October 2012 Volume 15 Number 4 - Educational Technology ...

Mostmans, L., Vleugels, C., & Bannier, S. (2012). Raise Your Hands or Hands-on? The Role of Computer-Supported
Collaborative Learning in Stimulating Intercreativity in Education. Educational Technology & Society, 15 (4), 104–113.
Raise Your Hands or Hands-on? The Role of Computer-Supported
Collaborative Learning in Stimulating Intercreativity in Education
Lien Mostmans 1* , Chris Vleugels 1 and Stijn Bannier 2
1 Studies on Media, Information and Telecommunication, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium //
2 Collaborative Creativity Group, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research and
Training Centre on Innovation and Technology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands //
Lien.mostmans@vub.ac.be // Chris.vleugels@vub.ac.be //Bannier@merit.unu.edu
*Corresponding author
(Submitted November 05, 2010; Revised July 05, 2011; Accepted October 04, 2011)
ABSTRACT
Young people are often referred to as digital natives, who are familiar with digital technologies such as
computers, the Internet and mobile phones for communication, entertainment and accessing information. As a
result scholars have called for an educational approach that bypasses the traditional unidirectional lecture
teaching style, and applies a more hands-on, learner-centered method, which includes information and
communications technologies (ICT) environments and applications. Building on the outcome of expert
interviews, focus group conversations and public test cases in two research projects, i.e., “Bewaring en
Ontsluiting van Multimediale data in VLaanderen” (Archiving and Distribution of Multimedia in Flanders—
BOM-VL) and “Multi-touch Multimedia Table” (MuTable), we want to reflect on the following questions by
elaborating on the North Belgian (i.e., Flemish) context: How does the adoption of touch interfaces influence
teaching and learning processes in classrooms and what are the implications for teaching models (traditional
versus more interactive models)? Besides elaborating on the (attitudinal) bottlenecks and (pedagogical)
opportunities of multi-touch displays in educational contexts, we discuss the implications for models of
ownership of learning processes.
Keywords
Computer-supported collaborative learning, Multi-touch technology, Intercreativity, Educational policy, Learning
models
Introduction
Young people, at least within Western societies, have been widely referred to as digital natives, for whom digital
technologies such as computers, the Internet and mobile phones are natural, self-evident and ever-present (Bauwens
et al., 2009; Livingstone, 2002a; 2002b; Livingstone & Bober, 2005). Many have pointed to the increasing diffusion
and availability of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the lives of many teenagers, whereas
others have emphasized their appropriation practices and signification processes (Bauwens et al., 2009; Livingstone
et al., 2010; Mediappro, 2006; Ofcom, 2006). The ways in which young people engage with media and ICT have
been described and analyzed in various ways. The result is a plethora of concepts, often referring to a “collaborative”
dimension of interacting with both peers and content: “remixing,” “self-publication,” “role-playing,” “collective
intelligence,” to name only a few (Jenkins, 2006; Parker, 2010). As a consequence, a growing body of scholars has,
not entirely uncontested, called for substantial educational reforms responding to the ICT skills and practices of these
generations (Bennett, Maton & Kervin, 2008). However, one finds that ICT (e.g., personal computers, cameras) that
have been put in place in classrooms still tend to promote a rather traditional, ex-cathedra, teaching approach. This
paper explores the opportunities of multi-touch technology as a more interactive and collaborative technology that
applies a hands-on, learner-centered and bottom-up learning approach. By drawing on own data, gathered via two
multi-method qualitative research designs conducted in Flanders (the Northern region of Belgium), we aim to
address the following question: How does the adoption of touch interfaces, influences teaching and learning
processes in classrooms and what are the implications for teaching models (traditional versus more interactive
models)?
Context and literature review
The discontinuity between young people’s ICT practices and the increasingly growing advocacy for educational
reforms on the one hand and the available technologies implemented in classrooms on the other hand is at the heart
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