Research in education: Open and networked practices

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Rob

Research in education: Open and networked practices was the title of our presentation to an Australian Association for Research in Education 2011 symposium on eResearch for education: What it offers and how educational researchers should address this question?

The basic premise of our argument was to suggest that people and practices need to be front and centre in the eresearch discussion. In particular we talked about the main ingredients for networked openness and identified the key opportunities, challenges and suggestions. Read more here.

We concluded with the following quote:

The disappearance of intermediaries, new production processes, higher IT productivity, new pricing mechanisms and new distribution systems have generated a “direct economy”, where the customer/user has been sucked, willingly or not, into the production process or value chain. All this is leading to new business models, some immediately profitable, others not yet but hugely successful in terms of users. Krasna, B. (2007) ThinkStudio From Direct Economy to Direct Everything, English Write-Up, Lift 07.

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New ALTC project on Augmented Reality in Education

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Rob

Our new project, “ARstudio: Creating Opportunities for Multimodal Layered Learning through Augmented Reality” has won an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Innovation & Development grant ($204000). The project will be lead by the University of Canberra with partners from Australian National University and Macquarie University,

The project explores the application of Augmented Reality to expand our concept of learning spaces, to create new dimensions in mobile learning and to increase connectedness of learners in multiple contexts. Augmented reality is the term used to describe real-time views of a physical, real-world environment whose elements have been augmented, enhanced or enriched by computer generated sensory input, such as sound or graphics. Early uses of augmented reality focused on the use of web-cams to display alternative images when a particular object or image was viewed through them. However, the term has grown to include any actions that augment or expand, whether viewed through mobile devices or projected onto real surfaces. The two-year project has as its primary goals to develop effective uses of augmented reality in educational contexts together with tools for mapping its uptake and evaluating its effectiveness.

The project will result in four key deliverables:

  1. a collection of developed practice models, illustrating interactive, pedagogically-driven uses of augmented reality in common learning spaces;
  2. tools for mapping the uptake and evaluating the effectiveness of augmented-reality-based learning opportunities;
  3. documentation and guidelines on the construction and implementation of augmented reality in educational contexts; and
  4. a documented augmented-reality history of the project itself, showcasing the potential power of layered reality as a means of providing evocative histories of learning spaces and ideas.

More information to follow.

 

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Building a social ecology: Applying ICTs for communication, collaboration and development through participatory design and engagement

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Rob

As part of our new research project in Pakistan (more detail to come), we are examining how we can address the core objective to “assess and enhance information and communication modalities and technologies for collaboration and value chain enhancement”. While our ideas are still in embryonic form the first task has been to develop a collaborative environment that all participants can use. It has been helpful to think about this as a social ecology that is made up of social networking and group collaboration services presented in a consistent way. In this way the ecology can complement existing ICT systems and users involvement can arise from an invitation to participate through a layered services and tools approach. Our aim is to provide a secure, easily manageable environment that meets the needs of the participants now, and is expandable with other services in the future. Participants use these apps in conjunction with social networking tools provided by an instance of WordPress Multi-Site, The core applications that participants use are provided by Google Apps. These include email (Gmail), mailing lists (Groups), rich document creation (Docs) and shared schedules (Calendar). Some our thinking is presented in the images below.

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INSPIRE Centre taking shape at University of Canberra

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Rob

Construction on the INSPIRE Centre has commenced with completion scheduled for November 2011. Here is an extract from a recent UC Monitor article.

A partnership between the ACT Government and the University of Canberra, the INSPIRE Centre will deliver professional education and applied research in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education. Work has already begun with Professor Robert Fitzgerald, inaugural Director of the INSPIRE Centre, invited to present at the ACT Principals Conference in early April. The workshop involved over 200 school leaders discussing ICT and networked learning in the 21st Century, augmented reality in education, and the role the INSPIRE Centre will play in leading ICT education.

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The Future of Design Thinking: Expanding innovation and creativity in our schools

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Rob

I recently presented at this conference on the role of design thinking in the context of education and business.  The various speakers presented case studies of projects that have potential to foster the development of design thinking to enable creativity and innovation. Dr Michael Henderson from Monash University explains,

National testing aims to bolster basic skills that are important foundations for learning, however an unintended consequence may be an over-emphasis on learning ‘the basics’ and the reproduction of knowledge at the expense of nurturing students’ creativity and imagination and the related development of innovative mindsets and twenty first century literacies. The EIDOS seminar on Design Thinking brought together researchers, practitioners and policy makers from school education, higher education, engineering, psychology, and literacy studies. The diversity of approaches and insights into Design Thinking and its potential underlined the clear need for research in schools and subsequent policy development.

