Learning across generations: The role of technology and design research

Charalambos VrasidasExecutive Director, CARDET

Professor and Associate Dean for e-learning, University of Nicosia

www.vrasidas.comwww.cardet.org

pambos@cardet.org

Ageing Europe

From 4 working-age people to 2 for every person aged 65+…

“… The demographic old-age dependency ratio set to nearly double over the long-term…”

Intergenerational learning

• Contributes to the policy areas of community cohesion, community safety, health, and well-being by – bringing together different generations

through meaningful activities and interactions,

– increasing understanding between generations, breaking down stereotypes and providing positive role models, and

– preventing anti-social behaviour and challenge perceptions (Schuller, 2010).

ICT AFFORDANCES

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CEbKM5lUMAAPUv3.jpg:large

• Society more connected but conflict rife

• World changing, education must too

• New literacies needed for society of tomorrow

• Learning throughout life in a complex and changing world

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002325/232555e.pdf

Life Skills

Collaboration Communication Empathy

Reflection ResilienceProblem

Solving

Global Citizenship

Critical

ThinkingCreativity

Important Developments in Educational Technology in European Schools (2014)

Horizon Report Europe: 2014

Characteristics of ICT

• Personalized

• Access

• Collaboration

• Immediacy

• Connections

• Communication

• Presence

• Support

All Together Now

• Producing short, first-person narratives that can be presented in a variety of traditional and social media formats

• Provide non-threatening production environments in which the process of creation is valued as much as the stories created

• Story making and story distribution services that prioritize the power of individual voices

BIG FOOT• Mountain regions in Europe are centers of traditional

cultural and natural diversity.

• Migration of the younger population towards urban

• Bridge this gap by establishing intergenerational learning and by valuating the skills and knowledge of the older generation of locals

• Regional sustainable development.

• Preservation of cultural heritage.

Media and Learning Debate

• It is the medium that impacts learning?

• It is the method?

• It is the combination?

• It is the technology design aspect?

• What is it?

Black Box Theory

Age, SES, gender, family, friends, health, context, food,

emotions, ethnicity, etc.

Students who do not use computers in math lessons score highest in mathematics

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Sco

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Index of computer use in mathematics lessons

Source: Figure 6.7

Paper-based mathematics

Computer-basedmathematics

Highest score

OECDaverage

Students who do not use computers in math lessons score highest in mathematics

• What kind of computers?

• What kind of software?

• What level math?

• What kinds of problems?

• How are scores measured?

• What instructional method is used?

• How is feedback provided?

• What other factors might influence learning?

• How is learning measured?

DESIGN RESEARCH

• “… uncovers the surprising roots of hot button issues, from teacher tenure to charter schools, and finds that recent popular ideas to improve schools—instituting merit pay, evaluating teachers by student test scores, ranking and firing veteran teachers, and recruiting “elite” graduates to teach—are all approaches that have been tried in the past without producing widespread change.”

Criticism of Education Research

• Jargon terminology

• Driven by interests

• Placing heavy emphasis on positivist aims

• Published in areas that very few can access

• Not presenting usable results

• Not connected to practice

• Lack of in-depth discussion and practical recommendations

“Design thinking can be described as a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible”

(Kelley)

The Design Process

http://www.ideo.com

Characteristics of Design Thinking

• Creative process

• Human centered

• Situated and contextualized

• Culture and people roles (not with ICT)

• A participatory system

Design thinking as a framework encourages us to act as

LEARNING ARCHITECTS

Educational Design Research

• Educational design research aims to advance research, design, and practice

• Researchers and participants collaborate to design, implement, evaluate, and revise interventions with the aim of advancing both practical and theoretical knowledge.

• Produce usable knowledge. • The researchers often times assume the designer role as well,

highlighting a formative, participatory and reflective approach to knowledge generation.

• The iterative nature of education design research in real world contexts among researchers and practitioners is an important aspect of the approach – (Design-Based Research Collective, 2003; McKenney & Reeves, 2012).

Iterative design research McKenny 2001

CASE STUDIES

http://boysreading.org

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http://e-reflect.wix.com/e-reflect

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EAThink2015 – eat local, think global

http://www.play2prevent.org