Learning in School and at the Library:
Multifunctional learning resources and interaction,
learning, and teaching approaches
The Media Centre and
the Faculty of Education,
Bergen University College
The Faculties of Education and
of Fine Art and Drama,
Oslo University College
in co-operation with The Faculty of Education, University of Oslo
Table of Contents
Introduction ..............................................................................................................................................................1
Project focus .........................................................................................................................................................2
Theoretical orientation of the project ...................................................................................................................2
Project background...................................................................................................................................................4
Research questions ...................................................................................................................................................5
Methodology ............................................................................................................................................................6
Empirical data ..........................................................................................................................................................6
Children ................................................................................................................................................................6
Adults ...................................................................................................................................................................7
Goals of the project ..................................................................................................................................................7
Main goal .............................................................................................................................................................7
Sub goals ..............................................................................................................................................................7
Project Organisation .................................................................................................................................................8
Main project .........................................................................................................................................................8
Other contributors ................................................................................................................................................9
Project milestones ..............................................................................................................................................10
Dissemination of results .........................................................................................................................................10
Publications from the project .............................................................................................................................10
Other dissemination activities ............................................................................................................................11
References ..............................................................................................................................................................11
Introduction
New media and new technologies have created opportunities for thinking differently about learning resources and
learning processes in school. In Norway, the Ministry of Education has presented successive action plans for
increasing usage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) within the education system. While each
demonstrates somewhat different foci on how to do so (Gansmo 2002), all see more usage as an aim. While many
voices are critical and pessimistic (McKibben 1993), others see a revolutionary potential for the school, both
when it comes to organisation, activities and content (Negroponte 1995). Some have positioned themselves in
between: If the potentials of technology are to be exploited within a learning context, traditional working methods
and existing classifications of disciplines have to be challenged (Säljö 2001). These positions reflect parallel
debates in other research disciplines on the impacts that ICT may be having, or should or should not be having on
the topic in question. One of the most influential rejections of simple "for or against" dichotomies has been
Donna Haraway's proposal of the Cyborg as metaphor and model for feminist critical thought on technology
(1991a). Within education, researchers have advocated qualified supervision from adults and well-defined
pedagogical projects to ensure that the application of computers will strengthen the children mentally (Gee et al.
1996, Sefton-Green and Buckingham 1996). To facilitate new learning processes school leaders and their staff
also have to be engaged and involved (Østerud 2001a, 2001b).
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Project focus
In accordance with the curriculum guidelines currently in force for Norwegian schools, Læreplan 97, ICT is not
taught as a separate school subject but integrated into a range of learning activities. We see great potential in this
model of learning with ICTs both inside and outside the classroom. While experience to date indicates that
implementation has to be carefully prepared and planned, the teachers' ICT competences must be raised, and the
children must work with the computer in a meaningful manner which is integrated in a range of activities, insight
is lacking on how to facilitate such learning, how to evaluate it, and factors that may impede it. The present
project wishes to contribute to the theoretical and practical debate on ways in which new technologies can
serve educational purposes by investigating the introduction and adoption of a new, web based learning
resource in selected schools. We do so through interdisciplinary collaboration, seeing ICTs as means for
learning (other) subjects as well as the technology. Consistent with (Light 1993, Light et al. 1994, Howe et al.
1996, Scardamalia and Bereiter 1991), we see digital media as a catalyst for different forms of learning. The
overall aim of the project is to gain insight into potentials and processes of digital learning through studying their
practical implementation in learning contexts within and outside educational institutions.
This project focuses on socio-cultural significances of media and ICT within a learning perspective. Four aspects
are to be addressed:
First, to investigate how children, teachers and researchers using a web based learning resource, themselves can
contribute to the further development of this and other learning resources. This aspect emphasises the facilitative
aspects of an open learning resources in modelling new forms of learning and teaching. The development and
meaningful usage of ICT competences will be a "side effect" both for learners and for their teachers which
frequently has been neglected but which is one strand of the analysis within this focus.
Second, we will study the implications of a web based learning resource on the atmosphere for learning in
schools and classrooms. This includes impacts on choices of teaching and learning strategies and on teacher-pupil
and pupil-pupil relations, as well as effects that may not have been foreseen.
Third, as a consequence of new learning processes alternative assessment tools are needed. The project will
develop insight into concerns of relevance for assessment. Our work will encompass perspectives on assessment
from several stakeholders including appropriateness for activating pupils, the administration of assessment, and
teachers' simultaneous need for comparison between pupils and for guidance and long to medium term follow-up
of individual pupils.
