Can virtual seminars be used cost‐effectively to enhance student learning?

This paper describes a virtual seminar initiative designed to investigate the extent to which computer‐mediated communication (CMC) can cost‐effectively strengthen staff‐student interaction and enhance student group discussion, and thereby improve collaborative learning. After setting the scene by means of a brief review of the discursive potential of CMC, the establishment of an asynchronous bulletin board system on three modules in the Department of Sociology at the University of Manchester using industry standard software is described. Detailed time diaries kept by all staff involved revealed that organizing and running the virtual seminars were very much less time‐consuming than running face‐to‐face seminars. However, analysis of the students’ access to and mage of the virtual seminars indicates that some of them were disadvantaged by CMC and that they favoured face‐to‐face contact with lecturers over virtual seminars. The latter should therefore be part of a portfolio of teaching techniques rather than the sole form of collaborative learning. The conclusion is that a significant obstacle to benefiting from CMC is the further demand on staff time that results from adding virtual seminars as a supplement to existing teaching practices. Even though these extra demands may be modest, effectively deploying the discursive potential of CMC to enhance student learning increases staff effort rather than reducing it, as many have hoped or promised it would

Managing evolution and change in web-based teaching and learning environments

The state of the art in information technology and educational technologies is evolving constantly. Courses taught are subject to constant change from organisational and subject-specific reasons. Evolution and change affect educators and developers of computer-based teaching and learning environments alike – both often being unprepared to respond effectively. A large number of educational systems are designed and developed without change and evolution in mind. We will present our approach to the design and maintenance of these systems in rapidly evolving environments and illustrate the consequences of evolution and change for these systems and for the educators and developers responsible for their implementation and deployment. We discuss various factors of change, illustrated by a Web-based virtual course, with the objective of raising an awareness of this issue of evolution and change in computer-supported teaching and learning environments. This discussion leads towards the establishment of a development and management framework for teaching and learning systems

Lessons in project management

The conventional view of project management is challenged by a contemporary construction industry that is rethinking its processes and procedures as it seeks to align itself with clients' business needs. Project managers must update their skills. They require flexible education and training that complements work place experience rather than distracts from professional obligations. Educational technology offers an exciting opportunity to accommodate these, often conflicting, requirements. Computer-aided learning (CAL) is supported by a government keen to promote a Learning Society, the expansion of Higher Education (HE) postgraduate provision and the construction industry's own initiatives to engender a culture of lifelong learning. Enthusiasts argue that CAL provides greater access, enhances quality and overcomes the inherent disadvantages of distance learning. Yet the apparent eagerness to develop innovative CAL applications is not evidenced in an educational survey of built environment postgraduate course provision. On the contrary, only small pockets of CAL activity are available. A new distance learning project management educational software application (DIMEPM) is developed and compared with a traditional multiple media resource and a well-established postgraduate module delivered in part-time mode. The design of DIMEPM draws on the expertise of experienced practitioners in HE and the views of leading academics in the field. Qualitative and quantitative approaches are employed in a longitudinal evaluation that assesses the relative learning gains, student attitude and confidence of HE students. And, in order to gain reaction from industry, DIMEPM is subjected to an illuminative evaluation within a leading engineering and project management consultancy. The research study finds no significant difference in the academic performance of students in the control and experimental groups. However, it is clear that technically orientated tasks lend themselves more readily to CAL than interpersonal skills. Distributed educational packages provide opportunities for enhancing distance learning but alternative pedagogic approaches are needed to encourage web-based dialogue and promote vicarious learning. Practitioners suggest that the distinction between these alternative delivery methods is artificial and that an integrated approach should be explored. Crucially, the research identifies considerable advantage in linking outcomes to delivery mechanisms and advocates the use of an "Associated Delivery" model

Σύγκριση μεθοδολογιών ηλεκτρονικής εκπαίδευσης (e-learning)

Διπλωματική εργασία--Πανεπιστήμιο Μακεδονίας, Θεσσαλονίκη, 2008.ΔΙΠ ΜΒΑ/7

Learning out of the box : perceptions and use of a VLE at an HE institution

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Les affordances socionumériques d'un environnement d'apprentissage hybride en soutien à des stagiaires en enseignement secondaire : de l'analyse réflexive à la coélaboration de connaissances

