Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, Nov 29, 2017
Informal learning in a physical work context requires communication and collaboration that build ... more Informal learning in a physical work context requires communication and collaboration that build on a common ground and an active awareness of a situation. We explored whether mobile video conversations augmented with on-screen drawing features were beneficial for improving communication and remote collaboration practices in the construction and facility maintenance services sectors. We used field studies in actual work contexts to map how participants solve physical tasks with remote help powered by augmented video calls, and examined how the drawing feature was used in these contexts. The research data were collected from interviews and job shadowing. The results suggest that augmented video calls enhance remote collaboration by allowing workers to point at task objects and locations, thus potentially improving informal workplace learning. Construction and facility maintenance are trades in which even conservative and traditional working and learning environments are complex and changing. In these fields, both working and learning take place in physical environments where tasks, co-workers and work contexts change; learning and knowing are tacit; and learning happens on the job and is infrequently discussed (e.g., Eraut, 2007; Pink, Lingard, & Harley, 2016). In such working and learning environments, trade workers continuously seek new solutions and practices to facilitate and improve work safety, well-being, training, quality control, and the transfer of innovations from one site to another. Technologies offer new solutions to known issues, but they also require new practices and changes to current processes, which in turn require new skills, competences, and learning. From early visions and experiments, this research field has developed to the stage where it is possible to design working prototypes and study them in real work environments. Leskinen (2008) reports that in mobile technology in the Finnish construction industry, mobile applications with camera, RFID, GPS, GPRS, and WLAN technologies can not only support, but also replace, paperwork for recurring processes and various types of monitoring, including everything from material, equipment, and quality monitoring to personnel, inspections, and work permit controls. In this study, we explored possibilities for augmented reality (AR) to support informal learning in the construction, facilities, and maintenance services industries. Following an inquiry into the history and state of the art of the industry, we designed and developed a mobile app, Social Augmented Reality (SoAR), that combines video calls with a drawing feature to allow workers to ask questions and provide guidance in work situations. We wanted to study how this kind of AR app could change communication and collaboration practices at work, help people in informal learning situations. The iterative development of the AR app was tested in situ in three field studies: two in Finland and one in Germany. We framed the main research question as follows: How can augmented video calls change communication and collaboration practices for informal learning at work? This paper reports the findings from the pilot field studies. We begin by presenting the related research regarding two specific features of the AR communication technology: (1) a shared view, and (2) pointing and drawing. These features offer ways to improve communication and remote collaboration in physical work sites. We then present the SoAR tool that we designed, developed, and used on the selected sites. Next we present the research design. Finally, we present the findings of the current communication practices enhanced through SoAR, users' expectations for SoAR during field studies, and the advantages and challenges related to the implementation of SoAR in the construction and facility maintenance industries.
Awareness and reflection are viewed differently across the disciplines informing Technology Enhan... more Awareness and reflection are viewed differently across the disciplines informing Technology Enhanced Learning (CSCW, psychology, educational sciences, computer science and others). The ARTEL workshop series brings together researchers and professionals from different backgrounds to provide a forum for discussing the multi-faceted area of awareness and reflection.
Within TACCLE 3 – Coding European Union Erasmus+ KA2 Programme project, a review and evaluation o... more Within TACCLE 3 – Coding European Union Erasmus+ KA2 Programme project, a review and evaluation of a set of resources that can contribute to teaching programming to younger children has made. This document represents the TACCLE 3 O4 deliverable entitled “Evaluation of existing resources (study/analysis)”.
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2017
Informal learning in a physical work context requires communication and collaboration that build ... more Informal learning in a physical work context requires communication and collaboration that build on a common ground and an active awareness of a situation. We explored whether mobile video conversations augmented with on-screen drawing features were beneficial for improving communication and remote collaboration practices in the construction and facility maintenance services sectors. We used field studies in actual work contexts to map how participants solve physical tasks with remote help powered by augmented video calls, and examined how the drawing feature was used in these contexts. The research data were collected from interviews and job shadowing. The results suggest that augmented video calls enhance remote collaboration by allowing workers to point at task objects and locations, thus potentially improving informal workplace learning.
