Engineering M-Learning Using Agile User-Centered Design

This chapter describes inquiry and learning in science and arts-based informal settings. Informal institutions, generally museums, galleries, zoos, and science centers, are designed to be interactive spaces that foster self-directed explorations and learning of different arts, exhibits, specimens, and materials on display. Observations, dialogues, and questioning approaches are generally used to facilitate inquiry-based learning in informal settings. In arts-based settings, the emphasis is on advancing visual literacy, and in science-based settings inquiry is used both as a pedagogical approach and as modeling scientific practice. In both kinds of settings, teacher learning and professional development is used to help teachers understand the process of inquiry and facilitate inquiry-based learning with students both in the classroom and in informal institutions. The challenge and the value of inquiry-based learning in informal settings is that conversations and trajectories can go in unexpected ways. It is important to continue to research inquiry and learning in informal settings, for example studying the kinds of questions and prompts that support productive conversation, the role of digital technologies in supporting learning, and, importantly, considering the sociocultural aspects of inquiry. Inquiry in informal settings supports diverse ways of accessing science and art.

Conventional approaches to vocational education and training (VET) globally are inadequate to meet either present or future needs. They are based on assumptions about VET being inferior to academic education and that only those who cannot get into academic education would pursue vocational learning. They assume that formal vocational learning is the only or main form of vocational learning and that formal VET graduates will transition into formal sector jobs concentrated largely around metals, motors and manufacturing. None of this is true. In Africa, most people are working and learning in informal settings. Many have a powerful vocational impulse. Even many of the poorest are using digital technologies for their learning. Moreover, a focus on skills to produce more is pushing us further and further beyond the boundaries for the safe operating of this planet. In response, this book focuses on social skills ecosystems in which a range of actors come together to negotiate skills needs, including in informal and rural settings and in the production of skills for the maintenance and replenishing of the natural resource nexus. This focus highlights the complexity of interactions in local and horizontal relationships between actor-citizens in a place and the often top-down and disabling actions of states trying to do development to subject-recipients.

We narrate a qualitative descriptive study on the translation of the pedagogical model of primary school seamless science inquiry learning (SSIL), originally with the mandatory requirement of 1:1 (one-mobile-device-per-student) and 24 × 7 (24 h a day, 7 days a week) setting, to a more scalable and sustainable model that fits the conditions of typical schools in Singapore and elsewhere. Seamless learning as a hybrid learning model refers to a continuous, holistic learning process across learning contexts, such as formal and informal learning settings, individual and collaborative learning, and learning in both the physical and digital realms. We discuss the adaptation of the SSIL model which remove the constraint of the requirement of one device per student and its implementation in three schools over the duration of two academic years. Through a process of scaffolding by the researchers, as manifested by five pedagogical design principles known as C2FIP (Connectivity, socio-Constructivist learning, Formative assessment, leveraging resources in Informal settings, Personalised learning), primary science teachers were empowered to design good SSIL lesson plans that adhered to techno-pedagogical design principles. Data analysis showed teacher growth in designing and implementing SSIL lessons and evidence of student learning.KeywordsSeamless learningDesign principlesDiffusion of innovationsScience inquiry learning

It is often assumed that because the current generation of students is more technologically competent than previous generations, they would prefer to use technology for both formal and informal learning. The results of a series of empirical studies indicated that students in formal settings preferred face-to-face contact with their instructors and used Web 2.0 tools for communication and to complete specific class assignments; in their personal lives, these technologies were used for communication, music and video downloads, and online gaming. Although students did not use social networking in their classes, the use of these tools may provide educators with an alternative to course management systems. Results from a community sample indicated a preference towards using the Internet for information gathering, and even though respondents reported that the incorporation of social networking sites in informal education settings would be nice, it was not expected. Overall, both student and community participants utilized technology that was familiar to them. Thus, assuming technological competence in our students and implementing various technological applications in the classroom may be counterproductive if guidance and training are not provided.

