Affordances og Teknologi i Dagtilbud: Perception og Semantik i Udviklingen af Digitale Dokumentationsværktøjer

Abstract

Dette er et speciale for kandidatuddannelsen i IT og Læring med Specialisering i Organisatorisk Omstilling ved Aalborg Universitet. Specialet undersøger, hvordan pædagoger i danske dagtilbud opfatter deres arbejdsværktøjers affordances, samt hvilke implikationer dette har for værktøjernes anvendelse i didaktiske sammenhænge. Formålet med at undersøge dette er at udlede designprincipper, der kan informere et digitalt dokumentationsværktøj. Helt konkret tager Specialet afsæt i virksomheden TUMling, og virksomhedens digitale dokumentationsværktøj, af samme navn, der pt er under udvikling. Specialet sigter dog ikke mod at informere TUMling direkte, eller mod at bekræfte TUMling som svaret på problemer der fremstår i praksis. Formålet er udelukkende at udforske omstændigheder omkring dansk dagtilbudspraksis, for bedre at forstå hvordan funktioner i et digital dokumentationsværktøj med fordel kan indrettes, så det understøtter praksis. Specialet anvender en Design Based Research tilgang, og bygger endvidere oven på tre foregående semesterprojekter omkring dokumentationspraksis ift. børn i danske institutions sammenhænge. Hvert af de tidligere projekter har informeret det næste, og dette projekt er således det fjerde projekt i samme kæde af forskning, som har strukket sig fra efteråret 2022 op til nu. Virksomheden TUMling er endvidere opstået som et løsningsforslag i et af de tidligere projekter, hvorefter det blev stiftet som virksomhed. Sidenhen har virksomheden bl.a. modtaget soft funding fra fonden for entreprenørskab og støtte fra den internationale IT virksomhed Dell. Derfor er det også uundgåeligt at italesætte TUMlings klare betydning for retningen i dette speciale. Metodisk set står undersøgelsen i øvrigt på et pragmatisk videnskabsteoretisk grundlag, der tillader forholdsvis frie skift mellem hhv. metode og teorivalg. Fælles for de anvendte metoder er dog deres kvalitative natur. Empiri indsamling foregår gennem en dokument- og diskursanalyse af pædagogisk faglitteratur, et dialogisk og fotoeliciteret interview med en dagtilbudspædagog, en praksis interagerende photovoice øvelse og en gruppe-refleksionsøvelse med fokus på dialog og photo elicitation. Donald A. Normans affordance teori spiller en central rolle både i forståelse og retning for dette speciale. Specifikt fokuseres der på afstanden mellem perciperede affordances og objektive affordances, som kort fortalt handler om, hvorvidt en bruger opfatter eller ikke opfatter de handlemuligheder, et objekt tilbyder. Det undersøges hvordan denne afstand kan mindskes for at indfrie oversete didaktiske potentialer som knytter sig an til objekter der kan anvendes til pædagogisk arbejde i dagtilbudskontekster. Undersøgelsen opererer både med en ontologisk og en epistemologisk pluralitet, for at opnå en mere holistisk forståelse af affordances i praksissammenhænge. Gennem kombination af et socialkonstruktivistisk og et sociomaterielt, posthumanistisk perspektiv, undersøges det således hvordan pædagoger opfatter deres arbejdsværktøjers affordances, samt hvordan denne opfattelse bidrager til vidensdannelse og didaktiske handlinger i dagtilbudspraksis. På den socialkonstruktivistiske side forholder undersøgelsen sig helt konkret til sin empiri ud fra Etienne Wengers teorier om praksisfællesskaber og situeret læring. På den socio-materielle, posthumanistiske side forholder undersøgelsen sig primært til empirien, ud fra Bruno Latours Actor-Network Theory, samt Estrid Sørensens perspektiver på sociomaterialisme. Det er et bevidst standpunkt i undersøgelsen, at denne epistemologiske pluralitet understøtter en mere holistisk forståelse af undersøgelsesfeltet, som både er stærkt forankret i sociale dynamikker, men som samtidig ikke kan undse sig påvirkning fra nonhumane aktører, der indgår i det handlende netværk. Den epistemologiske pluralitet i undersøgelsen, er endvidere et produkt af at have startet specialet med et initialt fokus rettet primært mod at udforske de nonhumane aktørers rolle i dagtilbudskontekster, samt hvilke implikationer objekters rolle ville have for at informere et digitalt design. Forfølgelse af emergente tråde i undersøgelsen har imidlertid forårsaget at en socialkonstruktivistisk vinkel har været nødvendig at inddrage for at danne en holistisk forståelse af undersøgelsesfeltet. Denne omstændighed er endvidere fokus for specialets diskussionsafsnit. Specialets konklusion roterer omkring hvordan de, af empirien, udledte designprincipper kan informere et digitalt dokumentationsværktøj. På et konkret plan indikerer undersøgelsen, at et digitalt dokumentationsværktøj til danske dagtilbud bør have fokus på at skabe platform for både individuelle såvel som kollektive refleksioner. Ligeledes indikerer undersøgelsen at et sådant digitalt dokumentationsværktøj, med fordel ville kunne trække på både social konstruktivistismen og sociomaterialismen, for at placerer sig selv som en nonhuman aktør i en autoritær rolle, og dermed skabe gunstige interventionsmuligheder. Afslutningsvis perspektiveres der til hvilke implikationer undersøgelsens resultater har for den konkrete, fremadrettede software udvikling af TUMling teknologien.

