Multimodal and collaborative practices in the organization of word searches in lingua franca military meetings

Abstract This study investigates word finding difficulties in military meetings during a crisis management exercise in which English is used as a lingua franca (ELF). Multimodal conversation analysis (CA) is used to examine how searching for a next item in a turn-in-progress, i.e., a word search, is attended to via coordination of verbal and embodied conduct. The analysis shows different kinds of word search organizations: searches can be initiated and carried out without recruiting the co-participants’ assistance, co-participation can be invited to varying degrees, and searches can be collaboratively completed without the speaker’s visible attempts to solicit assistance. These organizations are illustrative of the institutional and interactional context, namely that the opportunities to invite and manage co-participation via verbal and bodily-visual resources, such as gaze and indexing or iconic gestures, are in some cases more limited than in others. These opportunities are foremost connected to the sequential and sociomaterial environment of word searches and the situated roles enacted by the participants. The study highlights word searches as discrete activities that make linguistic and epistemic discrepancies between the speaker and co-participants relevant and negotiable in the moment-by-moment unfolding of interaction

Negotiating collaborative and inclusive practices in university students’ group-to-group videoconferencing sessions

Abstract In group-to-group videoconferencing (VC), social actions are coordinated between participants in the physical and online environment, which raises the practical problem of how to manage the interactional space in a collaborative and inclusive manner. This can be particularly challenging for less experienced (i.e., novice) users of VC. The present study uses multimodal conversation analysis (CA) to investigate how university students, who speak English as a foreign language, organise their conduct in the moment-by-moment unfolding of VC. It focuses on moments that make additional interactional work to include the remote party salient, namely transitions regarding next-speaker selection and topic change. The analysis illustrates the reflexive use of different constellations of talk and screen-oriented behaviours as key for coordinating actions in the VC environment. The study has implications for educational research and practice, since it helps understand the interactional competence learners need to develop to succeed in environments of online collaborative work

Material and embodied resources in the accomplishment of closings in technology-mediated business meetings

Abstract This study uses conversation analysis (CA) and video-recorded data from an international company to investigate closings in technology-mediated (i.e. distant) meetings. The focus is on the situated affordances and multimodal resources that the chair and participants deploy to transition from meeting talk to a coordinated exit. Due to restricted access to bodily-visual leave-taking behaviours, other mutually recognized practices need to be implemented to initiate and advance closings: (1) when closing is made relevant as the next step, (2) when opportunity spaces to move out of the closing emerge, and (3) when departure from the meeting needs to be negotiated. This progression requires the close coordination of co-participants’ vocal and embodied conduct in the physical setting and rendering actions publicly intelligible via the screen at specific moments. The analysis portrays closings as emergent, collaborative accomplishments, in which the import of multimodal turn constructions and (dis)aligning behaviours must be negotiated in situ

Interactional spaces in stationary, mobile, video-mediated and virtual encounters

Abstract In any focused social interaction, people come together, move, and position their bodies with respect to each other, and maintain and change such formations while they interact. Establishing and sustaining such formations makes it possible for them to see and hear others, to show and share objects, and to orient to same features in the environment. Forming copresence and a shared space is core and a precondition to any social interaction. Since the influential work by Adam Kendon (F-formations) and Erving Goffman (participation frameworks, focused encounters, withs) an accumulating body of research has explored — in different interactional settings — the pragmatics of how humans organize themselves spatially for interacting with each other. More recently, Lorenza Mondada (2009) has introduced the term “interactional space” to refer to the dynamic ways in which people not only initiate and establish copresent formations but also continuously (re)organize them with respect to each other, the unfolding activity and material environment. In this chapter, we offer an overview of pragmatics research on spatial arrangements in interaction. We illustrate how people organize their copresence in order to interact with each other in stable, mobile, video-mediated (i.e., distributed) and virtual settings. We explore “interactional space” as a visual phenomenon and thereby focus on situations where participants can (at least partly) see each other

Vuorovaikutuksen näkökulma vieraskielisiin etäopetustilanteisiin:haasteita ja käytänteitä

Millaista vuorovaikutus on tilanteissa, joissa opettaja ja oppijat ovat fyysisesti eri paikoissa? Millaiset käytänteet ovat toimivia? Miten oppijoiden osallistumista ja sitoutumista voidaan parhaiten tukea? Muun muassa näihin etäopetukseen liittyviin kysymyksiin on etsitty kuluneen koronapandemian aikana vastauksia. Vuorovaikutuksen tutkimus on yksi alue, joka voi auttaa ymmärtämään ja kehittämään nykyisiä ja tulevia käytännön ratkaisuja paremmin.nonPeerReviewe

