In this paper we discuss the changing role of citizen science in research, teaching, and learning. This change is being brought about by the development of a wider perspective on the potential purposes of participation in citizen science both for scientists and for members of the public. In this paper we review frameworks for participation, discuss benefits of participation and consider whether we can use new models of citizen science to democratise research. Citizen science is best understood as a democratic endeavour. The more opportunities for learning, the more people benefit, the more challenging the task for educators, the more varied the media and tools developed to support this purpose. Educators have extended the range of opportunities for learning to include not just formal settings, but informal ones. This position paper discusses the development of tools to support the connections between formal and informal learning settings and in particular the potential of tools to support citizen science, as a vehicle for learning both about science and about the conduct of research.

Volunteers in citizen science projects contribute their labour to the activities of science, becoming involved in the advancement of science. With the advent of digital technologies, the involvement of non-scientists in scientific projects has mushroomed (see Curtis et al., 2018). However, the nature of the participation in citizen science has been limited in a variety of ways. We have adopted the term citizen inquiry to describe our approach. Our interest in inquiry learning was developed in the Personal Inquiry project (see Sharples et al., 2015) which developed an approach to supporting inquiries of personal relevance in science learning. We developed software to support pupils, our first iteration of the nQuire platform. Further projects explored ways in which such software could be of use in encouraging participation in citizen science inquiry. We designed the later iterations of the nQuire platform (nquire.org.uk) as a citizen science and inquiry learning tool, that can support any individual or organisation (with or without research background) to set up and manage their own scientific investigations. We report here on the impact of this work over a fifteen-year period. We discuss the ways in which this software has allowed enhanced participation in citizen projects and the potential development of this approach for democratising citizen science.

We outline the features of an initiative to improve the inclusivity and transparency of research by using methods utilized by the citizen science community to develop participation in research projects by members of the public. Our aim is to transform the prevalent approach to public participation in such projects from the limited roles of data provider or data analyst and extending roles to that of co-researcher or stakeholder. We describe our approach to citizen science inquiry and discuss how it forms the basis of our intention and plan to advance the democratization of research. A pilot project of the approach is described. Challenges in the approach are outlined.

This paper reviews the current developments in the use of nQuire (www.nquire.org.uk), an Open University platform supporting engagement of members of the public in large-scale interactive surveys and science investigations. The platform is designed to continue a series of mass online science investigations from BBC Lab UK linked to broadcast TV and radio programmes, alongside the citizen-led inquiries. This paper reports on progress with the development of the platform and its use in a variety of contexts

This paper addresses the related issues of which pedagogies improve with scale and how to develop a novel platform for inquiry-led learning at scale. The paper begins by introducing pedagogy-informed design of platforms for learning at scale. It then summarizes previous work to develop a platform for open science investigations. Then, it introduces a new platform for inquiry-led learning at scale. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the effectiveness of the platform to: meet its design requirements; enable individuals, groups and institutions to design inquiry-led investigations; engage members of the public to participate; and enable learning activities on the platform to sustain and grow.

In this paper we consider the role of sharing evidence online in work in progress to develop a new teaching framework for distance and part-time students of The Open University. The work reported here looks at the motivation for applying evidence and how it can act to support the development of the framework, rather than the framework itself. The approach described is adapted from previous research projects, and focuses on how evidence from internal and external scholarship is gathered and refined through an Evidence Hub that is shared online and open to all in the University. An aspect of the framework (offering greater continuity of study) is selected to show how the methodology applies in practice. In conclusion we highlight the value in adopting evidence-based approaches to support change processes and how sharing collective knowledge can influence decision-making.

Citizen inquiry is an innovative informal science learning approach, which engages members of the general public in scientific investigations sparked by their personal experience of everyday science, and to which other members can contribute. This paper aims to describe the network of interactions and contributions of Weather-it, an online Citizen Inquiry community accommodated by the nQuire-it platform, which involves people in creating and maintaining their own weather missions (investigations). The interaction patterns within Weather-it are mainly explored through social network analysis of community members and missions. The results indicate the quiet and active members within the community, their splitting into sub-communities, and their contribution and data collection methods and preferences. These results provide insight into the behaviour of people in such public engagement projects.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are changing the contours of the teaching and learning landscape. Assessment covers an important part of this landscape and may be a key driver for learning. This paper presents preliminary results of a qualitative study that investigated learners’ views on assessment types within a MOOC. A thematic analysis of learners’ interactions in a MOOC Facebook Group and twelve online interviews of learners in the same MOOC reveal that participants identify benefits in peer assessment but they prefer automated assessment as an already-known type. Self-assessment was not preferred by these learners. They reported that clear guidance assists them to carry out peer assessment more effectively. Some learners favored the combination of assessment types, as each of them serves a different purpose for their learning. The learners’ socio-cultural context emerged as a theme affecting both their learning and assessment activities and will be considered for future research.

