News
Durham University researcher shortlisted for World Technology Award
(22 October 2012)
School pupils testing the SynergyNet classroom
Dr Emma Mercier, School of Education, has been nominated as a finalist for a prestigious technology award.
The World Technology Awards recognise individuals and organisations that have made a visionary contribution to Science and Technology. They are presented by the World Technology Network in association with TIME, Fortune, CNN, Technology Review and Science/AAAS.
The 2012 Awards ceremony takes place at the TIME & Life Building New York, NY, USAat the close of the 2-day World Technology Summit on Tuesday 23 October, 2012.
Dr Mercier is a Research Associate in the SynergyNet Project at Durham University, which is funded jointly by the UK’s Economic and Social Science Research Council and the Engineering and Physics Research Council. Dr Mercier has been nominated for the Educational Category.
Dr Mercier’s project is investigating and evaluating the use of Multi-touch tables in classrooms and how these can improve learning and teaching. Emerging technologies have the potential to become part of complex ecologies in classrooms, incorporating the technology that students use at home with those that are available to them in schools.
The SynergyNet project aims to understand how best to design for the interaction of students, teachers and technology in classrooms that will actively engage children in lessons.
Emma said: “Technology offers new ways of teaching and learning. We are looking at how to design and build the classrooms of the future and I am pleased that my research work has reached the final stages of the 2012 World Technology Awards process. I’ll be delighted if it wins.
“My work at Durham University very much focuses on the interaction between the 4-T’s: teachers, teams, tasks and technology.
“It’s a project that I am deeply committed to and it is wonderful to see that it has captured the attention and acclaim of such an esteemed organisation as the World Technology Network.”
Emma describes her work as focusing on human-human computer interaction, attending not only to how individuals use technology, but how those individuals interact with others, and how the technology fits within, or alters, the system in which it is used.
She asks how devices can bridge the school-home divide, be used to support collaborative learning, teach 21st century skills, and introduce students to their role in knowledge creation. She also considers how teachers and students need to be prepared to use technology.
The research has found that while the multi-touch tables support collaborative learning, the between group interactions and tools provided for the teacher to manage the classroom, are equally important for learning.
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