Mobile Social Learning as a Catalyst for Cultural Heritage Timothy Read Elena Bárcena Dep. of Computing Languages Dep. of Foreign Languages and and Systems, UNED Linguistics, UNED C. Juan de Rosales, 16 Pº. Senda del Rey, 7 28040 Madrid, Spain 28040 Madrid, Spain tread@lsi.uned.es mbarcena@flog.uned.es ABSTRACT [3], new broader audiences are sought for CH together with This article1 presents a reflection about the way in which new ways to engage young people with it (leading to a recent advances in pedagogy and technology could be wider appreciation and a deeper commitment to protect it). harnessed to increase the access to Cultural Heritage. This would happen by using it as a resource for mobile learning Furthermore, if more CH is available online than ever in seemingly unrelated areas, such as economics, before, the question also arises as to why it is not more engineering, science and languages. The ‘long-tail effect’ of widely popular and prominent, and why the European such contextualized content driven social interactions Commission should highlight the necessity for broadening would foster contact with and interest in primary sources, access. A complete answer to this question is beyond the which may represent the entry point into the Cultural scope of this article, but may have to do with the way we Heritage Cycle for some or a turning point for others. relate to it and the relevance it is given in our modern society. Hofstede [4] presents a six-dimension model of Author Keywords societies that characterises communities according to: Cultural Heritage Cycle; Mobile Learning; Social Learning. power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism / ACM Classification Keywords collectivism, masculinity / femininity, long / short-term J.5; K.3.1 orientation, and indulgence / restraint. He concludes that economic development is associated a low tolerance of General Terms inequalities and a balanced distribution of values between Online learning; Mobile learning; Collaborative learning. the genders, but also strong individualism, an intermediate INTRODUCTION focus on the past and a high tendency toward immediate Cultural Heritage (henceforth, CH) holds a wealth of gratification. Skrzypaszek [5] argues that in the current tangible traces from antiquity to the recent past, including a context of globalization, multiculturalism and technological broad range of artefacts, sites, artistic expressions and advancement, CH must confront a range of challenges representations of value and belief systems, traditions and about its relevance, role and specific functions. lifestyles, which are significant for human collective This author goes on to claim that CH is currently reduced to memory [1]. CH primary sources2 constitute the legacy of the “cognitive assessment of conceptual thoughts assigned previous generations and arguably provide insights into the to past creative expressions” (p.767), which leads to the very nature of humanity and its various civilizations. present gradual loss of connectivity with the original However, the question arises of how CH appreciation can creators and a potential loss of inspirational vitality for be fostered for our benefit and enjoyment before being future generations. He calls for a deeper understanding of handed on in optimal conditions to the next generation. CH as a recognition of the human desire for an escape from The CH Cycle was proposed by Thurley [2] as a model of ‘everyday troubles’ and towards existential security. As how the understanding of a given historical environment such, he argues that CH represents crafted expressions of can lead people to value it more, thereby caring for it more, collective sorrow and hope. Such creativity moves beyond which, in turn, leads to further enjoyment (and subsequently the surface level of human reactive responsiveness to life’s a deeper understanding, and so on). This model was issues toward its intrinsic value, namely its uniqueness and published in 2005. However, today, a decade later, the need immense potential. The knowledge and appreciation of such to continue with this endeavour is still with us. For creativity is inherently empathic and can lead to a proactive example, following the European Commission’s indications engagement with it. Therefore, it can be argued that a way to engage the new 1 generations with CH is by complementing attempts to The work presented in this article has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (ref. no. FFI 2011-29829). establish an implicit recognition and appreciation of the Copyright held by the authors. aesthetic and significance of primary sources. A broader 2 A document or physical object which was written or created identification with CH could facilitate reflection into the during the time under study. very nature of human existence, struggle and survival, an http://www.princeton.edu/~refdesk/primary2.html -1- element that bonds previous, current and possibly future the so called ‘Internet of things’, etc.) and sociocultural (the generations. The question can therefore be asked: how long-tail effect [8], etc.) advances to the application of CH. might the methodological and technological advances in This would be seen not only as the ‘end’ of a historical learning play a role in this process? appreciation process, but also as the ‘means’ by which broader educational activities are undertaken. The authors DIGITAL LIVING AND LEARNING The way we interact with information and culture, and claim that these activities would