Research Studio MicroLearning & Information Environments

New educational concepts, design-oriented didactics and smart media applications

The Research Studio MicroLearning & Information Environments is located at the trans IT Center of the University of Innsbruck (Entwicklungs- und Transfercenter Universität Innsbruck GmbH). With its interdisciplinary and application-oriented R&D activities, the Studio forms a part of regional and international networks, researching and developing innovative systems in the areas of tension between education, knowledge and ICT. Based on temporal diagnostic considerations regarding the medialization of all areas of life, the Studio develops future-oriented solutions which are of relevance to both economy and industry, as well as public institutions. At the points of intersection between technological and cultural developments new forms of working, learning and knowing emerge, which must be cultivated. New models, applications and methods are needed in order to give shape to these interfaces. Today's widespread forms of virtual courses and classrooms do not meet the requirements of tomorrow. They fall short in both corporate and academic education systems.

The creation of learning environments and information systems which are dynamic, flexible and suited to everyday use poses a significant challenge with regard to processes involving education and further training, as well as communication and knowledge management. The Studio MicroLearning & Information Environments approaches this challenge with the appraisal and reassessment of microdimensions and their relation to meso and macro dimensions. It favours educational concepts involving bricolage , design-oriented didactics and smart media applications. The concepts of Integrated Microlearning (IML) and Integrated Microinformation (IMI) are of central importance here. On the one hand, this entails multi-perspective embedding of small learning steps and clearly arranged units of information into comprehensive concepts involving didactics, the transfer of knowledge, the evaluation and measurement of achievement, as well as audiovisual technology and administrative systems. On the other hand, it entails processes of emergence based on microcontent and second-order applications under the motto "making use of the use of media".

At the heart of the Studio's technological developments lies the Knowledge Pulse®, a web-based, platform-independent client-server system which can be employed in parallel on mobile phones, desktop PCs or PDAs. A client ("smart switch") is installed on these devices, delivering impulses for micro-activities based on the learning environment and the individual user's pattern of knowledge development. The "unobtrusive push principle" ensures the delivery of impulses which support learning, imparting of information, evaluation and attention management, based on individual usage habits. The server-side MicroStep Manager® records the micro-activities, evaluates them and encourages users to take further learning steps in a personalized manner.

Continuous development of quality is a hallmark of our philosophy. On the one hand, the Studio MicroLearning & Information Environments focuses on evaluation in terms of retrospective monitoring of effectiveness, i.e. whether the targeted educational measures bring about the desired (learning) success. In addition, the following didactical questions are put up for discussion: have the newly thought-out models proven to be of value in the context of Microlearning? Which scenarios do justice to which learning cultures, users, or types of learning? Questions of gender, interaction (i.e. human - machine) and media aesthetics are also taken into account. After all, evaluation also functions as basic and concomitant research. This primarily concerns the improvement and adaptation of technical implementations, user experience, and whether and to what extent one can observe a transfer of knowledge or the sustainability of the imparted learning matter.

Novel applications and products offer solutions - for the end-consumer, as well as corporations and institutions:

Knowledge Pulse®