Conole Prie Conference

Technology-enhanced research: musing the potential Gráinne Conole, The Open University, UK PRiE conference Liverpool John Moores University, 27/06/09 Blog: www.e4innovation.com

Technology-mediated research

Reflections on what a "technology-enhanced" research context might mean

Snapshot of the changing nature of: technology, data/content/knowledge and researchers

Some case study examples

Questions on future perspectives

Changing technologies...

Mobile technologies Blogs and Wikis Integrated, multi-faceted Social networking – Web 2.0 Harnessing the masses and Grid technologies Google, e-Journals Podcasts

Changing technologies Ubiquitous & networked Context and location aware Mobile technologies Cloud computing

Learning in the Cloud Sclater, N. (2009) Clouds are a large pool of easily usable and accessible virtualized resources (such as hardware, development platforms and/or services). These resources can be dynamically re-configured to adjust to a variable load (scale), allowing also for an optimum resource utilization. This pool of resources is typically exploited by a pay-per-use model in which guarantees are offered by the Infrastructure Provider by means of customized SLAs. Coming soon Google wave

Second life

Changing content Trend towards free content, tools & services Rise of Open Educational Resource Movement Need for new tools to find &use Still fundamental barriers to sharing & reuse

Changing learners

Technologically immersed

Learning processes

Task orientated, experiential, cummulative

Attitudes and approaches

group orientated, experiential, able to multi-task, just in time mindset, comfortable with multiple representations

Disconnect between student & institutional approaches

Caution re: net gen claims, importance of taking account of student differences

Do seem to be age related changes taking place and these are strongly linked to social networking and the use of a range of new

Netgeneration, Digital Natives.... (Oblinger, Prensky, etc.), Ecar reports, Kennedy survey, Chris Jones, Mary Thorpe, JISC LEX projects, PI roject

Personalised and mobile

Individualised Personal Learning Environment

Synchronised information across devices

Location and context aware

New learning and research spaces

Combining the affordances of new technologies with good pedagogy

Taking account of context, location and time

SKG: Learning Spaces project, Australia

Personal shift

Communicating: face-to-face, formal timed meetings, local seminars

Publishing: academic journals and book chapters

Finding information: Chem index, library loans

Community: Local

Communicating: face-to-face (+recording), audio + video conferencing, email...

Publishing: e-journals, blog, slideshare

Finding information: Google, online database, research network

Community: truly global and multi-faceted

Inorganic chemistry lecturer

Professor of e-learning

Case studies

Scaffolded: VEOU - Virtual CPD and scaffolded support for publication

Open: E-Bank - towards truly "Open research”

Cumulative: CCK08 and Course-to-discourse - Education for free!

Social: Cloudworks - social networking for an educational context

VEOU project

E-Bank Liz Lyons et al. Scholarly knowledge lifecycle model: research – teaching – practice Harnessing technologies to make the cycle more transparent and connected Data Publication Research Teaching

CCK08 & the discourse conference ltc.umanitoba.ca/blogs/futurecourse/

Did we change the world? No. Not yet. But we (and I mean all course participants, not just Stephen and I) managed to explore what is possible online. People self-organized in their preferred spaces. They etched away at the hallowed plaque of “what it means to be an expert”. They learned in transparent environments, and in the process, became teachers to others. Those that observed (or lurked as is the more common term), hopefully found value in the course as well. Perhaps life circumstances, personal schedule, motivation for participating, confidence, familiarity with the online environment, or numerous other factors, impacted their ability to contribute. While we can’t “measure them” the way I’ve tried to do with blog and moodle participants, their continued subscription to The Daily and the comments encountered in F2F conferences suggest they also found some value in the course. George Siemens

Cloudworks: Education 2.0 Changing practices through use of social networking Many repositories of good practice, but little impact Blogging Facebook Twitter Slideshare Flckr Youtube Commenting Live commentary Tagging RSS feeds Embedding Following

Core concepts Clouds: Learning and teaching ideas Design or case studies Tools or resources Questions or problems Cloudscapes: Conferences Workshops Course team Student cohort Research theme Project

Researcher 2.0

Modern technologies

Researcher 2.0

Web 2.0 practices

Location aware technologies

Adaptation & customisation

Second life/ immersive worlds

Google it!

Badges , World of warcraft

User generated content

Blogging, peer critique

Cloud computing

From individual to social

Contextualised and situated

Personalised research

Experiential research

Inquiry learning and research

Peer learning and support

Open Research

More open and visible Reflection

Distributed cognition

What's your context? What does your Personal Digital Environment consist of? What does it say about you? What do you do (types of activity)? How do you do it (what tools do you use)? Where do you do it (locations and contexts)?

Final thoughts

Users increasingly digital – demands on institutions?

Students and teachers - personalised environment of tools vs. institutional tools?

What new forms of blended work spaces are needed?

How do we support new approaches to design and delivery of courses to make more effective use of technologies and lead to an enhance student learning experience?