This document discusses crossing boundaries in digital learning and libraries. It proposes applying the distributed cognition framework to classrooms, viewing digital resources as artifacts, learners and teachers as agents, and digital libraries as the environment. Learning would become a navigated journey guided by teachers and librarians as pilots and co-pilots. However, major issues in transforming learning this way include changing mindsets, creating collaborative learning spaces and processes, developing new assessment methods, and defining the roles of teachers and librarians as co-pilots in measuring learning outcomes.

1. LTC2019 Shalini Urs

2. LTC2019 Shalini Urs
Outline
• Context : Crossing Boundaries
• DL and eLearning
• The Distributed Cognition Framework
• Navigated Learning
• How to we cross over ?
• Reimagining the Future
• Exemplars
• Major issues

3. LTC2019 Shalini Urs
Context
• DLs and eLearning are natural allies and are
coterminous with that of Internet
• Along with the Internet, today DL has also
entered its adulthood or the Industrial
Revolution 4.0 phase
• The DL 4.0/eL 4.0 is more a suggestive
metaphor for the new paradigm than particular
tools or technologies
• The new paradigm is characterized by a mindset
of self organization, coordination, openness
and working in a networked manner.

4. LTC2019 Shalini Urs
The DELOS Manifesto (2007)
• "The DELOS Network of Excellence on Digital
Libraries now envisions a Digital Library as a
tool at the centre of intellectual activity having
no logical, conceptual, physical, temporal, or
personal borders or barriers on information.
• It has moved from a content-centric system
that simply organizes and provides access to
particular collections of data and information,
to a person-centric system that aims to provide
interesting, novel, personalized experiences to
users.

5. LTC2019 Shalini Urs
Delos Manifesto…
• Its main role has moved from static
storage and retrieval of information to
facilitation of communication,
collaboration, and other forms of
interaction among scientists, researchers,
or the general public on themes that are
pertinent to the information stored in the
Digital Library."

6. Digital Libraries and World Brain (
HG.Wells)…
• Digital Libraries today can effectively be not the
dreamers but the navigators who bring to life the
idea of “World Brain” proposed by Wells.
• “These innovators, who may be dreamers today,
but who hope to become very active organizers
tomorrow, project a unified, if not a centralized,
world organ to ‘pull the mind of the world
together’, which will be not so much a rival to the
universities, as a supplementary and co-
ordinating addition to their educational activities
- on a planetary scale.” (Wells, H.G. 1938.)
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

7. H. G. Wells
• A writer, novelist, teacher,
historian, journalist and
was most prominent as a
forward-looking, even prophetic social critic who
devoted his literary talents to the development of
a progressive vision on a global scale.
• A futurist, he wrote a number of utopian works
and foresaw the advent of aircraft, tanks, space
travel, nuclear weapons, satellite television and
something resembling the World Wide WebLTC2019 Shalini Urs

8. Crossing Boundaries
With ubiquitous
networked
devices,
information is
flowing through
the “distributed
cognition,” the
new
hypothetical
“ether”
Our minds are
constantly and
continuously
wired to the
Internet (The
world brain :
H.G. Wells)
through the
“distributed
cognition”
In a sense the
boundaries of
personal
knowledge/me
mory and
public/memorie
s are crossing
over
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

9. Crossing Boundaries
• The concept of boundaries has been used
frequently over the last decade in organisational
studies, information systems and communication
research.
• Boundaries can be thought of as discontinuities of
some form.
• Crossing boundaries of various kinds is an essential
feature of networked world. In an increasingly
globalised and networked world we can expect
boundary-crossing in all our interactions —both
formal and informal communicationsLTC2019 Shalini Urs

10. Crossing Boundaries
• Understanding the significance and diversity of
these boundary crossing phenomenon, and ways
of variously exploiting or overcoming them, is
likely to be of increasing significance in all forms
of knowledge transfer.
• The network metaphor and its fusion of a range of
theories( including the Social Networking
Analysis) provides a useful perspective on
interpreting the role and position of digital
libraries against the wider background of research
into the networking phenomenon
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

11. Crossing Boundaries
• Research across various disciplines, reflect this
trend – boundary crossing and has also led to
the notion of “networked Individuality”.
• On the one hand the new economy and work
force is organized around global networks yet on
the other hand the work process is increasingly
individualized.
• This is also true of individuals and societies — it
is both a case of distributed public cognition and
a personalized individualized cognition.
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

12. Distributed Cognition
• Distributed cognition (DCog)
is a theoretical and
methodological framework
developed by Hutchins and
his colleagues at the
University of California, San
Diego (Hutchins, 1995) to
explain cognitive activities as
embodied and situated
within the work settings in
which they occur.
This framework
involves the
coordination
between individuals,
artifacts and the
environment.
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

