use.

The contemporary workplaces face demanding challenges, such as expectations to be agile, competitive, efficient and adept to using employee knowledge. There are several required virtues in order to have a conductive workplace, for example, organizational learning and agility. The discussion forum aimed to bring out the inter-related roles of organizational learning, agility and social technologies in modern workplaces. The working methods in the discussion group consisted of brainstorming, learning café and mind mapping. Work organizations are examined as potential but contradictory learning spaces. Agility is the ability of an organization to rapidly respond to changes in demand. Organizational learning and agility are increasingly enabled by social technologies. The social technologies advances in the modern society are rigorously changing the contemporary workplaces. Social technologies include communication and interactive mechanisms embedded on the internet, such as, wikis and blogs. We suggest that organizational learning and agility might be increasingly enabled by social technologies. However, social technologies have a potential to enable and disable organizational learning. The usage of social technology and the level of agility are depending on the contextual factors like type of organization, field of profession and type of work. Different types of organizations and work have different needs for using social technologies as a driving force of organizational learning and agility.