Seamless learning in the mobile age: a theoretical and methodological discussion on using cooperative inquiry to study digital kids on-the-move

This paper shares the theoretical and methodological frameworks that are deployed in a 3-year study to examine how Singapore primary school students leverage on mobile technology for seamless learning. This notion of seamless learning refers to the integrated and synergistic effects of learning in both formal and informal settings, which is distributed across different learning processes (emergent or planned) as well as across different spaces (in or out of class). Drawing insights from the literature and our study, we assert that we should jettison the technology-centric view to adopt a socio-cultural framework. This move puts us in a better position to make sense of the rich complexities coalescing around the students’ in-situ use of mobile devices. We also critiqued the adequacy of our people-centred data collection method, in particular, cooperative inquiry in capturing instances of seamless learning. Challenges of operationalising the cooperative inquiry approaches are also detailed in the paper.     

A mobile informal learning solution for workplace learners

This paper reports on the development of the “MobLearn@Work” App, which emerged from a study of informal learning among five employees at different companies in China. The purpose of the study was to develop a strategy for the design of mobile learning support tools that would enhance informal learning in the workplace. The App was developed by creating a platform to support informal learning through the integration of two sets of issues that emerged in the study: (a) affordances of contemporary Web 2.0 tools identified from the literature and by exploration of the participants’ mobile technology uses, and (b) informal learning activities of the participants that emerged in the context of their work. Consideration of these issues led to the conclusion that an effective App for informal learning should include functionalities such as really simple syndication, podcasting, Web-searching and microblogging, all of which were integrated into the “MobLearn@Work” App. The implementation of the App in these five cases over a six-month period yielded a further set of design recommendations, which are discussed in the paper.     

A learning progression for water in socio‐ecological systems

Providing model‐based accounts (explanations and predictions) of water and substances in water moving through environmental systems is an important practice for environmental science literacy and necessary for citizens confronting global and local water quantity and quality issues. In this article we present a learning progression for water in environmental systems for students in elementary through high school grades. We investigated student accounts of water and substances in water moving through atmospheric, surface, and soil/groundwater systems, including human‐engineered components of these systems. Using an iterative process of model design, assessment, and interpretation, we identified four levels of achievement in student reasoning. Levels 1 and 2 force‐dynamic accounts explain movement of water as interactions between natural tendencies of water and countervailing powers. Level 3 incomplete school science accounts put events in order and trace water and substance along multiple pathways that include hidden and invisible components. Only Level 4 qualitative model‐based accounts include driving forces and constraining factors to explain or predict where water and substances in water move in given situations. The majority of high school students on average provide accounts between levels 2 and 3. We discuss the significance of these results for citizen participation in addressing common water issues. We end with suggestions for how the water learning progression can be used to inform changes to curricula, assessment, and instruction to support students in achieving level 4 performance. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 843–868, 2012     

Designing learning experiences for outdoor hybrid learning spaces

With the support of various personal and institutional mobile technologies, numerous physical and virtual spaces can be turned into interesting and motivating hybrid learning settings. By its nature, outdoor mobile learning happens on the move is connected to specific locations and settings inviting learners to study their surroundings, inquire about natural phenomena and solve complex real-life problems. This poses challenges for teachers to design meaningful, contextualized and comprehensive learning experiences. The paper aims to explore what kind of mobile learning scenarios K-12 teachers create and what are the limitations and development perspectives of these scenarios. Content analysis of 25 location-based outdoor learning tracks with 465 questions and tasks was carried out. The results demonstrate that designing and implementing learning activities outside the safe, familiar classroom environment in new hybrid learning spaces is a challenging task for the teachers on many different levels. Taking Bloom’s revised taxonomy, types of contextualization and integrated learning models as frameworks for content analysis of the learning scenarios, the study shows that the teachers do not perceive the potential hybrid spaces and mobile technologies offer in order to design consistent learning experiences that emphasize higher order thinking levels, encompass contextual information and integrate knowledge from multiple disciplinary sources. The paper concludes that there is a need for more teacher training and systemic interventions into current teaching practices that encourage teachers to step outside of their existing teaching paradigms to acknowledge the pedagogical potential of hybrid learning spaces as well as the technological affordances.     

Transformed telepresence and its association with learning in computer-supported collaborative learning: a case study in English learning and its evaluation

Telepresence has been playing an important role in a mediated learning environment. However, the current design of telepresence seems to be dominated by the emulation of physical human presence. With reference to social constructivism learning and the recognition of individuals as intelligent entities, this study explored the transformation of telepresence and its association with learning. A sample practice was performed and evaluated to understand students’ response toward the transformed telepresence. The results revealed that students recognized the presence of their peers in the transformed telepresence, and this enhanced their interest in the related activity conducted in the mediated learning environment. More importantly, students reported various cognitive processes of learning and new thoughts regarding the subject content. The findings of this study suggest that transformed telepresence creates a specific medium for human expression with particular properties and powers. This medium offers a new aspect of collaboration among participants for enhancing language learning.     

