A collaborative design process for educational digital resources in African higher education

Within Africa, access to digital library systems is critical in supporting higher level teaching, learning and research. Currently there is a high demand with inadequate resources which often produces poorly supported learning outcomes. The effectiveness of current resources is further limited by poor design processes, which is worsened by stakeholders (academics, e-learning technologists and digital librarians and designers) often working in isolation. Ultimately, designed resources become less user-centred and sustainable. This thesis sought to provide empirically developed collaborative design process guidance for design stakeholders developing educational digital resources within African higher education. Following a Human Computer Interaction research approach, eleven best practice digital library projects identified from three case studies of African universities (in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa) were investigated. Data was drawn from interviews, observations and an examination of documents. This investigation identified three interrelated factors that impacted on the design process (i. e. human relationships, innovative technologies and policies). The human relationships factor comprised multidisciplinary design stakeholders and included a subset i. e. design champions (multidisciplinary and domain champions) whose role changed the facilitation and eventual output of the other stakeholders in the design process. The multidisciplinary champions took on a participatory approach to engagement while the domain champions assumed an approach that was less engaging. The innovative technologies factor comprised universal technologies and `flexible' technologies (i. e. Web 2.0 applications and the Open Source Software) which supported the design process and enhanced user-centeredness and sustainability of the projects. Existing institutional and national policies supported stakeholder collaboration and application of the innovative technologies. The absence of any of these factors in the digital library projects weakened the design process and reduced effectiveness of digital resources. These three factors have been used to develop the Collaborative Educational Resources Design (CERD) process model as a guidance tool to support multidisciplinary design stakeholders indesigning effective digital resources

The Role of Technology in Music Education: a Survey of Computer Usage in Teaching Music in Colleges of Education in The Volta Region, Ghana

The study sought to find out the role of computer technology in music education in Colleges of Education in the Volta Region of Ghana. It aimed at surveying the use of computer technology for teaching music and exploring the instructional prospects for computer technology usage in music in Colleges of Education. The study employed Rogers’ Diffusion Innovation theory and descriptive survey research method. Data was collected from the respondents using questionnaire, interview, and observation. The study revealed that even though about 90% of the music tutors have good academic qualification and over five years teaching experience, lack of competence in handling computer technology in teaching music among some music tutors and incoherent ICT initiatives hindered proper application of computer technology in the field of music education. It is however envisaged that increasing access and coherent computer technology initiatives will be paramount for the teaching of music in the Colleges of Education

Culture in the design of mHealth UI:An effort to increase acceptance among culturally specific groups

Purpose: Designers of mobile applications have long understood the importance of users’ preferences in making the user experience easier, convenient and therefore valuable. The cultural aspects of groups of users are among the key features of users’ design preferences, because each group’s preferences depend on various features that are culturally compatible. The process of integrating culture into the design of a system has always been an important ingredient for effective and interactive human computer interface. This study aims to investigate the design of a mobile health (mHealth) application user interface (UI) based on Arabic culture. It was argued that integrating certain cultural values of specific groups of users into the design of UI would increase their acceptance of the technology. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 135 users responded to an online survey about their acceptance of a culturally designed mHealth. Findings: The findings showed that culturally based language, colours, layout and images had a significant relationship with users’ behavioural intention to use the culturally based mHealth UI. Research limitations/implications: First, the sample and the data collected of this study were restricted to Arab users and Arab culture; therefore, the results cannot be generalized to other cultures and users. Second, the adapted unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model was used in this study instead of the new version, which may expose new perceptions. Third, the cultural aspects of UI design in this study were limited to the images, colours, language and layout. Practical implications: It encourages UI designers to implement the relevant cultural aspects while developing mobile applications. Originality/value: Embedding Arab cultural aspects in designing UI for mobile applications to satisfy Arab users and enhance their acceptance toward using mobile applications, which will reflect positively on their lives.</p

Roles as a structuring tool in online discussion groups: the differential impact of different roles on social knowledge construction

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The effect of functional roles on perceived group efficiency during computer-supported collaborative learning

In this article, the effect of functional roles on group performance and collaboration during computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is investigated. Especially the need for triangulating multiple methods is emphasised: Likert-scale evaluation questions, quantitative content analysis of e-mail communication and qualitative analysis of open-ended questions were used. A comparison of fourty-one questionnaire observations, distributed over thirteen groups in two research conditions – groups with prescribed functional roles (n = 7, N = 18) and nonrole groups (n = 6, N = 23) – revealed no main effect for performance (grade). Principal axis factoring of the Likert-scales revealed a latent variable that was interpreted as perceived group efficiency (PGE). Multilevel modelling (MLM) yielded a positive marginal effect of PGE. Most groups in the role condition report a higher degree of PGE than nonrole groups. Content analysis of e-mail communication of all groups in both conditions (role n = 7, N = 25; nonrole n = 6, N = 26) revealed that students in role groups contribute more ‘coordination’ focussed statements. Finally, results from cross case matrices of student responses to open-ended questions support the observed marginal effect that most role groups report a higher degree of perceived group efficiency than nonrole groups

The power of connection: sharing epistemological approaches to reach beyond knowledge and skill acquisition in an Australian higher education context

[Abstract]: The profiles of today‘s adult learners in higher education are complex and diverse. Supporting these students in their learning journey needs to go beyond the acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities requiring a paradigm shift in pedagogical approach. In this paper, two tertiary educators from a regional Australian university share how they support adult learners enrolled both locally and globally to connect effectively with course content and with each other. One author, working primarily in undergraduate education courses has proposed a ―Winning Formula‖ approach to her pedagogy with an emphasis on student engagement, contextualised learning and choice of learning resources. The second author who works online with postgraduate learners shares outcomes of her research in online design with a focus on the principle of the ―CHE factor‖ (qualities of Connectivity, Humanness and Empathy) which she has found is the central tenet of effective online learning and teaching. As a result of a categorical analysis of multiple data sources from their individual research activities, the two authors were able to identify a number of shared learning and teaching principles which they have found support learners in making connections between their learning and the real world environments in which they live and work. Principles, however, cannot exist in a vacuum and need to be considered according to the educational contexts within which they are applied. The authors critique these key principles and the application to their own teaching contexts and share some anecdotal comments from students. The paper concludes with an invitation to others to consider the application (and possible adaptation) of the principles to their own educational contexts