Towards a shared understanding of emerging technologies: experiences in a collaborative research project in South Africa

Towards a shared understanding of
emerging technologies: experiences in a
collaborative research project in South
Africa

Authors
Daniela Gachago1, Eunice
Ivala1, Judy Backhouse2,
JP Bosman3, Vivienne
Bozalek4, Dick Ng’ambi5,
Kathy Watters4
1 Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town
2 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
3 Stellenbosch University, Cape Town South Africa
4 University of the Western Cape, Bellville
5 University of Cape Town

Presented at emerge 2012 9-20 July 2012

What are we hatching?
 Intro
 Background
 More about Emerging Technologies in HE
 How we did the research (Methodology)
 What did we find? (Discussion)
 Conclusion

Introduction to the paper
open Real-life
Emerging technologies
on the rise collaboration transform

Large research project

interactions paradigms

Definition!!!

team individual

Background to the research

Research = Qualitative empowered freedom

outcomes (Henschke)
< distance partners

262 22 HEIs
Survey (Aug/Sep ’11)
similarities differences

18 8 SA HEIs
Research team
OCW

More about emerging technologies

International Uncertainty
interest & confusion

New Media Consortium
Siemens & Tittenberger
Veletsianos

New Media Consortium
(www.nmc.org)

“likely to have a large impact on
teaching, learning, or creative
expression within higher education”

Siemens & Tittenberger

ET = Social software
Not neutral
Multiple affordances

Veletsianos
 “tools, concepts, innovations, and advancements
utilized in diverse educational settings to serve
varied education-related purposes”
 5 characteristics
 Context specific and not necessarily new

“we feel that the emerging understandings of this team will provide
valuable insights into the meaning of this concept in the specific South
African context, with its historical intra-institutional disparities”

How we did the research
 Interpretative qualitative approach
 March 2012 – n=16 (out of 18)
 Written reflections coded (constant
comparative analysis)
 Wider team discussion (validity)
 Nuances differed from Veletsianos
 Ethical clearance

What did we find?
Team members’ individual definitions of
emerging technologies
Closely echoed Veletsianos’ 5
characteristics
Depth of engagement varied

[1] Emerging within a context
“the type of technology would NOT need to have been
developed currently /recently but would have been
used for the first time in a context”

“very different contexts in developing countries (as
compared to Europe, Asia, Australasia and the USA for
example) as well as the differentiation in the contexts
of the various South African Higher Education
Institutions”

“So what is emerging in Paris may be some years off
emerging in Parys.”

[2] ETs are evolving (state of dev)

“[they are] on the rise, upcoming and
gaining in momentum” …
“changing quickly”

[3] Undergo Hype cycles

“new technologies that have not moved
beyond the first two stages (adoption by
“innovators” and “early adopters) of
Everett Rogers’ (1962) Diffusion of
Innovations”
“Sometimes it never will make it as far as
Parys, maybe because Parys hasn’t heard
of it, or doesn’t see the need for it, or by
that time it has been superseded by
something else.”

[4] Not fully understood/ researched

“I believe that emerging technologies are
happening in spaces that are not always
accessible to formal education and
educators...I believe that a lot is
happening without us knowing or
realising”.

[5] Potential is seldom fulfilled

“Emerging technologies have the potential
to be transformatory and lead to
qualitative educational outcomes but this is
not necessary the case – for
example, Second Life [a virtual world] can
be used to expose students to drill and
practice type of learning that happens in
any event in face-to-face traditional
practice”

New [6] Special practitioners & fun

“Only a small proportion of lecturers in HE
are that innovative or interested in using
technology that they have the time,
energy or inclination to investigate cutting
edge technology”
“People need a lot of enthusiasm and time
to keep up...emerging technologies are
fun, so this time is spent effortlessly”

New [7] Empowering - Agency

“do not reside in the institutional
domain, but are owned by lecturers and
students alike”.

“The way that people use technology
helps to shape it”

Conclusions
 Interrogated emerging understandings of emerging
technologies (ongoing process)
 Collective understanding of the concept evolved
 Heavily influenced by Veletsianos’ definition
 Nuanced layers of understanding
 Potential to transform teaching and learning
practices
 Two additional characteristics (risk-takers & agency)
 Why and how a lecturer appropriates technology
impacts on the emerging nature of technologies – it
is people who make technologies emerging!!!!

Conclusions II
“the use of emerging technologies seems
to allow a more flexible, autonomous,
creative and personalised use of these
technologies, which may lead to an
increased sense of ownership and
lecturer’s and student engagement.”

Future research
Students’ engagement with technologies
and how it impacts on their learning.

Thank you!
Thank you to the NRF for funding this project
as well as all the team members for their
contributions.

See project website on:
http://emergingicts.blogspot.com/

The full data can be found at:
http://www.emergingicts.blogspot.com/p/su
rvey-data.html

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