ICT4D, here defined as the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in developing regions, can be seen as one of the most powerful and cost efficient ways to improve the standard of living in the developing world. Many regions in Asia have shown a rapid but heterogeneous development where information technology had a drastic impact on development but often with the problems related to ICT4D 1.0: lack of sustainability and lack of scalability. This study analysed the Sri Lankan infrastructure for region-wide dissemination of blended learning in the 21st century based on the exploration of some selected ICT4D hubs and educational initiatives. The overall aim of the research was to observe, describe and analyse how the selected ICT4D initiatives and the creation of ICT4D hubs in Sri Lanka might support region-wide dissemination of blended learning and local development. A longitudinal case study has been the overall approach where a number of embedded thematic units were explored in long-term fieldwork conducted between 2006 and 2012. Data has been collected from a combination of observations, interviews, group discussions, surveys and document analysis. Findings showed that several of the studied ICT4D hubs have contributed to the general development but the country’s internal digital divide has in fact grown, as urban growth has been so much faster than the growth in rural areas, leaving the country with geographic as well as socio-economic gaps. Some of the former war zones have definitely been left behind and there is a need for further support of the Eastern and Northern regions of the island. Sri Lanka has had an outcome that must be classified as better than average compared to other developing regions with increased opportunities for education and with some ICT4D hubs as multipurpose meeting points. Contributing factors to the successful development are the high literacy rate, the chain of ICT4D projects rolled out in the right order and a committed implementation of educational eServices. On the other hand there were other, more negative findings indicating that sustainability, knowledge sharing and inter-project cooperation and coordination have often failed. The identified strength in the Sri Lankan model, which can be recommended for other parts of the world as well, is the way top-down management of infrastructure sometimes is combined with bottom-up grass-root activities. Other recommendations, that also are global, are to extend existing ICT4D hubs and upgrade them to more intelligent, autonomous and multi-service ICT4D routers that could also handle the future need for eServices in the fields of eHealth, eFarming and eGovernance.

Multilingualism is a reality in South African classrooms. The Constitution of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) and the national language policy recognize language rights and aims at supporting, promoting and developing the official languages. However, despite the advantages of mother tongue education, English is often chosen as language of learning and teaching at the cost of the African official languages. This study proposes the accommodation and promotion of multilingualism through blended learning. Blended learning refers to the blending of traditional instruction methods, such as face-to-face instruction, with other forms of instruction such as online learning and teaching. Through a discussion of asynchronous and synchronous learning tools it was established that wikis would be used for this study. In terms of blended learning and learning theories the main emphasis in this study is on socio-constructivism as well as communal constructivism. The empirical research in this study focused on the establishment and testing of a conceptual model for the accommodation and promotion of multilingualism through blended learning in the subject IT. The research took the form of a sequential embedded mixed methods design. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used. A questionnaire was used with IT teachers to investigate the language and blended learning context. This was followed up with qualitative research in the form of interviews aimed at provincial and national experts in terms of the subject IT and e-learning. Based on the literature and these two investigations, a conceptual model was developed. The conceptual model’s effectiveness was tested through a quasi-experimental study. A questionnaire was also completed by the respondents at the schools after the completion of the study. Through the testing of the effectiveness of the conceptual model it was found that multilingualism could successfully be accommodated and promoted through this conceptual model. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2011

