The Use of Models in Learning Design and Learning Analytics

The practice of Learning Design (LD) and Learning Analytics (LA) is analysed using two lenses. Firstly, it is argued that both LD and LA involve the making of models. All models involve idealisation, i.e. the simplification of something complicated to make it more tractable. Various educational actors generate idealisations of the system they are working in, but only a subset of these idealisations is embodied in LD and LA implementations. Secondly, LD and LA both change the way that the actors in education handle the complexity which they are faced with in their practice. This is analysed in terms of the cybernetic concepts of variety and black boxes. It is then argued that LD and LA implementations share a tendency to shift control to higher levels in the hierarchy, and that this has consequences for the autonomy of teachers and learners, and for the acceptability to users of LD and LA. Finally, some conclusions are offered which can help LD and LA to be implemented while addressing the common problems that have been identified

An explanatory framework for understanding teachers resistance to adopting educational technology

The purpose of this paper is to propose a way of understanding the resistance shown by teachers to the adoption of some educational technologies. The Wookie Widget Server is taken as a case study. This has been a long term development project at The Institute for Educational Cybernetics, located at the University of Bolton, and has been used with teachers in a number of implementations. The efforts to enhance teachers’ adoption of the system are outlined, and an explanatory framework is proposed called 'MegaTech and MiniTech' which clarifies the reasons for teachers' resistance to adoption. The explanatory framework combines theoretical approaches from Harré's Positioning Theory, Heidegger's concept of 'to hand', and Popper's utopian and piecemeal social engineering. Application of this framework indicates that in deploying the Wookie Widget Server with teachers the researchers were adopting a position of power in relation to teachers. The nature of this power is explored by building on Bateson's writings. The explanatory framework and analysis of power provide a tool for analysis of the adoption of educational technologies. Increasingly ambitious claims are being made for educational technology. This paper recognises the potentially oppressive nature of these technologies, and provides a starting point for a coherent analysis, which enables this danger to be avoided. The combination of theories which makes up the proposed explanatory framework is new, as is the application to educational technology of Bateson's writing on power

A critical realist exploration of the culture of resistance in educational technology integration practices at a South African university

