Professional learning of observers,collaborators, and contributors in a teacher-created online community in Korea

This study investigated professional learning taking place in a teacher-created online community. In particular, this aimed to explore how teachers at different levels of participation learn in an online community. The results showed that teachers usually began as observers, reading others' postings and using contributors' teaching resources, and moved to collaborators, posting their comments on teaching resources and discussing their problems with other teachers, and then to contributors, sharing their teaching resources with other teachers and providing information, advice, and help to other teachers. As they participated in the online community at different levels, teacher learning took place in multiple ways including learning through tryout, collaborative problem solving, and critical reconstruction. Yet, not all teachers moved toward full participation in the online community. The majority of teachers remained as observers and their lack of participation in the negotiation of meaning constrained teacher learning. For the online community to be a fertile ground for teacher learning, more emphasis needs to be placed on the collaborative construction of knowledge and the transformation of shared practice, rather than the transmission of knowledge and the dissemination of good practice.     

Synchronous collaboration competencies in web‐conferencing environments – their impact on the learning process

Based on a three‐semester design‐based research study examining learning and teaching in a web‐conferencing environment, this article identifies types of synchronous collaboration competencies and reveals their influence on learning processes. Four levels of online collaborative competencies were observed – operational, interactional, managerial, and design. The relative importance of students and teachers possessing the different levels of competencies depended on the degree of interactivity in the learning designs being applied. Both misunderstandings and misuses impacted on learning and collaborative processes, with misuses occurring more persistently throughout semesters than misunderstandings. The distinction between developing students’ technical skills and their collaborative capabilities is drawn. Strategies for developing each are recommended.     

Teacher professional development through collaborative action research: impact on foreign English-language teaching and learning

In 2011 we, a group of English-as-a-foreign-language teachers at a secondary school in Argentina, decided to investigate our teaching practices through collaborative action research so as to improve our students’ learning opportunities and thus revitalise English-language teaching in our context. We implemented and evaluated the integration of content and language learning in our classrooms through the development of our own materials. The experience revealed a growth in professional development and how our motivation and autonomy influenced our students’ motivation and language development. In our attempt to disseminate our experience as a group, this report particularly focuses on the evaluation facets of our collaborative action research project so as to encourage other teachers and teacher-researchers to adopt collaborative action research to improve their own practices.     

A systematic review of teacher roles and competences for teaching synchronously online through videoconferencing technology

As a growing number of educational institutions are offering online programs, teachers need to be competent in this new way of teaching. This is especially the case for synchronous online learning through videoconferencing technology, an emergent and so far understudied form of online education. Based on a systematic literature review of 30 studies, this study identifies 24 competence clusters, which can be grouped into 5 teacher roles associated with synchronous online teaching through videoconferencing: the instructional, managerial, technical, communicational, and social role. This framework can act as a starting point for future research on this understudied topic and can also provide directions to support teachers’ professionalization and practice.     

Adventure Learning: Transformative hybrid online education

Adventure learning (AL) is a hybrid distance education approach that provides students with opportunities to explore real‐world issues through authentic learning experiences within collaborative learning environments. This article defines this online distance education approach, outlines an AL framework, and showcases an AL archetype. In AL environments, classroom teachers are not positioned in the role of teacher/facilitator/designer in the online learning spaces. AL online spaces are collaborative spaces where students, teachers, subject experts, and AL team members interact with one another; these are community spaces where traditional hierarchical classroom roles are blurred. Students' roles transform due to the flexibility and design of the AL learning environments as they move from student to reflective practitioner, providing for new ways of learning and teaching.     

Effects of an online sharing and feedback programme on preservice teachers’ practical knowledge,learning preferences and satisfaction

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effects of an online sharing and feedback programme (OSFP) on preservice teachers’ practical knowledge (PTPK) and attempted to determine the relationship between satisfaction with online interaction and changes in three types of learning preferences (collaborative, competitive and individualistic). In this study, a quasi-experimental pre- and post-test control-group design was employed to examine these factors. The OSFP was designed, focusing on peer interaction on topics regarding field experiences. The analytical results reveal that the OSFP improved practical teaching knowledge, one of the forms of PTPK. Additionally, satisfaction with online sharing and feedback on the topics of interpersonal affairs strengthened preservice teachers’ preference for collaborative learning and decreased their individual preference. Notably, this study demonstrates that collaborative learning preferences positively change when learners are satisfied with online sharing and feedback on the topic of interpersonal affairs.     