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Imagination in Educational Theory and Practice: A Many-sided Vision

Posted on September 24, 2010 by Rob

 

We have just finalised our new book, Imagination in Educational Theory and Practice: A Many-sided Vision. It arose from the 6th International Conference on Imagination in Education (Proceedings). The book has been published by Cambridge Scholars Press and is also available on Amazon. Other resources  developed while editing this book include an annotated bibliography and mindmap of the research literature on imaginative education.

 

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Cascading Change: The role of social software and social media in educational intervention and transformation ( #CaCha09 )

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Rob

Presenters: Sebastian Fiedler (Austria), George Siemens (Canada), Rob Fitzgerald (Australia), Terje Väljataga (Estonia). Time and place: December 7, 2009 in Auckland, New Zealand. This event was part of the ASCILITE09 conference at the University of Auckland.

Abstract: In recent years social media and social software tools and practices have been applied in numerous implementation and pilot studies in higher education (for example Yew, Gibson, & Teasley, 2006; Rogers, Liddle, Chan, Doxey, & Isom, 2007; Sharma & Fiedler, 2007; Fitzgerald, Barass, Campbell, Hinton, Ryan, Whitelaw, et al., 2009; Fiedler, Kieslinger, Pata, & Ehms, 2009). Some of these studies have been driven by explicit educational goals (such as fostering community involvement in learning and teaching; peer learning; competence advancement in collaborating, social-networking, and self-directing; social and collaborative production, and so forth). On the other hand numerous implementations seem to have been mostly inspired by the attractive, technical flexibility of an emerging decentralized landscape of loosely-coupled, networked tools and services and its alleged potential for changing the dominant patterns of institutional provision of ICT in education. Some have noted that these implementations produce more questions than answers (Guess, 2007). It is becoming clear that greater depth of examination is required to clarify what type of educational change goals and what type of systemic interventions (Midgley, 2000; Hawe, Shiell & Riley, 2007) can actually be supported effectively by bringing social media practices into higher education.

Furthermore, exploration is needed of the tensions, barriers and unintended consequences that are likely to result from educational interventions that try to use such practices as a significant “leverage point for change” in higher education. However, as Postman (1992) has noted, the change promised by new technologies often represents a Faustian bargain.

Increased understanding of the unintended consequences of change is imperative if intervention focuses not only on first-order change by making mere “incremental improvements within existing modes of practice” (Foster-Fishman et al. 2007), but strives for second-order (or radical) change (Bereiter, 2002) involving a fundamental shift in how things are done within the targeted context. Change agents need to understand if and how a strategic change made in one part of the system influences (or fails to influence) other parts of the system. What actors are (or ought to be) included in an intervention is another important issue here. Foster-Fishman, Nowell, & Yang (2007) remind us that “… if the boundaries are drawn too wide, then the systems change effort can become cumbersome and unmanageable; if drawn too narrow then vital system pieces may be ignored” (p. 204). The way a system is bounded places limits on our understanding and our ability to leverage change (Midgley 2000). This is where many technology driven interventions in education seem to fail. While re-mediation efforts based on the introduction of new technological tools often trigger temporary changes in practice, “this emphasis on instrumental re-mediation often entailed a relative neglect of corresponding transformations in the division of labor, community and rules – that is, the social-organizational re-mediation of the activity system” (Engeström 2001, p. 91).

Since social media practices tend to fundamentally alter the traditional configurations of responsibility and control of instructional functions that characterize settings in formal higher education, these changes always effect other parts of the overall system such as norms (beliefs, values, attitudes, orientations), resources and regulations (policies, procedures, routines). A common example of these phenomena is the misfit of the production modes mediated by social software (co-production, multi-authorship, etc.) and their typical products (networked artefacts) with the assessment norms and procedures of the overall institutional system.

Our symposium brings together a diverse and international group of experienced researchers to explore the problems and limitations of using social media practices as a leverage point for second-order change in higher education. Furthermore, it intends to engage symposium contributors and audience in theoretical and empirical reflection on possible directions for further conceptual and methodological development in that area.

