Creating a Culture of Innovation in Canadian Schools

Since its inception in 1996, the GrassRoots Program has been instrumental in facilitating the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) into the classrooms of Canadian schools. By linking the GrassRoots Program to the school curriculum and providing incentives for teachers to engage students in the process of co-creating electronic curriculum resources for the Internet, it has been influential in transforming classrooms into authentic centres of learning. There is overwhelming evidence supporting the concept that the GrassRoots Program is a powerful connector between ICT and new teaching theories. This paper provides an overview of innovation, a background to some of the challenges associated with large-scale innovation in the Canadian K-12 school system and the findings from a collection of 16 case studies conducted in innovative schools in Canada. An analysis of the data contained in the case studies indicates that the GrassRoots Program is having a positive impact on the diffusion of ICT in the classrooms of schools that are members of the Network of Innovation (NIS), and it is making a significant contribution to the development of a culture of innovation. The existence of GrassRoots projects has also increased the capacity for innovation by empowering and enabling the schools and teachers to work on multiple innovations simultaneously. Also, there is sufficient evidence to show that GrassRoots has had a major impact on: teacher professional learning; teacher technology skill development; student technology skill development, student employability skill development; access to teaching resources; leadership opportunities; and school growth and development.

The skill gap and polarization of the software labour force: Early signs of the War of Talents between software professionals and how it threatens wellbeing

The demand for high-skill and deep knowledge is a key characteristic for modern-day software business. In addition, the whole impact of information and communication technology (ICT) is seen as a cross-cutting element in different industries. The software industry in Finland is suffering from a severe labour shortage and the estimations of needed labour are ranging from 7,000 to 15,000 software professional. However, despite all development and research done, the question, whether the software companies are requesting more employers or are they looking for more diverse skills, remains unanswered. Furthermore, previously there has little if any discussion, on whose responsibility is to ensure that future software experts have the right kinds of skills and competencies to secure their successful work career. This study focuses on the skill polarization between software professionals, referred to as the ‘War of Talents’ in this study, by using data collected by a survey (n=90) from Finnish software businesses. The results reveal some indication of ongoing skill polarization in the field and its possible impacts are discussed. Furthermore, the potential threatening impacts of the polarization process on the well-being in the information society are observed and reported. In addition, the paper proposes adding skill development applications among the offering of eWellbeing services due to the importance of work-related competencies to the self-image – and therefore also wellbeing – of individuals.The demand for high-skill and deep knowledge is a key characteristic for modern-day software business. In addition, the whole impact of information and communication technology (ICT) is seen as a cross-cutting element in different industries. The software industry in Finland is suffering from a severe labour shortage and the estimations of needed labour are ranging from 7,000 to 15,000 software professional. However, despite all development and research done, the question, whether the software companies are requesting more employers or are they looking for more diverse skills, remains unanswered. Furthermore, previously there has little if any discussion, on whose responsibility is to ensure that future software experts have the right kinds of skills and competencies to secure their successful work career. This study focuses on the skill polarization between software professionals, referred to as the ‘War of Talents’ in this study, by using data collected by a survey (n=90) from Finnish software businesses. The results reveal some indication of ongoing skill polarization in the field and its possible impacts are discussed. Furthermore, the potential threatening impacts of the polarization process on the well-being in the information society are observed and reported. In addition, the paper proposes adding skill development applications among the offering of eWellbeing services due to the importance of work-related competencies to the self-image – and therefore also wellbeing – of individuals

Changing Occupational Roles in Audit Society—The Case of Swedish Student Aid Officials

This article is about occupational change concerning a non-professional group of Street Level Bureaucrats—student aid officials at the Swedish Board for Study Support (SBSS). The aim is to describe and analyze changes in their occupational role—their discretional space and working conditions under the impact of changed ways to manage public service organizations and new information and communication technology. The SBSS is the sole administrator of student financial aid in Sweden. Its officials investigate and take decisions about students’ applications and repayment of loans. This work includes interacting with clients via telephone and computer. These officials have to have a certain amount of discretion to interpret and apply rules and regulations on specific circumstances in individual cases. How are their working conditions affected by organizational and policy changes in the authority? How is their ability to exercise influence and control over their own work performance affected? The analysis highlights how officials suffer from decreased discretion and an increasing routinization in their work. This is a result of a regulatory framework continuously growing in detail together with increasing management control based on new information and communication technology. What remains of discretion is a kind of ‘task’ discretion, the ability to do minor technical manipulations of rules in individual cases. Even today’s top management seems critical of this development. Besides further automatization and reduction of staff an ongoing process of organizational change is therefore also aiming to develop officials’ competence and working conditions toward what may be seen as organizational professionalism, a development of specific occupational skills and a discretion adjusted and subordinated to managerial means and ends. The analysis rests on data from a research project (2011 to 2014) about Institutional Talk. Data sources are qualitative interviews, audio-taped speech sequences, observational field notes, and official documents