交往学习论

交往学习是指学习者以他人为对象并以与他人的对话和互动为主要形式的学习类型。交往学习是有别于知识学习和操作学习的一种独立类型的学习。其机制在于双方的对话和互动对交往主体建构、理解和生成意义的影响。交往学习具有促进个体的自我意识和社会性素质的形成以及丰富人的发展的效应。     

Spoken and Written English: The Case for Distinct Languages

Five possible relationships among speech, writing, and language are evaluated. These relationships are: that writing is related to language through the medium of speech, that speech is based on writing, that spoken and written forms of a language are decodable one to the other, that spoken and written language are related only through the single language they represent but cannot be translated one to the other without recourse to the grammar of that language, and that speech and orthography represent distinct languages.The conclusion reached is that the grammars underlying speech and writing are distinct –that they employ different conceptions of morphology and syntax – and thus may be said to represent different languages.     

论开放教育教学模式的构建

“开放教育”决不是一种孤立的教育模式，实践中的“开放教育”与“函授教育”、“传统面授教育”有着千丝万缕的联系。以“教师为主导、学生为中心”的建构主义教学模式是更能切合电大开放教育实际的教学模式。     

Integrating digital literacies and scientific communication in a multimedia anatomy group assignment to advance contextual learning

Anatomists are facing a new generation of learners who will study and work in a technology-rich environment. Indeed, digital technologies are tremendously changing how information and knowledge are communicated and retrieved. However, it remains unclear whether an anatomy assessment can be designed to promote contextual learning through integrating a digital communication strategy. To investigate this, assessment methods were diversified in the first-year neuroanatomy and third-year regional anatomy curricula through implementing a multimedia human anatomy group assignment integrating digital literacies and scientific communication. Through completing this multimedia assignment, students demonstrated their anatomy knowledge transfer using a range of approaches. The main mode of presentations chosen in the two anatomy units were non-animated video presentations (~50%), animated video presentations (~30%), storyboards (~10%), podcasts (~3%), and filmed videos (~3%). A 5-point Likert scale learning and teaching survey was conducted for a total of 195 undergraduate health science students to evaluate students' perception of this group assignment. The majority of students (70–80%) strongly agreed or agreed that the multimedia group assignment helped their teamwork skills. Students who produced animated videos significantly outperformed those who adopted the non-animated presentations during the end-of-semester theory examination (p < 0.05). This study demonstrates that an anatomy group assignment integrating digital literacy and scientific communication is an effective assessment strategy associated with a positive learning experience and outcome. This inquiry-based assignment promotes learning through assessment, allowing students to not only consolidate and extend anatomy knowledge but also developing effective digital communication skills, providing new insights into non-didactic anatomy assessments.     

Using learning principles as a theoretical framework for instructional consultations

Learning theory provides a powerful framework for analyzing instructional consultations and increasing their effectiveness. In this paper, the authors review the main tenets of learning theory, apply them to consultation scenarios, and present a complex case study to show how they can guide analysis and problem solving around challenging consultations.     

Self-efficacy as an evaluation measure for programs in support of online learning literacies for undergraduates

This study evaluated an intervention for building undergraduates' technological literacies for higher education in support of use of the learning management system and desktop applications. Self-efficacy scores between a control group and a treatment group were compared. Relationships between scores and demographic/experiential variables were also analyzed. The study failed to find (with limited strengths) significant differences between control and treatment. Differences between exempted and control students were found. Relationships between age, gender, and experience with online learning were rejected; however a relationship between experience with computers and scores was not rejected. For treatment learners, mastery experience and physical/emotional response to task performance were stronger self-efficacy sources than were verbal persuasion and vicarious experience. Results indicated that design might be improved by increasing sources of verbal persuasion and vicarious experience. The study also highlighted a need to monitor students' diverse backgrounds with technology.     

基于碎片化学习的远程开放教育移动学习模式探讨

人类学习方式经历了私塾求学、课堂学习及网络学习三个历史阶段,现代远程开放教育是社会发展的必然要求。移动学习(M-Learning)能够针对现代社会学习者流动分散的学习特征,利用碎片化学习方式,实现最佳学习效果,运用越来越广泛的移动学习必将成为未来学习过程中不可或缺的学习方式,是未来远程开放教育中的最佳学习模式。     

What is literacy for students with severe learning difficulties? Exploring conventional and inclusive literacy

This paper arises from research into inclusive literacy for pupils with severe learning difficulties who do not learn to read and write conventionally. The ultimate aim of the study was to seek out examples of good practice in teaching and learning literacy that includes students with severe learning difficulties and disseminate them as widely as possible. Thirty-five schools were visited and observations made in 122 lessons. Sixty-one teachers were interviewed and their paperwork examined. Ten focus groups and five 'expert witnesses' were consulted, alongside desk-based research designed to locate 'good practice'. Teachers used a mixture of conventional (e.g., texts) and non-conventional (e.g., pictures, film and oral) media, although more observations were made of conventional literacy teaching (e.g., phonic work) than of non-conventional (e.g., filmmaking). Results from the research suggest that few students with severe learning difficulties are likely to learn to read and write conventionally (i.e., read for pleasure, work and study) and teachers may be relying too much on teaching traditional literacy to them. It may be useful to explore teaching and learning around alternative media such as still and moving images, live theatre and storytelling, digital technology and the arts. Although some teachers are making good use of these media, the potential of these media for providing inclusive literacy experiences could be further developed.     

