bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
21 century learning skills revisited - a conceptual paper on leaving 'gaps' and going deep
Authors: Kjærgaard Thomas , Dau Susanne
Published: October 2024

This paper revisits the 21st-century learning skills (21CLS) and discusses the need to leave 'gaps' in the curriculum while pursuing chosen topics more in-depth. The paper suggests ways to choose both 'gaps' and in-depth topics; furthermore, the paper investigates relevant technologies for bridging the gaps and for going deep. The paper discusses the connection between 'Das Exemplarische Prinzip' (exemplary teaching) and what may be interpreted to be the initial thoughts behind the formulation of the 21CLS presented in the document 'A Nation at Risk'. The two concepts are separated by three decades (1951 'Tübinger resolution -1981 'A Nation at Risk'). However, they share the same conviction that not every bit of knowledge available can be taught/learned and, furthermore, that some knowledge is more important than other. We wish to revisit this notion because we believe that the advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the automation of increasingly complex processes in our everyday lives will influence education. This indicates that we may need to adjust the topic- and activity-selection principles that teachers and curriculum developers deploy to select what to teach and what to outsource to networked learning and digital learning materials. The discourse of the 21CLS seems to have materialised into a specific practice in Denmark, a practice that embraces programming exercises (Dot/Dash, LEGO Mindstorms, Scratch, Python etc.), tinkering with electronics, playing computer games, 3D printing and Laser cutting in workshops called 'Maker spaces'. The 21CLS, in a Danish context, are distilled into; Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication (the 4Cs). In our research and in the development projects in schools we have taken part in, we have the positive experience that the way the 21CLS are practiced in a Danish context gave some pupils a sense of pride in their products and that some pupils acted more as designers of solutions for real problems than as pupils doing school work. On a more negative note, the 21CLS activities may come across as isolated events with little connection to curriculum or exams. Finally, we raise the discussion of how Teacher Education can develop a practice that incorporates the convictions of the 21CLS in other ways. We suggest a focus on technology that supports dialogue and reflection and bridges both knowledge 'gaps' and time and space 'gaps'. Furthermore, we suggest learning designs that revisit 21CLS as a framework for learning to learn.
Interactive Digital Learning in a University Lecture Room
Authors: Sihvonen Mika
Published: October 2024

This article examines modern methods for higher education digital pedagogy in a lecture room. Over the last ten years, technology has changed lecturing in many different ways. Most of the students entering the university are in their twenties and therefore are seen as experienced in, and capable of, utilizing modern tools for communication. The research data for this paper was drawn up from two university courses which utilized several digital tools alongside other traditional lecture room teaching methods. The essential purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of students' habits and needs concerning digital media use during the lectures. Course teachers have numerous ways to engage the students in the lecture situation, and during the course. Although educational technology is available, with low costs for mobile devices and Internet browser environments, the traditional face-to-face discussions are still relevant. Learning goals should define the expectations which are placed on the different tools. Course teachers should also be reminded that tool registration, as well as trial tests, are time-consuming. In addition, their operation in a teaching situation might require robust guidance or teaching assistants. This paper especially examines five tools for lecture/course activation - image wall, web-based voting, small group discussions, project blogs and online video.According to the results, students can be extremely active users of digital tools and media in some fields and yet uninterested in other uses of digital resources. 28 out of 30 respondents had a mobile device with them, but less than half felt the device was suitable and natural for lecture activities. Even if the students have a mobile device while attending the lecture room, a majority of them find teacher-guided digital activities laborious and extraneous. 26 respondents would participate in the lectures whether or not the recordings are available. All university students may need technical support, for discussions, and with enthusiasm for the use of educational technology, regardless of their age or whether they own a mobile device. Learning cannot be outsourced to discussion forums or blog platforms, but they can serve as excellent resources for learning community communication and as support for the learning process.
The relationship between age, technology acceptance model and grades obtained in the training of professional emergency services
Authors: Lluch David , Gros Begoña
Published: October 2024