facilitate indirect contact with primary sources, thereby providing an entry point for relate to other people has changed significantly over the people into the CH Cycle, or reinforcing the commitment of past decade. The democratization of mobile technology and those who already have some superficial or intermittent the move away from desktop computers as the only way to be online has transformed such interaction both relation with it. quantitatively and qualitatively. There is abundant data to Research is already being undertaken on how to apply the support the use and impact of these technologies. Evans [6] potential that mobile technology has for topics within the states that “The world is mobile!”, noting that over 1,250 field of CH. For example, Kali et al. [10] present an million smartphones and tablets were sold in 2013 (cf. 250 innovative instructional model that facilitates an inquiry- million desktop computers). It has been estimated that by based approach to art history including the use of mobile 2016 there will be more people alive on the planet who are technology to access and modify cloud-based informational connected by mobile technology than people who are not. resources from the classroom, museum and home. Such a In this ‘mobile’ educational context, the future of learning scaffolded approach to learning enables the students to become pro-active and independent early on in their has been argued to be open, connected and imminently educational process, with their instructors’ interventions social [7], where teachers are more facilitators and connectors than experts in the related content. The diminishing as they progress with the learning activities. appearance and widespread adoption of social networks and The results of this work are encouraging for educators. media with readily available up-to-the-minute information It is foreseen that if this kind of approach is extended to provide congregational learning spaces. There, people can make appropriate use of social networks and media, then follow topics of interest and come into contact with others the long tail effect could enable students to come into from disparate geographic locations, with whom they might contact with domain experts and material enthusiasts who only share specific common interests. Learning networks will be able to enrich their learning processes. Furthermore, arise and define how knowledge is created, distributed and if the learning domain is not directly related to CH, as in the controlled. Furthermore, as the distinction between online example of Kali et al [10], then the motivation for the living and learning begins to blur, then the latter becomes students comes from their interest in their primary area of more life-long, forming a constant part of our digital life. study. Following Skrypaszek [4], the key factor here would In the context of CH, these changes are affecting the way in be the need to establish an identification or bond with the which people interact with primary sources. It is possible, creators of the artefacts that goes beyond a purely for example, to undertake a virtual tour of some museums functional, historic understanding or aesthetic appreciation, online using a smartphone or tablet without leaving home. to one of empathic connection between people in different However, what the authors argue here to be missing, if such spatial and temporal circumstances, who share a common mobile social learning is to broaden access to CH, reflecting desire to understand their own existence and relate to the Skrypaszek´s [4] arguments, is a distributed framework of world in which they live. knowledge sharing with related pedagogic and ludic The proposal here would be to broaden the spectrum of activities to enable new relationships to be established with types of interaction possible with the domain of CH to CH. The ‘long-tail effect’ [8] of such contextualised include a ‘bottom up’ layer of distributed pedagogic pedagogically motivated social network interactions would collaboration that would bring together people interested in foster contact with and interest in primary sources, which developing other competences than those directly related to may for some people represent the entry point into the CH CH. The primary sources could be used for different types Cycle. For others, who already have some kind of relation of learning, related to knowledge and competences in fields with primary sources, this may be intensified and extended. such as languages, science, economics, law, and MOBILE SOCIAL LEARNING SCENARIOS FOR CH engineering. A key part of such learning would be its Given this mobile educational context, a decentralised collaborative component, where social networks and media approach is suggested to complement the current access to would harness the interaction between students and with CH, as a starting point for a research project whose aim is other related groups. For example, tools such as Twitter can to apply new pedagogical (massive open social and mobile be used to move questions, discussions, and reflections learning, Connectivism [9], flipped teaching, personalised beyond a given student’s peer group and enable related learning, learning through life experience, learning domain experts and CH professionals to share their analytics, etc.), technological (mobile and wearable BYOD expertise in an open and unrestricted fashion. The results of [Bring Your Own Device], data from real world objects – such interaction would represent a valuable addition