Unit 3 Discussion Board 3

Planning & Forecasting

Primary Response

ThienSi (TS) Le

CS875-1602C-01

Futuring & Innovation

Dr. Imad Al Saeed

 (10-May-2016)

In Unit 3 Discussion Board 3 on the topic of “Planning & Forecasting”, students are required to critically review the article “Affectability in educational technologies: A socio-technical perspective for design.” This short piece of writing will provide a summary of the article then define, describe, and critically evaluate the sociotechnical plan presented in this paper.

Citation:

Hayashi, E. S., & Baranauskas, M. C. (2013). Affectability in educational technologies: A socio-technical perspective for design. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 16(1), 57–68.

1. A brief summary of the article

According to Hayashi and Baranauskas (2013) – authors of the article, learning consists of three forms: formal learning being in school, informal learning being outside school, and non-formal learning being outside school but having quality as formal learning. The authors suggested the idea of using technology to assist students in non-formal learning method in socio-technical approach. They applied the compound layers of societal design for the Semiotic Onion system developed by Stumper (1993) and Baranauskas (2009) for affectability within the social-technical scenario in an elementary public school district in Sao Paulo, Brasil. Their research project was to provide 520 XO laptops to students from 6 to 14 years old in a one-to-one model for a qualitative research study of affectability and challenges. The purpose of the study was to help the authors to understand of how new technology can be inserted into more meaningful practices. They concluded that it was possible to combine school’s formal and informal practices into effective learning with new technological artifacts, e.g., XO laptops, in affectability in a design of educational systems.

2. A Review           

            Based on Hayashi and Baranauskas (2013)‘s article, the sociotechnical plan will be described and discussed as follows: 

     a. Definition:

Social-technical plan in organizational development is a scheme of arrangement and process of complex work design that employs the interaction between humans and technology in the workplaces (Long, 2013). The social-technical system refers to the interaction between complex infrastructures and human behaviors. It is about joint optimization such as interrelatedness of social and technical aspects of an organization or the society as a whole (Trist, & Bamforth, 1951). In the article, a socio-technical system means a purposeful collection of inter-related layers that collaborate to achieve a common objective such as learning by using the technological artifact, i.e., XO educational laptop in a non-formal learning process in public elementary schools.  The socio-technical system whose architecture includes seven layers comprises many interdependent and interconnected components, e.g., local hosts, servers, GUI, online interface, Internet connection such as LAN, WAN, different sites, etc.

(Source: Adapted from Saeed, 2016)

It is likely a complex system with software and mechanical, electrical and electronic hardware to perform operational processes. For example, the healthcare system maintained and kept track of patient records.

(Source: Adapted from AHRQ, 2007)

     b. Description

            Applying the socio-technical process, the article’s authors described a study of transformation in schools by incorporating technical advances of using 520 educational XO laptops for elementary students in Sao Paulo, Brasil. The system design includes three compound overlapping areas of the sociotechnical design: Informal, Formal, Technical layers in society as a whole in the Semiotic Onion (Stamper, 2013).  

(Source: Adapted from Hayashi and Baranauskas, 2013)

            With the purpose to understand how to implement the use of XO laptops into school practices, the research plan and methodology map the interaction among school administrators, staff, teachers, and students, etc. in informal section, formal section and technical section in the conceptual framework as shown in Figure 2 below:

(Source: Adapted from Hayashi and Baranauskas, 2013)

            The study’s result denotes several aspects:

     - The transformation of homework assignments by using the availability of the resources through a  web browser and wireless Internet connection on the laptop.

     - Integration of the school in interdisciplinary activities by creating scenarios of use for laptops for teachers and students.

     - XO laptops inside and outside the school’s walls for daily activities in affectability.    

     - Student volunteers who assist technical support team to respond to all demand from more than 500 students and teachers.

            The study reported challenges and difficulties such as facilities to store the XO laptops, laptop thefts, limited access to parents, teachers’ resistance to new changes, etc. It also found that combining school’s formal and informal learning in a socio-technical system is useful, productive, and assessable to new technology artifact. It concluded that understanding the hybrid practice mediated by technology and the concept of affectability in the design of educational systems.

     c. Evaluation

            The research paper is a thorough study of affectability in educational technologies by using a socio-technical framework to implement new advanced technology e.g., the XO laptops in the hybrid (formal and informal) learning process in Brasil. It provides the introduction to let the audience such as educators, academicians, doctoral students to understand the qualitative research work. The design of the socio-technical system is described in three interdependent stages, e.g., informal, formal and technical stages, and covered closely interaction among students, teachers, administrators, staff, parents, design team, technical support team, and volunteer group in bi-directional and interactive communication in-depth. The results show positive responses from students and teachers in homework assignments, interdisciplinary activities in hybrid learning in resource accessibility via Internet, and web browser. The paper thoroughly discusses a socio-technical perspective in design and the effective socio-technical plan. However, it does not cover the execution of the plan that consists of (a) implementation, (b) application, (c) deployments, (d) maintenance, (e) feedback to users such as teachers, students, etc., (f) the cost of application, and particularly (g) ROI (Return on Investment).

Despite some limitations such as the issue of parent accessibility, teachers’ resistance, laptop storages, etc., this socio-technical plan of using XO laptops to assist formal and informal learning in the concept of affectability in educational technologies was an in-depth study with a success in the interaction between humans and technology.  

In summary, based on Hayashi and Baranauskas (2013)‘s article about a socio-technical perspective for design in educational technology, the writing provided a brief summary of the 12-page article about the socio-technical plan and concept of affectibility in educational technology in the public elementary school system in Sao Paulo, Brasil. It covered a definition of the socio-technical plan, its description, and critical evaluation in this laudable research study.  

REFERENCES

Agency for Healthcare Research and quality (AHRQ, 2009), Slide presentation of the 2007 annual meeting of AHRQ. Retrieved May 09, 2016 from

            http://archive.ahrq.gov/about/annualmtg07/0927slides/koppel/Koppel-24.html

Hayashi, E. S., & Baranauskas, M. C. (2013). Affectability in educational technologies: A socio-technical perspective for design. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 16(1), 57–68.

Long, S. (2013). Socioanalytic methods: discovering the hidden in organizations and social systems. Karnac Books.

Saeed, I. (2016). The socio-technical system stack. Retrieved May 9.2016 from http://ctuadobeconnect.careeredonline.com/p9fl2y9ggg3/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal.

Stamper, R. (1993) A Semiotic theory of information and information systems. Invited papers for the ICL/University of Newcastle Seminar on Information.

Trist, E. L., & Bamforth, K. W. (1951). Some social and psychological consequences of the Longwall method. Human relations, 4(3), 3-38.