Digital Booktalk: Creating a Community of Avid Readers,One Video at a Time

In this article the author presents a meta-analysis of the findings from several studies conducted over multiple years with various types of learners that investigated exemplar/signature pedagogical practices incorporating video to motivate otherwise reluctant and struggling learners. Noting that newer technologies are making today's learners less dependent on text-based media to express themselves and to acquire knowledge, this author discovered that selecting appropriate video-based deliverables can play a significant role in affecting student motivation and outcomes. Assessing learning in this way is, in this author's opinion, at the core of signature pedagogy.     

Teachers’ reports of learning and application to pedagogy based on engagement in collaborative peer video analysis

Given international use of video-based reflective discussions in teacher education, and the limited knowledge about whether teachers apply learning from these discussions, we explored teachers’ learning of new ideas about pedagogy and their self-reported application of this learning. Nine inservice and 48 preservice teachers participated in video-based reflective discussions and documented their learning, sources of knowledge that contributed to their learning, and application of this learning to their teaching in their practica courses. A total of 227 response sheets with this information were collected. Multilevel logit regression was used to examine how sources of learning and content learned were related to teachers’ application of learning to their teaching practices. We found that teachers reported applying 40% of their learning; particularly, what they learned about methods and materials for instruction, and that they learned from both video and discussion almost equally.     

If you build it,will they reflect? Examining teachers' use of an online video-based learning website

Many teachers use online professional development websites, but little is known about what teachers actually learn from them. This study explored teacher use of an online video-based learning website with over 37,000 members. It used web analytics to study user selection of video resources and coding of website commentary to analyze teacher responses to videos. The results indicated that teachers commonly view video clips designed for immediate use rather than reflection and respond to videos by evaluating the pedagogy positively. Videos that feature students as the sole or primary actors provoked the most reflective teacher responses.     

远程教育英语专业学习资源的实用性设计

学习资源作为远程学习者学习的主要内容,其设计的优劣会直接影响学习者的学习兴趣、学习动力、学习成效和满意度。优化远程教育学习资源的实用性设计是保持远程学习者在学率的重要途径。通过对远程开放教育英语专业学习者在学习资源使用、学习时间利用、教学互动参与等方面的调查和访谈发现：远程学习者仍以课程教材为主、以配套光盘和学习指导书及在线学习资源为辅展开课程学习,但是学习者无法对学习资源按需查取;学习者倾向于使用简短的视频课件资源,但面临时间占有率和信息处理强度的挑战;学习者由于英语专业的特殊性很难进行实质性的个性化学习和教学互动。因此,开放大学在新一轮的英语专业学习资源设计过程中,应以教材为中心,将各种形式的学习资源进行一体化设计和精细划分,对网络视频课应分类设计、系列制作、微型呈现,对网络学习平台应减少级数,促进全国范围内远程学习者的信息共享和多维互动学习。     

Improving online social presence through asynchronous video

Online learning has become a reality for many students in higher education. Unfortunately, something that has also become a reality is a sense of isolation in online courses, and Moore (1980) has warned that students' sense of distance can threaten their ability to learn. The community of inquiry framework (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) has provided insight into ways that online interactions can improve students' and instructors' social presence and learning. Emerging video technologies may be able to improve these interactions and thus more easily support the development of communities of inquiry. In this study we interviewed students in three distinct courses using different video-based instructional strategies. A large majority of students indicated feeling that the video-based communication made their instructors seem more real, present, and familiar, and that these relationships were similar to face-to-face instruction. Video communication impacted students' social presence in similar ways, although to a lesser degree than they believed it impacted instructor social presence. We conclude with discussion for future research and practice.     

