Agile development in a bureaucratic arena—A case study experience

The evolving nature of development approaches towards Agile development is viewed with some success. However, evidence suggests that not all development environments have evolved with the same alacrity, thus an organization's inherent culture may not match the development approach adopted effecting failure. This paper concerns an innovative, real-world Government IS project that is currently being implemented in the UK that reflects such a situation. The paper looks at the tension that transpired between the bureaucratic project arena and the Agile development approach. It examines stakeholders’ behaviour and attitudes borne from a bureaucratic and hierarchical society that were problematic for Agile development. It further explores the issues of conflict and trust that prevented key stakeholders from building and fostering a collaborative and co-operative collective with the Developers that had significant impact. The case study provides evidential insights into the phenomenon of stakeholder control over critical decision-making activities that prevailed over organizational driven strategies that has implications for practice.     

Creating an information-rich learning environment to enhance design student learning: challenges and approaches

The use of technology with engineering design students is well established, with shared workspaces being particularly supportive of the collaborative design process. This paper reports on a study where a design knowledge framework involving three learning loops was used to analyse the effectiveness of shared workspaces and digital repositories in supporting design education. The issues discussed include the relationship between knowledge and information structures, the importance of integrating information literacy support, and the need for different systems within the learning environment to support formal and informal storage of resources. These issues are explored within the context of experiences of working in a multidisciplinary team with different approaches, research methodologies, and discourses.     

Schools of the Future

The speaker, Dr. Anna Hyer, considered that it was hardly surprising that developments in education are currently the subject of so much attention, since such changes are at the root of any social development, and opinion in the United States has never looked so frankly at the problems of society.     

Fostering children's acceptance of educational apps: The importance of designing enjoyable learning activities

Educational applications (apps) offer opportunities for designing learning activities children enjoy and benefit from. We redesigned a typical mobile learning activity to make it more enjoyable and useful for children. Relying on the technology acceptance model, we investigated whether and how implementing this activity in an app can increase children's intention to use. During the 27-day study, children (N = 103, 9–14 years) used the app to memorize one-sentence learning plans each day. Children used three different app-based learning activities throughout the study. In two standard activities, children reread or reassembled the words of the plan. In the redesigned activity, children represented the meaning of the plan with emojis. Children repeatedly reported on their attitude towards each activity. Subsequently, children reported perceived enjoyment and intention to use the app. Results showed children found the emoji activity most enjoyable, and enjoyment of the emoji activity contributed uniquely towards intention to use. Additionally, children's enjoyment of the app mediated their intention to use the app in the future. Overall, the study suggests that children's enjoyment of an app is crucial in predicting their subsequent intention to use, and it provides a concrete example of how emojis can be used to boost enjoyment.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• Educational applications provide children with unrestricted access to mobile learning resources.
• Positive attitudes towards educational applications predict behavioural intention to use these applications, at least in young adults.
• There is a need for more research examining the relevance of enjoyable learning activities in fostering children's sustained usage of an educational application.

What this paper adds

• Positive attitude towards the use of emojis during learning activities uniquely contributed to children's behavioural intention to use the application.
• Perceived enjoyment predicted behavioural intention to use the application.
• Perceived enjoyment mediated the effect of attitude towards using learning activities on the behavioural intention to use the mobile educational application.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• These findings highlight the importance of enjoyment for children's' acceptance of educational applications.
• Enjoyable learning activities are necessary to ensure sustained usage of educational applications.
• The paper provides a concrete example of how emojis can be used to boost enjoyment of a typical mobile learning activity.

     

An exploratory investigation into the factors related to EdTech use among Kenyan girls

This paper contributes to the scarce literature on factors affecting EdTech use in households. These factors were considered through exploratory mixed-methods analyses of cross-sectional data on Kenyan girls and caregivers, captured during the COVID-19 pandemic. Quantitative analysis of the child dataset (n = 544) suggested the importance of both structural factors—such as technology hardware availability—and non-structural factors—including caregiver permission. Findings were supported by a thematic analysis of interview data from girls' caregivers (n = 58), which emphasised the role they play in girls' use of EdTech. Interviews also highlighted numerous caregiver concerns with EdTech, related to the relevance and rigour of educational content, the possibility of children accessing age-inappropriate material and child health (especially eyesight). Policy makers could alleviate these concerns by providing guidance on EdTech use and clearly signalling their approval of verified initiatives.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• EdTech can benefit girls' education, yet there are various barriers to it being used.
• Existing research shows clearly that EdTech use can be impeded by structural factors (eg, hardware ownership).
• However, we find insufficient empirical evidence on the role of non-structural or behavioural factors.

What this paper adds

• This paper addresses this gap, using a mixed-methods approach to explore the influence of 33 different measures (including non-structural factors) that could affect the number of hours girls spend using EdTech at home.
• Findings from a quantitative sample of girls (n = 544) and a qualitative sample of girls' caregivers (n = 58) highlighted the importance of non-structural factors, especially caregiver permission.
• The variable most strongly associated with girls' EdTech usage in our selected quantitative model concerned whether this was sanctioned by their caregivers.
• Our qualitative data suggested why caregiver permission to use EdTech might be withheld: caregivers emphasised perceived concerns about the risks and rigour of EdTech.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• Our findings suggest the viability of policy interventions that provide EdTech guidance to caregivers.
• Caregivers uncertain about EdTech could be reassured of the appropriateness of verified initiatives, while those already convinced might be aided in their attempts to support EdTech learning.
• Such guidance could provide a low-cost means of further exploiting the benefits that household EdTech learning can provide.