With the increase of online education programs, Learning Analytics (LA) tools have become a popul... more With the increase of online education programs, Learning Analytics (LA) tools have become a popular addition to many Learning Management Systems. As a tool for supporting learning in an educational context, LA has generated some controversy among scholars. Therefore, in this text we aim to provide a theoretical and analytical understanding of the approach and its implications for teaching and learning. To achieve this we apply McLuhan’s semiotic analysis of media (1988). The “Laws of Media” questions are asked about LA tools: what do they enhance, make obsolete, retrieve, and reverse into. By answering these questions, we outline which practices of teaching and learning are more likely to become common when LA tools are taken into use more widely and which others will be relegated. In the analysis, we point out that LA tools enhance prediction and personalization of learning while they displace certain teachers’ skills, personal interaction between teachers and students, and qualitative interpretation and assessment of learning. Simultaneously, LA retrieves behaviourist views of learning and urges discussion about data literacy. Taken to the limits, LA reverses its effects and becomes a tool for supporting awareness and reflection in teaching and learning. We consider these contributions relevant for understanding and reflecting on the type of pedagogies that LA supports, the implicit values it holds, and the changes it introduces into educational practice.
Closinggapsbetweenvisionaryideasandclassroompracticewasthekey achievement of the design research ... more Closinggapsbetweenvisionaryideasandclassroompracticewasthekey achievement of the design research and work of the iTEC project. The design activi- ties were based on the traditions of Scandinavian participatory design, activity the- ory, service design, artistry, and a specific view on learning design. Within iTEC, the design research and work brought forward the concept of Learning Activities as a useful mode of communicating new ideas to teachers that provided both challenges and support for overcoming those challenges. Evaluation results showed that Learning Activities were extremely successful. This success led to the need to ensure the continuation of Learning Activity design and production beyond the project. The design approach for creating the Learning Activities was captured for educators in the Edukata toolkit. Radical simplification yielded a model that seems to be valuable for teachers even with small amounts of training. However, the full impact of this model and its applicability in the diverse school learning settings across Europe remains to be validated. In this article we present the design research process and one of its main results: the Edukata toolkit for teachers to design their own Learning Activities to bridge the gap between tie visionary ideas and classroom practice.
ABSTRACT This study takes a design-based research approach to explore how applications designed f... more ABSTRACT This study takes a design-based research approach to explore how applications designed for mobile devices could support reflection in learning in K-12 education. Use of mobile devices is increasing in schools. Most of the educational apps support single-person use of interactive learning materials, simulations and learning games. Apps designed to correspond to collaborative learning paradigms, such as collaborative progressive inquiry or project-based learning, are scarce. In these pedagogical approaches, reflection plays an important role. This paper presents a design-based research study of mobile device apps, ReFlex and TeamUp, that are specifically designed for use in student-centred and collaborative school learning, in which continuous reflection is an important part of the learning process. The design of the apps has relied on earlier research on digital tools for reflection and research about mobile devices in classroom learning. The design of the apps was accomplished as part of the qualitative design-based research conducted with a total of 165 teachers in 13 European countries. As a characteristic for a design-based research, the results of the study are twofold: practical and theoretical. The apps designed, ReFlex and TeamUp, are practical results of the qualitative research carried out in schools with teachers and students to understand the design challenges and opportunities in schools, to renew their pedagogical practices and to take new tools in use. To understand better the capacity of the apps to facilitate reflection, we analysed the apps in light of earlier studies concerning the levels of reflection that digital tools may support and categorisations of affordances that mobile device apps may provide for classroom learning. Our research indicates that there is potential for fostering the practice of reflection in classroom learning through the use of apps for audio-visual recordings.
This workshop aims to bring together different experiences of various design approaches for activ... more This workshop aims to bring together different experiences of various design approaches for active and early scaling up of the appropriation of tools and practices. There exists, many Design Research approaches for developing TEL, but synthesising these approaches into a systematic framework is rare, even more so for scaling the use of TEL to support informal work-based learning. We briefly describe the work of four cases: Integrative Learning Design Framework (ILDF), the Design Process for scaling agility, Co-design approach, and Agile approach. In the workshop we drive for the framework that enables aggressive scaling. The design approaches are described with the goal to point the similarities and challenges for forming a synthesised framework
The 7th International Conference on eXtreme Programming and Agile Processes in Software Engineering, 2007
Geographically distributed software development is hard to do properly. There are basically only ... more Geographically distributed software development is hard to do properly. There are basically only two known solutions: avoid it, or travel to each location weekly. Nine months ago we started a 2.5 year project with developers in four countries, and no budget for weekly travelling.
Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe Conference on and the International Quantum Electronics Conference, 2007
The constraints on dilute-nitride Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs) for multi-channel ampli... more The constraints on dilute-nitride Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs) for multi-channel amplification have been evaluated. The SOA has been fabricated angling the facets of a GalnNAs/GaAs edge emitting laser using gas enhanced focused ion beam etching.
With the increase of online education programs, Learning Analytics (LA) tools have become a popul... more With the increase of online education programs, Learning Analytics (LA) tools have become a popular addition to many Learning Management Systems. As a tool for supporting learning in an educational context, LA has generated some controversy among scholars. Therefore, in this text we aim to provide a theoretical and analytical understanding of the approach and its implications for teaching and learning. To achieve this we apply McLuhan’s semiotic analysis of media (1988). The “Laws of Media” questions are asked about LA tools: what do they enhance, make obsolete, retrieve, and reverse into. By answering these questions, we outline which practices of teaching and learning are more likely to become common when LA tools are taken into use more widely and which others will be relegated. In the analysis, we point out that LA tools enhance prediction and personalization of learning while they displace certain teachers’ skills, personal interaction between teachers and students, and qualitative interpretation and assessment of learning. Simultaneously, LA retrieves behaviourist views of learning and urges discussion about data literacy. Taken to the limits, LA reverses its effects and becomes a tool for supporting awareness and reflection in teaching and learning. We consider these contributions relevant for understanding and reflecting on the type of pedagogies that LA supports, the implicit values it holds, and the changes it introduces into educational practice.