This contribution reports on findings from a study on firefighters’ grades obtained in technology-supported training courses in Catalonia. The role of firefighters has changed dramatically over the past few years and will continue to do so as modernization progresses. This will have implications for everything associated with the service and in particular in relation to the type and delivery of basic training. The wider role of rescue work and the demands of community fire prevention require skills that need to be taught in a different manner. A review of current research concerning distance learning (Holmgren, 2015) and the use of digital technologies shows that there are few studies on firefighter training. This paper aims to describe and analyse the relationships between the firefighters’ age, the intention to use technology to learn and the grades obtained obtained in online training courses. To explain the influence of digital literacy on individuals’ intention to pursue online learning, we integrate the concept of digital literacy with the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (measured using the TAM2 questionnaire). Technology-supported distance learning is an increasingly common mode in practical professional training courses. In line with this development, campus-based firefighter training in Catalonia is implemented using a distance mode and blended courses. Data has been analysed from two courses carried out in a Moodle environment, one of which was delivered in a blended learning mode for aspiring firefighters and another was presented in e-learning mode for active firefighters with different levels of experience. The total number of participants was 247. The results obtained when analysing the variables of age, grade obtained and TAM2 scores show that there is no significant relationship between them. However, we have found a relationship in the case of the intention to use technology for learning and the grade obtained in the course. The results suggest that the acceptance and, therefore, the use of technology does not depend on the student’s age. We have found a positive relationship in the case of students on the Basic Training Course for Firefighters in the Intention to Use (IU), Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Voluntariness (V) scales referring to the grades they obtained.
Understanding and Identifying Cognitive Load in Networked Learning
Authors: Kehrwald Benjamin A. , Bentley Brendan P.
Published: October 2024

This paper considers cognitive load theory (CLT) in the context of networked learning (NL).  It aligns with NL practitioners' efforts to understand and eliminate barriers to learning in NL situations.  The ideas presented are based on the premise that by recognising and either minimising or eliminating instances of unnecessary cognitive load in NL situations educators can improve learners’ abilities to acquire and develop schema and, in doing so, educators can support learning in NL situations.  The presentation brings together current thinking in cognitive load theory and descriptions of key aspects of NL to identify and describe of potential instances of cognitive load experienced by networked learners.The paper is structured in three main sections: The first section provides the background to our exploration of CLT in the context of NL.  It includes an overview of CLT and its development; an overview of NL; and a definition of the problem this paper seeks to address, namely, that NL situations include a number of instances of cognitive load which may not be present in other (e.g., face-to-face; on-campus) learning situations.  The second section explores common features of NL and identifies potential sources of cognitive load in NL situations.  It is organised according to key features of the 'architecture' of NL:  the learning environment; learning tasks and learner activity.  By identifying potential instances of cognitive load, the presentation provides a basis for, firstly, understanding cognitive load in NL; and, secondly, addressing it. Key sources of cognitive load referenced in this paper include the presentation of information in NL situations; the use of mediating technologies; the demands of managing information in connected environments; the load associated with technology-mediated social activity, including computer-mediated communication; the presentation of learning tasks; and the demands of 'learning to learn' in NL situations.  The third section of the paper identifies a potential research agenda to guide further explorations of CLT in NL including: research into technical aspects of NL to improve the presentation of information and computer interfaces; research into the use of instructional design techniques sympathetic to CLT and specifically targeting NL and engagement tasks; research to understand learning to learn online in NL from a CLT perspective.
Distributed Learning and Isolated Testing
Authors: Fawns Tim , O'Shea Clara
Published: October 2024

Traditional assessment in higher education often measures performance in controlled conditions, isolating students from the people and many of the resources they have interacted with in the process of learning. While a desire to maximise reliability and standardise the measurement of ability is understandable, there is a danger that such practices privilege internal, individual and abstract forms of knowledge at the expense of contextualised, collective and adaptive practices. Most university graduates will need to be effective networked learners, using social and material resources to adapt to changing and complex workplace settings and, increasingly, digital networks. If we accept that assessment is an important driver of learning, then it follows that assessments in which students are able to make use of available resources and networks, may afford a more appropriate preparation for future employment, particularly in light of an increasing need to adapt to technological change.In this paper, we draw on ideas from distributed cognition, in which processes of thinking are shared across people, tools and objects, to question traditional assessment practices. To ground our discussion, we present findings from a thematic analysis of blog posts of MSc Clinical Education students (made up of clinical educators from a variety of nationalities and disciplines) about the process of learning a novel motor skill. While these students tended to consider mastery of the skill to involve the ability to perform it without the help of people or supporting resources (instructions, images, video demonstrations, etc.), our analysis shows that there was often no clear boundary between supported and unsupported performance and that a requirement to reduce dependency on supportive networks and materials could be a barrier to development. Further, the acknowledgement by many students that learning and performance are contextual leads us to the conclusion that, while reducing reliance on resources may help to stabilise some forms of knowledge, it may also reduce opportunities to develop effective practices and the adaptive capacity to integrate into complex social and technological environments. In conclusion, we call for the development of assessments in which students are not only allowed but encouraged to make effective use of networks, technologies, environments and artefacts in ways that test both understanding and the ability to operate as components of distributed systems.
Visualising the code
Authors: Thomas Elaine , Mostéfaoui Soraya Kouadri , Jefferis Helen
Published: October 2024

