=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=None
|storemode=property
|title=The Challenge of Integrating Motivational and Affective Aspects into the Design of Networks of Practice
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-957/matel11_submission_1.pdf
|volume=Vol-957
}}
==The Challenge of Integrating Motivational and Affective Aspects into the Design of Networks of Practice==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-957/matel11_submission_1.pdf
The challenge of integrating motivational and affective aspects into
the design of networks of practice
*
John Cook , #Andreas Schmidt, #Christine Kunzmann and #Simone Braun
*Learning Technology Research Institute (LTRI), London Metropolitan University, UK.
#
FZI Research Center for Information Technologies, Karlsruhe, Germany
Abstract. In this position paper, we (i) set out the background, problems and questions involved
in moving towards a design methodology for incorporating motivational and affective factors in
networks of practice, (ii) define networks of practice, highlighting that motivational and affective
factors are intertwined with a range of other complex issues, (iii) examine some of these
aforementioned problems using a specific example from the MATURE IP (http://mature-ip.eu/)
called people tagging, and use this case (iv) to delineate the challenge of integrating motivational
aspects into the design of networks of practice. The final section of the paper raises many
questions that can be used as a resource for dialogue by workshop participants.
Keywords: motivation, affect, networks of practice, motivational design, learning analytics
1. Background, problems and questions
Motivational and affective aspects are frequently neglected in technology-enhanced learning, and this
is particularly true of motivational design approaches. One exception is the work of Kunzmann et al.
[1], who make the useful point that as “motivation is a wide and open field … it is more valuable to
describe and address motivational barriers, rather than trying to decompose determinants of
motivation as such.” The model is based on a series of ethnographically informed studies and a small-
scale validation as part of interview with representatives of large German companies. Kunzmann et
al.’s model systematizes motivational barriers into three areas: individual (cognitive capability,
interests, values and needs), interpersonal (cooperative and affective), and work context aspects
(organizational and enabling factors). Based on their experiences, Kunzmann et al. propose the
following methodology for motivational design:
1. Immersion of technical developers in the workplace reality
2. Derivation of personas, i.e. a precise description of a user’s characteristics
3. Development of use case descriptions for those personas in direct interaction of developers
and users (or their representatives)
4. Deriving functional and non-functional requirements from those descriptions
5. Formative evaluation of early prototypes with end users in which – if possible – different
motivational measures are compared to each other in order select the most effective one.
The MATURE IP (the case that this paper draws on) has developed several successful
‘demonstrators’, one of which has shown that the tools and services for ‘people tagging’ [2] can be
successful when formatively evaluated with users. However, current work on up-scaling the people
tagging approach into a larger scale ‘instantiation’ faces certain challenges. Although the
‘motivational barriers’ model briefly summarized above helps us to systematically consider
motivational aspects in the requirements engineering process of informal learning support, its essence
seems to be one where, at most, small groups are implicitly seen as the focus of design. Personas are
useful first steps, but can they be generalized to a population of thousands of users? Consequently, we
suggest that this useful five step methodology needs extending when we attempt to design for the
large scale use of TEL that is embedded in, or that perhaps embeds, networks of practice (we use –
and will later define – the latter term instead of the rather vague notion of social networks).
The above leads to the problem, implied in the title of the position paper: What are the challenges
of integrating motivational and affective aspects into the design of networks of practice? Specifically,
how can we address issues related to experiences with participatory design, engineering socio-
technical systems, experiences with concrete research instruments (like ethnographic studies,
experiments) and indicators for evaluation? Indeed, Cook [3] poses these relevant questions in relation
to networked learners: During their continuing learning activities, what will the learning trail left
behind by learners tell us as they move from one learning context to the next? How can we improve
our understanding of how elements of context can be maintained over time, so as to scaffold a
perceived continuity of learning? Other questions that arise are these. What are the concrete
implications of the above for learning settings (be they work-based learning, informal or formal
learning), tool design and services design to address motivational and affective aspect?
