E-learners or E-actors: Exploring the Possible Cultural Barriers Impacting Learner’s Participation Originality in Online Collaborative Learning

Educationally, technology-enhanced collaborative learning is the use of technology to support/mediate online collaborative learning with some degree of ease. In other words, this paper focused on the notion that during online collaborative learning, learners are unconsciously compelled (as a result of their primary cultures) to forge a new self-identity to enable them participate and cope with learning with their peers.Using a literature review methodology, this paper argued using carefully selected literature and theories towards answering questions like the cultural barriers as well as the socio-technical dynamics that hinders the success of online collaborative learning. Although much remains to be explored, conclusions were drawn based on the findings that relate to the social and asocial character of online learning, the fear of fear of peers, the fear to be misunderstood, culture-dependent beliefs and a low order of discourse and challenges among peers. Keywords: Technology-enhanced, learning, collaborative learning, e-learners, e-actors, self-identity, culture, socio-technical, beliefs DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-11-01 Publication date: April 30th 201

Curating Interactive Art for Online Conferences: Artist, Curator and Technologist Experiences in Gather.Town

We present the results of a reflective, practice-based study with creative practitioners who contributed to the Art Track at Creativity & Cognition 2021. We investigate curating an interactive online gallery in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the opportunities afforded and design constraints imposed by the Gather.Town platform and the experiences of the participating practitioners. We present auto-ethnographic reflections from Author 1, who created the online gallery space. We draw on the experience of Author 2 in curatorial research to analyze the experience of emerging practice through interviews with participating artists and curators. Results show that many of the artists were positively surprised by the platform engagement opportunities and conference attendees' engagement with the artworks at the gallery opening, and appreciated the equitable, global reach. Further analysis reveals a desire for future iterations, and an exploration of the platform in a hybrid context, alongside an in-person exhibition

How Do You Zoom?: A Survey Study of How Users Configure Video-Conference Tools for Online Meetings

Many knowledge workers now spend prolonged hours on video calls each day. However, it is unclear how people set up their videoconferencing tools now that they are highly accustomed to this communication medium. To investigate this, we distributed an online questionnaire that explored 115 users' videoconferencing setup preferences, asking them about their typical video and camera setup for meetings. We structure the reporting of results around four themes: (1) video layout preferences, (2) camera preferences, (3) self-view window preferences, and (4) multitasking behaviour during meetings. Results show that participants preferred using the active speaker view when joining large meetings with a single key presenter, and the grid view when on social calls and meetings requiring collaboration. Regarding the self-view window - most of the survey respondents reported that they have the self-view window enabled during meetings so that they could check on their own appearance throughout meetings. That said, many left this feature on because they were unaware that the self-view window could be disabled while still sharing their video with others. We discuss the implications of these findings for improving our understanding of how people use and configure their online video meeting tools

The Symmetry of Partner Modelling

© 2016, International Society of the Learning Sciences, Inc. Collaborative learning has often been associated with the construction of a shared understanding of the situation at hand. The psycholinguistics mechanisms at work while establishing common grounds are the object of scientific controversy. We postulate that collaborative tasks require some level of mutual modelling, i.e. that each partner needs some model of what the other partners know/want/intend at a given time. We use the term “some model” to stress the fact that this model is not necessarily detailed or complete, but that we acquire some representations of the persons we interact with. The question we address is: Does the quality of the partner model depend upon the modeler’s ability to represent his or her partner? Upon the modelee’s ability to make his state clear to the modeler? Or rather, upon the quality of their interactions? We address this question by comparing the respective accuracies of the models built by different team members. We report on 5 experiments on collaborative problem solving or collaborative learning that vary in terms of tasks (how important it is to build an accurate model) and settings (how difficult it is to build an accurate model). In 4 studies, the accuracy of the model that A built about B was correlated with the accuracy of the model that B built about A, which seems to imply that the quality of interactions matters more than individual abilities when building mutual models. However, these findings do not rule out the fact that individual abilities also contribute to the quality of modelling process