This is a Master’s thesis for the Master of Science (MSc) in Information Technology, Specializing in ICT, Learning and Organizational Change at Aalborg University. The thesis seeks to investigate how pedagogues in Danish early childhood education settings perceive the affordances of their work tools and the implications this has for their application in practical pedagogical and early education contexts. The aim of this investigation is to extract design principles that can inform the development of a digital documentation tool, aimed at the Danish early education sector. Specifically, the thesis is based on the company TUMling and its digital documentation tool, of the same name, which is currently under development. However, it is important to note that the thesis does not aim to directly inform TUMling or confirm TUMling as the solution to any practical problems. The purpose is solely to explore circumstances surrounding Danish early childhood educational practice to find a better understanding of how a digital documentation tool can be structured to support the actual practice, in this specific field of inquiry. The thesis uses a Design-Based Research approach that furthermore builds on three previous semester projects, that all relates to documentation practices concerning children in Danish institutional settings. Each of the previous projects has informed the next, making this present project, the fourth project in the same chain of research, which first set sail in autumn 2022. TUMling, as a company, is deeply integrated in this research, since it emerged as a solution proposal in one of the earlier projects, after which it was established as an actual business. The company has since then received soft funding from the Foundation for Entrepreneurship as well as support from the international IT company Dell. Therefore it is unavoidable to address the clear significance of TUMlingm in regards to the direction of this master thesis. Methodologically, the research process, furthermore, stands on a pragmatic scientific basis, allowing a relatively free transitions between method and theory choices. However, the commonality across all used methods is their qualitative nature. Data collection is done respectively through a document and discourse analysis of pedagogical literature, a dialogic and photo-elicited interview with a pedagogue, a practice-based photovoice exercise, as well as a group reflection exercise, with a focus on dialogue and photo elicitation. Donald A. Norman's theory of affordances plays a vital role in both the understanding and directional course of this thesis. Specifically, the thesis focuses on the gap between perceived affordances and real affordances, which essentially deals with whether or not a user perceives possible action that an object has to offer. The investigation examines how this gap can be minimized, prevented or dissolved, to activate overlooked didactic potentials linked to objects that can be used in pedagogical work in early childhood education settings. The research operates with both an ontological and epistemological plurality, to reach a more holistic understanding of affordances in practice contexts. Through the combination of a social constructivist and a sociomaterial, post humanistic perspective, this thesis examines how pedagogues perceive their worktools affordances, as well as how their perception contributes to knowledge formation and didactic actions in early childhood education. On the social constructivist side, the study concretely relates to its empirical data through Etienne Wenger's theories on communities of practice and situated learning. On the sociomaterial, posthumanist side, the study on the other hand primarily draws on Bruno Latour's Actor-Network Theory and Estrid Sørensen's perspectives on sociomaterialism. It is a deliberate position of the study that this epistemological plurality supports a more holistic understanding of the field of inquiry, which is deeply rooted in social dynamics but also cannot ignore the influence of nonhuman actors that play an active role in the network within early childhood educational practices. The epistemological plurality in this study is also a product of starting this thesis with an initial focus primarily on exploring the role of nonhuman actors in early childhood education contexts and what implications objects’ roles could have for informing a digital design. However, the pursuit of emergent themes during my research, made it necessary to include a social constructivist perspective, to form a more holistic understanding of the field of inquiry. This circumstance is furthermore the focus of the discussion section of this thesis. The thesis concludes by pointing out how the design principles, derived from the empirical data, can inform a digital documentation tool. Specifically, the study indicates that a digital documentation tool for Danish early childhood education should have a focus on creating a platform for both individual as well as collective reflections. Additionally, the study suggests that the design of such a tool could draw on both social constructivism and sociomaterialism, to secure a position as a nonhuman actor in an authoritative role, hence creating favorable opportunities for intervention. The final reflection consists in consideration of what implications the findings in this thesis has for TUMlings actual software development on a concrete and prospective level.

A master thesis from Aalborg University

Affordances og Teknologi i Dagtilbud: Perception og Semantik i Udviklingen af Digitale Dokumentationsværktøjer

[Affordances and Technology in Early Childhood Education: Perception and Semantics in the Development of Digital Documentation Tools]