University students’ (dis)engagement experiences in synchronous sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract In the past two years, student engagement in online learning situations has become a mutual concern for educators all over the world. The impact of working in online environments and using video and other communication channels on students’ learning experiences is still not fully understood. The present study addresses this question by drawing on students’ written reflections and interviews from the Finnish higher education context collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. It uses the qualitative method of thematic analysis to investigate students’ experiences of interacting in synchronous sessions and their perceptions on (dis)engagement. The analysis shows the importance of versatile teaching methods and enhanced participation, the use of web cameras and anti-distraction strategies for engagement. In contrast, some aspects, such as communication issues, camera-induced self-awareness, and distractions from one’s physical and digital surroundings, pertain to disengagement. The study contributes to a better understanding of the common challenges and affordances of distributed learning environments on student engagement, but also shows individual differences in how these are perceived. The findings have implications for online teaching pedagogy and course design in general and higher education in particular

GenZ white paper:strengthening human competences in the emerging digital era

Executive summary We are witnessing an emerging digital revolution. For the past 25–30 years, at an increasing pace, digital technologies—especially the internet, mobile phones and smartphones—have transformed the everyday lives of human beings. The pace of change will increase, and new digital technologies will become even more tightly entangled in human everyday lives. Artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), 6G wireless solutions, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (XR), robots and various platforms for remote and hybrid communication will become embedded in our lives at home, work and school. Digitalisation has been identified as a megatrend, for example, by the OECD (2016; 2019). While digitalisation processes permeate all aspects of life, special attention has been paid to its impact on the ageing population, everyday communication practices, education and learning and working life. For example, it has been argued that digital solutions and technologies have the potential to improve quality of life, speed up processes and increase efficiency. At the same time, digitalisation is likely to bring with it unexpected trends and challenges. For example, AI and robots will doubtlessly speed up or take over many routine-based work tasks from humans, leading to the disappearance of certain occupations and the need for re-education. This, in turn, will lead to an increased demand for skills that are unique to humans and that technologies are not able to master. Thus, developing human competences in the emerging digital era will require not only the mastering of new technical skills, but also the advancement of interpersonal, emotional, literacy and problem-solving skills. It is important to identify and describe the digitalisation phenomena—pertaining to individuals and societies—and seek human-centric answers and solutions that advance the benefits of and mitigate the possible adverse effects of digitalisation (e.g. inequality, divisions, vulnerability and unemployment). This requires directing the focus on strengthening the human skills and competences that will be needed for a sustainable digital future. Digital technologies should be seen as possibilities, not as necessities. There is a need to call attention to the co-evolutionary processes between humans and emerging digital technologies—that is, the ways in which humans grow up with and live their lives alongside digital technologies. It is imperative to gain in-depth knowledge about the natural ways in which digital technologies are embedded in human everyday lives—for example, how people learn, interact and communicate in remote and hybrid settings or with artificial intelligence; how new digital technologies could be used to support continuous learning and understand learning processes better and how health and well-being can be promoted with the help of new digital solutions. Another significant consideration revolves around the co-creation of our digital futures. Important questions to be asked are as follows: Who are the ones to co-create digital solutions for the future? How can humans and human sciences better contribute to digitalisation and define how emerging technologies shape society and the future? Although academic and business actors have recently fostered inclusion and diversity in their co-creation processes, more must be done. The empowerment of ordinary people to start acting as active makers and shapers of our digital futures is required, as is giving voice to those who have traditionally been silenced or marginalised in the development of digital technology. In the emerging co-creation processes, emphasis should be placed on social sustainability and contextual sensitivity. Such processes are always value-laden and political and intimately intertwined with ethical issues. Constant and accelerating change characterises contemporary human systems, our everyday lives and the environment. Resilience thinking has become one of the major conceptual tools for understanding and dealing with change. It is a multi-scalar idea referring to the capacity of individuals and human systems to absorb disturbances and reorganise their functionality while undergoing a change. Based on the evolving new digital technologies, there is a pressing need to understand how these technologies could be utilised for human well-being, sustainable lifestyles and a better environment. This calls for analysing different scales and types of resilience in order to develop better technology-based solutions for human-centred development in the new digital era. This white paper is a collaborative effort by researchers from six faculties and groups working on questions related to digitalisation at the University of Oulu, Finland. We have identified questions and challenges related to the emerging digital era and suggest directions that will make possible a human-centric digital future and strengthen the competences of humans and humanity in this era