EVENT REPORT

Report on the 5th Workshop on Internationaland Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Children& Recommender and Information Retrieval
Systems (KidRec 2021) at IDC 2021:
The Teacher Lens
Jerry Alan Fails
Boise State University
jerryfails@boisestate.edu

Monica Landoni
Università della Svizzera Italiana
monica.landoni@usi.ch

Theo Huibers
University of Twente – Wizenoze
t.w.c.huibers@utwente.nl

Maria Soledad Pera
PIReT- Boise State University
solepera@boisestate.edu

Abstract
We summarize outcomes from the 2021 KidRec Workshop, co-located with the ACM Interaction Design and Children conference. The theme of the 5th edition of KidRec was Searchand Recommendation Technology through the Lens of a Teacher. During the workshop, we
discussed why teachers are one of the main stakeholders when designing information retrieval
tools for the classroom and how to involve them as part of the research and development
process to ensure that the resulting tools are suitable and supportive for learning.
Date: 27 June, 2021.
Website: https://kidrec.github.io/.

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Introduction

This year, students, faculty, industry practitioners and researchers, including representatives fromthe European Research Centre, Consortium Beroepsonderwijs, Wizenoze, and universities worldwide, gathered for the 5th edition of the International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Children & Recommender and Information Retrieval Systems (KidRec) workshop [Landoni et al.,2021], co-located with ACM IDC 2021. The theme of this year’s workshop was Search and Recommendation Technology through the Lens of a Teacher. Motivated by the central role teachers
play in selecting and using technology to support classroom instruction, we invited researchers,
practitioners, and teachers to participate in the workshop. This allowed us to better identify thechallenges and opportunities that arise when the teachers become primary stakeholders to informthe design, development, and use of information retrieval technology in the classroom.
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In the rest of this manuscript, we highlight the accepted contributions, summarize discussions
that took place among workshop attendees, and share future directions that researchers and practitioners can follow in order to continue to build the KidRec community and advance knowledge
pertaining to information retrieval tools designed with and for children and teachers.

2Interactive Panels

Below, we briefly discuss the accepted contributions (all peer-reviewed) which were showcasedduring two interactive panels. The authors gave a brief presentation (up to 10 minutes) followed
by Q&A. The panels concluded with an invited talk. To encourage dialogue and foster ideas toconsider during group discussion planned for later in the workshop, attendees were asked to noteinteresting ideas on sticky notes in a shared electronic whiteboard, and to actively participate in
the Q&A after each presentation.
In their contribution entitled Involving Preschool Teachers in the Design of Technology: Challenges and Issues, Valguarnera and Landoni [2021] detailed their experience working with teachers
in order to collaboratively design and test technology for the classroom. The importance of working with teachers as co-researchers was also highlighted during the presentation by Murgia et al.
[2021], entitled All Together Now: Teachers as Research Partners in the Design of Search Technology for the Classroom. The presentation by Allen et al. [2021], titled CASTing a Net: Supporting
Teachers with Search Technology, shined a light on how technology for the classroom could support the teachers themselves, not just the students. In particular, the presenters argued in favorof furnishing a behind-the-scenes portal for teachers to empower them by providing a window into
the spelling, writing, and concept connection skills of their students.
In the presentation by Wouters et al. [2021] (Search Technology through the Lens of a Vocational Teacher ) the focus moved from the primary school teacher to the vocational teacher andvocational education in general. The presenters described the role played by Stitching Consortium Beroepsonderwijs as a provider of didactic and pedagogic information in this area, and how
they use the search solution and the collection of Wizenoze. Most notably, they identified that
there are considerable opportunities in deploying a novel platform for teachers and students in thevocational education sector.
The last two presentations centered on stereotypes that may be propagated by the technology
used in the classroom and how parents supported instruction during Covid-19. Raj et al. [2021](Pink for Princesses, Blue for Superheroes: The Need to Examine Gender Stereotypes in Kids’
Products in Search and Recommendations) provided motivating examples supporting concerns on
search and recommendation systems manifesting gender stereotypes and outlined an agenda for
future research addressing the phenomena. Rosanna Di Gioia and Stephane Chaudron discussed
outcomes from their KiDiCoTi (Kids’ Digital lives in Covid-19 Times1 ) project. In particular,
they showed that during these challenging times, children miss social contact and had a hardtime keeping up with schoolwork. Parents also struggled, especially with teaching at home andcombining teaching and work. It came across from the reported results that parents and children
should be provided with more guidance and support (mental, physical, and socio-economical), andthat new ways of teaching should be implemented that are customized for the home environment.
1

https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/science-update/kidicoti-kids-digital-lives-covid-19-times

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Discussion: Sticky Notes

Following the interactive panels, participants worked in small groups and leveraged the previous
discussions focused on five distinct areas: teaching in a blended environment, information discovery
in a blended school environment, comparing and contrasting information discovery tools in theclassroom, the changing role of teachers, future research directions focused on teachers, and otherideas. We specify blended environments as those where teaching occurs not just in classrooms,
but also at home, online. The collaborative process for organizing the discussion included usinga shared Miro board.2 Through this collaborative activity, an additional subcategory emerged:
Frustrations. In the following subsections, we give a brief synopsis of each category followed by asummary of the primary takeaways.

