Blended learning internationalization from the commonwealth: An Australian and Canadian collaborative case study

This case depiction addresses the contentious issue of providing culturally and globally accessible teaching and learning to international students in universities in the Commonwealth nations of Australia and Canada. The chapter describes the university systems and cultures, the barriers to authentic higher education internationalization, and the problems frequently experienced by international students. Two university cases are presented and analysed to depict and detail blended learning approaches (face-toface combined with e-learning) as exemplars of culturally and globally accessible higher education and thereby ideologically grounded internationalization. Lessons learned are presented at the systems level and as teaching and learning solutions designed to address pedagogical problems frequently experienced by international students in the areas of communication, academic skills, teaching and learning conceptualization, and moving from rote learning to critical thinking. The blended learning solutions are analysed through the lens of critical theory

Learner Requirements and Geospatial Literacy Challenges for Making Meaning with Google Earth

This research contributes an educational research perspective to teaching and learning with geospatial technologies. This work considers the literacy of a geospatial text that is readily accessible to students, but often assumed to be intuitive to read– dynamic scalable satellite imagery, which often serves as base maps for common navigation, GIS, and virtual globe applications. Within the context of a STEM project, Grades 5 and 6 students were observed and interviewed to identify knowledge and skills that were required to make meaning of Google Earth imagery. A qualitative methodological approach incorporating a thinkaloud data collection protocol was followed to stay true to the breadth, depth and nuances of the student voice and experience. When engaged with Google Earth, the students were observed to employ a range of image interpretation skills, demonstrated various expertise in navigation, and also drew upon their knowledge of the technology. Challenges to understanding the imagery included dominant alignment effect, dimensional translation, and interpreting the nadir view. Students who had an understanding of the underlying technology of the application were better able to overcome these challenges. These results suggest that ensuring students have knowledge about the technology itself, and basic literacy of satellite imagery, is valuable in order to make meaning of the data, critical at this age when students are developing their mental constructs of the world with such geospatial data

The unConference Toolkit

The unConference Toolkit was developed in preparation for the inaugural Digital Youth & Learning unConference hosted by Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT; dotrust.org) in Nairobi, Kenya in May 2013. We believed an unConference approach could disrupt traditional perceptions of what happens at a knowledge exchange. It is thought that blending research, theory, practice, and policy discourses can lead to more participatory knowledge creation as well as more research savvy organizations, such as DOT's. Knowledge exchanges are seen as one way to accomplish this goal. However, this can be challenging to achieve. And so, with this challenge in mind, DOT set out to conceptualize and deliver a more innovative approach to such exchanges and knowledge mobilization, particularly within a global context: an unConference. Drawing on leading-edge research (focused on ICT, youth, gender, learning and pedagogy, and entrepreneurship) as a catalyst, DOT hosted an unConference focused on changing the way researchers, youth beneficiaries, practitioners, and policy makers interact with knowledge and building a network of like minded individuals to create economic, education, and entrepreneurial opportunities in East Africa. Although unConferences have been around for several decades, they are only now finding their way into more research-informed knowledge sharing events. As we, and our colleagues in East Africa, embarked on this unConference project we struggled to find relevant resources to help us design this event. This toolkit reflects an amalgam of resources we both found and innovated. We hope it will be helpful to others considering a more organic and participatory approach to sharing and mobilizing knowledge.The website where this toolkit is hosted may be undergoing maintenance and the page unavailable. If so, the toolkit is available in STORRE. Click the full text link or STORRE handle to access. http://education.ok.ubc.ca/research/innovative-learning-centre/The_unConference_Toolkit.htm

Using A Smartboard Smartly: Considering Digital Tools for Interaction, Collaboration and Storytelling

This paper shares a book project completed in an urban Grade 1 school. While the project itself is not unique, the authentic use of multiple technologies to support the process to develop it is. The terms interaction, collaboration, and student ownership are often used to describe inquiry-based teaching and learning, and the project described here illustrates what they might mean in actual practice. Further, this paper situates the book project within the literature of Information, Communication Technology (ICT) and arts based instruction, providing an example of classroom-based technologies to enhance teaching and learning

