Appropriation of literacy technologies in the classroom: reflections from creative learning design workshops with primary school teachers

Background: Approaches to teacher professional development, such as learning designs (LDs), can facilitate primary school teachers' appropriation of literacy technology in the classroom. LDs are detailed learning activities and interventions designed by teachers to plan their use of technology. Methods: Using a creative design methodology to carry out a series of LD workshops with teachers, we aimed to understand how primary school teachers envision learning and teaching with two distinct technologies designed to support children's reading skills: a game and an e-reader. Employing systematic qualitative content analysis, we compared LDs developed by teachers for each technology. Results: Our study shows that while principles of teacher instruction are consistently incorporated across the LDs, the design of each technology plays an important role in how teachers plan their students' learning and focal reading skills. Further, teachers' perception of the technology is as important as the features of the design. Compared with the e-reader, the game is perceived as an individual practice activity with less opportunities to learn with peers. Finally, across both technologies, teachers envision supporting additional literacy skills, beyond those designed in the technology, highlighting the importance of explicitly facilitating LDs intended to foster within-subject learning. Conclusions: These findings raise a new set of considerations on how to support teachers to design literacy learning and teaching activities with technology, and also offer a new methodological approach to facilitate LDs in future research and teacher training

Educational Technology Topic Guide

This guide aims to contribute to what we know about the relationship between educational technology (edtech) and educational outcomes by addressing the following overarching question: What is the evidence that the use of edtech, by teachers or students, impacts teaching and learning practices, or learning outcomes? It also offers recommendations to support advisors to strengthen the design, implementation and evaluation of programmes that use edtech. We define edtech as the use of digital or electronic technologies and materials to support teaching and learning. Recognising that technology alone does not enhance learning, evaluations must also consider how programmes are designed and implemented, how teachers are supported, how communities are developed and how outcomes are measured (see http://tel.ac.uk/about-3/, 2014). Effective edtech programmes are characterised by: a clear and specific curriculum focus the use of relevant curriculum materials a focus on teacher development and pedagogy evaluation mechanisms that go beyond outputs. These findings come from a wide range of technology use including: interactive radio instruction (IRI) classroom audio or video resources accessed via teachers’ mobile phones student tablets and eReaders computer-assisted learning (CAL) to supplement classroom teaching. However, there are also examples of large-scale investment in edtech – particularly computers for student use – that produce limited educational outcomes. We need to know more about: how to support teachers to develop appropriate, relevant practices using edtech how such practices are enacted in schools, and what factors contribute to or mitigate against successful outcomes. Recommendations: 1. Edtech programmes should focus on enabling educational change, not delivering technology. In doing so, programmes should provide adequate support for teachers and aim to capture changes in teaching practice and learning outcomes in evaluation. 2. Advisors should support proposals that further develop successful practices or that address gaps in evidence and understanding. 3. Advisors should discourage proposals that have an emphasis on technology over education, weak programmatic support or poor evaluation. 4. In design and evaluation, value-for-money metrics and cost-effectiveness analyses should be carried out

Development of a sustainable business model development for Biblionef Ghana

Applied project submitted to the Department of Business Administration, Ashesi University, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, April 2018Biblionef Ghana is a non-governmental organisation that provides new story books to underprivileged schools and holds other activities that aid in getting children to love reading. Biblionef Ghana is however being weaned off by their parent organisation, Biblionef Netherlands, and has therefore had a reduction in the amount of funds that they are receiving from them. Due to this, Biblionef Ghana has had to halt some of their important projects as they are facing difficulty with fundraising and have insufficient funds to handle those projects. Mainly qualitative research was emplored, with interviews and observations as data collection tools. It was discovered that Biblionef Ghana has poor publicity, is short staffed, and has an underperforming library. A needs assessment was carried out and it was gathered that the development of an appropriate business model is what Biblionef Ghana needs to become self-sustaining. Literature provided that for an NGO to become sustainable, it should fix its funding model, diversify its sources of income, and have more skilled workers. It proved that what Biblionef Ghana truly needs is a sustainable business model because a business model shows how an organisation can make and sustain its profit stream. Using a business model canvas, a business model depicting the current state of Biblionef Ghana was designed in order to derive a more appropriate, sustainable business model for the company. This business model was designed in such a way that will help the company become more income generating, have lower costs and provide greater publicity for the business, thereby ensuring sustainability. An implementation plan and recommendations were provided thereafter.Ashesi Universit

How and Why to Read and Create Children's Digital Books

How and Why to Read and Create Children's Digital Books outlines effective ways of using digital books in early years and primary classrooms, and specifies the educational potential of using digital books and apps in physical spaces and virtual communities. With a particular focus on apps and personalised reading, Natalia Kucirkova combines theory and practice to argue that personalised reading is only truly personalised when it is created or co-created by reading communities. Divided into two parts, Part I suggests criteria to evaluate the educational quality of digital books and practical strategies for their use in the classroom. Specific attention is paid to the ways in which digital books can support individual children’s strengths and difficulties, digital literacies, language and communication skills. Part II explores digital books created by children, their caregivers, teachers and librarians, and Kucirkova also offers insights into how smart toys, tangibles and augmented/virtual reality tools can enrich children’s reading for pleasure

