Search

The aim of this paper is two-fold: firstly, to provide an overview of emerging digital practices that support collaborative learning, competency development, and digital literacy for student-centered learning environments in higher education during the rapid digital transition caused by pandemic-related lockdowns across the world, and secondly, to analyze and discuss how systematic reviews of generalized themes and trends can be combined with contextualized experiences and the lessons learned from the Covid-19 crisis to inform the digital transformation of higher education, with a particular focus on bridging the gap between campus-based teaching and online learning and on the identification of the digital competencies that teachers and students must acquire during the continuing shift into a ‘new normal’ for post-pandemic educational practices. This study was motivated by questions and findings emerging from an early reactive case study conducted by three of this paper’s co-authors (Lyngdorf et al., 2021a). By reviewing the full texts of 18 articles, this study provides a systematic literature review which maps the general landscape of the online, hybrid, and blended digital practices applied in existing student-centered learning environments in higher education since the onset of the pandemic. Furthermore, this mapping is used to revisit data and findings from the earlier reactive study of emerging digital practices in a specific problem- and project-based learning (PBL) environment. This study’s findings highlight critical factors and barriers related to emerging practices which support students’ interactions with teachers, content, and each other, as well as the emerging competencies that these practices will require. The paper concludes with a discussion of the main findings and their implications for further research and practice.

This article presents an application of a design methodology to envision implicit value hierarchies in the design process of a digital learning platform meant to encompass learning processes and activities conducive to experiential collaborative learning (ECL). The authors argue that many technologies for the field of education fall short of their purposes and neglect intended underpinning pedagogy and didactics. Previous research efforts in networked learning have primarily focused on conceptual critiques of the implementation of EdTech and warned of technological euphoria undermining relevant caution. This means, that when a design team tries to conceptualize technological artefacts into a script the more ethical and value-oriented parts of the learning process tend to be ignored. While we agree with the conceptual critiques, our approach has instead been to engage with the design process and implement appropriate methodologies in an attempt to highlight implicit value hierarchies in the underlying learning theory. When using technologies in Networked learning we thus emphasize that both designers and stakeholders should engage in a systematic discussion and reflection of values and related judgements while constructing a value hierarchy.Through a Value-based design methodology based on semantic zooming we thus present 7 interconnected envisioning scenarios developed in the UnFoLD project to demonstrate how it is possible to operationalize values into detailed design briefs or technological scripts. This article will through presented experiences from a design process, show how the methodology of envisioning scenarios can be applied to mitigate the risks of implementation technology in a learning situation. We argue that an awareness and mapping of values as a part of the design process is essential and that an increased focus on the ethical and moral responsibilities of designers and involved researchers are important as technologies should not be seen as isolated, value-neutral, or uncomplicated translations of analogue teaching activities. The purpose of the article is to inspire other researchers and designers to implement value hierarchies, envisioning scenarios, or other similar methods to ensure that pedagogical and didactic priorities are not lost in accommodating marketability, practicalities, or technological constraints.

Journal of Problem Based Learning in Higher Education, Vol. 9 No. 1 (2021): Special Issue: Exploring the Near-future or Next Practice of PBL

In March 2020 I published the ‘emergency editorial’ in Postdigital Science and Education and invited the community to ‘explore all imaginable aspects of this large social experiment that the Covid-19 pandemic has lain down in front of us’ (Jandrić 2020a: 237). Articles immediately started pouring in; within weeks, the journal’s contributions had been recognized by institutions such as the World Health Organization, the US National Library of Medicine’s Nature Public Health Emergency Collection, and UNESCO (see Jandrić 2021 for details). After publication of the October 2020 issue of Postdigital Science and Education,Footnote 1 consisting of almost 60 articles on the Covid-19 pandemic, the first wave of pandemic research has wound down. As it has become obvious that Covid-19 is here to stay, research on immediate Covid-19 experiences and responses slowly gives way to research which ‘reaches beyond the pandemic to the point where the pandemic experience is transformed from an object of research to an intrinsic part of our theories, approaches, research methodologies, and social struggles’ (Jandrić 2021: 262).

