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Teaching With Dooyeweerd's Aspects

I teach Human Factors and User Interface and Key Issues in Information Systems Development related to information systems at Salford Business School. For many years I had used Newell's Levels as a way to separate out the various issues that need to be taught, from electronic hardware, computer bits, symbols and content. Late 2008 I took the plunge to redesign the module so that it employs Dooyeweerd's aspects instead (having gained a clear view that Newell's levels are a subset of Dooyeweerd's aspects, and a clear view of the structure of human use of computers while writing my book).

The KIISD module was presented from 2007 to 2012 to Masters students twice a year. The HFUI module was presented to 25 second-year undergraduate students in the UK, taking courses on Business Information Technology, Business Information Systems and e-Commerce. The students were culturally very diverse. In the KIISD modules, the students were almost all from distant countries, mainly Muslim, Hindu with a number of African Christians.

See comments from students, especially from those taking the KIISD modules.

HUMAN FACTORS AND USER INTERFACE MODULE

In the HFUI module in 2009, the students were in the main either secular British or European students, or Muslim students; there were a couple of Christian students from Africa, and perhaps one or two others. Ten two-hour lectures were given; assessment was by individual coursework assignment and a written examination.

This page reports on the first presentation of the new HFUI module, especially from the results of the assignment, in the hope that it might be useful to others as an exemplar of how (and how not) to employ Dooyeweerd's aspects in general teaching in a field.

Use of Dooyeweerd

Dooyeweerd's aspects were introduced as fifteen spheres of meaning in everyday human life, as ways of functioning in relation to ICT in business, and as providing norms by which we can evaluate the quality of our experience with ICT. Three broad types of multi-aspectual human functioning were taught:

HCI, Human-Computer Interaction. This focuses on aspects of our interaction as users with the technological artifact that is the computer, and covers the user interface (UI). This part of the module was the longest, because it covers a lot of traditional work on HCI such as that of Ben Shneiderman and Donald Norman, or the GOMS model.
ERC, Engaging with Represented Content. This focuses on the content, such as when fighting a dragon in a computer game, or what drugs a certain patient was given last week, whose details are in a medical database. This part is particularly useful in addressing issues in virtual reality.
HLC, Human Living with Computers. This focuses on how use of the technological artifact can affect our lives as human beings, first the primary user but also other stakeholders via social functioning; it is concerned with benefits and detrimental impact. This part is useful in assessing business benefits.

Each exhibits all aspects, but in different ways. The development of this way of understanding human use of computers is developed in detail in chapter IV of my book, Philosophical Frameworks for Understanding Information Systems.

The lectures were (approximately):

What is HCI, the Human being, the flavour of the module; difference between HCI, ERC, HLC (1 week)
Dooyeweerd's aspects as ways in which we function, and briefly how HCI, ERC and HLC all have aspects; explanation of assignment (2 weeks)
Aspects of ERC; using a computer game and a medical database as examples (1 week)
Aspects of HLC; using several case studies as examples (2 weeks)
Aspects of HCI; drawing on material from traditional HCI work (3 weeks)
Overview of module; "Believe or not, you have been thinking philosophically." (1 week)

I introduced the aspects as ways in which our experience of ICT can be meaningful, as ways in which we engage with it when we use it, and as ways of defining what is good and bad. I presented their standard names, their kernel meanings, and the idea of each being a constellation of meaning. I intrdduced them to the notions of inter-aspect dependency and qualifying aspect, though not in detail. The kernel meanings as given by Dooyeweerd were mentioned but immediately they were reinterpreted in the context of our using ICT; for example the pistic aspect focuses on vision, the formative on structure (e.g. of web page) and achieving goals. The biotic-organic aspect was linked to both health and hardware components. The aesthetic aspect was widened beyond harmony and beauty to include style, fun, interest, humour. The ethical aspect was explained as generosity and attitude.

For the coursework assignment, the students were asked to analyse one of four small university websites (they chose which) using Dooyeweerd's aspects of HCI, ERC and HLC. They were asked to identify how the site was both good and bad in the various aspects of each, and then discuss which aspects they found most useful and why.

Findings: How the Students Coped

Somewhat to my surprise, most students coped very well. I had expected them to find around 10 aspects for HCI, 4-6 for ERC and 4-6 for HLC, but some managing to find nearly all aspects of both good and bad for all three. Almost all of them demonstrated at least a reasonable of aspects, though there were some minor confusions. Some students also exhibited a little confusion between HCI, ERC and HLC. But nobody did badly and nobody failed.