Interactivity in Video-based Models

In this review we argue that interactivity can be effective in video-based models to engage learners in relevant cognitive processes. We do not treat modeling as an isolated instructional method but adopted the social cognitive model of sequential skill acquisition in which learners start with observation and finish with independent, self-regulated performance. Moreover, we concur with the notion that interactivity should emphasize the cognitive processes that learners engage in when they interact with the learning environment. The four-component instructional design (4C/ID) model is used to define a set of cognitive processes: Elaboration and induction enable learners to construct schemas, whereas compilation and strengthening enable learners to automate these schemas. Pacing, cues, control over appearance, prediction, working in dyads, personalized task selection, and reflection prompts are identified as guidelines that might support learners to interactively construct schemas. Personalized task selection with part-task practice helps learners to interactively automate schemas.     

In support of a functional definition of interaction

Abstract

A common theme in the distance education literature is that delivery technologies with the potential for real‐time interactivity will improve both the image and practice of distance education. Although there appears to be a growing acceptance of a causal relationship between system interactivity and instructional interaction, neither concept has been clearly or functionally defined. This article discusses several systems models and relates them to the contexts of instructional delivery, instructional design, instructional theory, and learning theory in an attempt to establish conceptual parameters for the function of interaction.     

Combining feminist pedagogy and transactional distance to create gender-sensitive technology-enhanced learning

In this paper, we argue for a new synthesis of two pedagogic theories: feminist pedagogy and transactional distance, which explain why and how distance education has been such a positive system for women in a national distance learning university. We illustrate this with examples of positive action initiatives for women. The concept of transactional distance allows us to explore distance as a form of psychological and communication space, not simply of geographical distance. Feminist pedagogy, on the other hand, has recognised the importance of gender in structuring disciplines as well as teaching strategies. Both theories implicitly position the face-to-face classroom as the ideal learning environment, with the implication that distance learning has to produce a deficient environment. We argue that the evidence for women does not support this and present examples of feminist distance learning provision that has offered successful technology-enhanced learning and educational opportunities.     

Teaching for identities, writing between the “we” and the “I” paradigms

Circumscribed by the culture of collectivist and Confucian traditions, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education in China has defaulted to an impersonalized provision and delivery. Much of teaching and learning is to assimilate individuals into a group identity. This epistemological model can be detected in learning outcomes, e.g., preferential use of ‘we’ over ‘I’, lack of authentic self-identity in student EFL writing, etc., and is characterized by ubiquitous rote learning. In this paper, we adopt a biographical approach to the teaching of stories expressed as personal narrative as part of the research framework. This is also applied to critical curriculum and pedagogical reforms that help students to write across their extant cultural constraint, enabling them to make a conceptual leap in understanding the difference between the collective, and the individual identities, of the “we” and the “I”. Once this conceptual awareness has been achieved, the individual viewpoint can be elicited and articulated in student writing of narrative accounts. Biographical narrative accounts of personal experience are found to have a creative and self-actualizing force in forming the individual’s identity, using his/her original voice. The findings suggest that EFL writing curriculum and pedagogy in the new era can be a useful strategy to empower students and EFL teachers to teach and write between the “we” and the “I” paradigms, and expand their ontological capability and flexibility through pedagogical effect.     

Writing to Learn: Benefits and Limitations

Writing to learn is a pedagogical approach grounded in the belief that the reasoning required to write about a topic or concept will help students gain understanding. However, research indicates that the impact writing has on student learning depends on context. Using a mixed-method, quasi-experimental, repeated measures design, we examined how embedding writing-to-learn pedagogy in a required college course impacted students’ learning as well as their perceptions of writing to learn. Our quantitative analysis revealed that writing to learn did not have a differential effect on student achievement of course goals. However, qualitative analysis revealed evidence indicating students valued writing to learn as a way to make sense of course content by reasoning through their ideas and responses to class experiences. From the instructor's perspective, writing to learn also helped build rapport with students. Our results indicated that in our context, writing to learn pedagogy had benefits and limitations. We offer practical implications and pedagogical suggestions based on our experiences and findings.     

