Learning how to engage students online in hard times

In a context of financial restraint and enterprising university managers, teacher-researchers have reason to be sceptical about the trend towards online teaching and away from learning for its own sake. This article departs from both economic and technological determinism and turns instead to ideas about technology embedded in social and political institutions. Activity theory offers a useful means of analysing such embeddedness. Its Marxian assumptions about human nature specify a non-deterministic approach to technology. Its dynamic model of the subjects, tools, and objects of activity within a context of rules, a community, and a division of labour helps to specify aspects of the authors process of learning how to use electronic conferencing effectively. A full deployment of activity theory would also analyse the activity of students. Here the evidence comes mainly from the activity of researcher-teachers engaging greater activity among students. The numbers of students involved precludes reliable quantitative analysis but qualitative evidence from students does support conclusions about researcher-teachers learning how to make best use of electronic conferencing.<br /

Laying the groundwork for socialisation and knowledge construction within 3D virtual worlds

The paper reports the theoretical underpinnings for the pedagogical role and rationale for adopting 3D virtual worlds for socialisation and knowledge creation in distance education. Socialisation or 'knowing one another' in remote distributed environments can be achieved through synchronous technologies such as instant messaging, audio and video-conferencing. However, a 3D virtual world can provide an immersive experience where there is a visual presence and virtual proximity of the group members in terms of their 3D selves (avatars). We discuss the affordances of a 3D virtual world and its role in providing a platform for pedagogical design that engenders socialisation, synchronous communication and collaboration. We propose the use of a knowledge construction model as a framework for guiding the design of collaborative activities in a 3D virtual world for blended learning environments. We believe that this framework will also be useful for integrating 2D environments such as blogs, wikis and forums with a 3D learning environment. We consider the implications of this in the context of blended learning in distance education. This paper would be of interest to course designers, researchers, teachers, staff developers and policy-makers who are involved in integrating 3D virtual worlds within the curriculum of their programmes and institutions

Personal knowledge development in online learning environments : a personal value perspective

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyThis thesis investigates personal knowledge development in online learning environments and the impact that personal values have on it. Personal knowledge development was investigated from the perspective of Nonaka’s SECI model of organisational knowledge creation. This model served as the basis for an adapted model that conceptualises personal knowledge development in online learning at the individual level. The personal value types of the Schwartz Value Survey and the Portrait Values Questionnaire were adopted to measure personal values and their impact on personal knowledge development in online learning environments. Three data collection approaches were used. First, an exploratory study was conducted which elicited online learners’ experiences of their personal knowledge development in online learning; this study used online discussion forums for data collection. Second, a Delphi study was carried out. Experts were asked which of the ten individual-level value types by Schwartz are likely to be particularly relevant in the context of online learning. Third, an online survey was created. Its aim was to measure the impact that personal values and background variables, such as gender and age, have on personal knowledge development in online learning. A measurement instrument was devised that measures three of the SECI modes, namely Externalisation, Combination and Internalisation. This instrument measures the magnitude of online learners’ Externalisation and Combination activities as well as their level of Internalisation, i.e. the outcomes of personal knowledge development. Results of the exploratory study show that there are widely diverging experiences of personal knowledge development in online learning. The literature review suggests that the cultural situatedness of an online learning environment is an important influencing factor on personal knowledge development. The results of the Delphi study suggest that Self-Direction, Stimulation, and Achievement are particularly relevant value types in the context investigated here. Finally, the online survey confirms this view, as all three value types were found to be positively correlated with Externalisation, Combination, and Internalisation, with the exception of the Achievement-Combination relationship. A modified version of the SECI model is proposed, which extends the applicability of the original SECI model from the organisational to the individual level. It is argued that this model is suitable to describe personal knowledge development in the context of online learning. The study also contributes to closing the gap in research on the impact of personal values in the context investigated in this study. Moreover, a measurement instrument was created that can be used to measure Externalisation and Combination, i.e. personal knowledge development processes, and Internalisation, i.e. personal knowledge development outcomes

