There is currently a revolution going on, that is changing how people live, work and play and consequently, how they learn. This revolution is happening through the use of various technological objects that many people are using on a daily basis. The text below calls attention to a proposed research methodology for conducting studies about ubiquitous learning technologies. Two major themes oversee the structure of this text: what should researchers look at and how should they look at it. It starts by describing the context of how these technologies are being used. It then lays out the elements of a conceptual framework. Following this, the text describes the advantages and pitfalls of ethnography and action-research. Finally, it provides recommendations for researchers who are interested in investigating ubiquitous learning.

1. A Proposed Research Methodology
for Critically Researching
Ubiquitous Learning Technologies
Ann-Louise Davidson Ph.D.
Saul Carliner, Ph.D.
Concordia University
Montreal
What are ubiquitous learning
technologies, what do we know about
them, how should we study their use,
which fraction of their use should we
study, do perceptions suffice, what bias
does our research have?

2. Context
Mass adoption of Internet
Mass adoption of mobile technologies
Growing adoption of social networking services on mobile technologies
Governments and businesses collect information on users
We know more about human behaviors than was ever known in history
and...

3. We have facts!!!
75% of Canadian has access to Internet.
70% of Canadians has access to cell phones.
80% of teens carry a cell phone.
47% of teens can text with their eyes closed.
The average teen (13-17) sends 3339 text messages per month (that’s not
counting the texts they receive).
Females send 4050 texts per month on average.
Males send 1630 texts per month on average.
According to Michael Wesch:
The tree major TV networks: 60 years, 24 hours a day, 364 days a year = 1,500,000
hours of broadcasting.
You Tube did it in less than 6 months without producers.
Over 9000 hours of videos are uploaded every day.

4. But we still don’t know much about:
learning with ubiquitous technologies
learning through social media
interactions

5. Conditions for the conceptual framework
Missing link between technology and learning
Statistics are no longer sufficient to understand user experience
Issues related to methodologies
Technologies are becoming integrated to our senses
We need holistic methods to understand the qualitative changes that occur
with ubiquitous learning in people’s lives and the impact they have on their
ways of socializing, on their education, on their work and on their lifestyles.
Why ubiquitous learning now and not before?
Since Gutenberg, learning has been potentially ubiquitous because books are
everywherem, but there is no direct link between information and knowledge or
information and learning.
Today, data can be posted without any editorial control.
Self-promotion has become easier.
Communication has no borders (inside the ambient computing environment).

6. Conceptual framework
Ambient computing
environment
Social media
videoconferencing;
blogs; wikis;
email;chat
Social media users
Social media non usersBandura’s theory of
self-efficacy

7. Conceptual framework
Ambient computing
environment
Social media
Social media users
Social media non-users

8. f2f
interactions
remote
interactions
continuous
task
coordination
and communication
Synchronous Asynchronous
Same
place
Different
place
One-to-one communication vs. One-to-many communication
Private communication vs. public communication

9. What kind of learning is really going on there?
Vid-Ability: a Portable Computing Project Using
Instructional Video to improve the Condition of
People Living With an Intellectual Disability

10. Three fundamental arguments
1. Human beings need to develop a digital awareness to thrive in the realm of
ubiquitous technologies, because it is not a concrete perceptual
environment.
2. Adapting technologies to the needs of special populations should only serve
as a point of entry to developing functional technological competencies
3. To flourish and learn in the environment of digital technologies, human beings
need to develop a strong sense of ethics

11. Vid-Ability research design
Survey
Video production
iPod Usability
test
Focus groups
(participants)
Interviews
(educators)
Improvement of videos
+++

12. What kind of learning went on there
Instructional videos
... problem based learning videos
... self advocacy videos
Learning about the technology
Sharing experiences with the technology
Special interventions supported by technology

15. Methodologies to develop a deeper understanding
should take the following factors in consideration
Researchers should:
get prolonged exposure to the population they are studying
takes notes on new forms of learning (what kind of learning
is going on there?)
obtain data on how the natural uses of mobile technologies
can be paired with formal learning
involve participants into the data collection to get their
interpretation
design their research socially to make it socially relevant
adopt mobile technologies being studied for their own uses
ensure that their studies serve the population that is being
investigated.
ethnography
design
research
action
research

16. Questions?
Comments?
Take-aways?