Learning in an age of digital networks

The final years of the twentieth century and early years of the twenty first century have been marked by the rapid rise of digital and networked technologies. Some have even called it a paradigm shift and suggested that it will lead to a dramatic change in the way young people learn (Tapscott and Williams, 2010). As with all commentary on new technologies we should beware of being carried away with the excitement of the new. There is a recurrent innovation cycle beginning with over excitement followed by disappointment and once the reaction has set in against the new it is followed by a move away to yet another new technology, often before a proper assessment and evaluation of the previous cycle can take place. Equally we must be careful not to ignore the profound changes that are taking place and how they may affect universities and learning in society more generally. A recent description by a UK based think tank Demos characterized the kind of university that is emerging from the engagement with new digital and networked technologies as the 'edgeless university' (Bradwell, 2009). The term edgeless is borrowed from work on the city that suggests edgeless cities have the function of cities without being organized in their classic form. In the same way the Demos pamphlet suggests that the university retains an identifiable function but the functions of the university are no longer confined to a single institution nor are they confined to higher education institutions more broadly. Over a decade ago Brown and Duguid (2000) identified the core functions of universities as the capacity to grant degrees, to accredit students and to provide the warrant that guaranteed the credentials obtained by the students from the university. They also suggested that the introduction of what were then new technologies would lead to an increased focus on these core functions. The core role remains in the edgeless university but the boundaries to these may alter. This article tries to provide a way of thinking about new technologies that manages to balance these two conflicting needs. It identifies some current ways of thinking about the changes taking place in universities that are related to digital and networked technologies and to assess their impact. It then goes on to suggest the kinds of choices we may have to make in relation to new technologies at a variety of levels, the personal, the institutional and in terms of society in general. The edgeless university is associated with broad technological change but whether such change is inevitable is still an issue that needs to be discussed

Tell Me and I Forget, Involve Me and I Learn: Design and Evaluation of a Multimodal Conversational Agent for Supporting Distance Learning

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted children’s learning routines from schools to their own homes, necessitating learning support solutions. This paper reports on a design science research project that combines augmented reality with a conversational agent to assist schoolchildren in learning complex subjects by providing verbal descriptions and interactive animations. Drawing on the theoretical foundations of multimedia learning, we derive three design principles to resolve seven issues associated with distance learning. The instantiated artifact augments text-based learning resources and facilitates learning in a contextsensitive manner through multimodal output. The proof-of-concept evaluation with 11 experienced teachers and researchers in the field of didactics confirms the usefulness of these design principles and suggests refinements of the artifact

The effects of Web 2.0 pedagogy on student engagement, collaboration, and achievement

This review explores various studies and articles on the effects of Web 2.0 pedagogy on student engagement, collaboration, and achievement in a K-undergraduate setting. A critical review of purposefully selected peer-reviewed journal articles highlight the relationship between Web 2.0 pedagogy and student engagement, collaboration, and achievement. This literature review provides an analysis for administrators and teachers when implementing Web 2.0 pedagogy. This review suggests that the implementation of Web 2.0 pedagogy increases student engagement, collaboration, and achievement

Cultivating a Culture of Compassion Among Newly Graduated Registered Nurses: An Evidence-Based Mobile Learning Toolkit

Empathy, kindness, and compassion are some of the humanistic values essential to nursing practice particularly in today’s patient and family-centric healthcare environment. A genuinely empathetic and caring relationship between a nurse and a patient not only enhances the quality and safety of care but also contributes to patient satisfaction, compliance to treatment, and overall health outcomes. Debate amongst educators and researchers continues to grow as to whether these uniquely humanistic values are innate or if they can be taught. How do nurses acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards the delivery of compassionate patient care? What strategies are best suited to cultivate and sustain a competent and compassionate nursing workforce? This evidence-based quality improvement project is built on existing findings from Simulation-Based Education (SBE), as an effective pedagogy, to enhance professional nursing practice. A smartphone mobile education application (app) was developed, implemented, and evaluated for a cohort of newly graduated registered nurses to improve their transition to practice experiences in a nurse residency program at a large integrated healthcare system in Southern California. By incorporating the science of caring, experiential learning, mindfulness practice, self-reflection, and peer-to-peer feedback, through the use of a state-of-the-art mobile app, into an existing simulation-based nurse residency program, participants reported an increase in clinical competency, communication skills, reflective practice, and self-compassion

Proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET 2013)

"This book contains the proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET) 2013 which was held on 16.-17.September 2013 in Paphos (Cyprus) in conjunction with the EC-TEL conference. The workshop and hence the proceedings are divided in two parts: on Day 1 the EuroPLOT project and its results are introduced, with papers about the specific case studies and their evaluation. On Day 2, peer-reviewed papers are presented which address specific topics and issues going beyond the EuroPLOT scope. This workshop is one of the deliverables (D 2.6) of the EuroPLOT project, which has been funded from November 2010 – October 2013 by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission through the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLL) by grant #511633. The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate Persuasive Learning Objects and Technologies (PLOTS), based on ideas of BJ Fogg. The purpose of this workshop is to summarize the findings obtained during this project and disseminate them to an interested audience. Furthermore, it shall foster discussions about the future of persuasive technology and design in the context of learning, education and teaching. The international community working in this area of research is relatively small. Nevertheless, we have received a number of high-quality submissions which went through a peer-review process before being selected for presentation and publication. We hope that the information found in this book is useful to the reader and that more interest in this novel approach of persuasive design for teaching/education/learning is stimulated. We are very grateful to the organisers of EC-TEL 2013 for allowing to host IWEPLET 2013 within their organisational facilities which helped us a lot in preparing this event. I am also very grateful to everyone in the EuroPLOT team for collaborating so effectively in these three years towards creating excellent outputs, and for being such a nice group with a very positive spirit also beyond work. And finally I would like to thank the EACEA for providing the financial resources for the EuroPLOT project and for being very helpful when needed. This funding made it possible to organise the IWEPLET workshop without charging a fee from the participants.

Sustainability for Innovative Education – The Case of Mobile Learning

The successful introduction of mobile learning into education is arguably premised on sustainability in the sense of an ability to maintain innovation over time and to become embedded into mainstream practice. This paper argues that such an endeavour requires a discursive approach, decoupling sustainability from the notion of unambiguity tendentiously inherent in technological paradigms. Learning with mobile devices is an educational response to societal transformation characterized among other things by the detraditionalization of established modes of media and communication in everyday life. Detraditionalization can be seen to refer to the process of breaking down, or challenging, traditional social structures but also encompasses rather more fundamental transformations in the spheres of politics, the economy and culture. In this paper, with particular but not exclusive reference to education, we focus on the tension between established institutions, systems, regulations and practices on the one hand, and emerging forms of teaching and learning afforded by new media and technology on the other. Delimitation (Beck and Lau, 2004), a central conceptual perspective discussed in this paper, can be viewed as one consequence of detraditionalization, namely the blurring of previously rigid boundaries (e.g. those pertaining to social class or political certainties). An important conceptual frame for this paper is the mobile complex (Pachler, Bachmair and Cook, 2010), which shapes mobile learning and results from the delimitation of structures, agency and practices. In turn delimitation does not lead to new, transformed but stabile features; instead it is characterised by provisionality. Provisionality is an important aspect of the continuous process of detraditionalization, where stable practices, norms and social structures are replaced by perpetually fluid and transient ones. The key issue under consideration here, therefore, is the interdependence of mobile learning and sustainability within societal structures, agency and cultural practices. The paper proposes some operational tools for the discussion and consideration of sustainability of mobile learning under the specific societal conditions of the mobile complex, i.e. the ‘new normal’ of provisionality. Normal 0 21 false false false DE X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Normale Tabelle"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} <![endif]--

