Keynote CELebrate16, Bournemouth University John Cook, CMIR, UWE Bristol

1. Informal learning in the workplace:
Opportunities for educators
Keynote CELebrate16, Bournemouth University
John Cook, CMIR, UWE Bristol
John2.Cook@uwe.ac.uk
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2. Structure
1. Introduction
2. Zone of Possibility (ZoP)
3. ZoP app
4. Confer
5. Questions & Discussion
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3. 1. Introduction
• A recent PEW publication (PEW, 2014) drew on expert
predictions to report on the impact of the Internet over
the next 10 years; one pessimistic claim:
– “Our educational system is not adequately preparing us for work
of the future, and our political and economic institutions are
poorly equipped to handle these hard choices”.
– http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/08/06/future-of-jobs/
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35968423

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http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/16/meet-your-new-boss-mr-algorithm/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075pm43

5. • Issues: social side / reputation / power dynamic between
worker and platform / cogs in the algorithmic machine …
• One small response is our development social web
technologies to mediate
– Readiness for digitally mediated work-based practice
– Use of entrepreneurship and culture in city regeneration
– In what we term the Zone of Possibility (ZoP)
• Tools
– Confer
– ZoP app
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6. • Work coming out of the EC funded Learning Layers
project (http://learning-layers.eu/)
• Worked with the Health sector in UK & Construction in
Germany
• NEW: Creative Industries and HE in Bristol
• Co-designing Open Source hybrid realities in a Zone of
Possibility (ZoP)
• Design and Research Challenge:
– In the context of socio-technical environments, how can the design
process and design thinking advance or bridge our social capital?
• For more details http://goo.gl/AX3vsR
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7. 7
2. Zone of Possibility – our concept
of informal learning

8. • Helping citizens participate with each other in groups (a Zone) calls
for orchestrating social supports (via navigation and bridging aids)
so that citizens can benefit from the ideas of others (Possibility).
• The generic ZoP app allows you set up a Digital Public Space using
Android devices
• Users can record video clips, annotate points of interest at a specific
time and location in a frame, share and discuss
• In this way interesting findings and events at work or in a community
project can become the focus of situated conversations
• The ZoP app allows users and groups to operate in what we call a
Zone of Possibility or ZoP
• Co-design peer-to-peer tools that engage with a wide range of
challenges from social regeneration, to work place problem solving,
heritage and culture, smart cities and urban data
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9. • Zone of Possibility
• Social enterprise
• Co-designing Open Source hybrid realities
• Developing readiness for digitally mediated
work-based practice
• Use of entrepreneurship and culture in city
regeneration
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zop.space
Social Enterprise
http://tinyurl.com/z48dxjv

10. • Stubborn, not a people person (hence his OS
management system is called Git)
• "I am not a visionary. I do not have a five-year plan. I'm
an engineer."
• Likes good taste in code
• Gave us Linux, Git and some of code on Androids
• ... if you like Open Source worth a watch
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Linus Torvalds
http://tinyurl.com/h8xl2ve

11. 3. ZoP app
The ZoP app is currently Andriod based, features
• Capture video
• Play video
• Annotations at key moments in video
• See video details
• Tag video i.e. genre selection
• Upload video to Cloud
• Share video with group
• Discuss video and annotations with group
• Achrails back end web server, soon to be hosted UWE
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12. ZoP app
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Generic Zone of Possibility (ZoP) app
Based on Ach So! app,
developed for the
Construction Industry by
Aalto Univerity

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ZoP app being
used to develop
Cinefest app with
Sarah Sparke
ZoP Cinefest

14. Developing readiness for digitally
mediated work-based practice
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15. 15

16. ZoP Stokes Croft
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Use of
entrepreneurship
and culture in city
regeneration

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18. 4. Confer
• Online tool that supports working groups
– Maintains focus and flow of work
– Structuring the task
– Supporting discussion
– Aiding consensus
• Co-design work in the Health Sector in the
NE of England
– Used to support group work for professionals
working in different locations
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20. • Supports working groups that may have been
set up to devise a way of dealing with a new
problem that may have arisen
• Practice-demand driven
– Providing bridging between face to face meetings
through ‘scaffolded support’ to keep tasks on focus
and moving forward
– Offering easy, early engagement in collaborative work
• Opportunities for educators to harness the tools
and use in their own contexts?
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21. 5. Q&A / Discussion:
Potential for collaborations?
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