Citizen Inquiry: From Rocks to Clouds

Maria Aristeidou , Eileen Scanlon, Mike Sharples

Institute of Educational TechnologyThe Open University

Outline

•Citizen Inquiry• Inquiring Rock Hunters

▫The story▫The results▫Now, what?

•Let’s mission▫Communities of Practice▫Community of Citizen Inquiry▫Next steps

Citizen Inquiry

Citizen Inquiry

IRH: The story

IRH: The results

IRH: Now, what?

Communities of

Practice

Community of Citizen Inquiry

Next Steps

Citizen Science

Inquiry-based

Learning

Citizen Inquir

y

People:• Engage with online scientific

inquiries• Design and run their own

investigations• Do personal meaning-making

activities• Share knowledge and receive

feedback• Use technology that supports

the investigations and the collaboration

• Become critical of the scientific information they receive

Citizen Inquiry

IRH: The story

IRH: The results

IRH: Now, what?

Communities of

Practice

Community of Citizen Inquiry

Next Steps

•24 participants (Expert and Amateur) Geologists

•Online platform nQuire•12 Rock Investigations •Discussion and feedback on chat and forums•Data collection:

▫Questionnaires, System Usability Scale, published investigations, Online focus group discussion, online and face-to-face interviews

the story

Inquiry Results

Inquiry Diagram

nQuire Forum

• Investigations:▫ 5 beginners, 7 intermediates, 0 experts▫ Themes: general, specific, specialised, located-based▫ 7 complete, 7 incomplete▫ Feedback: 3 investigations but no follow-up discussion

• nQuire platform:▫ SUS score: not very usable (60.8%)▫ BUT easy to use with the tutorial▫ Most used tools: image up-load tool, maps, notebook.

• Mentoring:▫ Beginners ask, experts respond, intermediates inactive

• Collaboration▫ Forum and chat – forum is preferred (lack of time)▫ Beginners and experts more active▫ 3 follow-up discussions

Citizen Inquiry

IRH: The story

IRH: The results

IRH: Now, what?

Communities of

Practice

Community of Citizen Inquiry

Next Steps

the results

Inquiring Rock Hunters - Interaction cycle

•Active contribution of specific members only•Non-help seeking within the community •No response to the feedback•Platform is abandoned

Citizen Inquiry

IRH: The story

IRH: The results

IRH: Now, what?

Communities of

Practice

Community of Citizen Inquiry

Next Steps

now, what?

Need to improve the sense of community in Citizen Inquiry

Communities of Practice•“Communities of practice are groups of people

who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Wenger, 1998).

•Elements: Domain, community, practice •Knowledge exchange, interpretation and

critique •Collaborative achievement•Life-cycle stages: potential, coalescing,

maturing, stewardship and transformation Citizen Inquiry

IRH: The story

IRH: The results

IRH: Now, what?

Communities of

Practice

Community of Citizen Inquiry

Next Steps

Community of Citizen Inquiry

•Domain: Weather •Community: People interested in weather

(experts and amateurs)•Practice: Group investigations, discussion,

resources

Citizen Inquiry

IRH: The story

IRH: The results

IRH: Now, what?

Communities of

Practice

Community of Citizen Inquiry

Next Steps

My mission

“How can we create an active and sustainable community of practice for citizens to engage in successful online scientific investigations?”

Next steps

•Literature review on online communities•Tips for successful – sustainable

communities•Inception of the weather community idea•Design of the technology usability and

sociability•Creation of an intentional community•Let’s mission!

Citizen Inquiry

IRH: The story

IRH: The results

IRH: Now, what?

Communities of

Practice

Community of Citizen Inquiry

Next Steps

Thank you!!!