A Ubiquitous Learning Model for Education and Training Processes Supported by TV Everywhere Platforms

Advances in technology and digital convergence, for example Netflix, enable users to view TV and video without time or place restrictions. These advances can be applied in education and training processes to enable ubiquitous learning (u-learning). However, a literature review (of the years 2002 to 2018) on u-learning models yielded scarce information about its implementation, specifically demonstrating a lack of application alternatives that could provide access to TV regardless of place and device. To contribute to this and other challenges in education, the objective of this study is to propose a reference model for u-learning implementation involving cloud-supported TV/video platforms. The model was validated in a university context by a group of experts and applied through a prototype in a real setting with students, and it showed favourable results and improvement in student performance

The Role of Library and Information Professionals in Creating a Smart learning Environment using Modern Technologies and Innovations in the COVID-19 Era: Introducing Individuals’ Uniqueness Consideration

With the spread of COVID-19 across the globe, a lot changed, diversified, abruptly halted or modified. Different sectors of the different countries were not left out in these changes. Nigeria learning system was also greatly affected and as such learning institutions across the nation had to be shut down till further notice. This begged to answer the question if the Nigeria learning situation has been improved enough to accommodate the technological changes that came with it. There was also the need for Library and Informational Science (LIS) professionals to step in to save the learning situation by creating a smart learning environment for the individuals while considering their uniqueness. The need for learning environments to grow with the technological changes around the globe is on the increase and Nigeria is not left out at all. With the advent of modern technologies on the rise, learning environments have been developed and made flexible and efficient enough for learners to learn effectively in. Learners make use of smart technologies and have access to digital resources through wireless network and to immerse in both personalized and seamless learning. With the exponential technological advances, anything could be instrumented, interconnected, and infused with intelligent design, so is learning and the learning environment. This study was conceived to examine how the Covid-19 pandemic affected learning and brought about the need for upgrades in learning environments. It considers the roles of LIS professionals in creating a smart learning environment. It seeks to examine the technologies and innovations used in creating a smart learning environment as well as challenges associated with the establishment of a smart learning environment by LIS professionals. Finally, the way forward is proffered on how Nigeria can create this smart learning environment as the onus lies on the LIS professionals in the information society

Open educational practices in Australia: a first-phase national audit of higher education

For fifteen years, Australian Higher Education has engaged with the openness agenda primarily through the lens of open-access research. Open educational practice (OEP), by contrast, has not been explicitly supported by federal government initiatives, funding, or policy. This has led to an environment that is disconnected, with isolated examples of good practice that have not been transferred beyond local contexts. This paper represents first-phase research in identifying the current state of OEP in Australian Higher Education. A structured desktop audit of all Australian universities was conducted, based on a range of indicators and criteria established by a review of the literature. The audit collected evidence of engagement with OEP using publicly accessible information via institutional websites. The criteria investigated were strategies and policies, open educational resources (OER), infrastructure tools/platforms, professional development and support, collaboration/partnerships, and funding. Initial findings suggest that the experience of OEP across the sector is diverse, but the underlying infrastructure to support the creation, (re)use, and dissemination of resources is present. Many Australian universities have experimented with, and continue to refine, massive open online course (MOOC) offerings, and there is increasing evidence that institutions now employ specialist positions to support OEP, and MOOCs. Professional development and staff initiatives require further work to build staff capacity sector-wide. This paper provides a contemporary view of sector-wide OEP engagement in Australia—a macro-view that is not well-represented in open research to date. It identifies core areas of capacity that could be further leveraged by a national OEP initiative or by national policy on OEP.</p

Mapping the Current Landscape of Research Library Engagement with Emerging Technologies in Research and Learning: Final Report

The generation, dissemination, and analysis of digital information is a significant driver, and consequence, of technological change. As data and information stewards in physical and virtual space, research libraries are thoroughly entangled in the challenges presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution:1 a societal shift powered not by steam or electricity, but by data, and characterized by a fusion of the physical and digital worlds.2 Organizing, structuring, preserving, and providing access to growing volumes of the digital data generated and required by research and industry will become a critically important function. As partners with the community of researchers and scholars, research libraries are also recognizing and adapting to the consequences of technological change in the practices of scholarship and scholarly communication. Technologies that have emerged or become ubiquitous within the last decade have accelerated information production and have catalyzed profound changes in the ways scholars, students, and the general public create and engage with information. The production of an unprecedented volume and diversity of digital artifacts, the proliferation of machine learning (ML) technologies,3 and the emergence of data as the “world’s most valuable resource,”4 among other trends, present compelling opportunities for research libraries to contribute in new and significant ways to the research and learning enterprise. Librarians are all too familiar with predictions of the research library’s demise in an era when researchers have so much information at their fingertips. A growing body of evidence provides a resounding counterpoint: that the skills, experience, and values of librarians, and the persistence of libraries as an institution, will become more important than ever as researchers contend with the data deluge and the ephemerality and fragility of much digital content. This report identifies strategic opportunities for research libraries to adopt and engage with emerging technologies,5 with a roughly fiveyear time horizon. It considers the ways in which research library values and professional expertise inform and shape this engagement, the ways library and library worker roles will be reconceptualized, and the implication of a range of technologies on how the library fulfills its mission. The report builds on a literature review covering the last five years of published scholarship, primarily North American information science literature, and interviews with a dozen library field experts, completed in fall 2019. It begins with a discussion of four cross-cutting opportunities that permeate many or all aspects of research library services. Next, specific opportunities are identified in each of five core research library service areas: facilitating information discovery, stewarding the scholarly and cultural record, advancing digital scholarship, furthering student learning and success, and creating learning and collaboration spaces. Each section identifies key technologies shaping user behaviors and library services, and highlights exemplary initiatives. Underlying much of the discussion in this report is the idea that “digital transformation is increasingly about change management”6 —that adoption of or engagement with emerging technologies must be part of a broader strategy for organizational change, for “moving emerging work from the periphery to the core,”7 and a broader shift in conceptualizing the research library and its services. Above all, libraries are benefitting from the ways in which emerging technologies offer opportunities to center users and move from a centralized and often siloed service model to embedded, collaborative engagement with the research and learning enterprise