Higher education curriculum ecosystem design

This study focuses on the development of a Design Framework for Higher Education Curriculum Ecosystem design. The study views the world as a digital ecosystem where the physical and the virtual are fully intertwined and function through integrated social and technical architecture working together in a seamless mesh that is persistent and pervasive. This digital ecosystem is an open, flexible, demand driven, self-organising, collaborative environment. It has enhanced individuals’ abilities to connect with other people, share ideas, work collaboratively and form communities. This has inevitably impacted on educational practice in Higher Education. The thesis draws together educational theories, curriculum designs, and concepts drawn from ecological psychology, cognitive apprenticeship, distributed cognition and activity theory, and extends them through the application of a Complexity Science lens. A Complexity Science perspective views the world as comprised of Complex Adaptive Systems. This study explores how authentic learning processes can be scaffolded within a Complex Adaptive System. The iterative development and refinement, through three iterations over six years, of a curriculum ecosystem for a Built Environment Degree Program is used as a case study for the development of a Higher Education curriculum ecosystem exemplar. A Design Framework for a Curriculum Ecosystem for Higher Education which has emerged through this process is presented

Teaching for Thinking: an action research inquiry into the Pedagogical potential of modern literature to foster critical thinking and facilitate critical consciousness in third level students.

This thesis explores the pedagogical use of modern literature in fostering critical thinking and facilitating critical consciousness in adulthood. This thesis will make a small but significant contribution to knowledge in the field. My original contribution to knowledge lies in releasing the pedagogical potential of modern literature to foster critical thinking and critical consciousness in adulthood. The gap I intend to fill with this research is the gap between theory and practice; while we aspire to develop critically engaged students, the banking model (Freire 1970) we employ negates the very possibility of this outcome. My research aims to consolidate the role of critical thinking and critical consciousness in education and to embed these concepts in third level education through the medium of literature. This research is focused on third level students in their first year of study. It is facilitated by literature circles and class discussion, and independent learning is fostered through a critical lens approach to literature that requires students to think critically about a topic, evaluate a topic from different perspectives and engage critically with the world around them. The objective of this qualitative research is to explore the role of literature in fostering critical thinking and facilitating critical consciousness in third level students. The review of the existing literature indicates that while there are several major strategies for encouraging critical thinking in programmes, there has been little research on the role literature can play in facilitating critical thinking. The methodology used to carry out this research is Critical Constructivist Action Research which acknowledges that the world is socially constructed, so too are people and the knowledge they possess, and there is no neutral perspective. Research in this context involves understanding the nature of these constructions and the purpose of this research is not to transmit a body of validated truths or outcomes but to reveal how perspectives come to be constructed and to enable students to understand the nature of interpretation which is, after all, a central feature of being an educated person. This research employs literature to facilitate critical thinking and consciousness-raising and concludes that modern literature is a valuable medium through which students can learn to think critically and become more critically conscious citizens. Ultimately, this thesis aims to re-appropriate literature as a disruptive force, breaking up our fictions about the world we live in and showing us new possibilities for the future. The objective of using literature as a pedagogical tool is twofold, firstly, to facilitate critical thinking and critical consciousness, and secondly, to encourage students to read thus improving literacy skills whilst fostering critical awareness. The overall aim is to provide students with an empowering education. Through empowering education, a democratic discourse can be developed to ease student-teacher alienation and promote a critical learning process that develops critical scholars and critical citizens both of which contribute to a fuller potential of humanity. Therefore, this thesis makes, to paraphrase Mezirow (2000), an insufficient but indispensable contribution to the field of education by outlining the possibilities of embracing such a framework; possibilities for growth, for transformation and for a humane education

Possible approaches to personalisation at Cass Business School

This report discusses the result of an investigation into the personalisation of learning and how it could be applied in a university with primarily face-to-face instruction, and, a diverse student body