Networked Learning in Context: What does e-learning offer students working independently, and what do they bring to it?

About the book:The chapters in this book, written by authors around the globe, provide detailed analysis and discussion of the changes distance education is going through as a result of technology. The authors originally presented their findings at the 21st World Conference of the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE). The book is organized into three sections: Issues: provides a focus on issues that currently face those applying technology in distance education contexts. Teaching and learning with technology: offers a range of perspectives and case studies on current experience of technology's role in distance education. Innovative approaches: presents a series of examples of applications that are advancing the use of technology in distance education. The book will be of interest to all educators who seek to make use of new and emerging technologies to enrich their students's learning

Chalkboards to Virtual Environments: Technology\u27s Role in Expanding the Classroom to Provide Professional Development and Education for Agricultural Communicators

Agricultural communications education has evolved over time, shifting in an effort to meet the needs of students through new approaches, new methods, and new technologies. The purpose of this paper was to examine the influence of educational and communications technologies on agricultural communications education. A literature review related to the history of the processes, methods, and technology uses in education and more specifically in agricultural communications education was conducted. Technology was identified as enhancing learning in settings that included secondary education, university settings, continuing education, Extension programming, and professional development. Only a limited number of articles specifically addressed the use of technology to teach agricultural communications. The high rate of change in communication technologies was identified as a critical reason for considering the role of technology in the agricultural communications education context. A virtual environment to teach crisis communications was shared as an example of successful educational technology use. Continued research focusing on teaching methods and tools related to agricultural communications education is needed. New technologies have the potential to encourage innovative learning experiences; however, the ongoing challenge to educators will be to harness the technology for the good of the learner

Assessing the efficacy of online teaching with the Constructivist online learning environment survey

Teachers of science, mathematics and technology Australia wide are being required to transform their established epistemologies of practice in order to engage learners as active conceptualisers within socially interactive learning environments. Many teachers are enrolling in postgraduate distance education programs to assist them with this challenging task. Curtin University is responding by using computer mediated communication to speed up the exchange of distance study materials and to provide online interactive learning environments (via chat groups, bulletin boards and email). For the past three years, the authors have been using the Internet to teach online Masters degree students studying at a distance from Curtin. The major pedagogical goal is to engage students (professional teachers) in reflective and collaborative learning. The web sites provide Activity Rooms in which the teachers engage students in frequent and focused discourse with each other and with their online tutors. As reflective teachers, the authors are keen to evaluate their own innovative practices and constantly improve them. To this end, they have designed the Constructivist On-Line Learning Environment Survey (COLLES), an electronic questionnaire that enables them to readily monitor each student's preferred online learning environment and compare it with her/his actual experiences. In this presentation, they outline the rationale of the questionnaire and present some preliminary analyses that illustrate its usefulness. [Author abstract, ed] Teachers of science, mathematics and technology Australia wide are being required to transform their established epistemologies of practice in order to engage learners as active conceptualisers within socially interactive learning environments. Many teachers are enrolling in postgraduate distance education programs to assist them with this challenging task. Curtin University is responding by using computer mediated communication to speed up the exchange of distance study materials and to provide online interactive learning environments (via chat groups, bulletin boards and email). For the past three years, the Internet has been used to teach online Masters degree students studying at a distance from Curtin. The major pedagogical goal is to engage the students (professional teachers) in reflective and collaborative learning. Curtin's web sites provide Activity Rooms in which students are engaged in frequent and focused discourse with each other and with their online tutors. To evaluate and improve on their teaching practice, the academic staff designed the Constructivist On-Line Learning Environment Survey (COLLES), an electronic questionnaire that enables them to readily monitor each student's preferred online learning environment and compare it with her/his actual experiences. This paper outlines the rationale of the questionnaire and presents some preliminary analyses that illustrate its usefulness

Technology-Supported Instruction In General Mathematics: Its Intuitive Implications Among Marginalized Filipino Students Amidst The Post-Pandemic Period

In the wake of the post-pandemic landscape, this study delves into the nuanced terrain of technology-supported instruction in the realm of general mathematics, specifically discerning its intuitive ramifications within the context of marginalized Filipino students. Employing a judicious mixed-method research paradigm, this inquiry embarks on an exploration of the multifaceted impact rendered by technology on diverse facets including academic attainment, cognitive engagement, and pedagogical agency. Encompassing a synergistic amalgamation of quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews, the study unveils a holistic narrative that underscores technology\u27s transformative potential to bridge educational disparities, amplify cognitive discourse, and cultivate pedagogical convergence. Consequently, the findings engender a cogent compass, offering discerning insights to inform the praxis of educators, policymakers, and stakeholders aspiring to orchestrate a dynamically inclusive and technologically enriched scholastic milieu for marginalized Filipino learners

