Sociotechnical Plan Analysis

 

The sociotechnical plan in Affectibility in Educational Technologies: A Socio-Technical Perspective Design is constituted of XO laptop (technical) and affectibility (socio).  The particulars are that the study was based in a public elementary school in Campinas, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which the participants consisted of teachers and students (~530 people) (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2013).  Affectibility has been defined by the authors as being the elements such as good or bad, emotional, and/or enjoyable attributes, possibly stirring emotive responses in the users (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2013).  Hayashi & Baranauskas employ their concept of affectability of the XO laptop in various settings from formal, informal, and technical perspectives.  They state the socio-technical method provides the notion of moving beyond traditional settings, encompassing wherever learning occurs.  The assertion of socio-technical techniques regarding the premise of learning anywhere, a cultural construct, feeds the architecture and research within the bounds of educational systems.  The cultural construct is a mutual socio attribute of the socio-technical plan along with affectibility.  It is crucial to mention earlier work done by Hayashi & Baranauskas (2012), where they reference prior research regarding the XO laptop and the effects that culture has had on soci-perceptions of the participants.  The overarching graphic of the sociotechnical plan is represented in figure 1, which presents the Semiotic Onion with Hall's interrelated perspectives as the functional foundation for the science of design and cooperating pursuits (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2013).  The authors take the foundational view in figure 1 and provide an enhanced view in figure 2, the framework for the study of affectibility in interaction design of educational digital artifacts.

 

The socio-technical plan evaluation can be assessed through the four case studies presented in the journal article.  Thus, allowing the reader to ascertain forces (socio attributes of culture and affectability) present that strengthen and challenge the innovation trigger (XO laptop).  Case 1, Transforming homework assignments – provided teachers feedback concerning the emotions that can be invoked for students concerning topics.  Affectability was demonstrated by a student who previously displayed low self-esteem and was excluded; through homework activities in class, the student showed affectability of happiness and pride (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2013).  The teacher also experienced a positive experience, which as one of the study participants, further reinforced the presence of affectability.  In the second case, Integrating the School in Interdisciplinary Activities – researchers, students, teachers, and other employees created scenarios for using the laptop, specifically "Students and Consumption at Home," where students took pictures of products and advertisements via the laptop webcam at home.  A specific example of culture's socio attribute was the Portuguese teacher who had students write diaries concerning their habits of the photographed products.  Also, the English as a second language teacher had students take pictures of anything in English to learn the foreign words' meaning.  The socio-attribute of affectibility was demonstrated by teachers' frequent use of words such as 'happiness' and 'sense of accomplishment' to describe students' attitudes when performing the activities (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2013).  Case 3, XO inside and outside the school's walls – students used the XO laptops at the annual parade, where they displayed their pride in the opportunity to utilize the laptop in this outside the school event.  In another event of a school trip to the zoo, teachers stated that students were happy to discuss the laptop with bystanders seeing them use the laptops is another example of the socio-attribute of affectibility brought on through the use of a novel technology.  The technical attribute through the use of the XO laptops at school, outside of school, and at home demonstrated the relationship people have in the present-day world with technology – one device that allows for a multitude of uses everywhere (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2013).  The fourth case, Student Volunteers – is a product of increased use of technology and lack of financial resources, facilitating students to provide technical support to students and teachers.  A specific example of the socio-technical plan in action is a student volunteer sharing a challenging experience working with disabled students.  The volunteer related "she was aware of the fact that the experience helped her to be more patient and to understand other people's needs.  The experience involved technical (use of laptop), formal (observation of rules of behavior in social interaction, formal meeting, etc.), and informal (gathering with other monitors) aspects" (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2013, p. 64).

So far, the majority of socio-attributes present have been qualitative, through observations of the teachers.  The authors describe that they utilized a quantitative method to ascertain the existence of affective states through employing the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM), which is "a pictographic evaluation tool that captures the affective states of the subjects regarding an object or a situation" (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2013, p. 64).  The results provide quantitative proof of the existence of affective attributes by the students.

 

 

 

References

 

Hayashi, E. C., & Baranauskas, M. C. C. (2013). Affectibility in educational technologies: A socio-technical perspective for design. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 16(1), 57-68.