OnCreate and the virtual teammate: an analysis of online creative processes and remote collaboration

This paper explores research undertaken by a consortium of 10 universities from across Europe as part of an EU Erasmus Strategic Partnership project called OnCreate. Recent research and experiences prove the importance of the design and implementation of online courses that are learner-centred, include collaboration and integrate rich use of media in authentic environments. The OnCreate project explores the specific challenges of creative processes in such environments. The first research phase comprises a comparative qualitative analysis of collaboration practices in design-related study programmes at the ten participating universities. A key outcome of this research was in identifying the shortcomings of the hierarchical role models of established Learning Management Systems (such as Moodle or Blackboard) and the tendency towards evolving 'mash-up' environments to support creative online collaboration

Review of Learning 2.0 Practices: Study on the Impact of Web 2.0 Innovations on Education and Training in Europe

Over the last few years, ¿web 2.0¿ or ¿social computing¿ applications like blogs, wikis, photo- and video-sharing sites, as well as online social networking sites and virtual worlds, have seen unprecedented take up. This has changed the way people access, manage and exchange knowledge, and the way they connect and interact. Younger people especially are using these tools and services as a natural way of extending their personal relations and as a means of keeping in touch with friends. This trend is accompanied by the emergence of structurally different learning styles, especially among young people. As a result, living, learning and working patterns have already changed significantly and are expected to change even more dramatically in the future. Education and training systems need innovative ways of fostering new skills for new jobs, taking into account the changing living, working and learning patterns in a digital society. So far, however, education and training systems have not, on the whole, reacted to these changes. Neither schools nor universities have seized the potential of digital media for enhancing learning and addressing their learners¿ needs. Due to the novelty of social computing, take up in education and training is still in an experimental phase. There are various diverse small-scale projects and initiatives all over Europe, which try to exploit social computing for a multitude of learning purposes, but research on enabling and disabling factors is scarce. This study is part of a collaboration project between the European Commission¿s Joint Research Centre (JRC-IPTS) and its Directorate General for Education and Culture (DG EAC). The objective is to investigate the innovative and inclusive potential of social computing applications in formal education by reviewing current practice. The report identifies, structures and analyses existing Learning 2.0 practice in Europe with a view to generating evidence on the impact of social computing for learning and its potential in promoting innovation and inclusion. It combines a review of research on Learning 2.0 with the collection of experience and good practice from a broad variety of cases.JRC.J.4-Information Societ

EDU-COM 2004 International conference: new challenges for sustainability and growth in higher education

EDU-COM 2004, an international conference held in Khon Kaen, Thailand from the 24th to the 26th November, 2004 took the theme: New Challenges for Sustainability and Growth in Higher Education. EDU-COM 2004 was sponsored and organised by Edith Cowan University, Khon Kaen University and Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University/ The Conference was structured to address five sub-themes pertinent to the challenges facing higher education worldwide: • Collaboration between campus and community in Higher Education • Collaboration targeting multi-cultural and cross-cultural issues in Higher Education • Collaboration through new teaching and learning technologies in Higher Education • Collaboration for quality: valuing and evaluating performance in Higher Education • Collaboration for effective governance in Higher Education Contributors were invited to address on or more of these sub-themes. All papers published in these proceedings reflect the drive for richer learning experiences, improved learning environments and recognition of the importance of the local community as technology enables us to think globally. Predictably perhaps, e-education brought the most substantial response, a clear indication of the perceived potential for new technologies to influence teaching, learning and administration in higher education. The papers also highlight some of the challenges and emerging expectations for higher education in a world that is increasingly characterised by international alliances, partnerships and tensions – a search for sustainability and equity in a period of rapid social and technological change. The Proceedings are in 3 sections. Section 1 – Keynote Speakers; Section 2 – Academic Peer Reviewed Papers: Section 3 - “Work in Progress”. EDU-COM 2004 was attended by delegates from Australia, Botswana, Cambodia, China, Denmark, England, Hong Kong, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Lao, Myanamar, Singapore, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam

e-Skills: The International dimension and the Impact of Globalisation - Final Report 2014