Continuing professional development opportunities in information and communication technology for academic librarians at the Durban University of Technology

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a vital tool for maintaining the skills and expertise of staff, especially with regard to the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). There is little information available about the involvement of librarians in South Africa with CPD: this study focused on academic librarians at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) Library, seeking their attitudes towards CPD and its provision. It employed a qualitative approach in its research design. Questionnaires were utilised to collect information from twenty-five academic librarians. Follow-up interviews were conducted with five respondents. The overall study indicated that, although the respondents were aware of the importance of CPD and the impact of ICT on library resources and services, not all of them kept abreast of CPD activities within their field. The respondents believed that the institutions and the professional body, the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA), should work together to encourage and promote CPD activities. By encouraging CPD activities within the Library and Information Science (LIS) sector, the quality of librarianship and service delivery within the LIS would improve. Half of the respondents agreed about the importance of CPD becoming compulsory within the LIS profession and 55% of respondents considered that LIASA had a potentially important role to play in promoting CPD. However, in separate interviews, several respondents expressed doubt about the capacity of LIASA to fulfil this role.http://sajlis.journals.ac.zaam2019Information Scienc

The Blended Learning Unit, University of Hertfordshire: A Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Evaluation Report for HEFCE

The University of Hertfordshire’s Blended Learning Unit (BLU) was one of the 74 Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs) funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) between 2005 and 2010. This evaluation report follows HEFCE’s template. The first section provides statistical information about the BLU’s activity. The second section is an evaluative reflection responding to 13 questions. As well as articulating some of our achievements and the challenges we have faced, it also sets out how the BLU’s activity will continue and make a significant contribution to delivery of the University of Hertfordshire’s 2010-2015 strategic plan and its aspirations for a more sustainable future. At the University of Hertfordshire, we view Blended Learning as the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to enhance the learning and learning experience of campus-based students. The University has an excellent learning technology infrastructure that includes its VLE, StudyNet. StudyNet gives students access to a range of tools, resources and support 24/7 from anywhere in the world and its robustness, flexibility and ease of use have been fundamental to the success of the Blended Learning agenda at Hertfordshire. The BLU has comprised a management team, expert teachers seconded from around the University, professional support and a Student Consultant. The secondment staffing model was essential to the success of the BLU. As well as enabling the BLU to become fully staffed within the first five months of the CETL initiative, it has facilitated access to an invaluable spectrum of Blended Learning, research and Change Management expertise to inform pedagogically sound developments and enable change to be embedded across the institution. The BLU used much of its capital funding to reduce barriers to the use of technology by, for example, providing laptop computers for all academic staff in the institution, enhancing classroom technology provision and wirelessly enabling all teaching accommodation. Its recurrent funding has supported development opportunities for its own staff and staff around the institution; supported evaluation activities relating to individual projects and of the BLU’s own impact; and supported a wide range of communication and dissemination activities internally and externally. The BLU has led the embedding a cultural change in relation to Blended Learning at the University of Hertfordshire and its impact will be sustained. The BLU has produced a rich legacy of resources for our own staff and for others in the sector. The University’s increased capacity in Blended Learning benefits all our students and provides a learning experience that is expected by the new generation of learners in the 21st century. The BLU’s staffing model and partnership ways of working have directly informed the structure and modus operandi of the University’s Learning and Teaching Institute (LTI). Indeed a BLU team will continue to operate within the LTI and help drive and support the implementation of the University’s 2010-2015 Strategic plan. The plan includes ambitions in relation to Distance Learning and Flexible learning and BLU will be working to enable greater engagement with students with less or no need to travel to the university. As well as opening new markets within the UK and overseas, even greater flexibility for students will also enable the University to reduce its carbon footprint and provide a multifaceted contribution to our sustainability agenda. We conclude this executive summary with a short paragraph, written by Eeva Leinonen, our former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, which reflects our aspiration to transform Learning and Teaching at the University of Hertfordshire and more widely in the sector. ‘As Deputy Vice Chancellor at Hertfordshire I had the privilege to experience closely the excellent work of the Blended Learning Unit, and was very proud of the enormous impact the CETL had not only across the University but also nationally and internationally. However, perhaps true impact is hard to judge at such close range, but now as Vice Principal (Education) at King's College London, I can unequivocally say that Hertfordshire is indeed considered as the leading Blended Learning university in the sector. My new colleagues at King's and other Russell Group Universities frequently seek my views on the 'Hertfordshire Blended Learning' experience and are keen to emulate the successes achieved at an institutional wide scale. The Hertfordshire CETL undoubtedly achieved not only what it set out to achieve, but much more in terms of scale and impact. All those involved in this success can be justifiably proud of their achievements.’ Professor Eeva Leinonen, Vice Principal (Education), King's College, Londo

