Critical events and pivotal factors as tools for analyzing the sustainability of online study programs

Educational technology research and development - A critical aspect of designing and running online study programs is the identification of factors and elements that could potentially threaten the...     

Three traditions of computing: what educators should know

Educators in the computing fields are often familiar with the characterization of computing as a combination of theoretical, scientific, and engineering traditions. That distinction is often used to guide the work and disciplinary self-identity of computing professionals. But the distinction is, by no means, an easy one. The three traditions of computing are based on different principles, they have different aims, they employ different methods, and their products are very different. Educators in the field of computing should be aware of the fundamental differences between the traditions of computing so that they can offer their students a truthful and balanced view about computing branches. In this article the three traditions of computing are presented and some of their underlying assumptions, principles, application areas, restrictions, and weaknesses are portrayed. Also, some of the landmark arguments in the debates about the identity of computing disciplines are discussed.     

Pedagogical Transaction in Religious Education: Diversified Society and John Dewey’s Philosophy of Education

The focus of the article is on how a new approach to religious education (RE) in diversified societies can be constructed on the basis of the theory of pedagogical transaction presented by John Dewey. Reflections of developing RE are very current in Western secularized societies. We believe that Dewey's pragmatist philosophy of education and philosophy of religion are still highly relevant to RE. The article consists of three sections: (1) contemporary discussions of RE, (2) reflections on Dewey's philosophy of religion, especially religious experience, and (3) the implementations of Dewey's theory to RE. We conclude by applying pedagogical transaction theory to current challenges in order to design new models of RE in diversified societies. Accordingly, we construct a theory of RE for democratic, multifaith societies that are based on mutual understanding, respect, and recognition of active citizens living in diversified society.     

FODEM: a multi-threaded research and development method for educational technology

Formative development method (FODEM) is a multithreaded design approach that was originated to support the design and development of various types of educational technology innovations, such as learning tools, and online study programmes. The threaded and agile structure of the approach provides flexibility to the design process. Intensive stakeholder feedback is a vital aspect of FODEM. As a formative method that emphasizes research-orientation and evaluation through the entire development process, this article proposes that FODEM is fundamentally also a research and development method. FODEM provides tools to conceptualize the development process via its distinguishing feature, namely a dynamic thread structure. FODEM can be used to manage, analyse and visualise the overall design process at different stages. FODEM can also be used to create different conceptulisations of a design process in order to identify successes and failures.     

A comparison of the methodological quality of articles in computer science education journals and conference proceedings

In this study we empirically investigate the claim that articles published in computer science education journals are more methodologically sound than articles published in computer science education conference proceedings. A random sample of 352 articles was selected from those articles published in major computer science education forums between 2000 and 2005. Each article was then coded in terms of five indicators of methodological quality. It was found that there were no practically or statistically significant differences between the articles published in journals and those published in conference proceedings on any of the indicators of methodological quality. One implication of this finding is that those who evaluate the academic output of computer science education researchers should be wary of arbitrarily prescribing more academic merit to journal publications than conference publications.     

Design milieux for learning environments in African contexts

During the years 2002 to 2009, five African settings were used as foundation for designing different learning environments. While the content and target group for each learning environment varied, all of their design settings, or milieux, shared one implicit expectation: the milieu should facilitate the production of a change‐making learning environment. A retrospective qualitative analysis identified a set of 10 common indicators that describe how successful a given setting is as a design milieu for creating learning environments. The study shows that for each design milieu indicator, a milieu can feature success and failure at the same time. The results, novel in their emphasis on the design setting rather than the use setting, can be used for both assessing the prospects of a particular milieu and improving its strengths for design opportunities especially in African or other developing contexts.     

How engineers perceive the importance of ethics in Finland

Success in complex and holistic engineering practices requires more than problem-solving abilities and technical competencies. Engineering education must offer proficient technical competences and also train engineers to think and act ethically. A technical ‘engineering-like’ focus and demand have made educators and students overlook the importance of ethical awareness and transversal competences. Using two Finnish surveys, conducted in 2014 and 2016, we examine how engineers perceive working life needs regarding ethics. The data consider different age groups. We research whether an engineer’s age affects their perception of the importance of ethics in their work and if there are differences between young experts and young managers in their use of ethics within work. The results indicate that practising engineers do not consider ethical issues important in their work. This especially applies to younger engineers; the older an engineer, the more important they consider ethics. No statistically significant difference was found between young engineering experts and managers.