13. Distributed cognition in the
classroom
• That is, the information
being considered and
reconstructed would have
many sources and the
cognition (the processing
the information) would be
taking place often
simultaneously in various
members of the group. And
also outside the settting
and over time
Thus information and
cognition are both
distributed across the
group in a dynamic way
over time and place.
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

14. Piaget’s Constructivist Theory
• The DCog framework also aligns with the
constructivist theory. Constructivism is
a philosophical viewpoint about the nature
of knowledge representing an ontological stance.
• Jean Piaget (1957) focused on how humans make
meaning in relation to the interaction between
their experiences and their ideas.
• Piaget's theory of constructivist learning has had a
wide-ranging impact on learning
theories and teaching methods and has also
spurred some reform movements in education.LTC2019 Shalini Urs

15. My proposition
• Applying this framework to the idea of classrooms
as dynamic learning spaces, we propose that we
view digital resources as the artifacts, individuals
are the learners and the teachers, the digital
library becomes the environment.
• Let the classroom become the digital library, and
the library becomes the classroom; teachers and
librarians become pilots and copilots helping the
learner to navigate.
• Learning becomes a seamless journey for the
learner through the interaction with the teacher
and the artifacts such as the digital resources.LTC2019 Shalini Urs

16. About theories
• “ There is nothing more practical than a good
theory” ( Kurt Lewin, 1952)
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

17. Traditional Class room ( Sage on Stage)
• Traditionally a teacher
teaches (provides initial
information) to learners
as part of a didactic
approach.
• The “Sage on Stage”
Model
• It is usually a monologue
• It aligns with the Sender –
Receiver Model of
communication
Time to say R.I.P Sage on
Stage ?LTC2019 Shalini Urs

18. Have we transformed learning ?
Source : McDaniel, M. (2011). 21st Century Teacher.
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

19. Transformation of learning experiences
• Amazon transformed the
Shopping Experience
• Uber disrupted and
transformed the cab hailing
experience
• Tesla has transformed the
driving experience
Two major
changes :
Personalization
and Adaptation
through data
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

20. How do we transform Learning ?
• Learning has to be learning centred
• Learning spaces are to be dynamic
systems of active and adaptive
learning
• Learning is to be participatory and
through a navigational system
under the guidance of a teacher
• Librarian is to take the role of a co-
pilot
• New knowledge has to emerge out
of this whole systemLTC2019 Shalini Urs

21. What we need …
• Real-time
interventions based on
how students are
learning or
personalizing what
they have learned (
networked
individuality)
• We ought to be able
augment classroom
practices with real-
time data.
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

22. Transforming Learning
• If we can show positive outcomes for everyone,
the rest of the ecosystem will coordinate to make
devices and infrastructure happen.
• For students to have high outcomes, we need to
go beyond the curriculum to develop non-
cognitive skills. Teachers and peers most
efficiently do these.
• Relying on MCQs (multiple choice questions)
does not provide “quality of evidence.”
• How do we score essays, proofs, etc.?
• Rubric-scored questions with peer grading or
may be crowd-sourced grading
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

23. User
Knowledge
Modeling
User
Behavior
Modeling
User
Experience
Modeling
User
Profiling
Domain
Modeling
Trend
Analysis
Educational Data Management
and Learning Analytics
Applications
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

24. User knowledge modeling
Questions
• What content does a student Know
? (e.g., specific skills and concepts
or procedural knowledge and
higher order thinking skills)
One Example
• A popular method for
estimating students’
knowledge is Corbett and
Anderson’s knowledge
tracing model (Corbett
and Anderson 1994), an
approach that uses a
Bayesian-network-based
model for estimating the
probability that a student
knows a skill based on
observations of him/her
attempting to perform
the skill.
What data is needed ?
Student’s responses (correct,
incorrect, partially correct, time
spent before responding to a
prompt or question, hints
requested, repetitions of wrong
answers, and errors made
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

25. User behavior modeling
• Questions
• What do patterns of
Student responses
behavior mean for their
learning?
• Are students motivated?
Example :
Students Gaming
Behavior--
attempts to game
the system ( for
example clicking
until you get the
correct answer )
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

26. User/Learner Profiling
• Learner Profiles document the ways a student best
learns. Learner Profiles typically include a broad range
of data: demographic data, data about student
interests, learning preferences, descriptions of the
learning environment student prefer, inter- and intra-
personal skills, existing competencies and those that
need to be developed (in the personal, social-
emotional, academic and career arenas).
• Profiles are dynamic documents, that should change
in both the short- and long-term: students' interests
will change, they will become competent in new
areas, etc. Changes should all be documented in the
Profile. LTC2019 Shalini Urs

27. Domain Modeling
• A domain model is to be created to represent
the key concepts that make up a subject or
topic area like mathematics or art history (i.e.,
domains).
• The domain model also identifies the
relationships among all the key concepts or
units of study.
• Research in domain modeling in educational
data mining and learning analytics investigates
how learning is affected by differences in how
a topic is divided into key concepts at a
particular level of generalization.
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