Appropriation of literacy technologies in the classroom: reflections from creative learning design workshops with primary school teachers

Background: Approaches to teacher professional development, such as learning designs (LDs), can facilitate primary school teachers' appropriation of literacy technology in the classroom. LDs are detailed learning activities and interventions designed by teachers to plan their use of technology. Methods: Using a creative design methodology to carry out a series of LD workshops with teachers, we aimed to understand how primary school teachers envision learning and teaching with two distinct technologies designed to support children's reading skills: a game and an e-reader. Employing systematic qualitative content analysis, we compared LDs developed by teachers for each technology. Results: Our study shows that while principles of teacher instruction are consistently incorporated across the LDs, the design of each technology plays an important role in how teachers plan their students' learning and focal reading skills. Further, teachers' perception of the technology is as important as the features of the design. Compared with the e-reader, the game is perceived as an individual practice activity with less opportunities to learn with peers. Finally, across both technologies, teachers envision supporting additional literacy skills, beyond those designed in the technology, highlighting the importance of explicitly facilitating LDs intended to foster within-subject learning. Conclusions: These findings raise a new set of considerations on how to support teachers to design literacy learning and teaching activities with technology, and also offer a new methodological approach to facilitate LDs in future research and teacher training

How and Why to Read and Create Children's Digital Books

How and Why to Read and Create Children's Digital Books outlines effective ways of using digital books in early years and primary classrooms, and specifies the educational potential of using digital books and apps in physical spaces and virtual communities. With a particular focus on apps and personalised reading, Natalia Kucirkova combines theory and practice to argue that personalised reading is only truly personalised when it is created or co-created by reading communities. Divided into two parts, Part I suggests criteria to evaluate the educational quality of digital books and practical strategies for their use in the classroom. Specific attention is paid to the ways in which digital books can support individual children’s strengths and difficulties, digital literacies, language and communication skills. Part II explores digital books created by children, their caregivers, teachers and librarians, and Kucirkova also offers insights into how smart toys, tangibles and augmented/virtual reality tools can enrich children’s reading for pleasure

Mobiles for Reading: A Landscape Research Review

This landscape review takes the broad domain of new information and communications technologies (ICTs) for education, and focuses on the fast-evolving sub-domain of mobiles for reading, or M4R. The \u27mobiles\u27 in this review primarily refer to mobile technologies— ICTs that are portable, typically battery powered, and may be connected to cellular networks and/or the Internet. The term \u27reading\u27 refers to the joint abilities of understanding and producing written language, for children, youth and adults. This review of M4R focuses primarily on the use of mobile ICTs designed to help children learn to read, practice reading (reading to learn), and acquire a broader range of learning skills that support a literate society

AI in Learning: Designing the Future

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is predicted to radically change teaching and learning in both schools and industry causing radical disruption of work. AI can support well-being initiatives and lifelong learning but educational institutions and companies need to take the changing technology into account. Moving towards AI supported by digital tools requires a dramatic shift in the concept of learning, expertise and the businesses built off of it. Based on the latest research on AI and how it is changing learning and education, this book will focus on the enormous opportunities to expand educational settings with AI for learning in and beyond the traditional classroom. This open access book also introduces ethical challenges related to learning and education, while connecting human learning and machine learning. This book will be of use to a variety of readers, including researchers, AI users, companies and policy makers

Public perception of campus security issues at institutions of higher education in United States

Campus safety issues have become a growing epidemic in United States. Several factors for instance active shooter incidents across United States may have created a negative correlation between parental/public perception and campus safety. Social amplification or attenuation of risk (SAAR), the theoretical framework for this research study, may play an influential role in swaying public opinion about campus safety and institutional selection process. This dissertation utilized the SPELIT Power Matrix needs assessment model, SAAR theoretical framework, and servant leadership model to determine which sources of information and what factors are influential in the decision-making process for selecting an IHE. This study used social media to reach out to millions of people anonymously to seek individual opinions and collect data to further analyze which factors and influences can affect decision making outcomes. The researcher offers one potential researched-based solution, the security awareness foundation etiquette (SAFE) card, which can guide college bound prospective students elevate their awareness and make more informed decisions. The researcher used Wilcoxon matched pairs tests to compare the mean score of college decision factors to determine which college decision factors were most significant. The following college decisions factors were significant sorted by highest mean score: campus safety (M = 4.43), Major (M = 4.41), program (M = 4.39), and cost (M = 4.27). The following information sources were significant, sorted by highest mean score: campus visit (M = 4.33), opinion of graduates (M =3.92), ratings given by impartial organizations such as US News and World Report (M = 3.68), and counselor recommendation (M = 3.54). When college decision factors and information sources were compared, a significant relationship was discovered between social media as an information source and campus safety as a college decision factor, with a correlation coefficient of r = .29. IHEs generally avoid displaying campus safety issues or negative news, therefore most and perhaps not all IHEs appear to have a safe campus. The theoretical framework for this study suggests that by omitting such facts as campus safety, social attenuation of risk may be affecting college bound prospective students’ and respective parents’ decision-making outcomes