3.1

Categories

The following categories were discussed first as small groups, and then summarized and discussed
as a full workshop to distill big ideas and draw correlations between the small group discussions.
Teaching in a Blended Environment: It was clear that flexibility was needed and that
there was no single solution that would meet everyone’s needs. In blended environments, attendees
noted that the level of involvement was inversely proportionate to children’s age (younger children generally require more parental involvement). This led to discussions of needing to provide
additional support to parents (as well as teachers) that included not only technological tools andinstructional materials, but also emotional and physical support.
Information Discovery in a Blended School: Correlated to teaching in a blended environment is how children meet their information discovery needs in this context. Here it wasreferenced how the influence of parents in the home environment may impact the tools that areused as well as the overall attitudes towards technology. Additionally enhancing tools to better
meet children’s information discovery needs is critical, as well as providing curricular supports tofacilitate children’s learning of how to search.
Comparing and Contrasting Information Discovery Tools in the Classroom: Thereis a need to understand how to better support children’s information discovery tasks. The context
of the information (e.g. book vs. the Internet) influences the processes and results that children
receive. We need to further understand children’s practices using current tools, and how to support
critical thinking to enable children to compare the resources found in online and offline scenarios.
In addition to investigating the tools, it is a must to identify the learning and knowledge gain.
Finding information is not enough; assimilating and utilizing that information is key.
The Changing Role of Teachers: With blended learning having dramatically increased
due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, teachers’ roles have also dramatically changed. Traditional
training for teachers is not available and perhaps not as effective. With additional responsibilities
and workload (and corresponding increased frustrations, see below), teachers have had to adapt
their approaches. Traditional instructional practices need to be modified. As such different roles
discussed were teachers as mediators, coaches, and supporters who advocate, motivate, and aid
students in their learning and are less of a teacher who stands in front of a class presenting a
concept. With the adaptation of methods, there was a discussion for also advocating for more2

https://miro.com

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freedom with regards to curriculum. Oftentimes, curriculum is mandated by governing bodies,but that poses challenges when flexibility in mode of communication and teaching and learning
are modified. Students learning needs need to be met in this new environment and that requires abalance and mutual understanding between teachers and students. Teachers are already designers
with regard to designing a learning experience. This concept of teachers as designers could bebuilt upon in the future. One suggestion was for teachers and students to collaboratively design
the curriculum and to re-frame teachers as designers and design facilitators. This has elements ofprevious suggestions on how children can help design our future by extending participatory design
practices into formal and informal educational settings [Guha et al., 2011].
Future Research Directions Focused on Teachers: Questions emerging as guidance for
future explorations include how can we better support teachers as designers? How can we empower
teachers to be more involved in developing innovative pedagogy and technology? How can we
include teachers as co-designers (or possibly co-researchers) in the technologies that are used in
the classroom? What are the right technologies to make? How do we ensure these platforms
are safe and maintain adequate privacy? What is the appropriate training to provide teacherswith the necessary competencies to deal with the dynamic nature of knowledge transmission?
What will motivate teachers to participate in such activities? When investigating teaching andlearning, particularly during Covid-19 times, it is important to involve the teacher, student, andparent/guardian in the design of technologies for blended school environments.
How do we overcome obstacles that may challenge future adoption of technologies. This
includes some hesitancy – and sometimes resistance – to use technology that is expressed by someteachers and parents. Additionally, teachers are already often overburdened (even overwhelmed)
by so many responsibilities and expectations, simply adding to that list is not tenable and so how
do we provide support mechanisms that afford new roles and minimize (or facilitate to lessen thetime it takes to accomplish) previous expectations.
Other Ideas: Other issues that were raised included the differences between public and private
learning institutions and how the above categories may be different based on those settings. There
are pragmatic costs associated with updating classrooms with new technologies as well as any
associated training. This results in the need to weighing potential benefits with the costs. With
regards to cost, any time you initiate a change, there is a need to evaluate the sustainability of
those changes. What additional access issues need to be addressed with regards to technology as
well as motivations based on generational gaps and perspectives.
Frustrations: Several noted growing frustrations that impact teaching and information discovery. One of the primary issues is that there are simply too many platforms and tools that teachers need to manage and use already – which has only been exacerbated by the global pandemic
and need to provide instruction and information online. Not only are there many technologies,
but some are phased in or phased out based on local and regional administration approvals andpurchasing, as well as companies shifting to different tools. Additionally, there are challenges andfrustrations when managing teaching with some students face-to-face and another cohort online
in synchronous and asynchronous fashions.

