Self-regulated learning and the role of ePortfolios in business studies

Students’ work in ePortfolios was assessed through a case study supported by observation techniques and eQuestionnaires to gather data from a sample of eighty students over a period of 4 years (20 students per academic year). The main purpose of the study was to explore whether ePortfolios can be used efficiently to support the learning process of postgraduate business students taking a course where finance modules were a major component. The use, role and learning value of integrating ePortfolios into the learning process in a higher education institution was analysed over the period of study. The empirical findings suggest that ePortfolios could be used to facilitate and enhance students’ self-regulated learning. Additionally, the role of the instructor was found to be fundamental during early stages of the learning process to guide and coach students on how to use the tool. This role diminished as students became familiar with the course requirements. Overall, students judged the ePortfolio as being positive to their education, noting a significant improvement in their learning experience when compared to a traditional learning approach. The evidence suggests that ePortfolios could be used to support technical and complex modules in a controlled environment. At the same time, ePortfolios were found to be flexible enough to give students creative space by helping them to integrate their own ideas and views through their learning process. Students were also able to offer their instructors feedback on their learning achievements.     

The influence of extramural access to mainstream culture social media on ethnic minority students’ motivation for language learning

The educational potentials of social media both in the formal and informal learning contexts have been widely acknowledged. However, how social media use in the informal contexts might influence students’ learning in the formal contexts is still underexplored. Path analysis of 141 survey responses from secondary school ethnic minority students in Hong Kong revealed that voluntary access to Chinese social media in daily life influenced these students’ ideal L2 self and motivated efforts in learning Chinese both directly and indirectly via bicultural integration identity and bicultural competence. The findings confirmed that social media practices in the informal contexts may influence students’ motivated efforts in learning in the formal contexts. The study suggests promoting ethnic minorities’ extramural use of mainstream culture social media to influence their acculturation into the dominant culture and motivation in learning the dominant culture’s language. It further highlights the importance of equipping ethnic minority students with the necessary socio-cultural and communication skills to facilitate positive intercultural engagement on these sites so as to safeguard the positive influences of informal social media use on students’ motivation for learning.     

Behavior,perceptions and learning experience of undergraduates using social technologies during internship

Social technologies such as social networking sites, Wikis and blogs have gained popularity not only in social communication but also in other areas, such as in enhancing learning experience among students in tertiary education. This study investigated how blogs and Facebook scaffolded students’ learning during their internships in tertiary education. A mix-method approach was employed to examine students’ perceptions of blogs and Facebook in improving their internship learning experience. The results showed that blogs and Facebook encouraged students and facilitated their engagement in problem solving, information sharing and knowledge construction during their internships. In particular, Facebook showed more promising results, assisting students in reflecting on their experiences. Moreover, students acknowledged that Facebook was a better platform for online interaction and collaborative learning than blogs. This study provides empirical evidence for the use of social media tools in pedagogical scaffolding and collaborative learning during internships.

     

360° Folio Networking: Enhancing Advising Interactions and Expanding Mentoring Opportunities with ePortfolios

This article examines how students can use the ePortfolio tool and platform to facilitate and foster increased opportunities for interactions with formal academic advisors and informal mentors. The learning documented within an ePortfolio can be especially useful as a resource for advisors and mentors who are looking not only to connect with their students in meaningful and relevant ways, but who also seek to understand their advisees' backgrounds and interests in order to better guide and support them along their academic journey. Drawing on theories from advising, mentoring, social networking, and communities of practice, the 360° folio networking framework proposed explains the enhanced advising interactions and expanded mentoring opportunities that result when applied to ePortfolios. Examples from several institutions illustrating how ePortfolios have been integrated into advising and mentoring programs are explored.     

Student perceptions of ePortfolio integration in online courses

This study explored students’ perceptions regarding the integration of electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) in two online graduate‐level courses at a small research university in the western United States. Researchers investigated student perceptions of communication, connectedness, value, and perceived student learning through ePortfolio integration and formative peer review to support a sustained community of learning. Data was collected from 40 students with a Web‐based questionnaire and a threaded discussion forum. Results indicate ePortfolios positively impacted some students’ perception of communication, connectedness, and learning. Most participants also valued ePortfolios. Prior ePortfolio experience and gender were responsible for minor differences in student perceptions, whereas lack of prior reflective experience impacted student perceptions significantly. Researchers conclude that ePortfolios can foster learning communities in online graduate programs.     

ePortfolio use by university students in Australia: a review of the Australian ePortfolio Project

