Online Scientific Volunteering: the technological immersion for the co-construction of knowledge, employability, entrepreneurship and innovation in a logic of inclusion

“We all have something to learn and something to share” is the motto of this project, through which we aim to assess the impact of a multilingual platform which combines and makes the most of the potentials of digital environments and favours inclusion, in the co-construction of knowledge in learning/practice, in employability, entrepreneurism and innovation. In this article we will introduce an ongoing project which is founded on the principle of openness to the research community. Its philosophy is Online Scientific Volunteering for the co-construction of knowledge about learning best practices. The platform that will emerge from the project will be open access. The academic community, whether national or international, can contribute with content and knowledge to the platform, through interaction and discussions around relevant and emerging topics. The community may also exploit, without encumbrance, the contents of the platform for their own benefit. This way students and scientific expertise can share in a common knowledge space, and together build a comprehensive knowledge base.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Personalization in cultural heritage: the road travelled and the one ahead

Over the last 20 years, cultural heritage has been a favored domain for personalization research. For years, researchers have experimented with the cutting edge technology of the day; now, with the convergence of internet and wireless technology, and the increasing adoption of the Web as a platform for the publication of information, the visitor is able to exploit cultural heritage material before, during and after the visit, having different goals and requirements in each phase. However, cultural heritage sites have a huge amount of information to present, which must be filtered and personalized in order to enable the individual user to easily access it. Personalization of cultural heritage information requires a system that is able to model the user (e.g., interest, knowledge and other personal characteristics), as well as contextual aspects, select the most appropriate content, and deliver it in the most suitable way. It should be noted that achieving this result is extremely challenging in the case of first-time users, such as tourists who visit a cultural heritage site for the first time (and maybe the only time in their life). In addition, as tourism is a social activity, adapting to the individual is not enough because groups and communities have to be modeled and supported as well, taking into account their mutual interests, previous mutual experience, and requirements. How to model and represent the user(s) and the context of the visit and how to reason with regard to the information that is available are the challenges faced by researchers in personalization of cultural heritage. Notwithstanding the effort invested so far, a definite solution is far from being reached, mainly because new technology and new aspects of personalization are constantly being introduced. This article surveys the research in this area. Starting from the earlier systems, which presented cultural heritage information in kiosks, it summarizes the evolution of personalization techniques in museum web sites, virtual collections and mobile guides, until recent extension of cultural heritage toward the semantic and social web. The paper concludes with current challenges and points out areas where future research is needed