3.2

Summary

From exchanges during KidRec, there are several open concerns for the community to address.
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1. Teachers should be involved as designers and researchers [Guha et al., 2011]: let teachers codesign on learning activities. Perhaps they can lead children in co-designing those activities,
as both are clear stakeholders. This could form a basis for a new pedagogical approach.
2. With the proliferation of blended learning environments that include homes as context oflearning, parents are also a clear stakeholder that should be involved as co-designer.
3. It is key to investigate the gap or mismatch between what science and pedagogy teaches
teachers and what teachers teach children.
4. To keep up with the ever-changing environment and society, teachers should be equippedwith skills to adapt to change. As such, teachers need to keep up with technological advances.
Providing adequate support (time, space, training, and funding) for this to occur is critical.
5. Finding the desired information is not enough, that information needs to be accessible in a
way that allows children to learn and increase their knowledge.
6. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, it become apparent that parents, teachers, and children
require mental and emotional support, since the pandemic took a toll on all of us. Mental
and emotional support is needed for everyone. Therefore these affective perspectives should
inform future research design and development.
7. It would be interesting to investigate why using technology at home is normal, while inschool environments parents and sometimes teachers are hesitant to use technology or frownupon using technology in the classroom. How come that this mismatch exists and how can
we change this? In short, there is a need to change practices, because society keeps changing.

4

Conclusions and Next Steps

We continue to build community and advance knowledge around this important research area:
technology that can support children. Archival material and other resources can be found on the
KidRec website.3
Moreover, you can reach out and continue the conversation atkidrec-group@boisestate.edu. We are particularly interested in hearing about themes of interest for future workshop editions.

References
Garrett Allen, Katherine Wright, Jerry Alan Fails, Casey Kennington, and Maria SOledad Pera.
Casting a net: Supporting teachers with search technology. In 5th KidRec Workshop: Searchand Recommendation Technology through the Lens of a Teacher - co-loacated with ACM IDC.
Available at https: // arxiv. org/ abs/ 2105. 03456 , 2021.
Mona Leigh Guha, Allison Druin, and Jerry Alan Fails. How Children Can Design the Future. In
Julie A. Jacko, editor, Human-Computer Interaction. Users and Applications, Lecture Notes in
Computer Science, pages 559–569, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2011. Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-21619-0.
doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-21619-0 68.
3

https://kidrec.github.io/

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Monica Landoni, Theo Huibers, Maria Soledad Pera, and Jerry Alan Fails. 5th kidrec workshop:
Search and recommendation technology through the lens of a teacher. In Interaction Design
and Children, pages 658–661, 2021.
Emiliana Murgia, Monica Landoni, Theo Huibers, and Maria Soledad Pera. All together now:
Teachers as research partners in the design of search technology for the classroom. In 5th KidRec
Workshop: Search and Recommendation Technology through the Lens of a Teacher - co-loacatedwith ACM IDC. Available at https: // arxiv. org/ abs/ 2105. 03708 , 2021.
Amifa Raj, Ashlee Milton, and Michael D. Ekstrand. Pink for princesses, blue for superheroes:
The need to examine gender stereotypes in kids’ products in search and recommendations. In
5th KidRec Workshop: Search and Recommendation Technology through the Lens of a Teacher- co-loacated with ACM IDC. Available at https: // arxiv. org/ abs/ 2105. 09296 , 2021.
Sveva Valguarnera and Monica Landoni. Involving preschool teachers in the design of technology: challenges and issues. In 5th KidRec Workshop: Search and Recommendation Technology
through the Lens of a Teacher - co-loacated with ACM IDC, 2021.
Michel Wouters, Hanna Jochmann-Mannak, Thijs Westerveld, and Theo Huibers. Search technology through the lens of a vocational teacher. In 5th KidRec Workshop: Search and Recommendation Technology through the Lens of a Teacher - co-loacated with ACM IDC. Available athttps: // kidrec. github. io/ papers/ KidRec_ 2021_ paper_ 2. pdf , 2021.

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