In October 2008, the Australian Learning and Teaching Council released the final report for the commissioned project ‘ePortfolio use by university students in Australia: Informing excellence in policy and practice’. The Australian ePortfolio Project represented the first attempt to examine the breadth and depth of ePortfolio practice in the Australian higher education sector. The research activities included: surveys of stakeholder groups in learning and teaching, academic management and human resource management, with respondents representing all Australian universities; a series of focus groups and semi‐structured interviews that sought to explore key issues in greater depth; and surveys designed to capture students’ pre‐course expectations and their post‐course experiences of ePortfolio learning. Further qualitative data was collected through interviews with ‘mature users’ of ePortfolios. Project findings revealed that, while there was a high level of interest in the use of ePortfolios in terms of the potential to help students become reflective learners who were conscious of their personal and professional strengths and weaknesses, the state of play in Australian universities was very fragmented. The project investigation identified four individual, yet interrelated, contexts where strategies may be employed to support and foster effective ePortfolio practice in higher education: government policy; technical standards; academic policy; and learning and teaching. Four scenarios for the future were also presented with the goal of stimulating discussion about opportunities for stakeholder engagement. It is argued that the effective use of ePortfolios requires open dialogue and collaboration between the different stakeholders across this range of contexts.     

ePortfolios and Reflective Practice for Food Science Students

The study investigated students’ perceptions and attitudes toward the use of ePortfolios for reflective practice as a learning and teaching strategy. A mixed‐method approach was applied to the study in a first‐year food science unit, at a regional Australian university. Data were generated via 3 sources, in order to provide the evidential basis for the investigation, including: a mixed method survey, access to student's exam results, and students’ ePortfolio reflections. The findings identified 3 key positive aspects. First, a variety of assessment methods was key to enhancing the overall learning of 1st‐year food science students. Second, ePortfolio reflective writing can be a key aspect for improved student engagement. Finally, structured ePortfolio sessions can help food science students consolidate knowledge, while also allowing them to encounter new ideas related to food science theory and develop technical knowledge. However, technological issues with using an ePortoflio can cloud the value of the reflective task for some students. Recommendations are made for how to better support and implement reflective practice using ePortfolios to enhance the learning of food science students.     

Identification of Learning Processes by Means of Computer Graphics

Using the example of an undergraduate unit of study that is taught both on-campus and externally, but uses Internet-based learning in both cases, we explore how social media might be used effectively in higher education. We place into question the assumption that such technologies necessarily engage students in constructivist learning; we argue that the affordances of social media must be complemented by social affordances, designed into the learning experience, which thereby generate the necessary connection between students’ motivations to study and their motivations to exploit social media. We demonstrate, via the example given, how assessment structures and strategies are the most effective focus when attempting to create the pedagogical affordances that might lead to collaborative learning.     

Social media in higher education: A literature review of Facebook

The rapid adoption of social media technologies has resulted in a fundamental shift in the way communication and collaboration take place. As staff and students use social media technologies in their personal lives, it is important to explore how social media technologies are being used as an educational tool. The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of social media, in particular, Facebook, as an educational tool in higher education. Through a review of the literature, this paper explores the myriad ways in which Facebook is being used as an educational instrument for learning and teaching. Multiple benefits of Facebook usage for learning and teaching have been identified such as increased teacher-student and student-student interaction, improved performance, the convenience of learning and higher engagement. The paper also highlights the potential problems and limitations of Facebook usage ranging from educators’ dominance to privacy concerns. Finally, Facebook usage guidelines that can be adopted by educators to encourage social media adoption are proposed. As social media usage continues to grow in higher education, future empirical research is warranted.     

Creating scientific dialogue through social media: exploration of Saudi pre-service science teachers

Background: This study explored how Saudi Arabian pre-service science teachers’ (PST) use of social media (SM) creates scientific dialogue.Design and method: Data were collected via (a) in-depth interviews with eight science PSTs completing their practice teaching during a field experience course (2017 academic year at a Saudi Arabia Eastern province university), (b) focus groups with 21 female science students being taught by the PSTs, and (c) an analysis of SM artifacts (i.e. PST’s students’ Tweets and Snapchat comments about their SM-based science homework).Results: Findings from content analyses indicate that the PSTs overwhelmingly perceived SM-based science teaching as providing their students with opportunities to pose critical questions, improve science learning, and engage in scientific dialogue and argumentation. Students welcomed the SM-based science learning, saying it excited them, made them want to learn science and helped with collaborative science learning. The majority (87%) of PST’s students expressed an interest in using SM to engage with science concepts. Also, findings affirmed that social media serve as mediating agents for reaching students in their learning Zone of Proximal Development; that is, SM-scaffolded science learning. The findings are considered in terms of further pre-service science teacher education and Saudi-based educational research.     