Editorial: Media Content in the Digital Age

IntroductionThe information revolution that the world is experiencing now has caused a huge boom in the media industry and the patterns of information consumption, production, dissemination, and sharing of its contents.The past two decades have witnessed very rapid development in the field of using artificial intelligence technology in various fields, including the use of artificial intelligence in digital media to improve the quality of performance, accelerating its impact and diversifying its content in quantity and quality with the development of the functions of using the Internet in media work, and there have become interrelated groups of technologies Digital is particularly poised to exert a transformative impact on the nature and quality of digital media in the 21st century. Algorithms, artificial intelligence, and big data are supported by the creation of new data-driven digital newsrooms.Opinions differ on the importance or risks of digital technologies in the field of media. Some see them as a threat because the use of writing techniques and automated reports is likely to lead to an additional decline in the media role in light of new policies for media organizations seeking more cost-cutting measures. However, the prevailing positive trend is He believes that the developments of digital technologies in the field of digital media will provide creative media professionals and digital media leaders with an opportunity to reorganize the practice of media work using these emerging technologies that will add greater efficiencies in newsrooms, and improve the skill, efficiency, and quality of media production and the media organization.The current special issue covers the following topics; Digital media technologies and their interactions with traditional media, Artificial intelligence techniques and their impact on the form and content of the media message, Digital media technologies as a mechanism for investigation, scrutiny, and detection of fake news and rumors, Employing mobile journalism and data journalism in the media content industry, The advertising industry and media content marketing in light of digital technologies, Psychological and social effects of applications and tools of the digital age, Influencers and content creators on social media, Employment of social media by media organizations , Legal aspects of digital media content: cybercrime, intellectual property, professional and ethical controls, and hate speech, and Challenges of creating digital media content. Guest Editorial BoardGuest Editors-in-ChiefDr. Amjad Safori, Zarqa University, JordanAssociate Professor in Digital Media and the Dean of the Faculty of Media, Zarqa University, Jordan. Dr. Nik Adzrieman B. Abd Rahman, UUM, MalaysiaAssociate Professor in Communication in the School of Multimedia, Technology Media and Communication, UUM, Malaysia. Dr. Amer Khaled, Zarqa University, JordanAssistant professor in Media and Deputy of Dean - Faculty of Media, Zarqa University, Jordan. Khaled is a specialist in media research and statisticsMembersDr. Khalaf Tahat, Yarmouk University, Jordan and United Arab Emirates University, UAEDr. Mokhtar Elareshi, Sharjah University, UAEDr. Said Salloum, Sharjah University, UAE and University of Salford, UKDr. Marcelle Jwaniat, Yarmouk University, JordanAhmed Makharesh, University of Southern Mississippi, USAShlash Alzyoud, University of Southern Mississippi, US

