Business - Higher Education co-creation model
Making cooperation-partnerships between teachers, school and the company delivering the educational technology is useful. On the one hand because IT-persons, teachers and students may need explanations and help by installing, using and building confidence in using the educational technology environment. The educational company needs the feedback about how their products are used in the teaching and learning practice and the experience of the users to improve their product which in turn leads to a better use in the teaching practice. Based on such local partnerships experience in the ViSuAL project the lessons learned are captured in a business – (higher)education (BUS-HEI) cocreation partnership model. This model might be an interesting frame for teachers but also for their team leaders and mangers.
In the video-supported collaborative learning a joint pedagogical vision of teacher educators and education technology companies and the collaboration between them is enhancing innovation through knowledge exchange. Educational institutions need education technology companies that offer services and platforms for storage and edit videos produced by teachers or students. The purpose is to define the significant factors of university-industry collaboration in the context of video-supported collaborative learning (Parjanen, Hyypiä & Laitinen-Väänänen, (forthcoming)). Within the ViSuAL project, a model describing the Business (BUS) - Higher education (HEI) co-creation was collaboratively produced (Figure 1)
The business - higher education (BUS-HEI) co-creation model
Higher education institutions play a key role in generating the knowledge, innovation and human capital required to increase international competitiveness in a knowledge-based economy. To accomplish this task, universities require modern and fresh approaches towards research, innovation and knowledge transfer. One of the core strategies is the university-industry collaboration (Parjanen, Hyypiä & Laitinen-Väänänen, (forthcoming); Mora, Detmer & Vieira 2010). The constructed BUS-HEI model consists of three layers around the core target of the process: video-supported collaborative learning of the students. The layers describe different factors referring to the societal environment, the prerequisites, processes, and key-actors in facilitating the development of video-supported collaborative learning.
(1) Knowledge building ecosystem
The outermost layer refers to the understanding that the collaboration between partners builds each partner’s knowledge and the networks have similarities with the ecosystem way of working. Virolainen, Heikkinen, Laitinen-Väänänen & Rautapuro (forthcoming) consider the use of the learning ecosystem concept to describe the nature of contemporary cooperation between education and the world of work. In the model, the concept knowledge building ecosystem refers to a process where knowledge is considered to be co-constructed in collaboration between equal partners.
(2) Goal setting, commitment, continuing dialogue, reflective assessment and trust building
The second layer focuses on the pre-requirements relevant to the development of the video-supported learning. These factors are necessary for the BUS-HEI collaboration. Goal setting is necessary for directing the joint process. Commitment is something each partner individually is responsible for. Continuing dialogue and reflective assessment are processes done together with the partners to build trust and shared understanding.
(3) Open innovation process, research-based service development, practice-based research
Third layer consists of processes crucial in opening the possibility for both HEIs and companies to receive added value from the collaboration. In the open innovation process, organizations use ideas and knowledge of external actors in their innovation activities (Laursen & Salter 2006). The search for new product or service ideas and solutions to existing problems goes beyond the organization’s boundaries (Chesbrough 2003). In this model, the technology users (teachers and students) are active participants. User-driven innovation processes are often interpretative - the goal is to discover new meanings via interaction and continuous dialog among people and organizations with different perspectives and backgrounds. The process is on-going and open-ended. (Lester & Piore, 2004.) In this kind of process, the commitment of the participants is essential. Research-based service development and its measurable outcomes help assess the effects of the used technology and thus provide effective teaching and learning. The goal of the company is to gain such knowledge of their product or service, that can be polished to better serve current and potential users, and thus, make the collaboration profitable for them. The scientific objectives may not be in parallel with the company view. It is important to chart the common motives together at the beginning, to help them jointly build a process that benefits both sides.
According to practice-based research approach organizational contexts should be studied by adopting a ‘pragmatic view’ able to explore the dimension of knowledge ‘localized, embedded and invested in practice’ (Carlile, 2002, 445). It is essential to explore how users of the technology solve their problems, how they construct their competence in practice. Practice is the dimension able to convey the process by which an actor’s know-how is built: the ‘trial and error’ process (Carlile, 2002, 446). Understanding the practices of teachers and students enables interpretation of the situated learning processes that take place in teaching and learning.
(4) Teachers, Education technology companies and Higher education institutions are seen as key actors in the collaboration. Education technology companies need to be in contact both with the teachers or teacher educators and institutions. Teachers bring the ideas into the institutions and after that the formal contract between businesses and institutions are made. The collaboration itself takes place in many different ways and forms. However, the early mentioned prerequisites and processes need to be considered and applied to ensure the co-constructive nature of the collaboration.
Digital and distance learning has taken a huge leap recently. Digital learning practices ask for platforms and tools to promote studying and interaction taking place during the learning process. HEIs in needing those tools will collaborate with companies providing such utilities. From the company perspective, in further developing their products and services, companies need users’ feedback and for that teachers and students are an important source. On the other hand, teachers need experience to make full use of the potential of digitalisation so that it is in line with HEI’s pedagogical approaches and practices. In order to achieve the goals of both, cooperation and close interaction together with research are needed (Parjanen, Hyypiä & Laitinen-Väänänen, (forthcoming)).
(5) In the core of the model are the learners involved in video-supported collaborative pedagogy. The use of videos in education has an impact on different stakeholder groups like teachers, students, educational technology personnel and technology providers (Hyypiä, Parjanen & Melkas 2020). Collaborative learning is thus an activity that takes place both in education, in working life and in between those. It is important to make students’ perceptions explicit and take them into account when designing teaching processes. A multi-faceted, human-oriented vision and a very clear aim for using video-supported collaborative learning solutions in a higher education are essential (Hyypiä, Parjanen & Melkas 2018).
References
Carlile, P.R. (2002) A Pragmatic View of Knowledge and Boundaries: Boundary Objects in New Product Development. Organization Science 13(4), 442-55.
Chesbrough, H. (2003) Open Innovation. The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology. Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
Hyypiä, M., Parjanen, S. & Melkas, H. (2020). Human impact assessment of video use in education. EAPRIL 2019 Conference Proceedings, 27-29 November 2019, Tartu, Estonia, Issue 6 - April2020, Issn 2406-4653.
Hyypiä, M., Parjanen, S. & Melkas, H. (2018). Students’ perceptions of video utilization in higher education. Presented at EAPRIL2018 conference, 12-14 November 2018, Portorož, Slovenia.
LaitinenVäänänen, S., Parjanen, S., Hyypiä, M., Küüsvek A., Cattaneo, A., & De Jong, F. (submitted). Building Higher Education - Business partnership model for collaborative learning. Journal of Education and Work
Laursen, K. and Salter, A. (2006) Open for innovation: The role of openness in explaining innovation performance among U.K. manufacturing firms. Strategic Management Journal, 27, 131-150.
Lester, R. and Piore, M. (2004) Innovation the Missing Dimension. Harvard University Press, London.
Mora, J-G., Detmer, A. & Vieira, M-J. (2010) Good Practices in University-Enterprise Partnerships report.
Parjanen, S., Hyypiä, M. & Laitinen-Väänänen, S. (forthcoming). The university-industry collaboration in the video-supported collaborative learning. Submitted to the EAPRIL2020 conference.
Virolainen, M. H., Heikkinen H. L. T., Laitinen-Väänänen, S. & Rautopuro, J. (forthcoming). Ecosystems of learning and adult education: The transformation of learning organizations and their actor networks toward a landscape of ecosystems. In M. Malloch, L. Cairns, B. N. O’Connor & K. Evans. (Ed) 2020. Handbook of learning and work. SAGE.