This thesis seeks to address a number of troubling concerns related to research and practice in the field of educational technology in South African higher education. Firstly, educational technology research has been criticised for a lack of theoretical rigour resulting in perspectives that are tightly focused mostly on practice but fail to adequately interrogate the socio-political complexities of integrating educational technology. Secondly, while research in the field has been criticised for failing to adequately contextualise the study of educational technology, it also fails to interrogate the impact of colonial legacies and Western-developed technologies on integration practices. Thirdly, there seems to be a disconnect between academics’ practices and choices with educational technology, and the expectations and assumptions of educational technologists. As such, this thesis predominantly follows inductive reasoning where literature and theory are applied to the empirical situation retrospectively in order to avoid the potential influences and biases of mostly Western-driven discourses on educational technology integration practices. Critical realism is used to ‘underlabour’ this study. This meta-theory asserts that there are multiple perspectives of an independent reality, and the work of research is to use these perspectives to draw closer to an understanding of that reality. As such, it allows me to interrogate my perspectives firstly, and secondly those of my research participants, about factors that constrain educational technology integration in the South African context through the use of theory (abstract concepts) and data (research participants’ multiple perspectives). However, critical realism is somewhat cautious in how to access this reality. Therefore, a critical ethnographic epistemology is employed to strengthen critical realism’s aim of accessing knowledge. A critical epistemology emphasises exposing hidden power structures, value judgements as well as self-knowledge and reflexivity. The thesis thus shows how a critical realist ontology could be complemented by a critical ethnographic methodology, particularly in critically-orientated research that has an emancipatory focus which seeks to uncover the socio-political context within which educational technology practices take place. A key argument is that critical realism can be employed as an ontological underlabourer for critical research because of: 1) its immanent critique of traditionally-accepted philosophies, 2) its emphasis on critique of our knowledge claims and value judgements, 3) its insistence that knowledge of the social world necessarily precedes emancipation, and 4) its different conceptions of power (oppressive power and transformatory power). This critical ethnographic research is conducted in a South African university with eight female academics. Data collection is in the form of interviews, observations and reflections, as well as informal and work-related interactions. At each data collection moment, I have had to be reflexively aware of my positionality as an educational technologist, the impact of a colonially-motivated methodology and an ethically-aware approach that seeks to put the needs of the research participants first. Critical ethnography’s meaning-making and critical realism’s abduction and retroduction are used to analyse and make sense of the data. In my attempt to contextualise the study’s findings, I first uncover structural forces and their impact on the academic role before attempting to correlate this with educational technology practices. The study’s findings point to two main structural forces in the socio-political context of South African higher education: the teaching/research tension and the elevation of one dominant culture. In terms of the teaching/research tension, the female academics in this study have to balance the urgent teaching function with the valued research function. They struggle to find this balance because of ambiguous messages from different structures, their passion for teaching, oppressive departmental dynamics and the pressures of their career trajectory. The elevation of one dominant culture is demonstrated through both oppressive cultural practices and untransformed curricula. The study shows that academics mitigate these structural constraints mostly through subtle every day resistance that seeks to mitigate their effect on both the academics and, where applicable, their students. Archer’s morphogenetic/morphostatic cycle is used retrospectively, in response to fieldwork, to conceptualise why this resistance comes about. A resistance framework developed using Archer is then used to understand educational technology choices and practices. The results of the research show that while academics are often pictured as resistant to technology as a response to different barriers, they actually often employ technology to resist structural forces. That is, with this thesis I show that there is a focus on resistance with technology rather than resistance to technology. The study shows how the research participants resist structural forces (teaching tension and dominant culture) by using technology to create safe and responsive learning spaces. As such, this thesis challenges educational technologists to re-think the way they support academics by recommending support strategies that acknowledge both the structural forces in the South African higher education context, as well as the culture of resistance, both of which impact academics’ educational technology choices and practices

Understanding 'success' and 'failure' in two case studies of collaborative technology : contexts, narrative and lenses

After first setting the scene for the development of IMS Learning Design (LD), this thesis details the creation of a LD test environment, along with interviews carried out with some of those involved in the development, implementation and research use of the specification. The creation of SPONGE (the Simplest Possible ONline Grouping Environment), a new software platform developed in response to the LD interview findings, is then documented. The rejection of SPONGE by teachers in a school environment provides the catalyst for an in-depth exploration of that school and the (largely non-technological) reasons for SPONGE's apparent failure. MegaTech and MiniTech, two explanatory lenses based on the work of van Langenhove and Harré, Heidegger, and Popper, are then created and used to revisit the rejection of LD and SPONGE (as two examples of functionally sound educational technologies) by practitioners. This research uses a multi-methodology (Mingers) approach, informed by Case Study (Yin), Realistic Evaluation (Pawson and Tilley) and Narratives (Clough). In addition, reflective elements are embedded at key moments in the thesis to facilitate a personal discussion of the challenges faced by this author and which prompted a significant change in research direction. This research makes the following contributions to knowledge. C1 A new analysis of why LD has not been widely adopted beyond the research community. [Chapters 5, 7, 8 and 9] C2 The initial validation of the analysis in C1 through its application in a contrasting educational and technical context (Hazelmere School). [Chapters 7, 8 and 9] C3 The in-depth picture of the use of educational technology in an extremely demanding environment (Hazelmere School). [Chapters 7 and 9] C4 The creation of MegaTech and MiniTech as explanatory lenses. [Chapter 8] C5 The application of MegaTech and MiniTech to more clearly explain the fate of LD and SPONGE. [Chapters 8 and 9] C6 The creation of SPONGE as a homogenous and open-standards compliant toolbox that focuses on immediacy and facilitates the spontaneous use of collaborative tools. [Chapter 6] C7 The creation of a self-contained and easily deployed LD test environment. [Chapter 4