What is an affordance and can it help us understand the use of ICT in education?

This paper revisits the concept of affordance and explores its contribution to an understanding of the use of ICT for teaching and learning. It looks at Gibson‟s original idea of affordance and at some of the difficulties long associated with the use of the word. It goes on to describe the translation of the concept of affordance into the field of design through the work, in particular, of Norman. The concept has since been translated into research concerning ICT and further opportunities and difficulties emerge. The paper locates key points of divergence within the usage of „affordance‟, as involving direct perception, invariant properties and complementarity. It concludes by arguing that affordance offers a distinctive perspective on the use of ICT in education because of its focus on possibilities for action

Learning interaction patterns using diagrams varying in level and type of interactivity

An experiment was conducted to investigate the differences between learners when using computer based learning environments (CBLEs) that incorporated different levels of interactivity in diagrams. Four CBLEs were created with combinations of the following two interactivity properties: (a) the possibility to rotate the whole diagram (b) the possibility to move individual elements of the diagram in order to apprehend the relationships between them. We present and discuss the qualitative findings from the study in terms of the learners’ interaction patterns and their relevance for the understanding of performance scores. This supports our previous quantitative analysis showing an interaction between cognitive abilities and interactivity. Based on our findings we reflect on the possibilities to inform CBLEs with relevant information regarding learners’ cognitive abilities and representational preferences

THE "POWER" OF TEXT PRODUCTION ACTIVITY IN COLLABORATIVE MODELING : NINE RECOMMENDATIONS TO MAKE A COMPUTER SUPPORTED SITUATION WORK

Language is not a direct translation of a speaker’s or writer’s knowledge or intentions. Various complex processes and strategies are involved in serving the needs of the audience: planning the message, describing some features of a model and not others, organizing an argument, adapting to the knowledge of the reader, meeting linguistic constraints, etc. As a consequence, when communicating about a model, or about knowledge, there is a complex interaction between knowledge and language. In this contribution, we address the question of the role of language in modeling, in the specific case of collaboration over a distance, via electronic exchange of written textual information. What are the problems/dimensions a language user has to deal with when communicating a (mental) model? What is the relationship between the nature of the knowledge to be communicated and linguistic production? What is the relationship between representations and produced text? In what sense can interactive learning systems serve as mediators or as obstacles to these processes

PROMPTING SELF-EXPLANATIONS DURING THE LEARNING OF PROBABILITY: CONTENT-SPECIFIC VERSUS GENERIC VERSUS GENERIC WITH A FORM OF GUIDANCE

PROMPTING SELF-EXPLANATIONS DURING THE LEARNING OF PROBABILITY: CONTENT-SPECIFIC VERSUS GENERIC VERSUS GENERIC WITH A FORM OF GUIDANC

Editorial: Composition in the English/literacy classroom

The act of writing is a complex task. About that, there is almost complete agreement, whether you are a psychologist, a linguist, a socio-cultural theorist, a teacher, or a student battling with an assignment deadline and a blank page. For the emergent writer in the infant classroom, the challenge of communicating in writing is compounded by the sheer effort of transcription – remembering to put spaces between words, shaping upper and lower case letters, marking sentence boundaries with full stops, and representing words in your head as accurately spelled sequences of letters on the page. For the older writer, the complexity persists, though the challenges change. Although transcribing text onto paper or screen may be less effortful, understanding the expectations of the writing task and imagining the needs of the (implied) reader create different obstacles to effortless composition

A literature review of the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education

This review focuses on the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education. It provides a synthesis of the research literature in the field and a series of illustrative examples of how these tools are being used in learning and teaching. It draws out the perceived benefits that these new technologies appear to offer, and highlights some of the challenges and issues surrounding their use. The review forms the basis for a HE Academy funded project, ‘Peals in the Cloud’, which is exploring how Web 2.0 tools can be used to support evidence-based practices in learning and teaching. The project has also produced two in-depth case studies, which are reported elsewhere (Galley et al., 2010, Alevizou et al., 2010). The case studies focus on evaluation of a recently developed site for learning and teaching, Cloudworks, which harnesses Web 2.0 functionality to facilitate the sharing and discussion of educational practice. The case studies aim to explore to what extent the Web 2.0 affordances of the site are successfully promoting the sharing of ideas, as well as scholarly reflections, on learning and teaching

Affordances for learning in a non-linear narrative medium

A multimedia CD makes an impressive resource for the scholar-researcher, but students unfamiliar with the subject-matter may not always work so effectively with such a resource. Without any narrative structure, how does the novice cope? The paper describes how we are investigating the design features that 'afford' activities that generate learning: What are the design features that encourage students to practise the role of the scholar? What encourages them to explore, but also to reflect on their analysis of the data they find? What kind of learning takes place when students are allowed to explore at will? The paper goes on to compare the learning experiences of students using commercial CDs with those using material with contrasting designs, in an attempt to identify the design features that afford constructive learning activities. It concludes with an interpretation of the findings, comparing them with work in related educational media, and situating the findings in the context of a conversational framework for learning

The role of unit evaluation, learning and culture dimensions related to student cognitive style in hypermedia learning

Recent developments in learning technologies such as hypermedia are\ud becoming widespread and offer significant contributions to improving the delivery\ud of learning and teaching materials. A key factor in the development of hypermedia\ud learning systems is cognitive style (CS) as it relates to users‟ information\ud processing habits, representing individual users‟ typical modes of perceiving,\ud thinking, remembering and problem solving.\ud \ud \ud \ud \ud A total of 97 students from Australian (45) and Malaysian (52) universities\ud participated in a survey. Five types of predictor variables were investigated with\ud the CS: (i) three learning dimensions; (ii) five culture dimensions; (iii) evaluation\ud of units; (iv) demographics of students; and (v) country in which students studied.\ud Both multiple regression models and tree-based regression were used to analyse\ud the direct effect of the five types of predictor variables, and the interactions within\ud each type of predictor variable. When comparing both models, tree-based\ud regression outperformed the generalized linear model in this study. The research\ud findings indicate that unit evaluation is the primary variable to determine students‟\ud CS. A secondary variable is learning dimension and, among the three dimensions,\ud only nonlinear learning and learner control dimensions have an effect on students‟\ud CS. The last variable is culture and, among the five culture dimensions, only\ud power distance, long term orientation, and individualism have effects on students‟\ud CS. Neither demographics nor country have an effect on students‟ CS.\ud These overall findings suggest that traditional unit evaluation, students‟\ud preference for learning dimensions (such as linear vs non-linear), level of learner\ud control and culture orientation must be taken into consideration in order to enrich\ud students‟ quality of education. This enrichment includes motivating students to\ud acquire subject matter through individualized instruction when designing,\ud developing and delivering educational resources