Of course in this paper we cannot answer all of the above questions. However, we intend to use
notions surrounding networks of practice (section 2 below) and a case (section 3) to provide impetus
towards delineating the challenge of integrating motivational aspects into the designs for networks of
practice (section 4). We accept that because the paper draws from many different areas, a four page
position paper is not an ideal exposition. This is why the main aim of our paper is to promote
discussions about the challenges; consequently, the final section raises many questions that can be
used as a resource for dialogue by workshop participants.
2. Network of practice
Anderson [4] has outlined in a single PowerPoint slide a top level schema for networks of practice that
builds on the work of others (e.g. [5]). Networks of practice incorporate a range of informal, emergent
networks. Networks of practice based around digital media consist of weak ties where individuals may
never get to know one another or meet face-to-face: “... we also want to suggest that relations among
network members are significantly looser than those within a community of practice. ... unlike in
communities of practice, most of the people within such a network will never know, know of, or come
across one another. And yet they are capable of sharing a great deal of knowledge.” [5, p. 205]
Networks of practice generally coordinate activities through means such as social media, blogs, wikis,
mailing lists, etc. Anderson [4] proposes that we need to consider the following when building a
network of practice:
1. Motivation – learning plans, self and net efficacy, net-presence, modeling and exposure
2. Structural support
a. Exposure and training
b. Transparent systems [6]
c. Wireless access, mobile computing
3. Cognitive skills – content + procedural, disclosure control
4. Social connections, reciprocity
a. Creating and sustaining a spiral of social capital building [7]
b. “adjacent possibilities” Kaufman [8] – ideas sufficiently close geographically or
conceptually to propel adoption.
Anderson notes (personal communication, 4 July, 2011) that he has not thus far elaborated on the
above schema. Consequently, below and in the rest of this paper we provide the first steps towards
exploring the issues involved from a motivation and affect design perspective.
It seems to us that motivation and social connections and reciprocity (1 & 4 in Anderson’s schema)
are intertwined and consequently require further consideration. For example, Nahapiet and Ghoshal
[7] look at the social concept of ‘intellectual capital’ by which they refer to the knowledge of a social
community, such as an organization or professional practice groups like Connections Northumberland
(the focus in the ‘people tagging’ case given below). A key design question is then: How can we
create the motivation for and sustain a spiral of intellectual and social capital building in networked
practices?
Kaufman’s [8] work has recently been described by Dron [9]; Kaufman “has made the simple but
profound and well researched observation that complex systems grow in complexity in a predictable
and efflorescent manner. As new adaptations or changes occur they mutate the entire ecosystem,
opening up new possibilities that were not there before and closing down others: this is the nature of
any system with a history. Each new development increases the number of further developments that
are adjacently possible (most of which will never occur).” A further design question for us then is:
How can we design for the motivation to link combinations of people and ideas, be they sufficiently
close geographically or conceptually, to propel adoption?
3. Up-scaling people tagging for a network of practice
Braun et al. [2] propose a collaborative competence management approach. In this approach, they
combine Web 2.0-style bottom-up processes with organizational top-down processes. They addressed
this problem as a collaborative ontology construction problem of which the conceptual foundation is
the Ontology Maturing Process Model. In order to realize the Ontology Maturing Process Model for
competence management, we have built the AJAX-based semantic social bookmarking application
SOBOLEO that offers task-embedded competence ontology development and an easy-to-use
interface. The field studies have shown that it is possible to retrieve competencies from tags and that it
supports reflection about individual and organizational competencies. However, they also identified
important cultural and privacy issues that must be addressed in a network of practice. Addressing
these issues must be done both with respect to the introduction process and the degree of transparency.
In particular, the proper introduction, including tailoring various design options to the target context,
and communication of purpose have emerged to be one of the most important issues (i.e. disclosure
control). Therefore, Braun et al. [2] conclude that a methodology for introducing and implementing
people tagging should be elaborated and further research on linking technical design options to
organizational and social constraints related to culture and atmosphere as well as on implications of
people tagging on the socio-cultural system of an organization is necessary.
