'Cool' or just 'Sad'? - What motivates learners to participate in and use technology?

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Abstract
eLearning technology has been part of the educational environment for some time now, but not all learners have the same motivation to use it. However, engagement and participation with technology outside of the educational context has exploded. Whilst it is clear that these systems cannot simply be imported into the educational environment, innovative educational tools could emerge from an understanding of what actually motivates learners to use certain types of technologies.

This session will depart from the "Beyond Standards" theme to explore what motivates learners to engage with technology and whether an understanding of it can inform the design of e-learning tools.

Organisational Details
This session will be facilitated by Lisa Corley and Paul Hollins, with apologies from (and thanks to) Sharon Perry who designed the session. Please contact Sharon on s.perry @ bolton .ac .uk if you have any queries relating to the session.

The session runs from 9.00 to 13.00 on Wednesday 21st November and will take the form of presentations and discussions.

Agenda
09:00-09:15 Introduction to the Session Just a brief introduction to the session and what we hope to achieve.

'''09:15-09:45 Presentation: Education 2.0? Designing ambient pedagogies and meaningful experiences for future learning''' Presenter: Andrew Ravenscroft, Principal Research Fellow, London Metropolitan University [[Media:CETIS_Raven.ppt‎ | PowerPoint Slides]]

09:45-10:15 Questions and Discussion on "Education 2.0? Designing ambient pedagogies"

Following on from Andrew's presentation, an opportunity to ask questions and discuss what you have just heard.

10:15-10:45 Discussion: Social Technology - Is the motivation to use it part of a "them and us" syndrome?

Should we be using social technology in an educational setting or let students get on and use it as they see fit, and just hope that informal learning and collaborations will take place? If students use it for their own purposes (including education), do they feel more empowered in the management of their learning (personalisation)? What about those learners who are not as technologically adept, or prefer a different learning paradigm, or who do not have access to the same technology as their peers? Are they being left behind or are they developing different strategies? How can we harness the way technology is used socially by students and put that into an educational context (and perhaps, more to the point, should we be attempting to do so)? Can we take the parts of the design that students like from the non-educational tools and incorporate that into the design of educational software? Would it work? Or is it a way for students to carve out their own private space away from tutors?

10:45-11:30 Coffee and networking

11:30-12:00 Presentation: Motivating Learner Engagement in Online Environments: the relevance of social exchange theory Presenter: Hazel Hall, Senior Lecturer, School of Computing, Napier University. [[Media:Hall_CETIS_2007.ppt‎ | PowerPoint Slides]] Hazel talked about social exchange theory and its relevance to knowledge sharing, with a particular focus on educational environments, illustrating her arguments with reference to the use of blogs in educational settings. Case study examples will derive from a development of work about to be published in LISR. The project team has paid a lot of attention to the commenting practices of the students, during this academic year, and have some data that appears to support the contention that social exchange theory is applicable to knowledge sharing in this particular setting.

12:00-12:30 Questions and Discussion on "Social Exchange Theory" Following on from Hazel's presentation, an opportunity to ask questions and discuss what you have just heard.

12:30-13:00 Brainstorm: Feedback for Plenary

Reminder of the Key Ideas from the morning. Is there anything we've missed out? What does JISC CETIS need to do? What do you see as important in this area in the next 5 years? What is the key idea that sums up the whole issue of Technology for Participation? Who would like to present this final idea to the conference? This section will provide a single slide for presentation during the plenary session in the afternoon. [[Media:Cool_or_sad_plenary.ppt‎| PowerPoint Slide]]