Personal computing device interfaces and their impact on learning in South African secondary school students

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Humanities in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by research in the discipline of Psychology. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017.Education is an immensely powerful agent of development and innovation and as such, educational outcomes are given high priority in most settings. The advent of highly functional mobile personal computing (PC) devices such as tablet computers and related technologies has helped to generate great interest in and hype surrounding educational technology and its potential to improve educational outcomes, democratize knowledge and skills development and to kick-start development, particularly in socio-economically depressed environments. However, education has made use of technology from its very inception, with the written word itself being a prominent example, making PC device-based educational technology simply a newer entrant into the field, equally worthy of scrutiny along with other existing technologies. The written word plays a fundamental role in learning and is therefore a key vehicle through which to examine the impact of PC device-based educational technology on learning. This dissertation examines the notion of the analogue (physical) and digital word and uses both existing theoretical considerations and research experiments to better understand differences which may exist between the two and the subsequent impact on learning. Existing empirical evidence and a range of theoretical contributions are used to construct a theoretical framework which argues for the uniqueness of the digital in comparison to its analogue predecessors. A research experiment was conducted with high school-age research participants using tablet PCs and printed paper to complete a reading task or a reading and note-taking task, followed by a test on the text passage read approximately one week later. Results obtained suggest real, but weak effects, with participants using paper performing better for questions which test factual recall in the reading-only condition and better for questions testing conceptual understanding in the reading and note-taking condition. These findings support the view that the digital word is not necessarily equivalent to its analogue predecessors and point towards further research in this area. It is concluded that further research is required in order to better understand the mechanisms which underpin the digital word and that its primary strength lies in its ability to expand the usefulness of the written word in conjunction with the more traditional analogue word. Key words: educational technology, reading, handwriting, the digital word, tablet PCs e-learning.XL201

TechNews digests: Jan - Mar 2010

TechNews is a technology, news and analysis service aimed at anyone in the education sector keen to stay informed about technology developments, trends and issues. TechNews focuses on emerging technologies and other technology news. TechNews service : digests september 2004 till May 2010 Analysis pieces and News combined publish every 2 to 3 month

Reading and Studying on the Screen: An Overview of Literature Towards Good Learning Design Practice

As distance education moves increasingly towards online provision, and because of the benefits provided by online approaches, students will be expected to engage with more resources available on screen. Contemporary forms of reading from the screen include reading from tablet devices, LCD monitors, and smartphones. However, print remains the preferred means of reading text, and student preference for print is accentuated when reading involves thorough study (Ackerman & Lauterman, 2012; Foasberg, 2014). Education providers face an interesting challenge. Although many learners prefer having access to printed materials, on-screen reading can improve education’s convenience, portability, media-richness, engagement, support, and data-evidenced practice. In this context it is timely to consider the potential for on-screen reading from the perspective of learning design. This article considers studies related to reading on screen, and suggests good practice principles for on-screen-only learning design

Reading and Studying on the Screen, and, Addendum: two articles

As distance education moves increasingly towards online provision, and because of the benefits provided by online approaches, students will be expected to engage with more resources available on screen. Contemporary forms of reading from the screen include reading from tablet devices, LCD monitors, and smartphones. However, print remains the preferred means of reading text, and student preference for print is accentuated when reading involves thorough study (Ackerman & Lauterman, 2012; Foasberg, 2014). Education providers face an interesting challenge. Although many learners prefer having access to printed materials, on-screen reading can improve education’s convenience, portability, media-richness, engagement, support, and data-evidenced practice. In this context it is timely to consider the potential for on-screen reading from the perspective of learning design. This article considers studies related to reading on screen, and suggests good practice principles for on-screen-only learning design. In 2016 the article “Reading and Studying on the Screen: An Overview of Literature Towards Good Learning Design Practice” was published. The article overviewed comparative studies related to reading on screen and reading from print, and proposed recommendations for on-screen learning design. This addendum to that article considers additional studies that have been analysed in subsequent blog posts (see “An Update to ‘Reading and Studying From the Screen’” [http://tel-lingit.blogspot.com/2018/02/an-update-to-reading-and-studying-from.html] and “A Further Update to ‘Reading and Studying From the Screen’” [https://tel-lingit.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-further-update-to-reading-and.html]) up to the end of November 2018. As this is an invited addendum, I’ll take the opportunity to adopt a more personal and self-disclosing style to talk more about my own position and experience regarding digital education and on-screen reading. This piece alternates is both scholarly and polemic.