Teaching for deeper political learning: a design experiment

Is in-depth political learning possible in college-preparatory courses known for curricular breadth at an accelerated pace plus a high-stakes exam? A multidisciplinary research team conducted design-based implementation research (DBIR) for seven years across three school systems for the purpose of achieving deeper learning in an ‘advanced’ high school government and politics course. This article reports findings from the final year of research and development. The design centres on cyclical learning, projects (simulated political processes) and strategic use of texts as resources for learning the curriculum. Quantitative analysis shows comparable achievement to students in traditional classrooms on the high-stakes summative assessment despite the dramatic departure from test-prep instruction. Qualitative analyses focus on two of the design elements: learning from simulations and learning from text. The first allowed students to ‘experience’ political beliefs, institutions, and conflict, although simulated; the second required students to learn subject matter not only from simulations and teacher lectures but from texts, too. The discussion shows how these two in combination with cyclical learning required skilful attention to content selection. We conclude that when deeper learning is the goal, content selection cannot be elided or presumed, particularly with respect to the articulation of depth and breadth in curriculum and instruction.     

移动网络即时协作学习平台关键技术研究

移动学习平台是促进移动学习快速发展的重要因素,无线网络技术和移动通信技术及其相关移动终端设备的快速普及,使得基于有线网络和个人计算机的网络学习平台已不能满足当前学习者的实际需求.从无线移动网络环境下学习者的实际要求出发,研究具有移动Web即时通信、资源实时移动共享等功能的移动网络即时协作学习平台的体系机构和系统功能,探究实现该系统平台的关键技术,以便为移动学习者提供一种支持即时协作交流、实时共享资源与知识经验的新型移动网络即时协作学习平台.     

Conceptualisations of literacy and literacy practices for children with severe learning difficulties

Literacy is traditionally narrowly conceptualised as a set of skills related to accessing and generating written or printed text. For children designated as having severe learning difficulties (SLD), who are unlikely to develop these ‘conventional’ literacy skills, such a conception implies their semi‐literacy or nonliteracy. Although conceptions of multimodal literacy and multiliteracies have rarely been applied to this group, broader understandings of literacy that include a range of activities, modes and media provide greater opportunities for including these learners in literacy practices. Drawing upon our research with teachers of this group of children and young people, we illustrate these literacy practices. We note, however, that such practices are often haphazard, not coherently thought through, and that there is much confusion regarding any distinction between communication and literacy. We argue for literacy as a specific form of communication, but conclude that broader models of literacies should be utilised to guide and support practitioners in developing interactive practice and in making reasoned and principled approaches and decisions about literacy practices, routes and progression for children with SLD.     

基于移动学习的大学生信息素养教育创新

大学生移动学习与信息素养相辅相成、互相促进。文章在介绍移动学习概念及特性的基础上,分析了移动学习与信息素养的关系,提出了移动学习背景下大学生信息素养教育的创新发展模式。     

远程教育中实现信息交互的研究和实践

信息交互体现了教学设计和教学实施水平,是教学设计关注的重点活动,信息交互的水平与学生和学习支持人员的具体表现有关。为提高远程教育的质量,远程教育机构需要不断评价和改进教学设计水平和教学实施水平。本文从远程教育实际效果出发,提出以课堂授课实时信息交互为核心的远程信息交互模式,并论证了实现的可能性,找到改进教学设计和教学实施水平的有效途径,对推动电大系统教育事业的发展有着积极的意义。     

一种新的移动学习资源开发方式初探

随着终身教育观的普及,移动学习越来越受到人们的欢迎,资源的开发是移动学习的研究重点.尝试探究一种新的面向智能手机和3G网络的移动学习资源开发方式.     

Mobile APP for motivation to learning: an engineering case

Synthesis of Materials is regarded as an important core subject in engineering education. However, many concepts and knowledge in the material synthesis can be rather abstract and difficult to understand by the student learners. Experiments are limited in scope due to lack of equipment, control of toxic materials, and risks of chemical reactions, which often restricts student imagination and student involvement in practical training. These reasons often led to poor learning attitude and learning performance among the students. Rapid developments in Cloud technology and mobile devices have provided new opportunities for developing novel learning tools for material synthesis. This study aims to introduce interest factors as a strategy for promoting learning interest and practical skills among the students. Chemical symbols, experimental themes, texts, and interactive elements were utilized to develop a theme-based Mobile Learning APP for teaching the practical techniques of material synthesis. The Mobile Learning APP was then integrated into a problem-based learning activity. A quasi-experimental design was used to investigate the resulting learning effectiveness from using the developed Mobile Learning APP. Results show that the Mobile Learning APP provided a significant positive effect on learning performance and that most students showed favorable attitudes toward the usage of the mobile learning system.