Avatar Kinect: Drama in the Virtual Classroom among L2 Learners of English

This study presents a qualitative approach to exploring classroom behaviour using dramaturgical analysis of student interactions in relation with, and as mediated through, a gesture-based gaming software among L2 learners of English at two international branch campuses in the Arabian Gulf where face-to-face interactions between unrelated members of the opposite sex are generally discouraged. We investigated whether Avatar Kinect might provide a safe way for young males and females to interact while discussing social issues in a composition course. Data were collected through personal observation and survey. Five key themes emerged from the study. First, some participants chose to perform at front stage and others chose to remain back stage. Second, front stage participants chose avatars with gender and skin colour similar to themselves. Third, all participants appeared to be engaged in the interactive role play processes and with one another. Fourth, front stage actors appeared to act without inhibition. Finally, all participants expressed frustration with technology shortcomings

Pervasive learning analytics for fostering learners' self-regulation

Today's tertiary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education in Europe poses problems to both teachers and students. With growing enrolment numbers, and numbers of teaching staff that are outmatched by this growth, student-teacher contact becomes more and more difficult to provide. Therefore, students are required to quickly adopt self-regulated and autonomous learning styles when entering European universities. Furthermore, teachers are required to divide their attention between large numbers of students. As a consequence, classical teaching formats of STEM education which often encompass experimentation or active exploration, become harder to implement. Educational software holds the promise of easing these problems, or, if not fully solving, at least of making them less acute: Learning Analytics generated by such software can foster self-regulation by providing students with both formative feedback and assessments. Educational software, in form of collaborative social media, makes it easier for teachers to collaborate, allows to reduce their workload and enables learning and teaching formats otherwise infeasible in large classes. The contribution of this thesis is threefold: Firstly, it reports on a social medium for tertiary STEM education called "Backstage2 / Projects" aimed specifically at these points: Improving learners' self-regulation by providing pervasive Learning Analytics, fostering teacher collaboration so as to reduce their workload, and providing means to deploy a variety of classical and novel learning and teaching formats in large classes. Secondly, it reports on several case studies conducted with that medium which point at the effectiveness of the medium and its provided Learning Analytics to increase learners' self-regulation, reduce teachers' workload, and improve how students learn. Thirdly, this thesis reports on findings from Learning Analytics which could be used in the future in designing further teaching and learning formats or case studies, yielding a rich perspective for future research and indications for improving tertiary STEM education

Imaging, Keyboarding, and Posting Identities: Young People and New Media Technologies

Part of the Volume on Youth, Identity, and Digital Media Clicking, posting, and text messaging their way through a shifting digital landscape, young people are bending and blending genres, incorporating old ideas, activities, and images into new bricolages, changing the face, if not the substance, of social interaction and altering how they see themselves and each other. From data collected in Britain, Canada, and South Africa, we have selected cases that involve a range of technologies and contexts, from adult-mediated activities in schools and community centers to spontaneous media production done in private at home. Whether it be postings on websites, improvisations in video production, or the incorporation of objects in a multi-media presentation, these cases illustrate that, like digital cultural production, identity processes are multifaceted and in flux, constructed and deconstructed through a process of bricolage that we label as "identities-in-action." Analysis of the cases reveals certain shared features of digital production that contribute to identities-in-action: the "constructedness" of production, the collective and social aspects of individual productions, the neglected but crucial element of embodiment, the reflexivity and negotiation involved in producing and consuming one's own images, the creativity in media convergence, and the value of constructivist models of learning

An exploration of the impact of an online MBA course on intercultural sensitivity development

While research on online MBA courses is growing rapidly, teaching specific skills using online delivery formats is a relatively new stream of research in graduate business education. In this study, adult learning methods such as experiential activities, discussion, teamwork, and action learning were used in a seven-week online MBA course to explore in what ways intercultural sensitivity could be developed. A two-trial, pretest-posttest research mixed methods design was implemented in the summers of 2004 and 2005 at a Midwestern Jesuit university. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered and analyzed from thirty-eight participants (N=38). First, quantitative analysis of pretest-posttest scores from the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) (Hammer & Bennett, 1998, 2002, 2004), and demographic variables, revealed that sixty-eight percent (68%) of participants developed greater intercultural sensitivity while age, gender, and degrees of course engagement were predictors of IDI score change. Second, qualitative analysis of survey data found that the quality of virtual teamwork impacted perceived learning outcomes and most participants found the online MBA course to be a useful and complementary addition to traditional MBA face-to-face courses. Finally, six case studies were developed to explore IDI stage shift and construct explanatory schemas. Conclusions suggest that coping strategies, cooperative/collaborative efforts, flexible cognitive orientations, course engagement, introspective reflection, and cultural curiosity were factors that impacted intercultural sensitivity development. The results of the study confirm that intercultural sensitivity can be learned and measured using an online delivery format and the IDI. Recommendations to further develop this online MBA course include: 1) expand length of course, 2) incorporate role of intercultural coach, 3) include synchronous components, 4) provide clearer course expectations, 5) structure purposeful teams, and 6) enrich course content. Four directions for future research that emerged from the study include testing course effectiveness using larger graduate student samples, examining the effects of different team composition on intercultural sensitivity development, comparing a blended learning environment with purely online delivery, and conducting longitudinal studies to measure behavioral change