How should the higher education workforce adapt to advancements in technology for teaching and learning?

In a time of change, higher education is in the position of having to adapt to external conditions created by widespread adoption of popular technologies such as social media, social networking services and mobile devices. For faculty members, there must be opportunities for concrete experiences capable of generating a personal conviction that a given technology is worth using and an understanding of the contexts in which it is best used. The paper examines approaches to educational professional development at The Open University, including recent initiatives related to faculty development in relation to mobile learning. The paper reflects on what can be learnt from these experiences and proposes a lifelong learning perspective which can help the higher education workforce to adapt. Faculty members have to commit to lifelong learning, remembering that ‘professional role model’ to students is one of the main roles of the teacher.     

The roles of epistemology and ideology in teachers’ pedagogy with historical ‘media’

Within the field of social studies education, disciplinary models of teaching, such as approximating a historian in asking students to ‘think historically,’ have been the emphasis of countless professional development and teacher education programs. This movement, however, has focused largely on the use of traditional primary documents and generally does not include training for teachers or students on how other forms of media construct history. This collective case study examines how two US history teachers’ epistemological beliefs about historical media and ideology and overall goals for students as citizens impacts their pedagogy with different historical media, particularly film. Data were collected on a daily basis over the course of six months, and included observations, teacher interviews, and the media used as historical sources. Findings show that teachers’ beliefs about how sources represent history affect their pedagogy with the particular media, and that epistemic development and current notions of historical thinking may be limited when it comes to media that commonly serve as historical sources for the public at large (e.g., film, television, WWW, videogames). This limitation is caused in large part by the teachers’ larger goals for students that are informed by their ideology, and difficulty in identifying bias in media that aligned with their own beliefs. Therefore, a shift in teachers’ epistemic beliefs about how different forms of media serve as sources of history, essentially a form of critical media literacy, and coinciding recognition of ideological goals needs to occur in order to better instill students with skills in historical and media literacy for the twenty‐first century.     

A question of relevance: beyond the domestication of educational definition

This paper examines ways in which we, as teachers, can promote our students' critical awareness of the domesticating power of the very definition of education that is commonplace in contemporary discourse. It highlights how a first-year introduction to philosophy of education module encourages students to begin to ‘read their world’ by challenging not only the conventional renditions of education as simply ‘schooling’ but also those accompanying notions of ‘relevant learning’ that are commonly associated with an institutional and vocational focus. A further purpose of this paper is to highlight how a critical analysis of an individual's own social learning is a necessary prerequisite to personal growth and potential social transformation correspondingly. Such an analysis, it is argued, constitutes a direct assault on a much more invisible form of ‘banking’ educational practice than many Freirean educators have previously acknowledged.     

Student perceptions of assessment and student self-efficacy in competence-based education

The purpose of this study was to provide insight into the interplay between student perceptions of competence-based assessment and student self-efficacy, and how this influences student learning outcomes. Results reveal that student perceptions of the form authenticity aspect and the quality feedback aspect of assessment do predict student self-efficacy, confirming the role of mastery experiences and social persuasions in enhancing student self-efficacy as stated by social cognitive theory. Findings do not confirm mastery experiences as being a stronger source of self-efficacy information than social persuasions. Study results confirm the predictive role of students’ self-efficacy on their competence outcomes. Mediation analysis results indicate that student’s perceptions of assessment have an indirect effect on student’s competence evaluation outcomes through student’s self-efficacy. Study findings highlight which assessment characteristics, positively influencing students’ learning, contribute to the effectiveness of competence-based education. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are indicated.     

Racism,Equity, and Quality of Education for International Students in South Korean Higher Education Institutes

This study aims to understand equity issues of international students’ learning in Korean higher education institutions by engaging with the issue of racism and identifies how international students in Korea reshape their learning trajectory and how we could provide equitable and quality education for international students. Espousing a qualitative case study design, six students from different background were interviewed to examine features of perceived institutional racism based on their learning experience in Korea. Major findings showed that internationalization has not been fulfilled in terms of engaging with international students although Korean government and higher education institutions have developed relevant policy to attract international students. This study indicates that Korean universities need to reconstruct their social, cultural, and institutional systems to embrace equity, diversity and inclusiveness to empower international students’ capacity.     