28. Distributed Cognition Framework
• Groups of Agents Self Organize
• The system co-opts external media for
communication
• Distributed cognition systems function like
connectionist networks
• Information in the network is propagated
selectively
• Novel Knowledge Emerges
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

29. Self Organisation Principle
Autonomous
actors/actants/a
gents
Perform
actions/
interact
Dynamical
Systems
(could be
human, animal,
social or
artificial)
Feedback loop
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

30. Coordination Theory and Dynamical Systems
Distribution
of Tasks
Division of
Labor
Workflow
The coordinative tissue of actions/interactions is
based on the following three processes :
Agents Help Each Other to maximize collective benefits
leading to emergent cognitive capabilities that do not existLTC2019 Shalini Urs

31. The system co-opts external media for
communication
• Interactions between agents happens in their
shared environments
• Media refers to the external phenomenon that
support these interactions
• Agents preferentially learn to use the more efficient
media --the causal influences (information) are
transmitted reliably and accurately
• Thus the external media are assimilated/ is coopted
into the social organization
• Thus the cognitive system is extended into the
physical environment and no longer separatedLTC2019 Shalini Urs

32. Collective Information Processing
in animal kingdoms
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

33. How are paths created ?
Agents find/form a path first and leave behind a trail.
Animals leave behind some traces (trails of pheromones by ants) and
thus providing shared communicationLTC2019 Shalini Urs

34. DCog function like connectionist
networks
• Citations : Information trails by some agents
• Authors are agents who leave behind a trail of
works that they have found it useful
• When we go a restaurant : whether crowded or
empty, some shared communication is happening
• This kind of leaving traces behavior occurs because
it is mutually beneficial , else we hide the traces (
when students hide important books; people do
not share all the information)
• Social Networks are an example of this—Agents
and their links LTC2019 Shalini Urs

35. Navigation and Navigator
• Navigation, in a broader sense, refers to any skill
or study that involves the
determination of position and
direction.
• A navigator is the person
Responsible for its navigation.
• The navigator's primary responsibility is to be
aware of the position of the ship/air craft at all
times and plan the journey, advise the possible
destinations while en route, and ensuring hazards
are avoided. LTC2019 Shalini Urs

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39. Challenges Ahead
• How do we cross over from classrooms to
collaboratories ?
• While this cross over is not only desirable but
perhaps essential, it creates its own set of
challenges
– While we all agree that collaboration is the key,
creating a collaborative learning system and the
conducive environment is not easy
– Creating physical spaces that facilitate collaborative
learning  the infrastructural requirements are quite
considerable.
– Library Spaces are to be reimagined and createdLTC2019 Shalini Urs

40. Changing Mindsets
• Changing mindsets (unfortunately not easy 
• The teacher needs to transit from sage on
stage mode to navigator role.
• Librarians to change from custodial role to
co-creator role of identifying, procuring and
organizing the digital resources curated by
the teacher.
• Facilitating the new model of class rooms
• Creating processes and protocols for
collaboration and control  defining and
delineating the processes is a challengeLTC2019 Shalini Urs

41. Learning Focused
• Crossing from teacher/learner-centric education
to learning centric.
– While learning is individualistic, the process of
learning happens in a complex and connected system.
Understanding the process of learning and the
facilitators and inhibitors of learning is a challenge
– Every player in these systems is constructing his/her
mental models of concepts and learning maps.
Creating a system of personalizable yet common
learning maps is a challenge
– The teacher and the librarian will have to don the role
of pilot and copilot in this learning space.
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

42. Assessments and Certification
• Some form of measurement of learning and
certification is necessary and inevitable.
• The question is, does the new learning spaces
also demand new ways of assessment and
certification?
• Should the rewards go beyond the scores?
• How do we develop the scoring mechanisms?
• For example, many teachers use a system of
scoring and rewarding the classroom
participation, how do we track the navigation
and usage in dynamic digital learning spaces?LTC2019 Shalini Urs

43. Tracking activities and measuring
• While technology enables us to create and
experiment with new ways and forms of
assessments, creating a well-grounded system is
a challenge.
• Developing standards and standardization of
Assessments and Certification : LMS (Learning
Management Systems) such as Moodle have
features that help us in creating different forms
and metrics of assessment and usage.
• A way to continuously track and signal the
progress in learning is needed.LTC2019 Shalini Urs

44. Help Learners through navigation
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

45. Meeting Ground: Co-Piloting Role
• The question of the two key players (teachers
and librarians) creating a meeting ground for
collaboration in the measurement of usage of
resources and its correlation to learning
outcomes is to be addressed.
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

46. Librarians : Be Co-Pilots
LTC2019 Shalini Urs

47. Grand Challenge ?

48. Thank you