Using Gartner’s Hype Curve as a basis to analyze research on the educational use of

ubiquitous computing

Jari Laru, Ph.DLearning & Educational Technology Research Unit, University of Oulu,

Finland

Jari Laru, Ph.D (Educational Sciences). Learning & Educational Technology Research Unit (LET). University of Oulu, Finland. CSCL 2013, University of Wisconsins, Madison, USA

Jari Laru, Ph.D (Educational Sciences). Learning & Educational Technology Research Unit (LET). University of Oulu, Finland. CSCL 2013, University of Wisconsins, Madison, USA

Technology triggerPeak of inflated Expectations

Trough of Disillusionment

Slope of Enlightenment Plateau of productivity

First generation:PocketPCs

First steps (R&D)Personal Digital Assistants

2nd generation:Wireless Internet Learning Devices(Smartphones)

3rd generation:Out of the box tools, social media integration

Case study I

Case study II

Case study III

time

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Ubiquitous future

Jari Laru, Ph.D (Educational Sciences). Learning & Educational Technology Research Unit (LET). University of Oulu, Finland. CSCL 2013, University of Wisconsins, Madison, USA

Technology trigger Peak of inflated Expectations

First generation:PocketPCs

First steps (R&D)Personal Digital Assistants

Case study I

time

Visi

bilit

y

1. First years of research: mobility & PDAs

• Beliefs that mobile devices would revolutionize education (Trifonova, 2003)

• ”M-learning or mobile learning” (Keegan, 2005; Quinn, 2000) as extension of e-learning (Quinn, 2000).

• Definition of mobile learning (Sharples, 2000).

• Era of technology determinism started

Case study 1: Designing a new virtual master’s programme

Collective task

Jari Laru, Ph.D (Educational Sciences). Learning & Educational Technology Research Unit (LET). University of Oulu, Finland. CSCL 2013, University of Wisconsins, Madison, USA

Existing master’s programs

New master’s program

Knowledge building activity

• The participants (n=10) shared a major problem: to design a new distance education program in new domain

• Instructional design was simplified: a mobile device equipped with knowledge building tool was just embedded into existing practises.

• Dissappointing results

Laru, J., & Järvelä, S. (2008). Social patterns in mobile technology mediated collaboration among members of the professional distance education community. Educational Media International, 45(1), 17-32.

Jari Laru, Ph.D (Educational Sciences). Learning & Educational Technology Research Unit (LET). University of Oulu, Finland. CSCL 2013, University of Wisconsins, Madison, USA

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2. ”Wireless internet learning devices together with pedagogically ambitious learning goals”

2nd generation:Wireless Internet Learning Devices(Smartphones)

Case study II

Trough of Disillusionment

• ”tool support of most projects is not pedagogically ambitious” (Frohberget et. al, 2009).

• In order to ensure engaged learners, a proper design is needed (Looi et. al, 2009)

• Seminal WILD paper (Roschelle & Pea, 2002) [was ahead of the time when was published]

• Role of teacher, scaffolding etc.

Slope of Enlightenment

Case study 2: Field trip (K12-education)

Jari Laru, Ph.D (Educational Sciences). Learning & Educational Technology Research Unit (LET). University of Oulu, Finland. CSCL 2013, University of Wisconsins, Madison, USA

• The participants’ (n=22, age=12) participated one-day field trip to nature park

• Their shared problem was to explore inanimate and animate traces

• Smart phones with bluetooth mobile encounter networks

• Core-activity was aimed at scaffolding argumentative discussions in small groups during inquiry learning (soft and hard scaffolds)

• Design included also pre- and post-structuring activities.

• Mixed resultsLARU, Jari; JÄRVELÄ, Sanna; CLARIANA, Roy B. Supporting collaborative inquiry during a biology field trip with mobile peer-to-peer tools for learning: a case study with K-12 learners. Interactive Learning Environments, 2012, 20.2: 103-117.