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Mobile phones and agricultural development in Cambodia

Posted on June 15, 2009 by Rob

For the last three years I have been working with my colleague, John Spriggs, on agricultural development projects in Cambodia. John is an agricultural economist who has over the last few years been applying participatory action research methods to improving agricultural marketing systems in developing countries (Cambodia and Papua New Guinea). My background is in technology and education with an interest in the application of robust technologies to help users communicate and work together. Originally, John invited me to join him on his project to explore ways we could use communications technologies to the improve the marketing system for maize and soy bean farmers in western Cambodia. From our early workshops in Battambang, Cambodia, we identified poor communications as one of the key constraints to improving the marketing system. At that time I had been developing an interest in mobile communications particularly the application of sms and was following closely the work of the Pinoy Internet Farmers project.

Image: An early work workshop in 2006 with traders and farmers, Battambang, Cambodia

Following that initial workshop we presented a proposal to Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) for a year’s extension to John’s project to develop the Electronic Marketing Communication System (EMCS). During that project we used a propriety system, Infotxt (developed in the Philippines) to run a sms server from the Price Division of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) in Phnom Penh. A price officer collected price data each week and used this to update the server. The trial was very successful and the information on demand system allowed a user to text specific keywords and that would return price information. We conducted a number of training sessions in 2007 and later that year the Cambodian People’s Party endorsed the EMCS as a significant agricultural innovation in Cambodia.

Image: SMS training: Three generations of users

During 2007 we worked closely with Pieter Ypma from CAMIS and for a number of months they used our EMCS system to sms-enable their web-based price database. In early 2008 our project concluded and we handed the server across to the MOC.

New ACIAR-funded Project

In April 2008 we secured a new project (ASEM/2006/130) under the direction of Bob Martin. The main project team includes Rob Fitzgerald (University of Canberra), Bob Farquharson (University of Melbourne), John Spriggs (University of Canberra) and Andrew Higgins (CSIRO). The Australia-based collaborators in the project are the University of New England (UNE), the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI), The University of Canberra (UC) and CSIRO. Collaborators in Cambodia are the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), the Maddox Jolie Pitt foundation (MJP) and CARE International. The Provincial Departments of Agriculture in Battambang and Pailin are engaged via MOUs and secondments with MJP and CARE.

The project is focusing on production and marketing problems faced by poor smallholder farmers in northwestern Cambodia. While still a comparatively fertile area, over the last 10 years crop yields have been declining and soils are being degraded by excessive cultivation and burning. Much of the crop development has been largely driven by market demand in Thailand however local farmers are disadvantaged by lack of market information, inadequate post-harvest technology and transport infrastructure. The overarching aim of the project is to improve the functioning of the production – marketing system for maize and soybean in north-western Cambodia as a key to increasing cash income, sustainable growth and poverty reduction for smallholder farmers. We have established eight village clusters, four in the district of Samlaut (a protected area containing the last remnants of tropical rainforest in Cambodia) and four in the municipality of Pailin (a previously heavily forested area known for its gem mining). Farmer workshops have been investigating key socio-economic issues related to adoption of the improved crop technologies and improving land use. Village level workshops have worked on gross margin and partial budgets to examine return on investments for various production technologies and discussed access to marketing information

FrontlineSMS

Building on the previous project we wanted to extend our sms work to both the production and marketing system. After a number of months of evaluation we selected FrontlineSMS as the platform for our sms work. Ken Banks has written about it in Cambodian farmers turn to their phone, MobileActive.org covered it in Frontline SMS Review and the Internet & Democracy Project at Harvard University blogged it in Frontline SMS Launches New Version, Continues to Foster Change.
In February 2009 we setup two FrontlineSMS servers. The first with the newly formed The Northwest Agricultural Marketing Association (NAMA) in Pailin with particular focus on the provision of information (rated top priority by members) and the exchange and sharing of silo association price and market information. A second server was installed with in Battambang with particular emphasis on basic market information and health alerts.

In June 2009 we further refined the systems and NAMA is focusing on:

* NAMA broadcast messages to members

* Maize, Soy Bean and Cassava price Information

* Seed and fertiliser (input) costs

Image: NAMA FrontlineSMS server: Robert Fitzgerald with Moul Sam who runs the server

Farmers, mobile phones and market information

In a recent survey of farmers from two villages in the Pailin area, we found mobile phone ownership was about 40% with an average airtime cost per month of about $13 USD. Farmers reported their business use of the phone varies seasonally but on average they report a minimum of 50% business use increasing to 100% during peak production times such as planting.

