Mobile Learning and Creativity Workshop 2012 at the EC-TEL Conference 2012, Saarbruecken, Germany

1. Prof. Dr. Ilona Buchem
Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin,
Germany
Designing serendipitous
learning spaces to
foster creativity in
mobile learning
Mobile Learning and Creativity Workshop
19th September 2012, EC-TEL 2012
1 Background image: http://1.bp.blogspot.com

2. ti vity
h c rea
e
ienc
hig
in sc
veries
isco
ing d
b reak
gr ound
every-day creative activity
“What I am concerned with is the kind of creativity
which guides choices and route-finding in everyday
life, or what I have come to term
'little c creativity’.”
Craft, Anna (2000). Creativity across the primary curriculum, Routledge, London.
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3. identification of new opportunities
original thinking used to solve known problems
1. exploratory creativity
2. normative creativity
3. serendipitous creativity
discovering ideas and connections as if by chance
http://quizlet.com/12671571/innovation-book-chapter-5-terms-flash-cards/

4. attributes of serendipity
Serendipit
fortunate
is a valuable part of creativity, discovery, innovation
unplanned
meaningful
discoveries
*
delight lpole, 18
th centu
ry
Wa
surprise Horace
insight
sagacity image1: James Yang http://ht.ly/dJMdL
image2: http://fineartamerica.com
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5. Serendipityis not an accident!
“Serendipity is not randomness. It is unexpected
relevance.”
Jarvis, J. (2010, March 30). Serendipity is unexpected relevance: http://bit.ly/cPRp2P.
prepared mind:
creativity originates in a
preparation of mind that
allows recognition of the
serendipitous when it is
encountered
(Andre et al. 2009)
oughts.jpg
random-th
gsp ot.com >
p://1.bp.blo
image: htt
serendipitous learning
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6. Serendipitous learning
an interactive outcome of insight coupled with chance*
tion crea
rma tivity
d info & le
xpe
cte Seemingly arnin
g
un e
unrelated
encounters
Personal
?
seemingly
readiness readiness
unrelated insight sagacity
and
encounters insight
*Fine, G. and J. Deegan (1996), Three Principles of Serendip: Insight, Chance and Discovery in Qualitative Research, “International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education”, vol. 9, pp. 434-447.
.image: http://gramconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/two-sides-of-same-coin.jpg
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7. creativity
external reality the creative internal reality
space of play
playing as basis for playful discovery as
any creative activity creative association
psychoanalytic research
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8. “safe space in which one can form all variety of nonsense without fear of judgment”
“non-purposive state”
creative activity
Winnicott (1971)
“reflecting back”
“space of trust”
validation
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9. The Web as the world’s biggest
serendipity engine ... Stephen Johnson
SEARCH
search possibilities enable to discover and connect
RICHNESS
enhances chances of encountering different ideas
SOCIAL VALIDATION
ideas can be validated by other human beings
Web 2.0
social media
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10. Serendipity is in danger!
personalisation is a threat to
happy chance encounters
filter bubble search rankings
filters give information
us what is known brokers
re-inject human beings create confluence of
into the machine information
10

11. Serendipitous Personalised
space space
11

12. filters ranking systems
algorithms
learning analytics recommenders
is serendipity dead?
personalisation social media
management systems
visualisation techniques
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13. new generation of mobile services
recreating serendipity?
shake your iPhone local discovery social discovery social matching
creativity?
t how about
bu
d lear ning?
an
Andre et al. (2009)
recreate the cause - but neglect the
accidental finding desired effect - insight
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14. How to design serendipitous learning
spaces?
=> enhance opportunities for serendipitous creativity
ree d esign areas
Th
You will need:
R1 • Randomness > information
R2 • Richness > environment
R3 • Readiness > learner
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15. Rand omness in non-
d et erministic design
Erdelez, S., Budd, J. M., Rubin, V. L., Burkell, J. and Quan-Haase, A. (2011), Avoiding determinism: New research into the discovery of information. Proc. Am. Soc. Info. Sci. Tech., 48: 1–2.
(a) design for discovery by chance
when engaged in another activity
(b) design for free expression of
information needs
(c) design for information needs from
past, current and future
(d) design for diverse interests,
(e) incorporate the tasks or roles
environment
into design
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R1

16. Richer space
Wagner, C. and Strohmaier, M. (2010), The Wisdom in Tweetonomies: Acquiring Latent Conceptual Structures, Semantic Search Workshop, WWW2012.
(a) social diversity
(users authoring a (b) conversational diversity
stream) (communication in a stream)
(c) lexical diversity
(vocabulary in a (d) topical diversity
stream) (use of hashtags)
(e) informational diversity (f) spacial diversity
(number of unique links) (messages
locations)
(g) temporal diversity
(message time in streams)
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R2

17. Re adines s for i nsight
André, P., Schraefel, M. C., Teevan J., Dumais, S.T. (2009). Discovery Is Never by Chance: Designing for (Un)Serendipity, In C&C ’09, October 2009, Berkeley, California, ACM.
(a) surface connections at
time of search (b) capture delight when
discoveries happen
(c) enable to request (d) design un-recommender systems:
content during idle times give me things that other people have
not seen
(e) design for cross-domain
integration
(f) support re-creation -
sharing of creative
activities R3

18. Serendipitous learning spaces
:) free expression awards in advance :(
:) adequate time time pressure :(
:) challenge Richness competition :(
environment
serendipitous
Randomness Readiness
creativty
external internal
:) exploration evaluation :(
:) free choice restrictions :(
:) creative purpose over-supervision :(
Erdelez, S., Budd, J. M., Rubin, V. L., Burkell, J. and Quan-Haase, A. (2011), Avoiding determinism: New research into the discovery of information. Proc. Am. Soc. Info. Sci. Tech., 48: 1–2
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19. mobile learning
serendipito us creativity
“For serendipitous discoveries to happen, it is necessary that the person making the connection have the ability to see a
connection
and the infrastructure available to see that connection flourish.” (Andre et al. 2009)
automation computer human knowledge
personalisation connecting
acceleration sharing
randomisation chance sagacity collaboration
encounters insight
image: http://ht.ly/dNgnX image: http://ht.ly/dNgci

20. Questions ...
• How to design the creative space of
play?
• How to design and apply less
deterministic systems?
• How to support learners in embracing
randomness?
• How to help learners derive insight
from chance encounters?
• How to design for detection, uptake
and refinement of creative ideas?
image: social-network-jochen-leidner.png
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