Meeting players where they are: Digital games and learning ecologies

This paper explores the relationship between digital games and learning along the continuum from formal to informal learning. Games are an increasingly important component of our learning ecologies but their potential can prove difficult to fully harness due to the downsides of gaming in informal contexts and to the limitations games can present when adopted in formal learning contexts. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of games for learning, and to gather stakeholder recommendations for the main actors in the field. The adopted research approach is qualitative and participatory, involving players, teachers, parents, researchers and developers. Data from 25 interviews and 11 focus groups yielded insights into the educational, psychological and ethical aspects of play. Results suggest that gameplay influences individuals in a very personal manner, and that its effects cover a wide range of skills, extending to identity development. Hence, to harness this potential, all actors in the ecology need strong awareness of both the affordances and the risks of games, and deep respect for individuals’ LEs. The study has implications for a wide range of actors, including educators, players, researchers, parents, game developers and policymakers.     

Exploring educators’ professional learning ecologies in a blended learning environment

In recent years the concept of learning ecology has been interpreted in different ways to highlight its potential for learning and professional development. However, there are several aspects that still deserve to be understood such as, eg, the role that the different contexts come to play within a learning ecology. For this purpose, this paper presents and discusses the results of a study exploring the learning ecologies of educators in a blended programme delivered in higher education. The participants in the study were 85 professionals in the field of education aged between 28 and 58 years. The research design adopted here can be defined as a convergent mixed method where both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through an e-portfolio. The study found that educators in the sample had different postures, of whom some more aware of their professional roles or Self than others. Moreover, different professional identities seemed to be linked to different learning ecologies, where elements like formal or informal education, cultural artefacts, personal experiences, colleagues or work experiences played a different role. Formal education emerged as having a questionable function, while colleagues came up as a crucial resource.     

Understanding complex ecologies: an investigation of student experiences in adventure learning programs

The GoNorth! Adventure Learning (AL) Series delivered educational programs about global climate change and sustainability from 2006 to 2010 via a hybrid-learning environment that included a curriculum designed with activities that worked in conjunction with the travels of Team GoNorth! as they dog sledded throughout the circumpolar Arctic. This study addresses a gap in the AL literature by identifying factors that lead to high levels of student engagement and reveals strategies for instructional designers and educators on how to design emotionally engaging online learning environments. A mixed methods study was conducted to explore patterns of learner engagement in relation to two AL programs: GoNorth! Fennoscandia 2008 and GoNorth! Nunavut 2009. Survey data were drawn from a total of 101 students in 2008 and 2009.     

Researching educational apps: ecologies,technologies, subjectivities and learning regimes

ABSTRACT

Apps are becoming increasingly important in education. However, critical educational research has hardly ever undertaken up-close analyses of educational apps. This article provides an extensive analysis of one ‘learning to code' app called Grasshopper. Drawing from the field of Science and Technology Studies, the article adopts a theoretical framework that situates app analyses at the dimensions of apps' situated ecologies, their platform and algorithmic technologies, the enacted user subjectivities and, as the sum of these previous dimensions, the projected learning regimes. Making use of the methodological entry points of app websites, stores and interfaces, the article makes visible and analyzes the app’s infrastructural settings, actively invokes different app situations, and uses these to advance the inquiry by offering a multidimensional point of view that navigates different scalar dimensions of educational apps. In doing so, the article examines learning to code through its concrete sociomaterial practices, and the specific pedagogies and sorts of education that are employed in order to bring about such learning.     

Key Issues in Sex Education: reflecting on teaching,learning and assessment

Drawing upon critical reflections of staff and student experiences of teaching, learning and assessment on an undergraduate module entitled Key Issues in Sex Education, we discuss the strategies used to engage students in debates around sex and relationships education (SRE). To date, there is little research which evaluates how formal assessments can be made relevant to students' exploration of this subject. In the case of this module, assessment requires students to first deliver a seminar presentation that focuses upon a self-selected issue within the field of sexual politics, policy and practice. Students then submit a manifesto, in the form of posters, leaflets or flyers pitched at relevant stakeholders, and which adheres more to the conventions for political campaigning, rather than the standard essays or examinations commonly used to assess undergraduates. In the light of this, we critically reflect upon student evaluations in respect of this module, address various problems and paradoxes, and offer recommendations for encouraging students to find their own voices when debating complex issues of not only SRE, but also sex, gender and sexualities more widely.     