Here are some examples of what the students found as aspects of each of HCI, ERC, HLC, drawn from what they wrote:

Selected Aspects of HCI, ERC, HLC of University Library Website Found by Students
Aspect	.. of HCI	.. of ERC	.. of HLC
Quantitative	Number of links	Number of books borrowed	Number of visits to library
Spatial	Layout of web page	Location of books in library	Students can access library from anywhere
Kinematic	Moving mouse around page	Taking books back	Less need to travel
Physical	Can print pages		Electricity used
Biotic / Organic	Eye strain		Health affected e.g. by less exercise
Psychic / Sensitive	Contrasting colours used for screen text, whether sound used.	Nice feel to content (one student likened it to 'home sweet home').	Use of site makes students feel better about university life - or angry because they incur fines for overdue loans!
Analytical	Hyperlinks clearly distinguished from text (or not).	Page clearly differentiates e.g. areas of library.	Student gains clarity (or confusion) in how to use library.
Formative	Structure of web page.	Explains what to do to achieve various ends.	Using site helps students achieve goal of a better degree.
Lingual	Understandable. Especially whether it is clear what graphics refer to. Search engines.	'Have your say' facility. Explanation of forms to fill in.	Use of site helps students write their reports.
Social	Language of page is simple, without jargon.	Explains roles of various helpdesk staff; provides contact details.	Some students find they spend so long on such sites that this reduces their social activity.
Economic	Waste of white space. Good download time.	Page shows limit on number of books borrowed.	More efficient use of student time.
Aesthetic	Style of user interface.	Contents are interesting (or boring). Pictures show happy people and good atmosphere in library.	Students enjoy university life more.
Juridical	Facilities for disabled (visually-impaired) users.	Site gives rules for use of library.	Charges for overdue books.
Ethical	Generous UI, e.g. extra links to make access easier.	Content is generously written.	Using site makes students more ready to help others.
Pistic	Vision behind UI design: accessibility.	Vision and mission statements of library. Is content suited to Muslims?	Helps makes students more commitment to courses.

Notice the wide range of issues found.

Notice also that ERC column contains two different types of entry. On the basis of this I will next time differentiate between:

aspects of content
aspects of quality of content.

What did the students think of the module? Unfortunately, owing to an administrative mixup, the standard Course Evaluation Form was not distributed, so I have no positivistically-valid (statistical) data on this. I can only tell you the benefits and otherwise of what I found. Was repeated application of aspect boring to them? I have no evidence of that.

Benefits for My Teaching

I found the following benefits from using Dooyeweerd's aspects:

The students gained a clear picture of the (at least) threefold nature of human use of computers: HCI, ERC, HLC. This contrasts with traditional texts, which focus on HCI, with some ERC mixed in with it, and little HLC. With this picture they can address the perplexing question of the relationship between virtual and real life in e.g. social networking sites, computer games or virtual realities. I have hope that some of the students will leave with the importance of all three inscribed into their long-term memories.
The students were exposed to a very wide range of issues in all three areas. Traditional texts would seldom come up with so many even in a single area. In particular, the ethical aspect of self-giving and pistic aspect of vision and faith (the relevance of which most seemed to grasp very well) came through as important. Using aspects got us away from too much focus on the technical or the business aspects of ICT; we dealt with these, but alongside other aspects.
The framework enabled me to approach the issue of human use of computers from an everyday stance, in all its richness, rather than merely presenting the currently-accepted theories. This made the material particularly suited to business-related degrees.
The framework of diverse aspects allowed me to bring in both my own experience and that of many students. It gave a dignity to anything they might offer, because everything had a place and was not deemed 'irrelevant'.
Using the aspects enabled me to counter the prevailing fashions, while acknowledging their validity. I believe it freed the students to be able to critique whatever HCI or business fashions they might encounter in the future.
It seems to be successful as multi-cultural teaching. All types of students seemed to find it meaningful and engaging.

This page is part of a collection that discusses application of Herman Dooyeweerd's ideas, within The Dooyeweerd Pages, which explain, explore and discuss Dooyeweerd's interesting philosophy. Email questions or comments would be welcome.

Written on the Amiga and Protext.

Created: 9 January 2009 Last updated: 11 February 2014 link to comments from students. also mentioned KKISD, and made section on HFUI.