ReDesign: Redesigning learning through a new Learning Management System

[EN] In a world which abounds with digitally-driven changes, an orthodoxy of technology adoption and utilisation in higher education is emerging, and it is deemed critical for steering the discussions of experts for planning and implementing a digitally-enabled ecology where students and faculty members alike will benefit. Although several types of software that host educational or training content for students have been used in previous studies, the aim of this EU-funded project was to design a digitally-enabled platform that would afford culturally-driven exchanges between university students and collaboration among faculty members of the same disciplines across Europe. The platform is based on, but extends beyond, principles of standard Learning Management Systems (LMSs) and Facebook, by affording Web 2.0 tools, Augmented Reality (AR) applications, and QR codes. Further, the platform has been designed based on multiple pilot testing phases, students’ individual needs, instructors’ constructive feedback, and the tailored needs of each academic discipline. This EU-funded project is a joint effort to guide instructors and students in experiencing the curricula in different academic institutions, to guide instructors and students in understanding the affordances and contradictions of intercultural telecollaboration, and to guide students in developing a conceptual understanding of complex constructs in their discipline.European Commission funded projectAvgousti, MI.; Hadjistassou, S. (2019). ReDesign: Redesigning learning through a new Learning Management System. The EuroCALL Review. 27(1):48-63. https://doi.org/10.4995/eurocall.2019.11202OJS4863271Avgousti. M. I. (2018). Intercultural communicative competence and online exchanges: A systematic review. 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Students without borders. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(3), 20-23.Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.Collins, A., & Halverson, R. (2009). Rethinking education in the age of technology: The digital revolution and schooling in America. Teachers College Press: New York.Cummins, J., & Sayers, D. (1995). Brave new schools: Challenging cultural literacy through global learning networks. St Martin's Press.De Wit. H., & Hunter, F. (2015). The future of internationalization of higher education in Europe [Special Issue]. International Higher Education, 83. https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2015.83.9073Dooly, M. (2011). Divergent perceptions of telecollaborative language learning tasks: Tasks-as-workplan vs. task-as-process. Language Learning & Technology, 15(2), 69-91.Dooly, M. & Hauck, M. (2012). Researching multimodal communicative competence in video and audio telecollaborative encounters. In M. Dooly and R. O'Dowd (Eds.), Researching online interaction and exchange in foreign language education. Telecollaboration in education (3). Bern: Peter Lang Publishing Group, 135-162.Dooly, M., & O'Dowd, R. (2018). Telecollaboration in the foreign language classroom: A review of its origins and its application to language teaching practice. In M. Dooly and R. O'Dowd (Eds.), (pp.11-34). Bern: Peter Lang Publishing Group.Ducate, L., & Arnold, N. (eds.), Calling on CALL: From theory and research to new directions in foreign language teaching. San Marcos, TX: CALICO.Ertmer, P. A., Newby, T. J., Yu, J. H., Liu, W., Tomory, A., Lee, Y. M., Sendurur, E. & Sendurur, P. (2011) Facilitating students' global perspectives: Collaborating with international partners using Web 2.0 technologies. Internet and Higher Education, 14(4), 251-261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2011.05.005European Internet Foundation: Political Leadership for Network Society. (2009). The digital world in 2025. European Internet Foundation: Political Leadership for Network Society.https://www.eifonline.org/the-digital-world-in-2025.html.European Internet Foundation: Political Leadership for Network Society. (2014). "The digital world in 2030: What place for Europe?" European Internet Foundation: Political Leadership for Network Society. https://www.eifonline.org/the-digital-world-in-2030.html.EDUCAUSE (2018). NMC Horizon Report. https://library.educause.edu/resources/2018/8/2018-nmc-horizon-report.Espinosa, L. (2015). The use of Facebook for educational purposes in EFL classrooms. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 5(11): 2206-2211. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0511.03Farias, M. (2007). Reading with eyes wide open: Reflections on the impact of multimodal texts on second language reading. Ikala, 22(1): 57-70Farías, M. Obilinovic, K & Orrego, R. (2007). Implications of multimodal learning model for foreign language teaching and learning. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, 9, 174-199. https://doi.org/10.14483/22487085.3150Gee, J. P. (2007). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Palgrave Macmillan: New York.Gilakjani, A. P. (2011). Visual, auditory, kinaesthetic learning styles and their impacts on English language teaching. Journal of Studies in Education,2(1), 104-113. https://doi.org/10.5296/jse.v2i1.1007Gilakjani, A. P., Ismail, H. N., & Ahmadi, S. M. (2011). The effect of multimodal learning models on language teaching and learning. Theory & Practice in Language Studies, 1(10), 1321-1327. https://doi.org/10.4304/tpls.1.10.1321-1327Hamper, R., & Hauck, M. (2006). Computer-mediated language learning: Making meaning in multimodal virtual learning spaces. The JALT CALL Journal, 2(2), 3-18.Hauck, M. (2007). Critical success factors in a TRIDEM exchange. ReCALL, 19(2), 202- 223. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344007000729Hauck, M. (2010). At the interface between multimodal and intercultural communicative competence. In S. Guth & F. Helm (Eds.), Telecollaboration 2.0: Language and intercultural learning in the 21 st century (pp. 219-248). Bern: Peter Lang.Kabilan, M. K., Ahmad, N., & Abidin, M. J. Z. (2010). Facebook: An online environment for learning of English in institutions of higher education? Internet and Higher Education, 13, 179-187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2010.07.003Kress, G. R. (2003). Literacy in the new media age. London: Routledge. Kress, G. R. (2011). 'Partnerships in research': Multimodality and ethnography. Qualitative Research, 11 (3), 239-260. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794111399836Kress, G. R., & van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal discourse: The modes and media of contemporary communication. Oxford UK: Oxford University.Lee, L., & Markey, A. (2014). A study of learners' perceptions on online intercultural exchanges through Web 2.0 technologies. 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In J., A. Belz & S. L. Thorne (Eds.), Internet-mediated intercultural foreign language education, (pp. 63-84). Heinle & Heinle.O'Dowd, R. (2018). From telecollaboration to virtual exchange: State-of-the-art and the role of UNICollaboration in moving forward. Journal of Virtual Exchange, 1, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2018.jve.1O'Dowd, R. (Ed.). (2007). Online intercultural exchange: An introduction for foreign language teachers. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847690104O'Dowd, R. (2006). Telecollaboration and the development of intercultural communicative competence. Langenscheidt.O'Dowd, R. (2003). Understanding the" other side": Intercultural learning in a SpanishEnglish e-mail exchange. Language Learning & Technology, 7(2), 118-144.Özdemir, E. (2017). Promoting EFL learners' intercultural communication effectiveness: a focus on Facebook. CALL, 30(6), 510-528. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2017.1325907Sadler, R., & Dooly, M. (2016). Twelve years of telecollaboration: what we have learnt. ELT Journal, 70(4), 401-413. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccw041Sankey, M., Birch, D. & Gardiner, M. (2010). Engaging students through multimodal learning environments: The journey continues. In C.H. Steel, M.J. Keppell, P. Gerbic & S. Housego (Eds.), Curriculum, technology & transformation for an unknown future. Proceedings ascilite Sydney 2010, 852-863. http://ascilite.org.au/conferences/sydney10/procs/Sankey-full.pdfSchreiber, B. R. (2015). "I am what I am": Multilingual identity and digital translanguaging. Language Learning and Technology, 19(3), 69-87.Shaffer, D. W., Squire, K. R., Halverson, R., & Gee, J. P. (2005). Video games and the future of learning. Phi Delta Kappa, 87(2) 104-111. https://doi.org/10.1177/003172170508700205Solon, O. (2018, June 1). Teens are abandoning Facebook in dramatic numbers, study finds. 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Negotiation of meaning via virtual exchange in immersive virtual reality environments