Standards und Trends der videobasierten Lehr-Lernforschung

In this paper standards and recent trends in video-based teaching and learning research are presented. Three trends are described: 1. Methodological advances in using video for measuring processes of teaching and learning. 2. Using video for improving teacher education. 3. Embedding video sequences as stimuli in tests for assessing professional teacher competencies. The trends are based on the state-of-art in video-based research. Common standards are described and recent developments are identified. As a conclusion the authors argue for evidence-based use of video in teaching and learning research. This includes further efforts in providing basic research regarding specific effects of video on the acquisition of professional competencies.     

Interactive Broadcast Television in Australia

Interactive television is being used increasingly as a delivery format for distance education and open learning courses. In most applications, the delivery is to a closed audience within the framework of formal programmes of study. This paper reports on programmes in Western Australia where interactive educational television is being used in broadcast modes. The paper discusses the impact of the ensuing interactivity on the quality of the broadcast programmes from an instructional perspective.     

The Phoenix Rising: Emergent models of instructional design

The blurring of distinctions between online and distance education in many parts of the developed world has led to reflections on the strategies and processes by which we create effective online learning environments for the distance education learner. In this article we argue that the foundational models of instructional design that typically inform the design, development, and delivery of online environments do not always support the epistemology and pedagogy that embodies the online environment. Through an analysis of current approaches to instructional design we present a case for adopting principles of emergence theory as a means to best harness the power and potential of design and development for online distance education. Using a prototype three‐phase design model that embodies emergent principles we advocate that to achieve the full potential of interaction and community networks through online communications requires a repositioning of roles and processes associated with “instructional design.”     

Time on task in intensive modes of delivery

This paper reports on an investigation into how staff teaching in compressed courses can encourage student engagement and enhance student use of learning time, despite significant restraints of time as well as distance. Typically these courses (described here as units) are expected to have comparable learning outcomes to their full-semester counterparts and provide an opportunity for students to either retake failed units or to acquire credit for their chosen degrees in accelerated time. Organising teaching and learning through intensive modes of delivery may require different approaches to curriculum development and pedagogy compared to traditional unit planning and delivery, especially when the intensive delivery utilises online technologies. This paper explores strategies employed by successful intensive mode teachers in the development and delivery units for maximised student engagement. It concludes that many of these strategies are equally applicable in online and distance education regardless of the unit being intensive or otherwise.     

Improving effectiveness of learners’ review of video lectures by using an attention-based video lecture review mechanism based on brainwave signals

Online video-based learning has been increasingly used in educational settings. However, students usually do not have enough cognitive capacity and metacognition skills to diagnose and record their attention status during learning tasks by themselves. This study thus presents an attention-based video lecture review mechanism (AVLRM) that can generate video segments for review based on students’ sustained attention status, as determined using brainwave signal detection technology. A quasi-experiment nonequivalent control group design was utilized to divide 55 participants from two classes of an elementary school in New Taipei City, Taiwan, into two groups. One class was randomly assigned to the experimental group, and used video lectures with the AVLRM support for learning. The other class was assigned to the control group, and used video lectures with autonomous review for learning. Analytical results indicate that students in the experimental group exhibited significantly better review effectiveness than did the control group, and this difference was especially marked for students who had a low attention level, were field-dependent, or were female. The findings show that AVLRM based on brainwave signal detection technology can precisely identify video segments that are more useful for effective review than those picked by student themselves. This study contributes to the design of learning tools that aim to support independent learning and effective review in online or video-based learning environments.     

Are instructional design elements being used in module writing?

This paper discusses the elements of instructional design (ID) and technical design in module writing. An evaluation instrument was developed to evaluate the modules written by course lecturers from the School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia. In the study, fifty modules (12%) were selected from the Arts, Science and Engineering courses. The findings of the evaluation showed that instructional modules were weak in a number of elements. The study recommended that multimedia and distance learning strategies should be integrated in the learning activities. Post-test and pre-test may be considered to make the learning modules more self-contained, self-instructional, and interactive. Courses on distance learning theories, instructional design and development, media selection, media attributes, multimedia production, media integration, utilisation and management in distance and open learning may help course writers to write better modules. The Centre needs to have a standard guideline for module writing. The present guidelines need to be improved to include other ID and technical elements in module writing.     