During the early stages of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, EASL and ESCMID published a position paper to provide guidance for physicians involved in the care of patients with chronic liver disease. While some healthcare systems are returning to a more normal routine, many countries and healthcare systems have been, or still are, overwhelmed by the pandemic, which is significantly impacting on the care of these patients. In addition, many studies have been published focusing on how COVID-19 may affect the liver and how pre-existing liver diseases might influence the clinical course of COVID-19. While many aspects remain poorly understood, it has become increasingly evident that pre-existing liver diseases and liver injury during the disease course must be kept in mind when caring for patients with COVID-19. This review should serve as an update on the previous position paper, summarising the evidence for liver disease involvement during COVID-19 and providing recommendations on how to return to routine care wherever possible.

Learning analytics (LA) are a young but fast-growing field, which, according to some authors, holds big promises for education. Some claim that LA solutions can help measure and support constructivist classrooms and 21st century skills, thus creating a potential of making an alignment between LA and PBL principles and practices. Despite this argument, LA have not yet gained much interest among the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) practitioners and researchers and the possible connections between PBL and LA have not yet been properly explored. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to investigate how LA can potentially be used to support and inform PBL practice. We do this by identifying central themes that remain constant across various orchestrations of PBL (collaboration, self-directed learning, and reflection) and present examples of LA tools and concepts that have been developed within LA and neighbouring fields (e.g. CSCL) in connection to those themes. This selection of LA solutions is later used as a basis for discussing wider potentials, challenges and recommendations for making connections between PBL and LA., Journal of Problem Based Learning in Higher Education, Early view

Journal of Problem Based Learning in Higher Education, Vol 7 No 1 (2019)

Hepatocarcinogenesis is tightly linked to liver fibrosis. Recently, two GWAS variants, MICA rs2596542 and DEPDC5 rs1012068 were identified as being associated with the development of HCV-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Japanese patients. The role of these variants on hepatic inflammation and fibrosis that are closely associated with HCC development is not known, nor are the biological mechanisms underlying their impact on the liver. Here, we demonstrate in 1689 patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) (1,501 with CHC and 188 with HCV-related HCC), that the MICA (T) allele, despite not being associated with HCC susceptibility, is associated with increased fibrosis stage (OR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.05-2.06, p = 0.02) and fibrosis progression rate (hazards ratio: 1.41, 95% CI: 1.04-1.90, p = 0.02). The DEPDC5 variant was not associated with any of these phenotypes. MICA expression was down-regulated in advanced fibrosis stages. Further, (T) allele carriage was associated with lower MICA expression in liver and serum. Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) expression suppresses MICA expression in hepatic stellate cells. Our findings suggest a novel mechanism linking susceptibility to advanced fibrosis and subsequently indirectly to HCC, to the level of MICA expression through TGF-β1-dependent mechanisms.

I denne artikel undersøges, hvordan programmering benyttes i en pædagogisk praksis i grundskolen, samt hvilket perspektiv faglærerne har på at inddrage programmering som fagligt element i deres undervisning. Artiklen bygger på en empirisk undersøgelse af tre skolers inddragelse af programmering i undervisningen på mellemtrinnet under Coding Class-forløb i Vejle Kommune, hvor fire faglærere blev interviewet omkring deres erfaringer med forløbet. Analysen er struktureret omkring en række spændingsfelter, der omhandler brugen af programmering som enten et fagspecifikt eller tværfagligt element, samt til understøttelse af elevernes faglige udbytte eller deres interesse, og slutteligt lærernes tilgang til deres egen rolle i klasseværelset. Lærerne oplevede alle højt engagement og fordybelse med programmeringsaktiviteterne blandt eleverne, men flere udtrykte behov for større kontrol med elevernes fagspecifikke udbytte og oplevede begrænsninger omkring egne tekniske kompetencer. På baggrund af analysen opstilles en række konkrete pædagogiske overvejelser, der udgør opmærksomhedspunkter til fremtidig planlægning og inddragelse af programmering i undervisningsforløb samt overvejelser omkring lærerens rolle i sådanne forløb.

