Social Software is potentially a disruptive technology in Higher Education, because it proposes changing the instructional paradigm from a formal, structured curriculum based model to a more open, informal, borderless learning model. The purpose of this study was to explore this potential in the context of participating Net Generation students in a technology oriented, laptop based university located in southern Ontario. Net Generation students, are broadly characterized as the first digitally native generation who grew up with information and communication technologies, and that they demand more technology in all aspects of their lives. The study was interested in the efficacy and pedagogical impact of social software technologies to support students’ learning experience. The review of the literature highlighted the paucity of empirical studies examining the utility and value of these software in the higher education environment. This dissertation explored the participating students’ views and attitudes regarding SSW, their behaviours regarding the adoption of these tools in the learning environment, and the effects of SSW in their performance as measured by information literacy test scores and students’ perceptions of their learning. The study used a quantitative method, employing questionnaires and a quasi-experimental design to answer the research questions. A total of eighty students participated, 24 in the treatment group using SSW during the instruction phase, and 56 in the control group, using a Learning Management System (LMS). A pre-test showed a relatively moderate use of SSW technologies among the participants, with the exception of social networking technologies – whose adoption was almost universal. Academic use of these tools was even less pronounced in the pre-test phase. Students showed moderate willingness to employ SSW for the support of their learning. Barriers to the adoption of these technologies were discussed. Study findings could not demonstrate that the use of SSW would lead to different information literacy scores, compared with more established technologies such as the LMS. However, SSW use also formed an undercurrent of student behaviour, and in the aggregate SSW use was associated with different outcomes. The role of factors contributing to these differences, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

With their widespread use and their features such as mobility, localization, and personalization, mobile phones offer a great potential for out-of-class learning. Yet, there is scarce research on the use of mobile phones in language learning contexts nor any on using multimedia messages via mobile phones to improve learners&#039 / vocabulary acquisition. The major aim of this study was to investigate the potentials and effectiveness of using mobile phones in foreign language education. In particular, the effects of using multimedia messages via mobile phones for improving language learners&rsquo / acquisition of words were explored. A mixed method approach involving both quantitative and qualitative components was employed in this study. The quantitative part of the study followed a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design. The qualitative part of the study included post-study semi-structured interviews with the students, and a questionnaire involving open ended items. The participants of this study were a group of students attending the English Preparatory School of an English-medium university in Turkey. Three different groups were formed in order to investigate the comparative effectiveness of supplementary materials delivered through 3 different means: mobile phones, web pages, and printed. Analyses of the quantitative data showed that using mobile phones had positive effects on students&rsquo / vocabulary learning. The qualitative data collected through the questionnaire and the interviews supported this finding. All participants provided positive feedback about the mobile learning application used in this study.

This dissertation examines stakeholder narratives that surround Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education, as well as the gap that exists between this narrative and effective widespread integration of ICTs in the classroom. Popular narratives surrounding ICTs in education often position ICTs as positive and inevitable and as a development strategy that benefits individuals, nations, and the global marketplace. However, ICTs are not equally distributed or enjoyed within or among nations. Technologies, information, and social development efforts are not neutral but are socially constructed and motivated by specific actors trying to achieve certain outcomes. This research, anchored in theories of ICTs in education, globalization, development communication, digital divide, and production of culture, provides a critical perspective to better understand who contributes to the production of the education technology culture and what social development gains are possible through the implementation of such efforts. One major factor contributing to the narrative of ICTs in education is the widespread adoption of education technology standards. This case study examines the stakeholder culture that produces those standards and contributes to the education technology narratives. Through interview and historical organization document analysis, I examine the processes followed to establish the National Education Technology Standards (NETS); the stakeholders that contribute to and operate within a culture of instructional technology that informs the development of technology standards; and how the production of culture surrounding instructional technology standards has been realized internationally. I argue that there is a disconnect between the production of instructional technology culture and the realities facing poor schools and poor nations. Despite the development and widespread adoption of educational technology standards, significant educational gains have largely gone unrealized. While I do not dispute the importance of establishing a minimum set of expectations for ICTs in education, I assert that the focus on standards distracts from more challenging conversations concerning inequities among schools and the deep socioeconomic divisions that continue to reinforce the digital divide and the overall inability to provide equitable opportunities for students. / text