Children spend most of their time in out-of-school settings. As a result, informal learning settings can play a significant role in children’s learning development. Museums and science centers are informal settings that are intentionally designed to promote learning and interest development. Learning in these settings is highly participant structured. Participants’ interaction with each other and exhibits can direct their learning and understanding of the presented topics. Also, studies show that these settings are where children begin to develop competencies, skills, knowledge and problem-solving processes that support participation in STEM-related careers. For example, many engineering exhibits have been designed for children to promote their engineering skills and practices as well as their understanding of engineering careers. One engineering practice is troubleshooting; trouble-shooting is a practice used in many aspects of engineering work, including design, analysis and programming. We situate this study in the engineering design literature as the task that our participants engaged in was an engineering design task. The research literature suggests that expert engineers engage in diagnostic troubleshooting which includes focusing on problematic areas of the potential solutions, defining the cause of a problem, and proposing ways of fixing it. However, beginning designers tend to be unfocused and uncritical when looking at the performance of their prototype which would lead to a poor and flawed design. In this study, we focused on children’s engagement in troubleshooting throughout an engineering design activity. Previous studies have referred to children as natural engineers who take similar engineering process as experts. Hence, in this study, we examined ways children engage in troubleshooting and compared them with what previous studies showed about the ways expert and beginner engineers troubleshoot their designs. To do so, we asked 7-11 years old children with their caregivers to design a pneumatic ball run using pneumatic pistons in 30 minutes. The video data of 10 cases were then analyzed using an a priori codebook. We found that the children were mostly engaged in troubleshooting after testing the whole or segments of the ball run. Troubleshooting was observed very often due to the immediate feedback they received (i.e., falling the ball means a problem). In addition, while examples of children acting like beginner engineers were observed, most of the cases were involved in diagnostic troubleshooting.

The existing software engineering seldom considers software usability, and human-computer interaction (HCI) techniques which can improve the software usability cannot guarantee development efficiency. Recently, more and more stakeholders and users begin to regard the usability as an important software requirement. In order to bring respective advantages of software engineering and HCI techniques into full play to improve software usability and development efficiency, the paper presents user model driven software development, which integrates HCI techniques into software development method by eliciting user model under the participation of user, HCI designer and software engineer. Applications show that the method can be effectively applied to small software development team, and can raise software usability and development efficiency.

Stereotypes tend to pervade the debates on Chinese parents’ expectation of their children’s academic achievement and if or how they value play. Yet little is known about the relationship between play and concept formation, as well as how play and conceptual learning are set up through specific activity settings in Chinese families. Vygotsky’s (1966) concept of play is the creation of an imaginary situation. From this point of view, children’s engagement in play may largely be directed towards a process of abstraction and generalization of the meaning, which is in the essence of concept formation (Vygotsky, 1987a, 1987b). This study is aimed at investigating the links between play and young children’s concept formation in Chinese families. This study adopted an in-depth qualitative case study following the dialectical-interactive approach within the cultural-historical paradigm. Four parents and two children (a boy and a girl) participated from two families (with only one child in each) in Mainland China. The children were around three years at the beginning of this study. The two participating families were recruited through educators in a public kindergarten, and were intentionally selected considering their similar socio-economic status. The data were collected over two main observation periods (3.5 months and 3 months with an interval of 10 months) through digital video observations of children’s participation in everyday family activities (especial family play), videoed parent interviews and parents’ participated filming of the activities they are valued. The analysis of data has been carried out by means of three main levels of interpretations, namely, common sense interpretation, situated practice interpretation, and interpretation on a thematic level (Hedegaard, 2008c) in order to get rich and comprehensive understanding of children’s everyday family practices in relation to play and learning within Chinese cultural context. This thesis is conducted in the format of a thesis by publication. The important study results are reported through the four publications. Overall, the study finds that the shared imaginary situation between parents and a child in family collective play provides the conditions for the child’s concept formation. The shared sustained imaginary situation created through family collective play shows its importance in a child’s motive orientation towards parents’ valued conceptual learning (Publication 1), in the child’s potential conscious awareness of certain scientific phenomenon (Publication 2), in mediating the child’s conceptual thinking through sharable pretend signs (Publication 3) and in fostering the child’s exploration of the ideal descriptions of certain conceptual rules (Publication 4). The findings indicate that children’s family collective play is in relation to their concept formation in Chinese families. In this study it has been demonstrated that play has its role in creating the potential (or ZPD) of a child’s concept formation. A new conception of children’s imaginative play and its role in their concept formation has been synthesized, which provides extended understanding of Vygotsky’s concept of play. Methodologically, this study is evident in how meaningful the cultural-historical approach can frame the study to investigate a child’s process and mechanism of concept formation during family play. In addition, this study provides the local knowledge in relation to the links between play and learning in informal settings, which pedagogically contributes to how play can be understood and utilized in informal settings in early childhood education.

Self-regulation with respect to informal learning

Agile Methods have a distinct culture that at a first glance seems to conflict with User-Centered Design. However, the use of agile methods can result in improved usability of software systems. This tutorial aims to present and discuss the best practices regarding the integration of User-Centered Design and Agile Methods. We believe that the lessons learned from this tutorial can be really useful and applicable in both industry and academic contexts.