Multilingualism is a reality in South African classrooms. The Constitution of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) and the national language policy recognize language rights and aims at supporting, promoting and developing the official languages. However, despite the advantages of mother tongue education, English is often chosen as language of learning and teaching at the cost of the African official languages. This study proposes the accommodation and promotion of multilingualism through blended learning. Blended learning refers to the blending of traditional instruction methods, such as face-to-face instruction, with other forms of instruction such as online learning and teaching. Through a discussion of asynchronous and synchronous learning tools it was established that wikis would be used for this study. In terms of blended learning and learning theories the main emphasis in this study is on socio-constructivism as well as communal constructivism. The empirical research in this study focused on the establishment and testing of a conceptual model for the accommodation and promotion of multilingualism through blended learning in the subject IT. The research took the form of a sequential embedded mixed methods design. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used. A questionnaire was used with IT teachers to investigate the language and blended learning context. This was followed up with qualitative research in the form of interviews aimed at provincial and national experts in terms of the subject IT and e-learning. Based on the literature and these two investigations, a conceptual model was developed. The conceptual model’s effectiveness was tested through a quasi-experimental study. A questionnaire was also completed by the respondents at the schools after the completion of the study. Through the testing of the effectiveness of the conceptual model it was found that multilingualism could successfully be accommodated and promoted through this conceptual model. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2011

This study investigated the students&rsquo / perceptions about the web-based learning environment in the blended learning environment in terms of web-based instruction, online collaborative learning and the online instructor. The study tried to show the contributions of the web-based instruction in traditional face-to-face instruction. In this case study, Programming Languages II Course (CEIT211), a undergraduate course at Computer Education and Instructional Technology Department (CEIT), at Middle East Technical University, at the 2002-2003 Spring semester, was delivered as blended learning with a new web site. Totally 65 subjects, 2nd year CEIT students, attended the course in the term and participated to the study. The course was delivered via traditional face-to-face instruction and supported with the web site. At the end of the semester, three questionnaires were administrated in order to understand the students&rsquo / perceptions about web-based learning environment in terms of web-based instruction, online collaborative learning and online instructor. The time spent on the web site and the numbers of messages posted to forum were other data sources in this study. The data were statistically analyzed. The quantitative data showed that the students&rsquo / perceptions about web-based instruction and online instructor were positive, but online collaborative learning perceptions are about neutral. Beside the research questions, some design considerations in the blended learning case were presented. The study results may be used in evaluation of the blended learning environment for the instructor and for the department, may show a direction in the future design of the course.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Duquesne University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p.143-152) and index.

Nowadays, in the new era of technology, everything needs to be updated, which represents a new challenge to education to adapt to the developments in technology. Moreover, due to the gap of theory separating practices in business schools, it is becoming obvious that the Universities can hardly help students to acquire experience. Due to this problem, business schools can limit the potential of students’ success. This study examines the efficiency of technology use in class as well as outside of the classroom. This was done by interviewing five teachers within different areas of teaching in Jönköping International Business School. The results show that there are many aspects that need to be considered such as policy, teacher development, the development of the virtual learning environment and other technological improvements, before applying technology in flipped classroom. / Den nya eran av teknik i dagens samhälle gör att allt måste uppdateras. Detta utgör en ny utmaning för utbildningen som bör anpassa sig till denna tekniska utveckling. Dessutom, som en följd av det teoretiska gapet som separeras från praxis i handelshögskolor är det tydligt att universiteten knappast kan hjälpa studenter att skaffa sig underförstådd kunskap. På grund av det här problemet kan handelshögskolor begränsa potentialen av studentens framgång. Däremot visar vår forskning att användningen av tekniken i det flippade klassrummet kan bidra till att förbättra situationen. Denna studie undersöker effektiviteten i teknikanvändning i klassrummet såväl som utanför klassrummet genom att intervjua fem lärare inom olika områden av undervisning på Jönköping Internationella Handels Högskola. Resultaten visar att det är många aspekter som bör beaktas, såsom policy, utvecklingsarbete av lärare, utveckling av VLE i tillägg till andra tekniska förbättringar, innan man applicerar tekniken i det flippade klassrummet.

