Active Learning in Business Education with, through, and about Technology

In this paper we present a pedagogical approach used for a technology-based undergraduate business course during which students participated directly in the development of a Group Support System (GSS) facility. A GSS is a computer-based information system used to support intellectual, collaborative work and consists of personal computers connected via a local area network with software that enables group members to interactively generate, evaluate, and organize ideas, rank or vote on solutions, and perform other group tasks. This course was designed to teach students to work together within and across teams and to help them to develop and use critical thinking and applied problem-solving skills. In this paper the pedagogical approach and course structure used are described, the outcomes of the course are discussed, and recommendations are offered

Students’ Perceptions and Misperceptions of the Communication Major: Opportunities and Challenges of Reputation

This study investigates undergraduate students\u27 perceptions of the content, difficulty, and value of the Communication major. Students in majors other than Communication from two universities indicated that the content of the Communication major was valuable and, in some cases, involved difficult tasks. However, the major was perceived as easier than any other compared discipline. The students surveyed demonstrated low to moderate belief in most popular “myths” regarding Communication as an academic field. A number of potential strategies to increase awareness of the value of a degree in communication are provided, which can be adapted for use with existing departmental marketing strategies

Reproductive health and quality of life of young Burmese refugees in Thailand

BACKGROUND: Of the 140,000 Burmese* refugees living in camps in Thailand, 30% are youths aged 15-24. Health services in these camps do not specifically target young people and their problems and needs are poorly understood. This study aimed to assess their reproductive health issues and quality of life, and identifies appropriate service needs. METHODS: We used a stratified two-stage random sample questionnaire survey of 397 young people 15-24 years from 5,183 households, and 19 semi-structured qualitative interviews to assess and explore health and quality of life issues. RESULTS: The young people in the camps had very limited knowledge of reproductive health issues; only about one in five correctly answered at least one question on reproductive health. They were clear that they wanted more reproductive health education and services, to be provided by health workers rather than parents or teachers who were not able to give them the information they needed. Marital status was associated with sexual health knowledge; having relevant knowledge of reproductive health was up to six times higher in married compared to unmarried youth, after adjusting for socio-economic and demographic factors. Although condom use was considered important, in practice a large proportion of respondents felt too embarrassed to use them. There was a contradiction between moral views and actual behaviour; more than half believed they should remain virgins until marriage, while over half of the youth experienced sex before marriage. Two thirds of women were married before the age of 18, but two third felt they did not marry at the right age. Forced sex was considered acceptable by one in three youth. The youth considered their quality of life to be poor and limited due to confinement in the camps, the limited work opportunities, the aid dependency, the unclear future and the boredom and unhappiness they face. CONCLUSIONS: The long conflict in Myanmar and the resultant long stay in refugee camps over decades affect the wellbeing of these young people. Lack of sexual health education and relevant services, and their concerns for their future are particular problems, which need to be addressed. Issues of education, vocational training and job possibilities also need to be considered.*Burmese is used for all ethnic groups

Digital social reading in CALL teacher education

The COVID19 pandemic and a host of other issues have underscored the growing need worldwide to engage language learners in online, academic, collaborative reading. To help meet this need, future language teachers should understand and be able to use digital social reading (DSR) technologies. However, the use of DSR by language teacher education students has received scant attention in the literature. Exploring DSR use in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) teacher education can provide insights into the benefits and disadvantages of DSR and suggest design guidelines for its use in teacher education and other contexts. Therefore, this classroom-based study with 12 teacher education students (TESs) and a teacher educator examined how participants read and discussed CALL texts using DSR. In uncovering benefits and disadvantages of DSR use in CALL teacher education, the study explored: (a) how the CALL TESs participated in DSR, (b) what they found of value in the readings, and (c) what the teacher educator’s role was in the DSR use. Based on the findings from the study, guidelines for DSR use are offered

Learner perceptions of computer-supported language learning environments: Analytic and systemic analyses.

The model for observation is a "package" of salient dimensions of an ideal computer-supported language learning environment: (1) opportunities for learners to interact and to negotiate meaning; (2) an authentic audience; (3) authentic tasks; (4) opportunities for exposure to and production of rich and varied language; (5) opportunities for learners to formulate ideas and thoughts; (6) learner intentional cognition; (7) an ideal-anxiety atmosphere, and (8) learner control. Learner perceptions of these factors are captured via questionnaires before and at the end of two computer-supported interventions. Responses answer the following questions: How do adult community college ESL learners perceive their classroom environments? When computer technology is added to support a drill-and-practice environment or to create a cooperative environment, how do the learners perceive these new environments? To what extent and how do the patterns of perceptions and the relationships between variables change from the initial to the intervention environment? Multi-dimensional scaling constructs maps of learners' perceptions in the pretest and posttest conditions; this systemic analysis shows changes in relationships between the factors and provides an overall picture of these changes. Repeated-measures multivariate analyses of variance are used to determine significant differences both between and within the participant groups for each factor; this analytic data complements that of the MDS maps. Results indicated that learners perceive their learning environments in unexpected ways and that the technology has an impact on these perceptions in that it allows the classroom to be "individualized" in ways not possible without it. Also discussed are implications for task construction and grouping and the importance of learner perceptions to an understanding of the language learning environment

ASKING USEFUL QUESTIONS: GOALS, ENGAGEMENT, AND DIFFERENTIATION IN TECHNOLOGY-ENHANCED LANGUAGE LEARNING

This paper first asks questions about and discusses language classroom goals. It then reflects on two related, essential strategies for language teaching and learning that can help us meet these goals: engagement and differentiation. Finally, the paper provides examples of how technology can be used to engage and differentiate for our learners and support goal-centered learning