4. Challenge of integrating motivational aspects into the design of networks of
practice
Whilst above the paper already hints at solutions, e.g. “bridging activities”, our main aim is to start
discussions with more workshop participants about such challenges as:
How is motivation influenced when more users are using a collaborative system, e.g. because
of increased anonymity and information overload?
What methods could support motivation for the people tagging application?
Indeed, we see potential for discussion in the following topics:
The appropriateness and comparison of the several models (i.e. motivational barriers,
learning analytics and influence maximization) to integrate motivational aspects in the design
of network of practices. How would be relationship between them?
Which aspects of affect and motivation do these approaches take into account?
What other approaches, apart from people tagging, can serve as an example to generalize to a
network of practice?
Could the results be generalized from a network of practice to other contexts/fields/forms of
informal learning?
Other key questions related to social connections and reciprocity:
How can we design for a spiral of intellectual and social capital so that these are embedded in
networked practices for people tagging? How can we enable individuals and groups to
become linked together through ‘bridging activities’(e.g. encouraging the participation of
members in teams)?
How can we design for the motivation to link combinations of people and ideas, be they
sufficiently close geographically or conceptually, to propel adoption of people tagging?
Does the possibility emerge of using the ‘motivational barriers’ model? If so what are the
barriers to disclosure control, social connections and reciprocity?
Can we employ the personas approach to tease out some of these design issues?
Looking at these design challenges from a different perspective, could outputs from learning
analytics mediate motivation and affect by providing personalized advice and scaffolding? The
following design challenges for us then are: Could recommender systems based on learning analytics
(e.g. [10], [11]) mediate motivation and affect for people tagging? How do we embed such systems in
learning trails and networks of people tagging practice encourage optimal practice? Could we make
use of such learning trails for motivation and affect related issues as learners move from one people
tagging context to another? For example, the TRAC system is used to “extract patterns and other
information from the group logs and present it together with desired patterns to the people involved,
so that they can interpret it, making use of their own knowledge of the group tasks and activities” [10].
Looking for positive patterns of people tagging, and encouraging positive patterns, could be a useful
motivational design direction.
5. Acknowledgments
This work has been co-funded by the European Commission under the 7 th Framework Programme
within the MATURE project. Thank you to the reviewers for productive comments.
6. References
1. Kunzmann, C., Schmidt, A., Braun, V., Czech, D., Fletschinger, B., Kohler, S., Lüber, V. (2009). Integrating
Motivational Aspects into the Design of Informal Learning Support in Organizations. I-KNOW’09, Graz,
Austria, pp. 259-267.
2. Braun, S., Kunzmann, C. and Schmidt, A. (2010). People Tagging & Ontology Maturing: Towards
Collaborative Competence Management. In: David Randall and Pascal Salembier (eds.): From CSCW to
Web2.0: European Developments in Collaborative Design (Computer Supported Cooperative Work),
Springer, 2010
3. Cook, J. (2010). Mobile Phones as Mediating Tools Within Augmented Contexts for Development.
International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning, 2(3), 1-12. Preprint available: http://bit.ly/g5cODr
4. Anderson (2011). Technological Challenges and Opportunities of Three Generations of Distance Education
Pedagogies. Education 2011-2021 Summit. Sydney. http://www.slideshare.net/terrya/hub-de-summit-sydney,
accessed 12 June 2011.
5. Brown, J. S. & Duguid, P. (2001). Knowledge and Organization: A Social-Practice Perspective. Organization
Science 12(2), 198-213.
6. Dalsgaard, C., & Paulsen, M. (2009). Transparency in Cooperative Online Education. International review of
Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(3).
7. Nahapiet, J., and Ghoshal, S. (1998). Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage.
Acad. Management Rev, 23(2), 242-266.
8. Kauffman, S. (2000). Investigations. New York: Oxford University Press.
9. Dron, J. Analogue Literacies. Available from http://www9.code.ouj.ac.jp/sympo-
2011/pdf/1_Jon_Dron_11.pdf, accessed 2 July 2011.
10. Perera, (2009). Clustering and Sequential Pattern Mining of Online Collaborative Learning Data.
http://bit.ly/igZoZg, accessed 12 June 2011.