This study examines how English-as-lingua-franca (ELF) learners employ semiotic resources, including head movements, gestures, facial expression, body posture, and spatial juxtaposition, to negotiate for meaning in an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment. Ten ELF learners participated in a Taiwan-Spain VR virtual exchange project and completed two VR tasks on an immersive VR platform. Multiple datasets, including the recordings of VR sessions, pre- and post-task questionnaires, observation notes, and stimulated recall interviews, were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively with triangulation. Built upon multimodal interaction analysis (Norris, 2004) and Varonis and Gass’ (1985a) negotiation of meaning model, the findings indicate that ELF learners utilized different embodied semiotic resources in constructing and negotiating meaning at all primes to achieve effective communication in an immersive VR space. The avatar-mediated representations and semiotic modalities were shown to facilitate indication, comprehension, and explanation to signal and resolve non-understanding instances. The findings show that with space proxemics and object handling as the two distinct features of VR-supported environments, VR platforms transform learners’ social interaction from plane to three-dimensional communication, and from verbal to embodied, which promotes embodied learning. VR thus serves as a powerful immersive interactive environment for ELF learners from distant locations to be engaged in situated languacultural practices that goes beyond physical space. Pedagogical implications are discussed

Use of information and communication technology and tools in the internazionalization department of a higher education institution