Fourth, impacts on differences in learning contexts: By comparing learning in classrooms with learning in the
library using the same resource we will gain important insight into aspects of situated learning in front of, or in
conjunction with, the computer.
Theoretical orientation of the project
The theoretical fundament for the project derives from a socio-cultural perspective on learning (Vygotsky 1978,
Bråten 1996, Säljö 2002). Operationalisation of the theory is characterised by collaboration, peer learning,
conversation and problem-solving. In the study of learning and cognitive development, we draw heavily, but not
exclusively, on the work of Vygotsky, thus following Mercer (Mercer 1992, 1994). This means that we see
learning and developmental processes as culturally based, not only as culturally influenced, and we see them as
social processes, rather than individual. The communicative processes of learning are highlighted, knowledge is
shared and understandings are constructed in culturally formed settings. The increasing use of ICT in society also
arise the question of education for active participation in a democracy (Gutman 1999).
In this project, ICT is regarded as an artefact or a system of artefacts (Cole 1996). The qualities of the artefacts
restrict as well as facilitate what the user is able to achieve. Several challenges arise from this for educational
settings: Ensuring that the technology is not only adopted, but adapted to the work with the curriculum and to the
ranges of background (including the prior experience with the topics, the learning models in question, the specific
tool, other ICTs) of the learners--and of their teachers. The multifunctionality of the web based tool we are
investigating provides an open system architecture which permits its usage within a range of uses (and therefore
interpretations) and teaching and organisational practices. The tool therefore provides particularly fertile grounds
for exploring situated learning practices:
Lave (1992) argues that learning as it normally occurs is a function of the activity, context and culture in which it
occurs (i.e. it is situated). This contrasts with traditional models of learning in which knowledge is often
presented in an abstract form and out of context. Her argument is part of a larger move away from previous (and
still dominant) conceptualisations of knowledge. Haraway (1991b) argues from an epistemological perspective,
the need to approach knowledge(s) as plural phenomena (or practices). Her term Situated Knowledges has been
highly influential among authors seeking to develop conceptualisations of knowledge which are able to capture
aspects other than the dominant reductionist approaches. From a situated perspective follows that "ICT" cannot
be studied in the generic, nor can any insights gained be applied at the level of this concept. Rather, the term
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"ICT" (and "learning tool" and "new media") always refers to--and perhaps conceals--specific practices involving
specific technologies, people, historical practices, power relations, cultures, and more (e.g. Elovaara 2001). The
design of the present project takes the situated perspective to heart. In particular, first, contributing to an
expansion of the range of contexts in which ICT and learning is studied. We will compare learning processes and
social processes around a main digital learning resource (using others such resources as appropriate) in two
substantially different contexts: in the classroom and in the library. This supports the situated investigation of
learning, knowledge, the technology in question, and of the education system which these are part of.
Second, from the situated perspective follows our approach to gender issues: While, as Schegloff (1997) reminds
us, there is reason to be cautious about a priori assumptions about the relevance of gender to a specific situation,
much empirical research has shown IT to be perceived in gendered terms by those concerned, including at most,
if not all, levels within the education system (e.g. in Norway: Stuedahl 1997). Gender and ICT, then, have rightly
been the subject of substantial attention internationally and in Norway. Parts of this discourse, however, may
itself recreate a problem by focusing on girls as being the ones who are "different" and who must change (many,
including Gansmo 2002, and our own Newton and Beck 1993). While one response has been to design ICT that
is thought to be particularly attractive to women, many questions remain unanswered (e.g. Spilker and Sørensen
2002), including what it means to "design from women's (or girls') standpoint". The project approaches gender
from a situated perspective, based on linguistic analysis and with an action research focus. That is, we approach
the case studies with theoretical sensitivity (Strauss 1987) to the potential role of gender, but bracket off
assumptions about its workings in favour of empirical examination of whether, and if so, how, it plays out in our
cases.