Jari Laru, Ph.D (Educational Sciences). Learning & Educational Technology Research Unit (LET). University of Oulu, Finland. CSCL 2013, University of Wisconsins, Madison, USA

time

3. Combining affordances of social software and mobile learning

Case study III

• Personal and wirelessly networked technologies and social software tools are (currently) becoming more prevalent in the live of learners (Lewis et. Al, 2010; Lewis, Pea & Rosen, 2009)

• Mobile social media (Multisilta & Milrad, 2009) in education is stitching formal and informal learning contexts together and briding individual and social learning, which leads to seamless learning

• However, very few papers discuss the mechanisms of bridging the individual and collaborative activities (Wong & Looi, 2011). Slope of Enlightenment

3rd generation:Out of the box tools, social media integration

Case study III: a course in the context of higher education

Jari Laru, Ph.D (Educational Sciences). Learning & Educational Technology Research Unit (LET). University of Oulu, Finland. CSCL 2013, University of Wisconsins, Madison, USA

• The participants (n=21) undergraduate teacher education students.

• Learners’ core task was to integrate selected individual blog reflections and visual representations into coherent and comprehensive wiki

• Multiple individual and collective phases before the wiki activity where content was elaborated multiple times

• Role of the mobile device was smaller than earlier studies

• Positive resultsLaru, J., Näykki, P., & Järvelä, S. (2012). Supporting small-group learning using multiple Web 2.0 tools: A case study in the higher education context. The Internet and Higher Education, 15(1), 29-38.

Jari Laru, Ph.D (Educational Sciences). Learning & Educational Technology Research Unit (LET). University of Oulu, Finland. CSCL 2013, University of Wisconsins, Madison, USA

time

4. Ubiquitous tomorrow: learning environment consisting of an amalgam of tools around the

corner• Research and educational use is currently in the phase of the plateau of the productivity

• World is entering the age of mobilism (Norris & Soloway, 2011)

• Mobile phones are nowaday connected computing devices that offer multitude services (Pea & Maldonado, 2006)

• Contemporary human interaction paradigms (RFID, QR-Codes etc. Are becoming regarded as mainstrea, in current mobile devices

• Multiple device-student ratios (e.g. 1:1 or 1:all) set new challenges for instructional designers (Wong & Looi, 2011)

Plateau of productivity

Jari Laru, Ph.D (Educational Sciences). Learning & Educational Technology Research Unit (LET). University of Oulu, Finland. CSCL 2013, University of Wisconsins, Madison, USA

Technology trigger Peak of inflated Expectations

time

Visi

bilit

y

Conclusion

Trough of Disillusionment

Slope of Enlightenment Plateau of productivity

Jari Laru, Ph.D (Educational Sciences). Learning & Educational Technology Research Unit (LET). University of Oulu, Finland. CSCL 2013, University of Wisconsins, Madison, USA

Why hype cycle? (conclusive thoughts)• hypes thrive in rich environments, where research, business, and wider

social activities contribute to the creation, sharing, and refinement of expectations (Lente, Spitters & peine, 2013).

• This study follows studies by Järvenpää & Mäkinen and Van lente et. Al (2013) which have bridged empirical measures to the Hype Cycle

• This paper represents an exploratory and empirically driven study seeking indicators in the three case study designs for the Hype Cycle in relation to the evolution of educational use of ubiquitous computing

• The Hype Cycle and case studies described here emphasize that pedagogically grounded instructional design is needed in order to put emergent technologies into effective use

• Since we are currently living between the stages of mobile social learning and ubiquitous future, the role of mobile technologies in different learning contexts is still a challenge for researchers and practitioners (do educators live in different hype phase than researchers?)

Jari Laru, Ph.D (Educational Sciences). Learning & Educational Technology Research Unit (LET). University of Oulu, Finland. CSCL 2013, University of Wisconsins, Madison, USA

Thank you

• http://www.mendeley.com/profiles/jari-laru/• http://www.linkedin.com/in/jarilaru