Using open educational resources to promote social justice

"The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) announces the publication of "Using Open Educational Resources to Promote Social Justice," edited by CJ Ivory and Angela Pashia, which explores the opportunities and challenges of moving the discussion about open educational resources (OER) beyond affordability to address structural inequities found throughout academia and scholarly publishing. OER have the potential to celebrate research done by marginalized populations in the context of their own communities, to amplify the voices of those who have the knowledge but have been excluded from formal prestige networks, and to engage students as co-creators of learning content that is relevant and respectful of their cultural contexts. Edited by academic librarians with experience advocating across campus, "Using Open Educational Resources to Promote Social Justice" takes a multidisciplinary approach and is filled with examples of the ways OER and open pedagogy can be used to support social justice in education. In five sections, it covers a wide range of topics from theoretical critiques to multidisciplinary examples of OER development in practice to examinations of institutional support for OER development."--ACR

International Academic Symposium of Social Science 2022

This conference proceedings gathers work and research presented at the International Academic Symposium of Social Science 2022 (IASSC2022) held on July 3, 2022, in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia. The conference was jointly organized by the Faculty of Information Management of Universiti Teknologi MARA Kelantan Branch, Malaysia; University of Malaya, Malaysia; Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jakarta, Indonesia; Universitas Ngudi Waluyo, Indonesia; Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges, Philippines; and UCSI University, Malaysia. Featuring experienced keynote speakers from Malaysia, Australia, and England, this proceeding provides an opportunity for researchers, postgraduate students, and industry practitioners to gain knowledge and understanding of advanced topics concerning digital transformations in the perspective of the social sciences and information systems, focusing on issues, challenges, impacts, and theoretical foundations. This conference proceedings will assist in shaping the future of the academy and industry by compiling state-of-the-art works and future trends in the digital transformation of the social sciences and the field of information systems. It is also considered an interactive platform that enables academicians, practitioners and students from various institutions and industries to collaborate

Understanding Teacher Educators' Pedagogical and Technological Cultural Habitus (PATCH): An Ethnographic Study in the Maldives

A substantial body of literature discusses the complexity of integrating technology in teachers’ pedagogical practices (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). The literature over the last two decades, specifically suggests that teachers and teacher educators have shown limited pedagogical changes regardless of their frequent use of technologies in their teaching. However, the literature overlooks the impact teachers’ culture may have when investigating their use of technologies in their practices. Bourdieu (1977) argues that people’s practices are embodied within their cultures; hence they form habitus through their past and present experiences, both consciously and unconsciously. I argue that teachers’ pedagogical and technological practices cannot be fully understood without considering the social and cultural norms of their specific cultures. My thesis aims to explain the impact of Maldivian teacher educators’ culture and background on their pedagogical and technological practices. The main research question therefore is: How do teacher educators’ pedagogical and technological practices form in the Maldives? Sub-questions arising from this are: 1) What are the social and cultural learning norms that influenced teacher educators’ use of technologies in their pedagogy? 2) How does the institutional context influence teacher educators’ use of technologies in their pedagogical practice? 3) How do teacher educators form their pedagogical and technological practice? My research used an ethnographic methodology, linked with Bourdieu’s (1977) habitus as a lens for exploring teacher educators’ practices in the Maldives. Data were gathered from eleven teacher educators who work in a Maldivian university context: using interviews, observations, focus groups and the hanging out approach. The findings were generated through grounded theory for capturing an in-depth understanding of how these teacher educators’ pedagogical and technological practices were formed. Key findings demonstrated that teacher educators’ pedagogical and technological practices were influenced by their own culture, early learning experiences in the Maldives, and their workplace (institutional context). The study revealed that these teacher educators selected and used specific digital technologies available in their workplace to deliver content. As a result, they formed their pedagogical (content-oriented) and technological (PowerPoint-assisted) cultural habitus that most often mirrored their existing pedagogical thinking. This study has contributed to the research field by recognising the impact of these teacher educators’ culture and background on their pedagogical and technological practices. It fills a critical gap (i.e. a connection between technology use, pedagogy, and culture) which has been neglected in the technology integration research and models. My research therefore, contributes a PATCH framework for understanding teacher educators’ pedagogical and technological habitus and an additional layer into the TPACK framework to represent teacher’s PATCH. Through applying Bourdieu’s habitus lens, I have devised a conceptual framework for investigating pedagogical contexts, an outline of ethnographic process and an analysis model for understanding qualitative data using various technological tools

Speaking into the Abyss: An Exploratory Study of Academics’ Use of Educational Technology and its Impact on Practice.

This is a study of educational technology use in academic practice undertaken in an Irish Higher Education setting. Based on interviews with fifteen academics, the enquiry attempts to respond to Selwyn’s (2010) call for an increase in social scientific accounts of technology use which pay heed to the ‘state-of-the-actual’, examining the actuality and consequences of technology use on academic practice and identity. Efforts to understand the socially constructed nature of technology use draw upon the researcher’s own varied experiences as an educational technologist, academic, and academic manager. The development of understanding is also guided by a theoretical framework drawn from Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice (Bourdieu, 1977) and its interlocking concepts of habitus, field, and capital. The key research questions addressed in the study highlight a varied and meaningful integration of technology into academic practice. Academic use of technology is shown to be strongly influenced by implicitly held knowledge of teaching and underlying belief systems which are shaped by assumptions, technological truisms, pseudo theories, and folk pedagogies. Technology use is also shown to be shaped by the surrounding organisational culture and the normative technological practices carried out within the academic disciplines. In examining the consequences of technology adoption for the academic, the research highlights impact on wellbeing, relationships, emotional state, and sense of place. Technology is exposed as a site of tension as academics struggle with fears, questions of ideology, discourse, challenges to identity and destabilising shifts in practice. Most importantly, the research exposes educational technology as a site of struggle. In an effort to mediate between agency and structure, these academics seek to hold autonomy over their own practices while also attempting to align their practice with the broader organisational culture of technology use. Tensions arise between academics, students, and academic management, as each group seeks power over what forms of technology are used, how they are used, and by whom they are used