Reconceptualizing design research in the age of mobile learning

Brenda Bannan,John Cook,Norbert Pachler

doi:10.1080/10494820.2015.1018911

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to begin to examine how the intersection of mobile learning and design research prompts the reconceptualization of research and design individually as well as their integration appropriate for current, complex learning environments. To fully conceptualize and reconceptualize design research in mobile learning, the authors address and unpack the unique affordances of mobile learning and implications for design research as well as the design process that has impact on both. Asserting a socio-cultural view of learning, investigating mobile devices as cultural transformational tools is proposed to potentially expand perceptions and access to resources not only in how we view teaching and learning (as a form of social capital), but also in how we design for it and conduct research in complex settings.

Highlights

A challenge for education and educational research is to embrace design research as a form of inquiry into how individuals and groups use digital resources to support educational and other forms of cultural/social processes; and to produce model approaches that orchestrate instructional contexts that take full account of cultural, social and geographical differences
To more fully represent this contribution, we examine the current state of design-based research, the historical as well as current conceptualizations of inherent design processes within design research and combine these with the above stated affordances and theoretical positions related to mobile learning to provoke progression toward reconceptualizing the future of mobile learning design research
How can the design process and design thinking advance or bridge our social/cultural capital for technology-enhanced learning environments such as those represented by mobile learning? To begin, a broader conceptualization of the culture, context and spaces involved in mobile learning is required that values and integrates theory and practice with a full appreciation of the crossover of the multiple contexts in our lives in which we use, design for and study technology

Summary

Introduction

A challenge for education and educational research is to embrace design research as a form of inquiry into how individuals and groups use digital resources to support educational and other forms of cultural/social processes; and to produce model approaches that orchestrate instructional contexts that take full account of cultural, social and geographical differences. We argue design research provides an emerging, rigorous yet flexible research approach subsuming different paradigms that embrace these complex environments to uncover new insights about learning. This complexity introduces methodological and design challenges. We argue that advocating for a design research approach allows us to ‘systematically’ seek out ‘never-seen before possibilities’ to inform learning and research in these messy, mobile learning contexts that lend themselves to ‘uncontrolled’ variability (Reeves, 2013) and fuzzy generlisations (see Bassey, 1998). Mobile technology-enhanced learning, in our view, requires an increased sensitivity to context, cultural resources, social-cultural features of formal and informal learning environments and the reconceptualization of research approaches that align with these important and unique factors for mobile design and research.

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Conclusion