Agora Learning Laboratory (ALL)

Aims

The aim of the Agora Learning Laboratory (ALL) is to create a research and development center of internationally high level. The particular focus of ALL is to work as a research training environment, and it bases its activities on multidisciplinary expertise of University of Jyväskylä. The aim of ALL is to facilitate research on virtual learning environments, research-based evaluation of these environments as well as the use of this knowledge in designing powerful learning environments. One of the central research avenues in ALL is focused on the integration of pedagogical models and technological tools in supporting deeper level learning and interaction. The contexts of the research projects are related to different content areas and educational levels (schools, universities, work organizations). The aim is also to develop models of e-Learning in collaboration with the basic research of the university and the practical solutions of companies. This kind of integration of high-level scientific knowledge, pedagogical expertise and know-how on product development enables rapid transfer of knowledge from research and development projects to serve the needs of educational and working organizations.

Tasks

Compiling knowledge
•	Analysis of the areas of strength at the University of Jyväskylä
•	Creation of scientific framework		
•	Surveys (e.g. eLearning in the world)
•	Seminars and workshops (e.g. visionary seminars to find out the future trends in R&D work)

New research and development projects
Two main projects initiated in 2002:
•	Development of research and learning environment for undergraduate and postgraduate students, methodological development related to research on learning environments and usability (automating data collection, data analysis, visualization) – see Appendix 1
•	Development of network pedagogical models and evaluation methods innovative learning environments, particularly authentic assessment and digital portfolios

Initiators

Prof. Päivi Häkkinen (Leader of the laboratory), Prof. Tommi Kärkkäinen, Prof. Heikki Lyytinen, Prof. Pertti Saariluoma, Prof. Pasi Tyrväinen

Organization

ALL is an umbrella organization, in which the main collaborators represent following groups / sites: Institute for Educational Research, Research group on ‘ICT in Learning and Working Environments (including Peda.net), Virtual University, Information Technology Research Institute, IT teacher education, User-friendly computing, Group technologies, HOLVI – Virtual reality laboratory.

Appendix 1

Agora Center’s Research and Learning Environment
(A-KIT = Agora Exploratory Environment for Knowledge Discovery)

Background

As part of InBCT-project’s Agora Learning Laboratory subproject the development of Agora Center’s joint research and learning environment has been initiated. Goal of the initiative is to design and realize an exploratory platform that can be utilized for visualization and interactive analysis of quantitative data resulting from questionnaires and other sources. Together with an appropriate documentation of  themes, methods, and tools the environment can enhance both research activities and method understanding of undergraduate and graduate students and more advanced researchers taking part in Agora Center and Agora Learning Laboratory multidisciplinary co-operation. The system can be readily utilized, e.g., for learning and usability studies in various contexts. The system differentiates from the existing environments in the following ways:
-	design and realization will be carried out in close interaction with the end-users
-	basic assumptions and underlying principles of the used methods within the analysis chain will be included and documented as part of the system to enable the utilization of it for student and researcher education
-	the system does not replace, e.g., statistical methods but enlarge and support their possibilities
-	stepwise refinement of the system functionality will be validated by utilizing the system itself
-	technical design principles are extensibility and platform independence
-	basics of new neural network like techniques to be included will be published in international journals

Timetable

                               Year:
    Task 	             2002	           2003	         2004	
 Feasibility study: choice of implementation technology 				
 Design and implementation of GUI prototype				
 Testing and modification of GUI prototype				
 Linear techniques for visualization (e.g., PCA, ICA)				
 Nonlinear neural network techniques for visualization				
 Applications in questionnaires and measurement data analysis