Previous work has identified gender differences in language along a range of dimensions. Some that may prove of
particular relevance to our data include politeness (Brown and Levinson 1987) and getting heard at work
(Tannen, e.g. 1994). Gendered language in front of the computer is an under-researched area. Relevant insight
from our previous work includes research on gender differences in strategies for mouse sharing among
Norwegian pupils in 1st-3rd grade (Alant, Otnes, Sandvik, unpub ms) as well as experiences with net based
teaching of gender and IT theory for teachers (Øgrim 1999) and running women-only classes in ICT for teachers
(Hilde, Johannesen and Øgrim 1998 and IT-seksjonen, LU, HiO 1999). Our interest in gendered talk in front of
the computer as well as gendered attitudes towards computing will be further developed in the present project.
Analyses of forms of talk that indicate gender will be conducted and interviews may address the issue explicitly.
The present project also includes a strong action research element which may include design changes in the
digital resources as well as other forms of action (consciousness raising). The design of specific forms of action
will be based on the insights gained within the project.
The domains of media and ICT are inherently interdisciplinary. The multimodality of digital media open up new
possibilities of integrating writing, speech, sound and image in new ways, providing rich possibilities for
fostering new learning cultures. The various means of expression, types of media and genres support different
cognitive forms and learning potentials.
Consequently, the key issues for the present project centre on what kinds of reception, interpretation, and
meaning production are taking place as a result of experience with a web based learning resource. Mercer argues
that language plays a crucial part in learning processes (2000, first published 1995). The present project sees
children's talk in front of the computer as a key source of insight into children's reception and learning. Thus it
has the conversation as the main source of information for the analysis of the processes of understanding and
experiencing digital texts - including the visual appearance and context of the text. This allows us to explore
children's reception of the material and their application of the learned insights in other contexts.
An early study of talk produced while working on computers was the SLANT project (Spoken Language And
New Technologies; Fisher 1997a, b, c, Wegerif and Mercer 1997).1 The SLANT project proposed a taxonomy
that classified talk into three non-overlapping categories: disputational talk, cumulative talk and exploratory talk.
Our project will apply insights from SLANT in the context of a new media tool, Norskverkstedet. Web based
learning resources such as this are perceived as text, as hyperorganised, interactive and to a certain degree
“open”. It is of substantial theoretical and practical interest to investigate certain key findings from SLANT in
light of open, internet based teaching resources. One set of research questions therefore derive from a wish to
investigate aspects of the SLANT findings in a new context. Aspects of particular interest to the current project
are:
1
These papers were published in Wegerif and Scrimshaw 1997. In this book and in Littleton and Light 1997
there are many papers on talk, computers and learning, all of which emerge from the SLANT project in which the
three types of talk originally were described.
Project description (draft)
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Following from the key roles of language and of conversation, we hypothesise that characteristics of cooperative
and collaborative working can be identified that may be used as predictors of learning outcomes. We will
investigate what kinds of discussions are associated with performance and learning, exploring a range of styles of
cooperation. While the literature proposes several categorisations, the project approach will be to explore our
data with as open a mind as possible. This is one element in ensuring that our insights and any theory we develop
will remain close to the data. Thus, various forms of non-task oriented talk (e.g. fantasy, emotional talk) which
are excluded from categorisations such as SLANT's will be given a part in our study if it emerges in the data. 2
The analysis of professional and institutionalised discourse must decide wherther or not to apply already excisting
taxonomy, and it may turn out that the selected taxonomy excludes important information in the actual discourse
(Sandvik et al 2002, Nerdrum, Eide & Sandvik 2002). Besides, to analyse discourse is an interpretation process,
and as such this process must be made explicit and, it must consider the genre of the discourse (Sandvik 1997).
Project background
The Danish Pedagogical University sees a great need for theoretical and empirical research on ICT in learning
environments (cf. http://woe.dpu.dk/default_low_res.asp). The present project will conduct longitudinal empirical
studies in order to contribute to both teaching practice and to the theoretical understanding of this area. The
analysis is grounded in conversation based learning theories. The point of departure for the empirical work of this
project is a multifunctional learning resource on the web, Norskverkstedet ("Workshop for Norwegian and
Media"), developed by the project partners as one of a series of digital learning resources. Cf. attachment and
www.norskverkstedet.no
This resource will be almost finished at the start of the present project. This project will investigate its historical
and continued development, its introduction into schools and a library, and several dimensions of its reception
and adaptation by children, teachers, and school management. Our investigations of this resource are based in a
view on ICT which sees diffusion and adaptation processes as mutual accommodations: Not only do various
groups of people react to (or against) and adapt to the ICT in question but also the ICT is adapted and changed in
the process3. Focusing on a single learning resource enables us to study differences and changes in life and
learning in classrooms and outside when the children are faced with the potentials of information technology and
to study effects of changing contexts.
