An Exploratory Study of Personal Reflection and Collaboration Skills using Online Collaborative Tool in Project-Based Learning

By deepening our understanding of the use of Web 2.0 for reflective practice, knowledge co-construction and project based learning this paper aims to contribute to our understanding of collaborative learning. The paper investigates a case study of a post-graduate system development subject to increase student learning through the development of students’ personal reflection and collaboration skills. The project aims to develop key foundational knowledge and skills identified in the IS 2010 curriculum guidelines, i.e. the ability to work collaboratively. Of particular interest was the ability of student collaboration combined with personal reflective learning to lead to negotiation of meaning and co-construction of knowledge. A case study approach was used to investigate the use Web 2.0 tools of wikis and blogs to facilitate online collaborative project development. Our result shows that individual learning experience can influence contribution made to team project

Online global collaboration: affordances and inhibitors

New teaching and learning approaches are emerging through the use of technology including online global collaboration. Educators involved in global collaboration forge external relationships with others beyond their immediate learning environment. They modify and adapt the curriculum to include global learning opportunities for their learners. Global collaboration provides opportunities for rich global, cognitive, social, cultural and life-changing experiences to their students. Online global collaboration broadly refers to geographically dispersed educators that use online technologies to learn with others beyond their immediate environment to support curricular objectives, intercultural understandings, critical thinking, personal, social and ICT capabilities. This paper will report some preliminary findings from an investigation into the perceptions of K-12 educators who facilitate global collaborative learning. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews that were then themed to identify the key affordances and inhibitors to online global collaboration. The paper will provide recommendations for global collaboration in teacher education

INTERDISCIPLINARY, INDUSTRY-BASED WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING (WIL): TRANSFORMATIVE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES FOR STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND INDUSTRY PARTNERS

The evolving workplace demands a shift from discipline-specific knowledge to capabilities that are transferrable across diverse contexts. Working in interdisciplinary teams, where students are active partners in shaping their learning through engaging in collaborative problem-solving enables profound personal and professional development. The challenge the students were presented with arose from a collaboration with Lab Tests Online Australasia (LTOAU). The industry partner requested assistance with improving web-design, assessing health literacy of online content, user engagement strategy and optimised use of Google analytics. The Curtin University team comprised students and academic supervisors from science, commerce, and media communications. LTOAU actively supported students to scope and define the problem, providing iterative feedback as students progressed. Solving real-world problems in interdisciplinary teams inspired students to take ownership of their learning, consider multiple perspectives, and establish a shared learning culture within a diverse team. All stakeholders described positive, immediate and long-term outcomes from the intense collaboration that took place over the duration of the project. The process for designing and implementing interdisciplinary project-based WIL in partnership with industry will be presented. The industry partner and students will outline personal development the interactive experience enabled. This presentation will highlight transformational learning afforded though interdisciplinary problem-solving

Community across a continent: cultivating relationships in online education Distance Education versus Traditional Education: Management Methods and Systems

Online education has undoubtedly revolutionized the ways, means, and criteria for learning. With more systems for cyber communication and collaboration than ever before, online education is often touted as the second coming of Horace Mann's notion of “the great equalizer” in education. However, one critical piece of face-to-face education, the ability to build and cultivate interpersonal relationships and communities, is severely strained, and often nonexistent, in the realm of online learning. As more and more research suggests the importance of community to students' academic success at all levels of the educational system, what are the implications for our online students if this factor is missing? In this paper, the author draws upon her experience as a traditional public school educator and as an online instructor through the Johns Hopkins University Masters of Science in Education program to discuss the importance of nurturing personal connections with online students in ways that support students' intrinsic needs for community and increase participation, interaction, and academic outcomes

Learning by volunteer computing, thinking and gaming: What and how are volunteers learning by participating in Virtual Citizen Science?

Citizen Science (CS) refers to a form of research collaboration that engages volunteers without formal scientific training in contributing to empirical scientific projects. Virtual Citizen Science (VCS) projects engage participants in online tasks. VCS has demonstrated its usefulness for research, however little is known about its learning potential for volunteers. This paper reports on research exploring the learning outcomes and processes in VCS. In order to identify different kinds of learning, 32 exploratory interviews of volunteers were conducted in three different VCS projects. We found six main learning outcomes related to different participants' activities in the project. Volunteers learn on four dimensions that are directly related to the scope of the VCS project: they learn at the task/game level, acquire pattern recognition skills, on-topic content knowledge, and improve their scientific literacy. Thanks to indirect opportunities of VCS projects, volunteers learn on two additional dimensions: off topic knowledge and skills, and personal development. Activities through which volunteers learn can be categorized in two levels: at a micro (task/game) level that is direct participation to the task, and at a macro level, i.e. use of project documentation, personal research on the Internet, and practicing specific roles in project communities. Both types are influenced by interactions with others in chat or forums. Most learning happens to be informal, unstructured and social. Volunteers do not only learn from others by interacting with scientists and their peers, but also by working for others: they gain knowledge, new status and skills by acting as active participants, moderators, editors, translators, community managers, etc. in a project community. This research highlights these informal and social aspects in adult learning and science education and also stresses the importance for learning through the indirect opportunities provided by the project: the main one being the opportunity to participate and progress in a project community, according to one's tastes and skills

