Journal of Learning for Development - JL4D
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Does collaborative use of the Internet affect Reading Comprehension in Children?
No full textThis paper examines the effect of the Internet on the reading comprehension of children reading together in groups. First, we describe an experiment to determine if children reading together off the Internet from big screens, can read at a higher comprehension level than children reading the same text alone. The results from this small-sample study are then compared to the results from a larger study across many locations in India. We find that children with low reading comprehension levels to start with can read and understand text at a level higher than expected from them, if they are reading together and have the Internet available. Moreover, in the process of doing this kind of ‘self-organised’ reading, their individual reading comprehension increases. This way of reading may provide a simple and reliable method to improve the reading comprehension of children in their own, or foreign, languages
Challenges and Opportunities in the Implementation of School-Based Teacher Professional Development: A Case from Kenya
No full textThis study investigated how a school-based professional development programme, designed by the Headteacher and staff of a Kenyan primary school, and delivered by a Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) team, supported teacher learning and growth. The TESSA team observed teaching in the classroom before the implementation of the school-based teacher professional programme. This was followed by the training of the teachers in the school. The TESSA team did an evaluation of the school-based training programme through classroom observation, an interview schedule and a teacher questionnaire. The evaluations were done three months and one year, respectively, after the school-based training. The findings indicate that teachers experienced professional growth through collaborative learning with colleagues, used a greater range of approaches and learned to self-reflect on their classes with more use of active learning. Teachers made productive use of textbooks as well as accessing and using TESSA OER in teaching
Challenges and Opportunities for use of Social Media in Higher Education
No full textLikely the most significant and life changing technologies of the 21st Century is the adoption of social media as major components of commercial, entertainment and educational activities. In this article, I overview the supposed benefits of the application of these tools within formal higher education programs. I then discuss the disadvantages and challenges, with a focus on the paradox that accompanies convenience and value in use, with loss of data control. It is likely that we will continue to see both authorized and unauthorized use of data that we have created for both personal and institutional use. I conclude by examining some of the solutions proposed and tested to resolve this challenge. I then overview two possible solutions - the first focused on institutions creating and managing their own social media and the second an emergent technical solution whereby users keep control of their data, while sharing and growing in multiple social contexts
Getting to Open at a Closed Institution: A Case Study of Evolving and Sustaining Open Education Practices
No full textThis study examined a Canadian post-secondary institution in the period between 2010 and 2014, with a follow-up assessment in 2018 in order to understand its evolution with open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP). In the first timeline, the study looked at drivers that contributed to the uptake of OER in relation to the type of OER and factors contributing to the diffusion of OER. In the second timeline, the study looked at whether OEPs are being sustained and how they evolved at the institution. Results show that within the institution there are both benefits and tensions to being open, and an institutional approach that considers openness on a case-by-case basis is appropriate. In looking at these two time periods, the study fills a gap in OER research by providing a more longitudinal view of an institutional shift towards initiating and sustaining openness
Supporting Open Practices with Teachers in Zambia
No full textThis paper demonstrates how the features and affordances of open learning have been developed in new and productive ways to provide school-based continuing professional development for teachers in Zambia. It presents and critically reviews data from 200 teachers who have taken part in phase 1 of the Zambian Education School-based Training (ZEST) – a project which, over the next three years, will be scaled-up across Zambia. The project is underpinned by the belief that knowledge about teaching is co-constructed through participation in, and reflection on, practice. Thus, the emphasis is on empowering teachers to work together to develop practices appropriate to their context – open practices. In the study, we describe an on-going process of realist evaluation which enables us to establish at an early stage what works in which contexts and informs on-going project planning. It concludes that this approach to evaluation has the potential to be helpful in understanding open practices and how they can be developed
Open Badges as Credentials in Open Education Systems: Case Studies from Greece and Europe
No full textBadges are digital representations of achievements or skills which describe the framework, significance, and outcomes of a learning procedure based on specific criteria. The Open Badges’ collection can be used as a virtual CV of skills and qualifications to their holder. The practice of development, issue, and use of Badges is connected with Gamification elements, as the incentive towards positive behavior and as a powerful pedagogical tool. Furthermore, the use of Open Badges could become an alternative certification system for skills and knowledge acquired in online, blended learning environments and other informal learning systems. In this paper, we present Case Studies where Open Badges have been used as credentials for evaluation of educational practices in pilot educational systems either in non-formal education or informal learning systems with specific emphasis on open learning environments. Key insights from analysing the Case Studies highlight Open Badges’ extended use and value stressing the need to make a common system of evaluation and accreditation in open online learning environments
Creating Open Online Courses with Learner Representative Partners to Widen Participation in Higher Education
No full textOpen online courses could provide stepping stones for audiences that are under-represented in higher education (HE). However, there are concerns that these instead proliferate forms of exclusion and do not address known difficulties for widening participation. We explore how organisations that represent the perspectives of particular underserved audiences for HE can act as ‘Learner Representative Partners’ to support the creation of appropriate courses and to highlight practices that exclude. Six course development processes where a university worked with different partners are analysed using interviews, documentation of resource use, and data on learner behaviour. The analysis utilises previously identified challenges to widening participation and collaborative course creation. Getting partners to directly engage in authoring the course was particularly beneficial but all partners prompted critical thought and greater understanding of the intended audiences. We suggest principles to support such partnerships effectively. These include adapting to a variable capacity of partners to contribute, to encourage reuse or creation of resources by partners, and to facilitate partners to feel confident in expressing their views
May the Fourth Be with you: Creating Education 4.0
No full textThe paper looks back across dominant ways of delivering Higher Education until the present day and then looks forward. There is an approximate continuum described from Education 1.0 through 2.0 to 3.0. Education is mapped onto the emergence and development of the Web and the revolutions known as ‘Industrial’ over the last 250 years. Then some foresight is deployed with the particular lens of graduates’ employment prospects and contributions to the future – dubbed ‘Education 4.0’. The paper hopes to stimulate dialogue and promote preparedness and innovation for more changes arriving fast over Higher Education’s wider horizons
Using Mobile-based Social Media to Facilitate Interaction and Build Communities through the lens of Ubuntu in Distance Education
No full textThis paper examines how WhatsApp can be used to build learning communities and facilitate interaction, through the lens of Ubuntu – an African concept of humanness, which means that an individual person owes his or her existence to the existence of others. The Afrocentric concept of Ubuntu and interaction work concomitantly towards the realisation of vocabulary teaching and learning within distance education. Through this study, students were encouraged to work together through a mobile-based social network to learn English vocabulary. Ubuntu was used as a framework to analyse the WhatsApp chats to find salient themes relating to building communities and enhancing interaction. The key elements of Ubuntu grounded the findings and demonstrated how technology can be used to bridge the interaction distance and how Ubuntu principles are articulated in the communities of learning. This paper illustrates how Ubuntu is manifested in a local context, with principles that can be applied globally to enhance collaboration
Promoting student support in Open and Distance learning using Information and Communication Technologies
No full text The study investigated the use of ICTs in students support in Open and Distance learning (ODL) at Makerere University. The study adopted a survey design with 327 ODL students, and the data from participants were collected using self-administered questionnaires and individual interviews. The results showed that, Makerere University has enhanced student support through the introduction of the learning management systems, web-based application, registration and accessing results to ensure student’s satisfaction and retention in ODL system. However limited electronic support is extended to ODL students through e-mails, mobile phones, social media applications, radio and television. The study concludes with recommendations to policy makers at Makerere University. Although, this study has been based in Uganda, the findings may be of relevance to institutions in other developing countries