The learning resource, or tool, has been designed to facilitate more symmetrical relations between the teacher and
the children than the relation that poses the teacher as the holder of relevant knowledge. A research issue for the
project is therefore the extent to which symmetrical adult-child and child-child relations are realised in the
practices surrounding its usage. We are particularly interested in effects of, on the one hand, the design of the
tool, and on the other hand, the organisational and pedagogical contexts, on how this bears out. The
multifunctional design is based on an assumption that increasing symmetry in teacher-pupil relations will change
the learning atmosphere. The extent to which this is the case is an empirical question for the project. Further,
collaboration between pupils is expected to be facilitated; this is another empirical question of theoretical
importance. A third empirical question is the extent to which usage of this and other ICTs are being gendered
(either through observed gender differences among teachers or pupils in usage patterns, and/or through gendered
talk about usage and its contexts). An action research issue in the project, if early findings indicate gendering
which is negative for the involved women, is to explore ways of countering this through alterations to the tool
design and/or influencing the attitudes of the stakeholders.
At the organisational level, digital media has become a significant factor for change in the organisation of
learning processes both in primary and secondary education. Greater flexibility and pupil autonomy have created
new potentials for communication and collaboration.
Technologies facilitate several aspects of cooperation across physical distances, yet as our previous work shows,
even ICTs designed to support distributed cooperation may not support some its key collaborative needs (Beck
1995). In this project communication about cooperation will be a central issue.
2
Our previous work has, in the parallel setting of computer support for co-authoring over distance, critiqued
research built on "task focussed" views of the work. In contrast, empirical studies of distributed co-authors
showed a range of "non-task focussed" communication to be a productive part of the collaboration (Beck 1994).
3
For a recent exploration of adoption and adaptation of ICTs among library and information workers, including
an Actor-Network Theory based contesting og simplistic notions of what ICT "is", see Elovaara 2001.
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Research questions
These are our main research questions, with examples of the kinds of specific questions we will address.
1) What are the relations between use of new learning technologies and approaches to teaching?
Perspectives of teachers on ICT and changes in teachers’ roles:
a.
b.
What are the prior experiences of the project teachers with pedagogical usages of ICTs?
What, if any, are salient differences in experiences or expectations of teachers who join the project and
those who do not?
c.
What changes, if any, do teachers see in their relationship with, or roles in relation to the children when
teaching and learning uses open digital learning resources as opposed to when it does not? Are there
differences between the prior expectations of these teachers, the views of teachers outside the project,
and the experience of usage in class?
Perspectives of school administrations on :
d.
e.
What are the views of the school administrations on ICT usage and teacher training? What are their views
on teacher roles?
How does the school administrations focus with respect to ICT affect in particular the teachers’
development of “new teacher roles”?
2) How can we understand children's verbal and non-verbal interaction in front of the computer? And
resulting learning?
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
m.
n.
o.
p.
q.
In what ways can a web-based learning tool support discussion in the classroom? How can usage of the
tool expand the children's reasoning skills? How does computer based learning further problem solving
skills?
What different kinds of computer mediated talk do the children themselves orient to?
What such categories do their teachers orient to?
What additional categories, if any, do the researchers find?
To what extent does the children's talk in front of the computer indicate orientation towards cooperation?
Do puplis while using the tool seek complementary kinds of learning such as (i) collaboration around
learning, and (ii) seeking and critically assessing potentially relevant information? What transfers, if any,
can we detect of learning effects from reasoning talk to problem solving skills, as well as creativity and
multimedia competence of children?
How will experience with the tool stimulate the children's creativity and multimedia competence?
How is the new media and ICT exploited for cultural exchange in a learning perspective?
How does primary language/ethnicity affect usages of the web-based tools? Is there a relation between
primary languages on the one hand and attitudes towards and actual usage of such tools on the other?
How are insights from collaborative forms of argumentation applied to individual forms of argumentation?
How, more generally, do we assess learning with open digital resources?
How do expectations to, and acted, gender differences affect all of the above?
In what ways does or does not a given web-based tool facilitate learning for pupils with various kinds of
special needs? How does this compare with other pupils?
3) What are similarities and differences between effects of new learning technologies in two different
learning contexts, the school and the library?
Here we are interested in comparisons of learning processes across contexts (classroom and in the library), with
respect to curriculum, reasoning, and multimedia competences.
r.
s.
t.
u.