In today’s increasingly knowledge-based economies, new information and communication technologies are a key engine for growth fuelled by the innovative ideas of highly - skilled workers. However, obtaining adequate quantities of employees with the necessary e-skills is a challenge. This is a growing international problem with many countries having an insufficient numbers of workers with the right e-Skills. For example: Australia: “Even though there’s 10,000 jobs a year created in IT, there are only 4500 students studying IT at university, and not all of them graduate” (Talevski and Osman, 2013). Brazil: “Brazil’s ICT sector requires about 78,000 [new] people by 2014. But, according to Brasscom, there are only 33,000 youths studying ICT related courses in the country” (Ammachchi, 2012). Canada: “It is widely acknowledged that it is becoming inc reasingly difficult to recruit for a variety of critical ICT occupations –from entry level to seasoned” (Ticoll and Nordicity, 2012). Europe: It is estimated that there will be an e-skills gap within Europe of up to 900,000 (main forecast scenario) ICT pr actitioners by 2020” (Empirica, 2014). Japan: It is reported that 80% of IT and user companies report an e-skills shortage (IPA, IT HR White Paper, 2013) United States: “Unlike the fiscal cliff where we are still peering over the edge, we careened over the “IT Skills Cliff” some years ago as our economy digitalized, mobilized and further “technologized”, and our IT skilled labour supply failed to keep up” (Miano, 2013)

Teachers perceptions of factors affecting the successful teaching of ICT

Research revealed that ICT education is complex, a third of non-ICT teachers lack ICT skills, teachers have problems accessing appropriate ICT Professional Development (PD), ICT PD is not one-size-fits-all, many schools fail to include ICT PD in their planning, and government ICT PD funding is not reaching all teachers.<br /

Evaluating How Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Interventions Affect the Wellbeing of Indigenous Communities in the North Rupununi, Guyana

Having its roots in computer science and information systems, the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) in development has arguably been dominated by technocentric approaches, mainly concerned with describing and managing the mechanisms of technology diffusion and adoption. However, the high failure rate of many ICT for development (ICT4D) interventions and their limited focus on wellbeing impact has drawn attention to the needs for designing better evaluation frameworks to help make sense of the complex realities in which ICT interventions take place, and for interrogating the usefulness of mainstream approaches on the impact of ICT4D interventions on wellbeing. Efforts to operationalise the capability approach, and to apply it to the field of ICT4D constitute an increasingly popular alternative in this regard. The alternative shifts the focus of ICT4D evaluation away from an exclusive focus on technology access and use, towards understanding their multidimensional development outcomes, including their impact on wellbeing. One avenue, which has largely been underexplored, is the potential contribution of systems thinking approaches for further strengthening the focus on multidimensional development outcomes while improving the practical applicability of ICT4D evaluations. This doctoral research sets out to explore how systems thinking concepts and techniques can be used to complement existing approaches so as to increase the success rate of ICT4D interventions, as measured by their effect on the wellbeing of intended beneficiaries. Drawing on multiple theoretical influences, including the capability approach, systemic inquiry, critical theory and pragmatism, this thesis evaluates four ICT4D interventions, including a researcher-led ICT4D intervention, which have all taken place in Indigenous communities of the North Rupununi, Guyana, between 2005 and 2015. The findings of this study suggest that the wellbeing impact of ICT4D interventions is primarily determined by whether they are introduced to address locally-defined needs and the extent to which beneficiary communities are involved in their design, implementation and evaluation. It argues that applying concepts and techniques from systems thinking can help address some of the criticism and shortcomings of established and emerging approaches for evaluating ICT4D interventions, by looking beyond efficiency and optimisation towards questions of participation, power, purpose and values. The research then outlines the contours of a Systemic Implementation and Evaluation (SIE) framework, as a way to draw attention to the inevitable clashes of worldviews that characterise interventions involving multiple stakeholders, and to allow a critical reflection on the nature of these interventions and the changes brought about. It concludes by producing a series of policy recommendations associated with enhancing the impact of ICT4D interventions on Indigenous wellbeing

Theorizing ICT-based social innovation on development in the context of developing countries of Africa