This paper reports results from a case study that investigated creating and sharing knowledge ari... more This paper reports results from a case study that investigated creating and sharing knowledge arising from experiences with the Ach so! mobile app for video annotation in healthcare education. The qualitative content analysis of the interview data indicated that Ach so! enhanced reflection when the students saw their action from videos and thus were able to evaluate their own and group performance as external observers and to create knowledge on their experiences. Ach so! promoted knowledge sharing when the students together reflected their performance and annotated successful and failed incidents. Research outcomes contributed to the design of the Ach so! and workplace practices, and suggested applying Ach so! to dynamic learning contexts and scaling the applicability of Ach so! to informal and non-formal learning contexts at workplaces.
Awareness and reflection are viewed differently across the disciplines informing Technology Enhan... more Awareness and reflection are viewed differently across the disciplines informing Technology Enhanced Learning (CSCW, psychology, educational sciences, computer science and others). The ARTEL workshop series brings together researchers and professionals from different backgrounds to provide a forum for discussing the multi-faceted area of awareness and reflection.
This study examined special education teachers’ and assistants’ views on the process and outcomes... more This study examined special education teachers’ and assistants’ views on the process and outcomes of an action research project. The context of the study was the CASCATE (Children with Autism Spectrum disorders as Creative Actors in a strength-based Technology-enhanced learning Environment) research project, which investigates the actions of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) by conducting group sessions in technology-enhanced learning environments with children and their teachers and assistants. The group sessions are based around activities at four different technology-based action stations where the children work independently or with a supervising adult. The data for this qualitative research were collected by interviewing eight special education teachers and assistants who participated in the group sessions with four children with ASD. The research data were analyzed using content analysis. The results of the study showed that teachers and assistants mostly viewed te...
It was by studying how children interact with educational robotics that we were able to draw conc... more It was by studying how children interact with educational robotics that we were able to draw conclusions about the extent to which educational robotics is effective in promoting learning. The purpose of this study was to explore what happened during these encounters between children and robotics, and to deduce from those interactions how educational robotics for children is evolving. We arranged a series of technology workshops in which six Finnish kindergarten children between the ages of four and five years old were given opportunities to interact with Topobo, a 3D assembly system with kinetic memory. We approached this research by making use of the qualitative research paradigm of Grounded Theory (GT) as our method of inquiry. The research outcomes indicated that Topobo offers children unique opportunities for stimulating, creative and satisfying encounters. The article describes how the particular features of Topobo were able to elicit physical, imaginative, cognitive, and affec...
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder have a wide variety of skills and preferences. This pap... more Individuals with autism spectrum disorder have a wide variety of skills and preferences. This paper introduces a Kinect®-based game for a technology club for children with autism spectrum disorder, which allows each child’s preferences to be acknowledged. Commercial games were first used to discover how children would interact with a Kinect- based environment. Unfortunately, these games were not designed based on the skills sets of the individual children or to meet educational targets. Thus, a non-commercial game was produced in which moving objects are caught by using hands and legs. This game can be individualised based on preferences and skill level: speed, size, sound, background and the object itself can easily be changed. This game is simple but enjoyable and can work as a platform to develop games in which individual preferences can be utilised. The modifiability of the game content creates new possibilities in terms of various tasks, research designs and educational environ...
Children with ASD have challenged educational professionals in Finland and abroad in the creation... more Children with ASD have challenged educational professionals in Finland and abroad in the creation of suitable learning environments, especially for the group of lower functioning and minimally verbal children with ASD. To explore what constitutes a good learning environment and to support learning of children with ASD, we have created a technology-enhanced learning environment from the perspective of Special Education and Educational Technology. Children and educators have been involved in the research and development of the environment through continuous feedback and interviews. This has enabled us to create a learning environment with applications that can be adjusted for the children’s individual strengths and interests in four different action stations: Symbol Matching, Playing with Kinect, Building with LEGO and Storytelling (see Voutilainen, Vellonen, & Kärnä, 2011). More recently we have implemented psychological research into social interaction and attention using conversati...
