Inaugural issue perspectives onInformation and Learning Sciencesas an integral scholarly nexus

Abstract

Purpose Many of today’s information and technology systems and environments facilitate inquiry, learning, consciousness-raising and knowledge-building. Such platforms include e-learning systems which have learning, education and/or training as explicit goals or objectives. They also include search engines, social media platforms, video-sharing platforms, and knowledge sharing environments deployed for work, leisure, inquiry, and personal and professional productivity. The new journal, Information and Learning Sciences, aims to advance our understanding of human inquiry, learning and knowledge-building across such information, e-learning, and socio-technical system contexts. Design/methodology/approach This article introduces the journal at its launch under new editorship in January, 2019. The article, authored by the journal co-editors and all associate editors, explores the lineage of scholarly undertakings that have contributed to the journal's new scope and mission, which includes past and ongoing scholarship in the following arenas: Digital Youth, Constructionism, Mutually Constitutive Ties in Information and Learning Sciences, and Searching-as-Learning. Findings The article offers examples of ways in which the two fields stand to enrich each other towards a greater holistic advancement of scholarship. The article also summarizes the inaugural special issue contents from the following contributors: Caroline Haythornthwaite; Krista Glazewski and Cindy Hmelo-Silver; Stephanie Teasley; Gary Marchionini; Caroline R. Pitt; Adam Bell, Rose Strickman and Katie Davis; Denise Agosto; Nicole Cooke; and Victor Lee. Originality/value The article, this special issue, and the journal in full, are among the first formal and ongoing publication outlets to deliberately draw together and facilitate cross-disciplinary scholarship at this integral nexus. We enthusiastically and warmly invite continued engagement along these lines in the journal’s pages, and also welcome related, and wholly contrary points of view, and points of departure that may build upon or debate some of the themes we raise in the introduction and special issue contents.

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“…Many scholars are advocating for the skilling of staff and students in the use of (ICTs) for teaching and learning purposes in line with global trends (Charalambidis, 2014;Mabunda, 2010;Perienen, 2020;Pretorius & Hattingh, 2017;Rana et al, 2020;Sharma, 2020) However, despite the important role that ICTs play in students' careers, access to these technologies for many of them is a great challenge, especially in developing countries (Avgerou, Hayes, & La Rovere, 2016;James, 2005;Lwoga & Sangeda, 2019). This limits the use and appropriation of technology in HE creating different forms of the digital divide (James, 2005;Reynolds et al, 2019;Sharma, 2020). Concrete opportunities, encouragement, and support thus still need to be developed to improve the utilisation of technology by students in HE.…”

Choice and interest in designed learning environments: the case of FUSE Studios

“…In particular, this article contributes to scholarly and design-based conversations on how e-learning innovationsespecially those situated within the digital youth and constructionism strands of researchcan be designed in ways that support robust opportunities for learning for young people (Reynolds et al, 2019). The definition of e- learning that informs this study is based on Haythornthwaite and Andrews' (2011;Haythornthwaite et al, 2016) expansive notion of e-learning as not just learning experiences that have been transferred to the "online stage" (Reynolds et al, 2019, p. 8), but rather as learning which leverages socio-technical innovation to stretch learners' experiences across hybrid forms of place, space and disciplinary borders.…”

“…The definition of e- learning that informs this study is based on Haythornthwaite and Andrews' (2011;Haythornthwaite et al, 2016) expansive notion of e-learning as not just learning experiences that have been transferred to the "online stage" (Reynolds et al, 2019, p. 8), but rather as learning which leverages socio-technical innovation to stretch learners' experiences across hybrid forms of place, space and disciplinary borders. In particular, the analysis presented in this study responds to Reynolds et al (2019)'s call to our interdisciplinary fields to better understand e-learning systems designed to support human inquiry and learningand to do so in ways that leverage a range of methodological and analytical tools.…”

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Purpose -Empirical investigation into the e-learning innovation, FUSE Studios, is both timely and relevant because FUSE is rapidly expanding domestically and abroad and there is continued interest in the interdisciplinary fields of information and learning sciences in the constructs of choice and interest as they relate to the provision and design of learning experiences. In particular, this paper aims to contribute to scholarly and design-based conversations on how e-learning innovationsespecially those situated within the digital youth and constructionism strands of researchcan be designed in ways that support robust opportunities for learning for young people (Reynolds et al, 2019).Design/methodology/approach -Drawing upon a large corpus of mixed-methods data including computer-generated activity log data, youth survey data and studio facilitator interview data, this paper examines patterns of use and interest-related experience among young people in a range of FUSE Studios settings across the USA.Findings -The results suggest that student choice within FUSE's curricular and Studio model tends to support a broad exploration of interests across a wide range of youth, rather than a deep dive into particular Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) content areas.Practical implications -Alongside the broad exploration that was found to characterize the patterns of student choice in FUSE Studios, a striking number of students from those surveyed reported that FUSE supported their interest development: they liked the FUSE challenges, were always able to find something of interest to do in the FUSE Studios and saw the FUSE challenges are supportive of their current and future interests. (See similar findings in Stevens et al, 2016).

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“…Purpose -Empirical investigation into the e-learning innovation, FUSE Studios, is both timely and relevant because FUSE is rapidly expanding domestically and abroad and there is continued interest in the interdisciplinary fields of information and learning sciences in the constructs of choice and interest as they relate to the provision and design of learning experiences. In particular, this paper aims to contribute to scholarly and design-based conversations on how e-learning innovationsespecially those situated within the digital youth and constructionism strands of researchcan be designed in ways that support robust opportunities for learning for young people (Reynolds et al, 2019).…”