Using information technology in education,

positive benefits and potential pitfalls 

Euromarine 2012-01-17

Johan Lundin - johan.lundin@gu.seUniv.of Gothenburg, Dep. of Applied IT, Learning communication and IT

University WestLinCS

Education and technology

• Teaching machines, computer aided instruction, AI tutoring, drills and often games (Skinner, 1968)

• “From the player’s perspective, the coach will provide advice regarding strategy and tactics for better play. But, from the perspective of the coach, the request for help is an opportunity to tutor basic mathematical, scientific or other kinds of knowledge that the game exercises.“ (Goldstein & Carr, 1977, p. 1)

• “This represents a static view and perhaps an outdated stimulus- response perspective on learning research, which is trying to establish a direct cause-effect relationship between technology (stimulus) and learning outcome (response), while ignoring the larger context within which learning occurs.” (Alavi & Leidner, 2001, p. 9).

Educational expectations on IT

Educational expectations on IT, cont.

• A tool for the learner

• Tools for living (as tools enhancing what we can do), and tools for learning (as tools that are meant to fade out in use as the user can perform the activities by themselves). (Carmien and Fischer, 2005)

• Simulations, visualizations and roleplays

• A perfect simulation (with regard to learning) is not necessarily depending on how close to an actual real world event the experience is, but rather how well it allows for and supports interaction, reflection and learning among the learners. (Lundin, 2005).

• Distance and learning, students distributed and away from teachers, fieldtrips, resources at a distance from co-located teachers and students

• Support for collaborative activities, sharing, collaborating, peer-learning, etc.

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iDeas, mobile, personal, in the field, connected, generic tools, knowledge expanding

Using the WIKI together

Creating structure Analytic work

Creating norms!

iDeas• Generic tools allowed for students to construct their own

structure, and for unexpected uses of technology

• Making activities and development visible

• Tools that are useful in distributed and co-located activities

• Connecting the field with campus

• Allowing for individual and collective knowledge building

1. Lundin, J., Lymer, G., Holmquist, L.E., Brown, B. & Rost, M. (2010). Integrating students’ mobile technology in higher education. International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation. 4(1). 1-14.

2. Brown, B., Lundin, J., Lymer, G., Rost, M., and Homquist, L.E. (2007). Seeing Ethnographically: Teaching ethnography as part of CSCW. In Proceedings of ECSCW 2007. pp. 411-430.

3. Lymer, G., J. Lundin, B. Brown, M. Rost and L. E. Holmquist (2007): Web based platforms in co-located practice – The use of a wiki as support for learning and instruction. In Proceedings of CSCL 2007. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 476-485.

4. Lymer, G. & Lundin, J. (2007). Formulating text: The practice of commenting in academic writing instruction. Paper presented at the EARLI Conference, August 28 - September 1, Budapest, Hungary.

Teaching programmingFor Peer Review Only8 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON JOURNAL NAME, MANUSCRIPT ID: XXX

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List 1 Example Code of Browser Detection of Mobile WRS

4.2.3 Open Multimedia Infrastructure for Flexible Question Organizing

>ne†of†the†important†strengths†of†the†mobile†approach†is†its†multimedia†capability!†which†provides†open†and†flexi,ble† platform† to† include†multimedia† data† in† questions† to†distribute†to†learners'†hese†media†types†may†be†used†for†some†specific† subjects!†or†distant† learning'† n†this†system†we† introduced† text!† image!†audio!† and†video† to†meet† the†requirements† of† different† use† cases'† he† teacher† side†management†panel†provides†interface†to†flexibly†incorpo,rate†multimedia†data†to†a†question'†he†user†just†needs†to†input† the† location†of† the†multimedia†data'†he†multime,dia† content† should† be† adapted† to† the† devices†with† sup,ported†format!†screen†size!†colour†depth!†etc'†to†maintain†a†certain† level† of† multimedia† content† quality† while† mini,mizing† the† cost'† @or† video† streaming!† we† use† Youube†embedded†player!†video† streaming†which† consumes† less†bandwidth† is† preferred† for† the† resource† constrained† de,vices'†t†is†not†difficult†to†include†the†multimedia†data†into†a† question'† owever!† the† preparation† of† the† video† and†