The design of learning materials and researching their efficacy involves the application of both theoretical learning principles and ways of working or practices to move towards evidence based improvement. This paper abstracts 4 categories from our on-going work of educational technology research which we have found to be important in considering what constitutes a successful Technology-Enhanced Learning implementation. These considerations influence the likelihood or feasibility of the wider adoption a particular Technology-Enhanced Learning implementation in the longer term. We also discuss how these considerations relate to the scalability of the development.

Game developers have to ensure their games are appealing to, and playable by, a range of people. However, although there has been interest in the game-play experience, we know little about how learning relates to player involvement. This is despite challenge being an integral part of game-play, providing players with potential opportunities to learn. This article reports on a multiple case-study approach that explored how learning and involvement come together in practice. Participants consisted of a mix of gamers and casual players. Data included interviews, multiple observations of game-play, postplay cued interviews, and diary entries. A set of theoretical claims representing suggested relationships between involvement and learning were developed on the basis of previous literature; these were then assessed through a critical examination of the data set. The resulting theory is presented as 14 refined claims that relate to micro and macro involvement; breakdowns and breakthroughs in action, understanding, and involvement; progress; and agency, meaning and compelling game-play. The claims emphasize how players experience learning via breakthroughs in understanding, where involvement is increased when the player feels responsible for progress. Supporting the relationship between learning and involvement is important for ensuring the success of commercial and educational games.

This paper discusses learning at scale from the perspective of two UK Universities engaging in technology enhanced learning. Three case studies are used to illustrate ways in which scale has been achieved. There is diversity in how scale is supported but also common factors. Openness and choice appear as enablers in all cases.

This paper deals with the relationship between technology enhanced learning and the development of ideas about public engagement with the sciences. The paper reviews recent developments in the use of technology to engage publics debates and discussion and with aspects of scientific research enacted through citizen science initiatives. Developments in technology, particularly in mobile technology which have enabled these will be considered. These examples will be compared with a number of case studies where informal learning enabled by technology has indicated the future possibilities for work in this area. Taken together these two strands of activity, engagement and informal learning are described and classified. The paper concludes with a review of the issues arising from the case studies and models of learning applicable to these.

Educational technologists usually appeal to psychological theories rather than technological opportunity to motivate the introduction of new approaches to support learning. In this paper we list key developments over the past fifty years and distinguish approaches that have a convincing theoretical base from those that were really driven by ease of access to interactive computing facilities. We then look at the recent impact of new technologies on individual and group student learning. We take a strong position that we now have new topologies for learning which have no direct analogues in past educational practice. These positive educational developments are occurring because of relatively cheap access to almost ubiquitous computing and because of the maturity of a range of artificial intelligence derived search and indexing mechanisms that are now easy to use. We consider the barriers to effective deployment of these new approaches by educational institutions, paying particular attention to the need to devise new approaches to formative and summative assessment.

The evaluation of educational software is of concern to two particular academic communities: HCI and educational technology. There is a danger that usability features are considered at the expense of educational issues (and the converse of this is of course equally true). This paper considers how the notion and practice of evaluation in the educational community differs from that in HCI and also identifies areas of overlap. It then describes how particular influences and contexts have led one group of evaluators from the educational community to develop a context, interactions, attitudes and outcomes (CIAO!) model of evaluation for computer assisted learning (CAL) evaluation in distance education. The application of this model is illustrated by case studies from a recent evaluation project and related research. The paper concludes with a discussion of the issues raised for both communities by this model for evaluation.

The convergence of computer and communication technologies have a wide ranging influence in society. The article describes ways in which the working practices of modern scientists have been influenced by these developments and discusses implications for the teaching of science and the study of communication in science.