Blending the CoI model with Jigsaw technique for pre-service foreign language teachers’ continuing professional development using Open Sim and Sloodle

This study seeks to investigate the effect of pre-service foreign language teachers’ interactions on their continuing professional development (CPD), using a theoretical instructional design framework consisted of the three presence indicators of a Community of Inquiry (CoI) model and the Jigsaw teaching technique. The investigation was performed through a case study with thirty-five (n = 35) teachers who participated voluntarily in three consecutive tasks, by blending Sloodle as a free plug-in via the three-dimensional (3D) multi-user virtual world Open Simulator (Open Sim), with the purpose of creating virtual learning environments. A mixed-method research was conducted to be measured pre-service teachers’ engagement, using a validated CoI model questionnaire proposed by Arbaugh et al. (2008) for collecting the quantitative data, and secondly their opinions for participation, achievements, abilities and difficulties, when studying collaboratively with their peers for gathering the qualitative data, after finishing several learning tasks. The study findings indicate that collaborative practice-based tasks in synchronous communication modes, such as group work, team effort, instructor’s or peer feedback and consolidated learning material in a 3D multi-user virtual environment have enhanced the learning experience for more meaningful outcomes. The highest mean scores were adequately addressed to the teaching and social presences, indicating that pre-service teachers were enough satisfied due to the easy expression of proposals and the sense of freedom for exchanging ideas/opinions with their colleagues. This study contributes on the fundamental issues of cooperation, socialization, retention and attendance rates rising among teachers’ interactions with the respect to empower not only their CPD, but also their management and learning responsibilities, based on the affordances that a 3D technology-enhanced environment can provide.     

Exploring the values of writing collaboratively through a digital storytelling platform: a mixed-methods analysis of users’ participation,perspectives and practices

Digital technologies allow teachers and students to experience new pedagogical approaches leveraging on interactivity and collaboration. Among the available techniques, digital storytelling (DST) has been usually regarded as an activity that can both enrich the teaching practices and foster students’ active behaviour. This paper aims at analysing to what extent a DST platform proposing the collaborative writing of a fictional story and leveraging on an active learning technique such as role-play can affect a variety of dimensions, namely students’ performance, commitment, creativity and social skills. Combining the analysis of the data-log automatically collected by the system with the evaluations given by teachers before and after the activity, this article shows that the use of a DST tool in the teaching practice can have positive effects on students, including the ones that usually manifest moderate scores for the previously mentioned dimensions. Additionally, semi-structured interviews and direct observations provide an insight on how the benefits stemming from the use of a DST tool in the classroom can especially lie on the collaborative process that is activated.     

A Synchronous Online Social Work PhD Program: Educational Design and Student/Faculty Response

ABSTRACT

Faculty and students evaluate the curriculum design and delivery of a synchronous online PhD program in social work that prepares scholar-practitioners in social work research, education, and organizational practice. The designers envision a collaborative community of scholars and leaders nurtured by a cohort-based, sequenced curriculum, and intentional faculty mentoring. This teaching and learning platform provides an opportunity to engage with a globally diverse population of doctoral students while fostering both relationships and quality learning outcomes. Educational design and pedagogical features of the program are described and analyzed through the collaborative thinking and learning platform of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model’s interdependent elements–teaching, cognitive, and social presence. Eighteen students and ten faculty evaluated the strengths and limitations of the online program across each dimension of the model through student course evaluations, focus-group reflections, and qualitative faculty survey data. Student and faculty respondents specified the benefits of synchronous presence across all three dimensions. They also identified significant barriers, particularly in the areas of teaching and social presence. Implications and recommendations are based on a review of findings that inform pedagogical decisions and design options for online PhD education in social work.     

“互联网+教育”背景下高职外语信息化教学改革思路探析——基于学生线上自主学习能力视角

“互联网+教育”背景下,在线自主学习已经成为学生提升外语知识水平和素养的重要手段之一,因此培养学生的线上自主学习能力是外语教学的一项重要任务。教师应分析学生的线上外语自主学习能力情况,提炼用于提升学生线上自主学习能力的教学策略,这对培养学生的线上自主学习习惯和技能以及提高学生线上学习的效率和质量具有重要意义。     

Using the Productive Pedagogies Framework to Build a Community of Learners Online in Mathematics Education

Productive pedagogies (PP) is an influential framework for teaching and learning that has featured well in current reforms of teacher education. The present study was designed to examine principles of PP adopted by a cohort of beginning mathematics teachers. A networked online learning environment, WebCT?, facilitated the teachers’ deliberations about PP. The uptake of PP by these new teachers was examined in the context of a collaborative activity in which the teachers were required to reflect on, critique, and share views with peers about a lesson on the teaching of multiplication. These online interactions are argued to provide opportunities for shared learning and activity. Qualitative analyses of the results show that participants espoused and embraced dimension of PP in varying degrees. The implications for using WebCT? and similar online course management systems to support teacher reflections on best practice are discussed.     