Creating a Supportive Culture for Online Teaching: A Case Study of a Faculty Learning Community

This case study describes the creation of a supportive culture for online teaching at a western university that was transitioning to a new learning management system. The case study highlighted the creation of a faculty learning community as one strategy to address the challenge of faculty working through a change process. The faculty learning community provided a space for the development of best practices in teaching, drawing from the pedagogical experiences of teachers from diverse disciplines. The learning community also provided a venue for expanding the technical knowledge level of faculty members with a range of comfort levels with varied technologies

Editorial

‘Welcome to Columbus College. Is this all your gear?’ ‘It’s all I was allowed without paying excess.’ Victoria arrives at the University of Space, Jupiter Moon ‘You're right, Johnny. You know, there are a lot of other kids who feel just the same way you do. They're confused and afraid, but they don't have to be. The problem isn't that other kids don't like you, it's that they don't understand you, but we do. You're special. You're a latent telepath about to come into full bloom.’ ‘My Johnny, a telepath?’ ‘Probably, but to be sure, take him down to the Psi‐Corps Testing Centre first thing tomorrow.’ ‘How do I find them?’ ‘We're everywhere, for your convenience.’ Psi Corps Advertisement, Babylon 5 Victoria was joining the Ilea ‐ a science station in geostationary orbit above a human colony on Callisto, the outermost of the Galilean moons of Jupiter. Jupiter Moon, which aired in the 1990s, followed the lives of the crew of the space station and the students and staff of the Columbus College of the University of Space. As a drama serial, it combined elaborate science with the mundanity of baggage allowances and spaced‐up new‐romantic fashion. At around the same time, the visually and conceptually much more sophisticated Babylon 5 took us further into the future in a five‐mile‐long Babylon 5 space station, a centre for trade and diplomacy between colonies in the Earth Alliance and beyond, with the Psi Corps responsible for the wellbeing and also the control of telepathic individuals by whom those without extraordinary psychic powers are identified as ‘mundanes’. The same term was used recently in a study, publicized in Times Higher Education, of the benefits of technology identified by students, citing one of the co‐authors of the study as saying that there was ‘considerable evidence’ that technology was aiding learning but that it was not always ‘the cutting edge or headline use of technologies but often the more prosaic or mundane’ uses associated with the organization and management of study time and place (Parr 2015). The findings echo those of Francis (2010), whose ethnographic study also finds that students’ technology use focuses on forming and maintaining context – physical as well as online. But Francis’s conclusions are far‐reaching. He describes the university as ‘decentred’ by this shift towards learner appropriation of technology toolsets and collaborative networks to the shape and use of which they, and not we, are central. Nothing mundane about that, either for pedagogy or for institutional strategy. How did we not notice it happening

New Pedagogical Models Facilitated by Technology

This paper discusses the outcome of research conducted to assess the effectiveness of Work-Based Learning (WBL) from the perspective of stakeholders. WBL has increasingly become an area of interest for the higher education (HE) sector. It can support the personal and professional development of students who are already in work. The focus of the learning and development tends to be on the student’s workplace activities. Previous research has mainly considered only two stakeholder contexts, namely the learner and the academic institution. The significance of the study stems from extending the stakeholder contexts to include the employer and the professional body. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of delivery of WBL from the perspective of a range of stakeholders including students, programme leaders (PLs), tutors, university support services, employers and representatives of professional bodies. Case study research methodology was adapted with mixed method research techniques for data capture and analysis using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study examined five (5) WBL programmes at Northumbria University in the UK. The three most influential factors in the effectiveness of WBL were found to be: quality, access and support. The contribution to new knowledge in WBL research is through a “Four-Pillar model” which has been developed to reflect the stakeholder contexts. Consideration of this model helps ensure WBL programmes cater for the current demands from the labour market. The findings of this study include factors which facilitate and/or obstruct the effective implementation of WBL programmes whilst identifying feasible strategies to overcome those challenges and share them with all stakeholders of WBL. Recommendations are made on resolving the identified issues and to extend and improve the effectiveness of WBL. Finally this paper looks at how these results could apply to encourage WBL uptake in a third world developing country like Sri Lanka where you are starting from a zero base. Sri Lanka is yet to embark on WBL formally although online distance learning is more of a reality