The organisational impact of open educational resources

The open educational resource (OER) movement has been growing rapidly since 2001, stimulated by funding from benefactors such as the Hewlett Foundation and UNESCO, and providing educational content freely to institutions and learners across the World. Individuals and organisations are motivated by a variety of drivers to produce OERs, both altruistic and self-interested. There are parallels with the open source movement where authors and others combine their efforts to provide a product which they and others can use freely and adapt to their own purposes. There are many different ways in which OER initiatives are organised and an infinite range of possibilities for how the OERs themselves are constituted. If institutions are to develop sustainable OER initiatives they need to build successful change management initiatives, developing models for the production and quality assurance of OERs, licensing them through appropriate mechanisms such as the Creative Commons, and considering how the resources will be discovered and used by learners

Web 2.0 technologies for learning: the current landscape – opportunities, challenges and tensions

This is the first report from research commissioned by Becta into Web 2.0 technologies for learning at Key Stages 3 and 4. This report describes findings from an additional literature review of the then current landscape concerning learner use of Web 2.0 technologies and the implications for teachers, schools, local authorities and policy makers

Marking machinima : a case study in assessing student use of a Web 2.0 technology

The model of learning best suited to the future may be one which sees learning as the process of managing the different kinds of participation an individual might have in complex social systems. Learning capability and engagement is thus dependent on the relationship between an individual identity and social systems. We report on the incorporation of machinima, a Web 2.0 technology, as part of an interdisciplinary and collaborative project where the focus is not on the mastery of the tools or the acquisition of predetermined knowledge, but on the development of learning engagement. We provide the case study of a pilot project involving students across two Arts disciplines collaborating via the game, World of Warcraft, to produce an animated adaptation of one of Geoffrey Chaucer\u27s Canterbury Tales. Their contributions were differently assessed according to the pre-existing requirements of their home disciplines. We argue that the assessment in such projects, in conjunction with innovations and experimentation with Web 2.0 technologies, should shift from an emphasis on product to process. We believe that this has a sound pedagogical and theoretical foundation, and also fits better with the increasingly digitalised, unfixed and interdisciplinary world that students will face on graduation. <br /

Innovative Techniques for Inspiring EFL Students\u27 Enthusiasm and Participating in English Classroom Activities

Since 1990, the government of Taiwan has sought to position the country as an international economic and trading center. As a result, English became a compulsory subject for Taiwanese students in 2005 (Lu, 2011). The Taiwan Ministry of Education (MOE) is promoting communicative language teaching (CLT) and encouraging learners to develop and increased desire to improve their language skills. However, many Taiwanese English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers still focus on memorization and the grammar translation method (Chung & Huang, 2009). The author discovered two major issues related to English language teaching in Taiwan. The first issue was many Taiwanese English as EFL teachers do not provide meaningful and authentic communication opportunities for their students (Chung & Huang, 2009). The second issue was many Taiwanese EFL learners focus more on extrinsic motivation than intrinsic motivation (Hernandez, 2008). The other primary issue discussed involved the relationship between learning and motivation. The primary purpose of this project was to design a research-based curriculum for EFL teachers working with Taiwanese university students. It outlines a framework for how an instructor can integrate various new techniques and activities to motivate students to utilize English in their daily lives. Furthermore, this project focuses on the importance of the characteristics and qualities of an effective Taiwanese EFL instructor and how they can integrate innovative techniques into their language instruction such as Google Forms, Quizlet, YouTube, and Snapchat. This curriculum does not merely focus on dispensing information; instead, it focuses on encouraging learners to be completely involved and to realize how what they acquire linguistically is can be applied in practical situations

What Is the Participant Learning Experience Like Using YouTube to Study a Foreign Language?

This research is to explore and understand participants\u27 experience using YouTube to learn a foreign language. YouTube and learning has become more and more popular in the recent years. The finding of this research will be adding more understanding to the emerging body of knowledge of YouTube phenomenon. In this research, there are three interviews and two questionnaires. The interviews are conducted to find in-depth responses from participants; the questionnaires are used to inquire demographic and basic information about the participants. There are twelve themes found in this research. These themes reflect on the perceived experience using YouTube to learn a foreign language from participants. Among the twelve themes, there are two themes that contributed to positive perception of the experience, three themes contributed to negative perception of the experience; and seven themes contributed to neutral perception of the experience. Finding suggests that multiple factors may impact participants\u27 experience. These factors may be personal or external, or both. The significance of the finding is to explore the experience and find the re-applicability for future studie

A Secondary ELA Classroom Curriculum Study Using Culturally-Relevant, Digital Texts To Increase Student Engagement And Understanding

The purpose of this capstone project was to create an engaging and challenging curriculum for a mid-level 11th-grade English course that would explore the use of culturally releveant, digital texts to increase student engagement and understanding. The paper that follows explores the reason why such an interactive and culurally relevant curriculum is needed in an increasingly-diverse suburban classroom. In particular, a blend of research around neuroscience, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Constructivism, the use of digital tools to enhance learning, and a look at how texts should fall under the mirrow-window continuum, was collected. Combinging theory and research led to the backward creation of a challenging, yet engaging curriculum for a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse classroom. What the researcher has concluded is that writing effective curriculum that looks to engage digital native students, while also challenging the status quo and empowering students on their learning journey, can and must be done. A fine balance must be struck by the educator between where students are currently and who they are, and where they must be and who they have the potential to be. Using culturally relevant, digital texts in an English classroom offers an effective framework for social justice pedagogy, which is crucial for life-long, critical learning to occur in today’s world

Adding some TEC-variety: 100+ activities for motivating and retaining learners online

The TEC-VARIETY framework purposely takes into account current technology trends and attempts to stimulate their use in pedagogically effective ways. As such, it rests at the intersection of such exciting educational affordances brought about by emerging learning technologies, intrinsic as well as extrinsic motivation-related theories, and the rapidly shifting perspectives on teaching and learning philosophies and approaches. For online educators who are frustrated with never-ending waves of technology and the lack of training on how to effectively use them in their courses, we hope that the TEC-VARIETY framework can offer a ray of sunshine and a new beginning for online educators worldwide. As part of that hope, such educators might find activities and strategies that they can make use of to nurture engagement and success online. These strategies can breathe life into current classes and programs that are failing to engage their learners. They tap into learners’ inner resources and desires to learn and grow toward a better future. At the same time, they can invite the global sharing of ideas and knowledge as part of a worldwide community or family of learners