The Virtual class on the internet

Distance learning is not a new subject, but it recently has come in vogue again. With the advent of new educational and training technologies and the need to meet the needs of learners in a fast-paced world, distance learning is becoming a necessity. In its best sense, it can help educate more people anywhere at any time. Our renewed interest in distance learning has the potential to change public perception of education and its ongoing importance throughout our lives. In Part I, an overview of the distance learning is given, from the concept to the various tools. The tools and procedures are primarily emphasized, which offer us a basic idea of the virtual classroom. An extensive description of the software and the learning processes is then provided. The thesis project is detailed in Part II, which describes the possibilities of using this technology as a virtual class on the web

Reading and Studying on the Screen, and, Addendum: two articles

As distance education moves increasingly towards online provision, and because of the benefits provided by online approaches, students will be expected to engage with more resources available on screen. Contemporary forms of reading from the screen include reading from tablet devices, LCD monitors, and smartphones. However, print remains the preferred means of reading text, and student preference for print is accentuated when reading involves thorough study (Ackerman & Lauterman, 2012; Foasberg, 2014). Education providers face an interesting challenge. Although many learners prefer having access to printed materials, on-screen reading can improve education’s convenience, portability, media-richness, engagement, support, and data-evidenced practice. In this context it is timely to consider the potential for on-screen reading from the perspective of learning design. This article considers studies related to reading on screen, and suggests good practice principles for on-screen-only learning design. In 2016 the article “Reading and Studying on the Screen: An Overview of Literature Towards Good Learning Design Practice” was published. The article overviewed comparative studies related to reading on screen and reading from print, and proposed recommendations for on-screen learning design. This addendum to that article considers additional studies that have been analysed in subsequent blog posts (see “An Update to ‘Reading and Studying From the Screen’” [http://tel-lingit.blogspot.com/2018/02/an-update-to-reading-and-studying-from.html] and “A Further Update to ‘Reading and Studying From the Screen’” [https://tel-lingit.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-further-update-to-reading-and.html]) up to the end of November 2018. As this is an invited addendum, I’ll take the opportunity to adopt a more personal and self-disclosing style to talk more about my own position and experience regarding digital education and on-screen reading. This piece alternates is both scholarly and polemic.

Video interaction using pen-based technology

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em InformáticaVideo can be considered one of the most complete and complex media and its manipulating is still a difficult and tedious task. This research applies pen-based technology to video manipulation, with the goal to improve this interaction. Even though the human familiarity with pen-based devices, how they can be used on video interaction, in order to improve it, making it more natural and at the same time fostering the user’s creativity is an open question. Two types of interaction with video were considered in this work: video annotation and video editing. Each interaction type allows the study of one of the interaction modes of using pen-based technology: indirectly, through digital ink, or directly, trough pen gestures or pressure. This research contributes with two approaches for pen-based video interaction: pen-based video annotations and video as ink. The first uses pen-based annotations combined with motion tracking algorithms, in order to augment video content with sketches or handwritten notes. It aims to study how pen-based technology can be used to annotate a moving objects and how to maintain the association between a pen-based annotations and the annotated moving object The second concept replaces digital ink by video content, studding how pen gestures and pressure can be used on video editing and what kind of changes are needed in the interface, in order to provide a more familiar and creative interaction in this usage context.This work was partially funded by the UTAustin-Portugal, Digital Media, Program (Ph.D. grant: SFRH/BD/42662/2007 - FCT/MCTES); by the HP Technology for Teaching Grant Initiative 2006; by the project "TKB - A Transmedia Knowledge Base for contemporary dance" (PTDC/EAT/AVP/098220/2008 funded by FCT/MCTES); and by CITI/DI/FCT/UNL (PEst-OE/EEI/UI0527/2011

Effect of Education Tablet Applications on Beginning Reading Skills of Students with Autism

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the effect of tablet computer applications and the reading skills of students with autism. Two subjects diagnosed with autism selected by using a convenient sampling method participated in this study. A single subject ABA design was used for collecting data regarding phonemic identification, letter identification, letter discrimination, ap.d sight word identification. Following the collection of baseline data, interventions in the form of different iPad applications were used in individual tutoring sessions and data were collected on the percent of correct responses given per trial. At the completion of a total of 59 sessions of intervention over a period of 8 weeks, data were collected to determine whether skills were maintained. The results showed remarkable change in phoneme identification, classification and sight word identification based on the comparison of baseline and maintenance averages. Limitations of the study include the small sample size and the length of time allotted for interventions. Future study involving the use of tablet technology with a larger sample size is recommended