About the IRN-ISSE Global Research Partnership
The following overview of the IRN-ISSE partnership is an excerpt from Seamless Learning in Higher Education, Volume 2
How it all Began
During the mLearn 2018 conference Chicago, the participants attended brain-storming sessions by using a bot called CONNIE (“connecting of new neurons in exploration", an objective content selector) to decide which topic would be relevant for a global research project. This would be the first global research project of the International Association of Mobile learning. A presentation by Dr. Ellen Rusman, Dr. Esther Tan and Dr. Olga Firssova, colleagues from the Open University in the Netherlands, titled ‘Dreams, realism, and critics of stakeholders on implementing seamless learning scenarios in Dutch secondary education (Rusman et. al, 2018) drew the attention of the global research committee. After several rounds of discussions, the topic for the research project was decided: the topic would be built on seamless learning. The global research project of 2019 would be a follow-up study of the Netherlands study, but on a global scale.
The global research participants consisted of Dr. Helga Hambrock (Chicago, United States of America), Dr. Frelét de Villiers (Bloemfontein, South Africa), Dr. Kathryn MacCallum (Canterbury, New Zealand), Dr. Shamsul Arrieya Ariffin (Perak, Malaysia) and Dr. Ellen Rusman (Heerlen, The Netherlands). Each researcher repeated the original workshop in their own environment. Data were collected during the workshops by applying Disney’s Creative Strategy method, information from different perspectives. A more detailed description of the method is extensively explained in the book Seamless Learning in Higher Education: Perspectives of International Educators on Its Curriculum and Implementation Potential: Global Research Project 2020 (Hambrock et al., 2020). The proposition postulated to the participants was: ‘Seamless (learning) experiences should become a standard component within the curriculum of our institution’. This statement was analyzed from 3 different perspectives. Thereafter, a convergent parallel mixed-method approach was used. The quantitative side consisted of calculating percentages based on the number of comments in each country followed by a comparative analysis between the countries. A deductive analysis of the comments of the participants from each country, based on a framework provided by Rusman, Tan and Firsova (2018), constituted the qualitative side of the research. The three main themes of the deductive analysis were:
- the decision process;
- the change process, and
- the design and implementation process.
The conclusion of the study included the following findings:
- Even though the International Standards for Technology Integration in Education (ISTE) standards have been accepted by the departments of education and for teachers in schools, instructors, and especially university professors, are still not using the seamless learning approach in their classrooms and need to plan and implement the approach in the near future.
- Instructors need more training, support and monitoring when implementing the seamless learning approach in their classrooms. The university is responsible for supporting the implementation process by training and supporting the instructors.
- The implementation of seamless learning and technology integration in teaching needs to be aligned to job appointments and used as an incentive to further their career.
During the data analysis, it also became evident that more information could be deducted from the data without using pre-constructed categories and an inductive data analysis method was applied. After obtaining written consent from all researchers from the first project, Hambrock and De Villiers reviewed and analyzed the data sets for a second round from a new perspective. They combined the data sets to find new overarching themes and sub-themes. By coding data and categorizing the data into the identified themes. Five themes were identified as relevant for designing a seamless learning experience include 1) seamless learning concepts, 2) positive concepts, 3) practical concepts, 4) human concepts, and 5) design concepts. Based on these five (concepts, a Seamless Learning Experience Design (SLED) framework was developed.
Follow-Up Study: 2021-2022
A follow-up study was initiated by Dr. Hambrock and more researchers from inside and outside the IAMlearn community were invited to participate in the second round. The goal was to follow an instructional designer approach by firstly analyzing existing courses with specific focus on the design of the course by using the concepts and the subthemes of the SLED framework as criteria. The data collection and analysis were conducted in ten (10) educational institutions in 9 different countries. As mentioned above, the focus was on the design of the courses with specific reference to teaching an identified course before and during COVID-19. The five identified concepts of the SLED framework are presented in chapters 2 to 6 (of Seamless Learning in Higher Education, Volume 2). The five concepts include: core learning concept in chapter 2, positive concepts of seamless learning in chapter 3, practical concepts in chapter 4, technical concepts in chapter 5, and design concepts in chapter 6. In order to ensure a sound understanding of the meaning of each concept and its subsequent sub-themes within the context of this study, the concepts and their subthemes are explained as part of the introduction to each chapter. After the clarification of the concepts in each chapter, the collected data are depicted in the form of comparative graphs in chapters 2 to 6 and discussed. Chapter 6 focuses on the relevance of technology and chapter 7 provides a reflection on the journey of the researchers during this study. The study concludes with chapter 9, which includes combined graphs with suggestions and a conclusion. In each chapter, key terms are clarified in each chapter. The descriptions of the terms are retrieved from existing research studies and academic resources. Understanding the themes is especially helpful when having to plan and design a seamless learning environment.