The role of ICT and its pedagogical contributions in Finnish education: Advances in educational innovation for inclusion and technological literacy from the perspective of stakeholders

This chapter investigates the role of ICT (by which we refer to technologies such as software and hardware solution in general) as a pedagogical support tool in the Finnish education sphere. Qualitative research  method based on interview was conducted with four (4) experts whose background varied from education to ICT. The result of the content analysis indicated that the use of ICT in Finnish education is widely spread and some of the respondents have cautious attitudes in adapting ICT as a part of their profession. Besides, this study identifies that the greatest barrier to implement ICT based solutions in schools are the funds. Based on the interviews and researches presented previously we conclude that digital literacy among the teachers in Finland is high as in many knowledge societies in general. Based on the interviews, also the use of ICT based innovations in schools in increasing in Finland. Keyword: ICT, Finnish education, Inclusion

Elements of crisis e-learning : perspectives of Polish teachers

The aim of the research was to investigate teachers' perspectives on the elements of emergency e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was conducted with 134 teachers from different types of schools in Poland during the first wave of crisis e-learning (March - May 2020). The variables included in the analysis comprise teachers' use of differentiated teaching methods, student collaboration, school support for modern ICT, and teachers' digital competence. The findings are summarized as follows: (1) about a third of students did not develop the ability to work together in emergency e-learning; (2) more than two-thirds of teachers underlined that their schools actively promoted the idea of implementing ICT in education; (3) more than two-thirds of teachers emphasized that their school principals had systematically modernized the IT facilities necessary for effective teaching; (4) approximately half of the teachers were supported by the school authorities in strengthening their digital competence; and (5) teachers used various teaching methods in emergency e-learning, and the most popular methods were videos, presentations, e-learning platforms, and interactive games and applications; (6) teachers who did not differentiate digital teaching methods did not believe in the development of opportunities for soft skills among students; (7) the schools invested in technological facilities and supported the development of digital competence among teachers; and (8) the intensive use of e-learning platforms by teachers increased their positive attitude towards the development of soft competences (e.g., collaboration skills) among students

Special Education Teacher’s professional development through digital storytelling

This research presents the results of an exploration of special education teachers' understanding of how their participation in workshop-based digital storytelling (DST) would enhance their professional development concerning inclusive education. This study evaluates the usability of the Smart Ecosystem for Learning and Inclusion (SELI) platform for supporting teachers during the workshop-based digital storytelling process. We used a convergent parallel mixed-method research design approach with 47 secondary school teachers working with disabled people in the Dominican Republic. The results of this study indicated that the SELI smart learning platform had shown good usability in supporting teachers during the workshop-based digital storytelling pedagogical process. Besides, two themes emerge regarding how workshop-based digital storytelling can contribute to teacher professional development for promoting inclusive education. The resulting themes are expressing, listening, and learning through digital storytelling; and driving change with digital storytelling to create more inclusive environments. Teachers who participated in the interviews were optimistic about DST implementation. They expressed that the workshop worked for multiple ways of expression, listening from and connecting with other stories, and learning through DST. Moreover, teachers could reflect their idea about using DST in terms of its potential impact on inclusion in the classrooms for driving change, building meaningful learning, and influential practice when used in the classroom

Multimodal Technologies in Precision Education: Providing New Opportunities or Adding More Challenges?

Personalized or precision education (PE) considers the integration of multimodal technologies to tailor individuals’ learning experiences based on their preferences and needs. To identify the impact that emerging multimodal technologies have on personalized education, we reviewed recent implementations and applications of systems (e.g., MOOCs, serious games, artificial intelligence, learning management systems, mobile applications, augmented/virtual reality, classroom technologies) that integrate such features. Our findings revealed that PE techniques could leverage the instructional potential of educational platforms and tools by facilitating students’ knowledge acquisition and skill development. The added value of PE is also extended beyond the online digital learning context, as positive outcomes were also identified in blended/face-to-face learning scenarios, with multiple connections being discussed between the impact of PE on student efficacy, achievement, and well-being. In line with the recommendations and suggestions that supporters of PE make, we provide implications for research and practice as well as ground for policy formulation and reformation on how multimodal technologies can be integrated into the educational context.</p

Explainable Artificial Intelligence for Drug Discovery and Development -- A Comprehensive Survey