How can we theoretically and empirically explore digital learning processes both within and outside
educational institutions?
How is learning organised and take place in classrooms compared with the library?
Are there differences in how pupils learn curriculum topics (e.g. through motivation)?
What differences in social and conversational practices, if any, do we see in the various learning contexts?
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v.
What are learning relevant differences in the roles which school teachers perceive for themselves with
respect to children's learning with a web-based resource, compared with those that instructors at the
library see?
4) What aspects of the design and redesign of the learning resources are most salient for learning and for
social interaction?
w.
x.
y.
z.
aa.
How, if at all, do different activities in the learning resource affect interaction and types of talk? How do
teachers make use of features of the design to cater for particular needs?
How can usage of the tool stimulate pupils to bring material from their own culture into the curriculum,
thus establishing a learning atmosphere of joint consultation and democracy?
To what extent are the children able to shape their own learning resources based in the given system?
Does the tool's support for individualised working plans contribute to increased child
accountability/responsibility?
What are appropriate means of eliciting design suggestions from the children for redesigning digital
learning resources?
5) How, if at all, is gender produced in conjunction with open learning resource usage?
Gender may emerge as a salient dimension to understand any or all of the above, for example:
bb.
cc.
dd.
ee.
How, if at all, is gender (re-)produced in talk in front of the computer?
Do we see evidence of gender differences in learning, cooperation, or perceptions of these?
Do we see evidence of teachers' and school administrators' expectations to gender affecting usage of,
learning about, or learning from the tool?
If gendering is thought to take place, what effects will a separate space for girls' contributions have on the
reception of the system, on their self perceptions, or on the expectations from the relevant adults?
Methodology
As a fundamental approach to the study of ICT and learning, we have chosen case-studies since we all have a
“desire to understand complex social phenomena” (Yin 1994:3). The method provides us with a tool to study
holistic and meaningful aspects of authentic situations. A generalisation from a set of cases has to be analytical
(Yin 1994, Kvale 1996).
Within the case-studies the focus will be on interactions. Of particular interest is the interaction in front of
computers, between children and the computer, between children, and between children and teachers.
Our research design includes videotaped interactions, observations, interviews, experimental designs, and diaries.
For the study of this material discourse analysis, in a broad sense, thus covering spoken, visual and written data,
delivers a fruitful set of research tools (Linell and Gustavsson 1987, Vagle et al. 1993, Hutchby and Wooffitt
1999, Kress and van Leuween 2000). From the wide range of spoken data, relevant sequences will be transcribed,
following international established transcription symbols. Other sequences can be analysed directly from the tape
without transcribing.
Students will be invited to examine the learning resource, and to a certain degree they will learn how to examine
children's use of the resource. These will include those enrolled on Master’s courses in Library and Information
Science, Multicultural Pedagogy, and in the (future) Learning and ICT,.
Empirical data
Children
The project will study empirical data from the usage of the web based learning tool in two kinds of contexts, the
classroom and the library. The classroom studies will follow four classes for two and a half to three years as each
progresses from midway in their 5th grade through midway in 8th grade in primary school in Bergen and in Oslo.
Videotaped material, interviews, observations and diaries will be collected. As well as following the classes, a
focus group will be studied in more depth. This group will consist of 8-10 pupils who more frequently will be
asked to use and reflect on selected sequences of the learning resource. We will ask them to discuss, develop
ideas, document impressions, conversations, and comment on structure and design.
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As collaboration with the teacher is essential as well as the consent of the pupils and their parents, the start-up of
the project will encompass substantial work in establishing links with suitable classes and pupils and arriving at
consensus as to terms of participation.
The library studies will take place at Deichmanske library in Oslo, an institution which wishes to obtain a strong
position in the development of new arenas for learning. At the library a group of users will be selected, based on
their consent, and followed for the duration of the empirical part of the project. Their interactions with and
around the tool will be video taped (to the extent permission is given; audio taping and/or field notes being the
substitute), they will be interviewed, and asked to keep a diary. This data will be supplemented by observations of
children in the same age group, who go to the library, but who are not part of our group of main informants. The
library studies will be preceded by developing, in collaboration with the library, an appropriate method for
engaging potential participants, including how to enable them to meaningfully answer a question of consent to
being recorded.