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, Nov 29, 2017
Informal learning in a physical work context requires communication and collaboration that build ... more Informal learning in a physical work context requires communication and collaboration that build on a common ground and an active awareness of a situation. We explored whether mobile video conversations augmented with on-screen drawing features were beneficial for improving communication and remote collaboration practices in the construction and facility maintenance services sectors. We used field studies in actual work contexts to map how participants solve physical tasks with remote help powered by augmented video calls, and examined how the drawing feature was used in these contexts. The research data were collected from interviews and job shadowing. The results suggest that augmented video calls enhance remote collaboration by allowing workers to point at task objects and locations, thus potentially improving informal workplace learning. Construction and facility maintenance are trades in which even conservative and traditional working and learning environments are complex and changing. In these fields, both working and learning take place in physical environments where tasks, co-workers and work contexts change; learning and knowing are tacit; and learning happens on the job and is infrequently discussed (e.g., Eraut, 2007; Pink, Lingard, & Harley, 2016). In such working and learning environments, trade workers continuously seek new solutions and practices to facilitate and improve work safety, well-being, training, quality control, and the transfer of innovations from one site to another. Technologies offer new solutions to known issues, but they also require new practices and changes to current processes, which in turn require new skills, competences, and learning. From early visions and experiments, this research field has developed to the stage where it is possible to design working prototypes and study them in real work environments. Leskinen (2008) reports that in mobile technology in the Finnish construction industry, mobile applications with camera, RFID, GPS, GPRS, and WLAN technologies can not only support, but also replace, paperwork for recurring processes and various types of monitoring, including everything from material, equipment, and quality monitoring to personnel, inspections, and work permit controls. In this study, we explored possibilities for augmented reality (AR) to support informal learning in the construction, facilities, and maintenance services industries. Following an inquiry into the history and state of the art of the industry, we designed and developed a mobile app, Social Augmented Reality (SoAR), that combines video calls with a drawing feature to allow workers to ask questions and provide guidance in work situations. We wanted to study how this kind of AR app could change communication and collaboration practices at work, help people in informal learning situations. The iterative development of the AR app was tested in situ in three field studies: two in Finland and one in Germany. We framed the main research question as follows: How can augmented video calls change communication and collaboration practices for informal learning at work? This paper reports the findings from the pilot field studies. We begin by presenting the related research regarding two specific features of the AR communication technology: (1) a shared view, and (2) pointing and drawing. These features offer ways to improve communication and remote collaboration in physical work sites. We then present the SoAR tool that we designed, developed, and used on the selected sites. Next we present the research design. Finally, we present the findings of the current communication practices enhanced through SoAR, users' expectations for SoAR during field studies, and the advantages and challenges related to the implementation of SoAR in the construction and facility maintenance industries.
Awareness and reflection are viewed differently across the disciplines informing Technology Enhan... more Awareness and reflection are viewed differently across the disciplines informing Technology Enhanced Learning (CSCW, psychology, educational sciences, computer science and others). The ARTEL workshop series brings together researchers and professionals from different backgrounds to provide a forum for discussing the multi-faceted area of awareness and reflection.
Within TACCLE 3 – Coding European Union Erasmus+ KA2 Programme project, a review and evaluation o... more Within TACCLE 3 – Coding European Union Erasmus+ KA2 Programme project, a review and evaluation of a set of resources that can contribute to teaching programming to younger children has made. This document represents the TACCLE 3 O4 deliverable entitled “Evaluation of existing resources (study/analysis)”.
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2017
Informal learning in a physical work context requires communication and collaboration that build ... more Informal learning in a physical work context requires communication and collaboration that build on a common ground and an active awareness of a situation. We explored whether mobile video conversations augmented with on-screen drawing features were beneficial for improving communication and remote collaboration practices in the construction and facility maintenance services sectors. We used field studies in actual work contexts to map how participants solve physical tasks with remote help powered by augmented video calls, and examined how the drawing feature was used in these contexts. The research data were collected from interviews and job shadowing. The results suggest that augmented video calls enhance remote collaboration by allowing workers to point at task objects and locations, thus potentially improving informal workplace learning.
