Are we allowed to blink? Young children's leadership and ownership while mediating interactions around technologies

This article describes the formation of children's social interactions around technologies in preschools. This paper presents evidence from a study that explores how 3- to 5-year-old children construct their social interactions through the mediation of their peers while using technological resources. Utilising a systematic and iterative data collection and analysis cycle, children's interactions with 24 technological resources were examined over a nine-month period and across three phases. Findings reveal that children draw on social status roles and technological positions to gain control and influence over technologies and their peers. When combined these roles and positions affect children's agency to determine social interactions around technological resources. In essence, this paper demonstrates that a complex social dynamic, in addition to technological artefacts, shape children's social interactions in contemporary technology-rich preschools.     

Knowledge management and the practice of knowledge sharing and learning at work: a case study

This article offers a critique of knowledge management. The critique is empirically based on the case study of a Danish software production company's (A‐Soft) knowledge management strategy of implementing an information technology (IT) tool known as ‘knowledge centre’ (KC). The article argues: (1) the discourses on knowledge and learning informing KC and everyday practice are incompatible. KC conceptualizes knowledge as a resource that can be stored and retrieved from databases, and learning as an individual acquisition. The company's existing practice of knowledge sharing and learning seems better conceived from a situated and embodied perspective, seeing knowledge as an enactment inseparable from action, and learning as social participation. (2) The management's preoccupation with implementing technological solutions for codifying, archiving, and creating global access to information is conflicting with the practitioners' focus on seeking context‐rich information through collegial networks. Moreover, it is suggested that cultivation of a culture where viable communities of practice and collegial networks can flourish may be more important than technological advancement. (3) The strategy of exercising knowledge management through control and ownership invokes a discourse that threatens to subjectify the employees as replaceable resources in a lifelong learning imperative.     

Sociomaterial movements of students' engagement in a school's makerspace

This study investigates the sociomaterial movements of student engagement in a school's makerspace. Here, we understand sociomaterial movements as emergent and relational, comprising complex dynamics of agency across students, teachers and materials in situated, culturally framed activities. Our study draws on data comprising 85 hours of video recordings of 9–12-year-old students' (N = 94) engagement in a technology-rich makerspace in a Finnish elementary school. The video data were transcribed and analyzed qualitatively using a multimodal interaction analysis. The sociomaterial movements were found to be displayed across a tension-laden continuum between (1) procedural activity—analysis and reflection; (2) individual activity—collaboration; (3) “doing school”—empowerment; and d) alienation—identification. Together, the study offers a potential approach for investigating and understanding the often overlooked workings of sociomateriality that constitutes students' emergent engagement and learning opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEAM) learning contexts.     

Problem Solving and Teaching How to Solve Problems in Technology-Rich Contexts

ABSTRACT

Problem solving is perhaps the key characteristic that makes us human. Given the kinds of problems that we face in a competitive economy and society, the new generation of learners is ever more required to have problem-solving abilities. By drawing from the literature on technological pedagogical content knowledge, design thinking, general and specific methods of problem solving, and role of technologies for solving problems, this article highlights the importance of problem solving for future teachers and discusses strategies that can help them become good problem solvers and understand the requirements of teaching their students problem solving in technology-rich contexts. This article consists of two main parts. Part 1 focuses on strategies required to help preservice teachers to be better problem solvers, and Part 2 summarizes approaches to introduce preservice teachers to the methods of teaching problem solving. The strategies reviewed provide a tangible guidance for teacher education programs regarding how to promote future teachers’ problem-solving skills.     

Designs for Collective Cognitive Responsibility in Knowledge-Building Communities

This article reports a design experiment conducted over three successive school years, with the teacher's goal of having his Grade 4 students assume increasing levels of collective responsibility for advancing their knowledge of optics. Classroom practices conducive to sustained knowledge building were co-constructed by the teacher and students, with Knowledge Forum software supporting the production and refinement of the community's knowledge. Social network analysis and qualitative analyses were used to assess online participatory patterns and knowledge advances, focusing on indicators of collective cognitive responsibility. Data indicate increasingly effective procedures, mirrored in students' knowledge advances, corresponding to the following organizations: (a) Year 1—fixed small-groups; (b) Year 2—interacting small-groups with substantial cross-group knowledge sharing; and (c) Year 3—opportunistic collaboration, with small teams forming and disbanding under the volition of community members, based on emergent goals. The third-year model maps most directly onto organic and distributed social structures in real-world knowledge-creating organizations and resulted in the highest level of collective cognitive responsibility, knowledge advancement, and dynamic diffusion of information. Pedagogical and technological innovations to enculturate youth into a knowledge-creating culture, with classroom practices to encourage distributed and opportunistic collaboration, are discussed.     

Highlights of the New Orleans convention (August 29 ‐ Sept. 3, 1974)

This paper discusses the importance of developing the knowledge base (both scientific and technological) that is needed for improving our present‐day methods of instruction. It proposes seven steps as being necessary to develop that knowledge base: (1) definition of concepts of instruction, (2) derivation of principles of instruction, (3) validation of those principles, (4) development of theories or models, (5) testing of those theories or models, (6) development of application procedures, and (7) testing of those application procedures. Related work done by M.D. Merrill's instructional research laboratory is outlined. Attention is drawn to some important areas that need much greater expenditure of effort and resources to develop the kind of scientific and technological knowledge base that can help us to improve our methods of instruction.     

