Twenty‐first century learning: communities,interaction and ubiquitous computing

Advanced technology makes 21st century learning, communities and interactions unique and leads people to an era of ubiquitous computing. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the discussion of learning in the 21st century. The paper will review literature on learning community, community learning, interaction, 21st century learning and ubiquitous computing. It will also present work conducted by a teacher who used a hand‐held device, one of the 21st century tools, in a sixth grade classroom in the USA. The authors suggest that 21st century learning involves five types of interactions: (a) learner–content, (b) learner–teacher, (c) learner–learner, (d) learner–interface and (e) learner–community. They also recommend that professionals explore the potential of hand‐held devices in education and conduct research on its effectiveness in learning.

L’apprentissage au vingt et unième siècle: les communautés, l’interaction et l’ordinateur passe‐partout

La technologie avancée donne leur caractère unique à l’apprentissage, aux communautés et aux interactions et conduit les gens vers l’ère de l’ordinateur passe partout. Le but de cet article est d’apporter une contribution au débat sur l’apprentissage au 21^e siècle. Cet article va passer en revue les publications sur les communautés d’apprentissage, l’apprentissage communautaire, l’interaction, l’apprentissage au 21^e siècle et l’informatique passe partout. Il présente aussi les travaux menés par un enseignant qui a utilisé un ordinateur de poche, un de ces outils du 21^e siècle, dans une classe de 6^e aux Etats‐Unis. Les auteurs pensent que l’apprentissage du 21^e siècle met en jeu cinq types d’interaction différents: a) apprenant/contenu, b)apprenant/enseignant, c)apprenant/apprenant, d)apprenant/interface, et e)apprenant/communauté. Ils recommandent aussi que les professionnels étudient les possibilités des ordinateurs de poche pour l’éducation et mènent des recherches sur leur efficacité en matière d’apprentissage.

Lernen des einundzwanzigsten Jahrhunderts: Gemeinschaften, Interaktion und der allgegenwärtige Einsatz von Computern

Fortschrittliche Technologie macht das Lernen, Gemeinschaften und Interaktionen im 21. Jahrhundert einzigartig und führt die Menschen zu einer Ära allgegenwärtiger Computernutzung. Der Zweck dieses Artikels ist, zur Diskussion über das Lernen im 21. Jahrhundert beizutragen. Das Papier überprüft Literatur über Lernumgebungen, Lernen in Gemeinschaften, Interaktionen, Lernen im 21. Jahrhundert und allgegenwärtige Computerbenutzung. Es zeigt auch den von einem Lehrer durchgeführten Versuch, mit einem “handheld”‐ Gerät, einem der technischen Hilfsmittel des 21.Jahrhunderts, in einer “sixth grade class” in den USA zu arbeiten. Die Autoren behaupten, dass das Lernen in diesem 21. Jahrhundert fünf Arten von Interaktionen umfasst: (a) Lerner – Inhalt, (b) Lerner – Lehrer, (c) Lerner ‐ Lerner, (d) Lerner – Schnittstelle und (e) Lerner ‐ Gemeinschaft. Sie empfehlen auch, dass Fachleute das Potential von “handheld”‐ Geräten im Bildungsbereich untersuchen und eine Einschätzung ihrer Wirksamkeit für das Lernen abgeben.     

Free daily newspapers ‐ business models and strategies

Abstract

Free daily newspapers, first introduced in Sweden in 1995, have proved to be much more than a passing phenomenon. By 2002, 80 free daily newspapers were introduced in 26 countries, 60 of them still exist. In thirteen countries free papers are responsible for more than ten percent of the total daily weekday circulation. The total circulation of the 60 free papers is almost 10 million copies, every day more than 20 million people read these papers. The success of the free papers is the result of their efficient cost structure and their ability to reach a new and relatively young audience. When looking more closely at the firms that publish these free newspapers two different models emerge; first, the entrepreneur entering a new market, and second the local or national newspaper firm. In the second model, free papers are launched to prevent other firms entering the market or to counter new firms already in the market. In the long run these obstructive tactics may develop into more positive strategies. Most readers are former ‘non‐readers’ or people who read paid and free newspapers Existing firms are developing strategies to benefit from the growing readership of newspapers created by free papers.     

Changes in the basic ICT skills of freshmen between 2005 and 2009: Who’s catching up and who’s still behind?

In the last decade, ICT use has expanded enormously in most Western countries. In line with this development, we hypothesised that freshmen at university would not only have mastered more ICT skills, but would also use computers more often than their counterparts of 5 years previously. To compare students’ opinions and behaviour between 2005 and 2009, responses to two online questionnaires (N = 714 in 2005 and N = 1529 in 2009) offered at a large university were compared. The main variables of the Technology Acceptance Model (as well as facilitating factors, study motivation and some contextual variables) were used as predictors to explore the possible changes between 2005 and 2009 in the mastering of 19 ICT skills, and the frequency of the use of computers for six different tasks. The results of the study show that freshmen became more proficient in some ICT skills, while proficiency in other skills did not change or even dropped. Gender is still an important factor to predict ICT skills and the frequency of using computers, but it is shown that for some skills female students have caught up with their male counterparts.