to the -2- student’s work and would awaken or enhance his/her to engage in some collaborative writing, in the language interest in CH. being studied, on the role and structure of the family in the given historical period and how those people would There are many different educational theories about the way consider modern family dynamics. in which online resources and social interaction can potentiate learning (e.g., [9]). It would be beyond the scope Initially, the students could reflect on the task and the of this article to look at them in any detail. It is sufficient representations of the artefacts provided individually and here to note that such theories include different processes of begin to share notes collectively online. The activity gathering, processing, aggregating and tagging content, description would also contain links to social networks commenting upon it, remixing and repurposing it, and where these types of objects are discussed and relevant feeding it forward into their online social learning hashtags that can be used by the students to ask questions community. For example, according to Moss [11], online on Twitter. As the students begin to develop their ideas, learning has three parts: curation (understanding, filtering they would, thanks to the action and interaction on the and repurposing information, evaluating online content, and social networks, also come into contact with people who are defending arguments / content selection), network and able to provide information and help on the subject. information management (correct selection of supporting Subsequently, a search for other online resources that add to information apps, skill/time use in the understanding of the initial learning questions and the viewing/answering/dealing with posts, and choosing who to sub-questions that have arisen can be undertaken. As the follow), and socializing (audience/type of material/target work is being developed, an important part of the reflection group, quality participants and content, meta-language process needs to enable the students to relate their lives and negotiation, tags, exposure, knowing when to post, timing, times to those behind the artefacts. It is conjectured by the perseverance, netiquette, and digital citizenship) from authors that it is this process of historical empathy and within the community. identification that may sew the seeds of interest, because the primary sources will be seen in a new light, and thereby The direct results of this learning could take the form of foster an entry point for the students into the CH Cycle. The Open Educational Resources (henceforth, OER) generated results of the learning activity should remain available by students, improved and extended within open learning online as an OER for future language students to encounter, communities, which would remain online as additional since arguably it may have the same effect on them. complementary resources that can be linked to the actual artefacts. These would indirectly widen the audiences that A more specific example might be a learning activity for come into contact with them. If, for instance, exercises are economics students on business models present in the undertaken that focus on economical aspects of particular geographic communities along The Saint James Way as it art works, then future students searching for examples of passes across the north of Spain. The Way represents an given economic theories might encounter these resources important source of income for many small businesses in and, as a result of interacting with them, enter into or the area, so a collaborative study could be proposed on engage with the CH Cycle. what business models have arisen there and how they can be harnessed to increase new jobs and revenue. Once again, Furthermore, while searching for OER related to other the activity description can include links to Web sites (for disciplines, both the students who generate these resources example, 3,4) and hashtags on Twitter (for example, and those who encounter them online subsequently, the #CaminodeSantiago), and the students can begin to interact broader educational context considered (e.g., the language with the people who actually live/work there to ask relevant being used by the creators or the socio-political context in questions about their first-hand experience. As the work which a given artefact was developed) could enable the progresses, its results will be shared publically but will students to reflect upon the original artists/architects. Such hopefully have specific relevance for the people from the a process might help students recognise shared underlying area who have helped and volunteered information. Once values and uncover a sense of continuity of the past with again, a key part of this type of collaboration, from the CH the present (and future). If, for example, as part of Cycle perspective, is that the students begin to establish an engineering studies, the students understand part of a ‘emotional rapport’ with these people, The Way, the fabrication process, then they may begin to value the communities in which they reside and their cultural context. artisans’ work and thereby become concerned for how the Hence, a new genuine interest may begin to appear in the given item can be cared for and preserved. students which increases the likelihood that they will enter Some examples of this process can be considered to into the CH Cycle. illustrate how this might work in practice, although research is