Advancements in learning technologies are being driven from an increasing diversity of domains of practice and research. The “open” agenda – open architecture, open source, open standards, open access, open learning, open networks, open data, and open educational resources – is very much at the forefront of these advances for a growing international community of practice. While this agenda is valued highly in the education sector, openness is not the only driver of change or innovation with ICT. Social media continues to shape the nature of much engagement online and the late 20th century mantra that “content is king” is giving way to a fresh focus on so-called “21st century skills” and competencies where digital literacy is as important as critical thinking and problem solving. Meanwhile, discourses on sense-making and developments in knowledge management and knowledge-sharing infrastructures continue to inform the theory and practice of e-learning. This presentation acknowledges these trends and a broad range of narratives that track the evolution of e-learning as a means of contextualising a frontier ready for further technological innovation: the stimulation and support of questioning online. In particular, research into why-questioning is highlighted. Why? Because the semantics involved typically involve ambiguity, dialog or further inquiry. More specifically, investigation into why-questioning reveals that the object it seeks is explanatory content – and content that can be characterized as such presents a number of challenges for learning technology design.

1. Diverse Perspectives for Global Impact
Opening Content for Deeper Inquiry
Jon Mason
Charles Darwin University
jon.mason@cdu.edu.au

2. Two Themes
• Openness
• Inquiry
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3. What is “openness”?
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4. open
• wide usage and versatility
– noun, verb, or adjective
• Australian Macquarie Dictionary: >80 entries
– ‘not shut’
– ‘to disclose’
– ‘an unobstructed space’
– ‘to render accessible to knowledge’
– ‘to cut or break into’
– ‘to begin’
– ‘to uncover’ … etc
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5. “The Indivisibility of Openness”
Geunther & Trungpa, 1975, The Dawn of Tantra
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7. 2003
How Linus Torvalds
became benevolent
dictator of Planet
Linux, the biggest
collaborative project
in history
www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.11/linus_pr.html 7

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9. http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2012/01/26/the-state-of-opencourseware/
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10. 10

11. opensource.com
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12. Open Agenda … themes of Web era
• Access
• Licensing
• Sharing
• Systems interoperability
• Public domain (public funding = public access)
Open Educational Resources
– a “game changer”?
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13. Giving Knowledge for Free: The
Emergence of Open Educational
Resources
2007
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14. Scope of OER
Teaching, learning & research resources:
– accessible in the public domain
– released under open licenses
Tools & Services
More than content!
Content
Standards &
Infrastructure
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15. MOOCs:
a tidal wave of
change through
higher education?
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16. Prefix “liber” in English (from Latin roots)
means “free, book”
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17. Is content still “king”?
Openness a prominent driver of change
– but not the only one!
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18. A Snapshot of e-Learning inputs
Laurillard – Re-Thinking Friesen – Re-Thinking
University Teaching e-Learning Research
Laurillard – Re-Thinking for
the Knowledge Society 18

19. Numerous narratives on the
evolution of e-learning
& the impact of the Information Age
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20. • Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills:
“learning to collaborate with others and connect
through technology are essential skills in a
knowledge-based economy” (ATC21S, 2011)
 essential skills also include:
• critical thinking Inquiry, analysis, reflection, …
• ICT literacy
• problem solving

21. Pedagogical Perspective
learning
activities
Effective learning
never just about
learning learning the content
resources supports
Key Conceptual Elements of Online Learning Design
Ron Oliver (2001) – Developing online learning environments
http://elrond.scam.ecu.edu.au/oliver/2001/webepaper.pdf
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22. Inquiry
Open Learning:
Independent, inquiry-based,
and self-determined learning
Maria Montessori (circa 1911)
John Dewey (1933)
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23. Open Learning (1911-30) SCORM (2002) (2012)
• Independent • Single user
• Self-determined • Self-paced
• Inquiry-based • Online instruction
• Learner focused • Content focused
– Reusable
– Sharable
– Interoperable
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24. Research Focus
• Asking why
• Learning why
• Understanding why
• Knowing why
• Explaining why
how to scaffold these activities in e-learning
what ICT tools might support these activities 24

25. Inquiry & Learning
“learning begins with questions”
The virtuous circle of inquiry
University of Illinois Inquiry Project (2001-2010)
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26. Inquiry & Learning
• “why” questions prominent during early
development of children & an important
foundation for learning (Dewey, Piaget, Schank)
• “Inquiry-based learning” evolved out of “critical
thinking” movement
• Impasses & conundrums important for learning
• “Thinking is not driven by answers but by
questions” Paul & Elder, (1999). Critical Thinking Handbook
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27. Inquiry & Learning
My mother made me a scientist without ever
intending it. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn
would ask her child after school, ‘So? Did you learn
anything today?’ But not my mother. She always
asked a different question, ‘Izzy,’ she would
say, ‘Did you ask a good question today?’ That
difference – asking good questions – made me a
scientist.
1944 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Isidor Rabi
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28. Inquiry & Learning
We propose reversing the order of things. What if
… questions were more important than answers?
What if the key to learning were not the
application of techniques but their invention?
What if students were asking questions about
things that really mattered to them?
Thomas & Seely Brown, (2011). A New Culture of Learning
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29. Rothstein & Santana (2011).
Make Just One Change:
Teach Students to Ask Their
Own Questions
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30. Inquiry & Learning
Problem:
The Web’s mainstream tools for discovering and
retrieving relevant information are overwhelmingly
dominated by a search paradigm that is configured
to search for information and facts rather than
explanations.
Why? One answer is that queries instigated by keywords
in most cases will have semantic roots to primitive Q’s:
who, what, when, & where
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31. Three perspectives on IT
• information technology
• interruption technology
• intellectual technology
N. Carr, (2010). The Shallows

32. The Search Paradigm
• Powerful mainstream tools for
information-seeking
• Search is the key operator on, and
organizing technology for, content
• Inquiry instigated by keywords – the
aboutness of content
• Retrieval of content biased toward
explicit knowledge
• A “fast food” approach to inquiry
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33. Why-questions
• Seek a (plausible) explanation
• Instrumental for
• Sense-making
• Understanding
• Inquiry
More complexity than meaning-
making & the parsing of semantics

34. Information & Explanation
• Essence of information – a message or fact
• Essence of explanation – a story
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35. Information & Explanation
The Primitives of
Information Retrieval
• Who
• What
• When The Journalist’s Questions
• Where
• Why
Causal
Teleological
Gestaltic
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36. 3 Kinds of Explanation
• Causal Why E? Because C (C= Cause)
• Teleological Why E? In order to P (P = Purpose)
• Gestaltic Why E? For these reasons, R (R = Reasons)
• Why did it flood in Queensland?
Because of extremely heavy rain
• Why did Jon go to Singapore?
In order to attend ICCE 2012
• Why is Jon completing PhD studies?
For a number of reasons
Evered, R. (2005). A Typology of Explicative Models
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37. Information & Explanation
• Who descriptive ‘primitives’ of
• What information retrieval Information
e.g., DC-Kernel Processing
• When
• Where
conditional, motivational or
• Why explanative ‘primitive’
• How Knowledge
Construction &
procedural or
• If rule-based ‘primitives’ Understanding
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38. Frontiers for Development
• Scaffolding for reflective practice
– Wikipedia, wikibooks, wikiversity, …
– E-portfolio systems
• Automated Question Generation
– www.questiongeneration.org
• Query tools for focused inquiry
– Inquiry that propagates questions
• Tools specific for why-questioning
• Metadata for explanatory content
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39. Questions?
Papers available at: cdu.academia.edu/JonMason
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