Programming is a subject that many students find difficult and it may be particularly challenging for distance learning students working largely on their own. Many ideas have been put forward in the literature to explain why students struggle with programming, including: the relative unfamiliarity of computer programming or ‘radical novelty’ (Dijkstra, 1989), cognitive load (Shaffer, 2004) and that the whole learning environment may be influential (Scott & Ghinea, 2013).This paper reports on the first phase of a project, ‘Visualising the code’, which is investigating the impact of using a visual programming language on student engagement with programming. We used as our case-study, TU100 ‘My digital life’ which is a level 1 undergraduate Computer Science module in the Open University (UK). The rationale for this work stems from the necessity of developing an introductory undergraduate module that will engage students of widely differing prior levels of experience in terms of programming and of education generally. In TU100, the module team introduced a visual programming environment, based on Scratch (MIT, 2007), called ‘Sense’ which is used in conjunction with an electronic device, the SenseBoard.We analysed the grades of 6,159 students in the final assessment across six presentations of the module to identify student performance in the programming task, as distinct from their overall performance on the module. The aim was to explore whether there was any difference between student engagement with the programming task in comparison with non-programming tasks. Early results suggest that there is no significant difference in levels of engagement between these tasks, and it appears that success, or otherwise, in one type of task is a good predictor of engagement with the other task.There are implications for networked learning of this work, given that the learning environment encompasses: the student’s own home or other space, both printed books and digital learning materials, a programming environment linked to a physical device (i.e. the SenseBoard) and communications networks that link students to their peers and to their tutors. The learning environment also includes support through face-to-face and online tutorials and other online resources, such as forums.In the next phase of the project we will analyse the textual comments made by TU100 students in the end of module survey to evaluate their views on the visual programming environment.
Designing for Youth Engagement Across Formal and Informal Learning Networks
Authors: Thibaut Patricia , Carvalho Lucila
Published: October 2024

Growing up as part of a networked society is demanding youth’s active engagement in digital literacy practices – where their ability to find, evaluate, use, and create digital content is critical, as well as their ability to successfully participate in networks. Those with restrict access or those unable to effectively use technologies are unlikely to meaningfully contribute to a globalized world, with potential negative impact on individuals’ lives and on community prosperity. Understanding how to best design and encourage youth involvement in networked learning is therefore crucial. Drawing on the ACAD framework, this study examines the structural components of two learning networks geared at youth, within two learning scenarios: ‘in’ and ‘out’ of schools. By exploring the relationship between youth, tools, and spaces, we attempt to contribute to connect literature on formal and informal learning, digital culture and literacies. We also attempt to contribute to the call for understanding networked learning beyond the boundaries of Higher Education. Our research employs a case study methodology, conducted over consecutive weeks of a semester in two research sites: a year 10 classroom and a multiplayer online game called Potterworldmc. The asynchronous conversations of students on a social network site with learning purposes used at a school, as well as observations, interviews, and artefacts of a player were collected. The paper identifies key design elements and the emergent learning activity young people are engaging in, with a particular focus on digital literacy. We analyse the influence of social structures, tasks, tools and resources on youth activity, and discuss how previous boundaries between in-school and out-of-school, physical and digital spaces, traditional and new literacies might be rather blurred in learning networks geared at youth. We conclude by highlighting some key design elements across formal and informal networks.
Students' digital learning environments
Authors: Caviglia Francesco , Dalsgaard Christian , Davidsen Jacob , Ryberg Thomas
Published: October 2024

