What are tutors' experiences with online teaching?:a phenomenographic study

This study seeks an understanding of how tutors perceived the online part of a blended learning course in the context of teaching English as a foreign language at a German university. To gain knowledge about the ways in which the tutors experienced the phenomenon, a phenomenographic methodological framework was employed. Identified were four different ways of conceiving the online course as: A) a one-way street of communication: to provide students with extra materials to practice individually and for asynchronous communication, B) an add-on to on-campus classes; C) a distant relationship between students and online tutors; and D) an opportunity for tutor's professional development and team communication. The phenomenographic approach allowed to reveal variations of tutors' perceptions of teaching online with a view of enhancing the university curriculum. The findings may have implications for university teachers and educational designers

Supplemental Instruction. Volume 3 : Organisation and Leadership

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Developing reflective practitioners online : How can anticipatory reflection support an internship?

This thesis explores students’ experiences with the online reflective tool Competence Pass (CP) during an internship abroad. Students’ perceptions of CP are important for gaining understanding about how online anticipatory reflection facilitates students’ learning from experience and their competence development during the internship. Adopting a constructivist world view, a qualitative case study design with mixed methods of analysis was utilised. Data was gathered from three sources: interviews, forum posts and journals. The uniqueness of the study comes from: 1) it not being subject-bound, 2) studying a neglected form of reflective practice: reflection-in-anticipation, 3) its focus on the online journaling, and 4) the context being German higher education. The study indicates that the online environment is an accepted space for keeping reflective thoughts and that a structured approach to reflective journaling is appreciated. Engaging in anticipatory reflection can lead to students making progress on critical engagement with their internship and to co-creating their learning experience more consciously. By setting goals and a plan to achieve them, students feel more aware of their strengths and weaknesses as well as better prepared for the new situations that they might face during the internship. The proposed framework for reflection-in-anticipation for the further development of CP and its core arguments are of relevance to academics designing online reflective tools for internships in various fields. To be effective, online reflective journals should be co-created by educators and learners alike, assist learners with structured reflection, allow the user to personalise their design and content, and encourage social reflection at work. Including anticipatory reflection in the reflective practice during an internship facilitates pondering, enhances (self-)awareness, enables students to set individual goals, and to bridge the gap between their study environment and their internship

Exploring female academic perceptions and practices utilising learning and communication technology in the Languages Faculty at King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia

High-quality education and more effectively supported learning can be achieved through the appropriate use of efficient, effective, and appropriate technology. Indeed, such enhancement of the education system is the primary objective of educational technology. Thus, the present study explores the perceptions of Saudi female tutors at King Khalid University (KKU) in Saudi Arabia regarding the adoption of Learning and Communication Technology (LCT) by the higher education sector. In addition, it examines the impact of these perceptions on the teaching practices of participant academic members who were enrolled in the College of Languages and Translation.A mixed-method research design was adopted to safeguard against the inherent limitations associated with the use of a single approach. Moreover, a broader and more generalisable set of quantitative data was also used to affirm the reliability and validity of the present study and, moreover, to counter the disadvantages of the qualitative focus.The findings of the data analysis showed that most of female academics who participated in the study tended to use various tools and educational technology in their language-learning classes. The results also showed that participant academics’ utilisation of LCT was positively affected by a set of factors like for instance, ease of use, usefulness, student reactions, and motivation. However, the results indicated that the effective utilisation of LCT by academic members participating in the study was inhibited by a group of factors such as the fact that methods which might work with some students would not necessarily work with others in the same context, and so there was a need to use both kinds of teaching, traditional and technology based. Furthermore, the findings revealed that the failure among female participant academics to move away from traditional methods of teaching towards the use of LCT was often due to a number of factors including a lack of facilities, lack of support mainly for junior academics, and lack of female technicians to help in solving technological problems on the female campus, in addition to a set of cultural issues related to the privacy of females. In light of these findings, the present study hopes to contribute to the research literature by shedding light on academics' perceptions about the level of LCT utilisation in Saudi higher education institutions, on one hand, and on their teaching practices using LCT in various contexts. It also hopes to help people in charge at universities and policy-makers in Saudi Arabia to plan carefully for successful investment in education besides the positive and expected returns on education for the whole society