Microlearning2006-Jasmine.qxd 11.01.2007 15:01 Uhr Seite 1 Microlearning: an emerging field in science (Foreword) Tilmann Märk Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck (Austria) Vice-Rector for Research Institut für Ionenphysik und Angewandte Physik Professor I had already the pleasure and the chance to witness the starting of this conference series on microlearning last year. It is always extremely exciting to observe the emer- gence of a new field in science, in this special case a new field due to the interaction between science, technology and our modern communication society. I was impressed by the contents of the first conference and in particular by the conference proceedings, which to my great pleasure were published in our university publishing house, called iup (innsbruck university press). Thus our special thanks go to those who brought this important conference series in the field of microlearning to Innsbruck. Clearly we have to thank Prof. Peter Bruck, head of the ARC Research Studios. The ARC Research Studios are a success story in them- selves. They are enhancing the Austrian innovative and competitive ability in the area of information and communication technology. The collaboration between the Austrian Research Studios and the Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck (LFUI) has already generated innovative and competitive research results, which have had an impact on the national and international scientific community; incidentally not only in the area of information technology but also in the field of biotechnology. Secondly, let me thank Prof. Theo Hug, Associate Professor and member of the suc- cessful faculty and institute of education at the LFUI and at the same time Head of the ARC Research Studio eLearning Environments. The studio is an important research centre for the LFUI in terms of generating new knowledge in the field of microlearning. Moreover Prof. Theo Hug was initiating and is now coordinating the new research net- work “Innsbruck Media Studies (IMS)”. This future platform of excellence has the goal to enlarge competences in the field of new media at all levels of the University, includ- Microlearning2006-Jasmine.qxd 11.01.2007 15:01 Uhr Seite 2 2 Foreword • Märk ing our research and teaching activities. Recently, some of these activities have been presented in the frame of a successful LFUI Media-day workshop, demonstrating the plethora of e-based research and teaching activities at the LFUI. Thanks to all of these activities of Prof. Theo Hug and colleagues at the LFUI today’s conference (the second in a row of international conferences on microlearning) is taking place here in Innsbruck and I take this fact also as a sign of recognition of the successful work of the media studies community in Innsbruck. Last but not least, I have the pleasure to welcome all the keynote speakers attending this conference coming from various countries in Europe and from outside of Europe. Let me thank you for participating at this conference and for contributing to this new and strategic research field. It always pays off to meet and discuss with colleagues, even if the information is communicated only in micro-units, the learning may be macro. Tilmann Märk, Vice-Rector for Research, LFUI Microlearning2006-Jasmine.qxd 11.01.2007 15:01 Uhr Seite 3 Welcome to Microlearning 2006 (Foreword) Heidi Möller Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck (Austria) Dean of faculty of education Thanks for inviting me to open this microlearning conference 2006, together with my dear colleagues. As a dean of the faculty of education, you would think that I should be enthusiastic about new forms of learning and teaching, and about new digital possibilities of knowl- edge management. But I’m not, and there is a great deal of internal resistance towards all those experi- ments of eLearning. I love to teach in big groups in a lecture hall setting, and I have lots of didactical ideas to make lectures interesting and interactive using big group modera- tion techniques. Also, I love to do lessons in small courses, where you can discuss more profoundly and watch the development of the students’ personalities. It’s great to be in direct contact with them, and to watch them developing creative potential. I have strong reservations that this could be all over now. eLearning as a cheap possibility of saving money in the area of teaching? Isn’t it that what this is all about? Perhaps you think that this is just a gender problem, that women don’t like to play with new technical equipment like computers? Elfriede Löchel’s1 studies have shown that an almost erotically relationship with computers and other technical stuff is found more often in the male world. According to her, women often look at these things as a dan- gerous threat, like a wild beast that has to be tamed. 