"Norskverkstedet" (workshop for Norwegian) is a free, web-based learning resource developed by the project
partners, which will be published for use in schools early 2004. The second main digital learning resource will
be Digital undringspakke i naturfag (Digital Explorations in the Environmental Subjects). Others may be drawn
upon for exploration and comparison according to need, such asMatematiske reiser (Mathematical Travels). All
are targeted at pupils in 5th-7th grade.4 We also envisage drawing upon a different project for presenting
literature to children, Lesehulen (Reading Cave). It develops virtual environments for presenting children's books
and their authors. This project is developed by Mediesenteret, University College of Bergen (HiB), in
collaboration with Deichmanske Library, Oslo5 -- two of the collaborators in the presently project.
The project will further develop both Norskverkstedet and the other learning resources, modifying existing
designs found inadequate and conduct new development as needed. Assessment of such "need" will closely build
on involved cooperation between the researchers and the pedagogical people in the participating schools and in
the library around relevant learning contexts and a range of situations.
A substantial part of this work will consist in evaluating design and functionality of the digital resources for
learning and their effect on learning. Part of this work will be developing appropriate evaluation schema.
New designs and new functionality will be developed according to the new models and theories evolving from
the empirical work. Thus, in part, new versions of the learning resources will be implemented and used in the
subsequent empirical research.
The data from the educational and non-educational context will be collected over a period of three years, starting
in autumn 2004, and including trials with new versions of the learning resources.
Adults
This project will not be possible without the collaboration of teachers, librarians and school managers. Meetings,
interviews and working seminars will be conducted with teachers and school managers throughout the project,
including before and after the 3-year period of studying children. In particular, our full cooperation with the
teachers of the six selected classes is envisaged to be central to the success of the project. While one aim is to
secure the necessary cooperation through openness about the conduct of our study, a separate aim is to
understand the perspective of these stakeholders, as outlined in our research questions.
Goals of the project
Main goal
Through longitudinal case studies of usage of a digital learning resource to develop a rich understanding of
impacts of web-based open ICTs on children's interactions, learning, and on approaches to teaching.
Sub goals
The sub goals relate to the research questions presented above.
These are developed by Høgskolens mediesenter Bergen in collaboration with University College in Hedmark
and publishers. Design and development are done at Mediesenteret. Both projects receive funding from Nasjonalt
læremiddelsenter.
5
Funding from Statens bibliotekstilsyn.
4
Project description (draft)
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1.
Implications of new learning technologies on the organisation of teaching in schools, including perspectives
and practices of teachers and of school managers on new teacher roles have been derived.
2.
A new classification of computer-mediated talk has been developed, as well as talk in front of the computer.
3.
Implications of new learning technologies on social interactions and learning have been derived. New forms
of pupil assessment have been modelled. Implications of context differences on new learning technologies
have been derived, in schools and library.
4.
An approach to eliciting children's design suggestions has been developed and applied. The elicited insights
have been fed into the further development of the multifunctional learning
resource.
5.
New versions of the learning resources have been developed and tried among children.
6.
Gender issues have been identified within each of the above sub goals. Gender issues are considered an
orthogonal dimension throughout the project and their explorations are to follow the time plans of each main
goal.
Project Organisation
Main project
Institutions
The project partners are an interdisciplinary research group studying ICT and learning as a collaboration between
three institutions: The Pedagogical Faculty of the University of Oslo (UiO), the Media Centre (Mediesenteret)
and the Faculty of Education, Bergen University College (HiB), and the Faculty of Education, Oslo University
College (HiO).
HiO's Faculty of Education (LU) and HiB's Media Centre, while belonging to two different University Colleges,
comprise a single research milieu on talk, text, and ICT. The partners have twice previously received funding for
joint projects.
The Media Centre is a competence and development centre for new media and learning which for several years
has been conducting substantial development of digital learning resources for schools. The Media Centre is
cooperating closely with pedagogical as well as specific disciplinary departments within HiB and outside.
LU/HiB has substantial experience in trials of new models for implementing ICT and digital resources in schools.
Through this work a close cooperation has developed between the two University Colleges which is being
extended and formalised through the present project.
HiO is the largest nationally (state) funded University College in Norway, and its LU has substantial research on
a range of topics, including new media. Previously, LU/HiO has contributed mainly the discourse analytic
component of the joint research. In the present project these have been augmented by LU/HiB and by the IT
Section within LU/HiO, thus tying in specialists in ICT and Learning, ensuring greater depth and integration of
insights, in particular relating to ICT and gender on the one hand, and challenges facing ICT being part of
teachers' professional competences on the other. The imminent opening of a Chair (professorat) in ICT and
learning in conjunction with plans to establish a Master in ICT and learning will strengthen the research into this
area at HiO and interested Master students will be offered dissertation topics that tie in with the present project.
