Interactive education: teaching and learning in the information age
This is a guest editorial to a special section of this journal which derives from the work of one of the ESRC Teaching and Learning Programme projects, InterActive Education: Teaching and Learning in the Information Age (http://www.interactiveeducation.
ac.uk), whose overall aim is to investigate the ways in which new technologies can be used in educational settings to enhance learning. The project was predicated on two assumptions: first that teachers are central to learning in schools and that
Internet safety in emerging educational contexts
Concern has arisen for the safety of children using the Internet to support their education outside the school context. Inappropriate material such as pornography, inflammatory and racist writings can be accessed both by accident and with deliberate intent to view. Children are also perceived to be at risk from approaches by strangers, particularly in web-based chat rooms.
A survey of the international literature in this area highlighted worldwide concern for the safety of young Internet users
Using online role play to teach internet safety awareness
This paper reports on an evaluation of Net-Detectives, a creative online role play activity aimed at 9–12 year olds. Net-Detectives forms part of Kidsmart, an Internet awareness programme aimed at school children. It was evaluated through a multiple method data collection using questionnaire surveys, follow up telephone interviews with teachers and observation in use in three UK schools during the summer term of 2003.
All sources of data collected agreed that a number of benefits arise from p
Reuse of Digital Learning Resources in Collaborative Learning Environments
With background in the proliferation of Information- and Communication Technologies
(ICTs) in educational institutions, there is a growing interest in deploying ICT that complies
with specifications and standards for learning technologies in these institutions. A key
to obtaining the benefits of cost-efficiency and quality that motivate this interest is reuse of
digital learning resources. Despite the significant efforts being made in design and deployment
of learning technology standards facili
Music Composition Lessons: the multimodal affordances of technology
This article seeks to investigate the multimodal affordances presented by music
software and how it can provide new opportunities for students to engage with
composition work in the classroom. It aims to broaden the scope of current research into classroom composition using technology, through a study of students' environments and compositional processes as seen from these new perspectives. The authors believe there is a now a need for a reconsideration of the scope of multimodal enquiry in the
Knowledge Structures and Didactic Model Selection in Learning Object Navigation
In this paper two levels of content aggregation are considered: (i) a ‘conceptual
level’ of the content of the learning objects, and (2) a ‘didactic preference level’ of
the specific preferences expressed by a taecher or educational institution. We then
present a knowledge structure model in which the learning objects are organized
according to constraints imposed at these two distinct levels. The structure on
the learning objects is then used to restrict the number of learning paths ava
APLUSIX, A learning environment for algebra, actual use and benefits
After a presentation of the APLUSIX system, a learning environment for formal algebra, we describe the use of this system in a French class of grade 10, in particular a sequence devoted to factorisations and equations, and an analysis of the students' work during this sequence. This study exhibits the influence of the tools provided by the software on the construction of competences in algebra. We also report the opinion of a teacher who used the APLUSIX system during one year with this class.
Uncertainty-reducing cooperation scripts in online learning environments
Online learning courses can create new interaction situations for participants who have not previously worked with each other. Initially, there is some degree of uncertainty between participants in these interaction situations. According to the uncertainty reduction theory, low uncertainty increases theamount of discourse and decreases information seeking. Thus, uncertainty may influence online discourseand learning. However, the relation of uncertainty reduction to learning outcomes has not yet
Selection and use of domain ontologies in Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development
A general problem in life-long learning is how to develop flexible and adaptive learning content, and how to choose and deliver the most appropriate learning activities for the learner. In order to solve this problem, we need to have the proper knowledge model, and clear interpretation how to use it. One possible solution is to use IMS Learning Design for modelling the learning process and ontologies for representing the domain knowledge and competencies. In this paper we present one specific ap
Data Driven User Requirements Specification in the UNITE Project
This paper describes the process of user requirements specification in UNITE
project. The main goal of the project is to develop an integrated system for
authoring and delivery of high quality eLearning activities for the secondary
school students. The UNITE system consists of three main components: 1)
Software Platform – integrating state of the art learning management systems
(LMS), content management systems (CMS), and mobile learning (mLearning)
