enhancing participation in agricultural development - directions for digital technology
DESCRIPTION
Consideration of the role of technology in helping farmers learn and in helping future industry development. Identifies individual and industry level capacities to use technology for learning.TRANSCRIPT
Enhancing participation in agricultural development
Directions for digital technologies
Ann StarastsDigital Futures CRN
Digital FuturesCollaborative Research Network
Research theme – Widening participation in learning in rural and regional Australia
Institute of Agriculture and Environment
Sustainable Agribusiness Team
Considerations in enhancing digital participation in agricultural industry development
Explosion of technologies within agriculture Increasing volumes of information and data How well are these meeting needs of individuals & industries?Are industries in tune with the outcomes they are hoping to achieve from IT initiatives – farm & industry level innovation?
Today
Technology and informationFarm business & individual needs & expectationsLearning TheoriesAdding value through technologySocial mediaCapacities in digital environmentsNeed to align activities with goals
Many farm
ers real n
eeds for in
formatio
n to su
pport
their learning and in
novation are not y
et fully
being
met from w
ithin IT
environments
Starasts 2014
Battling the knowledge
factor in IT environments
Starasts 2005mostly concerned with disseminating
information Sulaiman, Hall, Kalaivani, Dorai & Reddy, 2012
inattention to resourcing individuals to
meet their own needs for learning and information
Gelb & Offer 2005; Starasts, 2005
Users need to be able to tap directly
into content & create & share their
own knowledge & content
Glendenning & Ficarelli, 2012
IS SOMETHING MISSING ONLINE?
Lack locally relevant content Sulaiman et al 2012
lack quality human intermediation Sulaiman et al 2012
Lack of tailored ICT applications Gelb & offer 2005
Lack of user-centred research
Challenge of finding the information ‘within context’ Walisadeera, Wikramanayake & Ginige, 2013
Farm records
Tractor records
Precision maps
Financial records
Agronomist reports
Media & web content
Social media
TheFarm
Business
Do we have sufficient capacities, processes & tools to make this information work for farm business goals & decisions?
Is it info overload?
To what extent are we using technology as a means to supply information – rather than a tool to help build knowledge?
TheFarm
Business
Farm records
Tractor records
Precision maps
Financial records
Agronomist reports
Media & web content
Social media
Specific characteristics & criteria
Soils, climateequipment
Family needs & commitments
Financial situation & commitments
Skills
Succession plans
Experiences
Personalised
Decisions
Do we have the tools, capacities, knowledge to maximise value from technology?
The solution for individuals and for rural industries is to identify and develop appropriate digital capacities, skills & tools to maximise value from use of technology – with respect to their needs.
Increasing push towards a broader view of the potential for ICTs to facilitate learning through human interaction Leeuwis, 2008; Sulaiman V, Hall, Kalaivani, Dorai & Reddy, 2012
Maximising value from technologies requires a focus on facilitation and intermediation Klerkx & Leeuwis, 2008
Want to improve users’ ability to communicate both within their networks and to a wider range of people.
Earlier research..
Study of farmers’ use of digital tools, connections & information in their learning & knowledge building (Starasts 2014, 2005)
• Longitudinal study 16 grain / cotton growers on-farm self-directed learning
• Survey of Qld farmer internet users n=126
Individual farmer needs:Finding peopleNew networksInformation services
Farmer expectations from industry:Scan the globeBe innovativeForward thinkingCohesive industry communicationsDynamic information exchange
Industry needs:Publish & extend information
Individual farmer needs:Finding peopleNew networksIntelligent information tools
Farmer expectations from industry:ForumsCollaborationCohesive communicationDynamic information exchangeCommunications & tools aligned to industry goalsFind information, people
Industry needs:Collaborate & connect Share information
Expectations from technology
Starasts 2005Are these correct? 2014
Theoretical contexts
Constructivist – learning is an active, constructive process. The learner is an ‘information constructor’. People actively construct their own subjective representations of objective reality. New information is linked to prior knowledge.Mental representations are subjective.
http://www.learning-theories.com/constructivism.html
Personalised learning
Situated learning & cognition‘situated in an authentic context’ ‘problem based, people explore real life situations to find answers, or to solve the problems’
Each farm has a unique combination of physical, social and financial characteristics that defines their specific learning context & information need Starasts 2014
Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989; Lave & Wenger, 1990; Herrington and Oliver 1995
Experiential learningExperiential learning is learning through reflection on doing
Experiential learning model
Concrete experience
Reflective observation
Abstract Conceptualisation
Active experimentation
Kolb, 1984
Social learningoccurs through social interactions and processes between actors within a social network1
Networked learningPromoting connections between learners, educators & learning resources2
1Lankshear & Knobel 2011; 2Dirckinck-Holmfeld, Jones & Lindstrom, 2009
Personalised learning
Programs/information are customisedTimelyUser-centred
Additionally - learning in Ag relies on:Familiarity, timeliness, readinessLearners are physically & situationally isolated
Sampson, Karagiannidis & Kinshuk 2010
Adding value to core learning constructsPersonalised learning constructs
Social / networked learning afforded through connections
Situated learning
Advisory; Access to expertsTime & issue specific focus
Experiential learning
Validate own experiencesOthers’ experiences as ‘information’Reflect on meaning of these
Constructivist approaches
Share & validate constructs, opinions, perceptionsCreate new knowledge collaboratively
Individual farmers and industries will only use technology if it generates value1 to their current learning & knowledge processes.
Grimaldi, Cricelli & Rogo, 2012
Tool Activity Focus
Facebook Collaboratively build community knowledge
Technologies or issues
F/book group
Share experiences Locations or topics
WebinarsSlideshare
Connect with resources & training
Ongoing engagement
Web, Databases
Personalising information seeking
Intelligent searching & information delivery
Instagram Share experiences as images
Represent issues & experiences
Twitter Share perceptions & resources
Topic-based
Blogs Experiences & perceptions Topic-based
LinkedIn Find people; networks Farm/activity criteria
‘in order to facilitate industry development there needs to be a shift from supply of information and communications to facilitation and empowerment of information sharing and discourse about specific issues in specific locations’
Digital futures - Widening participation research.. To identify the digital capacities necessary that allow technology, individuals and communities to better interact to facilitate future technology-based learning in regional Australia.
Individual capacities to use technology for learning
Contribute your narrative as images,
text, audio, likes, links
Preparedness to collaborate & share with new & different
people
Manoeuvre & contribute online
Critique & validate new forms of information
Functions for technology to facilitate individual farmer learning
personalise Share local experiences
Find others Collaborate
Industry capacities to use technology as a facilitator of innovation & industry development
Facilitate the collaborative
building of new knowledge
Commit to pursuing value from
technology & social media for industry
goals
Inclusive and local approaches
Lead & facilitate dialogue
Functions for technology to facilitate agricultural industry development & innovation
Value add to local knowledge
Enable continuous dialogue
Legacy of ongoing learning
Connect & engage
Digital Futures (CRN)
This research is supported through the Australian Government’s Collaborative Research Networks (CRN) program. ‘Digital Futures’ is the CRN research theme for the University of Southern Queensland.