The field of drug discovery has experienced a remarkable transformation with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies. However, as these AI and ML models are becoming more complex, there is a growing need for transparency and interpretability of the models. Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) is a novel approach that addresses this issue and provides a more interpretable understanding of the predictions made by machine learning models. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the application of XAI techniques to drug discovery. This review article provides a comprehensive overview of the current state-of-the-art in XAI for drug discovery, including various XAI methods, their application in drug discovery, and the challenges and limitations of XAI techniques in drug discovery. The article also covers the application of XAI in drug discovery, including target identification, compound design, and toxicity prediction. Furthermore, the article suggests potential future research directions for the application of XAI in drug discovery. The aim of this review article is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state of XAI in drug discovery and its potential to transform the field.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

Application of information and communication technology for internationalization of Nigerian small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises

Information and communication technology (ICT) has fundamentally transformed business transactions. While its uses have become ubiquitous in the advanced economies, emerging and developing economies are still struggling with the mode and manner of the deployment of ICT for business. Thus, this study seeks to investigate how small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) utilize ICT in Nigeria for business internationalization. To achieve the goal of the study, a mixed‐method was employed. A questionnaire was administered to 265 people consisting of SMEs staff, managers, and owners. Similarly, interviews were conducted with seven SME decision makers. Findings revealed that Nigerian SMEs used ICT tools, such as websites and social media platforms, for internationalization. The findings also revealed that the challenges of ICT did not affect its application by these SMEs, which contrasts with many previous studies. Furthermore, this study identified privacy concerns, internet problems, cyber insecurity, trust, and system anxiety as new challenges facing the application of ICT tools by SMEs. Similarly, the findings showed that lack of ICT competence and strategic focus of ICT applications are internal problems facing Nigerian SMEs. These findings provide insight for practitioners and academia on the internationalization of Nigeria SMEs and the application of ICT to promote business growth.</p

WeSTEAM Virtual Reality Game

&lt;p&gt;Stellar Pioneers: STEM Odyssey is a virtual reality (VR) game developed by students and researchers from Lulea University of Technology, with guidance from WeSTEAM Team and workshop participants to demonstrate the potential of inspiring females into the world of STEM by using new technologies such as VR.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This game aims to encompass some of the ideas and creative themes discussed and observed throughout the WeSTEAM workshop, by creating a simple yet immersive and engaging VR experience for players. Players will get to experience a novel sci-fi story, solve problems, get to know role models in the field of STEM, and explore their creativity.&lt;/p&gt

Formative evaluation of immersive virtual reality expedition mini-games to facilitate computational thinking

Recently, virtual reality (VR) technology has shown great potential in advancing education with many pedagogical benefits for building the 21st-century teaching and learning experience. This study conducted a formative evaluation of an immersive VR expedition application with the aim of understanding users' learning processes and how the application facilitates higher education students' computational thinking skills. Six participants were randomly selected to conduct this evaluation. A mixed research approach consisting of quantitative and qualitative methods was employed. The study quantitatively analyzed users' scores from gameplay to understand how the intervention supported computational thinking skills. Participants were also interviewed to collect data after playing the mini-games to investigate users' experiences. The study showcases players' computational thinking competency, assessed automatically during gameplay. Further, this study used inductive content analysis to demonstrate users' reactions to prototyped VR mini-games. The qualitative findings suggest that users found the VR mini-games interactive and immersive, which provided an opportunity to foster learners' computational thinking skills. The quantitative analysis revealed that student's computational thinking competency can be enhanced through consistent playing of the mini-games. Moreover, the expedition aspect of the VR game stimulated learners' curiosity, which sustained their learning progress. Furthermore, users gained new knowledge and found the mini-games educative. Nevertheless, several aspects of the VR mini-games need improvements, according to users' perceptions. This study contributes to the knowledge in terms of the affordances of VR in education research and provides relevant insights that can shape future studies, for example, the recent hype of metaverse in education.Godkänd;2023;Nivå 0;2023-03-31 (hanlid);</p

ICT for Learning and Inclusion in Latin America and Europe. Case Study From Countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, Poland, Turkey, Uruguay