While the exchange of utterances between collaborators have been viewed as theprimary vehicle for meaning-making in CSCL, we have been encouraged by the CSCL19theme to expand this understanding to include intercoporeality as way of foregroundingbodies in collaborative learning. We find that collaboration, meaning-making and problemsolving is also occurring even when collaborators are lacking words for expressing theirthoughts in talk. Thus, we promote the idea of viewing CSCL as a field concerned withintercorporeality in meaning-making practices. Through a detailed analysis of a group ofarchitectural engineering students, we unpack how they prepare for a critique session bybuilding upon each other’s utterances, gestures and manipulations of objects in their designstudio thus displaying intercorporeal memory and understanding. Based on the analysis wediscuss three themes related to incorporeality in CSCL: Ecologies of technologies, Historicaldevelopment of the bodily-material resources and Subtle manifestations of intercorporealunderstandings.

In this chapter, we analyse selected video data from a long-term, collaborative problem-based project work conducted by a group of Architecture and Design (A&D) students within the frame of the Aalborg PBL model. We initially discuss this pedagogical model in relation to the analytic framework for transfer developed in Chapters 2 and 3. Following that, we zoom in on selected extracts of video data of students’ actual group work. From the perspective of embodied interaction analysis, we analyse the various knowledge forms that are in play in the interaction. We focus on activities occurring during the students’ preparation for a formal review session and, more specifically, we focus on a group of six students.

Journal of Problem Based Learning in Higher Education, Vol 6 No 2 (2018)

I denne artikel undersøges, hvordan programmering benyttes i en pædagogisk praksis i grundskolen, samt hvilket perspektiv faglærerne har på at inddrage programmering som fagligt element i deres undervisning. Artiklen bygger på en empirisk undersøgelse af tre skolers inddragelse af programmering i undervisningen på mellemtrinnet under Coding Class-forløb i Vejle Kommune, hvor fire faglærere blev interviewet omkring deres erfaringer med forløbet. Analysen er struktureret omkring en række spændingsfelter, der omhandler brugen af programmering som enten et fagspecifikt eller tværfagligt element, samt til understøttelse af elevernes faglige udbytte eller deres interesse, og slutteligt lærernes tilgang til deres egen rolle i klasseværelset. Lærerne oplevede alle højt engagement og fordybelse med programmeringsaktiviteterne blandt eleverne, men flere udtrykte behov for større kontrol med elevernes fagspecifikke udbytte og oplevede begrænsninger omkring egne tekniske kompetencer. På baggrund af analysen opstilles en række konkrete pædagogiske overvejelser, der udgør opmærksomhedspunkter til fremtidig planlægning og inddragelse af programmering i undervisningsforløb samt overvejelser omkring lærerens rolle i sådanne forløb. This article examines how programming is used as a pedagogical practice in K-12 and what perspective teachers have on implementing programming as a subject-specific element in their teaching. The article is based on an empirical study of three schools' use of programming during Coding Class in Vejle Kommune, where four teachers were interviewed about their experiences with the project. The analysis is structured around a number of challenges: including whether programming should be used as a subject-specific or interdisciplinary element and whether the goal is to enable development of student’s subject-specific learning or support their interests and finally, how teachers approach their own role in the classroom. All the teachers in the study experienced high levels of engagement and immersion in the programming activities among the students but several of the teachers lacked control over the students’ learning outcome and experienced limitations in their own technical skills. Based on the analysis, a number of concrete pedagogical considerations are presented, which can form the basis for planning and incorporating future programming activities in K-12.

