154 research outputs found

    Emancipating and developing learning activity: Systemic intervention and re-instrumentation in higher education.

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    The central theme of this thesis is the emancipation and further development of learning activity in higher education in the context of the ongoing digital transformation of our societies. It was developed in response to the highly problematic mainstream approach to digital re-instrumentation of teaching and studying practises in contemporary higher education. The mainstream approach is largely based on centralisation, standardisation, commoditisation, and commercialisation, while re-producing the general patterns of control, responsibility, and dependence that are characteristic for activity systems of schooling. Whereas much of educational research and development focuses on the optimisation and fine-tuning of schooling, the overall inquiry that is underlying this thesis has been carried out from an explicitly critical position and within a framework of action science. It thus conceptualises learning activity in higher education not only as an object of inquiry but also as an object to engage with and to intervene into from a perspective of intentional change. The knowledge-constituting interest of this type of inquiry can be tentatively described as a combination of heuristic-instrumental (guidelines for contextualised action and intervention), practical-phronetic (deliberation of value-rational aspects of means and ends), and developmental-emancipatory (deliberation of issues of power, self-determination, and growth) aspects. Its goal is the production of orientation knowledge for educational practise. The thesis provides an analysis, argumentation, and normative claim on why the development of learning activity should be turned into an object of individual|collective inquiry and intentional change in higher education, and why the current state of affairs in higher education actually impedes such a development. It argues for a decisive shift of attention to the intentional emancipation and further development of learning activity as an important cultural instrument for human (self-)production within the digital transformation. The thesis also attempts an in-depth exploration of what type of methodological rationale can actually be applied to an object of inquiry (developing learning activity) that is at the same time conceptualised as an object of intentional change within the ongoing digital transformation. The result of this retrospective reflection is the formulation of “optimally incomplete” guidelines for educational R&D practise that shares the practicalphronetic (value related) and developmental-emancipatory (power related) orientations that had been driving the overall inquiry. In addition, the thesis formulates the instrumental-heuristic knowledge claim that the conceptual instruments that were adapted and validated in the context of a series of intervention studies provide means to effectively intervene into existing practise in higher education to support the necessary development of (increasingly emancipated) networked learning activity. It suggests that digital networked instruments (tools and services) generally should be considered and treated as transient elements within critical systemic intervention research in higher education. It further argues for the predominant use of loosely-coupled, digital networked instruments that allow for individual|collective ownership, control, (co-)production, and re-use in other contexts and for other purposes. Since the range of digital instrumentation options is continuously expanding and currently shows no signs of an imminent slow-down or consolidation, individual and collective exploration and experimentation of this realm needs to be systematically incorporated into higher education practise.Siirretty Doriast

    The iTEC Widget Store

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    PLE-Centered Education: The Next Boundary. Perceptions and Realities Behind Students Personal Learning Environments

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    In this paper the authors discuss the results and implications of research regarding the building and perception of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) that they developed in the last four years. In addition, the authors discuss the next step of this research; the public funding project CAPPLE, on which they are currently working

    A Literature Review of the Use of Communication Technologies in Higher Education

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    Neste artigo apresenta-se uma revisão de literatura científica referente ao uso das Tecnologias da Comunicação no Ensino Superior nos contextos nacional e internacional, realizada no âmbito do projeto TRACER, indica que é vasta a investigação nesta área, confirmando o uso e a exploração de uma grande diversidade de Tecnologias da Comunicação na atividade de docentes e estudantes, embora se observe grande disparidade em termos de frequência de uso dessas tecnologias.This paper presents a review of scientific literature on the use of Communication Technologies in higher education in national and international contexts. This review of literature, carried out under the TRACER project, indicates extensive research in this area, confirming the use and operation of a wide range of Communication Technologies in the activity of teachers and students, although there was wide disparity in terms of frequency of the use of these technologies

    Frequency and user satisfaction on using communication technologies to support learning: the case of portuguese higher education

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    This paper presents several results from a research project about the use of Communication Technologies to support education in the Portuguese Public Higher Education Institutions. The outline of the project, the Communication Technologies taxonomy adopted and the methodology used are described. The results revealed on this paper respect to students (n = 2207) and to teachers (n = 639), and the characteristics of the sample are summarized. Some results about the frequency of use and the user satisfaction of using Communication Technologies are reported, and the next steps are indicated

    The institutional perspective on the use of communication technologies in portuguese public higher education: a research proposal

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    This paper presents and discusses the research rationale adopted to study the institutional perspective of the Portuguese higher education institutions as far as the use of communication technologies to support education is concerned. The paper presents the research questions, the analysis model, the methodology used and the outline of the data collection instruments eveloped. Some preliminary results are also presented and the next steps of the research project are outlined
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