Image: Local farmers at a 2009 field day in Pailin

In a large group discussion farmers reported their main source of market information comes from the local village middleman and while they have a degree of confidence in this information, they believe the information can be quite variable. They supplement this local information by talking to their friends and listening to national TV/Radio broadcasts. Farmers said they want additional and more regular price information so that they can make better comparisons. In addition to prices they want to know the current costs of inputs (e.g. seed and fertilizer) and contact details of traders in the area. None of the farmers said they regularly use sms at the moment but all were keen to try if they had training – many said they would ask their children for help. At one of training sessions back in 2007, a farmer who had been struggling to use his phone called his 14 year old son for assistance. The young man arrived a few minutes later on his moto and spent the next hour helping his Dad and others to use their phones. The kids are keen as can be seen from these three local children (below) who were very interested in the Bubble Breaker game on my HTC phone.

(The future)

While the our initial data suggests mobile phone use is quite high amongst farmers we will be working to develop a buddy system to ensure that farmers are part of a social network where at least one member has access to a mobile phone.

Future SMS applications

While our sms servers are still in the early days of use we are exploring other sms-based information systems such as Geochat (see my recent post) from InSTEDD and mhits– an innovative sms-based micro-payment system developed in Australia by Harold Dimpel.

Volunteers/Interns needed

In recent conversations with both MJP and InSTEDD we have been exploring the possibility of establishing intern programs to encourage volunteers work with us. Some good work is already underway by volunteers. Oum Vatharith from Phnom Penh is already working on a Khmer translation of FrontlineSMS and I have talked to him recently about the development of FrontlineSMS user manual in Khmer. We will be looking for volunteers in the form of software developers and IT savvy community/education development folk who are interested in working with these leading NGOs to help ensure that we realise the potential of technology to make a difference to peoples lives.

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SMS Monitoring Systems – Geochat from InSTEDD

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Rob

Today I met with Romdoul Kim and Channe Suy from InSTEDD’s innovation Lab in Phnom Penh. InSTEDD (Innovative Support for Emergencies Diseases Disasters) is a NGO that was brought into being by Larry Brilliant (TED Prize 2006 winner) who wanted to build an early-warning system for pandemics and other disasters. Google.org funded InSTEDD to build a rapid-reporting system to help health teams stay connected in emergencies (Just as an aside, Larry Brilliant left Google recently after three years to work with Skoll Urgent Threats Fund setup by Ebay founder, Jeff Skoll).

Image:  L-R: Tola, Dara, Ratha, Mann, John, Rob, Romdoul, Channe, and Chhovy

During disease outbreaks rapid response teams are often dispatched to the affected areas. Communication is often difficult and in many cases preliminary paperwork may be slow to get back to head office. Enter Geochat, a sms-based chat system that provides alerts and broadcast sms that can be tracked on google maps. Geochat was recently featured in Mobile Phones: Sensors and sensitivity (The Economist, 4 June 2009) on the potential of mobile devices for surveillance and monitoring. InSTEDD use the term situational awareness to describe the way Geochat can be used to support a range of field work activities from connecting, visualizing, reporting, receiving and coordinating (see below).

I see situational awareness as related to John Seely Brown’s idea of peripheral awareness that can arise from the application of presence technologies such as Twitter. Presence is often understood in terms of nearness though I think the term propinquity better captures the complexity of nearness by distinguishing between its different dimensions of proximity, kinship, similarity and time. I have talked a little about this recently in the context of online learning and the need to focus design efforts on supporting more complex social relationships.

Romdoul Kim (Director of Government Affairs, Mekong Region) talked to us about the work of the Phnom Penh office and explained how it works with six countries (Cambodia, China, Lao, Myanmar, Thailand & Vietnam) on the Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance program under the Onehealth initiative. Geochat was recently used for an Avian Influenza simulation exercise in the Stung Treng Province of Cambodia. InSTEDD (Cambodia) has established a small team of software developers but is keen to work with interns and volunteers who have skills in software development and IT community training programs. We are looking at applications of Geochat within our current agricultural project and the possible synergies with our work with FrontlineSMS.

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Digital learning communities and social software: Report published

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Rob

Our Digital Learning Communities (DLC) Project considered the potential of social software to support peer engagement and group learning in higher education. The project established a series of pilots that examined ways in which social software could provide students with opportunities to engage with their peers to supplement the more formal aspects of their education. It spoke with teaching and support staff about the use of social software to support learning, and to students about how they saw social software being used in their university lives. It established a wiki-based cookbook that provides ideas and suggestions for the use of social software, and conducted surveys of staff and students’ use of new social technologies. The full report is available for download.

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