Immersive design engineering

Design Engineering is an innovative field that usually combines a number of disciplines, such as material science, mechanics, electronics, and/or biochemistry, etc. New immersive technologies, such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), are currently in the process of being widely adapted in various engineering fields. It is a proven fact that the modeling of spatial structures is supported by immersive exploration. But the field of Design Engineering reaches beyond standard engineering tasks. With this review paper we want to achieve the following: define the term “Immersive Design Engineering”, discuss a number of recent immersive technologies in this context, and provide an inspiring overview of work that belongs to, or is related to the field of Immersive Design Engineering. Finally, the paper concludes with definitions of research questions as well as a number of suggestions for future developments

UNDERSTANDING MEDIA RICHNESS AND SOCIAL PRESENCE: EXPLORING THE IMPACTS OF MEDIA CHANNELS ON INDIVIDUALS’ LEVELS OF LONELINESS, WELL-BEING, AND BELONGING

Loneliness is a universal part of being human and is detrimental to well-being. The need-to-belong hypothesis claims that individuals frequently having positive interactions with people close to them mitigates their loneliness. Media richness theory adds that rich media channels allow individuals to perceive higher levels of social presence and maintain those vital, close relationships. Understanding how a given media channel impacts online interactions and, in turn, the interactants is vital. This study used a pretest-posttest equivalent groups experimental design to examine if individuals who interacted with a close relationship partner over a rich media channel would have a decrease in their perceived loneliness levels or an increase in their perceived well-being and sense of belonging (pre-interaction to post-interaction) compared to those who communicated via less rich media channels. The results indicated that the richness of a given channel increased with the number of verbal and nonverbal cues the media channel could communicate; video chat had the highest richness, followed by phone calls and text messages. Although texting had a significantly lower level of social presence, participants did not indicate a difference in social presence felt between video chat and phone calls. Neither media richness nor social presence produced an effect on loneliness, well-being, or belongingness. Overall, the findings suggest that, for a healthy population, no channel of communication examined here is better or worse in terms of its effects on short-term loneliness, sense of belonging, and subjective well-being

Developing sustainable business models for institutions’ provision of open educational resources: Learning from OpenLearn users’ motivations and experiences

Universities across the globe have, for some time, been exploring the possibilities for achieving public benefit and generating business and visibility through releasing and sharing open educational resources (OER). Many have written about the need to develop sustainable and profitable business models around the production and release of OER. Downes (2006), for example, has questioned the financial sustainability of OER production at scale. Many of the proposed business models focus on OER’s value in generating revenue and detractors of OER have questioned whether they are in competition with formal education. This paper reports on a study intended to broaden the conversation about OER business models to consider the motivations and experiences of OER users as the basis for making a better informed decision about whether OER and formal learning are competitive or complementary with each other. The study focused on OpenLearn - the Open University’s (OU) web-based platform for OER, which hosts hundreds of online courses and videos and is accessed by over 3,000,000 users a year. A large scale survey and follow-up interviews with OpenLearn users worldwide revealed that university provided OER can offer learners a bridge to formal education, allowing them to try out a subject before registering on a formal course and to build confidence in their abilities as learners. In addition, it was found that using OER during formal paid-for study can improve learners’ performance and self-reliance, leading to increased retention and satisfaction with the learning experience

Open educational resources for all? Comparing user motivations and characteristics across The Open University’s iTunes U channel and OpenLearn platform.

With the rise in access to mobile multimedia devices, educational institutions have exploited the iTunes U platform as an additional channel to provide free educational resources with the aim of profile-raising and breaking down barriers to education. For those prepared to invest in content preparation, it is possible to produce interactive, portable material that can be made available globally. Commentators have questioned both the financial implications for platform-specific content production, and the availability of devices for learners to access it (Osborne, 2012). The Open University (OU) makes its free educational resources available on iTunes U and via its web-based open educational resources (OER) platform, OpenLearn. The OU’s OER on iTunes U reached the 60 million download mark in 2013; its OpenLearn platform boasts 27 million unique visitors since 2006. This paper reports the results of a large-scale study of users of the OU’s iTunes U channel and OpenLearn platform. A survey of several thousand users revealed key differences in demographics between those accessing OER via the web and via iTunes U. In addition, the data allowed comparison between three groups: formal learners, informal learners and educators. The study raises questions about whether university-provided OER meet the needs of users and makes recommendations for how content can be modified to suit their needs. As the publishing of OER becomes core to business, we reflect on reasons why understanding users’ motivations and demographics is vital, allowing for needs-led resource provision and content that is adapted to best achieve learner satisfaction, and to deliver institutions’ social mission