Background - The main concern of this study is that the perspectives at the foundation of the deployment of information and communication technologies (ICT) undermine the pertinent long-term benefits in developing countries. Not only that, but they also affect the ways in which communities in the global information society engage themselves in the diffusion process of ICT. Claim of the study - The innovation and diffusion process of ICT in developing countries of Africa is foreign and sponsor driven. Consequently, the process is infested with a focus on the realizations in the short-term, with a continued domination of technological innovations by the technologically advanced communities. The argument in this study is that Africa's developing countries need to change their perspectives, and play an active role to drive the diffusion process of ICT in local contexts for long-term developmental impacts. Purpose of the study - The main aim of this study is to explore the conceptions surrounding ICT processes in theory and practice, for the purpose of gaining insight into the improved approaches for applied ICT. The study looks into ways through which local communities and their governments in Africa's developing countries can play a role in cultivating the enhancement of ICT to promote productivity, like it has happened in other places of the world. Problem statement - The assumption for the problem statement draws from the expressed main concern in the background. That is, there is a need for adequate theoretical foundations to appropriately guide the ICT deployment and application initiatives for effective social development in Africa's DCs. In the other words, theoretical contributions in the discipline of information systems are needed to explain the relationships between long-term impacts of ICT and societies, and the frameworks for practice to realize the impacts

7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'21)

Information and communication technologies together with new teaching paradigms are reshaping the learning environment.The International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd) aims to become a forum for researchers and practitioners to exchange ideas, experiences,opinions and research results relating to the preparation of students and the organization of educational systems.Doménech I De Soria, J.; Merello Giménez, P.; Poza Plaza, EDL. (2021). 7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'21). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD21.2021.13621EDITORIA

Animating the Ethical Demand:Exploring user dispositions in industry innovation cases through animation-based sketching

This paper addresses the challenge of attaining ethical user stances during the design process of products and services and proposes animation-based sketching as a design method, which supports elaborating and examining different ethical stances towards the user. The discussion is qualified by an empirical study of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in a Triple Helix constellation. Using a three-week long innovation workshop, UCrAc, involving 16 Danish companies and organisations and 142 students as empirical data, we discuss how animation-based sketching can explore not yet existing user dispositions, as well as create an incentive for ethical conduct in development and innovation processes. The ethical fulcrum evolves around Løgstrup's Ethical Demand and his notion of spontaneous life manifestations. From this, three ethical stances are developed; apathy, sympathy and empathy. By exploring both apathetic and sympathetic views, the ethical reflections are more nuanced as a result of actually seeing the user experience simulated through different user dispositions. Exploring the three ethical stances by visualising real use cases with the technologies simulated as already being implemented makes the life manifestations of the users in context visible. We present and discuss how animation-based sketching can support the elaboration and examination of different ethical stances towards the user in the product and service development process. Finally we present a framework for creating narrative representations of emerging technology use cases, which invite to reflection upon the ethics of the user experience.</jats:p

An investigation of implementation, adoption and use of technology for enhancing students’ CoreLife Skills in a vocational institute:A Case Study informed by Actor-Network Theory

With the increasing emphasis on developing graduate employability skills, termed as CoreLife Skills in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and growing use of technology in education; this research investigates the assemblage of CoreLife Skills through technological innovation in a vocational education and training (VET) institute in the UAE. Further, the research explores the influence of teachers and students' technology adoption on the technological innovation. Using a case study research strategy, the project draws on the concepts of the sociology of translation from Actor-Network Theory as both a methodological and analytical tool to inform multiple data collection methods: interviews, observation, review of documents and technological artefact. The research unfolds the socio-material assemblages using existing frameworks: Levels of Teaching Innovation (LoTi), HEAT (higher order thinking, engaged learning, authentic learning and technology use), and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). The research stirred the development of technology enhanced learning and CoreLife Skills development (TEL-CSD) framework for effective integration of technology to enhance students’ CoreLife Skills. Cases of technological innovation underpinned by the TEL-CSD framework suggest that technology integration at LoTi Level 3 or above resulting in the generation of HEAT at the corresponding level, did enhance students’ CoreLife Skills. Based on the findings, two conclusions were drawn: CoreLife Skills cannot be developed independently of general learning and cognitive skills, and technology alone cannot promote CoreLife Skills. The findings suggest that teachers and students’ technology adoption influenced mobilisation of allies and sustainability of the actor-network. This also provides tools for critiquing the proposed universality of the UTAUT as a technology adoption model, since influences such as power dynamics, personal characteristics, technical limitations and glitches are absent in the UTAUT. This research thereby demonstrates the usefulness of actor-network approaches in reconsidering and revising existing models in the field of education