Learning architectures and negotiation of meaning in European trade unions

As networked learning becomes familiar at all levels and in all sectors of education, cross-fertilisation of innovative methods can usefully inform the lifelong learning agenda. Development of the pedagogical architectures and social processes, which afford learning, is a major challenge for educators as they strive to address the varied needs of a wide range of learners. One area in which this challenge is taken very seriously is that of trade unions, where recent large-scale projects have aimed to address many of these issues at a European level. This paper describes one such project, which targeted not only online courses, but also the wider political potential of virtual communities of practice. By analysing findings in relation to Wengers learning architecture, the paper investigates further the relationships between communities of practice and communities of learners in the trade union context. The findings suggest that a focus on these relationships rather than on the technologies that support them should inform future developments

Towards an ontology of networked learning

Networked learning, conceived of as networks of people, informational resources and technologies, constitutes what has been termed a ‘highly interwined’ technology. In this paper we develop our earlier argument that sociotechnical networks can form the basis for a non-determinist theory of learning technology. Firstly, we argue that Kling et al’s sociotechnical interaction network (STIN) is compatible with a realist ontology, drawing on Fleetwood’s ‘ontology of the real’ and Lawson’s proposition of the social nature of the artefact in networks of ‘positioned practices’. This, we suggest, gives a more secure basis for the STIN concept, and provides a clear alternative to actor network theory (ANT)-based views of sociotechnical networks which do not distinguish between the influence of human and material agents. This also, we argue, provides an alternative way of anchoring concepts from the social informatics literature, often influenced by Giddens’ structuration theory, in ways that can help networked learning research. Secondly, we explore some potential implications of such an approach for theories of networked learning and learning more widely. In particular, we suggest a possible ontology of elements of learning technology. The use of the word ‘learning’ here is somewhat problematic, as it is routinely used rather loosely to describe changes at multiple levels but which are likely to have rather different underlying mechanisms. A more thorough ontology of learning technology would allow us to distinguish between these uses and identify potentially distinct mechanisms at play in different forms and levels of learning. Thirdly, we use this approach to explore how viewing learning technologies as sociotechnical networks helps to clarify our thinking about identities in social networking for personal, learning and professional purposes

The STIN in the Tale: A Socio-technical Interaction Perspective on Networked Learning

In this paper, we go beyond what have been described as 'mechanistic' accounts of e-learning to explore the complexity of relationships between people and technology as encountered in cases of networked learning. We introduce from the social informatics literature the concept of sociotechnical interaction networks which focus on the interplay between participants, technology, learning artefacts and practices. We apply this concept to case material drawn from transnational trade union education to identify and to analyse three aspects of networked learning: the local sociotechnical networks of learners; the construction of an overarching, global sociotechnical network for learning; and the evolution of such networks over time. Finally we identify issues for further research highlighted by these models

On the pulse of change: the new beat of special education in higher education

The roles and responsibilities of special educators in both special and regular school settings are changing rapidly. More than two decades ago the move towards more inclusive practices disrupted the traditional, niche separatism of special educators to the extent that they are now an integral part of the regular school teaching staff. Today the broad agenda to facilitate access and participation for all students in education, not just students with disabilities, influences the roles and responsibilities of special educators. This article briefly identifies some of the generic pulses that are moving the special education profession from a focus on low incidence disabilities towards a more comprehensive approach to inclusion, school responsiveness and individualised learning pathways. From the foundation of inclusive practice, this paper will describe how a qualitative study was used to understand the changing roles and responsibilities of special educators. A case study analysis of 17 schools formed the basis of the investigation. Principals, lead teachers in special education and special education teachers were asked to identify trends and priorities in special education and also to identify rewards and challenges in their jobs. Further cross referencing with teacher and special educator standards, a focus group, a stakeholder group and research in the field increased the opportunity for academics and special educators to critically reflect on the emerging demands placed on special educators and the attributes that are needed to be professionally effective

Collaborative concept mapping: an education research team leveraging their collaborative efforts