Measuring and exploring the structure of teachers’ educational beliefs

This study explores the structure of French teachers’ educational beliefs. First, instruments to measure these beliefs are adapted and developed. Data is collected through focus group discussions and an online survey (n = 302). Factor analyses reveal a three-factor structure to measure teachers’ general beliefs about teaching and learning: ‘beliefs about student regulation of learning processes and knowledge construction’, ‘beliefs about teacher regulation of learning processes’, and ‘beliefs about knowledge reproduction’. Furthermore, a two-factor structure to measure teachers’ subject-specific beliefs about French language teaching is found: ‘traditional beliefs about French language teaching’ and ‘constructivist beliefs about French language teaching’. Second, this study explores the relationships between and within teachers’ general beliefs about teaching and learning and their subject-specific beliefs about French language teaching. Results show two distinct and independent belief structures: a traditional and a constructivist belief structure. Via cluster analyses, two clusters of teachers are found whose beliefs are consistent with these belief structures.     

Incorporating creativity into teachers practice and self-concept of professional identity

The study explores what happens to teachers practice and professional identity when they adopt a collaborative action research approach to teaching and involve external creative partners and a university mentor. The teachers aim to nurture and develop the creative potential of their learners through empowering them to make decisions for themselves about their own progress and learning directions. The teachers worked creatively and collaboratively designing creative teaching and learning methods in support of pupils with language and communication difficulties. The respondents are from an English special school, primary school and girls secondary school. A mixed methods methodology is adopted. Gains in teacher confidence and capability were identified in addition to shifts in values that impacted directly on their self-concept of what it is to be an effective teacher promoting effective learning. The development of their professional identities within a team ethos included them being able to make decisions about learning that are based on the educational potential of learners that they proved resulted in elevated standards achieved by this group of learners. They were able to justify their actions on established educational principles. Tensions however were revealed between what they perceived as their normal required professionalism imposed by external agencies and the enhanced professionalism experienced working through the project where they were able to integrate theory and practice.     

The design and development of a Collaborative mLearning prototype for Malaysian secondary school science

Collaborative problem-solving in science instruction allows learners to build their knowledge and understanding through interaction, using the language of science. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools facilitate collaboration and may provide the opportunity for interaction when using the language of science in learning. There seems to be little interaction among students in the science classrooms as teachers only seem to be concerned with teaching the facts of science. An exploratory implementation study for a collaborative mobile learning (CmL) prototype design using CMC tools provides the opportunity for interactions using the language of science. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the CmL prototype can be used for interaction and learning in secondary school science. The prototype, designed based on Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction, was evaluated by five experts before implementation among 14 students. Data collected from interviews with the experts and from students who used the prototype, as well as from online communications, was analyzed. The findings show that interactions when the CmL prototype was used enabled the language of science to be modeled for knowledge-building. This study is explorative in nature and the preliminary results seem to indicate that the CmL prototype has the potential to increase interactions in learning. However, further investigation is required to determine whether the CmL prototype could be used for collaborative problem-solving in science as well as in other subjects, especially in the current educational environment in Malaysia.     

高职院校大规模在线教学成效、问题及提升策略研究

高职院校史无前例地实践了整个学期的师生居家式大规模在线教学,不仅挑战了课堂教学实践能力的极限,也是对我国40年来高职教育信息化建设成效的最强考验。作为“疫情”特殊时期课堂教学的应急替代方案,高职院校大规模在线教学化解了时空分离状态下的教学供需矛盾,交出了有效度又有温度的可喜答卷,用实践证明了在线教学有能力完成课堂教学任务,保障了“停课不停教”政策底线,树立了在线教育发展史上的里程碑。社会多主体协同为高职院校开展在线教学提供了所需的海量网络学习资源、多样化学习工具、虚拟化教学环境,教师转变角色当网红,学生相聚线上渐入佳境,以灵活的自组织教学方式实现在线教学质量超预期。变革教育领域深层“教学惯性”和师生“默契”教学心理场域并非朝夕之功,当前要以“身份”合法化赋予高职院校在线教学的社会基础,协同共建适切的优质在线教学资源,赋予教师在线教学人机结合、虚实叠加的协同组织者角色,以教学活动为中介统合在线教与学,培养学生自主在线学习能力,以情感为纽带协同家校、师生共同体、社区维系在线教学,为高职院校全面返校复课后线上线下协同的“混合教学”做好充足准备。     

