Collaborative pedagogy and digital scholarship: a case study of 'Media Culture 2020'

This paper presents an educational case study of ‘Media Culture 2020’, an EU Erasmus Intensive Programme that utilised a range social media platforms and computer software to create open, virtual spaces where students from different countries and fields could explore and learn together. The multi-disciplinary project featured five universities from across Europe and was designed to develop new pedagogical frameworks to encourage collaborative approaches to teaching and learning in the arts. The main objective of the project was to break down classroom and campus walls by creating digital learning environments that facilitated new forms of production, transmission and representation of knowledge. Media Culture 2020 was designed to pilot a novel mode of ‘blended learning’, demonstrating a number of ways in which ‘Web 2.0’ networked technologies might be adopted by academics to encourage open and collaborative modes of practice. The project utilised a number of social media platforms (including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Google Hangout, Google Docs and Blogger) to enhance the learning experiences of a diverse set of students from different cultural and international contexts. In doing so, Media Culture 2020 enabled participants with a diverse range skills and cultural experiences to develop new working practices that respond to the convergence of digital media and art, as well as the internationalisation of media production and business, through the use of open, interactive software

Appropriation of mobile cultural resources for learning

Copyright © 2010 IGI Global. This article proposes appropriation as the key for the recognition of mobile devices - as well as the artefacts accessed through, and produced with them - as cultural resources across different cultural practices of use, in everyday life and formal education. The article analyses the interrelationship of users of mobile devices with the structures, agency and practices of, and in relation to what the authors call the "mobile complex". Two examples are presented and some curricular options for the assimilation of mobile devices into settings of formal learning are discussed. Also, a typology of appropriation is presented that serves as an explanatory, analytical frame and starting point for a discussion about attendant issues

How to design for persistence and retention in MOOCs?

Design of educational interventions is typically carried out following a design cycle involving phases of investigation, conceptualization, prototyping, implementation, execution and evaluation. This cycle can be applied at different levels of granularity e.g. learning activity, module, course or programme. In this paper we consider an aspect of learner behavior that can be critical to the success of many MOOCs i.e. their persistence to study, and the related theme of learner retention. We reflect on the impact that consideration of these can have on design decisions at different stages in the design cycle with the aim of en-hancing MOOC design in relation to learner persistence and retention, with particular attention to the European context

A Case Study of High School Chinese as a Foreign Language Blended Program

This qualitative case study investigated a Chinese as a foreign language program composed of three different instructional modes: synchronous instruction with videoconferencing technology, asynchronous instruction with online tutorials, and physically co-located face-to-face instruction. The study adopted Larry Cuban's multi-layered curriculum framework and investigated the four curriculum layers within the blended program: intended curriculum, taught curriculum, learned curriculum, and tested curriculum. This research utilized interviews, observation, and document analysis as the instruments in data collection. The participants consisted of one administrator, eight language teachers, four facilitators and twelve high school students. In addition to teaching site observation, the researcher also traveled to four remote school sites to observe how the curriculum was learned from the students' perspective. The results of the study indicated that although the intended curriculum reveals the administrator's ideal picture of blended learning design and defines what teachers should teach and what students should learn in each instructional delivery mode, the actual implementation process of blended learning is much more complex. The findings of the study showed that language teachers' specific operation of the daily lessons in a blended context and students' actual learning experiences at the remote sites can be influenced by many other variables; these variables lead the intended curriculum into different versions between the classes of the taught curriculum, learned curriculum and tested curriculum. Therefore, technology integration should not only be focused on the design of the external layer of the curriculum (the intended curriculum), but should also be focused on the implementation through the rest of the curriculum layers

A Case Study of High School Chinese as a Foreign Language Blended Program

This qualitative case study investigated a Chinese as a foreign language program composed of three different instructional modes: synchronous instruction with videoconferencing technology, asynchronous instruction with online tutorials, and physically co-located face-to-face instruction. The study adopted Larry Cuban's multi-layered curriculum framework and investigated the four curriculum layers within the blended program: intended curriculum, taught curriculum, learned curriculum, and tested curriculum. This research utilized interviews, observation, and document analysis as the instruments in data collection. The participants consisted of one administrator, eight language teachers, four facilitators and twelve high school students. In addition to teaching site observation, the researcher also traveled to four remote school sites to observe how the curriculum was learned from the students' perspective. The results of the study indicated that although the intended curriculum reveals the administrator's ideal picture of blended learning design and defines what teachers should teach and what students should learn in each instructional delivery mode, the actual implementation process of blended learning is much more complex. The findings of the study showed that language teachers' specific operation of the daily lessons in a blended context and students' actual learning experiences at the remote sites can be influenced by many other variables; these variables lead the intended curriculum into different versions between the classes of the taught curriculum, learned curriculum and tested curriculum. Therefore, technology integration should not only be focused on the design of the external layer of the curriculum (the intended curriculum), but should also be focused on the implementation through the rest of the curriculum layers

Canonical explorations of 'Tel' environments for computer programming

This paper applies a novel technique of canonical gradient analysis, pioneered in ecological sciences, with the aim of exploring student performance and behaviours (such as communication and collaboration) while undertaking formative and summative tasks in technology enhanced learning (TEL) environments for computer programming. The research emphasis is, therefore, on revealing complex patterns, trends, tacit communications and technology interactions associated with a particular type of learning environment, rather than the testing of discrete hypotheses. The study is based on observations of first year programming modules in BSc Computing and closely related joint-honours with software engineering, web and game development courses. This research extends earlier work, and evaluates the suitability of canonical approaches for exploring complex dimensional gradients represented by multivariate and technology-enhanced learning environments. The advancements represented here are: (1) an extended context, beyond the use of the ‘Ceebot’ learning platform, to include learning-achievement following advanced instruction using an industrystandard integrated development environment, or IDE, for engineering software; and (2) longitudinal comparison of consistency of findings across cohort years. Direct findings (from analyses based on code tests, module assessment and questionnaire surveys) reveal overall engagement with and high acceptance of collaborative working and of the TEL environments used, but an inconsistent relationship between deeply learned programming skills and module performance. The paper also discusses research findings in the contexts of established and emerging teaching practices for computer programming, as well as government policies and commercial requirements for improved capacity in computer-science related industries

Blended learning internationalization from the commonwealth: An Australian and Canadian collaborative case study

This case depiction addresses the contentious issue of providing culturally and globally accessible teaching and learning to international students in universities in the Commonwealth nations of Australia and Canada. The chapter describes the university systems and cultures, the barriers to authentic higher education internationalization, and the problems frequently experienced by international students. Two university cases are presented and analysed to depict and detail blended learning approaches (face-toface combined with e-learning) as exemplars of culturally and globally accessible higher education and thereby ideologically grounded internationalization. Lessons learned are presented at the systems level and as teaching and learning solutions designed to address pedagogical problems frequently experienced by international students in the areas of communication, academic skills, teaching and learning conceptualization, and moving from rote learning to critical thinking. The blended learning solutions are analysed through the lens of critical theory