Fighter jets are a critical national asset. Because of the high cost of their manufacture and that of their related equipment, both pilots and maintenance personnel must complete intensive training before coming into contact with a jet. Due to gradual military downsizing, one-on-one training is often impracticable, and the level of familiarization…

This edited volume brings together researchers from various disciplines (i.e. education, psychology, sociology, economy, information technology, engineering) discussing elementary changes at workplaces occurring through digitalization, and reflecting on educational challenges for individuals, organizations, and society. The latest developments in…

This paper employs a socio-technical perspective to explore the role of complex work support systems in organising knowledge and providing opportunities for learning in professional work. Drawing on concepts from infrastructure studies, such systems are seen as work infrastructures which connect information, knowledge, standards and work…

The purpose of the study is to better understand the role of physicality, interactivity, and interface effects in learning with digital content. Drawing on work in cognitive science, human-computer interaction, and multimedia learning, the study argues that interfaces that promote physical interaction can provide "conceptual leverage"…

A "user interface" is the part of an interactive system that bridges the user and the underlying functionality of the system. But people sometimes forget that the best interfaces will provide a platform to optimize the users' interactions so that they support and extend the users' activities in effective, useful, and usable ways. To look at it…

This paper describes a Conceptual Framework underpinning "Systems that Care" in terms of educational systems that take account of motivation, metacognition and affect, in addition to cognition. The main focus is on "motivation," as learning requires the student to put in effort and be engaged, in other words to be motivated to learn. But…

The informatics moment is the moment when a person seeks help in using some digital technology that is new to him or her. This article examines the informatics moment in people's everyday lives as they sought help at a branch public library. Four types of literacy were involved: basic literacy (reading and writing), computer literacy (use of a…

This article presents a reading of the user interface in one public library system. Its aim is to find out the frames and competences required and used in the communication between the computer and the patron. The authors see the computer as a text that is to be read by the user who wants to search for information from the library. The transition…

The technological complexity and richness of a child's environment today is far beyond what any adults today experienced when they were growing up. For example, no adult today knows what it is like to be a four-year-old using his or her first iPhone app or Webkinz account. Therefore, we seek ways to understand what children need in today's new…

This paper investigates the potential for simple open learner models for highly motivated, independent learners, using the example of trainee pilots. In particular we consider whether such users access their learner model to help them identify their current knowledge level, areas of difficulty and specific misconceptions, to help them plan their…

Visions of future computing in residential settings often come with assumptions of seamless, well-functioning, properly configured devices and network connectivity. In the near term, however, processes of setup, maintenance, and troubleshooting are fraught with difficulties; householders regularly report these tasks as confusing, frustrating, and…

Human interactions are multimodal in nature. From simple to complex forms of transferal of information, human beings draw on a multiplicity of communicative modes, such as intonation and gaze, to make sense of everyday experiences. Likewise, the learning process, either within traditional classrooms or Virtual Learning Environments, is shaped by…