The objective of the paper is to examine the nature of students’ digital learning environments to understand the interplay of institutional systems and tools that are managed by the students themselves. The paper is based on a study of 128 students’ digital learning environments. The objectives of the study are 1) to provide an overview of tools for students’ study activities, 2) to identify the most used and most important tools for students and 3) to discover which activities the tools are used for. The empirical study reveals that the students have a varied use of digital media. Some of the most used tools in the students’ digital learning environments are Facebook, Google Drive, tools for taking notes, and institutional systems. Additionally, the study shows that the tools meet some very basic demands of the students in relation to collaboration, communication, and feedback. Finally, the study shows that most of the important tools are not related to the systems provided by the educational institutions. Based on the study, the paper concludes with a discussion of how institutional systems connect to the other tools in the students’ practices, and how we can qualify students’ digital learning environments in relation to existing and emerging needs.
Networked learning in children's transition from day-care to school
Authors: Odgaard Ane Bjerre
Published: October 2024

This paper reports on a socioculturally informed design-based study concerning young children's use of tablets within the educational contexts constituting their transition from day-care to school. The study explores tablet-mediated and dialogical activities as potential means for negotiating connections between the different contexts which the children traverse during this transition. At several occasions, the participating 5- to 7-year-old children are invited to use tablets for producing photos, photo-collages and e-books about their everyday institutional environments, thus aiming at mediating the children's engagements within their contexts. During processes of mutual production and dialogical reviewing of this digital content, children, peers and professionals dialogically and multimodally explore the institutional contexts of transition. As an element of this, differences and similarities between these contexts are pivots of dialogue. Networked learning is thus conceptualized as a matter of networked situations and contexts for young children during their transition from day-care to primary school, and technological artefacts are viewed as potential means for mediating children's meaning making about continuities as well as differences during this process. It is argued that tablet-mediated activities in young children's educational settings tend to imply a certain theoretical as well as practical notion of worthwhile tablet use, valuating active digital production against consumption of content, and at the same time involving a certain educational use of tablets which dissociates itself from the social and emotional aspects of tablet use often related to games and play-culture. In the present project, activities partly adapt to prevailing notions of worthwhile tablet use by including literacy-aspects involved in the tasks of children producing digital content. But at the same time, the intended focus on children's engagements within and perspectives on their institutional contexts transcends tasks of simple instruction and implies dimensions of social and emotional character which may be delicate to handle within the educational context of pedagogically planned activities. This calls for certain considerations concerning the cultural and social dimensions of meaning making which are involved when dealing with children's experiences within their institutional contexts. Potentials as well as pitfalls are highlighted by way of examples, and finally some principles are outlined regarding the project's ongoing work on tablet-mediated activities as means for engaging pedagogically with children’s experiences of their everyday institutional lives across contexts.
Encounters with the Mobilage (virtual or actual)?
Authors: Johnson Mike
Published: October 2024

This paper explains and reflects on two methods used as part of a doctoral research project to investigate mobile phone use by healthcare students for academic work.Theoretical moves were made to retain some of the complexities of researching technology use, drawing upon ideas from ethnography, phenomenology, actor network theory (ANT) and the networked learning literature. Informants and their devices were conceived of as a 'mobilage'; a blend word that incorporates 'mobile assemblage' from ANT with theories of informal learning, ie. bricolage. A focus on the mobile phone helped to circumscribe mobilage but it was important to avoid excluding other information technologies in use.The two methods featured in this paper are 'encounters', a particular framing of one-to-one interviews, and an online focus group (OFG) which drew upon the 'Day Experience' cultural probe method, seeking to prompt informants to giving 'in the moment' detail of their mobilage.Encounters were primed with a learn-place list/map drawing activity which, in some cases, dominated the early time spent with informants. In spite of this threat to gaining useful data about mobilage, it became apparent that the list/map drawing itself made the encounter a site of epistemic performance closely related to the practice of academic work. This realisation occurred whilst listening to the audio recording rather than attending to verbatim transcription.The online focus group ran for three months. Seven informants were invited to react to triggers sent by the researcher but they were also free to post their own messages, including hyperlinks, and other media. Response traffic varied over time but at its nadir was sustained by a couple of informants. Informants who contributed to both the encounters and the online focus group helped provide a more rounded picture of mobilage as manifest for them. Although the OFG was never intended as an 'online ethnography', scholars from that field confirm the usefulness of meeting informants in person. OFG data was carefully transferred from the Yammer platform to the ATLAS.ti analysis tool so as to anonymise contributions but retain the 'look and feel' of Yammer.It is hoped to take the corpus forward into representation through a series of vignettes which, as part of analysis, are being developed as phenomenological texts.
Making digital compost
Authors: Boyd Sharon
Published: October 2024