We are presenting a unique research report dedicated to the use of digital media in education and digital inclusion. It is unique because of the countries which contributed to this monograph showing the common challenges and differences present in the selected regions of Latin America and Europe. The monograph is the result of a systemic document analysis in: Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, Poland, Turkey and Uruguay. It is the effect of participation of representatives of selected universities in the project “Smart Ecosystem for Learning and Inclusion” - ERANet17/ICT-0076 SELI, the aim of which is to: identify the challenges in the use of ICT as a tool for learning and inclusion; initiate broad stakeholder dialogue and consultation to screen potential educational, technical and business solutions for the challenges; implement knowledge transfer of tested and effective solutions rooted within the media pedagogy paradigm of opportunities and create an education platform with tools to support work with disadvantaged individuals and groups such as migrants, the elderly, the physically challenged, and the deaf and dumb. This book is a milestone for the analyses of the existing documentation, conducted by the representatives of nine academic centres. The results presented herein refer to the results of investigations into the key areas of digitally supported education and activities facilitating social inclusion and its subcategory – digital inclusion. Every chapter presents the general contexts of using the ICTs in education in the perspective of the development of the society saturated with the Internet and digital devices – the new media. Authors of the individual texts try to emphasise the meaning of digital literacy and data reflecting the level of digital gap, as well as the challenges faced by the selected European, Latin American and Caribbean (the Dominican Republic) countries. They also refer to the local, regional and governmental social policies, presenting the contexts – and good practices – in which preparation of teachers to use ICT, the process of reducing the digital divide and improving digital literacy take place. An important element of the work was to outline the issues relating to the educational innovation like: blockchain, digital storytelling, flipped learning, personalised learning or sharing pedagogy. The publication is an overview, however, the texts are the attempts to diagnose and determine the role of the certain actors responsible for the process of successful digital inclusion and implementation of innovative ICT-based solutions into the formal and informal education. The selected chapters also form a catalogue of good practices implemented in the certain countries. Such point of view may prove particularly useful for further research in the field of comparative pedagogy, media in education, adult education or social policies. We hope that this theoretical compilation will provide a valuable perspective for exchanging learning experiences through the transfer of the best solutions and presentation of the challenges faced by the countries participating in the SELI project.Bolivia: Ministerio de Educación – Vice Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, MINEDU Brazil: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, FAPESP Dominican Republic: Ministerio de Educación Superior, Ciencia y Tecnología, MESCyT Ecuador: Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, SENESCYT Finland: Academy of Finland, AKA, Research Council for Culture and Society Poland: Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju, NCBiR Turkey: Turkiye Bilimsel vê Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu, TUBITAK Uruguay: Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación, ANIIIntroduction Vladimir Costas Jáuregui ICT in Education: The situation of Bolivia Cibelle Albuquerque de La Higuera Amato Ismar Frango Silveira Maria Amelia Eliseo Valéria Farinazzo Martins ICT in Education fostering Inclusion – The Brazilian context Lourdes Miriam Santana Botana Nancy Andreu Gómez Maida Librada Bilbao Consuegra Juan Gustavo Martínez Consuegra Carlos Javier Palacios Morales Raúl González Peña Karel Llópiz Guerra Digital inclusion in Cuba. Challenges and experiences Darwin Muñoz Ángel Puentes Gloria Sánchez-Castillo Cinthia de la Rosa Feliz ICT in Education: The situation of Dominican Republic Maria-Jose Barros Gabriel Barros-Gavilanes Digital literacy and ICT in learning and inclusion - Ecuador Solomon Sunday Oyelere Nacir Bouali Friday Joseph Agbo Jarkko Suhonen ICT for learning and inclusion in Finland Łukasz Tomczyk Joanna Wnęk-Gozdek Anna Mróz Krzysztof Wojewodzic ICT, digital literacy, digital inclusion and media education in Poland Özgür Yaşar Akyar Yılmaz Yüksel Emre Bilgin Burcu Şimşek Gıyasettin Demirhan ICT in learning and inclusion – Turkey Regina Motz Mariana Porta Galván Patricia Díaz Charquero Heber Da Cunha Digital inclusion, ICT in education in Urugua

Improving performance, security and mobile money users' experience: a study of service design

Mobile technologies have changed the way people interact with their surroundings. Despite the growth of mobile money in Africa, especially in Kenya, Nigeria as a frontier market is lacking behind. Most Nigerians are far from experiencing a cashless economy, and about two-fifths of Nigerians have bank accounts, while four-fifths of Nigerians are ignorant of mobile money services. Quantitative methodology was employed in the study with a focus on mobile money users. The study administered a survey as a hard copy to the community that comprises students and workers in Nigeria with (n = 151) participants. The study combined performance expectancy, effort expectancy users experience, and security to predict mobile money users' satisfaction, while performance expectancy is the highest predictor of user's satisfaction. The insight from this study suggests to mobile money managers strategies to optimise the mobile money platform to enhance the mobile money users' experience and satisfaction