uploading† it† via† the† internet† is† complex† for† users'† he†multimedia†access†needs†further† investigation†to†make† it†easy† to† use† and† manage!† and† break† the† constraints† of†wireless†infrastructures†with†network†technology†such†as†multicast†for†heterogeneous†mobile†devices†[36]'††

4.2.4 Interoperable and Efficient Information Exchanging

-ll†the†results†data†is†stored†in†the†backend†database†dur,ing† the† learning† sessions!† and† this† data† is† saved† and† re,trieved†frequently†during†and†after†the†learning†sessions'†@or†both†sides†of†teacher†and†learners!†the†data†is†mapped†to†usersí†presentation† layer† to†be†displayed†on† the† inter,face'† hus!† it† is† a† critical† issue† to† map† the† information†from† database† to† user† end† efficiently'† X+"† is† a† flexible†and† interoperable† tool† to† transmit† data† via† the† internet†using†X+",8.†and†X+"ttp8equest!†etc'†n†this†system!†the† script† transforms† data† from† database† to† X+"† files!†and† then† transmits† the† files† between† server† and† clients'†hen!† the† learnerís†mobile†device†parses† the†X+"†docu,ments† and† maps† the† data† to† the† interfaces'† @or† the† re,source† constrained† mobile† devices!† some† light† weight†data†interaction†approaches†such†as†D#>H†Dava#cript†>b,ject†Hotation†are†good† choices† to† reduce† the† computing†load'†xample† code† that† transforms†+y#:"†raw†data† to†X+"†file!†and†the†X+"†file†generated†is†in†"ist†*'†

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List 2 Data Transformation form MySQL Raw Data to XML

Page 8 of 22Transactions on Mobile Computing

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Building your dream home

The ongoing task design process

Suggested by teacher Suggested by students

Predefined curriculum-

based content

Using the 3D program to design the house, building

a house in cardboard

Furnishing the house, making calculations of the size of

furniture

Spin-off content - off

task

Making the house aesthetically pleasing (choosing wallpaper,

calculations of wall paper-size)

Making the house functionally pleasing (choosing media equipment, calculations of

costs)

1. Tallvid, M., Lundin, J., Lindström, B. (forthcoming 2012). Using TPACK for Analysing Teachers’ Task Design – Understanding Change in a 1:1-Laptop Setting. Submitted to SITE2012.

Some common pitfalls• Teachers rarely appreciate the difficulties of technical implementation

• Developers rarely appreciate the difficulties of implementation in pedagogical practice

• Creating repositories of information which are difficult, or demands large resources to contextualize into educational practice.

• Technology blackbox (hide) what is to be learned/the content or Tech. emphasize unwanted aspects of the topic

• Students end up learning how to use tech. instead of learning the intended content

• Scaling is generally neglected, small projects over short time want to adress large problems over long time.

• Inherently difficult to predict any future use of technology of based solely on the properties of a particular technology. Several studies are: “… showing how nearly identical technologies occasioned quite different social meanings and consequences in comparable organizational settings.” (Robey & Sahay, 1996, p. 108).

Some possible benefits• Connecting classroom with field, and non-school practices,

when to meet and when to work distributed?

• Allowing for experiencing previously unavailable “things”

• Allowing students to engage in new forms of production and development

• Connecting students and teachers over distance (seems surprisingly difficult).

• Crowdsourcing students.

• From efficiency to quality to efficiency?

ongoing and upcoming tech trends

• mobile tech, in particular personal ones

• ubiquitous computing - computing built into other tools - web of things (with sensors?)

• robots

• sensors, in particular personal ones