Expanding a Temporal Vocabulary Towards Designing for “Undiscoverable Learning”

Paper Title

Expanding a Temporal Vocabulary Towards Designing for “Undiscoverable Learning”

Publication Info

• Topic area: Temporal frameworks in technology-rich learning environments
• Keywords: temporal vocabulary, undiscoverable learning, decolonial chronopolitics, HCI, design events, technology-rich learning environments, more-than-humans, relational time, STEM education

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Learning environments often rely on linear temporalities, which exclude alternative, relational, and non-linear understandings of time. This limits transformative learning experiences and upholds exclusionary notions of time.
• Significance: Reconfiguring time in learning environments can challenge ableist, colonial, and anti-Black temporal structures, fostering more inclusive and relational learning experiences.
• Motivation and related work: Prior work in HCI and design has explored temporal attunement and relational configurations of time. However, there remains a gap in applying these concepts to technology-rich learning environments and addressing the role of more-than-humans in learning processes.

Solution

• Proposed approach: A temporal vocabulary for undiscoverable learning, incorporating existing and newly proposed design events to reconfigure time in technology-rich learning environments.
• Novelty:
  1. Expansion of an existing temporal vocabulary with three new terms: traces, stamps, and renderings.
  2. Conceptualization of undiscoverable learning as a commitment to rendering some learning unknowable and valuing relational, non-linear processes.
  3. Integration of more-than-human participants into the design and understanding of learning environments.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Analysis of a 3-year partnership with a public library to design STEM programming for middle and high school youth.
  • Application of existing temporal vocabulary terms (encounters and other-time) and development of new terms (traces, stamps, renderings) through iterative reflection on field notes, artifacts, and participant interactions.
  • Use of non-linear narratives to articulate learning events and relationships.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Encounters revealed how learners’ times align relationally rather than sequentially (e.g., snack-time influencing poster-making).
  • Other-time highlighted the unpredictable rhythms introduced by more-than-human participants like micro:bits.
  • Traces emphasized marks left by events, questioning the privileging of real-time data.
  • Stamps showed how learners mark time relationally rather than through clock-based timestamps.
  • Renderings demonstrated how time manifests spatially and relationally, such as learners’ positioning in shaded areas during outdoor activities.
• Advantage over baselines: Moves beyond linear, clock-based temporalities to embrace relational, emergent, and non-linear understandings of time in learning environments. Centers more-than-humans and challenges normative metrics of learning.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Context: STEM programming partnership with a public library in a predominantly Latinx/e region.
  • Activities: Activity booths, single-afternoon programs, and a week-long summer program incorporating environmental justice themes.
  • Data: Field notes, photos, artifacts, and reflections analyzed through the lens of temporal vocabulary.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Risk of making undiscoverable learning visible, potentially undermining its intent.
  • Current work privileges human learning; future research should center more-than-humans equally.
  • Future directions include engaging with nested times (e.g., deep time) and learning in nature/place.

Summary

This paper expands an existing temporal vocabulary to conceptualize undiscoverable learning in technology-rich environments. By introducing three new terms (traces, stamps, renderings), the authors highlight relational and non-linear temporalities that challenge exclusionary notions of time. Evidence from a 3-year STEM programming partnership demonstrates how these concepts can reconfigure learning processes to include more-than-human participants and relational dynamics. The work has implications for HCI, design, and learning analytics, offering a framework for fostering justice-oriented, emergent learning environments.