Hejsan
An experimental approach to fostering hybrid collaboration through collective decision making.
Hejsan
4th semester project M.A. 2021
Team work* (Barbara Schussmann, Christoffer Pedersen)
Collaboration with Akademiska Hus
*Each individual worked on this project equally. Additionally I worked on the video and animations.
How might we foster collaboration between students in a hybrid learning space?
The use-case consisted of an online collaborative coding workshop with 12 students and 2 teachers. The students were working together in groups of 3-5 in order to solve tasks given to them. 2 of the students were working off location.
The goal for our project was to equalise the power dynamic in a hybrid learning group, highlight the presence of everyone involved and create collective consciousness through space, music and mood.
Video
During the workshops, some of the key insights we observed and received were higher engagement between students in the breakout rooms made in “Zoom”, the need for mental separation of spaces for different behaviours f.e. work, relaxation, gaming etc. in order to be focused. As well as how music plays a big part in the intergroup communication. Therefore we set our center of attention on 4 categories: community, communication, spaces and behaviour.
In the process of defining “Space”, we realised the fact that we are all conditioned to use our phones, computers, tablets etc. for different aspects, such as messages, social media, Youtube, Netflix etc. A lot of these interactions are conditioned behaviours “taught” by companies who are equally fighting for our attention at every waking moment of the day.
Knowing that the students were already struggling with this, we decided to aim for a change of mental space, through a positive learned behaviour instead of rearranging every off-site student’s living room. By creating a space, solely for collaboration purposes, we might be able to implement changes that allow for increased intergroup contact without distractions.
Change of Space
Via the collective change of space dial, it is possible to switch to a preferred space for a preferred action.
Each connected device has to switch to the same space, be it Creative, Fika, Deep work or Silence. The group decides to switch to a “common space,” with a specific task in mind, together. Be it sharing a cup of coffee or coding collaboratively. Additionally, individual playlist can be shared within the group, tailored by the group for the mood of each space. The idea is to foster a feeling of “collective consciousness” through music, increasing the feeling of being part of a group and enjoing the same experience. The volume of the music and speech can be adjusted individually.
As soon as one of the group members leaves the space, they become pixelated. A notification, which space they went for will be highlighted.
Presence Blur
When a group-member or the group needs to lower the number of distractions, the presence blur slider can be used. This is a collective decision, so in order to fully activate this function, all the connected people have to draw down the slider.
The reason for blurring is to still highlight the presence of the people involved in the collaborative work.
Flip to Mute
If life outside of the group demands immediate attention — the dog goes nuts in the living room or an important phone call is incoming, then the device can be flipped on the protective frame to initiate an emergency mute, of both the video and audio from both sides. To get back to the group, the device can be simply put back up again.
Research
Observation
We were allowed to participate in an online collaborative coding workshop consisting of 12 students and 2 teachers. 2 students were off location. Our early research was conducted through observational studies with the assigned faculty, interviews and workshops with students and teachers.
Interviews
We conducted workshops and interviews with 10 students of the assigned faculty, 6 students from our faculty and 4 teachers.
Some of the Key insights we observed and received were: Higher engagement between students in the breakout rooms; Being online ruins co-learning from the other students, mental separation of spaces for different behaviours eg. Work, relaxation, gaming etc.
The participants highlighted the importance of separating the rooms into different areas — how they aren’t using their cameras on zoom, since they can’t see each other anyways — and that they use music as a way to connect with each other.
Model and Testing out
The attempt of defining and blurring the phyical and digital space was challenging. We started out with several Digital concepts, trying to optimize familiar tools or solution such as. The screen space, interactive whiteboards, attention cameras, collaborative coding tools, etc. We quickly realized that we are competing with million-dollar industries, in creating tools that might only solve half of our issues. With the help of one of our professors, Brendon, we came to the conclusion that we are spending too much time trying to intellectualise our ideas, instead of acting them out. So we started exploring physical mock-ups, to test the size, physical interface and main interactions - discussing the different use cases based on out assumptions of how it might be used.
Key Take-Away
Language Games
One of the main key takeaways has been “Language Games”. We spent alot of time trying to understand eachother, listening actively, and being empathetic. It cost us time on the project schedule, but helped us to create a better dialogue between future colleagues, interviewees and us. So learning to work on our internal communication consciously by finding the right language and giving us and each other the space to be seen, heard, and understood, is a big factor.
Participatory Design
The project was started within the framework of “Participatory Design". Participation requires an invitation as collaborators and project owners, usually with stronger incentives than just participation for the sake of participation. People seemed more motivated if they were able to experience the differences they help push. Time and organisation were a big factor. We felt thankful that we got more time to spend with participants, than we originally anticipated.
Brendon, the professor, who helped us during the project, highlighted, that our knowledge lives in the world of interaction with other human beings through a simple word game and that we shouldn’t forget our strong design competencies in pursuit of a purely participatory project.