The paper builds on the work of Rossito et al. (2014) on collaborative nomadic work to develop three categories of practice of nomadic collaborative learning groups. Our study is based on interviews, workshops and observations of two undergraduate student’s group practices engaged in self-organised, long-term collaborations within the frame of Problem and Project Based Learning. By analysing the patterns of nomadic collaborative learning we identify and discuss how the two groups of students incorporate mobile and digital technologies as well as physical and/or non-digital technologies into their group work. Specifically, we identify the following categories of nomadic collaborative learning practices: ‘orchestration of work phases, spaces and activities’, ‘the orchestration of multiple technologies’ and ‘orchestration of togetherness’. We found that for both groups of students there was a fluidity, situatedness and improvisational aspect to how they negotiate the orchestration of their work. Their ways of utilising space, places, technologies and activities over time was a complex interweaving of the digital and physical. We conclude by suggesting that the three categories of practice identified are important for deepening our understanding of nomadic collaborative learning groups.

The benefits of active learning (AL) - and more specifically problem-based learning (PBL) - as an effective approach to teaching and learning are supported not only by current learning theories but also by empirical evidence. Similarly, the benefits of the use of information and communication technology tools in teaching and learning, for example in connection with what has been termed ‘the flipped classroom’, are well documented. A challenge, however, is how to secure students’ active learning in connection with online learning. In this paper we will address the question of how to implement PBL learning principles in online learning material to be used in a flipped classroom situation. We will do this through a presentation of our work with designing case based open source learning material, based on some of the main principles of problem based learning, such as, authentic real life problems, collaborative learning and contextualisation, followed by a self-critical analysis of the strengths and - more importantly - the weaknesses of the prototype material developed. The present case scenario is based on a development project providing water and electricity supply systems to a training workshop for disabled women in a small village in Kenya. We will present the design process, the experiences gained, the lessons learned and the recommendations extracted from our first attempt to develop online learning material.

In networked learning practice the emphasis on human relations for learning beyond engagement with learning materials using information and communication technologies is a significant shift from the prevalent classroom-based lecture which students are used to. In networked learning teachers are assumed to take a less prominent position permitting students to experience learning through active participation in cooperative and collaborative activities with others. This paper proposes a constitutive description for considering human players for learning in the formal networked learning environment hence departing from previous depictions of contrasting views reported in the research literature. Different ways teachers and students are perceived to contribute to networked learning experiencing are understood in distinction and in relation to each other. This portrayal is the research outcome of a phenomenographic investigation which led to a configuration comprised of three qualitatively different ways how students account for the teacher and other students contributing to their learning in a formal networked learning environment. The hierarchically inclusive categories describing this variation have the student perceiving other students as separately persevering with their own studies and the teacher as director of all learning; to the perception of other students as direct contributors through their visible activity and interactivity and the teacher as organiser and guide for students’ learning; to the perception of other students as co-creators for learning and the teacher as convenor coming close to being co-actor. The structural threads drawing these categories together into a single coherent whole are the academic role or active responsibility for learning teachers and other students are perceived to assume which across the structuring continuum are in a relationship of pairwise alignment. These findings project different perceptions as all legitimate and suggest that in deepening awareness teachers and learners gravitate towards becoming teachers and learners for each other. Moreover in this writing is emphasised the constitutive and open nature of phenomenographic description projecting fluidity for thinking about students' perceptions of human others as contributors to NL experiencing. All this emphasises that networked learning provision needs to incorporate a directed effort to accommodate diversity in how students perceive and hence relate to human others for learning when in the formal networked learning setting, building in support to encourage students embracing different perceptions to experiment different learning and teaching roles as networked learning participants., peer-reviewed