Lifelong learning ecologies in online higher education: Students' engagement in the continuum between formal and informal learning

Lifelong learning opportunities are readily accessible through the hybridization of digital learning contexts—from formal to informal—in today's globally networked knowledge society. As such, expanded learning opportunities generate a continuum of learning contexts and experiences mediated through digital technology. Consequently, there is an urgent need to actively examine the interconnections and complex relations between what is learned in formal university scenarios and the everyday learning that happens outside of the classroom, particularly the informal learning that is afforded through expanded and emerging digital contexts. The current research problem illustrates that expanded and emerging professional development scenarios require new pedagogical designs for empowering lifelong learners to harness the affordances of the web across both formal and informal contexts and practices. This study outlines ways in which students shape their learning ecologies in virtual contexts to support formal academic learning in online higher education. The paper presents qualitative results from a larger mixed methods interpretive case study. The multicase and multisite study examines three fully online graduate programmes in Education and Digital Technology during the 2017–18 academic year, collecting data in the form of online programme documentation, student interviews and online participant observation. Purposeful and criterion sampling were used to select 13 participants across three sites in Spain, the UK and the USA. The study was underpinned by a lifelong learning ecologies theoretical perspective to analyse learning processes across a continuum of practices and contexts. Findings illustrate how students conceive of, as well as how they organize their learning ecologies through a unique configuration of activities, digital resources and networked social support, indicating that academic programmes and teachers have an essential role in empowering student learning ecologies across contexts, recognizing past trajectories and supporting the development of valued disciplinary practices and perspectives across a continuum of learning.     

A Delphi study on collaborative learning in distance education: The faculty perspective

This paper focuses on the factors that influence collaborative learning in distance education. Distance education has been around for many years and the use of collaborative learning techniques in distance education is becoming increasingly popular. Several studies have demonstrated the superiority of collaborative learning over traditional modes of learning and it has been identified as a potential solution to some of the weaknesses of traditional distance education courses. There are a rapidly growing number of technologies in use today and educators and practitioners face an increasingly difficult challenge to successfully implement collaborative learning in distance education; precipitated not only from technical advances but also from wider social and organisational concerns. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the factors that influence collaborative learning in distance education, by eliciting the opinions of an expert panel using a Delphi survey. The aim was to produce an integrated list of the most important implementation factors and to investigate the role that technology is perceived to contribute. The findings identified 17 of the most important factors; these factors cover a range of themes including course rationale and design, instructor characteristics, training, group dynamics, the development of a learning community and technology. The potential of technology, however, does not seem to be fully realised and newer technologies such as multi‐user environments would seem to be of limited use in practice according to the expert panel.     

A Testing Issue: Key skills assessment in Australia

Maintenance of academic standards, assessment and monitoring are key tasks for tertiary education, as the system attempts to meet government targets for universal participation. Tertiary education therefore demands more attention to the measurement of outcomes. However, the use of a graduate skills assessment test, we contend--particularly in the form this currently takes in Australia--implies a limited sense of the value added by a university education. We question the validity of national testing both on grounds of its suitability to assess the skills cultivated by university study and on grounds of equity and cultural inclusiveness.     

By design: Professional learning ecologies to develop primary school teachers’ makerspaces pedagogical capabilities

Makerspaces embody a growing movement of educators promoting constructionist learning with physical materials and digital technologies such as 3D design and 3D printing. As it gains traction in K-12 settings, the maker movement represents an interesting context in which to explore how professional ecologies can equip teachers with the knowledge, skills and dispositions needed to implement twenty-first century learning in their school context. This study investigated the roles of different participants from industry, school leadership and colleagues in influencing teachers’ confidence, enthusiasm, capabilities and beliefs when teaching in makerspaces. Utilising triangulated observations of activities through online questionnaires at beginning, middle and end points, as well as postproject interviews, the study explored the participation of 27 primary school teachers in a blended professional learning programme, followed by classroom delivery of modules focusing on tablet-based 3D design applications and the use of newly instaled 3D printers. Reporting no prior knowledge or experience with makerspaces, quantitative analyses revealed significant increases in teachers’ confidence and enthusiasm. Qualitative analyses of questionnaire and interview data underscored the influence of hands-on and theoretically grounded professional learning providing practical exposure to constructionist ideas, design thinking methodologies and 3D design technologies. Findings reveal the importance of targeted professional learning coupled with a substantial collegially supported implementation phase, as well as support from school leaders and industry partners to promote meaningful pedagogical change in technology-mediated maker-based learning.     

