weSPOT: A Personal and Social Approach to Inquiry-Based Learning

Alexander Mikroyannidis (The Open University, United Kingdom)

Alexandra Okada (The Open University, United Kingdom)

Peter Scott (The Open University, United Kingdom)

Ellen Rusman (Open Universiteit, The Netherlands)

Marcus Specht (Open Universiteit, The Netherlands)

Krassen Stefanov (Sofia University, Bulgaria)

Pavel Boytchev (Sofia University, Bulgaria)

Aristidis Protopsaltis (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Germany)

Paul Held (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Germany)

Sonia Hetzner (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Germany)

Kathy Kikis-Papadakis (Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, Greece)

Foteini Chaimala (Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, Greece)

Abstract: weweSPOT is a new European initiative proposing a novel approach for personal and social inquiry-based learning in secondary and higher education. weSPOT aims at enabling students to create their mash-ups out of cloud-based tools and services in order to perform scientific investigations. Students will also be able to share their inquiry accomplishments in social networks and receive feedback from the learning environment and their peers. This paper presents the research framework of the weSPOT project, as well as the initial inquiry-based learning scenarios that will be piloted by the project in real-life educational settings.SPOT is a new European initiative proposing a novel approach for personal and social inquiry-based learning in secondary and higher education. weSPOT aims at enabling students to create their mash-ups out of cloud-based tools and services in order to perform scientific investigations. Students will also be able to share their inquiry accomplishments in social networks and receive feedback from the learning environment and their peers. This paper presents the research framework of the weSPOT project, as well as the initial inquiry-based learning scenarios that will be piloted by the project in real-life educational settings.

Keywords: cloud learning environment, inquiry-based learning, personal learning environment, scientific inquiry, social learning

Categories: L.2.2, L.3.0, L.3.4, L.3.6, L.6.2