Towards a Model of ICT Reflexive Practice: Investigating Teachers’ User-Generated Contexts and Agency in a K-12 Chilean School

In this study, I investigate six teacher participants’ engagement in a reflexive practice programme as part of their continuous professional development (CPD) in a K-12 institution. I specifically focus my study of Reflexive Practice (Dewey, 1910; Dewey, 1922; Freire, 2005; Freire, 2011; Freire, 2014) on the participants’ Information Communication Technology (ICT) practices within their subject domain. Exploration of ICT reflexive practices within a CPD programme is an underdeveloped area of research. Data include observations and interviews gathered from teacher participants and their respective Heads of Department. Data demonstrates the significance of teachers’ agency and dialogue to enhance ICT practices and collaborations in three dimensions: professional, departmental and institutional. Key findings inform the development of an ICT Reflexive Practice (IRP) Framework that I outline as part of my research contribution. Drawing from the notion of User-Generated Contexts (UGCs; Dourish, 2004, Dourish, 2017; Luckin, 2010; Luckin et al., 2011, Luckin, 2018), the IRP Framework adds ‘reflexion about ICT’ to the schools’ existing RPM. It assesses the underpinnings supporting teachers’ ICT practices (e.g., pedagogical theories, curricular basis, policies, among others). This issue has arguably become a recurrent concern for different traditions involved in educational technology under the argument that teachers’ real innovative and transformational ICT uses in teaching remain underdeveloped (Albion & Tondeur, 2018; Crook et al., 2010; Hinostroza et al., 2016). The IRP Framework combines RP and ICT holistically by moving beyond a single classroom experience to consider the entire school ecosystem. Especially in the COVID-19 pandemic context, where ICT has increased its role in education, policymakers must provide teachers with adequate CPD reflexive opportunities suitable to their specific needs. The IRP Framework, which emerged from a systematic comparison of the data against the theory of RP and the concept of UGCs, offers the CPD model teachers need to assess their ICT practices and keep refining them over time

Developing sustainable business models for institutions’ provision of open educational resources: Learning from OpenLearn users’ motivations and experiences

Universities across the globe have, for some time, been exploring the possibilities for achieving public benefit and generating business and visibility through releasing and sharing open educational resources (OER). Many have written about the need to develop sustainable and profitable business models around the production and release of OER. Downes (2006), for example, has questioned the financial sustainability of OER production at scale. Many of the proposed business models focus on OER’s value in generating revenue and detractors of OER have questioned whether they are in competition with formal education. This paper reports on a study intended to broaden the conversation about OER business models to consider the motivations and experiences of OER users as the basis for making a better informed decision about whether OER and formal learning are competitive or complementary with each other. The study focused on OpenLearn - the Open University’s (OU) web-based platform for OER, which hosts hundreds of online courses and videos and is accessed by over 3,000,000 users a year. A large scale survey and follow-up interviews with OpenLearn users worldwide revealed that university provided OER can offer learners a bridge to formal education, allowing them to try out a subject before registering on a formal course and to build confidence in their abilities as learners. In addition, it was found that using OER during formal paid-for study can improve learners’ performance and self-reliance, leading to increased retention and satisfaction with the learning experience

Open educational resources for all? Comparing user motivations and characteristics across The Open University’s iTunes U channel and OpenLearn platform.

With the rise in access to mobile multimedia devices, educational institutions have exploited the iTunes U platform as an additional channel to provide free educational resources with the aim of profile-raising and breaking down barriers to education. For those prepared to invest in content preparation, it is possible to produce interactive, portable material that can be made available globally. Commentators have questioned both the financial implications for platform-specific content production, and the availability of devices for learners to access it (Osborne, 2012). The Open University (OU) makes its free educational resources available on iTunes U and via its web-based open educational resources (OER) platform, OpenLearn. The OU’s OER on iTunes U reached the 60 million download mark in 2013; its OpenLearn platform boasts 27 million unique visitors since 2006. This paper reports the results of a large-scale study of users of the OU’s iTunes U channel and OpenLearn platform. A survey of several thousand users revealed key differences in demographics between those accessing OER via the web and via iTunes U. In addition, the data allowed comparison between three groups: formal learners, informal learners and educators. The study raises questions about whether university-provided OER meet the needs of users and makes recommendations for how content can be modified to suit their needs. As the publishing of OER becomes core to business, we reflect on reasons why understanding users’ motivations and demographics is vital, allowing for needs-led resource provision and content that is adapted to best achieve learner satisfaction, and to deliver institutions’ social mission