Hay una necesidad dentro del aprendizaje en red por entender y conceptualizar la interacción entre espacios físicos y digitales o los que podríamos llamar espacios híbridos. Así, trataremos un estudio reciente con estudiantes de dos programas diferentes que están involucrados en el aprendizaje grupal a largo plazo, basado en problemas y proyectos. A partir de entrevistas, talleres y observaciones de las prácticas grupales reales de los estudiantes dentro de espacios abiertos, compartidos y flexibles en la Universidad de Aalborg (AAU), identificaremos y discutiremos cómo los estudiantes incorporan tecnologías en red y digitales en su trabajo en grupo y en los lugares de estudio que ellos crean para sí mismos. Describimos cómo en uno de los programas grupos ”nómadas" de estudiantes utilizaron diferentes tecnologías y espacios para ”crear un lugar". A continuación, mostramos cómo su experiencia y enfoque sobre trabajo colaborativo son diferentes a los de grupos más estáticos o ” artesanales" de estudiantes del otro programa. En ambos casos, las formas de utilizar espacio, lugares, herramientas y actividades era un entretejido extremadamente complejo entre lo digital, lo físico y diferentes lugares y artefactos a lo largo del tiempo. Por lo tanto, sostenemos que ”la creación de lugar" es una práctica importante en relación con ’las acciones de aprendizaje en red" de los estudiantes, que impacta sobre el tipo y la naturaleza de la colaboración que se lleva a cabo

We are pleased to introduce the fourth issue of the Journal of Problem Based Learning in Higher Education. Current issue is composed of five research papers and two PBL cases. These address different aspects of PBL in higher education as and represent an international experiences and knowledge with contributions from Brazil, Denmark, Germany and Morocco. The first three papers and the two cases touch upon the role of the teacher in facilitating problem based learning processes. These papers address the complex questions of how teachers can actually implement and teach PBL to students. The fourth paper reports on students‟ attitudes towards different types of exams (e.g. individual exams and group exams) in two engineering programs at Aalborg University. The fifth paper compares three different learning designs in an introductory computer science course on programming. The current issue explores a diverse set of aspects related to research in Problem Based Learning: teachers and supervisors roles, implementation of PBL curricular, assessment formats supporting PBL and new advances in combining technology and PBL., Journal of Problem Based Learning in Higher Education, Vol 3 No 2 (2015)

Networked learning as a pedagogical approach aims to advance technology mediated learning through relations with resources, tutors and students. Phenomenography is a qualitative research approach concerned with revealing patterns of variation in the relations between human beings and aspects of the world around them. Phenomenography and networked learning attend to different functions in different fields of operation - the former on doing research about learning and the latter on begetting students' learning, but both advance a relational view of learning. This short paper is the outcome of a reflective enquiry when personally engaged doing phenomenographic research exploring variation in the student's lived experience of networked learning. With it I seek to draw attention to a perceived set of values and beliefs shared by, and underpinning both approaches. I claim to underline the advantage of a foundational ground shared by phenomenography and networked learning, also suggesting philosophical coherence and continuity when the human actor operating in the networked learning field shifts to the phenomenographic field. However, the advantage of phenomenography to research the networked learning field is perceived to go beyond shared philosophical ground and related methodological accord. In its capacity to explicitly reveal open patterns of variation in person-world relationships phenomenography is envisaged to potentially be an empowering means of learning and for learning. Perhaps, an in-depth study looking into the points of convergence and divergence when using phenomenography to investigate aspects of networked learning may help clarify conjectures at the abstract level and beyond this, on a more practical note, it may help to better highlight capabilities, limitations, facilitations and pitfalls, thus illuminating prospects for those who contemplate phenomenography to understand and promote networked learning. Structurally, the paper is subdivided into three sections. The first section highlights networked learning as a relational approach distinct from other similar technology-mediated learning strategies such as connectivism and computer supported collaborative learning. The second section briefly outlines the main paradigmatic features of phenomenography characterised by the person-phenomenon relationship advancing learning as expanding consciousness. The third section calls attention to three issues whereupon the phenomenographic stance appears to match the networked learning approach, these being that, both steer clear of dualisms, contemplate learning at the nexus of relations, and emphasise the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively., MGSS 2009, peer-reviewed