Students studying at a distance are situated at a location remote from the campus, connecting to the institution via learning networks such as virtual learning environments, and communicating through a range of synchronous and asynchronous tools. While students may perceive a link between their physical learning environment and the institutional campus, their physical location may not be explicitly acknowledged or included in the learning activities of distance programmes beyond opportunities to participate in summer schools.As place is defined as a location which has meaning for an individual,  I propose that further research is required to explore the role that these meaningful locations can play in the learning experience of students studying at a distance from the institution. I question whether it is possible to develop a form of emotional connection to place at a distance, through artefacts and stories shared digitally by someone who feels closely connected, or related, to a place. I consider what the benefits may be of developing a more place-aware approach to teaching and learning in this context.This paper outlines the early stages of a PhD research project investigating the importance of place for distance learners studying online. I will briefly describe methods previously used in outdoor education which may provide a way of capturing a sense of place at a distance. These methods include storytelling and walking interviews, with both options making use of mobile technologies. The use of these methods may also foster a stronger connection between students, the locality where they are based while studying, and the institution. Through this process, it may help to reduce the sense of social distance which can affect students studying at distance.Incorporating activities traditionally used in conservation and outdoor education may demonstrate how education for sustainable development principles and practices can be integrated into distance education. If successful, this may help to address the missing element of teaching "in" the environment, providing a route to facilitate experiential place-based learning for distance students. This may also encourage a sense of care for the environment, as part of an affective approach to learning.
The Unbundled University
Authors: Swinnerton Bronwen , Ivancheva Mariya , Coop Taryn , Perrotta Carlo , Morris Neil P. , Swartz Rebecca , Czerniewicz Laura , Cliff Alan , Walji Sukaina
Published: October 2024

As Higher Education undergoes a massive expansion in demand globally, and experiences financial pressures exacerbated by the global financial crisis of 2008, the sector is evolving rapidly. Market pressures on the sector encourage the search for additional income and new forms of provision, and private providers are increasingly entering the sector. At the same time, the HE sector has seen the appearance of many flexible online courses and qualifications, delivered by new configurations of providers and partnerships, including by parties new to the sector, through a process of disaggregating educational provision into its component parts, or ‘unbundling’. Whilst these changes may offer opportunities for increased numbers of learners to access education and thus contribute to economic prosperity, there is very little empirical research about the nature, process and impact of this unbundling and rebundling of educational provision, as it is playing out in this rapidly reconfiguring space. This paper reports data on South African Higher Education from the research project ‘The Unbundled University: Researching emerging models in an unequal landscape’, a project which explores the terrain in both South Africa and the UK.  South Africa is deemed the most unequal country in the world and its HE system is under pressure, demonstrated in part by rising fees, student protests and calls for decolonised education, whilst online education is viewed by some, including the South African Government, as a way to increase access.  Using a new dataset systematically collected from the public domain, data visualisation is employed to bring a novel perspective to the educational provision being offered using digital technology (and the private companies partnering with universities in South Africa to provide it), to uncover patterns of activity and their relationship to existing patterns of inequality in the HE sector. Using mapping, or social cartography, this paper reveals patterns and relationships which are otherwise not so obvious. Significantly, the maps reveal relationships between universities and private companies which appear to reflect existing inequalities, insofar as private companies partner almost exclusively with historically advantaged, research intensive universities, with high international ranking and reputation. This paper argues that such partnerships do not disrupt an unequal terrain, but rather reflect and possibly reinforce the power asymmetries already at play.
Whose domain and whose ontology? Preserving human radical reflexivity over the efficiency of automatically generated feedback
Authors: Beattie Amanda Russell , Hayes Sarah , Jandri´ć Petar
Published: October 2024

