DESIGNING FOR HETEROGENEOUS GROUPS OF END-USERS TOWARDS A NASCENT DESIGN THEORY

Amir Haj-BolouriLars Svensson

2014

BACKGROUND

• The digitalization of Swedish civic orientation (Haj-Bolouri et al., 2014):

• New technologies for distance education and learning in Swedish civic orientation

• A more flexible form of education transcending traditional classroom teachings in Swedish civic orientation

• Novel research topic in Sweden

• Central challenges and issues

CENTRAL CHALLENGES AND ISSUES

• Distribution and maintenance of digital learning material in Swedish civic orientation

• Multilingual design challenges

• Heterogeneous groups of end-users

DISTRIBUTION AND MAINTENANCE OF EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL

• Production and quality assurance of digital learning material

• Course book

• Slides

• Background material

• A tedious and time demanding process

• Lack of tools for asynchronous collaboration

• Local updates

HETEROGENEOUS GROUPS OF END-USERS

• Clerks at the municipality of Gothenburg

• Responsible for production and maintenance of digital learning material

• Tutors at the municipality of Gothenburg

• Responsible for planning and conducting civic orientation activities in various modes of delivery

• Newcomers

• Immigrants in Sweden that are obligated to participate in 60 hours of Swedish civic orientation

RESEARCH QUESTION

• What are the core design guidelines for designing an IT-artifact for multilingual civic orientation program?

PREVIOUSLY CONDUCTED RESEARCH

• Initial research findings (Haj-Bolouri et al., 2014)

• The purpose of Advanced Learning Modules in distance education

• Early design implications for an web-based education platform in Swedish civic orientation

• Novel research topic

RESEARCH DESIGN

• The Design Science Research Approach (Hevner et al., 2004; Indulska & Recker, 2008; Hevner & Chatterjee, 2010; Gregor & Hevner, 2013)

• Intermediate design knowledge in an early phase of the research (Heinrich & Schwabe, 2014)

• Data collection - Participative workshops

• Data analysis - Colored Cognitive Mapping (Venable, 2014)

DATA COLLECTION

• Participative workshops - held at the municipality of Gothenburg together with a focus group of:

• 4 workshops - defining purpose and content for distance education in Swedish civic orientation

• 4 clerks and 4 tutors - an participatory approach (Bjerknes & Brattetejg, 1995; Van de Velden, 2007)

• Time period: 2 - 3 months

RESULTS FROM WORKSHOPSWorksho

p Purpose Results

1

Define a purpose for the 1st advanced

learning module

A design feature which provides the newcomers with supporting learning

material and interactive functionality on how to apply for work in Sweden

2

Define a purpose for the 2nd advanced

learning module

A design feature which provides the newcomers with supporting learning

material and interactive functionality on what it means to be a parent in Sweden

(the parent’s role in Sweden)

3

Define and formulate

content for the 1st advanced

learning module

Learning objects for the 1st advanced learning module shall incorporate desired features such as: learning content on how

to write, use and evaluate a CV, how to use Social Media for networking with

employers

4

Define and formulate

content for the 2nd advanced

learning module

Learning objects for the 2nd advanced learning module shall incorporate desired features such as: learning content on how the role of a parent in Sweden is perceived

in the society

DATA ANALYSIS• Colored Cognitive Mapping (CCM) - Venable (2014) founded

this method for data and problem analysis in Design Science Research (DSR) because literature in DSR (Vaishnavi & Kuechler, 2008; Sein et al., 2011) provides no guidance for how to :

• Formulate and define problems

• Transform a problem definition into solution

• Creatively reason about solutions

• Formulate design theories with constructs and relationships between them

• Collaborate and communicate with multiple stakeholders to reach agreement

COLORED COGNITIVE MAPPING

• A notation for CCM:

• Node - represents a goal, problem, cause, implication

• Color - each node has a color, red/bold indicates undesirable circumstances, and green colored nodes represent desirable circumstances

• Arrow - can be causal or contributory. Plus/minus signs can also be attached to arrows: minus sign means that the causality is reversed, meaning that the node at the tail prevents the node at the head or causes its opposite pole

THREE STAGE PROCEDURE FOR USING CCM

• Problem diagnosis - first is problem diagnosis, in which a cognitive map is developed of the problem as difficulties

• CM conversion - second is to convert the cognitive map of the problem as difficulties into a cognitive map of the problem as solutions

• Solution derivation - finally, the cognitive map of the problem as solutions is expanded with various candidate or potential solutions

RESULTS FROM USING CCMThe cognitive map of a problem as difficulties

MAPPING TOGETHER CHALLENGES AND ISSUES

• Distribution and maintenance of learning material

• Multilingual design challenges

• Heterogeneous groups of end-users

RESULTS FROM USING CCMThe cognitive map of a problem as solutions

MAPPING TOGETHER THE POSSIBILITIES

• Converting the challenges and issues into possible solutions

• Mapping the consequences of the possibilities

• Exploiting the model into design guidelines

TENTATIVE DESIGN GUIDELINES1.The guideline of designing for flexible modes of learning material - a set of design features providing flexibility and necessary digital learning material in form of online lectures and video conferencing lectures

2. The guideline of designing non-redundant distribution of learning material - central repositories for digital learning material that can be used for producing, updating and collaborating

3. The guideline of designing for large variation in IT-literacy - intuitive user interface with easy-to-use functionality, yet task efficient for administrative purposes

4. The guideline of supporting multimodal and multilingual digital features - multilingual features for multimodal information in a wide range of foreign languages

5. The guideline of designing for advanced forms of learning processes - advanced learning modules with embedded learning objects distributed online

WRAPPING UP THE MAPPING

The guideline of designing for flexible modes of

learning material

The guideline of designing for non-redundant

distribution of learning material

The guideline of designing for large variation in IT-

literacy

The guideline of supporting multimodal and multilingual digital

features

The guideline of designing for advanced forms of

learning processes

Cognitive map of a problem as difficulties

Cognitive map of a problem as

solutions

Tentative design guidelines

FURTHER RESEARCH

• Towards a nascent design theory (Heinrich & Schwabe, 2014): develop a design theory for the purpose of education effort and design contribution on a intermediate level

• Evaluating our design guidelines: using the Design Science Research process model (Hevner et al., 2004; Peffers et al., 2006) for further use of our design guidelines through design activities

• Shaping and reshaping the IT-artifact through a creative atmosphere together with our heterogeneous groups of end-users (Orlikowski, 2000)

THANK YOU!