still needed to refine these ideas. One example could be the development of second language competences. One or more primary sources related to the notion of families 3 http://www.spain.info/en/que-quieres/rutas/grandes-rutas/camino- available online in museums could be selected from a given santiago/ historical period. The goal of the learning activity would be 4 http://www.re-create.pl/kursen/entrepreneurship.html -3- A final example could be a learning activity for engineering and enable them to start to gain understanding, value, care, students on the Roman occupation of the Iberian Peninsula and enjoyment of the primary sources within CH. and the way they built aqueducts, bridges, dams and The ideas presented here represent very early work in this reservoirs. A collaborative study could be undertaken on multidisciplinary research to continue. Collaboration with the technology, materials and techniques used at the time experts in different areas of CH will be of great value to the for these projects, focussing specifically on the question of successful progress of this work. why these Roman structures have lasted so long. The learning materials would contain links to relevant REFERENCES documentation, Web sites (for example, 5,6) and hashtags on 1. ICOMOS, International Cultural Tourism Charter. Twitter (for example, #Roman #Engineering) that the Principles And Guidelines For Managing Tourism At students could use to gather information and make contact Places Of Cultural And Heritage Significance. with relevant experts/interested people and organisations. If ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Committee. the study were undertaken online via the social networks, it (2002). might attract the attention of others who become interested 2. Thurley, S. Into the Future. Our Strategy for 2005-2010. and can share information. Once again, if the engineering Conservation Bulletin, 49 (2005). students undertaking the work can begin to identify with the Roman engineers who undertook the projects, then they 3. European Commission. Towards an integrated approach might be more inclined to remain interested in the artefacts to cultural heritage for Europe (2014). and their agents once the project finishes. http://ec.europa.eu/culture/library/publications/2014- heritage-communication_en.pdf However, a question remains to be answered, once the three 4. Hofstede, G. Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede examples above are considered: even if certain students Model in Context. Online Readings in Psychology and begin to be more interested in the primary sources that they Culture, 2(1). (2011). have studied, how can they actually become more proactively involved with them? Once again, this is a matter 5. Skrzypaszek, J. Cultural Heritage: Transformational and for further research. However, initial work suggests that Inspiriational Framework for Future Education. they need to be provided with “what to do next” steps, Theology Conference Papers. Paper 4 (2014). “how to find out more”, “how to get involved”, etc., that 6. Evans, B. Mobile is eating the world. Benedict Evans represent a gradual pathway to establish a sociocultural Blog (2013). http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/ connection with these primary sources and the context in 2013/11/5/mobile-is-eating-the-world-autumn-2013- which they once existed. Something that needs to be edition developed as part of future work would be a taxonomy that 7. Sharples, M., Adams, A., Ferguson, R., Gaved, M., could map the conceptual space of involvement that exists McAndrew, P., Rienties, B., Weller, M., & Whitelock, for different type of CH so that this process could be D. (2014). Innovating Pedagogy 2014: Open University undertaken systematically. Innovation Report 3. Milton Keynes: The Open CONCLUSION University. In this article some early ideas have been laid out regarding 8. Anderson, C. The Long Tail. Wired 12.10 (2004). the way in which new pedagogical and technological approaches to learning can be used to include CH primary 9. Downes, S. Connectivism and Connective Knowledge. sources within seemingly unrelated learning scenarios in Essays on meaning and learning networks (2012). order to enter into or engage with the CH Cycle. The http://www.downes.ca/files/books/Connective_Knowled potential for open online interaction and the long tail effect ge-19May2012.pdf can greatly outweigh anything that could be achieved in 10. Kali, Y., Sagy, O., Kuflik, T., Mogilevsky, O., & face-to-face classrooms using standard teaching devices. Maayan-Fanar, E. Harnessing technology for promoting This approach needs to be further explored but may provide undergraduate art education: A novel model that a way to harness CH. However, as part of the learning streamlines learning between classroom, museum and process which students may embark upon because they home. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technology, need the relevant knowledge and skill set (language 7(99), 1-13 (2014). learning, economics, etc.), they could come into contact 11. Moss, P. Why Learning Through Social Networks Is with CH, that may, in turn, open a window in their minds The Future (2013). http://www.teachthought.com/technology/learning- through-networks-is-the-future 5 http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a13 395/roman-concrete-how-it-lasted-2000-years- 17535354/?src=spr_FBPAGE&spr_id=1457_122448082 6 http://blog.browntechnical.org/2014/01/did-you-know-that-some- roman-roads.html -4- -5-