My current research interests in learning technologies include 4 key themes:
- Mobile Augmented reality and Virtual Reality
- User-generated content and contexts
- The Scholarship of Technology Enhanced Learning (SOTEL), reified in the SOTEL research cluster (http://sotel.nz)
- The intersection of Altmetrics and Mobile Learning
I am an active member of both the Association of Learning Technologists (ALT – UK), and the Australasian Society for Computers In Learning In Tertiary Education (Ascilite). In the near future I am interested in establishing and growing the Ascilite Mobile Learning Special Interest Group (http://ascilite.org/connect/mobile-learning-sig/) to become an internationally recognised collaboration of mobile learning researcher/practitioners. The goal of the #ascilitemlsig is:
To explore the intersection of mobile learning, new pedagogies, SOTEL, DBR, and authentic learning.
The rationale for the #ascilitemlsig is:
Mobile device ownership is ubiquitous, leading to many HE institutions exploring a BYOD approach to mobile learning. However, most Mlearning projects are device centric and focus upon repurposing content for delivery to small screens and substitution of pre-existing pedagogical strategies. The potential of mobile learning is to enable new collaborative connected pedagogies and professional portfolios. The Ascilite mobile learning SIG will explicitly explore the boundaries of current knowledge and approaches to mobile learning, and develop a global collaborative network of mobile learning researchers interested in exploring and implementing the frontiers of mobile learning. The SIG will specifically explore the unique affordances of mobile devices for student-generated content and experiences via such technologies as collaborative media production and sharing, VR, AR, geolocative and contextual sensors, drones and wearable technologies.
In a recent conference presentation I point to one of the approaches I am developing for integrating the above four goals/interests via the #mosomelt cMOOC
The cMOOC explicitly integrates SOTEL through preparing participants to submit eportfolios for certified membership of the association for learning technology (CMALT) accreditation, effectively updating Boyer’s (1990) fourfold DIAT (Discovery, Integration, Application, and Teaching and learning) model of scholarship for the open social scholarship age. The cMOOC was designed upon learning theories that focus upon creativity, student-generated content, and student-generated contexts. We explored the intersection of mobile learning and rhizomatic learning by developing the cMOOC around a series of triggering events designed to facilitate the sharing of participant-generated content, open scholarship, and SOTEL within an overarching EDR methodology (Bannan, Cook, & Pachler, 2015), connecting theory, practice, and critical reflection (Table 1). (Cochrane, Narayan, Antonczak & Burcio-Martin, 2016)
Table 1: Integrating mobile learning, SOTEL and educational design research
| Methodology | Educational Design Research | |||
| 4 stages of learning design | Informed Exploration | Enactment | Evaluation: Local Impact | Evaluation: Broader Impact |
| Boyer’s DIAT model | SOD | SOI | SOA | SOTL |
| Intersection with mobile learning | Mobile social media framework informing curriculum redesign | cMOOC designed upon Rhizomatic Learning:Developing an Ecology of ResourcesDesigning Triggering EventsParticipant Feedback | Informed by the scholarship of technology enhanced learning (SOTEL), accredited via CMALT | |
| Connecting theory and practice | Theory | Practice | Critical Reflection | |
I believe that embedding SOTEL within an Educational Design Research methodology as illustrated in Table 1, will provide a theoretically informed approach to both creative curriculum design and the development of a culture of open social scholarship among the lecturers I work with. Mobile learning is the technology catalyst or domain of interest that binds this redefinition of teaching and learning together. This is illustrated in the concept map below.
Figure 1: The intersection of Altmetrics, research impact, and mobile learning.
I propose an updated model of SOTL that leverages both social collaborative scholarship and new pedagogies, utilizing the affordances of mobile social media for: production (Discovery), curation (Integration), sharing (Application), and collaboration (Teaching) (Cochrane & Narayan, 2018).
UPDATE (2018): This model has become the foundation of the development of the SOTEL Research Cluster http://sotel.nz of which I am lead co-convener. The inaugural SOTEL Symposium received very positive feedback from the over 70 participants across New Zealand (and as far as Singapore), and led to the launch of the SOTEL research cluster with 12 research cluster groups to date http://sotel.nz/groups/.