There are some forms of feedback in daily life that, though generated and delivered via a machine, we may welcome, because they help us to function with ease. For example, being provided with explicit directional instructions from a Sat Nav can save time and embarrassment from being late. Automatic tills in supermarkets mean we can empty loose change into these to pay for things, and the amount is calculated on our behalf, with change efficiently dispensed. Feedback on our bank balances from cash machines may not always be welcome…, but there are advantages in terms of practicality. In this article we challenge however, the uncritical application of similar algorithmic processes for providing automatically generated feedback for students in Higher Education (HE). We contest this on the basis that the human side of feedback appears to be giving way to the non-human, as e-technologies and their algorithmic affordances are expected to meet the demands that emerge from within a neoliberal framing of contemporary HE. Initially we examine developments of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the e-marking platform Turnitin to question where we might locate a student voice? We point to the way that networked learning intersects across developments in technology and radical pedagogies to support this concern. We then draw on our own relational, and lived, experience which produces feedback that emerges from within an illicit exploration of our own vulnerabilities as academics, as students, and friends, in a demonstration of performing radically reflexive feedback. Finally, we advocate for the creative potential of an autoethnographic research method and exploration of mindfulness practices aligned with teaching and learning journeys. These cannot and should not be reduced to the ‘sat-nav experience’ in terms of feedback. We suggest that, as technology becomes ever more intimately embedded into our everyday lives, generic (but power-laden) maps are incorporated into both student and staff ‘perceived’ space. A radically reflexive form of feedback may not follow a pre-defined route or map, but it does offer a vehicle to restore student voices and critical self-navigation that is absent, but very much needed, in the ongoing shaping of contemporary HE.
Balancing privacy and openness, using a lens of contextual integrity
Authors: Cronin Catherine
Published: October 2024

This paper describes a qualitative, empirical research study which explored the use of open educational practices (OEP) by academic staff in higher education, focusing particularly on the findings in relation to balancing privacy and openness. The study explored meaning-making and decision-making by university educators regarding whether, why, and how they used OEP. Open educational practices have been defined as “practices which support the (re)use and production of OER through institutional policies, promote innovative pedagogical models, and respect and empower learners as co-producers on their lifelong learning paths” (Ehlers, 2011, p. 4). The purpose of this study was to understand how university educators conceive of, make sense of, and make use of OEP, and to try to learn more about, and from, the practices and values of educators from across a broad continuum of ‘closed’ to open practices. The study was conducted at one Irish university using constructivist grounded theory methodology; semi-structured interviews were carried out with educators across multiple disciplines. Balancing privacy and openness emerged as a key concern of academic staff in relation to their digital and networked practices. This balancing act was described by participants, overwhelmingly, as an individual decision and an ongoing challenge: “you’re negotiating all the time.” A model was developed to illustrate how individuals seek to balance privacy and openness at four levels: macro (global level), meso (community/network level), micro (individual level), and nano (interaction level). The main finding of the study was that openness is always complex, personal, contextual, and continually negotiated. These empirical results reinforce the utility of Nissenbaum’s (2004, 2010) framework of contextual integrity in constructing a full understanding of meaning-making and decision-making with regard to open practices, and thus can contribute to effective support of academic staff in relation to open education and networked learning.
Mapping Patterns of Relations in an Online Graduate Course
Authors: Simmons Marlon , Parchoma Gale , Koole Marguerite
Published: October 2024

This study explores the patterns of relations that emerged and mutated during a particular semester of an online, graduate course, Multimedia Design for Learning. The assemblage, a learning community, was comprised of a professor-course designer, learners, the course content, digital connectivity, a learning management system (LMS), digital media production software, learning tasks, assessment criteria, and emergent activities. We describe the expected and unexpected relational interplays observed among the actors and map the performativity of the learning community. Within this interplay we were more concerned about how particular nodal points (actors within a network) came to operate as sites of attachments (bonds between actors), and simultaneously promulgated different sensibilities and new relations, which in turn, worked to transform material/digital/human objects into agents.  Our main interest was to better understand how, from an initially fragile assemblage, an online learning community could emerge, reconstitute, and/or dissolve. We first describe Sørensen’s (2009) patterns of relations (regions, networks, and fluids) metaphor. Then, we consider the shaping, reshaping, and co-constitution of the patterns of relations (Mol & Law, 1994). We also describe the role of obligatory points of passage, and sites of attachment that held the assemblage’s network together. Our methodological approach drew upon Hine’s (2000; 2004) principles for undertaking a virtual ethnographical study. In order to gather our data, we conducted online, structured, asynchronous, text-based interviews with seven of the fourteen course participants. A second data set was derived from the course designer-instructor’s (also a co-author here) reflective notes. As a research-group, we spent reflexive time constructing and applying a guiding conceptual framework for data analysis. We engaged in two rounds of coding. The first round was descriptive; the second round was self-reflective.  In this paper, we focus on key themes that describe student-participant’s chosen sites for: 1) finding familiarity/continuity in the processes of navigating synchronous and asynchronous communication channels and associated resources initially chosen by the instructor, (2) finding ways to collaboratively engage in knowledge construction within the course, and (3) circumventing the patterns of relations initially implemented within the course design. We conclude the paper by discussing how initial attempts to create spaces for specific patterns of relations (“design choices”) appeared to evolve within the learning community assemblage; that is, how activities emerged unexpectedly.
Networked Learning: Theorising a ‘Manager’ Capability
Authors: McMordie Shane
Published: October 2024