In traditional models of university education, students gather in classrooms, listen to instructors lecture on specific topics, and take notes with limited time for interaction. Students are then expected to spend additional time outside of the classroom reading textbooks, completing assignments, and preparing for tests. Instructors are viewed as experts providing information to students in much the same manner that they learned the content as students in college. The advent of the World Wide Web in 1991 allowed a dramatic change in the way students and faculty gather information, conduct research, and publish ideas. Internet-based technologies can transform traditional classroom experiences. Student participation can be increased by promoting group and collaborative learning online, and by the use of tools such as e-mail, discussion boards, and synchronous chat sessions. The objectives of this study were to 1) determine which factors affected faculty members’ use of technology integration in their instruction, and 2) determine what effect the integration of technology had on the role and teaching styles of faculty members. The study employed a mixed-methods research methodology. A survey instrument was developed and sent to faculty members at the five largest, public research institutions. The level of technology integration was calculated on a scale ranging from nonuse to full integration. The scale included practices such as providing online discussion areas, allowing/requiring students to use the Internet for assignments, and using anonymous online surveys to gather student feedback. Faculty members were then asked to elaborate on their answers. After the quantitative and qualitative survey results were analyzed, a select group of faculty members at one campus were interviewed to verify or dispute the findings. The survey results revealed the factors that significantly contributed to the overall level of technology integration were: instructional resources, professional and personal computer use, level of class, gender, title, and type of online teaching experience. One of the most significant factors was the level of instructional resources. Instructors with a facilitative teaching style were most likely to integrate technology into their instruction. This information can inform institutions when creating faculty development programs and budgeting limited resources. / text

Given the proliferation of technological tools, environments, and supports within the field of education, and the predominant investigative orientation of educational technology researchers being intervention-focused, a minority of scholars have called for other ways of understanding the nuance and contours of educational interactions and technology. This study explores the possibilities for such an orientation at the public elementary school level by maintaining a non-traditional theoretical and wide contextual focus. Toward this end, this study performs and constitutes an experimental mode of address meant to further considerations of educational technology use and educational technology discourse in and around school libraries, second, third, fourth, and fifth grade bilingual, ESL, and regular classrooms. This work is a Deleuzian experiment in New Ethnographic Writing and New Ethnography that also explores aspects of critical design ethnography and the affinity-based design of an educational mashup. Ethnographic attentions were applied over four-year period concentrating on language arts, ESL, and literacy activities. Through performative writing, loose networks of individuals, artifacts, places, processes, movement, and machines are explored. / text

The emerging knowledge economy necessitates rapid skills development, to ensure that organisations sustain a competitive edge. Rapid skills acquisition would enable organisations, whether public or private sector, to take advantage of new emerging opportunities and improve performance by ensuring that their employees are well equipped with relevant skills. The South African labour market has, however, been engulfed by both a skills shortage and a brain drain, which has worsened performance in the public sector – as is evident from the widespread public protests. In this study, the researcher conducted an explorative investigation to gain an in-depth understanding of factors that could influence e-Learning diffusion as an innovative way of facilitating rapid skills acquisition. In order to conduct this investigation, the researcher employed qualitative techniques in the form of a case study, using grounded theory analysis techniques. Grounded theory analysis results enabled the researcher to formulate propositions. Furthermore, these propositions were used to formulate important factors and questionnaire items that were used to test proposed findings, using a survey research design. Findings revealed that the public sector, as with society at large, is adopting sociallyorientated computing practices, to open up social platform integration into the employee learning experience. Findings reveal that social platform integration would be fruitful, if the entire instructional design was based on social constructivist, epistemological principles, with the appropriate social technology. / Thesis(PhD (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The emerging knowledge economy necessitates rapid skills development, to ensure that organisations sustain a competitive edge. Rapid skills acquisition would enable organisations, whether public or private sector, to take advantage of new emerging opportunities and improve performance by ensuring that their employees are well equipped with relevant skills. The South African labour market has, however, been engulfed by both a skills shortage and a brain drain, which has worsened performance in the public sector – as is evident from the widespread public protests. In this study, the researcher conducted an explorative investigation to gain an in-depth understanding of factors that could influence e-Learning diffusion as an innovative way of facilitating rapid skills acquisition. In order to conduct this investigation, the researcher employed qualitative techniques in the form of a case study, using grounded theory analysis techniques. Grounded theory analysis results enabled the researcher to formulate propositions. Furthermore, these propositions were used to formulate important factors and questionnaire items that were used to test proposed findings, using a survey research design. Findings revealed that the public sector, as with society at large, is adopting sociallyorientated computing practices, to open up social platform integration into the employee learning experience. Findings reveal that social platform integration would be fruitful, if the entire instructional design was based on social constructivist, epistemological principles, with the appropriate social technology. / Thesis(PhD (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Black women currently and historically have faced challenges as faculty in higher education. The problem the study addressed was the lack of intellectual study and resulting literature about Black women faculty in the field of Instructional Technology. This research sought to gain better insight into experiences of Black women professors in Instructional Technology. Specifically, the purpose of this research was to identify and describe the lived experiences of Black women who are tenure-track faculty in the Instructional Technology professoriate. A review of literature regarding faculty work, Black faculty in the Academy, Women in the Academy and Black women in the Academy provide groundwork for the investigation. The study employed a phenomenological methodology to answer the research questions. Siedman’s (2005) “three-interview series model” was used to collect data from the participants. The researcher facilitated three 90 minute interviews with each participant – the life history interview, the current experience interview and the meaning-making interview. The findings of this research indicate that the support of their parents and attendance at integrated grade schools prepared the participants to work in their current positions. As they worked in the professoriate, these Black women realized that they had to self-advocate and set their own boundaries. They made meaning of their experiences by connecting it to their faith and realizing that they were not in the position for themselves. The implications of this study are also indicated in the advice the participants gave to Black women who wish to pursue careers in the Instructional Technology professoriate.

