This case study, executed in school network driven by a private foundation for underprivileged children in Cambodia, provides a perspective from a unique situation of technology enablement in an environment with a predominantly instructivist teaching tradition.   The said environment is strongly influenced by private sector donors with strong constructivist traditions and expectations. The environment is thus unique in the sense that a relatively asset rich environment, with expectations of 21st century pedagogical skills, is transported into an asset poor environment that was/is strongly rooted in instructivism. The case study thus give a perspective on if technology itself is a possible solution for better teacher education/educational delivery, or if the underlying pedagogy first needs to be evolved to allow web-based platforms and tools to be fully leveraged.     In the specific environment being studies, teacher in-service training plays a larger role than formal teacher qualifications, and peer-to-peer, in-person, learning is the cornerstone of development (offline connectivism). Rather than changing the way the teachers learn, there should be opportunity in further strengthening the current practices of communities. Connectivist MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) do provide the community engagement and together with technology mediated professional learning platforms there should be opportunity to provide enhanced support for teachers’ education.   The two main hurdles to overcome, beyond functioning technology assets and web access, are teachers own comfort levels with technology platforms, as well as provision of platforms that support local language options. The comfort level with technology is important to address as, assuming technology and web access works, the openness and lack of control in a web environment is in direct contradiction to instructivist teaching. Unlocking the potential of the web requires that teachers are comfortable with the web itself and also truly support inquiry based learning over didactic teaching, and that they have the skills to help children navigate the openness of the web.   As economies shift towards becoming knowledge societies, collaborative problem-solving and navigation to knowledge are skills of increasing in importance, relative static knowledge recall that was previously viewed as value adding. This case study contributes to pedagogical theory and in particularly gives one more perspective on the shift from instructivist to constructivist teaching as a pre-requisite for capturing the power of the internet, and the shift to leveraging networks in a connectivist pedagogical approach. This case study also calls out the need for evolved frameworks to better describe technology mediated learning in least developing country environments. The case study also provides contribution to practice to technology mediated teacher education as it specifically addresses some of the opportunities in strengthening the support to teacher education in least developed countries.

Over the span of the last 16 years of my teaching career I have taught elementary, secondary and adult learners in both traditional classroom environments, alternative school settings and distributed learning platforms. Regardless of the grade, subject or environment I have been an advocate of digital technology in education, and enthusiastically welcomed George Siemens’ predicted paradigm shift to connectedness enabled through its uses (as cited in Wikipedia, 2013). However, over the past decade this ability to connect through technology has also lead to an increase in cyber-bullying coupled with inherent risks associated with online environments making the connection between cyber-bullying and social media an important area of study. This study began because of a legal case study I was presented with during a graduate course at the University of Victoria concerning issues related to teachers and the law. The case study is based on a high profile YouTube cyber-bullying incident in Canada. Using concepts such as neoliberalism and the promotion of technology as a 21st century tool for schooling, I reviewed Government of Canada and British Columbian research as well as international research regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the use of technology by humans and in education. These documents provided an overview of debates around the benefits for using the Internet, and contrasted this with risks connected to loss of privacy and possible bullying online (cyber-bullying). My methodology for the study is grounded in qualitative research in which I used three different focus groups from which to gather data. The first group included graduate students from the University of Victoria enrolled in Leadership Studies. The second group consisted of members from a Social Justice Committee. The final group represented a team of teachers, administrators and support staff at a Secondary School on a coastal School District in British Columbia. Each focus group observed a video posted on YouTube and the discourse that was left below the posting of the video. Participants were asked to reflect individually, discuss as a group and record their thoughts and feelings for the purposes of the study and as a means to suggest ways to mitigate change. Their comments and suggestions for ways to mitigate change supported research I found and at times pointed towards directions I had yet to consider. Similar to me, the act of viewing and participating in the case study left an impact as to how best to mitigate change through the use of case studies and discussions that helped develop compassion and awareness for cyber-bullying victims. The study concludes with a review of current technology and health and career curriculum as it pertains to issues involving cyber-bullying and promoting socially responsible behaviour on the Internet available to schools in British Columbia, along with information regarding new initiatives including the E.R.A.S.E. bullying website. / Graduate / 0515 / 0710 / 0530 / ssamaras@sd46.bc.ca

