Focus and objectives

The objective of the research programme is to conduct the University?s research into media, ICT and learning. Today, media and ICT play a central role at all levels of the education system, not least as catalysers for educational change. Developments in information and communication technology (ICT) will have a profound impact on the basic premises of pedagogy and give rise to a quest for educational theories and methodologies that can meet society?s demands for learning and teaching.

Developments in the area of media and ICT show that especially digital communication structure is of growing importance for learning. Internet communication and the possibility of transforming previously distinct means of expression ? writing, speech, images and sound ? into a unified form of communication, a digital one, open up new possibilities of inter-medial translation and the fusion of different media and communication channels. At the same time, digital technology increasingly encroaches on our physical surroundings and on artefacts that we do not traditionally associate with computers.

Societal developments demand a number of competences that have not received sufficient attention in the education system. These include competences in connection with communication in virtual spaces and the ethical and social challenges that arise in these contexts, the skills needed for participation in networks or in ICT-mediated foreign language and intercultural situations, insight into information searching and management, etc.

The many changes in educational and didactic traditions coupled with the interaction between media, cultural and social relations reinforce the need for theoretical perspectives. Digitalisation, interactivity and virtuality constantly open up new possibilities and expand the limits of how teaching can be organised. Through a multi- and cross-disciplinary research environment the programme focuses on creating a solid theoretical basis and on ensuring a long-term creation of knowledge in the area of media, ICT and learning, centring on technology-mediated learning opportunities on the one hand and digitally based learning processes within and outside educational institutions on the other.

The working hypothesis of the programme is that there are untapped learning potentials connected with the digital media and that this potential will increase markedly in the future. Technological development will lead to increased use of digital media within the education system, but the exploitation of them requires a solid theoretical basis and practical verification of the opportunities and barriers that exist for the innovation and implementation of technology.

Therefore, the aim of the programme is to pin down and formulate the special potential media and ICT has for learning, both within and outside institutionalised learning contexts, and contribute to the exploitation of this potential.

Central research issues

One of the main challenges is to explore to what extent and how the digital media challenge understandings of teaching cultures and learning environments. Another key challenge is the convergence between the different media. The convergence is already present in the elements of content and expressive and narrative forms the media share but will be intensified by developments within digital technology. As a result the research programme will adopt a broad view of the media field, drawing on theories on many forms of media. Moreover, focus will be directed toward the effect of convergence, understood in a broad sense, on the perception and use of individual media and their interrelation in a learning context.

At present the following fields of research are emphasised in the programme:

ICT and didactic design is increasingly topical in various education contexts. New technologies open up new possibilities for supporting collaboration, differential teaching, production, communication, reflection and expression. Therefore, there is a need to develop didactic designs that can operationalise this, both in the form of the development of new ICT-based learning platforms and objects, and in the form of models for the use of existing applications.

Focus is thus on the development, application, product and practice in educational contexts, i.e. primary school, youth education programmes and further education, as well as in business and work-related contexts. What is of particular interest to explore in a didactic design perspective is how new ICT-based learning objects can be developed on the basis of learning theories and didactic theories in relation to specific teaching and learning situations, and how they can contribute to changing the organisation of teaching and learning spaces. This issue focuses on the organisation and changing of learning environments in relation to tested information technologies, in relation to advanced technology, e.g. mobile technology, pervasive computing etc. and in relation to e-learning and different combinations of virtual and situated teaching and learning. The field thus opens up to explorations of changing professionalism and to analyses and description of teachers? concurrent competence development.

The field of tension between formal and informal learning contexts is crucial for understanding the significance of media for children, youths and adults. Media and ICT are integrated in leisure time, work and education ? in creative activities, social relations, communication, play and learning. Virtual spaces and the mobility and interactivity of the media are of decisive importance for changes in the everyday lives of children, youths and adults, as qualitatively different spaces are created where they can unfold themselves. Social and cultural communities are created across physical spaces, geographic distances and cultures. To a great degree, mobility and interactivity meet peoples? need for and desire to act, play, communicate and create social relations through the new media. Moreover, both children?s and youth?s playing and learning objects and adults work and education tools are increasingly digital. The use of digital media makes a distinction between formal and informal forms of learning particularly topical and raises the question of what this means for academic and competence development in day cares, schools and education. Certain groups of children, youths and adults make extensive use of the new media both locally and globally and are highly skilled at doing so. These users are of particular interest since they inspire innovative thinking in relation to the organisation of teaching and learning processes on several levels of education.