Thus this project will contribute to the sustainable development of this integrated research group.
At the University of Oslo, the Pedagogical Research Institute has seen substantial research into the usage of ICT
in education. In this project UiO will contribute to the overall progress and quality of the research as well as
specific issues addressed, such as methodological development (a particular challenge for the library
investigations).
Forms of collaboration
Project management: The administrative management has due to practical reasons been split from the
responsibility to oversee the research.
Project manager: Prof. Svein Østerud, UiO, is overall manager and responsible for the research. The
responsibilities entailed in his 20% engagement for the project include: 1) Contribute to planning the research
effort. 2) Comment on the analysis being undertaken by the project researchers through participation in project
Project description (draft)
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seminars and commenting on written work. 3) Forge links between the researchers at this project and those in a
closely connected project “Literacy and converging media.”6
Administrative manager: Jostein Saakvitne, HiB, is administrative manager and responsible for budgets,
milestones and project finances.
Collaboration on the empirical work:
Researchers in Oslo and in Bergen will gather data in schools in their respectivie cities; those at HiO and UiO
will additionally gather data from the Deichmanske library (which is located in Oslo). Researchers at each
institution may conduct preliminary analyses separately as appropriate. Importantly, however, all material of key
interest to the project will subsequently be worked through and analysed in collaboration. Means for the joint
work include:
 Working seminars, which will be organised chiefly in Oslo but also in Bergen at which material from both
cities will be jointly analysed in some detail. Travel expenses for trips between Bergen and Oslo have been
included in the budget. The first working seminar is taking place in February 2004.
 Video conferences, using the facilities at HiB and at UiO.
 Joint writing of papers and of books. To this end the project will seek to establish a cross-institutional space
for the sharing of work in progress.
 Towards the end of each project year the participating researchers will jointly conduct a self evaluation. A
report on this will be presented to the international contacts for response and to the steering group.
The Media Centre at Bergen University College will be responsible for the re-designing and further development
of the the digital training resources within the project.
Media Centre personnel will work in close collaboration with project personnel in Oslo.
Research staff
Bergen University College: Jostein Saakvitne (Head of The Media Centre), Assoc. Prof. Ida Knudsen (Pedagogy/Faculty of
Education) and Assoc. Prof. Ture Schwebs (Norwegian/Faculty of Education).
Oslo University College: Assoc. Prof. Margareth Sandvik (Norwegian/Faculty of Education), Assoc. Prof. Leikny Øgrim
(IT/Faculty of Education), Prof. Liv Merete Nielsen (Faculty of Fine Arts and Drama) and a PhD student (Faculty of
Education).
The University of Oslo, Faculty of Education, the Pedagogical Research Institute: Prof. Svein Østerud, Assoc. Prof. Eevi
Beck.
Other: Production/design (Media Centre of Bergen University College and others)
Teachers, librarians and pupils in schools in Oslo and Bergen and in library in Oslo)
Collaborating researchers and students at HiB, HiO and UiO.
Other contributors
A steering group will be established with the responsibility to oversee the general progress of the project,
consisting of:
Principal (Dekan) AL/HiB Bjørg Kristin Selvik
Advisor to R&D at LU/HiO, Per-Jarle Bekken
Jostein Osnes, Director of Nasjonalt læringssenter
One representative of Deichmanske library, Oslo
International reference group:
The reference group consists of experienced persons who have an interest in the project and have agreed to
provide support in the form of advice to the project. Several are part of parallel research projects with which
findings will be exchanged. Primary members of the reference group will be Prof. Neil Mercer of EDRU, The
Open University, UK and Dr. Birgitte Holm Sørensen of The Danish Pedagogical University (for the research
program "Media and ICT in a learning perspective" http://w0.dpu.dk/default2.asp?page_id=21 ). These will be invited for
yearly workshops where the work of this project is discussed.
Secondary members, with whom contact is expected to be less committed, are:
Klaus Bruhn Jensen, Institut for Film og Medievitenskab, Københavns Universitet, Denmark.
Kirsten Drotner, Institut for Litteratur, Kultur og Medier at Syddansk Universitet, Odense, Denmark.