Ultra Wideband Wearable Sensors for Motion Tracking Applications

The increasing interest and advancements in wearable electronics, biomedical applications and digital signal processing techniques have led to the unceasing progress and research in novel implementations of wireless communications technology. Human motion tracking and localisation are some of the numerous promising applications that have emerged from this interest. Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology is particularly seen as a very attractive solution for microwave-based localisation due to the fine time resolution capabilities of the UWB pulses. However, to prove the viability of utilizing UWB technology for high precision localisation applications, a considerable amount of research work is still needed. The impact of the presence of the human body on localisation accuracy needs to be investigated. In addition, for guaranteeing accurate data retrieval in an impulse-radio based system, the study of pulse distortion becomes indispensable. The objective of the research work presented in this thesis is to study and carry out experimental investigations to formulate new techniques for the development of an Impulse-radio UWB sensor based localisation system for human motion tracking applications. This research work initiates a new approach for human motion tracking by making use of pulsed UWB technology which will allow the development of advanced tracking solutions with the capacity to meet the needs of professional users. Extensive experimental studies involving several ranging and three dimensional localisation investigations have been undertaken, and the potential of achieving high precision localisation using ultra-wideband technology has been demonstrated. Making use of the upper portion of the UWB band, a novel miniature antenna designed for integration in the UWB localisation system is presented and its performance has been examined. The key findings and contributions of this research work include UWB antenna characterisation for pulse based transmission, evaluation of comprehensive antenna fidelity patterns, impact of pulse fidelity on the communication performance of a UWB radio system, along with studies regarding the effect of the human body on received pulse quality and localisation accuracy. In addition, an innovative approach of making use of antenna phase centre information for improving the localisation accuracy has been presented

The skill gap and polarization of the software labour force : early signs of the War of Talents between software professionals and how it threatens wellbeing

The demand for high-skill and deep knowledge is a key characteristic for modern-day software business. In addition, the whole impact of information and communication technology (ICT) is seen as a cross-cutting element in different industries. The software industry in Finland is suffering from a severe labour shortage and the estimations of needed labour are ranging from 7,000 to 15,000 software professional. However, despite all development and research done, the question, whether the software companies are requesting more employers or are they looking for more diverse skills, remains unanswered. Furthermore, previously there has little if any discussion, on whose responsibility is to ensure that future software experts have the right kinds of skills and competencies to secure their successful work career. This study focuses on the skill polarization between software professionals, referred to as the ‘War of Talents’ in this study, by using data collected by a survey (n=90) from Finnish software businesses. The results reveal some indication of ongoing skill polarization in the field and its possible impacts are discussed. Furthermore, the potential threatening impacts of the polarization process on the well-being in the information society are observed and reported. In addition, the paper proposes adding skill development applications among the offering of eWellbeing services due to the importance of work-related competencies to the self-image – and therefore also wellbeing – of individuals.</p

Information and communication technology in Cyprus primary schools : a study of the integration process, teachers' use, and the influential factors

Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and specifically computer technology, was abruptly introduced in Cyprus primary schools in the early 1990s without ensuring that the facilitating conditions for its unhindered infusion into education’s core processes of teaching and learning were in place. Nevertheless, the recently launched overall reform of the Cypriot educational system intensified and systematised the process of ICT integration in schools. In this context, the thesis researches the process of ICT integration in Cyprus primary education, taking into consideration teachers’ perceptions on a diversity of issues related to ICT implementation, the factors that seem to be influencing ICT use, as well as their professional development in ICT.The analysis of the collected data resulted in several findings, indicating that the process of ICT integration is unsatisfactory, since teachers’ ICT use is low and restricted only to a small number of resources. Simultaneously, the applications of ICT are mostly for tasks that are not directly connected to actual teaching and learning. Overall, the study shows that ICT did not manage to be smoothly interwoven into teachers’ everyday instructional practices, nor did it manage to be naturally incorporated into students’ learning environment as an integral part of their everyday learning experiences.Teachers indicate that the lack of time, their uncertainty of how to integrate ICT in their work, the unsuitable curriculum, the problematic access to equipment, the frequent technical problems, as well as the lack of immediate technical support, are some of the most significant factors affecting ICT use. Nevertheless, the study shows that there is a positive ground on which ICT can be successfully and meaningfully integrated in schools, like teachers’ positive ICT attitudes, their willingness and demand for quality ICT training, and the positive impact that ICT seems to have on some of teachers’ professional responsibilities. Additionally, the study indicates that teachers’ use of audiovisual resources, their ICT self-efficacy beliefs, their attitudes toward ICT, their pedagogical beliefs, as well as their views on the barriers and enablers to ICT use are significant predictors of teachers’ ICT use.Based on the study’s results, the thesis suggests that the ongoing reform of the educational system provides a great opportunity to set up the right conditions that will facilitate the sound integration of ICT in schools. This includes the reconsideration of ICT integration’s theoretical background and objectives, the release of time to teachers as a result of the new curriculum, the reconsideration of teachers’ professional development in ICT, as well as the establishment of an updated technical infrastructure and a solid technical support mechanism

Identifying and Encouraging Leadership Potential: Assessment Technology and the Library Profession

published or submitted for publicatio