A Case Study on the Perceptions of Educators on the Penetration of Personal Learning Environments in Typical Education

Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) help students manage and take control of their own learning. As such, the PLE promotes self-regulation in learning and allows learners to aggregate, manipulate and share digital artefacts within a flexible and versatile online space. This paper presents a case study in Greece, concerning an investigation about the penetration of PLEs in typical education. In particular, this case study aims at investigating the perceptions of educators about PLEs and their challenges in incorporating PLEs in their teaching practices. The findings are commented on the pros and cons of PLEs and the opportunities that they offer to the modern classroom. According to the results of the present research, most respondents are generally aware of the PLE concept and its advantages

‘It’s Almost Like Talking to a Person’: Student Disclosure to Pedagogical Agents in Sensitive Settings.

This paper presents findings of a pilot study which used pedagogical agents to examine disclosure in educational settings. The study used responsive evaluation to explore how use of pedagogical agents might affect students’ truthfulness and disclosure by asking them to respond to a lifestyle choices survey delivered by a web-based pedagogical agent. Findings indicate that emotional connection with pedagogical agents were intrinsic to the user’s sense of trust and therefore likely to affect levels of truthfulness and engagement. The implications of this study are that truthfulness, personalisation and emotional engagement are all vital components in using pedagogical agents to enhance online learning

Digital Storytelling with English Language Learning Families

In this chapter, we examine the design process and outcomes of a digital storytelling with elementary-aged English Language Learning Families. The program was iterated through a multi-step design process to integrate the use of digital storytelling on mobile devices with family literacy. In this chapter, we explain why adults and children needed worktime separately before they collaborate and that a focus on funds of language, culture and relevance foster willingness to engage with digital literacy. In working with English Language Learning Families, we found the following themes: when it comes to schooling, everything is in English; confidence in learning about technology, literacy and storytelling; and coexistence (spending time together). This chapter examines that the power and availability of mobile technologies, coupled with the traditions of storytelling, can transform language and literacy outcomes

Zakat and Its Socio-Economic Merits

The chapter investigates the role Zakat (alms giving) in eradicating poverty around the world. It (Zakat) is one of the five main pillars of Islam; it is the practice of charitable giving by Muslims based on accumulated wealth and is expected to be paid by all practicing Muslims having the financial means. As part of the study, a questionnaire that consisted of five questions to enquire about how Zakat can eradicate poverty was administered to 200 Muslim people living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Further, the questions were designed targeting the core goals of a Zakat institution that also reflected the Muslims psychometric behavioural aspects. Islam has 1.57 billion followers, making up over 23 percent of the world population (Pew Research, 2011). With such a vast population, the role of Zakat in alleviating poverty is an achievable objective

A Head-Start to Teaching: Exploring the Early Field Experiences in Pre-service EFL Education in Turkey

This study explored the experiences of pre-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers, cooperating teachers, and university collaborators in a structured early field experience course. Qualitative methodology including data sources of interviews, observations, focus groups, audio and video recordings were used. The results of the study indicated that the exposure of pre-service teachers into real school contexts provided them with the necessary foundations of becoming reflective practitioners. The benefits of the structured early field experiences outweighed the challenges. Early field experiences are critical in forming the pre-service teacher beliefs and philosophies of pre-service teachers, so they should be designed carefully to meet their needs

Case Study Method and Research Design: Flexibility or Availability for the Novice Researcher?

Case study is prominent in qualitative research literature, yet the methodologists do not have a full consensus on whether it is an approach, a method, a methodology or a design. Perhaps this flexibility contributes to ambiguity for the burgeoning researcher. The works of prominent methodologists, namely Robert Yin, Sharan Merriam, Robert Stake are explored as I attempt define case study and then explain how I have utilised ‘An Interactive Model of Research Design’ (Maxwell, 2009) as a ‘road map’ for engaging case study to investigate current practices in inclusivity and wellbeing. My contribution is to be a provocateur and explore the question: how do you surface deep knowledge in your interview participants? This chapter is designed to contribute knowledge to the field of research, specifically methodological information for the novice researcher considering using case study as a research method. Dually this chapter seeks to bring into focus examples of case study method applied to explore inclusion and wellbeing