WhatsApp use among African international distance education (IDE) students: transferring,translating and transforming educational experiences

ABSTRACT

Much of the research on how social media is embedded into the educational practices of higher education students has a Western orientation. In concentrating on a case study of the varied ways in which African International Distance Education (IDE) students actively use social media to shape their learning experiences, we discuss an under-researched group. The paper draws on analysis of 1295 online questionnaires and 165 in-depth interviews with IDE students at UNISA, South Africa, one of the largest providers of IDE globally. WhatsApp emerges as ‘the’ key social media tool that opens up opportunities for IDE students to transfer, translate and transform their educational journey when studying ‘at a distance’. Although WhatsApp does provide a ‘space of opportunity’ for some students, this is framed through socio-technical marginalisation, itself a reflection of demographic legacies of inequality. Exploring social media practices though the case of African IDE students places these students centre stage and adds to the awareness of the multiple centres from which international education is practiced.     

农村儿童网络行为及其影响因素研究

根据传播功能理论,从环境监视、社会联系与协调以及娱乐3个方面调查农村儿童网络行为及其影响因素,并假设农村儿童网络行为影响因素包括性别、年级、父母学历、学习成绩、网龄以及网络行为动机等。使用SPSS24.0软件分析农村儿童网络行为特点,并对研究假设进行验证。研究发现,农村儿童网络行为以娱乐为主,需加强媒介素养教育;农村儿童的性别、年级、网龄以及网络行为动机对网络行为均有显著影响,初中生压力释放动机较大,应加强心理疏导;农村儿童缺乏信息素养,且网络学习意识弱,需加强儿童的信息素养教育,促进其网络学习。     

Creating belonging and transformation through the adoption of flexible pedagogies in masters level international business management students

Flexible pedagogies [Ryan and Tilbury 2013. Flexible Pedagogies: New Pedagogical Ideas. York: Higher Education Academy] place learner empowerment at the centre of curriculum development. Learner empowerment requires students to feel that they belong and are active in the learning process. This paper illuminates how, through the adoption of flexible pedagogies, belonging and trust were created in a cohort of 52 international postgraduate students, and the impact that this had on student learning. A qualitative interpretative approach captures students’ perceptions of aspects of curriculum design and delivery that aided their transition, promoted belonging, and empowered them as learners, leading to transformational change. This paper uses Ryan and Tilbury’s Flexible Pedagogies Framework [2013. Flexible Pedagogies: New Pedagogical Ideas. York: Higher Education Academy] to exemplify practice and discuss principles for curriculum design. Themes include; learner empowerment, future-facing education, decolonising education, crossing boundaries, transformational capabilities, and social learning. Recommendations highlight the need to challenge institutional constraints, employ creative teaching practices, embed assessment that promotes reflective practice, and create belonging through social learning.     

Welcome and exclusion: an analysis of The Australian newspaper’s coverage of international students

For countries such as Australia exporting education is recognised as an important contributor to the nation’s economy. The embodiment of this export industry in Australia is the presence of international students in tertiary institutions across the country. Despite their considerable contribution to social, political, cultural and economic life, there have been recent examples of violence, exploitation and discrimination against international students in Australia. To understand how international students are both welcomed and excluded from Australian life, we use critical discourse analysis (CDA) to analyse news reports published in an Australian national newspaper from 2009 to 2011. Following van Dijk (Ideology: a multidisciplinary approach, Sage, Thousand Oaks, 1998) we view newspapers as ideological institutions that mobilise discursive power to polarise public opinion to support their ideological agenda(s). In the case of international students we use CDA to show how media discourses construct international students in ways that commodify their participation in higher education and marginalise them as the excluded ‘other’ in Australian society. Our conceptual and analytical approach has broader implications for national higher education policy and international student experience by exposing the social inequalities that accompany globalised international education.     

Beliefs associated with support for child-centred learning environment among Hong Kong pre-service early childhood teachers

The physical, social and temporal dimensions of the classroom environment have an important role in children’s learning. This study examines the level of support for child-centred learning, and its associated beliefs, that is provided by Hong Kong’s pre-service early childhood teachers. Two hundred and seventy-five students from a pre-service early childhood teacher training programme completed a questionnaire; in general, these students believed that teachers should create physical, social and temporal environments which are child-centred in early childhood education settings. Linear regression analyses showed that the students’ perceived importance of fostering children’s social and communication competence in early childhood programmes, and their belief in children’s competence in self-learning, were significant positive correlates of their level of support for all dimensions of child-centred learning environment. Their self-perceived competence in managing children’s behaviours was, however, a significant negative correlate of their level of support for child-centred social and temporal environment. This study then discusses the implications of these findings for pre-service early childhood teacher education.