eLearning integrators' narratives expressing professional identity and explaining patterns of practice with ICT

This research explored the complexities surrounding encouragement of the use of Information Technology (IT) in Educational settings by classroom practitioners. The Melbourne Declaration, made by all Australian Education ministers in 2008 states that successful learners 'are creative and productive users of technology, especially ICT, as a foundation for success in all learning areas'(MCEECDYA, 2008, p. 8). Early adopters of the technology encouraged their peers to embrace these new technologies with the enticing promise that it would motivate their students and make their job easier. These early adopters often became teacher leaders, given the role of eLearning Coordinator or eIntegrators (eLI’s), responsible for helping staff to integrate ICT into their classroom practices. The study investigated this role and the patterns of practice that could be identified during the investigation. This study investigated four eLI’s seeking to discover the influences on their professional duties and how their teacher identities shaped their effectiveness and influenced the decisions that they made. A Narrative Inquiry approach was used to listen to and retell their stories. This was grounded in the theories of Clandinin and Connelly (1994), borrowing particularly from their work on the commonplaces of time, place and personal-social dimensions to help focus the study and provide a lens for analysis. The methodology included in-depth interviews, observations, emails, and Skype calls to collect the data which would be used to analyse the practices and beliefs of the participants over a period of 18 months. The data analysis was done through the lens of place, temporality and personal and social commonplaces to seek understandings of the similarities and differences between the participants’ storied identities as eLI’s and their effectiveness in carrying out their duties. Results from the study confirmed a number of commonalities between the eLI’s despite their working in dissimilar environments. These commonalities included an acknowledgement that ICT’s needed to be offered as a tool to allow pedagogical change to take place and not an end in themselves. The technology also provided teachers with a vehicle to deliver content and the eLI’s used this knowledge to further encourage classroom use of IT. Administrative tasks, accreditation pressures and Executive staff leadership were all important factors in shaping the successes that the eLI’s experienced. The TPACK framework also fell within the scope of the study and among the conclusions that were reached; an expanded framework is offered in the study. The study supported the conclusion that it is a combination of the narrative commonalities that shaped the participants and their practices. The eLI was a product of their storied identity while at the same time the actions, beliefs and approaches that they took to fulfil their role added to that storied identity

E-Learning and Digital Education in the Twenty-First Century

E-learning and digital education approaches are evolving and changing the landscape of teaching and learning at all levels of education throughout the world. Innovation of emerging learning technologies is assisting e-learning and digital education to meet the needs of the 21st century. Due to the digital transformation of everyday practice, the process of learning and education has become more self-paced and accessible at any time from anywhere. The new generations of digital natives are growing up with a set of skills through their engagement with the digital world. In this context, this book includes a collection of chapters to facilitate continuous improvements including flexibility and accessibility in e-learning and digital education by exploring the challenges and opportunities of innovative approaches through the lenses of current theories, policies, and practices