Teaching and Assessing Writing: an Australian Perspective

This article examines issues of writing instruction and assessment as they relate to an approach to English language education that has been developed in Australia. The approach, put forward by proponents of genre theory, is underpinned by the argument that it is essential for all teachers, and especially English teachers, to have a ‘metalanguage’ about language education. The expectation is that such a metalanguage makes it possible for teachers and students to develop shared understandings of how written and spoken language works in their various forms. The related argument is that the teacher represents an authoritative (as distinct from authoritarian) language user in the classroom and is responsible for teaching the linguistic characteristics of texts as well as the relationship between texts and the cultural and social contexts in which they are produced and received. In this article I examine the ‘genre’ position and consider its relevance to the business of teaching, learning and assessing in the English classroom.     

Teacher Perceptions of Moodle and Throughput in a Blended Learning Programme for In-Service Secondary School Mathematics Teachers

The purpose of this article is to analyse teachers’ perceptions of using the modular object-oriented dynamic learning environment (Moodle) platform as a learning management system in a small-scale blended learning (b-learning) Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) programme for in-service secondary school mathematics teachers in South Africa. It describes how the Moodle platform was used in combination with on-campus and later off-campus contact sessions for a widely dispersed population of 76 in-service mathematics teachers over a four-year period. Qualitative data was gathered by means of a questionnaire with open-ended items, while quantitative data was gathered from the centre's archives. The main findings were that Moodle enabled in-service teachers to experience social, cognitive and teaching presences, through synchronous and asynchronous discussions with peers and facilitators, and a teaching presence by submitting their inquiries and assignments online for facilitators to provide them with answers and feedback. The main obstacles to the integration of Moodle were limited availability of technology, slow speed, and unaffordable cost when available. With increased broadband connectivity Moodle holds the prospect for diversifying b-learning experiences that can support teachers’ professional learning outcomes and throughput for distributed populations of practising mathematics teachers, in particular.     

Collaborative action research in Northern Canadian rural and Indigenous schools: learning about young children’s oral language in play contexts

This article reports on collaborative action research in twelve northern rural and Indigenous communities in four Canadian provinces. Pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, grade one, and Aboriginal Head Start teachers worked with university researchers in three universities to create action research projects with the aim of supporting children’s oral language and writing through play in their classrooms. Inductive analysis of focus group data shows that teachers gained understandings about play as a context both for supporting and for authentic assessment of young children’s oral language. The building of trusting relationships, built through ongoing collaboration with colleagues within their schools and across four provinces, in addition to collaboration with university researchers over a number of years, was viewed as particularly influential to teachers’ professional learning. Additionally, teachers talked about the value of opportunities to contribute to the development of teaching and assessment tools. Participating teachers came to see themselves as making valuable contributions to professional knowledge beyond their northern communities. The 4R’s for conducting research in Indigenous contexts (reciprocity, respect, relevance, and responsibility) provide a framework for deriving implications from this collaborative research. It is important that the results of collaborative action research conducted in rural and Indigenous schools be widely disseminated to provide alternative perspectives to curriculum, research and practice that tend to be urban-oriented.     

Surveying digital competencies of university students and professors in Ukraine for fully online collaborative learning

Collaborative-constructivist online learning appears well aligned with Ukraine’s post-revolutionary aspirations for globalised and transformed higher education. This study explores digital competencies of students and professors at Kyiv National Economic University, Ukraine, to probe readiness for fully online collaborative learning. The General Technology Competency and Use profile tool was completed by 244 participants to measure digital experience and confidence across four categories of human–computer activity. To assess readiness, reported levels of competencies were related to the three dimensions of successful collaborative learning described by the Community of Inquiry model. Despite some key differences between students and teachers, general findings include moderate-to-low levels of self-reported technical, social and informational competency, accompanied by consistently low levels of epistemological competency. These findings suggest that neither students nor teachers are adequately prepared for achieving high levels of social, cognitive and teaching presence in a fully online learning environment. It is recommended that digital-competency development become an educational priority.