Digital aesthetics and convergence between different forms of media invite theoretical coupling between different areas of research. The expansion of possibilities for perception, reception, interpretation and the production of meaning under more complex learning patterns raises the question of what cognitive forms and learning potentials are supported by the various means of expression, types of media and genres. The digital media have moved the boundaries between different modalities such as writing, speech, sound and image and have augmented the possibilities for integrating them in increasingly refined learning cultures, where learning materials that have previously been separated can interact in new ways. New forms of interaction demand communicative and analytical competences that surpass verbal and textual competences and are based on new concepts for the development and use of symbols. This opens up for new possibilities for the development of didactic design for new digital teaching materials that facilitate aesthetic learning potential in relation to style, genre and cultural values.

Educational games involve the development of an understanding of the unique learning potential inherent in the game format, which can meet the demand for knowledge on game-based learning processes. Games have attracted growing research interest, extending from the field of child research to research into continuing education as the use of games as teaching materials has grown steadily. Research into educational games deals with games in a broad sense as teaching and learning materials, including role-play games, board games, mobile games, computer games and pervasive games.

Research-based knowledge of the field is, however, relatively limited, nationally and internationally in terms of providing practice with knowledge of the game-based processes. Therefore, the aim is to develop and theoretical understanding and design-based knowledge that can qualify development and the use of educational games. A key question is how game-based learning processes can help meet present and future teaching and learning challenges.

Mobile learning and pervasive computing deal with new types of teaching and learning materials as well as toys based on innovative technology. These new technologies fundamentally change the nature of the use of information and communication technology. Mobile and wireless technology thus free ICT users from the confines of specific locations, becoming an ever-present and easily accessible part of everyday life, which creates new forms of learning practice, knowledge management and cooperation. Pervasive computing and ambient intelligence mean that a growing proportion of our surroundings are capable of registering, processing and communicating information. The field of research focuses on the educational potential arising from the diffusion of mobile communication, pervasive technology and ambient intelligence. The aim of the research is to establish a theoretical and application oriented basis for the use of technology in the development of teaching materials, learning environments and toys with built-in computer power.

Across these fields of research, the programme emphasises, in accordance with the Development Contract for the Danish University of Education 2006-2008:

• The use of media and ICT in relation to day care institutions and the primary and lower secondary school, with focus on the significance of ICT and media for children and youths? academic and competence development.
• The use of media and ICT in relation to further education with the aim of conducting the first phase of the project ?DPU som IT-Pædagogisk Frontløberuniversitet? (lit.: The Danish University of Education as a Front-runner University in ICT in Education).
  

Theoretical and methodological considerations

Current developments in media and ICT require the development of a broad academic profile, which must place emphasis on multi- and cross-disciplinary theories and methods. The research programme?s central concern is thus to bring together and further develop various academic traditions, theories and methodologies.

This multi- and cross-disciplinary approach is primarily due to the fact that the domains of media and ICT are inherently multi- and cross-disciplinary, but it is also the result of a desire to accumulate insights and perspectives from previously distinct areas of research. Collaborations between several academic fields will shed light on important aspects of current educational use of media and ICT and point to possible future deployments. The aim of the programme is to make the most of the different theoretical approaches and generate new concepts, theories and methodologies.

From the perspective of learning theory, the programme is based on new developments in constructivist theories on knowledge sharing, didactic design, collaborative learning and virtual learning communities. The complexity of central issues in the field of learning theory necessitate a broad frame of reference, which includes pedagogical, including didactic, theories, as well as psychological, sociological, anthropological, cultural and philosophical theories.

Similarly, the programme will employ a wide range of scientific methodologies. These will include theoretical, empirical, experimental and development-oriented research, since the various project that will be initiated within the programme will span from theoretical considerations of how far developments in digital media can be expected to progress in the coming years and the radical consequences for teaching and learning, to practical experiments, where hypotheses of the potential of digital media will be tested in specific laboratory and action research contexts as well as empirical studies of how learning takes place with the aid of media and ICT both within and outside educational institutions. Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be employed.