Peran Teknologi dalam Transformasi Pendidikan: Perspektif dari Studi Kepustakaan

The transformation of education in the digital era leverages various technologies to enhance accessibility, effectiveness, and the overall quality of learning. Digital learning, virtual reality, and augmented reality provide innovative learning experiences, while data analytics and machine learning support personalized learning. Internet of Things (IoT) technology monitors health and resource efficiency in school environments. Blockchain reinforces the security of academic data and facilitates credential verification. Learning Management Systems (LMS) offer a centralized platform for the distribution of learning materials and online collaboration. Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology supports personal tutoring and cheating detection. Mobile learning (M-Learning) introduces learning through mobile devices, while robotics and School Information Management Systems (SIM School) aid in building interactivity and administrative efficiency. The utilization of these technologies not only transforms how we learn and teach but also creates an adaptive and responsive educational environment in the digital age

Learning networks for professional development:Current research approaches and future trends

Learning networks are technology supported communities through which learners share knowledge with each other and jointly develop new knowledge (Sloep & Berlanga, 2011). This way, learning networks enrich the experience of continuous professional development and lifelong learning. Examples of learning networks for professional development are communities of employees who want to improve customer services, lawyers who want exchange knowledge and experience, and communities of teachers who exchange their experiences and seek for collaboration. Learning networks that support activities for educational professionals is enjoying increasing interest, see for instance Cloudworks (http://cloudworks.ac.uk/), Tapped-In (http://tappedin.org), or eTwinning (www.etwinning.net). However, the full potential and added value of these networks could be maximised if new frameworks, tools and techniques would be developed (Schlager, et al., 2009). A case in point is the European project Teacher’s Lifelong Learning Networks (Tellnet). This project aims to study professional development networks by exploring analysis and visualisation techniques to identify relevant structures and patterns, and to specify performance indicators for facilitating collaboration, innovation and creativity of teachers. Tools are investigated to foster peer-support, collaboration, and increase social capital. Moreover, specific future scenarios on the role of teacher networks for learning are developed, bringing together the evidence found with emerging social and technical trends in Europe. The above mentioned eTwinning network is taken as study case. eTwinning promotes teacher and school collaboration through the use of ICT. It is a large online network (over 150.000 European teachers) in which teachers can work with each other and learn from each other. Through this network, collaborative cross-border school projects can be started on a wide variety of subjects, e.g. having multiple primary school students working together and learning about different cultures. Additionally, teachers can attend a variety of professional development activities, such as online Groups or Learning Labs to improving both personal and professional teaching skills. The aim of this symposium is to present current Tellnet efforts that aim to understand and enhance learning networks for professional development. This includes contributions that attempt to answer questions such as: how network learning can contribute to successful continuous professional development and competence building? How could learning analytics be used in order to identify benefits of learning networks, such as social capital? What will be the role of networks in the coming years? Answering these questions requires a holistic approach that considers pedagogical and technical underpinnings, as well as individual, social and organizational aspects

Role Playing in Online Education: A Teaching Tool to Enhance Student Engagement and Sustained Learning

Discovering new ways to inspire students is a worthy teaching goal. When students love what they are learning, the process feels meaningful, they retain the information better, and the experience motivates them to learn more. Encouraging a love of learning can be a particular challenge in an online class, however, since the teacher does not see the students face-to-face and therefore lacks the visual cues that typically indicate how much students understand, what excites them, and what they still need to know. As online education escalates, it is important for instructors to explore teaching techniques that engage students and enhance learning at a profound level. To achieve this goal, instructors must look at the primarily text-based environment of the online class not as a limitation, but as an opportunity. Attentive and highly personal teaching that generates enthusiastic interaction, collaboration, and engaged dialogue among students is desirable in any educational setting. But it is all the more crucial in an online classroom, for it enables teachers to gain knowledge of their students that would not otherwise be available within such an environment. Role playing is one specific online activity that can contribute to a successful and highly enjoyable learning experience. By providing opportunities for students to create and participate in role-playing scenarios, instructors can gain a sounder knowledge of each student, and students can benefit through increased interaction with the material and with each other. The Potential for Enhanced Learning through Role Playing I have used role playing with the online students I teach at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labo

Factors influencing university instructors' adoption of the conception of online teaching as a medium to promote learners' collaboration in virtual learning environments

Resultats: els tres usuaris-persona resultants s'acompanyen de descripcions i es complementen amb escenaris basats en evidències que han d'ajudar a dissenyar experiències d'usuaris. Aquests són el Marc (usuari), un estudiant adolescent que pretén codissenyar la biblioteca i que reclama activitats socials presencials; la Maria (mai usuària), una jubilada que necessita caliu humà i que fa evident la necessitat de col·laboració més estreta entre serveis socials i biblioteques, i el David (exusuari), treballador de més de trenta anys que considera que no necessita la biblioteca tot i que en desconeix la majoria de serveis que actualment li ofereix.The purpose of the study was to build a model of the factors that influence the university instructors' adoption of the conception of online teaching named 'promoting the learners' collaboration in virtual learning environments. We conducted a survey to nine hundred sixty-five higher education online instructors belonging to the Open University of Catalonia (www.uoc.edu). In this study we used three scales selected from a larger questionnaire that collected three types of information from the instructors: personal and professional data, online teaching roles, and online teaching conceptions. We identified several conceptions about online teaching through a factorial analysis from the third scale. In the present research we analyze the relationship between the instructors' conception about teaching as a medium to promote learners' collaboration (independent variable), and possible explanatory variables: gender, age, academic education, field of specialization, experience in online teaching, level of teaching, time devoted to online teaching, and instructors' perceived relevance of their online teaching roles. Correlations and preliminary multiple regression analyses were used to make inferential judgements and test the effects of the independent variable separately. Findings from correlation analysis suggest that gender, academic education, online teaching experience, time devoted to online teaching, and, more relevant, all five teaching roles: social interaction, instructional design, technology use, learning assessment and learning processes support, are relevant predictors of the adoption of this conception of teaching by online instructors