The premise of the SOTEL Research Cluster is built upon supporting development of open reflective practice research, and collaborative curriculum design. The SOTEL research cluster promotes and highlights a new model of research – validating reflective practice and curriculum design as research avenues. Alongside this is an emerging culture in academia world-wide, where traditional modes of research publication and sharing are being democratised and made accessible through (mobile) social media such as Researchgate, Mendeley, LinkedIn, and Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com). Journal impact factors are being reinvented or enhanced with social media through the development of Altmetrics (Priem et al., 2010) http://bit.ly/1LqEnBy and consolidated researcher profiles such as the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID), http://orcid.org/about/what-is-orcid. Williams and Padula (2015) explore the impact of altmetrics in “The Evolution of Impact Indicators” (http://scholasticahq.com/altmetrics-the-evolution-of-impact-indicators). Article level altmetrics are available via a free web browser plugin (http://www.altmetric.com/bookmarklet.php). The growth and maturation of open access journals is also changing the traditional power long held by a select number of large publishing companies over the access and distribution of scholarship, as demonstrated by the inclusion of several open access peer reviewed journals within the top ten ranked educational technology journals by Google Scholar (2015), and the SOTEL Research Cluster encourages participants to publish within open access Journals such as AJET and RLT.
2023 Update:
I have continued to model Open Educational Practice and Scholarship (Cochrane, Redman & Corrin, 2018) through the establishment of the open access journal PJTEL and ASCILITE Publications and use these to mentor TEL colleagues towards open educational research. The annual SoTEL Symposium also provides a forum for sharing best practice in TEL. I would like to thank my ASCILITE Executive colleagues and the members of the ASCILITE MLSIG for their support in establishing and developing these platforms. The MLSIG continues to redefine the impact of mobile learning post covid (Birt et al., 2023) and establish industry partners for future research and practice (Cochrane et al., 2023).
Throughout 2024 I aim to build the TEL community across the University of Melbourne and Australasia through a focus upon the 2024 ASCILITE Conference (To be hosted at the University of Melbourne 1-4 December 2024) and the wider benefits of ASCILITE membership, including a greater awareness of CMALT accreditation (Cochrane & Jenkins, 2022).
I believe that these research and practice goals align with the key aims of both ALT and Ascilite, and will provide a valuable contribution to both.
References
Bannan, Brenda, Cook, John, & Pachler, Norbert. (2015). Reconceptualizing design research in the age of mobile learning. Interactive Learning Environments, 1-16. doi: 10.1080/10494820.2015.1018911
Birt, J., Cochrane, T., Narayan, V., & Goldacre, P. (2023). Evolution of mobile learning. In D. B. Porter, C. Campbell, D. Logan-Fleming, & H. Jones (Eds.), Bringing the Australasian Technology and Practice Trends into Focus: The 2022–2023 Contextualising Horizon Report (pp. 20-21). https://ascilite.org/get-involved/contextualising-horizon/
Boyer, E. (1990). Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. Princeton, NJ: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Cochrane, Thomas; Bone, Elisa; HINZE, MEREDITH; Birt, James; Narayan, Vickel; Cowie, Neil; et al. (2023). #ASCILITEMLSIG demo with Simovation and Gener8 BLISSuite. The University of Melbourne. Media. https://doi.org/10.26188/23950686.v1
Cochrane, T., & Jenkins, M. (2022). Professional Accreditation Pathways in HE: enabler or block to TEL professional development? In R. Walker & D. Forbes (Eds.), Developing Online Teaching in Higher Education: Global Perspectives on Continuing Professional Learning and Development (Vol. 29, pp. 71-82). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5587-7_6
Cochrane, T., Redmond, P., & Corrin, L. (2018). Technology Enhanced Learning, Research Impact and Open Scholarship. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 34(3), i-viii. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.4640
Cochrane, T., & Narayan, V. (2018, 25-29 June, 2018). The Scholarship of Technology Enhanced Learning: Reimagining SOTL for the Social Network Age. EdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2018, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Cochrane, Thomas, Narayan, Vickel, Antonczak, Laurent, & Burcio-Martin, Victorio. (2016, 19-20 April). Modelling open practices in professional development: Creating a culture of open social scholarship. Paper presented at the OER16: Open Culture, University of Edinburgh, UK.
Priem, J., Taraborelli, D., Goth, P., & Neylon, C. (2010, 26 October). Altmetrics: A manifesto. Retrieved 19 June from http://altmetrics.org/manifesto/
Williams, C., & Padula, D. (2015). The evolution of impact factors: From bibliometrics to altmetrics. Scholastica. http://docs.scholastica.s3.amazonaws.com/altmetrics/evolution-of-impact-indicators.pdf
Exploring Educational Technology 
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