capabilities; 2) Pedagogical Framework – s
Læring i praksis - fremstruktureringen af et
handlingsorienteret perspektiv
Introduktionen præsenterer afhandlingens emnemæssige baggrund, problemformulering og
metode. Den traditionelle angelsaksiske erkendelsesteoretiske opfattelse af viden hævdes at
have komplementære modpoler i læringsteorierne behaviorisme og kognitivisme. Disse
positioner problematiseres med eksempler fra hverdagsmæssige sammenhænge såvel som
med en række forskningsmæssige resultater. På baggrund heraf fremsættes problemformuleringen,
som lyder:
Er det muligt at udvikle et begreb om vi
Roles of the Body in Learning
In recent years research in fields as diverse as philosophy, pedagogy, psychology,
and anthropology has shown that the knowledge people possess in practice may not
always be linguistically expressible 1. Part of what practitioners know can certainly be
and normally also is formulated in textbook knowledge as well as in rules of thumb,
sayings, and the like, but still, a large part is more readily understood as made up of
skills, ‘know how’, ‘ways of going about the practice’, and so on,
User Interfaces for a Virtual Learning Environment: Two Study Cases
A recent powerful idea in the design of Web-based learning environments is the usage of virtual places. The employment of interface metaphors is one of the approaches enabling inexperienced users to feel comfortable in such virtual environments. We have designed a Virtual Environment for Distance Education and Training (VEDET), which provides basic virtual spaces, resources, and services. In this paper we discuss the user interface of two Web-based distance learning courses Business on the Inter
Towards adaptable interaction analysis tools in CSCL
Interaction analysis has become a basic function in the field of
collaborative learning as a means for supporting evaluation processes. These
processes can benefit from the use of automatic or semi -automatic interaction
analysis tools . If these tools considered the different roles implied in the analysis
processes, this could permit to exploit the results of the analysis in function of who
is the user and what is his/her purpose. The experience of awareness systems in
CSCW that use roles to de
Knowledge management and learning in the organizational context
In the last decades, learning and knowledge have become key success factors for international competitiveness with the result that intangible and immaterial resources have overtaken physical and tangible assets in order of importance. The introduction of knowledge management (KM) practices and initiatives has provided companies with new opportunities to maximize the value of the knowledge they possess. It has helped as well to increase their capacity to learn and adapt quicker to the environment
Initial queries into the notion of Power Users of Technology
In this paper I shall address and investigate some ideas and hypotheses, which I find very important in order to understand the notion of “Power Users of Technology”. The Power Users research initiative has noted and emphasises
the heavy increase in children’s, adolescents’ or young people’s use of technology. What distinguishes the Power User research initiative and makes it qualitatively different from similar studies is that it is not merely looking into changed patterns in adolesce
Baghera Assessment Project, designing an
hybrid and emergent educational society
The Baghera Assessment Project (BAP) has the objective to ex plore a new avenue for the design of e-Learning environments. The key features of BAP's approach are: (i) the concept of emergence in multi-agents systems as modelling framework, (ii) the shaping of a new theoretic al framework for modelling student knowledge, namely the cK¢ model. This new model has been constructed, based on the current research in cognitive science and education, to bridge research on education and research on the
The Virtual Mobius Strip: access to and use of ICTs in higher education
This report is a regional study into the access to and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in five
higher education institutions in the Western Cape, South Africa. The investigation
surveyed 6577 students and 515 academic staff.
The framework for understanding access is based on a “thick” concept which understands access to four kinds of resource groupings: technological, personal agency, social and content. It considers how access is differentiated for different demogr
ICTs and the South African Higher Education Landscape
This report is a mapping exercise, which describes and explores the landscape
of ICTs and higher education in South Africa since 2000. Broadly delineating the terrain, the focus is on teaching and learning within higher education. This study sets out to answer five questions:
1. How are ICTs understood and described by practitioners and researchers?
2. What policies and structures for ICTs exist nationally and institutionally?
3. What does the emerging domain of enquiry look like?
4. How do prac
Mobile
technologies: prospects for their use in learning in informal science
settings
Recent developments in mobile technologies have offered the potential to support learners
studying a variety of subjects. In this paper we explore the possibilities related to science
learners and in particular focus on science learners in informal settings and reflect on a
number of recent projects in order to consider the prospects for such work. The debate on
informal learning acknowledges the complexity of the area and the difficulty of defining
informal learning. One view is to consider the
