Affordance of a learning application for supporting student’s development of academic literacy

Abstract

This paper takes as its starting point the problem area that deals with how students at university can develop academic literacy. One of the methods is through learning technology. This paper examines what affordance a new developed learning technology - the study app - has for developing student learning technology. The RQ is: what are the affordances of a learning application and its integrated design of learning tools in order to support student’s development of academic literacy? The study app is an example of technology enhances learning, where technology supports operational improvement in teaching and learning because students with the study app can experience a ubiquitous learning environment, designed on basis of user studies that are designed to be integrated in student’s everyday life. The question is whether a learning technology also supports the student’s activity oriented toward developing study competences and becoming more academic literate?

The background for this research is a project of development and designing an ICT based learning application for supporting student’s development of study skills. The project is supported by the Faculty of Humanities at University of Southern Denmark and is organized in a project group related to department of Design and Communication. The purpose of the learning application is that it: 1) shall supports students in developing and enhancing study skills, 2) that it is relevant and motivating for users to use, 3) that it a new proposal in relation to existing solutions.

The study is based on Leontiev's theory of activity and its three levels - activities, actions and operations - which provide a systematic insight into the interaction of learners with a learning technology in order to develop their study skills. The paper examines here various learning contexts that are defined as central to study skills and which learning technology seeks to support: a general study competence, a concrete study competence and a link between study and future work. Furthermore, the learning theory on which learning technologies are designed is also examined. The paper concludes with a discussion of technology enhanced learning and which type of enhancement of learning that can be supported by learning technology.