NEWS
Videos of the symposium "Des lieux pour des relations intergénérationnelles" (french-speaking videos)are available here
European projects LA PIAZZA and PUENTE focus on this thematic of intergenerational learning. Info coming soon
IKU
IKU is a research unit of the University of Liege which explores cooperative interactions and mediated and situated knowledge. The study of cooperative interactions takes place within the frame of cognitive theories where the need to investigate the interaction between people and environment (physical, social or cultural) is increasingly present. Those interactions can take different shapes depending on narrative, media or environmental resources.
The approach we adopted is situated, in so far as we postulate that socially and culturally rooted interactions are achieved in a meaningful context. Like the ethnography of cognitive systems which sees meaning as emerging from negotiated social practices, we focus on the social and material ways of building meaning and action.
IKU gathers the expertise of researchers from several faculties around European and regional multidisciplinary projects. Mainly, the unit takes part in Kaleidoscope Network of Excellence.
The development of information and communication technologies (ICT) is laying the foundations for new forms of building and sharing knowledge, creates new usages, changes the way we use to work, collaborate and communicate. We explore the different ways we use new medias and tools (active tools, tangible interface, virtual desk) related to more traditional media and tools (paper pen, board, synoptic).
Our mission is both fundamental and applied:
• to explore cooperative interactions in their working, learning and playing contexts;
• to understand the impact of the new media on activity;
• to contribute to the development of new tools by methods centered on usage.
IKU is financed by the European Commission, FNRS and General Directorate for Technology, Research and Energy (D.G.T.R.E.) of the Ministry for Belgium’s Walloon Region.