This paper considers the emergence of social media in university teaching and learning and the capacity or universities as complex organisations with disparate interacting parts to respond to the shift of pedagogies and practices to open networks. Institutional learning technology environments reflect a legacy of prescriptive, hierarchical arrangements associated with enterprise systems, and are a poor fit with the heterarchical and self-organised potential for learning associated with social media and open education practices. In this paper we focus on the tensions that arise from the juxtaposition of these two orientations to learning technologies, and focus on how an emerging online sociality can destabilise established boundaries of learning and connect to other domains of practice

This deliverable describes in detail the problem based learning (PBL) approach and its potential for open data education. The first section provides a theoretical description of PBL with the purpose of offering a platform for the design of open data learning activities. Section two describes the current practice of open data training within the ODEdu partners along with international initiatives. The last section provides pedagogical recommendations for the process of designing the open data courses and online platform aimed at in WP3.

Networked learning happens naturally within the social systems of which we are all part. However, in certain circumstances individuals may want to actively take initiative to initiate interaction with others they are not yet regularly in exchange with. This may be the case when external influences and societal changes require innovation of existing practices. This paper proposes a framework with relevant dimensions providing insight into precipitated characteristics of designed as well as ‘fostered or grown’ networked learning initiatives. Networked learning initiatives are characterized as “goal-directed, interest-, or needs based activities of a group of (at least three) individuals that initiate interaction across the boundaries of their regular social systems”. The proposed framework is based on two existing research traditions, namely 'networked learning' and 'learning networks', comparing, integrating and building upon knowledge from both perspectives. We uncover some interesting differences between definitions, but also similarities in the way they describe what ‘networked’ means and how learning is conceptualized. We think it is productive to combine both research perspectives, since they both study the process of learning in networks extensively, albeit from different points of view, and their combination can provide valuable insights in networked learning initiatives. We uncover important features of networked learning initiatives, characterize actors and connections of which they are comprised and conditions which facilitate and support them. The resulting framework could be used both for analytic purposes and (partly) as a design framework. In this framework it is acknowledged that not all successful networks have the same characteristics: there is no standard ‘constellation’ of people, roles, rules, tools and artefacts, although there are indications that some network structures work better than others. Interactions of individuals can only be designed and fostered till a certain degree: the type of network and its ‘growth’ (e.g. in terms of the quantity of people involved, or the quality and relevance of co-created concepts, ideas, artefacts and solutions to its ‘inhabitants’) is in the hand of the people involved. Therefore, the framework consists of dimensions on a sliding scale. It introduces a structured and analytic way to look at the precipitation of networked learning initiatives: learning networks. Successive research on the application of this framework and feedback from the networked learning community is needed to further validate it’s usability and value to both research as well as practice.

Within CSCL language is often perceived as the primary vehicle for knowledge building and collaboration, whereas bodily-material resources are explored to a lesser extent. In this data session we explore the importance of gestures and body movements as bodily-material resources in relation to communication, learning and collaboration and how they are used to organise intra- and inter-psychological processes. By presenting two short video excerpts of children working with the concept of scale around a touchscreen, we want to facilitate a discussion on what can be gained theoretically and methodologically from focusing on bodily-material resources in CSCL.

In CSCL studies, language is often foregrounded as the primary resource for engaging in collaborative learning, while the body is more often positioned as a secondary resource. In this paper, we present, analyse and discuss how two nine-year-old children collaborate through gesturing and moving their bodies around a touchscreen. The pair is working with the concept of scale and are in midst of copying their rooms from paper to touchscreen. During this process, the pair engages in a discussion regarding the size of one meter through language, gestures and manipulation of the material resource. The analysis shows two distinct ways of understanding the length of one meter, which primarily is visible through the children’s gesturing and bodily movement. In conclusion, the analysis shows that children dynamically produce body-material resources for communicative and illustrative purposes; moreover, they use body-material as a cognitive tool and as a way of shepherding the other.