SEdS is lined up to be an associate partner in the EU FP7 project M C squared which aims to develop an intelligent computational environment for so-called ‘c-Books’, creative electronic books for school mathematics. A longer, slightly technical, abstract is added below. The project is to run for three years, with Christian Bokhove and Keith Jones primarily involved in the establishment of a c-Book design community in the UK and the building of knowledge in the field of ‘Learning Analytics’. The project involves partners from the UK, Netherlands, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and Greece. Within the UK element, the project should strengthen the SEdS’s connections with the London Knowledge Lab (Institute of Education & Birkbeck College), as well as producing jointly-authored outputs. The kick-off meeting is scheduled for the beginning of November.

PROJECT ABSTRACT

The M C Squared project will design and develop an intelligent computational environment to support stakeholders from creative industries involved in the production of media content for educational purposes to engage in collective forms of creative thinking and working to co-design appropriate digital media. The focus will be on social creativity in the design of digital media intended to enhance creativity in mathematical thinking (CMT). The project will develop the ‘c-book’ (c for creative) extending e-book technologies to include diverse dynamic widgets, interoperability, collective design and an authorable data analytics engine. It will employ a range of creative industries involved in CMT (publishers, developers, researchers, school educators) and unite them in four distinct Communities of Interest with the shared goal to creatively think and design c-book resources reflecting 21st century pedagogy for CMT in schools and the workplace. The partnership includes four creative SMEs, the coordinator blending technological, academic, systemic and publishing expertise and five academic partners holding a unique combination of expertise and experience integrating a) CMT theory and practice; b) design for CMT activities; c) development of dynamic constructionist widgets for authorable e-book tools; d) design and development of AI infrastructures for collective creative activities. The emergence of creativity in digital content design is perceived as ‘a system’ involving collectives with tools. It will advance our knowledge by integrating two constructs for professional design, the ‘documentational’ approach and the ‘boundary crossing with the use of digital media’ approach. The results intend to have economic, societal, scientific and technological impact. The project will help re-steer recent economy of scale initiatives in digital resources for mathematical thinking from traditional paradigms to 21st-century engagement and creativity in school and the workplace.