A MOBILE APPLICATION TO IMPROVE MATHEMATICAL COMPETENCE FOR STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES

This study aims at the design and evaluation of an educational Android application that is expected to help Greek gymnasium students with learning difficulties acquire extra skills in mathematics. Firstly, the attitudes and perceptions of Greek special education teachers about the use of ICTs in class have been searched via a questionnaire. The results show that all teachers are familiar with the use of ICTs and recognise the importance of ICTs in the education of pupils with SEN. Additionally, they could very easily accept and use a new mobile educational app in the learning process. We then created an application that was first evaluated by 7 mathematicians and informatics’ teachers. Their evaluation showed a positive attitude toward the application. During the 2021-2022 school year, the application was implemented in two secondary Greek schools. 16 students with learning difficulties, tried the app under the supervision of 3 special education teachers. Students, answering a questionnaire with both closed-ended and open-ended questions, appear enthusiastic about the application with no differentiation according to their gender and type of difficulty. Positive points of view towards the application are also observed in the answers of the 3 special education mathematicians who were interviewed.  Article visualizations

Editorial: Assessment and ICT, innovative practices and future possibilities

The New Zealand Curriculum [NZC] document states that information and communication technology [ICT] and eLearning have considerable potential to support the teaching approaches recommended in the curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007). In this special issue, we explore the potential for ICTs to support innovative assessment practices that complement effective teaching approaches. Such innovations can enrich the opportunities students have to demonstrate their developing understandings and knowledge, and foster a sense of responsibility for their own and group/class learning. Designed thoughtfully, they can also promote positive student attitudes and motivation towards learning in curriculum learning areas, and towards learning in general

e/merging across Africa: five papers on the use of educational technology in African Higher Education

DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University © 2013This guest editorial comments on the rapidly changing environment for the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in African Higher Education Institutions (HEI), introduces the e/merge online conferences and gives a brief introduction to the papers in the special issue

Information and Communications Technologies in Special Needs Education: Challenges and Prospects

Scientific and technological progress of the last few decades has brought not only the economy globalization and worldwide expansion of technologies but changes in social relations, culture, and education as well. Experience has shown that the impact of disability on individuals could be cushioned through the intelligent application of technology. The usefulness of ICT in special needs education manifests in at least four dimensions: instructional, environmental, human resources and the learner technologies. How can ICT help to facilitate effective instruction in special needs education both in special and inclusive classes? Can ICT alleviate the environmental challenges confronting persons with special needs? In what ways can ICT empower the teaching and support staff in special needs education? What gadgets are relevant and suitable for use by special learners to ease their education? These are some of the questions this paper addressed under the sub-headings: special needs children; education of special needs children; ICT in education of special needs children; challenges of ICT in the education of special needs children; and prospects of ICT in education of special needs children. The paper concludes that there exists a considerable potential in the educational uses of ICTs alongside with many challenges and dangers. Useful recommendations were made to maximize the benefits of ICT in special needs education. Keywords: ICT, Special, education, children

Measuring the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the classroom

In 2003, the ICT Curriculum Integration Performance Measurement Instrument was developed from an extensive review of the contemporary international and Australian research pertaining to the definition and measurement of ICT curriculum integration in classrooms (Proctor, Watson, & Finger, 2003). The 45-item instrument that resulted was based on theories and methodologies identified by the literature review. This paper describes psychometric results from a large-scale evaluation of the instrument subsequently conducted, as recommended by Proctor, Watson and Finger (2003). The resultant 20-item, two-factor instrument, now called Learning With ICTs: Measuring ICT Use in the Curriculum is both statistically and theoretically robust. This paper should be read in association with the original paper published in Computers in the Schools (Proctor, Watson & Finger, 2003) that described in detail the theoretical framework underpinning the development of the instrument