Public Pedagogy and Social Justice in Arts Education

In this article we explore examples of public pedagogical actions and interventions, reading them through a social justice education framework lens. In our discussion we start with definitions of social justice, public pedagogy and case study methodologies. Then, we look at a variety of international examples to highlight the pervasiveness of public pedagogical opportunities in visual culture that include a festival, an individual, a citywide symposium, an online community, a cultural group and a museum exhibition. They are divided into three categories based on social justice principles suggested by Ayers et al. and later interpreted by Dewhurst: (1) Public pedagogy and social justice is rooted in people's experiences: Fiesta del Señor de Choquekillka: Ollantaytambo, Peru and Janet Weight Reed – an artist's public pedagogy utilising social media; (2) Public pedagogy and social justice is a process of reflection and action together: Ideas City Festival and the Vlogbrothers; (3) Public pedagogy and social justice seeks to dismantle systems of inequality to create a more humane society: CULTURUNNERS and sh[OUT]: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex art and culture. It is our hope that in looking more closely at these international examples of public pedagogy and social justice education that the power of such alternative sites of learning is apparent and encourages further interventions and investigations in such spaces of inquiry.     

Understanding video as a tool for teacher education: investigating instructional strategies to promote reflection

There is a general consensus among researchers and teacher educators that classroom video can be a valuable tool for pre-service teacher education. Media such as video are not, however, in themselves effective. They have to be embedded in an instructional program to be useful. Yet, little empirical research examines how specific instructional approaches might effectively exploit the potential of video in teacher education. In this study we explored the use of two video-based university courses, one representing a cognitive instructional strategy integrating video, the other representing a situative strategy. Using data from learning journals we analyzed the effects of the two strategies on pre-service teachers’ (N = 28) ability to reflect on classroom video. We found that the two strategies have distinct impacts on the kinds of reflection patterns that are fostered. Our findings suggest that the learning goal and purpose at hand should determine which instructional strategy should be employed when embedding classroom video into teacher education courses.     

“Sprouting” the Couch Potato: Techniques to Increase the Effort Learners Invest in Video-Based Materials

Although videotapes are a popular instructional medium in the training environment, viewers often adopt a passive stance toward learning from video. Viewers perceptions of video as a passive, “easy” medium may minimize the information they gain from video-based instruction. If instructional designers and trainers want to encourage the “couch potato” to process the content of a video-based lesson in an active manner, they should make sure that their lessons are designed to facilitate this process. This article discusses the relationship of mental effort to achievement, provides recommendations for designing video-based materials to increase the effort learners invest in the instruction, and presents a list of practical techniques for increasing learners' mental effort and achievement that can be incorporated into lessons that include video-based materials.     

#poetryisnotdead: understanding Instagram poetry within a transliteracies framework

Adolescents are more connected to the globalised world than ever before, with an increased prevalence of social media use amongst youth. Young people are composing multimodal creative works, including digital poetry, to share with an online audience, using platforms such as Instagram. Drawing on transliteracies theory, this case study found that three main themes appeared regarding the nature of literacy practices on Instagram. Community and interactivity were important to poets, especially in regard to feedback. The platform and complementary apps, especially those used for photo editing, afforded poets agency and fostered multimodality when composing, thus highlighting the changing nature of digitised writing practices. Value was placed on the mobility and accessibility of Instagram as a mobile app, for composing and consuming digital poetry. Young people may therefore be considered innovators of multimodal writing who employ ever‐evolving technologies to engage in authentic literacy practices in digital spaces. As a result, this study suggests that the implications of Instapoetry on English pedagogy include the increased exposure and relevance of poetry writing and appreciation, a space for student‐centred writing, reading, and analysis of poems, as well as a relevant method of peer review and collaboration.