The aim of this study was to understand students’ attitudes towards the use of ICT and how it is being used in Spanish as a foreign language. We also wanted to know what kind of ICT activities are being used and what the students’ thoughts are about those. Are the activities with ICT helping the students develop their communicating skills? One of the questions in this study was also whether the students prefer the usage of ICT in the classroom over a traditional classroom (without ICT). The study was conducted through surveys at a secondary school in southern Sweden. The results demonstrated that the students are positive towards the use of ICT even though it is not often used in during their Spanish lessons. Our study also demonstrated that the most used ICT activity to promote communication is emailing, as well as direct messages, usually towards the teacher. Videoconferences or collaborations with students at other schools or individuals across the Internet almost never occurs and the last thing that this study demonstrated is that even though the students are very positive towards the usage of ICT, there are negative sides to it. The technology could be distracting and could also create physical problems such as headaches. Our conclusion is that the students need variety when it comes to using ICT when learning Spanish as a foreign language, because according to the students themselves this is how they get the most out of their education.

The study examines the role of social networks’ in collaborative group working within a blended setting. Lingua Franca, Pakistan, an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) training institute, has been investigated as a case study for the aforementioned research question. Focus groups consisting of the institute’s students and training staff were solicited for primary data collection. Theories of learning, social comparison, social exchange and connectivism theory provided the theoretical understanding for the study along with relevant extant literature. Content analysis has been used to analyze and interpret the data. The findings shed light on the myriad yet significant role social networks play in enhancing collaborative group work through their inherent interactive and dynamic features, which unlocks opportunities for self-validation, self-improvement and self-development. The study thus opens new avenues of research into this less studied area of social networks and collaborative group working with respect to learning

En este trabajo se analiza cómo es la situación con respecto a al uso del lenguaje audiovisual en la formación corporativa de los bancos peruanos. A lo largo de esta investigación descubrimos como la tecnología puede ser una gran herramienta para la educación, en este caso las empresas. Podemos observar como para lograr un mejor análisis se explicó las definiciones del conectivismo y del e-learning, ya que el audiovisual como medio educativo proviene de estas dos corrientes pedagógicas. Después se explica cómo los elementos del lenguaje audiovisual contribuyen no solo en el objetivo pedagógico de la empresa, sino también en cómo utiliza este lenguaje para implementar la cultura organizacional y los valores de la organización. Para llegar a una mejor conclusión, se tomó a dos bancos peruanos. Los dos bancos escogidos son el BCP y MiBanco, los cuales pertenecen al mismo grupo empresarial. No obstante, el BCP tiene como público objetivo a las personas naturales y a las grandes empresas, mientras que MiBanco está más orientado a las pequeñas y medianas empresas. Para examinar como cada banco aplica el medio audiovisual para sus objetivos pedagógicos, se analizó el contenido de sus vídeos de formación corporativa, el cual se observó elemento por elemento para detectar se coincidencias y diferencias. También se entrevistó trabajadores de ambos bancos. La última muestra seleccionada son entrevistas a realizadores audiovisuales que han creado este tipo de contenido. Al finalizar se juntó los resultados de todas las muestras y se llegó a una conclusión. / This work analyzes the situation regarding the use of audiovisual language in the corporate training of Peruvian banks. Throughout this research we discovered how technology can be a great tool for education, in this case, companies. We could see how to achieve a better analysis the definitions of connectivism and e-learning were explained, since audiovisual as an educational medium comes from these two pedagogical currents. In addition to this, it is explained how the elements of audiovisual language contribute not only to the pedagogical objective of the company, but also how it uses this language to implement the organizational culture and the organization's values. In order to reach a better conclusion, two Peruvian banks were taken. The two banks chosen are BCP and MiBanco, which belong to the same business group. However, the BCP targets natural persons and large companies, while MiBanco is more oriented towards small and medium-sized companies. To examine how each bank applies the audiovisual medium to its pedagogical objectives, the content of its corporate training videos was analyzed, which was observed element by element to detect coincidences and differences. Workers from both banks were also interviewed. The last selected sample are interviews with audiovisual producers who have created this type of content. At the end, the results of all the samples were collected and a conclusion was reached. / Trabajo de investigación

Open online courses provide a unique opportunity to examine learner preferences in an environment that removes several pressures associated with traditional learning. This mixed methods study sought to examine the pathways that learners will create for themselves when given the choice between an instructor-directed modality and learner-directed modality. Study participants were first examined based on their levels of self-regulated learning. Follow-up qualitative interviews were conducted to examine the choices that participants made, the impact of the course design on those choices, and what role self-regulation played in the process. The resulting analysis revealed that participants desired an overall learning experience that was tailored to personal learning preferences, but that technical and design limitations can create barriers in the learning experience. The results from this research can help shape future instructional design efforts that wish to increase learner agency and choice in the educational process.