Numerous empirical studies, including meta-analyses, have confirmed the impact of self-regulated learning (SRL) on learners’ academic achievement in traditional or face-to-face learning environments. However, prior meta-analyses rarely examined the efficacy of SRL interventions on academic achievement in online or blended education across elementary education, secondary education, higher education, and adult education. Therefore, this meta-analysis addresses this research gap by focusing on the effect of SRL interventions on students’ academic test performance in online and blended learning environments in elementary, secondary, and higher education settings as well as informal settings. The present meta-analysis compares SRL phase, SRL scaffolds, and SRL strategies between treatment and control groups. We also investigated possible differential effectiveness due to substantive features of the included studies, such as different educational levels of learners (e.g. elementary, secondary, and higher education), academic subjects (STEM vs. non-STEM), and learning contexts (e.g. online learning, blended learning, web-based learning, mobile learning). Consistent with previously published meta-analyses, the present meta-analysis confirmed a positive and moderate effect of SRL intervention (ES = 0.69) on learners’ academic achievement in online and blended environments for learners in elementary, secondary, and higher education as well as informal adult education settings.

This study aims to determine the governance of electronic-based medical records in making outpatient polyclinic reports using the agile method. The research method used is qualitative research with a descriptive approach. After analyzing the needs of the polyclinic reporting system, this study presents the steps of implementing the agile method of extreme programming. By using this method, a system that is adaptable, responsive, and focused on user needs can be developed. The results show that the use of the agile extreme programming method in the development of an electronic-based medical record system provides significant benefits. The process of planning, designing, coding, testing, and releasing is done iteratively and collaboratively. With this approach, the system can be continuously improved and adjusted to meet changing user needs and priorities. By describing the system design flowmap, context diagram, DFD and ERD to visualize the relationship between the components in the system that provides a systematic description of the stages of the report generation process. In conclusion, electronic-based medical record governance in making outpatient polyclinic reports using the agile extreme programming method is an effective and efficient approach. By combining the advantages of agile and extreme programming methods, an adaptive and responsive system can be developed.

When the traditional method lacking in adapting requirement variety, some agile software development methods appears, which flexible development mechanism could control the risk that requirement variety brings. Taking Extreme Programming as an example, this paper introduces ideas, values and process practice rules of agile methods. Extreme Programming is a software development methodology that is agile and based on practice. This paper introduces the features of Extreme Programming and how to practice Extreme Programming in developing management information system, also discuss and study the advantages and disadvantages when applying Extreme Programming in small or middle sized projects with inconstant requirements.

This study analysed 498 articles published between 2005 and 2023 on Self-regulated Language Learning (SRLL) indexed in the core collection of the Web of Science database, using a bibliometric methodology based on scientific mapping, co-occurrence and burstness analysis. Results show China is the most influential contributor to SRLL research, with the largest number of total publications and citations. According to the keyword co-occurrence and burstness analysis, mobile-learning, higher education, learning context, learner strategies stand out in this field. It is also shown that listening as a significant linguistic skill is less explored in the SRLL field. It is proven that learners' language skills could be improved through mobile-assisted collaborative learning in informal settings. By identifying the developmental patterns in SRLL research, this paper can guide future researchers to explore in-depth the significant issues in this field and bring insight for further SRLL studies in terms of themes, pedagogy and methodologies.

Studies of children’s learning with family and friends give us insight into how children can learn beyond the classroom. The learning process is often characterised by autonomy, choosing what they learn, curiosity, interest and enjoyment, interactions and conversations with friends, and operating at their own pace and in their chosen way. The argument is that ways of learning science outside school can inform a framework to enhance school science experiences. Evidence in the chapter is drawn from research on learning in informal settings, studies located in web-mediated environments and project based activities.

Informal learning institutions like zoos, aquariums, science centers, and botanic gardens are popular among the American public. Many offer science-related activities, suggesting an “ecology” of sites varying in degree with regards to science and STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) learning in general. Understanding public perceptions of the STEM learning ecology can inform decisions about increasing STEM literacy in the United States. The current qualitative study used interactive workshops to understand the public’s perceptions of zoos and aquariums (Z/As) in particular, compared to other settings, for their potential to support STEM learning. Visitors identified a wide range of settings in institutions and their everyday lives where they experienced STEM learning opportunities. The primary STEM discipline they encountered was science, even though the opportunities were not explicit. They also recognized that these settings offer the potential for learning about technology, engineering, and math through staff facilitation. They distinguished Z/As from other cultural organizations because of opportunities to learn about science as it related to animals. Implications for STEM learning in informal settings are discussed for its potential to engage the public in STEM outside of the formal education context.