Event Description:
Social Network Innovation in the Internet’s Global Coffeehouses: Pandora, Learning Layers, Design Seeking and Scaling
 
John Cook
Designing for Digital Learners (D4DL), UWE Bristol, UK
 
Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/johnnigelcook
Related paper: http://tinyurl.com/la6y927
 
Abstract
There is much that we can learn from the past as we explore the issues raised by new technologies and the way in which they are appropriated by learners. Like the social networking that took place in coffehouses in the 1600s the Internet enabled social networks of today, like Facebook and Twitter, stand accused of being so called ‘weapons of mass distraction” or worse.  In fact in England in the late 1600s, very similar concerns were raised about coffee houses! However, rather than acting as enemies of industry or distractions to academics, coffeehouses in the 1600s were in fact crucibles of creativity, because of the way in which they facilitated the mixing of both people and ideas. Now the spirit of the coffeehouse has been reborn in our social-media platforms. McKinsey Global Institute, (2012) claim that social networking within companies could increase the productivity of “knowledge workers” by 20 to 25 percent. OpenWorm is an open source project dedicated to creating the world’s first virtual organism in a computer and fostering growth of a completely open computational biology community. Modern fears about the dangers of social networking are overdone.
 
Design research allows us to engage in inquiry surrounding the transformative possibilities for learning technologies. In this webinar I take the view that the neglected area of ‘design seeking’ can help us with attempts designing for scale. In the Learning Layers Project (http://learning-layers.eu/) we develop technologies that support informal learning in the workplace (Health Professionals in NE England and the Construction sector in North Germany). Co-design is being used with all user groups to help shape our designs and tools. A model is presented of design seeking and scaling. The PANDORA design team case study from Learning Layers is used to illustrate the model. PANDORA explores, amongst other things, designs for collaborative technologies for processes surrounding a Significant Event Audit (SEA) in UK Health Sector’s General Practices. The webinar concludes with an assessment of the model and a confirmation that Internet fuelled coffeehouses are very much alive in Learning Layers and beyond.
 
Why people should come
This webinar will describe new co-design research into work-based learning and encourage community debate. The structure of the webinar is as follows, but participants will be encouraged to ask questions at any point:

The disruptive power of social networking from 1600s to now
Educational Design Research
Illustrate research benefits of the Design Seeking and Scaling model
Pandora as an exemplary case study from Learning Layers (FP7 IP)–       UK Health Sector’s General Practices–       Seeking support


Conclusions

John Cook (PhD) is Professor in Education at University of the West of England, Director of the Bristol Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning and Education (BRILLE) and convenor of the Designing for Digital Learners (D4DL) Research Group.