Distance education has by nature always depended on technology as a vehicle for various media used to facilitate learning. Today as technology has taken centre stage in our lives especially Internet-based technology, distance education continues to grow in its use of state-of-the-art tools and hence the need to effectively adopt these online tools for online education remains inevitable. This study presents an evaluation of the usability of social media blends in e-learning environments. Comprehensive guidelines for improving the usability of social media blends are proposed in order to facilitate learner networks where knowledge can be created that is based on the leaners’ experiences and their peer connections. In this meta-analysis study literature was searched to identify qualitative research articles that discuss social media blends most commonly used in e-learning. The search was done on South African and international academic databases which included SAe-Publications, EbscoHost, ProQuest and Google Scholar, among others. The metadata analysis was conducted following the online collaborative learning theory as a conceptual framework and the findings agreed with previous studies that the use of social media blends still lacks important empirical data. This study recommends a set of phases in designing curriculum for social media use in e-learning. The proposed guidelines should be useful to instructional designers interested in using modern learning theories in e-learning. Since African qualitative research could not be found, further work in this field could involve qualitative studies on the use of e-learning in African institutions. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Open and Distance Learning)

Distance education is, by its very nature, a response to the development of communications technology in the Industrial Era, coupled with the societal changes initiated by these developments (Garrison and Cleveland-Innes, 2010: 14). The current distance learning landscape is thus shaped by changing social needs brought about by the impact of advancements in technology. This case study investigates the effectiveness of new aspects of digital learning tools as additional resources in the TEFLA course, a Short Learning Programme (SLP), offered by UNISA. These aspects of digital course delivery introduce e-learning by incorporating synchronous and asynchronous digital teaching and learning tools, in the shape of MOOCs (asynchronous learning), as well as webinars (synchronous learning). This study reviews the effectiveness of these online tools in enhancing the learning experience of TEFLA students. The theoretical framework that informs this study is based on the connectivism and socio-cultural theories of knowledge acquisition. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