El uso de nuevas herramientas tecnológicas (TICS) es necesario a fin de que una Oficina de Proyectos internacionales trabaje de una manera más eficiente. Las TICS pueden usarse para apoyar la presentación de una propuesta (sitios para seguir los próximos llamados, herramientas para crear redes de trabajo) así como para el gerenciamiento del proyecto en sí  (herramientas para gerenciar el proyecto, para desarrollar reuniones virtuales, para facilitar el trabajo virtual en equipos).Asimismo, las TICS favorecen la investigación (brindan acceso a información pública y especializada) y el entrenamiento  (eLearning). Las comunicaciones internas y externas se ven mejoradas por las herramientas de comunicación sincrónicasy asincrónicas. La evaluación de las actividades se beneficia a través de las encuestas en línea, y la administración financiera de un proyecto se facilita con los sistemas contables. Las TICs están cambiando completamente la forma en que los proyectos internacionales se llevan adelante, haciendo posible y habituales realidades que antes eran inimaginables (por ejemplo, las reuniones virtuales). Este trabajo brinda una mirada a todos los posibles usos de las TICS en un Proyecto Internacional, y hace sugerencias sobre las herramientas a usar, basadas en la experiencia de los autores

The Effects of Immersive Virtual Environments on Motivation, Oral Communication, and Instructional Strategy in EFL Classrooms

The creation of web-based real-time computer simulations has given language educators incredible new opportunities to create immersive experiences for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. This thesis reviewed 12 empirical studies, 3 previous literature reviews, 3 non-empirical journal articles, and 23 additional background sources investigating the impact of Immersive Virtual Environments (IVE) on EFL learners’ motivation and oral communication in EFL learning. 12 empirical studies were analyzed closely while other sources were used to provide additional information and theoretical insights. The findings indicate that IVEs offer novel ways to connect EFL learners to native-speaking communities where they can acquire new language through exposure to native speakers, increase motivation to participate and reduce anxieties of failure or judgement. IVEs offer persistent environments which are free of time and space constraints typical of traditional classrooms, allowing learners to interact with peers and native speakers in school and at home. The role of the instructor is crucial in designing these environments and preparing the students to engage in them, though increased instructional load on the instructor merits further investigation. Further research is needed into the development of these technologies that are both cheap and equitable so that all EFL learners may benefit from them

EFL learners’ strategy use during task-based interaction in Second Life

Motivated by theoretical and pedagogical concerns that the link between second language (L2) learners’ second language acquisition (SLA) and language use in 3D multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) is still not fully connected in current SLA literature, this study examined the patterns of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ employment of communication strategies during task-based interaction in Second Life (SL). Nine adult EFL learners worldwide were recruited, and they used their avatars to negotiate meaning with peers in interactional tasks via voice chat in SL. Results reveal that confirmation checks, clarification requests, and comprehension checks were the most frequently used strategies. Other types of strategy use were also discovered, such as a request for help, self-correction, and topic shift – accompanied by a metacognitive strategy and spell-out-the-word that had not been previously documented in task-based research in 3D MUVEs. This study demonstrated that SL could offer an optimal venue for EFL learners’ language acquisition to take place and prompt their cognitive processing during task-based interaction. Additionally, 3D multimodal resources afforded by SL provide additional visual support for EFL students’ input acquisition and output modifications. A call for more research on voice-based task interaction in 3D MUVEs is also needed

Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet—The state of eTourism research

This paper reviews the published articles on eTourism in the past 20 years. Using a wide variety of sources, mainly in the tourism literature, this paper comprehensively reviews and analyzes prior studies in the context of Internet applications to Tourism. The paper also projects future developments in eTourism and demonstrates critical changes that will influence the tourism industry structure. A major contribution of this paper is its overview of the research and development efforts that have been endeavoured in the field, and the challenges that tourism researchers are, and will be, facing

Foundational Practices of Online Writing Instruction

This is an Open Textbook available through the Open Textbook Library: https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/foundational-practices-of-online-writing-instruction. Reviews are available there. Foundational Practices in Online Writing Instruction (OWI) addresses the questions and decisions that administrators and instructors most need to consider when developing online writing programs and courses. Written by experts in the field (members of the Conference on College Composition and Communication Committee for Effective Practices in OWI and other experts and stakeholders).... The editors believe that the field of writing studies is on a trajectory in which most courses will be mediated online to various degrees; therefore the principles detailed in this collection may become the basis for future writing instruction practices. ... [Amazon.com]https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/english_books/1017/thumbnail.jp