The VIVID model : accessible IT e-learning environments for the vision impaired

Sighted learners and vision impaired learners experience different problems when accessing e-learning environments. Web designers use complex visual images and interactive features which learners with vision impairment are unable to access. Learners with vision impairment must rely on assistive technologies to acquire the information they are seeking. Vision impaired learners must have conversion facilities to translate the contents of these displays into readable and accessible formats.This research identifies problems faced by learners with vision impairment and demonstrates how e-learning environments must be modified to ensure success. The most significant problems are the lack of accessibility to teaching materials and an inability to participate in the learning experience to the same extent as sighted learners. Learning materials designed for sighted learners are often unsuited to those with vision impairment. Frequently, text provided is too small and unable to be altered; colour graphics are of little value unless accompanied by text or audio description and interactive Web sites present numerous challenges in navigation. Most courses are designed for sighted learners and learners with vision impairment struggle to maintain the required timeframe because of difficulties in reading texts and documents, completing assignments and sourcing reference materials due to their inaccessible formats and presentation.These problems result in lower academic achievement for vision impaired learners, which in turn lead to a lack of choices in employment opportunities. Learning environments for people with vision impairment need specific consideration in design and implementation. This ensures that the learning materials meet their needs and allow maximum accessibility so that the learners can achieve the same outcomes as their sighted peers.There is a small number of existing models to assist the design of e-learning sites for people with a disability. Kelley’s holistic model (2005) and Seale’s contextualised model (2006) are designed for people with disabilities in general and not specifically for those with vision impairment. Lazar’s Web accessibility integration model (2004) does not take into account the importance of social elements. Prougestaporn’s WAVIP model, (2010) whilst it has generic guidelines, the model is limited in its scope.Venable’s Design Science Research method was chosen to investigate the specific problems faced by vision impaired learners enrolled in IT e-learning courses. The characteristics of approximately one hundred adult vision impaired learners were investigated using two case study environments. The data were collected by observation and semi-structured interviews. Additionally, data were collected from these same learners to identify their specific needs in a Web-based learning situation. Accessibility needs were also identified and analysed. These activities involved the Problem Diagnosis stage in the Design Science Research model. Accessibility guidelines and legal and statutory requirements from several sources were also investigated. The components needed to deliver an effective, fully accessible IT curriculum in two Web-based e-learning environments for the vision impaired was then identified.Information was compiled from studying two learning environments for the vision impaired. Data instruments used in this phase were observations and semi-structured interviews with vision impaired learners and teachers. These activities involved the Problem Diagnosis and Theory Building stages of the Venable model. The relationships between the characteristics and needs of the learner, and the components of the learning environment for an Information and Communications and Technology (ICT) curriculum were analysed and then synthesised to build a conceptual model of an effective Web-based e-learning environment for the vision impaired.A new theoretical model, the Vision Impaired using Virtual IT Discovery (VIVID) was then developed. This holistic framework takes into account the specific needs of vision impaired learners. It also includes a social element which vision impaired learners identified as being extremely important to the success of their learning. This activity involved both the Technology Design/Invention state and the Theory Building stage in the Venable model.An evaluation was carried out by a focus group of eight experts in the field of accessible and e-learning course design and the model was then modified to incorporate their suggestions.The resulting model is a high level, comprehensive conceptual model that can be applied in differing pedagogical environments relating to IT education for adult learners with vision disabilities. It provides a framework to guide education managers, instructional designers and developers who are creating accessible IT e-learning environments for the vision impaired.Whilst this model relates only to the IT area, further research could extend its use to other curriculum areas and to those learners with multiple disabilities

Competencies of expert web-based instruction designers

Web-based instruction has been increasingly accepted in education, business and industry, military and government, healthcare and other sectors as a dominant means to deliver instruction beyond time and geographical constraints. However, the overall quality of WBI courses or programs remains a concern. The reasons for the ineffectiveness can be many, of which is the lack of sufficient competencies and skills in existing professionals. This study attempts to identify the domains, competencies, performance statement for instructional designers in WBI at the expert level. IBSTPI competency model has been used as the conceptual framework, utilizing mixed methods. As a result, 91 performance statements, 20 competencies and four domains were identified. The communication skill has been rated as the most important competency for expert instructional designers in WBI. It was revealed that professional foundation domain has the highest level of support, while the planning and analysis has the least. The study indicates that the work environment has certain impact on the performance statements and competencies. In particular, the size of company and project team are two possible factors determining the unique presentation or absence of some competencies and performance statements, as well as the patterns of the most demonstrated competencies and performance statements. Overall, the bigger a company or instructional project team gets, the more project management skills have been demonstrated by the WBI experts. It is increasingly demanding of WBI expert instructional designers to take many different responsibilities as the project team gets smaller. The opinions on future direction for WBI suggest social media for instruction, mobile learning, cloud learning and collaboration, virtual or online classrooms, and more on-demand and engaging WBI, as the five prevailing trends. To prepare for the future, expert instructional designers in WBI must keep getting involved, networking professionally and be open minded for emerging tools and techniques

Creating an innovative, online resource to support teachers in integrating digital literacy skills into the Junior Cycle English Curriculum

The proliferation of digital tools into all facets of society in recent years has had no small impact on the field of post-primary education. The Irish government’s Digital Strategy for Schools (DSS) (2022, 2015) emphasises the importance of seamlessly integrating digital literacy skills into subject curricula. However, this is a new frontier for Irish post-primary teachers. As a practising teacher I identified a need for teachers to be supported in embedding digital literacy skills into their teaching practice through the provision of relevant, practical and quality resources that met the learning objectives of the subject and through access to continuous professional development (CPD) in this area. Through this Ph.D. research I created an innovative, online resource to assist post-primary English teachers in integrating digital literacy skills into the Junior Cycle curriculum. Taking a methodologically inventive approach (Dadds and Hart, 2001) I used an Educational Entrepreneurial Approach to Action Research (Crotty, 2014) to explore my passions, skills, values, work culture and the literature around digital literacy, digital inequality and digital natives. This exploratory process led me to a greater understanding of issues of inequality in my own work practice as a teacher in a DEIS school; namely that students weren’t as digitally literate as we might assume and that teachers, whose digital literacy also exists on a spectrum, may not have the time, money or motivation to upskill. I worked with students to create an animated, digital documentary and drew on these experiences to create an innovative, online, curriculum for Junior Cycle English teachers with an accompanying online, asynchronous CPD course. This dissertation presents a detailed explanation of this collaborative creative process and draws out the variety of media used to create online digital resources as a means of creating a pluralistic representation of the process. In line with Crotty’s (2014) EEA the creation of these digital resources proved transformative to me personally, to my school’s digital culture and continues to impact the wider education sphere