Networked learning (NL) is concerned with how students learn using connections enabled by IT: connections with other learners, with teachers and with resources.  In contrast to school or university education, there is no place in the current conceptual model of NL for an administration or management function.  This may be demonstrated by looking at the proceedings of the Networked Learning Conference.  The aim of this paper is to develop the conceptual model of NL by proposing a 'manager' capability.  The method consists of critical discourse analysis of a sample of the Conference proceedings to gain a better understanding of the problem.  This is followed by a pragmatic exercise in which suitable concepts from other relevant disciplines are identified, assessed and added to the NL conceptual model.  The most likely explanation for the gap in the theory is the collective ontological stance of the NL research community.
From Not-working to Node-working
Authors: Mentis Mandia , Kearney Alison , Holley-Boen Wendy
Published: October 2024

The space and pace of learning is changing.  Traditional professional learning and development courses – with defined content in a set place and time – are arguably not working for many, as they are linked to outmoded approaches to learning. As societies have evolved from an industrial, to information and then social-age, we have shifted our understandings of learning and teaching. This shift is from disseminating information in formal institutions, towards open access to knowledge via the web. Current notions appreciate that learning is continual through our interconnections with others, as we co-create, communicate and collaborate. The shifts to conceptualising learning as open, continuous and social has a flow on effect of disrupting how we conceptualise professional identity development, and ongoing professional learning. Professional learning increasingly involves co-constructing knowledge with others in learning networks across different contexts and time. New technologies such as digital badging and ePortfolios afford opportunities to make learning more visible, and allow learners to collect evidence of their learning in network, which can be seen as learning nodes. These nodes can be acknowledged as evidence of ongoing professional learning and credentialed as such. Linking learning nodes within and across related networks enables mapping and integrating learning that is both personalised and social, informal and formal, as well as open and accredited. This short paper outlines a new professional learning initiative being introduced in New Zealand that is designed around networking and ‘node-working’. The initiative is for Special Education Needs Coordinators (SENCo), teachers who provide learning support to include all students in school.  The professional network for SENCos consists of four learning hubs. Hub one is an open network where SENCos connect and collaborate with each other, face-to-face and online, regionally and nationally. In Hub two SENCos can subscribe to a professional network and join journal clubs, collaborative research projects, webinars, and share evidence-based practice. Hub three uses digital badging to recognise the personalised and collaborative learning that occurs in Hubs one and two, thus creating learning nodes as markers for credentialing learning across the network. Hub four allows for these learning nodes to be mapped within a professional e-portfolio, as part of a formal qualification. The research behind this initiative investigates the effectiveness of networked nodes of learning and the potential it offers to revision professional learning and identity development.
Teachers’ beliefs about professional development and the use of collaborative online tools in higher educational settings
Authors: Mozelius Peter , Jaldemark Jimmy , Håkansson Lindqvist Marcia
Published: October 2024