1 Löchel, Elfriede (2001). Inszenierungen einer Technik. Frankfurt/M.: Campus Microlearning2006-Jasmine.qxd 11.01.2007 15:01 Uhr Seite 4 4 Foreword • Möller I hope very much, that this conference will convince me and perhaps other critics, that these concerns are not justified. I’m sure that there are many colleagues who have a very critical view of eLearning, but who just don’t want to speak up. For many, it may seem old-fashioned not to be enthusiastic about new teaching methods, and hence they engage in something like hypocrisy management in looking at those new forms of learning and teaching, believing that they have to go with the mainstream. I hope that this conference will be very successful and that it may also convince me of the positive aspects of these new techniques. In any case, I will try to do what I always did and recommend to everybody: be prepared for life long learning. Thank you for your attention. Microlearning2006-Jasmine.qxd 11.01.2007 15:01 Uhr Seite 5 Welcome to EAMIL Workshop Day 2006 (Foreword) Lynne Chisholm Institute of Educational Sciences Leopold-Franzens-University of Innsbruck (Austria) Institute Director, Professor Media education and eLearning are timely and welcome elements of teaching and research activities at the University of Innsbruck’s Institute of Educational Sciences. The Institute is therefore delighted to be associated with this interesting and well-prepared event, which focuses especially on micro-learning. Informal learning – that is, learning that takes place in everyday life as an integrated and often unnoticed part of ongoing activities in family, work and leisure contexts – has drawn increasing research and policy interest in the past five years or so. This interest is linked with the need to re-think education and training for a knowledge society. The current rediscovery of the learning continuum (formal – non-formal – informal learning) contrasts with the strong emphasis placed on formal learning in the first modern era, which led to a relative under-recognition of non-formal and informal learning. The idea of the learning continuum not only re-introduces greater balance in this respect – it also encourages renewed reflection on the ways in which different mixes of learning fea- tures are conceptualised and classified. When we look closely at real-life learning exem- plars, it rapidly becomes clear that they cannot necessarily be defined as unambigu- ously formal, non-formal or informal. Rather, they represent a cluster of features that, taken together, fall somewhere along the learning continuum and not into a discrete typological category. The bulk of educational research in this area relates to workplace learning and in par- ticular the kind of informal learning at the workplace that is the main source of contin- uing (vocational) education and training (C[V]ET) for low-qualified employees, many of whom are distanced and disengaged from formal learning environments. Micro-learn- ing in everyday contexts, including working contexts, is an interesting addition to this Microlearning2006-Jasmine.qxd 11.01.2007 15:01 Uhr Seite 6 6 Foreword • Chisholm field of applied research. The Seibersdorf eLearning Research Studio here in Innsbruck has focused in particular on micro-learning applications for use with mobile telephones. This is not only a practical application that could proves attractive to employers and commercial training providers, but it is also an exemplar for understanding more about the pedagogy of learning in everyday life. The rapid development of mobile devices means that mobile telephones themselves are probably best described as an interim technology, rather like fax machines in the early 1990s. One might then ask whether it makes sense to develop micro-learning applications for devices that, in their current form, do not have a long-term future. However, this very fact reminds us that for everyday citizens, the driving-edge of tech- nological innovation is not within their experience or reach. Focusing on mobile tele- phones is therefore grounded in everyday realities: this is an approach to learning pro- vision that brings learning to learners in a practical and realistic way. One might add that mobile telephone based micro-learning users could be viewed as a kind of ‘pedagogic kindergarten’ for eLearning via other channels. In focusing on the learning potential of everyday gadgets, micro-learning applications also have the poten- tial for designing low-threshold learning opportunities. These may succeed in attracting citizens who need to improve their skills and competences in key areas for living and working in today’s Europe – for example, language learning – but who do not, wish to or cannot take advantage of conventional adult education and CVET provision. For most of Europe, we are here talking about many people: a majority of adult Europeans do not participate in recognised, visible and recorded kinds of learning. Developing the conceptual and empirical links between micro-learning, the learning continuum and lifelong learning for all also fits well with the Institute’s Research Group Education – Generation – Life-course, which focuses on intercultural and comparative research on learning for active citizenship, non-formal/informal learning, and new forms of learning for a knowledge society.