Understanding decision making in teachers’ curriculum design approaches

The goal of this study was to reach a better understanding of the intuitive decisions teachers make when designing a technology-rich learning environment. A multiple case-study design was employed to examine what kinds of factors (external priorities, existing orientations or practical concerns) influence design interactions of teams of kindergarten teachers. This study combines semi-structured interview data on teachers’ existing orientations with analysis of teachers’ design discussions during the design of learning material for a technology-rich learning environment. Three teams of teachers voluntarily participated. Findings on the existing orientations suggest that knowledge and beliefs about teaching and learning related to knowledge and beliefs on technology and early literacy. The analysis of teachers’ discussions revealed that the process could be characterized to a large extent as brainstorms; and that problems are not addressed in-depth. Rather they are resolved through brainstorming, and most argumentation falls in the realm of practical concerns: how to organize learning activities and how to respond to contingencies. The findings of this study suggest that teachers’ explicated design reasoning is mostly influenced by practical concerns, yet their own knowledge and beliefs play an important role at the start of the design process. However, these existing orientations as well as the practical concerns that emerge during the conversation tend to be narrow in scope. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in light of how this study provides understanding of how to support these teachers.     

Preparing in-service language teachers to design and implement technology-rich curriculum

This article examines a technology-rich curriculum project that was implemented in China with in-service teachers during a three-year period. The findings suggest the need to support in-service teachers to implement new technology-rich curriculum. The findings also imply the need for curriculum designers to have a good understanding of not only their team members, but also of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers in order to provide appropriate and relevant technology-rich curriculum. The authors suggest important related topics for further research, such as job-embedded professional development and professional learning communities.     

Examining the Relationship Between Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and Student Achievement Utilizing the Florida Value-Added Model

Utilizing a correlational research design, we sought to examine the relationship between the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) of in-service teachers and student achievement measured with each individual teacher's Value-Added Model (VAM) score. The TPACK survey results and a teacher's VAM score were also examined, separately, with respect to teacher attributes. Upon examination of VAM scores and teacher attributes, the subject area, the percentage of economically disadvantaged students at the teacher's school, and the grade level of the teacher were all significantly related to VAM scores. In addition, the TPACK survey results overall and its constructs were examined with teacher attributes. The significant relationships were gender, subject area, the number of certifications, highest degree held by the teacher, years teaching, and teaching in/out of area. The analysis showed no significant relationship between a teacher's VAM score and the TPACK survey overall or its individual constructs.     

Ethical Aspects of the Profession of Engineer and of Education Towards It

Global problems of development of modern civilization and the perspective of the post-modern future increase the role of ethical factors as regulators of actions in modern technology. This challenges the philosophy of technology from the 1960s, which was connected with the so called ‘normative turn’. The traditional philosophy of technology (e.g. A Gehlen's, O. Spengler's and others) interprets the role of technology differently from modern philosophy of technology. ‘The normative turn’ concentrates mainly on social conditions of technological development with the view that technology is not neutral and technological devices are not ‘innocent’. It is also connected with the new role of responsibility in engineering, namely with a subject, object and instance of responsibility in this area. The new requirements are important for education in engineering. The aim of education is the formation of a technological culture which is connected with the transmission of knowledge and the forming of skills and attitudes. The formation of a technological culture means aspiration to the unity of those three elements. The modern challenges mean the new requirements in these three areas; their unity will be expressed in responsible decisions and actions of engineers. The process of education should give foundations for proper and effective practice of the ethics of engineering.     

When Circles Collide: Unpacking TPACK Instruction in an Eighth-Grade Social Studies Classroom

The technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) conceptual framework, since its introduction in 2006, has provided researchers and teacher educators a theoretical means by which to understand the knowledge required to teach effectively with technology. However, a clear picture of what TPACK looks like in practice is still in its infancy. Using a case-study approach, this research examines the teaching practices of an eighth-grade social studies teacher, specifically how the teacher operationalizes TPACK within his classroom. Four examples of TPACK practices are given along with the teacher's rationale for his technology use. Two themes emerged: the transformation of technology into something that just happens in the classroom and the teacher's use of technology to shape instruction. Implications from this case study are then discussed, including the process and timing of combining the different knowledge components of TPACK and the need to better capture the role of students in the TPACK model.     

Globalisation,transnational academic mobility and the Chinese knowledge diaspora: an Australian case study

The master discourses of economic globalisation and the knowledge economy each cite knowledge diasporas as vital ‘trans-national human capital’. Based on a case study of a major Australian university, this article examines the potential to deploy China's large and highly-skilled diaspora in the service of Chinese and Australian scientific and technological development. It finds that at a time when much of the world is deeply mired in a global financial crisis, this treasured resource of highly-skilled intellectuals assumes even greater significance. Meanwhile, there are key challenges to be confronted to fully utilise China's overseas talent. It argues that the Chinese knowledge diaspora are a modern kind of cosmopolitan literati, and could contribute actively to higher education internationalisation in both Australia and China.     

