Generalizations 25# Hilli, C., Nørgård, R. T., & Aaen, J. H. (2019)

 At the current stage this project is about finding statistical generalizations in qualitative, danish educational research. That is to check my assumption that there is a tendency to make statistical generalizations on the basis of observations which cannot support such generalizations.

I will be posting excerpts from all those studies which to me seem problematic. This post is part of that and this is a link to the first post in the line.

Hilli, C., Nørgård, R. T., & Aaen, J. H. (2019)

Reference:

Hilli, C., Nørgård, R. T., & Aaen, J. H. (2019). Designing Hybrid Learning Spaces in Higher Education. Dansk Universitetspædagogisk Tidsskrift, 14(27), 66–82. https://doi.org/10.7146/dut.v14i27.112644

 

Abstract:

As Hybrid Learning Spaces move beyond distinctions between online and offline

spaces, they challenge divisions between teacher/student roles, formal/informal

contexts and analogue/digital communication and media. This article presents the concept of hybridity in higher education through a concrete example of a trans-national hybrid course collaboration between three teachers and thirty students at Aarhus University, Denmark and Åbo Akademi University, Finland. The course design is examined through theories on hybrid pedagogy, learning spaces and media ecology to suggest five design principles for Hybrid Learning Spaces. The paper argues that higher education has the potential of inviting students to learn in the world, with the world and for the world, in a way that cuts across traditional dichotomies and barriers.

 

Testable hypothesis?:

Nej: "The overall research question that the article pursues is this: What are the characteristics of Hybrid Learning Spaces and their pedagogy and what are some general design principles for developing Hybrid Learning Spaces?" s66-67

 

Method/materials:

"The case presented here was a course collaboration between “Design: theory, method & practice” (20 ECTS), part of the MA in ICT-Based Educational Design, Aarhus University, Denmark and “Pedagogical Perspectives on Digitization” in General and Adult Education, Åbo Akademi University (5 ECTS) from February to May 2019. The planning of the course took place in the fall of 2018. Both universities were offering courses related to educational design or digital learning which made the courses eligible for collaboration. The Hybrid Learning Space evolved around the use of Google Drive, Zoom and WordPress which supported student collaboration on an online book with the title Digital Change in Education. The two groups of students were equal in size and consisted of approximately 15 participants from each university. They were divided into three groups following the three topics of the course; hybrid pedagogy, value-sensitive design and learning spaces. Each of the authors of this paper was assigned one group to mentor according to research interest and to support the group during the course. Through prior experience and scholarship, the three teachers held the pedagogical and digital competences to execute the course (Bates, 2005; Harasim, 2012)." s74

 

Statistical generalizations:

1) "When teaching and learning take place in Hybrid Learning Spaces as described in this article, higher education has the potential of inviting the students to learn in the world, with the world and for the world in a way that cuts across traditional dichotomies and barriers." s78-79'

2) "This article has explored the characteristics of Hybrid Learning Spaces and their pedagogy. It suggested  five  general  design  principles  for  developing  and  designing  Hybrid  Learning    Spaces.  Hybrid  pedagogy  means  mixing  different  parts  to  create  something  new  and  it    includes different spaces, platforms, people, and resources to do so. Hybridity celebrates and values  dialogues  between  people  in  different  kinds  of  physical  and  digital  networks  and    contexts that support hybrid or fluid forms of becoming and being in, with and for the world. The suggested design principles scaffold and promote Hybrid Learning Spaces as intentional and  reflective  educational  practice  in  higher  education;  1)  rhizomatic  places  and  knowledge  forms,  2)  dissolving  dichotomies  in  education,  3)  creating  a  niche  in  the  environment,  4)  breadth and depth of the collective and 5) value-sensitive spaces. The design principles are in constant dialogue with each other and with the surrounding contexts." s78

3) "In order for this to happen, it is necessary that teachers and educational developers take on the  challenge  of  becoming  hybrid  in  their  thinking  and  practice  as  well  as  undertake  the    pedagogical  responsibilities  that  come  with  these  new  breeds.  Participants  in  the  Hybrid  Learning Space need to work together and be there with and for their fellow participants to scaffold  and  sustain  connectivity  and  belonging  in  networks  as  they  work  together  by  com-bining the digital and analogue, online and offline, process and product, university and world, synchronous  and  asynchronous,  formal  and  informal  dimensions  of  the  shared  learning  space" s79

Comments:

I have flagged this study for generalizations of type 4 and 5 (see typology).

The first quote is a direct statistical generalization (type 4), because it holds an assumption that "When teaching and learning take place in Hybrid Learning Spaces..." there is an increased potential for some effect, however vaguely and idealistically described.

The second quote is an example of an implicit, statistical generalization in the form of a list of suggestions that presumably, when followed, will have positive effects (type 5).

The third quote, like the second is also a list, although unordered, of suggestions or demands (due to the word "necessary"), which live on the assumption that a certain behavior will have certain effects in the future.