Teaching in higher education beyond the boundaries of face-to-face education is an evolving practice including the integration of various technologies to support collaboration between learners and teachers. From a historical perspective the integration of such technologies in this practice has afforded different time- and location-related conditions for collaboration. This development has brought new conditions for the practice of teaching in higher education. From being a practice mainly located at the university, teaching is possible to occur elsewhere; e.g., on the move, or from the home setting. It has paved the way to introduce so called blended learning practices of teaching in higher education. Such practice has been an emerging trend in the 21st century with an overall impact on the design of university courses. Applications, devices and networks that initially were used in experimental distance education have later become natural parts of mainstream education, with blended learning as a standard concept in higher education. The rich plethora of information and communication technologies applied as tools to mediate learning and support teaching have created a need for teachers’ professional development. The aim of this study is to present and discuss university teachers’ perceptions and beliefs about how the supplementary training should be organised. Data were gathered by semi-structured interviews at a department for Computer and System Science where all seven interviewees teach in blended synchronous educational settings. The empirical material were analysed inductively by applying a thematic analysis method. Findings show that all courses have a basic common toolbox as well as an extended specific toolbox that both are continuously changing. This can be stressful and the formal teacher professional development is far from satisfying. Teachers cope with problems by consulting the collegium, a peer group where colleagues share experiences and assist each other in problem solving. Despite the constant pressure many teachers have creative ideas for a further development of the blended synchronous learning concept. Many of the teachers in this study see the continual attempts to implement these tools and experimenting with these tools in their teaching as possibilities in their teaching as well as a source of professional development.
Stewarding and power in networked learning
Authors: Whitworth Andrew , Webster Lee
Published: October 2024

A study is conducted of twenty groups, of 5-7 learners each, who are studying on a postgraduate course unit oriented toward development of professional practice in the field of educational technology. On the unit, students are assessed through their contributions to online discussion boards in which their groups are engaged in learning tasks that increase in complexity over the course and require them to make critical judgments about a range of informational and technological resources that can help the group meet its shared learning needs. Through the accumulation of these judgments, the group stewards its own digital habitat (Wenger et al 2009), modifying and enhancing the set of resources that the tutor provides to each group at the start of the course unit. The study investigates how this process draws on the power that flows in different ways through the course environment. Students discipline themselves and each other to conform to practices that they perceive as being those rewarded by the tutor, but they also resist this institutional power and authority when they introduce new resources and practices. The study shows how practices form at the very earliest stages of the formation of a community of practce, and bring with them a proto-hierarchy that supports the more complex information tasks but also introduces differentiation into the community. Visibility and scrutiny of the emerging practices and proto-hierarchy are what help the environment meet its learning needs and give students an experience of variation in power and authority that helps them develop informational practices in ways that are relevant to later work in professional settings.
Online knowledge construction in networked learning communities
Authors: Lee Lai Har Judy , Rahmat Rozi Binte , Lim Poh Heng , Lin Li , Tan Toh Hwee
Published: October 2024

Networked Learning Communities (NLCs) comprise individuals from different schools or organisations collaborating with one another in purposeful and sustained professional development (Jackson & Temperley, 2007).  Knowledge construction is central to the work of NLCs as networked learning entails the construction of new knowledge by tapping members’ personal practitioner knowledge and the public knowledge base.  In Singapore, some NLCs sustain their professional learning through online interactions in collaboration groups within "One Portal All Learners (OPAL)", a learning and content management system developed by the Ministry of Education (MOE).  This paper outlines a project that studied knowledge construction within 10 OPAL collaboration groups created by NLCs (“ONLCs”), the roles adopted by the members, and the factors that influenced members' participation in knowledge construction within the ONLCs.  According to the Interaction Analysis Model (IAM) by Gunawardena, Lowe, and Anderson (1997), knowledge construction in online collaborative environments progresses over five levels: (a) sharing and comparing of information; (b) discovery and exploration of dissonance or inconsistency among ideas; (c) negotiation of meaning; (d) testing and modification; and (e) application of newly-constructed meaning.  Findings revealed that the majority of the online knowledge constructions were at the level of sharing and comparing of information.  Six possible factors that influenced members' engagement in knowledge construction in the ONLCs were identified through focus group discussions.  The factors identified were (a) a structured approach for enacting NLCs, (b) organisational support, (c) a conducive environment that enables trust to be built among members, (d) shared ownership among members, (e) a culture of sharing that prioritises higher levels of knowledge construction, and (f) OPAL as an enabler.  Using findings from the study and from literature, an implementation framework was developed to promote knowledge construction in ONLCs.  The implementation framework was field-tested by four NLCs and then refined based on feedback gathered.  The feedback gathered on the implementation framework was generally positive and participants found it to be comprehensive, although many felt that the efficacy of the implementation framework to support online knowledge construction may be limited by the affordances of the online collaborative workspace being used.  However, the key to raising the level of knowledge construction could lie in nurturing a conducive environment and a culture of sharing, and fostering shared ownership.  These three factors can work together to shape the dynamics within the NLC, to help members recognise the importance of co-owning and co-leading the NLC's professional learning.