This paper discusses the need to be teaching practice linked to the universe of Digital Technologies of Information and Communication, based on the social networking use of perspective in education and expanding the times and formal learning settings, It is understood social networks as favorable spaces the sharing of information and knowledge and therefore profitable to develop pedagogical practices that need to be disseminated in order to encourage greater use in the school environment. The research aims to analyze the use of social networking as an enriching learning environment of the classroom teaching practice, from an experience developed by the researcher in the optional Portuguese Instrumental discipline, offered by the Department of Arts of the Federal University of Sergipe, which we used the Facebook social networking platform for this purpose. To achieve this goal, established themselves as specific research objectives: discuss the relationship between the use of Digital Technologies of Information and Communication on the relationship between school, work and society in the twenty-first century; present the theoretical basis for the networked learning and communication; present the possibilities of using existing resources on Facebook as a learning environment and evaluate the proposed use of Facebook in support of teaching practice under the student perspective. The subjects are the seventeen students of the discipline, from different areas of graduation, because discipline is optional character for most courses. The research, qualitative approach was performed using the method of the Research Training, using as research tools participant observation in the classroom and in the group created for the discipline on Facebook, a questionnaire with open and closed questions, applied to the end the course and in order to evaluate the proposal from the perspective of future teachers, there was a semi-structured interview only intended for undergraduates students in the class. The collected data were analyzed in the light of the categories set, the results showed the importance of associating platforms and social software to teaching proposals to enhance communication, interaction and participation among students, expanding the times and spaces of learning. However, the biggest search attribute is related to the experience nurtured in the initial training of future teachers, linking theory and practice in the process, promoting new perspectives on the use of Digital Technologies of Information and Communication in education and encouraging future practices in the teaching profession the results will be better perceived in the school ground, in promoting a more connected education with society and with today´s work environment. / Esta dissertação discute a necessidade da prática de ensino estar atrelada ao universo das Tecnologias Digitais de Informação e Comunicação, partindo da perspectiva de uso de redes sociais na educação e expandindo os tempos e espaços formais de aprendizagem, Compreende-se as redes sociais como espaços favoráveis ao compartilhamento de informação e conhecimento e, portanto, profícuas ao desenvolvimento de práticas pedagógicas que precisam ser disseminadas, a fim de fomentar uma maior utilização no ambiente escolar. A pesquisa tem por objetivo analisar a utilização da rede social como ambiente de aprendizagem enriquecedor da prática de ensino presencial, a partir de uma experiência desenvolvida pela pesquisadora na disciplina optativa Português Instrumental, ofertada pelo Departamento de Letras da Universidade Federal de Sergipe, onde se utilizou da plataforma de rede social Facebook para este fim. Para alcançar tal objetivo, estabeleceram-se como objetivos específicos da pesquisa: discutir as relações entre o uso das Tecnologias Digitais de Informação e Comunicação na relação entre escola, trabalho e sociedade no século XXI; apresentar as bases teóricas para a aprendizagem e comunicação em rede; apresentar as possibilidades de uso dos recursos existentes no Facebook como ambiente de aprendizagem e avaliar a proposta de utilização do Facebook como suporte da prática docente, sob a perspectiva discente. Os sujeitos da pesquisa são os dezessete estudantes da disciplina, oriundos de áreas diversas da graduação, pois a disciplina é de caráter optativo para a maioria dos cursos. A pesquisa, de abordagem qualitativa, foi realizada através do método da Pesquisa-formação, utilizando como instrumentos de pesquisa a observação participante em sala de aula e no grupo criado para a disciplina no Facebook, um questionário com perguntas abertas e fechadas, aplicados ao final do curso e, a fim de avaliar a proposta sob o olhar dos futuros docentes, realizou-se uma entrevista semi-estruturada direcionada apenas aos alunos licenciandos da turma. Os dados coletados foram analisados à luz das categorias estabelecidas, cujos resultados evidenciaram a relevância de se associarem plataformas e softwares sociais às propostas de ensino para potencializar a comunicação, a interação e a participação entre os estudantes, ampliando os tempos e espaços de aprendizagem. Porém, o maior atributo da pesquisa relaciona-se à experiência oportunizada na formação inicial dos futuros docentes, articulando teoria e prática no processo, promovendo novos olhares acerca do uso das Tecnologias Digitais de Informação e Comunicação na educação e incentivando futuras práticas no exercício da docência, cujos resultados serão melhor percebidos no chão da escola, na promoção de uma educação mais conectada com a sociedade e com o ambiente de trabalho da atualidade.

This study focused on the teaching of Mathematics to Grade 3 learners and learner underperformance in Mathematics in South Africa and worldwide. A theoretical framework examined the value of social constructivism, behaviourism and connectivism to Mathematics teaching. A comparison was made with Mathematics teaching in primary schools in South Africa, Bangladesh and Mozambique according to the literature. Against this background a qualitative inquiry was conducted in three selected primary schools with a purposeful, convenient sample of five Grade 3 Mathematics teachers in Danielskuil town, North West Province, South Africa Data were gathered by semi-structured individual interviews, non-participatory classroom observation and document analysis to explore theoretical knowledge and teaching approaches of participants, establish strategies to enhance teacher proficiency, identify successes and challenges in teaching Grade 3 Mathematics and factors that impede Mathematics teaching in the selected primary schools. Findings indicated challenges created by lack of physical classroom resources such as stationery, textbooks and learning aids, poor school infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms, discipline problems, teachers' inability to meet the needs of learners with barriers to learning , language barriers , learners' social problems, teachers' lack of Pedagogical Content Knowledge , lack of developmental teacher training and limited stakeholder support from the Department and parents. Successes related to Mathematics intervention programmes, study groups after school and math's clubs. Based on the literature and empirical inquiry, recommendations were made for implementation by Department of Basic Education, schools and teachers improve the learner performance outcomes in Grade 3 Mathematics in primary schools in South Africa. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Curriculum and Instructional Studies)