Closinggapsbetweenvisionaryideasandclassroompracticewasthekey achievement of the design research ... more Closinggapsbetweenvisionaryideasandclassroompracticewasthekey achievement of the design research and work of the iTEC project. The design activi- ties were based on the traditions of Scandinavian participatory design, activity the- ory, service design, artistry, and a specific view on learning design. Within iTEC, the design research and work brought forward the concept of Learning Activities as a useful mode of communicating new ideas to teachers that provided both challenges and support for overcoming those challenges. Evaluation results showed that Learning Activities were extremely successful. This success led to the need to ensure the continuation of Learning Activity design and production beyond the project. The design approach for creating the Learning Activities was captured for educators in the Edukata toolkit. Radical simplification yielded a model that seems to be valuable for teachers even with small amounts of training. However, the full impact of this model and its applicability in the diverse school learning settings across Europe remains to be validated. In this article we present the design research process and one of its main results: the Edukata toolkit for teachers to design their own Learning Activities to bridge the gap between tie visionary ideas and classroom practice.
ABSTRACT This study takes a design-based research approach to explore how applications designed f... more ABSTRACT This study takes a design-based research approach to explore how applications designed for mobile devices could support reflection in learning in K-12 education. Use of mobile devices is increasing in schools. Most of the educational apps support single-person use of interactive learning materials, simulations and learning games. Apps designed to correspond to collaborative learning paradigms, such as collaborative progressive inquiry or project-based learning, are scarce. In these pedagogical approaches, reflection plays an important role. This paper presents a design-based research study of mobile device apps, ReFlex and TeamUp, that are specifically designed for use in student-centred and collaborative school learning, in which continuous reflection is an important part of the learning process. The design of the apps has relied on earlier research on digital tools for reflection and research about mobile devices in classroom learning. The design of the apps was accomplished as part of the qualitative design-based research conducted with a total of 165 teachers in 13 European countries. As a characteristic for a design-based research, the results of the study are twofold: practical and theoretical. The apps designed, ReFlex and TeamUp, are practical results of the qualitative research carried out in schools with teachers and students to understand the design challenges and opportunities in schools, to renew their pedagogical practices and to take new tools in use. To understand better the capacity of the apps to facilitate reflection, we analysed the apps in light of earlier studies concerning the levels of reflection that digital tools may support and categorisations of affordances that mobile device apps may provide for classroom learning. Our research indicates that there is potential for fostering the practice of reflection in classroom learning through the use of apps for audio-visual recordings.
This workshop aims to bring together different experiences of various design approaches for activ... more This workshop aims to bring together different experiences of various design approaches for active and early scaling up of the appropriation of tools and practices. There exists, many Design Research approaches for developing TEL, but synthesising these approaches into a systematic framework is rare, even more so for scaling the use of TEL to support informal work-based learning. We briefly describe the work of four cases: Integrative Learning Design Framework (ILDF), the Design Process for scaling agility, Co-design approach, and Agile approach. In the workshop we drive for the framework that enables aggressive scaling. The design approaches are described with the goal to point the similarities and challenges for forming a synthesised framework
The 7th International Conference on eXtreme Programming and Agile Processes in Software Engineering, 2007
Geographically distributed software development is hard to do properly. There are basically only ... more Geographically distributed software development is hard to do properly. There are basically only two known solutions: avoid it, or travel to each location weekly. Nine months ago we started a 2.5 year project with developers in four countries, and no budget for weekly travelling.
Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe Conference on and the International Quantum Electronics Conference, 2007
The constraints on dilute-nitride Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs) for multi-channel ampli... more The constraints on dilute-nitride Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs) for multi-channel amplification have been evaluated. The SOA has been fabricated angling the facets of a GalnNAs/GaAs edge emitting laser using gas enhanced focused ion beam etching.
El artículo presenta el pensamiento de diseño como un enfoque alternativo para realizar investiga... more El artículo presenta el pensamiento de diseño como un enfoque alternativo para realizar investigaciones sobre aprendizaje colaborativo con tecnología. Se describen dos resultados de investigación a fin de debatir las posibilidades y los retos de aplicar métodos de diseño para diseñar e investigar herramientas de construcción de conocimiento colaborativo. El texto comienza definiendo el aprendizaje colaborativo con nuevas tecnologías como un problema complejo que puede afrontarse mejor mediante la adopción de una actitud de diseñador. Se presenta el Diseño Basado en la Investigación (DBI) como un ejemplo de pensamiento de diseño basado en la construcción social del conocimiento con las personas que más adelante utilizarán las herramientas. Se describen las fases clave que caracterizan el método DBI (investigación contextual, diseño participativo, diseño de producto y software como hipótesis) y defiende la necesidad de adoptar un enfoque de diseño centrado en las personas. Los dos prototipos presentados son la cuarta versión de Future Learning Environment (Fle4), un software para la construcción de conocimiento colaborativo, y Square1, un conjunto de dispositivos y aplicaciones para entornos de aprendizaje auto-organizados. Ambos son ejemplos de DBI y contribuyen a la discusión sobre el rol de los artefactos como resultados de investigación. A través de estos casos, se afirma que el pensamiento de diseño es un enfoque significativo en la investigación sobre el aprendizaje colaborativo mediado por ordenador.
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