Liquid Learning

New book call - Design patterns in teaching and learning

Practical design patterns for teaching and learning with technology

A book for Sense Publishers ‘Technology Enhanced Learning’ series

Editors: Yishay Mor (London Knowledge Lab), Steven Warburton (King’s College London) and Niall Winters (London Knowledge Lab)

Deadline:- Submissions should be sent to: submissions@practicalpatternsbook.org by July 31, 2009

Introduction

The design, development and implementation of an educational intervention often involves learners, teachers, educational designers and policy makers. To support collaboration and effective sharing of design processes between these participants, a common language is needed. One form this can take is a design pattern, which articulates sharable design knowledge in a meaningful and actionable form.

Practical design patterns for teaching and learning with technology will produce a collection of patterns across six themes:

1. Learner centred design
   
   • Supporting learners to become active, self-directed and self-responsible participants in the learning process
   • Section Editor: Michael Derntl (University of Vienna)
2. Learning as collaboration
   • Supporting content creation, communication and collaboration between learners and tutors
   • Section Editors: Christian Kohls and Till Schummer
3. Learning as conversation
   • Supporting learners to effectively communicate their learning process
   • Section Editor: Diana Laurillard (London Knowledge Lab)
4. Games
   • Supporting game-based learning practices
   • Section Editor: Staffan Björk (Chalmers University of Technology,  Göteborg University)
5. Social media
   • Supporting learning using social media
   • Section Editor: Steven Warburton (King’s College London, UK)
6. Assessment
   • Supporting effective assessment of student learning
   • Section Editor: Harvey Mellar and Norbert Pachler (Institute of Education, UK)

These patterns will be supported by case stories that illustrate a critical problem and elaborate its appearance and successful resolution within a concrete context. For an overview of the book and further background information, please see the book’s supporting website at http://www.practicalpatternsbook.org/

Submission procedure
Authors are requested to submit co-ordinated contributions of patterns and their supporting cases. These can be individual submissions, or a joint/group submission, where person A produces the case-story, and person B provides the associated pattern. Each submission is expected to be 3,000-4,000 words in length: 1,500-2,000 for the pattern and 1,500-2,000 for the supporting case-story. We encourage the use of images (with appropriate copyright clearance) to illustrate submitted case-stories and patterns. For more details, please see the author guidelines at: http://www.practicalpatternsbook.org/guidelines.

The book will be developed in an open-content process, using a collaborative web-site. Submitted cases and pattens will be reviewed by the section and book editors, and those selected will be included in a shepherding process. During shepherding, all contributions will be openly available for comment. The section editors will iteratively work with authors to ensure quality, coherence and cohesion of the book as a whole. Authors will also be asked to comment on their peers’ contributions and identify links with their own contribution. The web-site will continue to evolve, as a companion to the book after its publication, while the book will remain an authoritative, quality controlled and professionally edited off-the shelf resource.

Important Dates

• July 31 2009: Proposal Submission Deadline – submissions should be sent to submissions@practicalpatternsbook.org
• October 15 2009: Notification of Acceptance
• October 17 2009 – February 15 2009: Shepherding process under the guidance of section editors
• December 2010: Publication

Further Questions and Contact

Please consult the FAQ page.
All enquires should be made to: enquiries@practicalpatternsbook.org
Please subscribe to http://groups.google.com/group/practicalpatternsbook-announce for future announcements

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Presence layers in MUVEs

What the elements that scaffold the strong sense of [co-]presence we experience when working and playing inside in a MUVE? When we examine a social MUVE such as Second Life it is possible to identify three layers on which 'sense of [co-]presence'  operates:

Presence according to Yee et al. (2007) measures how real one believes a mediated environment is in terms of non-verbal behaviours (Garau et al. 2001), physiological responses (Slater, 1994) and other measures. In the diagram three separate presence layers are identified. The physical presence layer is composed of a visual element, where avatars can see each other through the default camera point of view (POV) - the main window on the 3D environment – and a geographic element where the location of other avatars in-world can be tracked using the in-world 2D maps. Physical proximity also allows avatars in-world to see physical gestures, poses and animations. The communication layer offers several channels for interaction from synchronous voice and instant messaging (IM) to asynchronous mechanisms such as an in-world group notification system and the connection of IM to an email account. The status layer provides minimal information about in-world presence indicating when avatars are logged into Second Life.

Warburton, S. (2009). Second Life in higher education: Assessing the potential for and the barriers to deploying virtual worlds in learning and teaching, British Journal of Educational Technology. 40 (3), 414-426.