Introducing E-learning with Participatory Design Techniques

1. 1 Introducing E-learning with Participatory Design Techniques Anders Mørch CITE, The University of Hong Kong and InterMedia, University of Oslo, Norway Email: anders.morch@intermedia.uio.no

2. 2 Outline • Three types of E-learning • Participatory design (PD) • The LAP project • PD techniques used in LAP • Findings • Summary • References

3. 3 Three types of E-learning • E-learning in education • Learning activities; student assessment • Readymade systems (often for collaborative learning) • Focus seems to be on tools and infrastructure • E-learning in workplaces • Supporting specific (well defined) business domains • Readymade system (often with authoring tools) • Focus seems to be on learning objects and integration • E-learning introduced with PD techniques • Works well for poorly understood or new domains • Focus is users: getting them involved in designing their own systems

4. 4 E-learning in education • Web-based environments for learning, teaching, and assessment • ILN, WebCT, etc. • Multiple tools • Discussion forum for collaborative learning • White boards for real time interaction • Tools to compute grades and “rank” students • Reusable learning objects • Multimedia objects representing specific curricula to be taught

5. 5 E-learning in workplaces • E-learning: • integral part the company’s information systems infrastructure • Authoring tools for production of multimedia content to teach critical knowledge to employees in cost effective ways • Learning on demand • Work is primary activity • Learning is secondary activity (to make work easier) • The systems must be easy to use and allow maintenance by “super users”, advanced users with domain expertise but without formal computer training • Several examples exists, but often for “drill & practice”

6. 6 E-learning introduced with PD techniques • The goal of this presentation is to introduce this approach • PD = Participatory Design • What is PD? • How can it be useful for E-learning?

7. 7 What is Participatory Design? • Techniques for involving workers in the design of systems that will affect their work • Has its roots in trade union activities in the 1970s and some pioneering projects in the 1980s, originated in Scandinavia • Sometimes referred to as “Scandinavian approach” or “democratic design” • A goal has been to make user participation design-oriented and leverage actual users’ domain expertise and skills

8. 8 Mock-ups developed in Utopia project in the 1980s Laser printer made from cardboard box User interface in cardboard and paper

9. 9 How can PD be useful for e-learning? • “One size can’t fit all” • Complex problem domains (both for schools and workplaces) may require tailor-made E-learning • Workplaces and schools that can utilize domain expertise (super users) to maintain e-learning systems may gain competitive advantage over other approaches over time

10. 10 LAP project • Learning and Knowledge Building at Work (LKBW) • 3 year project among researchers and service industry companies in Norway • Goal: Introduce e-learning in two large corporations (Statoil and Visma) • Empirical studies of the adoption process

11. 11 PD Techniques: Case Statoil • Goal: develop an e-learning system for petrol station attendants • Techniques employed: • Design workshop (problem identification) • Drama techniques (learning scenarios) • Mock-ups (low-fidelity prototypes) • Intermediate abstractions (system design) • System (computer) prototypes

12. 12 Design workshop: problem identification

13. 13 Drama techniques: scenario • Identify a work situation that can be imp-roved • Act it out in multiple ways

14. 14 Mock-up information display with Post It notes on foam board

15. 15 Intermediate abstractions

16. 16 System prototype: Chosen alternative • Prototype crated by Statoil based on one of the inter-mediate abstrac-tions

17. 17 Evolutionary prototyping across different technologies

18. 18 Findings • Mixed results: • Appropriateness of technology; • Co-existence of old and new technologies; • Information-seeking strategies; • Lateral cooperation.

19. 19 Why bother? • Some people ask: Why not start from best practice and best systems (e.g. using software engineering techniques)? • Such an approach (most common) will identify computer system faster but will requires mandated use and will not always fit all • It can be expensive to maintain (short term benefit) • When users can participate actively in the design and introduction process they will feel pride and ownership, which may make the system become self-sustainable (long term benefit)

20. 20 Summary • Participatory design as an alternative strategy for introducing e-learning technology in non-traditional settings • We have studied it in the context of workplace learning (LAP project) • It takes more time to complete but will get the users more motivated to use a new system, since they have “ownership” in it

21. 21 References • Mørch, A.I, Engen, B.K. and Åsand, H.-R. (2004). Workplace as Learning Laboratory: The Winding Road to E-learning in a Norwegian Service Company. Proceedings PDC-2004, Toronto, Canada, July 28-31. • Contact me for copy of paper!!