Students' Expectations of Teachers Love and Authority

In this article, the author introduces a series of practical strategies to support the development of an innovative and technology-rich curriculum. The author begins with the importance of understanding what possibilities for innovation exist given the relationship between curriculum, equity issues, and education reform. The author then discusses specific strategies including understanding basic modes of computer use, determining available resources, creating detailed lesson plans, using materials readily available via the Web, and implementing alternative assessments. Accompanying Web-based resources support these strategies. The author concludes with a discussion of how innovative technology curriculum is an area in which education reform's limitations are evident and can be challenged by new ideas and practices.     

Collective reflective assessment for shared epistemic agency by undergraduates in knowledge building

We examined the facilitation of shared epistemic agency through a knowledge-building (KB) design that included analytics-supported collective reflective assessment (AsCRA). Forty undergraduate students taking a Liberal Studies course at a university in central China used the promising ideas tool and the knowledge building discourse explorer to self-analyze the online discourse they had created in Knowledge Forum® (KF), an online discourse environment; 34 students in a comparison section of the same course used KF but did not use the additional tools. Both classes were taught by the same teacher and studied the same inquiry topics. Multifaceted analysis of students' interaction in and the quality of discourse on KF, an educational online platform, indicated that analytics-supported reflective assessment helped them to develop high-level shared epistemic agency in the KB process. Qualitative analysis showed that AsCRA helped students to focus on high-level goals (idea negotiation, synthesis of ideas and rise above thinking) in KB, and to engage in continuous assessment, reflection, and action planning to regulate and improve their discourse. The findings have important implications for the design of technology-rich environments to support learners, and may help teachers identify the potential uses of such environments to encourage learners to engage in productive collaborative inquiry and develop metacognition and agency.     

Teachers' learning while constructing technology‐based instructional resources

Grounded in a constructionist paradigm, this study examined elementary school teachers' learning while creating technology‐rich instructional materials. Sixteen teachers at an elementary school were interviewed about their experience. Using the components of Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge as an analytical framework, inductive qualitative analysis indicated that these professional learning activities led to teachers' growth primarily in technological knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge. These findings as well as implications for designing professional learning activities for teachers are also shared.     

Building self-discipline to promote learning: students’ volitional strategies to navigate the demands of schooling

Volitional issues are important in today’s classrooms where autonomous students are expected to manage school demands on their own. A new kind of challenge has appeared with the advent of free Internet access in the classroom. Motivational conflicts may therefore arise between (1) immediate rewards of electronic chatting, surfing, and games and (2) the long-term rewards of academic achievement. Paradoxes of our educational system are emerging in the technology-rich classroom, for example, the basic need of student autonomy versus dealing with constraints to regulate one’s own behaviour. The main purposes of this article are, first, to discuss volitional issues on a theoretical level. Second, a field study is used to identify how students are using volitional (or self-discipline) strategies in technology-rich laissez-faire classrooms. Third, how schools may design institutional arrangements which can scaffold the student’s use of self-discipline strategies are discussed. The strategies which are enumerated may contribute to school programs that are to build self-discipline. Understanding how to design institutional features to influence students’ choices in directions that improve their academic achievement is one of the major challenges in education.

Cognitive attainment in online learning environments: matching cognitive and technological presence

To know whether students' achievements are the result of online interaction and not just a consequence of individual differences themselves, it seems essential to link the cognitive results to the students' online behavior (technological presence). In technological presence, interaction is based on the degree in which the online student senses the availability of, and connectedness with, other students, the teacher, and the context. Cognitive presence as a part of the interaction process of teaching and learning reflects the level of accomplishment in online learning environments (cognitive attainment). The purpose of this article is to show some evidence of the mutual influence of the students' technological behaviors and the students' cognitive factors in online learning environments – including teacher and instructional design factors. Two thousand one-hundred thirty written computer-mediated communications from 88 participants in four prototypical online learning activities have been analyzed for this purpose. The analysis shows the influence of technological presence on the quality of learning results of the online knowledge construction process. The conclusions point out the importance of considering technological presence as a new and complementary type of presence as it provides relevant information for instructional and technological design.     

电子课本的创新应用：来自国际项目的经验

电子课本是泛在技术时代所涌现的技术丰富教学环境的一种新的体现,其创新应用不仅仅体现在电子课本本身的教学性设计上,还与电子课本支持下的创新学习设计密切相关。国际“一对一”数字化学习等技术丰富教学环境应用项目的经验表明,优质教学资源和工具与教学实践的整合是“一对一”项目教学实践创新的基础。电子课本在“一对一”数字化学习环境中的创新应用模式,综合考虑“一对一”项目实践的环境构成、学生学习模式、教师教学实践三个要素,引入学习活动,将学习内容转化为探究、交流、表达、知识管理、练习与测验等基于资源的学习活动设计,以体现数字学习的特性。同时,数字化资源、工具和服务也是电子课本适应性、个性化教学活动的基础。