The need for change within the Further Education sector in line with technological developments in our current society was apparent within my teaching practice. This led to a number of thoughts about virtual learning environments and its application within the teaching role. The role of the computer as a real socio-cultural learning environment was explored to examine if this environment could be nearer to the concrete experiential and situated learning environment that students came from at an early age. It was hoped that this would be a different learning environment that would start slowly and grow in an organic way. It involved the growth of a very different culture of learning, a learning environment that may include a different literature and with different ways of thinking about what is to be learned and how to learn it. It was also hoped that the virtual learning environment would provide a very powerful strategy to allow the operation of the principle of variation and selection which it needed within the college Learnwise Educational system. Education should shift from individual, technology-free cognition to a resourceful collaborative learning, and distributed intelligence. Learners should be empowered through thoughtful and innovative use of technologies, and benefit from social distributions of cognitions. Salomon et al.'s (1998) commented that education should pay more attention to the "effects of" technology rather than the "effects with" technology, so that autonomous performance may be achieved. The attempt of the first part of the research has been to investigate a student-centred strategy in a computer supported collaborative learning environment to see whether this kind of higher-order knowledge can be distributed among peers and environment. The starting point of the second part of my research focussed on the links between constructivist theory and knowledge management in relation to college teaching practice. Since this research formed part of a whole college restructuring of teaching and learning, a baseline for current practice was necessary. Literature concerning the use of technology was explored in order to benchmark where the college was at the start of the research. As a result of this initial investigation, a survey of current college practice resulted in a paper being accepted by the HE Academy at their 8th Annual Conference in 2007. Page 6 Results from this research indicated that, although the college displayed similar results to other FE establishments, it was imperative that a move to a new building with a digital environment philosophy required more than merely a physical move. As a result, research into emerging technologies was deemed to be important if the college was to take advantage of a new digital teaching concept. Investigation into collaborative tools and Web 2.0 techniques was seen as appropriate at this stage. The study of computer-supported collaboration included the study of this software and social phenomena associated with it. Through this element of research it was hoped to investigate these collaborative techniques in the light of constructivist theories in order to develop an appropriate and effective digital teaching model. Expanding the research to explore portal technologies, with a particular focus on the integration of teaching practice, would hopefully highlight a possible path connecting current practices to an educational portal and illuminate the benefits and challenges of such an endeavour. Acquiring and deploying Web-based collaborative functionality within an organisation has become a strategic move to improve relationships between employees, partners and customers. The ultimate aim of the research and hence the thesis being addressed, will be to show that it is possible to create a “Learning or College Gateway” as a solutions framework that helps improve education by integrating the tools staff and students already use and puts them to work connecting people with the information and processes they need to teach, learn and manage more effectively. This will create a powerful educational portal that enables the people throughout the college to share information and work together on activities from a single point of access. The gateway will therefore use innovative collaboration and communications technologies to help staff get more out of existing applications using familiar tools and extending the value of investment made in existing learning environment technologies. The aim of the research was partly answered by using project based scenarios which gave some staff a new insight into the use of ICT. However, those involved in projects were generally the more pro-active teachers. A slightly different approach is needed and College Management has been advised to explore the use of an interactive college intranet and a dedicated eLearning team as a possible way forward.

The use of blended learning to support teaching and learning is growing globally. Few studies, however, have investigated the relation between students’ learning styles and their perceptions of blended learning. This study used a case-study approach to investigate third year Environmental Science students’ learning styles and perceptions of the online component of blended learning at Rhodes University. Vermunt’s inventory of learning’s styles instrument was used to assess the students’ learning styles. Students’ perceptions of online learning were assessed using an 84-item online experience questionnaire. Multivariate cluster analyses based on students’ learning styles, perceptions of online learning and final coursework marks were done. The correlation between learning styles and perceptions of blended learning was assessed. Students had been using computers for about 10 years. About 91% of students owned computers and 50% had access to Internet at home or in their residences. Internet and email were the most commonly used tools for student learning averaging about at least six times per week. Three of Vermunt’s four learning styles were identified. These were the meaning-directed, application-directed and reproduction-directed styles. The undirected learning style was absent. A major finding of this study was the dissonance in learning styles of students. For example, students with the meaning-directed style also scored high on reproduction-directed style. Students combined deep approaches with memorisation when learning. I developed an instrument consisting of seven scales that described students’ perceptions of online learning. The scales were epistemological judgements, multiple sources of information, learning goals, relevance, Internet experience, appropriate tool and student interaction. There was high within scale variability in students’ perceptions of online learning. The perception that the Internet provided multiple sources of information was positively associated with advanced models of epistemology that support the construction of knowledge. There was dissonance between the perception of the Internet as enhancing epistemological judgements and some components of learning style. A perception of epistemological judgements was positively correlated with both deep and surface cognitive processing strategies.