Le renouvellement des pratiques éducatives proposé par les récents travaux en sciences de l’apprentissage, l’implantation du renouveau pédagogique dans le système scolaire québécois et les possibilités nouvelles qu’offrent les technologies de l’information et de la communication pour l’apprentissage collaboratif sont autant de facteurs contribuant à la transformation des environnements d’apprentissage. Désirant que les futurs enseignants soient préparés adéquatement à cette réalité, la présente recherche rend compte de la perception et de l’utilisation de possibilités mises à la disposition de stagiaires en enseignement secondaire dans un environnement d’apprentissage hybride pour soutenir un processus collaboratif d’analyse réflexive. Le concept d’affordance, auquel nous avons attribué une acception sociale au concept forgé initialement par James J. Gibson (1979) et repris par Donald Norman (1983) et William Gaver (1991), a servi d’ancrage à notre cadre d’analyse. L’expérimentation de devis s’est déroulée auprès de neuf groupes d’étudiants sur une période de trois ans et demi, soit de la session d’automne 2002 à celle d’hiver 2005. Leur expérience de terrain a été ancrée dans un contexte de classe, communauté d’apprentissage en réseau où la pédagogie est inspirée du constructivisme et du socioconstructivisme. La participation à ce contexte a été soutenue par diverses possibilités d’interactions, sociales et numériques, visant à accompagner les étudiants tout au long de leur cheminement. Des données quantitatives descriptives et diverses analyses qualitatives ont été utilisées. Nous constatons que la majorité des affordances mises à la disposition des stagiaires ont été perçues selon ce qui avait été envisagé initialement. Elles ont étayé l’intégration et la participation des étudiants au contexte pédagogique renouvelé, et elles ont encouragé une réflexivité de nature délibérative et émancipatrice (Van Manen, 1977). À certains moments, le processus d’analyse réflexive s’est transformé en un processus de coélaboration de connaissances (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1993). Des changements dans la façon de conceptualiser l’expérience de terrain ont été constatés dans le vocabulaire utilisé par les stagiaires au fur et à mesure que les neuf groupes se sont succédés. D’autre part, les résultats obtenus mettent aussi en lumière le potentiel émergent des affordances socionumériques en matière d’apprentissage en profondeur. À cet effet, nous avons remarqué une complexification du questionnement en lien avec les enjeux du stage. Au terme de la recherche, nous pouvons entrevoir diverses implications pour les concepteurs d’environnements d’apprentissage hybrides et les formateurs de maîtres.The changes in educational practices proposed by recent works in the learning sciences, the curriculum reform in the Province of Quebec and the possibilities offered by information and communication technologies (ICT) to support collaborative learning are contributing factors to the transformation of learning environments. Aspiring to prepare future teachers adequately to this reality, the study reports accounts of the perception and use of opportunities put forward to enhance and sustain high-school pre-service teachers’ collaborative reflective analysis process. The concept of affordance, to which we attributed a social meaning to the one coined by James J. Gibson (1979) and refined by Donald Norman (1983) and William Gaver (1991), was used as part of our framework. Design experiment was conducted with nine groups of students from the Fall 2002 term to the Winter 2005 term. Field experience was anchored to a networked learning community context where constructivist and social constructivist perspectives are important. Students’ participation to this context was sustained by multiple possibilities of interaction, social and digital, all along their trajectory. Results show that most of the affordances put forward were perceived accordingly to what was designed. They scaffolded integration and participation of students to the networked classroom context and they encouraged deliberative and emancipatory reflectivity (Van Manen, 1977). In some instances, the reflective analysis process was transformed into knowledge building (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1993). Changes have been noticed in the vocabulary used by pre-service teachers from one group to another. Moreover, results unfold the potential of sociodigital affordances for deep learning. We noticed an increasing level of complexity in the questions addressed by students over time. As we conclude this research, we propose implications for designing learning environment and teaching teachers

Ensimmäinen ja toinen käsikirjoitusversio väitöskirjaa varten

This publication contains the first and the second manuscript version for LauriLahti’s doctoral dissertation in 2015 "Computer-assisted learning based on cumulative vocabularies, conceptual networks and Wikipedia linkage".Tämä julkaisu sisältää ensimmäisen ja toisen käsikirjoitusversion Lauri Lahden väitöskirjaan vuonna 2015 "Tietokoneavusteinen oppiminen perustuen karttuviin sanastoihin, käsiteverkostoihin ja Wikipedian linkitykseen".Not reviewe