Privacy of Personal Things in Active Learning Spaces Need Individually Evolved Requirements

Technology-enhanced active learning (TEAL) spaces could represent a significant benefit to learning and teaching at universities. TEAL spaces support students in projecting presentations (e.g. from smart-phones) and sharing notes (e.g. from smart-watches) with peers. Importantly, this sharing is partly amongst their co-present small group but sometimes to the whole class. However, plugging personal things into smart spaces whose first requirement is to accept as many devices as possible is not without consequence. A projected notification of a political conversation, for example, has the potential to harm the individual both within the space and beyond, opening them to unwanted judgment, criticism and assessment. The traditional argument from the usable security community is that of intervention prior to any use whatever: users need to be trained, taught and/or nudged to avoid such problems. We conducted an informal focus group with students in a pilot TEAL space, exploring issues around the privacy and security of using personal devices in such spaces. The reality is that it is hard to perceive the privacy and security challenges prior to using the space. We argue that such prior interventions are not only a significant barrier to student adoption of smart spaces, but ineffective in ensuring the safety of individuals in the long-term. We argue that in designing smart spaces, both on-campus and off, designers need to adopt an approach of individually evolved privacy requirements to ensure an on-going safe, creative space for students. Two important features are: (a) as a small group develops bonds, its privacy level needs to be reduced over time and (b) the best privacy level depends on the whether the screen is currently shared with the small group or the large class

Facilitator, Functionary, Friend or Foe? Studying the Role of iPads within Learning Activities Across a School Year

We present the findings from a longitudinal study of iPad use in a Primary school classroom. While tablet devices have found their way into classroom environments, we still lack in depth and long-term studies of how they integrate into everyday classroom activities. Our findings illustrate in-classroom tablet use and the broad range of learning activities in subjects such as maths, languages, social sciences, and even physical education. Our observations expand current models on teaching and learning supported by tablet technology. Our findings are child-centred, focusing on three different roles that tablets can play as part of learning activities: Friend, Functionary, and Facilitator. This new perspective on in-classroom tablet use can facilitate critical discussions around the integration and impact of these devices in the educational context, from a design and educational point of view

Effects of control interventions on Clostridium difficile infection in England: an observational study

Background: The control of Clostridium difficile infections is an international clinical challenge. The incidence of C difficile in England declined by roughly 80% after 2006, following the implementation of national control policies; we tested two hypotheses to investigate their role in this decline. First, if C difficile infection declines in England were driven by reductions in use of particular antibiotics, then incidence of C difficile infections caused by resistant isolates should decline faster than that caused by susceptible isolates across multiple genotypes. Second, if C difficile infection declines were driven by improvements in hospital infection control, then transmitted (secondary) cases should decline regardless of susceptibility. Methods: Regional (Oxfordshire and Leeds, UK) and national data for the incidence of C difficile infections and antimicrobial prescribing data (1998–2014) were combined with whole genome sequences from 4045 national and international C difficile isolates. Genotype (multilocus sequence type) and fluoroquinolone susceptibility were determined from whole genome sequences. The incidence of C difficile infections caused by fluoroquinolone-resistant and fluoroquinolone-susceptible isolates was estimated with negative-binomial regression, overall and per genotype. Selection and transmission were investigated with phylogenetic analyses. Findings: National fluoroquinolone and cephalosporin prescribing correlated highly with incidence of C difficile infections (cross-correlations >0·88), by contrast with total antibiotic prescribing (cross-correlations 0·2). Interpretation: Restricting fluoroquinolone prescribing appears to explain the decline in incidence of C difficile infections, above other measures, in Oxfordshire and Leeds, England. Antimicrobial stewardship should be a central component of C difficile infection control programmes