Emotions in Crisis: Consequences of Ceremonial Refugee Camp Visits to Bhutanese Refugee Camps in Nepal

Research on refugee resettlement frequently overlooks the larger context of the experience of forced migration. As a result, the micro-level interactions between refugees and the bureaucrats who make resettlement decisions are obscured. We can better understand the socio-political dynamics between refugees and the officials deciding their resettlement cases if we approach encounters between refugees and migration officials during ceremonial visits as sites of emotional exchange. This article examines the complex socio-political emotional exchanges of power and vulnerability that underpin the refugee resettlement process through an ethnographic analysis of Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal.Les recherches sur la réinstallation des réfugiés négligent souvent le contexte plus large de l’expérience de la migration forcée. En conséquence, les interactions au niveau micro entre les réfugiés et les bureaucrates qui prennent les décisions en matière de réinstallation sont occultées. Nous pouvons mieux comprendre les dynamiques sociopolitiques entre les réfugiés et les fonctionnaires qui prennent des décisions sur leurs cas en abordant les rencontres entre les réfugiés et les fonctionnaires de l’immigration pendant les visites officielles comme des lieux d’échange émotionnel. Cet article examine les échanges émotionnels sociopolitiques complexes de pouvoir et de vulnérabilité qui sous-tendent le processus de réinstallation des réfugiés à travers une analyse ethnographique des camps de réfugiés bhoutanais au Népal

Extending Student’ Discussions Beyond Lecture Room Walls via Facebook

When face-to-face lecture sessions and classroom seminars are conducted during hours and days that are not convenient to students, the level of student active engagement and participation is considerably reduced.  In this situation, the use of Social Networking Sites can be an alternative to get students much more engaged by taking the course-related discussions beyond the confinements of lecture room walls. During the second semester of academic year 2013-2014, a “secret” Facebook group was created and forty-eight Master’s students, from the University of Rwanda-College of Education, were invited to join this group and use it as an after-class discussion venue. Using data collected through a survey questionnaire that was sent to students at the end of a semester, we show that Facebook group may indeed serve as a tool that can promote student engagement, collaboration, and sharing of ideas well after face-to-face seminars and classroom lecture sessions. Nonetheless, the findings also show that getting students to use a Facebook group for academic purposes does not happen immediately as results of mere request or announcement. The process needs to be accompanied by further intrinsic and extrinsic measures to motivate students and get them actively engaged in course-related constructive and accurate discussions held via a Facebook. Keywords: Computer-managed instruction, Social Networking Sites, Facebook, Teaching and Learning, students’ discussions, Web 2.0 environment, Technolog

Why won't they take them on? A study on student teachers' first-time engagement with wiki technology

The topic of the dissertation is the use of wikis in teacher education. The study is based on two classroom interventions involving first-time use of wiki technology. In the first, 18 students of Social studies created a Wikipedia article; in the second, 13 students of Norwegian co-edited a fiction-based, class-only wiki. The study is concerned with how the student teachers engage with, make sense of, and assess the pedagogical value of wikis. Two research questions are asked, representing two stages in the research process: 1, what are possible benefits of using wikis in teacher education? 2, why do students express reluctance to “take on” wikis in their professional practice? Data was gathered through a survey, students’ logs and response texts, individual interviews, field notes, and the wikis’ records of user activities. The data shows that the students, having little or no previous knowledge of wikis, quickly master editing and discover how wikis like Wikipedia are created and maintained. Their logs show that they begin to perceive the wikis as socio-technical systems involving both human and technological agency. However, when the students are interviewed about the experience later, they display reluctance towards “taking on” wikis in their own teaching and their accounts have become more aligned with more traditional, received notions of technology. The study adds to the research on pedagogical use of wikis and on factors affecting new teachers’ uptake of new technologies. The analysis points to uptake as not only related to more commonly identified barriers but also informed by the discursive environment. The study concludes that teacher education needs to include more explicit theorization about technology and its role and purpose in education. The versatility, complexity and transparency of wikis make them particularly suitable technologies for addressing these issues. The dissertation consists of five published articles and a summarizing text (“kappe”) of four chapters

I'd hide you: performing live broadcasting in public

We present a study of a mixed reality game called 'I'd Hide You' that involves live video streaming from the city streets. We chart the significant challenges facing performers on the streets who must simultaneously engage in the game, stream compelling video footage featuring themselves, and interact with a remote online audience. We reveal how these street performers manage four key tensions: between their body and camera; between the demands of online audiences and what takes place on-the-street; between what appears 'frontstage' on camera versus what happens 'backstage'; and balancing being a player of the game with being a performer. By reflecting on how they achieve this, we are able to draw out wider lessons for future interfaces aimed at supporting people broadcasting video of themselves to online audiences while engaged in games, sports and other demanding real-world activities