Mobile Data from a Research Perspective

Institute of Educational TechnologyThe Open University

Agnes Kukulska-Hulme

JISC/CNI conference, Edinburgh, 1-2 July 2010

The Open University's Institute of Educational Technology

Book published 2009

Collective experience of mobile learning researchers

The Open University's Institute of Educational Technology

MOTILL – European project on Mobile Technologies in Lifelong Learning: Best Practices, 2009-10

case studiese.g. FÓN project

Mobile pedagogy in the classroom

collaboration interaction

instant sharing

personalisation

instant access

instant capture

The Open University's Institute of Educational Technology

Mobile pedagogy outside the classroom

Connecting education with work-based learning

Connecting leisure activity and informal learning

Connecting classroom and field learning

The Open University's Institute of Educational Technology

Anytime learningLife-long learningLife-wide learning

Mobile learning research

o Learning contexts: mobility of the learner; movement between locations; how learning spaces are utilized; ecologies of learning resources on the move; proximity to objects being studied; social/cultural/technological context

o The relationship of mobile tools to other tools that learners use or carry: this includes conflicting and complementary technologies; multiple communication channels

o Learning processes and emerging practices: how mobile technologies can stimulate learning innovation and contribute to change; appropriation of a mobile device over time; user-generated content; distributed collection of experiential/scientific data by learners over time

The Open University's Institute of Educational Technology

Some important research themes:

Context, control, transition, engagement, time use• Context: context-aware

applications, learner-generated contexts, personal inquiry

• Control: learner or instructor • Transition: between places,

between types of learning, between mental states

• Engagement: emotional state• Time use: ‘pockets of time’,

‘dead time’

Research methods/ data• Qualitative interviews and focus groups• Attitude surveys• Device use surveys• Observations• Video capture• Eye tracking• Learner diaries• Personal concept mapping• Audio logs / audio recordings• Automatic logging of device use• Artefacts produced by learners• Twitter messages, Instant messaging• Tests to compare learner performance

The Open University's Institute of Educational Technology

Data analysis and interpretation

• Analysis

–Triangulation

–Conflicts and contradictions–Critical incidents (breakthroughs and breakdowns)

• Interpretation

–Scenarios

–Stories

–Narratives

Issues and challenges•Learning spread across locations and times•No fixed point to locate an observer•Difficulty separating learning from other everyday activities•Snapshots and one-off activities: need for longitudinal studies•Variety of technologies used (personal and borrowed)•Self-reporting may be unreliable•Quality of participant-collected data•Rich data (spatial, temporal…)•Ethical concerns when monitoring activity•Scaling up

The Open University's Institute of Educational Technology

Proposals• Integrate expertise from other fields to develop remote

research methods, including for longitudinal studies

• Develop data visualizations for aspects such as: space and time use, devices used, transitions, connections between contexts

• Propose ethical guidelines for mobile data collection (in progress – International Association for Mobile Learning)

Institute of Educational TechnologyThe Open UniversityMilton KeynesUnited Kingdom

http://www.open.ac.uk/iet

a.m.kukulska-hulme@open.ac.uk

Thank you