Collaborative concept mapping (CCM) has been a tool deployed by educators to enhance learning in such situations as primary science classes, supported learning environments and asynchronous computer-mediated learning. Of its outcomes, CCM has produced rich group discussion about ideas and possibilities pertinent to the topic or problem at hand. The majority of research into CCM has been explicitly pointed at enhancing learning. This chapter takes a different tack by reporting on how the authors used CCM to seek understandings of its utility in enabling collaborative research by creating synergies within a research team located in the Faculty of Education at the University of Southern Queensland. The following questions were used to focus the research: • What was the research team’s experience of collaborative concept mapping? • What propositions did the team construct about teamwork and collaboration? • How did the interactions among team members facilitate meaning-making about teamwork and collaboration? The data consisted of this team’s collaborative concept map and recordings of the dialogue during the process of constructing the map. Analysis revealed the team’s emerging propositions about teamwork and collaboration and also contributed understandings of the co-constructed patterns of talk that produced this dynamic map. The chapter concludes that collaborative concept mapping is a useful tool for research and other team development, and possibly for the collaborative conceptualisation of future team research projects

Scoping the dimensions of visitor well-being: a case study of Scotland's Forth Valley

The well-being of tourists or visitors within a destination has, until recently, received little attention. Issues relating to the personal safety and health of the travelling public have been highlighted by a number of high profile incidents of terrorist attacks, large scale natural disasters and life threatening epidemics. While such events are devastating in nature and of great concern, for the majority of travellers, health and personal safety are more likely to be impacted on by illness, being involved in an accident or becoming the victim of crime. This thesis contributes to our existing understanding of how tourism can be affected by incidents by selecting a definable geographical area and investigating the available data from official sources to examine the dimensions, scale and nature of visitor-related incidents of crime, road traffic accidents and emergency health care. This audit was undertaken through collaborative research with the Central Scotland Police Force, the Central Scotland Road Accident Investigation Unit and the National Health Service Forth Valley. Primary research was then undertaken with visitors to the area. This in-depth approach looks beyond existing statistics to probe factors contributing to visitor-related incidents, in relation to existing tourism literature. The results indicate that, visitors experience incidents that differ in nature and type from those experienced by local residents, and the times and places they were most at risk also varied. With visitors accounting for less than 10% of the total population, these differences are not apparent in the overall patterns and, therefore, the particular needs of visitors are unlikely to be met through existing measures. This research has the ability to form the basis of improved measures to benefit visitor health and personal safety even though the nature of the visiting population presents challenges in relation to when, where and how such preventative measures are introduced. Visitors are not homogenous and distinct groupings based on perceptions, attitudes and behaviours were found. Therefore, there is a requirement to examine how incidents impact on visitors by distinguishing them from the overall incident figures, but measures to protect visitors also have to be tailored to take cognisance of typologies of visitors.Sponsored by the former Faculty of Management at the University of Stirlin

Phase space shifts in command structures in networked systems

This paper presents the rationale behind an important enhancement to the NATO SAS-050 approach space, combined with empirical results which take advantage of these enhancements. In Part 1 a new theoretical legacy for the NATO model is presented. This legacy inspires a number of developments which allow live data to be plotted into it, and we demonstrate that the model is well able to discriminate between alternative C2 structures. Part 2 illustrates this feature with multinational data from the ELICIT community. It is surprising to see that teams in both C2 and Edge conditions operate in broadly the same area of the phase space cube. The structure of the pre-ordained ELICIT ‘classic C2’ hierarchy and the deterministic nature of the shared task are put forward as explanations for this, and as future enhancements to the ELICIT paradigm

An influenza pandemic : what it could mean for Scottish tourism

There is a growing unease among World Health Organisation (WHO) officials and other global disease surveillance organisations that Avian Flu will mutate into a human influenza pandemic. Such is the concern that the Scottish Executive asked public bodies to prepare business continuity plans based upon the National Health Service Scotland‘s contingency plan and scenarios, and this briefing paper is a consequence of that request

Direction of the Play: Cinderella: The World\u27s Favorite Fairytale

This project entailed background research and documentation, casting, direction, and post-production evaluation of Heritage College\u27s winter theatre production of Cinderella: The World\u27s Favorite Fairytale. The production thesis documentation includes research and analysis on the play and its literary origins, evaluation of the play as a production vehicle, and a discussion of the directorial vision for this production