Boundary objects in collaborative work and learning

Boundary objects are artifacts, processes, concepts and other entities that provide bridges across boundaries and act as shared references that are meaningful for learners and collaborators with different backgrounds. In this paper, we explore cooperation in a cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural context, focusing on the opportunities for learning that arise at different boundaries and on corresponding boundary objects to facilitate both collaboration and learning. We present and discuss a study we conducted within a Cooperation Technology course. The discussion provides implications for collaboration support across boundaries, including insights on why they are important, how to facilitate their creation, and how to use technologies for that. The implications are formulated as instruction for designing university courses, but can be used in a wider context.

[1]  B. Glaser.  The Constant Comparative Method of Qualitative Analysis , 1965 .

[2]  L. Vygotsky.  Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes: Harvard University Press , 1978 .

[3]  D. Boud,et al.  Reflection, turning experience into learning , 1985 .

[4]  Alan H. Bond,et al.  Distributed Artificial Intelligence , 1988 .

[5]  Susan Leigh Star,et al.  The Structure of Ill-Structured Solutions: Boundary Objects and Heterogeneous Distributed Problem Solving , 1989, Distributed Artificial Intelligence.

[6]  Susan Leigh Star,et al.  Institutional Ecology, `Translations' and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39 , 1989 .

[7]  E. Wenger.  Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems , 2000 .

[8]  Gerhard Fischer,et al.  Articulating the Task at Hand and Making Information Relevant to It , 2001, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[9]  Paul R. Carlile,et al.  A Pragmatic View of Knowledge and Boundaries: Boundary Objects in New Product Development , 2002, Organ. Sci..

[10]  Ekaterina Prasolova-Førland,et al.  Virtual spaces as artifacts: implications for the design of educational CVEs , 2003, Proceedings. 2003 International Conference on Cyberworlds.

[11]  H. Bernard,et al.  Techniques to Identify Themes , 2003 .

[12]  A. Tsui,et al.  Learning as boundary-crossing in school–university partnership ☆ , 2007 .

[13]  Gerhard Fischer,et al.  Distances and diversity: sources for social creativity , 2005, C&C '05.

[14]  Youngjin Yoo,et al.  The Dynamics of Boundary Objects, Social Infrastructures and Social Identities , 2005, ECIS.

[15]  Hans Spada,et al.  Barriers and Biases in Computer-Mediated Knowledge Communication , 2010 .

[16]  Gerhard Fischer,et al.  Knowledge Communication in Design Communities , 2005 .

[17]  David Boud,et al.  Productive Reflection at Work: Learning for Changing Organizations , 2006 .

[18]  Lone Dirckinck-Holmfeld.  Designing for Collaboration and Mutual Negotiation of Meaning - Boundary Objects in Networked Learning , 2006 .

[19]  Graham R. Gibbs,et al.  Analysing Qualitative Data , 2008 .

[20]  Daniel Forgues,et al.  Information technology as boundary object for transformational learning , 2009, J. Inf. Technol. Constr..

[21]  Volker Wulf,et al.  Community-based learning: The core competency of residential, research-based universities , 2007, Int. J. Comput. Support. Collab. Learn..

[22]  N. Griffiths,et al.  Students' Perceptions of the Factors Leading to Unsuccessful Group Collaboration , 2010, 2010 10th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies.

[23]  Jonathan Raper,et al.  Mobile Devices as ‘Boundary Objects’ on Field Trips , 2010 .

[24]  Paul Young,et al.  Collaboration problems in conducting a group project in a software engineering course , 2011 .

[25]  Ilana Seidel Horn,et al.  Novice Teacher Learning and Motivation Across Contexts: Assessment Tools as Boundary Objects , 2011 .

[26]  Beth Herbel-Eisenmann,et al.  Detecting Students' Experiences of Discontinuities Between Middle School and High School Mathematics Programs: Learning During Boundary Crossing , 2012 .

[27]  Mikhail Fominykh,et al.  vAcademia -- Educational Virtual World with 3D Recording , 2012, 2012 International Conference on Cyberworlds.

[28]  Eugenia Y. Huang,et al.  Measuring Boundary Objects in an Attempt to Explain Innovativeness , 2013, 2013 46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[29]  Monica Divitini,et al.  Hands-on learning of Cooperation Technology: Combining knowledge construction and reflection , 2013, Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering (TALE).

[30]  Y. Engeström,et al.  Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research , 2014 .

[31]  Andrey Smorkalov,et al.  Facilitating Creative Collaborative Activities with Dedicated Tools in a 3D Virtual World , 2014, IDT/IIMSS/STET.