Thesis theoretical part based on research describes the different types of e-learning with its development and particularly with pedagogical context in elementary school, and also with its psychosocial aspects. Presents the possibility of using the multimedia in Physics teaching. Furthermore, the practical part describes a concrete deployment of LMS Moodle for Physics teaching - branch Fluids for the blended learning teaching style and compares it with the traditional way of teaching.

OSMUNDO, Maria Lidiana Ferreira Uma metodologia para a educação superior baseada no ensino híbrido e na aprendizagem ativa. 2017. 96f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação Brasileira, Fortaleza(CE), 2017. / Submitted by Gustavo Daher (gdaherufc@hotmail.com) on 2017-10-31T17:21:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_dlfosmundo.pdf: 1016141 bytes, checksum: 68faa4d35250130ef693d6deaf340e1a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-10-31T22:09:53Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_dlfosmundo.pdf: 1016141 bytes, checksum: 68faa4d35250130ef693d6deaf340e1a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-31T22:09:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_dlfosmundo.pdf: 1016141 bytes, checksum: 68faa4d35250130ef693d6deaf340e1a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017 / A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo fazer uma análise do ensino de Hidrologia baseada nos conceitos de ensino híbrido e de aprendizagem ativa com o uso de videoaulas. A disciplina de Hidrologia pertence aos cursos de Engenharia Civil e de Engenharia Ambiental da Universidade Federal do Ceará. Para isso, a pesquisa busca identificar, na perspectiva do professor, os conceitos de ensino híbrido, sala de aula invertida, e de aprendizagem ativa presentes nas aulas da disciplina de Hidrologia, bem como avaliar, na perspectiva dos alunos, a proposta metodológica adotada pelo professor. O estudo também investiga o papel das tecnologias e das mídias digitais para o desenvolvimento da metodologia aplicada. No que se refere aos instrumentos de coleta, foram utilizados questionários on-line, entrevistas, observações das aulas e diário de campo. Nos procedimentos metodológicos, optou-se por uma abordagem qualitativa com o emprego do estudo de caso. Para análise dos dados, foram utilizados elementos da teoria de Strauss e Corbin (2008). Os resultados estão apresentados em três categorias: 1) Prática docente baseada no ensino híbrido e na aprendizagem ativa; 2) Avaliação discente sobre a metodologia aplicada; e 3) A influência da tecnologia e das mídias digitais na disciplina. Os resultados indicam que a metodologia aplicada pelo docente em Hidrologia carrega elementos do ensino híbrido e da aprendizagem ativa, o que favoreceu a satisfação do professor e a motivação e o engajamento dos alunos com os conteúdos curriculares, elevando o nível das discussões em sala e das avaliações na disciplina. Ademais, foi observado que esta ação provocou em outros docentes e em outras instituições o interesse pelas teorias que permeiam a proposta empregada em Hidrologia. A pesquisa se diferencia dos demais estudos ao relacionar a utilização de vídeo com um contexto de educação presencial no ensino superior para favorecer o entendimento sobre tendências de uso das tecnologias digitais de informação e comunicação na educação. Com isso, percebe-se as potencialidades do uso de materiais audiovisuais e confirma-se que esta utilização pode auxiliar o professor em sua estratégia de ensino e proporcionar aos alunos uma variedade de atividades que favorecem o aprendizado.