As we emerge from the Covid pandemic, learning technology in Higher Education finds itself centre stage. Not all of the attention is welcome, with UK Government Ministers demanding the return to face-to-face teaching (Mail Online, 2022). Research into the early experiences of Covid was collated into 138 publications in the COVID – 19 Higher Education Literature Database (CHELD). An analysis foregrounded narratives of anxious student voices; of staff and faculty struggles to reconcile differing strategic, operational and online central imperatives in response to an education system under challenge (Morley and Holley, 2022). Clearly, sustainable, student-centred solutions are required to enable all to succeed in this new hybrid world.
The following question guided our work: how can the design process advance or bridge participation in a Zone of Possibility? Bridging arises when people from various backgrounds make connections entering social networks that offer more inclusive opportunities. These kinds of networks literally create ‘bridges’, “which is they allow people, who might not have had the possibility to encounter one another in their daily lives, the opportunity to become acquainted” (Tomai et al., 2010, cited in Cook and Holley, 2022). The Zone of Possibility or ZoP is viewed as learning as participation, in that it “foregrounds knowing rather than knowledge and shared activities rather than possessions” (Ellis and Goodyear, 2016, cited in Cook and Holley, 2022). Design principles emanate from and connect to theories of learning and instruction.
This talk will present the work we have undertaken on the Zone of Possibility (ZoP) design principle, and highlights vignettes from related cases (Cook and Holley, 2022) that explore how to use digital technology in partnership with learners to design engaging, equitable and sustainable bridges for learning in lock-down. Reflecting our desire for embodying and respecting the contributions of learners, our work has practical outcomes for those interested in co-design. Entitled “Respect Learners’ Zone of Possibility”, we share this evidence-based design principle pathway. Participants (and the ALT community) will be able to access design principle templates that can be contextualised for re-use in their own situations. The design principles take the following format:
(i) Description,
(ii) Theoretical background, and
iii) Tips (Challenges, Limitations, Trade-offs, Pitfalls),
for both formal and informal learning spaces.
This paper will be of interest:
To those seeking a deeper understanding of designing for co-creation and participation.
For practitioners wanting to explore respectful ways to co-design learning as an alternative to the ‘student as consumer’.
To those working in policy areas of UK Higher Education institutions / academics wishing to have an evidence base to draw upon whilst planning forward post Covid, when the UK regulator is considering heavy fines
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Designing for co-creation, bridging and participation: Respecting learners’ Zone of Possibility (ZoP)
1. Designing for co-creation,
bridging and participation:
Respecting learners’ Zone of
Possibility (ZoP)
John Cook, Senior Professor Goethe University
Frankfurt, johnnigelcook@gmail.com
Debbie Holley, Professor of Learning Innovation
Bournemouth University
@debbieholley1
Link to Workshop recording
of Recado Bossa Nova on
SoundCloud: https://soundclo
ud.com/dovetailcollective/rec
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2. Research Question:
In the context of Hybrid
Learning Spaces,
how can the design process
and design thinking
advance or bridge ‘successful
communication’ and
an understanding of social
context in a Zone of Possibility
(ZoP)?
3. building theory
Lev
Vygotsky
Lev Vygotsky
Image credit
https://www.firstdiscoverers.co.uk/virtual-
interview-lev-vygotsky/
Zone of Possibility (ZoP)
• Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is commonly
understood as the range of practices which the learner cannot invoke
on her own, but can engage in with the support of a ‘more capable
peer’
• Thus, social positioning underlies practices of communication and gives
rise to the shaping of identity
• Overcome power imbalance in Zone of Proximal Development
• updated by Daniels (2008)
• ZoP is a combination of physical and digital tools mediating an
individual’s interaction with the world and society
• Bridging arises when people from various backgrounds make
connections entering social networks that offer more inclusive
opportunities (Tomai et al., 2010)
4. Zone
of
Possibility
Positioned along two axes of pedagogical theory with
practice
Implications derived from three diverse lock-down case
studies
Educational / Design Based Research
Zone of Possibility
• place where individuals can overcome the constraints of expectations
and power structures to effect desired change
Hybrid Learning Spaces
• Formal v informal
• Physical v digital
• Space and place
Bridging
• e.g. tutor putting students in study groups
8. Case 1: Bristol Jazz Workshops: a
holistic hybrid approach
Case 2: Goethe University
Frankfurt students
Case 3: Bournemouth University:
supporting student nurses learning
during the pandemic
Informal/formal Informal learning in the community Formal learning online Semi-formal
Number of participants 10 12 participants ‘face-to-face’
(2019) and 7 participants ‘fully
online’ (2020)
62 Nursing tutors in the first
instance, cascaded to 5 departments
and over 150 individuals
Research tool/analysis Observations/evaluation: field
notes and analysis of video calls;
texts and images used with
participant informed consent
Observations/evaluation:
questionnaire and tutor field
notes; informed consent obtained
Observations/evaluation: learning
design case following Conole (2013)
Researcher role Cook acts as a participant observer Cook tutor Holley was a co-facilitator
Research foci / emphasis Bridging digital literacy / designing
for interpenetration
Following iterative critical thinking
cycle/pattern is important
‘Vocabulary’ of digital learning
success framed the Community of
Practice. Learning design supported
staff by offered mechanisms for
scaling up
Cross case analysis – template for use/re-use
10. Design Principle
• "Respect Learners’ Zone of Possibility"
• Our Design Principle follows this template: (i)
Description, (ii) Theoretical background, and (iii) Tips
(Challenges, Limitations, Trade-offs, Pitfalls)
• Proposing any new practice has the potential to fail.
Thus a trade-off between the various ZoP tips is needed
• Findings example from Cases Study:
• Case 3, an important challenge is to start from where
your learners are, rather than notions of where they
‘should be’ (the latter is a pitfall), as is respecting and
acknowledging existing skills and expertise brought to
the ‘Zone’. Driving fast paced change in a pandemic is
about working with people with and through their
values, and the innovation is through helping them to
modify and change their space/place perceptions.
11. Selected reading
• Biggins, D., Holley, D. & Zezulkova, M. (2017). Digital Competence and
Capability Frameworks in Higher Education: Importance of Life-long Learning,
Self-Development and Well-being. EAI Endorsed Transactions on e-
Learning, 4(13).
• Cook, J. & Holley, D. (2022). Covid-19 lock-down: hybrid learning cases using the
lens of the Zone of Possibility. In Hybrid Learning Spaces. Edited by Yishay Mor,
Yannis Dimitriadis & Christian Köppe (Eds). Springer link:
https://tinyurl.com/dsj7nefh
• Cook, J., Mor, Y. & Santos, P. (2020). Three cases of hybridity in learning spaces:
Towards a design for a Zone of Possibility. British Journal of Educational
Technology, 51(4), 1155-1167. Retrieved from
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjet.12945
• Ellis, R. A. & Goodyear, P. (2016). Models of learning space: integrating research
on space, place and learning in higher education. Review of Education, 4(2), 149-
191.