Needs and challenges for online language teachers - the ECML project DOTS

The growing use of digital technologies in educational settings, paralleled by a paradigm change in educational theory from an instructivist transmission approach to constructivist and sociocultural theories of learning, demands more adapted teacher training programs, both technical and pedagogical. Looking at factors influencing teachers’ implementation of ICT in the foreign language classroom and guided by the results of a needs analysis survey conducted among twenty six language teachers from twenty five different European countries, the DOTS project aims to develop an online workspace with bite-sized learning objects for autonomous use by language professionals, particularly freelance teachers who frequently miss out on the training opportunities provided for their full-time colleagues

Measuring student use of ICT: a summary of findings of ICT use in Queensland Catholic schools

[Abstract]: The measurement of student learning outcomes as a result of the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the curriculum has become the focus of recent investigations with a view to improving teaching and learning. For example, a 2005 AARE Conference symposium provided insights into a range of current approaches for measuring ICT use in Australian schools (Fitzallen & Brown, 2006; Lloyd, 2006; Trinidad, Newhouse & Clarkson, 2006; Finger, Jamieson-Proctor, & Watson, 2006). These approaches stem from requirements for the measurement of student outcomes as a result of ICT integration, in line with recent priorities that emphasise outcomes (Andrich, 2002) and accountability (Gordon, 2002). However, researching and measuring the impact of ICT integration in schools has been found to be problematic (Cuttance, 2001). In Queensland, an instrument for measuring student use of ICT in the curriculum was developed, trialled and evaluated (Jamieson-Proctor, Watson, Finger, Grimbeek, & Burnett, 2007). This instrument has shown to be useful in measuring ICT use by students in Queensland State schools (Jamieson-Proctor & Finger, 2006; Jamieson-Proctor, Burnett, Finger & Watson, 2006). This paper summarises the findings obtained from the administration of the instrument in 130 Catholic schools in Queensland

Using ODL and ICT to develop the skills of the unreached: a contribution to the ADEA triennial of the Working Group on Distance Education and Open Learning

Innovation in technology is occurring at rapid pace thus shrinking the distances and making information and knowledge more than ever accessible to everyone irrespective of where the person resides. This paper consists of four main articles. The first one deals with technological trends. The second one focuses on the deployment and use of open and distance education mode in rural areas by documenting initiatives that embrace information and communication technologies (ICTs). Due to challenges faced in rural areas only a few success stories/cases currently exist and some of these are cited in this article. The challenges faced in the deployment of ICT enhanced ODL have been highlighted as well as the potential of developing and delivering effective and relevant ODL programmes in rural areas in order to ensure that issues of educational equity and social exclusion rural communities are adequately addressed. ICTs in ODL are perhaps the greatest tool to date for self-education and value addition to any community’s development efforts, yet poor rural communities particularly in Africa do not have the necessary awareness, skills or facilities to enable themselves to develop using ICTs. Inadequate ICT infrastructures in rural areas remain a major source for the digital divide in Africa and for under-performance of distance learners. The third one analyses the support provided to ODL learners who often encounter difficulties in completing their studies through the distance education mode due to loneliness, uncertainties and de-motivation. ICT has not been able to sufficiently support distance learners in overcoming those obstacles efficiently. An investigation regarding those learning supports has been conducted in ten distance learning institutions, along with an intensive literature review with the aim of understanding the high percentage of dropout rates of distant learners. The learners’ interactions have been scrutinized through content analysis of their synchronous exchanges, during a completely online course. After taking into account the limited technical and human resources in Africa, a technological virtual environment along with a pedagogical framework has been proposed with the aim of giving adequate educational support to them. The fourth article has explored The Open University (UK) and its efforts to use new technologies to deliver online courses to difficult-to- reach learners in prison environments. The case study analysed here is an international course (called, B201- Business Organisations and their environments) which also touches an African cohort of learners. The implications for designing and delivering online ODL to the complex unreachable environments of prisons anywhere, and particularly in Africa, have been discussed