Roger Säljö, Institutionen för pedagogik och didaktik, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
6
Literacy og konvergerende medier - nye former for mediert samhandling, project funded by the Norwegian
Research Council, project manager: Svein Østerud, project period: 2003-2007.
Project description (draft)
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Per Linell, Tema Kommunikation, University of Linköping, Sweden.
Gunther Kress, Institute of Education, University of London, UK.
Jonathan Potter, Derek Edwards, David Middleton og Michael Billig, DARG (Discourse and Rhetoric Group) of
Loughborough University, UK.
Project milestones
The following milestones have been set for the slightly less than four years duration of the project (from AprilMay 2004 to end December 2007):
- During spring 2004, some project researchers will initiate contact with the focus schools and with Deichmanske
library and conduct initial interviews with librarians.
- August 2004: Initiation, contact building, library pilot study completed. Most researchers start work.
- October 2004: Collaboration with project teachers and their classes has been established. Interviews with
teachers and school leaders have been conducted and initial data on salient issues for teachers and school
managers in using ICTs have been gathered.
- August 2005: Initial data have been recorded in schools and in the library. Transcription and analysis is
underway. Identification of gender issues and issues related to ethniticity has started.
- Februar 2006: Relevant forms of conversation in front of the computer have been identified. Analysis of uses of
digital assessment has been conducted. Responses to teachers' and managers' issues as well as responses to any
previously identified gender and ethnicity issues have been planned in collaboration with the stakeholders, and a
pilot study has been conducted over redesign with children’s participation. Data has been collected on the
aesthetic expressions provided to pupils through the learning resources and of the children’s responses to these.
- August 2006: Analysis of children's critical reasoning completed and of assessment. Gender and ethnicity issues
have been identified. Salient issues for teachers and school managers in using ICTs have been identified. An
approach to pupil participation in system redesign has been developed. Analysis of aesthetic aspects of learning
resource use has been conducted.
- February 2007: Taxonomy of relevant categories of reasoning completed. System redesign and/or training
design to address any gender and ethnicity issues have been completed. Responses to issues identified for
teachers, managers and librarians are underway, and to results of the analysis of aesthetic issues.
- August 2007: Post-pupil round of interviews with teachers and school managers completed. Responses to
teachers' and mangers' issues have been completed, including any training needs w.r.t. gender and ethnicity
issues. Empirical studies with children completed, including trials with the redesigned system. PhD thesis
submitted.
- October 2007: An approach to the assessment of learning in front of the computer, including assessment of the
competent handling of ICTs, has been developed. Intertextual elements have been identified.
- 1st January 2008: Final report and/or book completed. International conference has been hosted.
Dissemination of results
Publications from the project
Findings and insight from the project will be published as a book. Throughout the project papers will be
published in esteemed international peer reviewed journals and conferences as well as in Norwegian journals. We
envisage submitting for international peer reviewed journals 10 papers.
In addition 4 papers will be submitted to journals for practitioners in the field.
Other dissemination activities
A secondary aim of the project seminars is to foster the exchange of ideas and early work with researchers
outside our project. To this end, others researchers and master students will be invited as relevant. Towards the
end of the project an international conference on ICT and learning will be organised in collaboration with
Denmark's Pedagogical University and The Open University (UK).
Project researchers, including the PhD student, will participate in international conferences throughout the project
Another dissemination activity will be workshops and seminars for involved teachers, once a year. Teachers and
librarians will be invited to Oslo for two-way exchanges of experiences and preliminary research results, to
facilitate feedback on the collaboration in particular any critique to the researchers, and to offer training as may
be necessary on new aspects of the learning resource(s).
Project description (draft)
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A project web-site will be established, for presentation and project progress reports.
The web-site will serve as communication platform for all involved project partners.
A preliminary version og this web-site will be established during spring 2004, with a permanent full version in
operation within the end of the year.
Other dissemination activities
Seminars and workshops will be conducted throughout the project period. In particular, these aim to create an
outlet for doctoral students to present ongoing work in a context where they will get feedback from more
experienced researchers. Cooperation with other institutions will ensure the PhD students get a broader reference
than in the ordinary project context. A secondary aim is to foster the exchange of ideas and early work with
researchers outside our project. Towards the end of the project an international conference on ICT and learning
will be organised in collaboration with Denmark's Pedagogical University and The Open University (UK).
Project researchers, including the PhD student, will participate in international conferences throughout the
project.
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