DRAFT-What you always wanted to know but could not find about block-based environments

Block-based environments are visual programming environments, which are becoming more and more popular because of their ease of use. The ease of use comes thanks to their intuitive graphical representation and structural metaphors (jigsaw-like puzzles) to display valid combinations of language constructs to the users. Part of the current popularity of block-based environments is thanks to Scratch. As a result they are often associated with tools for children or young learners. However, it is unclear how these types of programming environments are developed and used in general. So we conducted a systematic literature review on block-based environments by studying 152 papers published between 2014 and 2020, and a non-systematic tool review of 32 block-based environments. In particular, we provide a helpful inventory of block-based editors for end-users on different topics and domains. Likewise, we focused on identifying the main components of block-based environments, how they are engineered, and how they are used. This survey should be equally helpful for language engineering researchers and language engineers alike

An architecutre for the effective use of mobile devices in supporting contact learning

The features and capacities of mobile devices offer a wide range of significant opportunities for providing learning content in workplaces and educational institutions. This new approach of teaching, called mobile learning, allows for the delivery of learning content on the move at any time. Mobile learning supports learning by producing learning content to learners in a modern and acceptable way. The number of mobile learning applications has increased rapidly in educational environments. There are, however, limited mobile learning applications that take advantage of mobile devices to support contact learning in the classroom environment. The aim of this research was to design a mobile learning architecture to effectively support contact learning in the classroom. The researcher investigated the historical and theoretical background of mobile learning and reported these findings. This included an overview of existing mobile learning architectures. After identifying their limitations, the researcher designed the Contact Instruction Mobile Learning Architecture (CIMLA) to facilitate the use of mobile devices in the classroom. The researcher developed the LiveLearning prototype based on the proposed architecture as a proof of concept. He conducted a usability evaluation in order to determine the usability of LiveLearning. The results indicated that the LiveLearning prototype is effective in supporting contact learning in the classroom

An aesthetics of touch: investigating the language of design relating to form

How well can designers communicate qualities of touch? This paper presents evidence that they have some capability to do so, much of which appears to have been learned, but at present make limited use of such language. Interviews with graduate designer-makers suggest that they are aware of and value the importance of touch and materiality in their work, but lack a vocabulary to fully relate to their detailed explanations of other aspects such as their intent or selection of materials. We believe that more attention should be paid to the verbal dialogue that happens in the design process, particularly as other researchers show that even making-based learning also has a strong verbal element to it. However, verbal language alone does not appear to be adequate for a comprehensive language of touch. Graduate designers-makers’ descriptive practices combined non-verbal manipulation within verbal accounts. We thus argue that haptic vocabularies do not simply describe material qualities, but rather are situated competences that physically demonstrate the presence of haptic qualities. Such competencies are more important than groups of verbal vocabularies in isolation. Design support for developing and extending haptic competences must take this wide range of considerations into account to comprehensively improve designers’ capabilities

5th International Open and Distance Learning Conference Proceedings Book = 5. Uluslararası Açık ve Uzaktan Öğrenme Konferansı Bildiri Kitabı

In celebration of our 40th anniversary in open and distance learning, we are happy and proud to organize the 5th International Open & Distance Learning Conference- IODL 2022, which was held at Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Türkiye on 28-30 September 2022. After the conferences in 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2019, IODL 2022 is the 5th IODL event hosted by Anadolu University Open Education System (OES)

The 7th Annual Conference on "Relooking at Development, Value for Money and Public Service Delivery"

The fire services are a salient contestation which are often overlooked by the Social Science scholars. The Department of Cooperative Governance has ultimately promulgated a White Paper on fire services in May 2020. This study therefore aims to review and examine the legislation with a purpose of traversing the intricacies entrenched within the fire landscape. The review and analysis of policies have the potential to analyse the realities and the misnomer which are a perfect avenue to create dialogue. The theoretical framework of manipulation and elitism are employed for attributing meaning towards the study perspectives for practicality and simplicity. The paper follows a systematic procedure of reviewing documents, and policies to elicit information as a methodology adopted for the study. Gaps identified in the White Paper are uncovered and fully discussed. The content was studied, contextualised, and synthesised intellectually to derive meaning on all the aspects. It is the contention of this paper to attribute meaning to policy improvement in the fire services with a consequential contribution to the world of science for sustainable development.University of South AfricaDevelopment Studie