Enhancing reading comprehension for L2 learners of english :insights from a comparison of mobile applications based on current theoretical standpoints

The purpose of this thesis was to determine the functionality of mobile applications to improve reading comprehension skills in L2 students university students belonging to a language institute in Colombia. This research was developed from the interpretative paradigm. The instruments that were used were: a multiple-choice survey, in a population of ninety-four students who take English as a foreign language at the university level also participated in the study. Additionally, documentary data to understand the functionality of mobile applications was collected from the Google Play app store, which describes the features of the apps in terms of functionality and purpose. A qualitative analysis was carried out through the categorization, labeling and coding of data recurrences. Among the main findings, they converged that the Duolingo, Wlingua and Beelinguapp applications, which were the most complete in terms of the teaching and learning process, and academic performance, were also the most recognized by the population, which should motivate the student to continue using the applications, and in a later period, evaluate how it has impacted the development of English. It should be considered that applications should continue to grow as a tool to learn English. However, these apps must evolve, allowing students to interact with other users, in chat rooms, online classes with student participation, and evaluations with native teachers, among others. In conclusion, paid or free applications do not guarantee learning; Payment only enables app content, but it will depend on the app user.MaestríaMagister en la Enseñanza del Ingle

Learning differences & digital equity in the classroom

This chapter addresses digital equity in the classroom for students with learning differences, as well as the role of technology in the provision of equitable education for the full diversity of students. The chapter discusses the evolving opportunities and challenges that information technology in the classroom presents to students with learning differences and their teachers. To meaningfully understand this topic requires an understanding of the complex context, the forces at play, and their relation to students with learning differences. Among the forces at play are policies, regulations, the accessibility movement, technical trends, instructional design strategies, educational publishing, open educational resources, pedagogical trends, quality control approaches in education, and governance of formal education. The chapter highlights the benefits to all students of designing the classroom experience for students with learning differences

Reshaping the Museum of Zoology in Rome by Visual Storytelling and Interactive Iconography

This article summarizes the concept of a new immersive and interactive setting for the Zoology Museum in Rome, Italy. The concept, co-designed with all the museum’s curators, is aimed at enhancing the experiential involvement of the visitors by visual storytelling and interactive iconography. Thanks to immersive and interactive technologies designed by Centro Studi Logos, developed by Logosnet and known as e-REALâ and MirrorMeä, zoological findings and memoirs come to life and interact directly with the visitors in order to deepen their understanding, visualize stories and live experiences, and interact with the founder of the Museum (Mr. Arrigoni degli Oddi) who is now a virtualized avatar, or digital human, able to talk with the visitors. All the interactions are powered through simple hand gestures and, in a few cases, vocal inputs that transform into recognized commands from multimedia systems

Accommodating student's learning experience through personalized learning style adaptation in computer programming course at Centre for Foundation Studies, IIUM

Teaching and learning computer programming can be difficult, especially for beginners. Since they are not exposed to any computer programming experience, they may face difficulties if the teaching approaches do not match with their learning styles. Computer programming requires the students to understand logical reasoning and syntax and be able to apply them practically for solving programming problems in nearly all disciplines. Mitra [1] claims that most students feel computer programming is a challenging intellectual exercise. At Centre for Foundation Studies, foundation students encounter difficulties in learning and applying computer programming concepts. Some of them perform better in other science subjects, but find difficulties in grasping the computer programming concepts. In this research, we have used Felder-Solomon Learning Style Inventory to identify C Programming’s students for their preferred learning styles. The result of the survey shows that the Engineering/Computer Science students came from mixed learning styles. Therefore, we have adapted Felder-Solomon’s learning style model, and come out with a model of three hybrid categories. This paper will provide detail suggestions for an online learning system based on a selected topic in C Programming. The system will accommodate the students’ learning style in accordance to the modified Felder-Solomon’s learning style model. As a significant contribution to programming educations, our suggestions may further be adopted for designing personalized learning for other disciplines