This paper reports results from a case study that investigated creating and sharing knowledge ari... more This paper reports results from a case study that investigated creating and sharing knowledge arising from experiences with the Ach so! mobile app for video annotation in healthcare education. The qualitative content analysis of the interview data indicated that Ach so! enhanced reflection when the students saw their action from videos and thus were able to evaluate their own and group performance as external observers and to create knowledge on their experiences. Ach so! promoted knowledge sharing when the students together reflected their performance and annotated successful and failed incidents. Research outcomes contributed to the design of the Ach so! and workplace practices, and suggested applying Ach so! to dynamic learning contexts and scaling the applicability of Ach so! to informal and non-formal learning contexts at workplaces.
Awareness and reflection are viewed differently across the disciplines informing Technology Enhan... more Awareness and reflection are viewed differently across the disciplines informing Technology Enhanced Learning (CSCW, psychology, educational sciences, computer science and others). The ARTEL workshop series brings together researchers and professionals from different backgrounds to provide a forum for discussing the multi-faceted area of awareness and reflection.
This study examined special education teachers’ and assistants’ views on the process and outcomes... more This study examined special education teachers’ and assistants’ views on the process and outcomes of an action research project. The context of the study was the CASCATE (Children with Autism Spectrum disorders as Creative Actors in a strength-based Technology-enhanced learning Environment) research project, which investigates the actions of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) by conducting group sessions in technology-enhanced learning environments with children and their teachers and assistants. The group sessions are based around activities at four different technology-based action stations where the children work independently or with a supervising adult. The data for this qualitative research were collected by interviewing eight special education teachers and assistants who participated in the group sessions with four children with ASD. The research data were analyzed using content analysis. The results of the study showed that teachers and assistants mostly viewed te...
It was by studying how children interact with educational robotics that we were able to draw conc... more It was by studying how children interact with educational robotics that we were able to draw conclusions about the extent to which educational robotics is effective in promoting learning. The purpose of this study was to explore what happened during these encounters between children and robotics, and to deduce from those interactions how educational robotics for children is evolving. We arranged a series of technology workshops in which six Finnish kindergarten children between the ages of four and five years old were given opportunities to interact with Topobo, a 3D assembly system with kinetic memory. We approached this research by making use of the qualitative research paradigm of Grounded Theory (GT) as our method of inquiry. The research outcomes indicated that Topobo offers children unique opportunities for stimulating, creative and satisfying encounters. The article describes how the particular features of Topobo were able to elicit physical, imaginative, cognitive, and affec...
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder have a wide variety of skills and preferences. This pap... more Individuals with autism spectrum disorder have a wide variety of skills and preferences. This paper introduces a Kinect®-based game for a technology club for children with autism spectrum disorder, which allows each child’s preferences to be acknowledged. Commercial games were first used to discover how children would interact with a Kinect- based environment. Unfortunately, these games were not designed based on the skills sets of the individual children or to meet educational targets. Thus, a non-commercial game was produced in which moving objects are caught by using hands and legs. This game can be individualised based on preferences and skill level: speed, size, sound, background and the object itself can easily be changed. This game is simple but enjoyable and can work as a platform to develop games in which individual preferences can be utilised. The modifiability of the game content creates new possibilities in terms of various tasks, research designs and educational environ...
Children with ASD have challenged educational professionals in Finland and abroad in the creation... more Children with ASD have challenged educational professionals in Finland and abroad in the creation of suitable learning environments, especially for the group of lower functioning and minimally verbal children with ASD. To explore what constitutes a good learning environment and to support learning of children with ASD, we have created a technology-enhanced learning environment from the perspective of Special Education and Educational Technology. Children and educators have been involved in the research and development of the environment through continuous feedback and interviews. This has enabled us to create a learning environment with applications that can be adjusted for the children’s individual strengths and interests in four different action stations: Symbol Matching, Playing with Kinect, Building with LEGO and Storytelling (see Voutilainen, Vellonen, & Kärnä, 2011). More recently we have implemented psychological research into social interaction and attention using conversati...
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders as Creative Actors in a Strength-based Technology-enhance... more Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders as Creative Actors in a Strength-based Technology-enhanced Learning Environment Project (CASCATE) , funded by Academy of Finland, 2011-2014, PI: Prof. Eija Kärnä.
Strategic funding of Innovative Research Initiatives by the University of Eastern Finland, 7/2011... more Strategic funding of Innovative Research Initiatives by the University of Eastern Finland, 7/2011-6/2014, PI: Prof. Eija Kärnä
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