This study examined the effectiveness of a hybrid instruction in terms of students&rsquo / achievement, knowledge retention, and attitudes towards course content and course satisfaction. An in-depth analysis was done to understand students&rsquo / perceptions about the effective domains of interactive learning, which included pedagogical philosophy, learning theory, goal orientation, task orientation, source of motivation, teacher role, metacognitive support, collaborative learning, and structural flexibility of a hybrid course. In this study quantitative and qualitative research methodologies were used in conjunction. Experimental study was carried out to understand if there is a significant difference between the hybrid course and the traditional course in terms of students&rsquo / achievement, retention, satisfaction, and attitude. Qualitative analysis was done to understand students&rsquo / perceptions about the effective dimensions of interactive learning. The subjects of this study were 50 students in a &ldquo / Computer Networks and Communication&rdquo / course, offered by the Computer Education and Instructional Technologies Department of METU. The control and experimental groups consisted of 24 and 26 students respectively. The students in the experimental group were interviewed one on one at the end of the treatment. The quantitative findings of the study indicated no significant difference between the hybrid course and the traditional course in terms of students&rsquo / achievement, retention, satisfaction, and attitude. The qualitative findings of this study showed that the amount of information supplied in the course web-site, need for metacognitive support, authentic learning activities and collaboration, type and source of motivation, individualized learning and access to internet played important roles in students&rsquo / learning in the hybrid course.

This exploratory study provides a qualitative and quantitative report on the integration of a specific online information system into the science curriculum using authentic tasks in a class setting. It investigates how they use an online information database and tools to create meaning. An in-depth analysis was done to understand students&amp / #8217 / perceptions about the usability of a web-based learning tool used in science course, properties of a web-based learning tool, the quality of the content, and the structure of web-based instruction. It also aimed to explore the effects of the Web-based learning in a science course on students&amp / #8217 / achievement and attitudes toward science learning. The subjects of this study were 51 &Ouml / zel Bilim Okullari students in secondary school (6th, 7th and 8th grades) classes. It was conducted throughout the academic year of 2004-2005. The Science Achievement Test and attitude scales for science learning were given as pre-tests at the begging of academic year. They were given as post-tests and the students were interviewed in groups of five at the end of the academic year. The total time of using the web site of the course was kept by Web log-system. The quantitative findings of the study indicated that there were significant differences between the pre-tests and post-tests of the science achievement test and attitude scale. In addition, there were a positive relationship between the site usage time and achievement and attitude of the students towards science learning. The qualitative findings of this study showed that the amount of information supplied in the web site of the course, access to the Internet, doing assignments and taking online exams played important roles in students&amp / #8217 / science learning. However, the students did not prefer to use e-mails and chat rooms to collaborate with their fiends. They preferred to communicate face to face with their friends, and they preferred SMS because of ease of use. The results and the discussion set out in this study have some important implications for teachers and instructional designers. The study contributes to an understanding of online learning and provides a basis for empirical study of learners performing real educational tasks. The insights gained in this small-scale study will help teachers construct better online learning environments with regard to pedagogy and technological innovation.