Peer assessment as collaborative learning: A cognitive perspective

Peer assessment is an important component of a more participatory culture of learning. The articles collected in this special issue constitute a representative kaleidoscope of current research on peer assessment. In this commentary, we argue that research on peer assessment is currently in a stage of adolescence, grappling with the developmental tasks of identity formation and affiliation. Identity formation may be achieved by efforts towards a shared terminology and joint theory building, whereas affiliation may be reached by a more systematic consideration of research in related fields. To reach identity formation and affiliation, preliminary ideas for a cognitively toned, process-related model of peer assessment and links to related research fields, especially to research on collaborative learning, are presented.     

Student versus lecturer assessment of learning: A research note

Term papers (essays) written by 21 students in an organizational behaviour course and 21 in a political philosophy course were assessed by their classmates and by lecturers in the relevant subject. There was no difference between the lecturers and students in (1) their average marks, (2) the variation in their marks, (3) the extent to which their marks agreed with each other (reliability) and (4) the relationship between their marks and the writers' performance in course-end examinations (validity). These findings suggest that in certain circumstances classmate evaluation of learning may have advantages for both students and lecturers.     

Mathematics learning and assessment using MathE platform: A case study

Education and Information Technologies - Universities are encouraging the implementation of innovative methodologies and teaching strategies to develop an interactive and appealing educational...     

Supporting computer-mediated learning: A case study in online staff development and classroom learning environment assessment

The rapid growth of online learning has led to the development of staff inservice evaluation models that are geared towards improving degree programs. Based on best practices in student online assessment, the Online Faculty Development and Classroom Learning Environment Assessment course was designed to serve the dual purpose of staff development and classroom learning environment assessment. Results of analyses showed that the course maximised the potential of online staff development for encouraging staff to reflect on Curriculum and Teaching Capacities (CTC). Implications are discussed in terms of emphasising the process of online CTC learning and incorporating perspectives to capture a comprehensive view of staff teaching attitudes and their association with student perceptions of the classroom learning environment.     

Improving assessment of learning and for learning

The focus of this article is recent work by the Assessment Reform Group (ARG) on the role of teachers' judgements in the summative use of assessment. A brief overview of the early work of the ARG is followed by discussion of the desirable properties of assessment for summative uses. The work of the ARG's Assessment Systems for the Future project provided evidence and arguments concerning the validity, reliability, impact and cost of tests and of summative assessment by teachers. Whilst there is ample evidence that the teachers' judgements are more valid than, and equally reliable as, tests, there is a danger of unwanted impact on teaching as long as results are used for ‘high stakes’ evaluation of teachers and schools. Implications for policy include an end to the practice of using the results of pupils' summative assessment, however they are derived, as the sole basis for target setting and school accountability.     

The assessment of learning

ABSTRACT

Opposition to university fees is often framed as a defence of higher education as a ‘right’ rather than a ‘privilege’. However, the basis and nature of this right is unclear. This article presents a conceptual exploration of the question, drawing on an initial analysis of international law. An argument is put forward for a right to higher education seen as one of a number of possible forms of post-school education, restricted only by a requirement for a minimum level of academic preparation.     

基于Delphi Socket组件的局域网通信

介绍了一种基于Delphi 7的Socket组件的局域网通信应用,通过对服务器端和客户端的设置,可实现局域网内信息的实时通信,并可以实现相关管理功能.此系统可用于企事业内部的文字信息交流、通知传达等,具有简单实用、安全性高等特点.     

Integrative assessment: reframing assessment practice for current and future learning

The requirement to provide timely formative tasks that are designed to facilitate student learning and autonomy has provoked a wider examination of the role of assessment in higher education and encouraged further investigation of the alignment of learning, teaching and assessment in curriculum design frameworks. Many current authors have proposed that the primary purpose of assessment is to enhance current and future learning and that current practice tends to overemphasise the importance of assessment for progression and certification purposes. This paper proposes that a clearer distinction be made between assessment tasks designed to facilitate and test current learning through the use of formative and summative assessments, and those tasks primarily designed to enhance future learning, which could be better termed integrative assessments. This distinction would allow students and teachers to have greater clarity around the proposed outcomes and reward mechanisms associated with assessment tasks and feedback. This paper proposes that teachers should strive to incorporate four different types of assessment tasks throughout a programme of study, namely diagnostic, formative, integrative and summative tasks, and that the outcomes and reward mechanisms for different assessment types be explained more clearly to students.