Aim:To gain knowledge of how adult students experienced the first year of a blended learning master programme to better understand their learning process.Methods:A qualitative,exploratory,descriptive study based on da...Aim:To gain knowledge of how adult students experienced the first year of a blended learning master programme to better understand their learning process.Methods:A qualitative,exploratory,descriptive study based on data from two focus group interviews with students attending a blended learning Master programme.Qualitative content analysis based on Graneheim and Lundman’s procedures was applied.Findings:Our analyses revealed one main theme:aspiring for competence in a multifaceted everyday life and four main categories:acquiring professional competence,struggling to manage diverse forms of communication,demanding task juggling and confused student role.Conclusions:The participants experienced that the programme enabled them to acquire professional competence relevant to practice.Despite the challenges,the programme is recommended for prospective students who live in both urban and rural areas,who are working and also responsible for children and other family tasks.展开更多
The popularity of technology has allowed universities to make changes through their educational system in recent years. Some transitioned from face-to-face instruction to online instruction. The aim of this study is t...The popularity of technology has allowed universities to make changes through their educational system in recent years. Some transitioned from face-to-face instruction to online instruction. The aim of this study is to investigate the perceptions of both the instructors and the students as regards second language acquisition through online education at a rural university. The study was implemented in the context of teaching and learning English as a second language in an online education environment. The course material is based on The Net Languages Learning Platform, which is available at http：//ide.yok.gov.tr/, and the course level is general English pre-elementary. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this study. For quantitative data collection, a questionnaire was employed to understand the reasons for low student attendance on online courses. For qualitative research method, observation was carried out, and interviews are designed as data collection techniques. Purposive selection was used for selection of the participants. The findings revealed that online education needs to be modified. The students are eager to improve their second language competencies; however, they do not want to waste their time on an easy course level.展开更多
Although Web 2.0 tools like blogs and wikis have been used for supporting collaborative learning in higher education, there are not many reports about implementation of that resource on engineering in Brazil. In this ...Although Web 2.0 tools like blogs and wikis have been used for supporting collaborative learning in higher education, there are not many reports about implementation of that resource on engineering in Brazil. In this way, the main purpose of this research is to use a wiki platform for online activities and evaluate how students collaborate with each other in online tasks. It was investigated how collaboration can be measured on wiki platform During four-week online activities, 40 students of Civil Engineering course were monitored on Wikispaces~ platform. All students＇ actions were analyzed and classified as low, medium, or high level of collaboration. The data were collected through the statistical reports of Wikispaces~ and Google Analytics platforms. It computed 336 students＇ actions： 16.67% as high level, 45.24% as medium, and 38.10% as low. During informal interview, most of students （70%） related that wiki was a nice tool for collaboration work. The results indicated that wiki platform is an important way to develop innovative activities and tasks for the purpose of improving engineers＇ abilities and skills such as： writing communication, organization, collaboration, and critical thinking development.展开更多
The implementation of the Smart schools project was one of the seven flagships＇ initiatives of the Malaysian Government aims at optimalising ICT utilisation in schools in line with Malaysia＇s aim to position the cou...The implementation of the Smart schools project was one of the seven flagships＇ initiatives of the Malaysian Government aims at optimalising ICT utilisation in schools in line with Malaysia＇s aim to position the country as a globally competitive knowledge-based economy. However, research studies reported a lack of success of the project towards promoting effective ICT usage and developing teacher professionally. This situation became the impetus for the development of the e-CPDelT research project which intends to develop an online learning system based on action research and personal involvement for Smart school teachers. The model adopted is loosely based on the successful UK-based Improving the Quality of Education for All （IQEA） proiect （Ainscow et al., 1994） and the Communities of Practice （CoP）＇s approach （Wenger, 1998）. The data were obtained from the blog entries made by the 20 participating Smart schools teachers and triangulated with focus group interviews and mentor reflections. The preliminary findings revealed both internal and external problems. Drawing upon these findings, the eCPDelT learning system was designed and steps were undertaken to promote the new system. However, the response to this promotion was far from satisfactory. The paper concludes by discussing the reasons for such disappointing results and proposes a new plan of action that involves the introduction of the Critical Friends Group technique,展开更多
基金supported in part by Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences,Faculty of Health and Social Sciences,NO-2418 Elverum,Norway.No external funding.
文摘Aim:To gain knowledge of how adult students experienced the first year of a blended learning master programme to better understand their learning process.Methods:A qualitative,exploratory,descriptive study based on data from two focus group interviews with students attending a blended learning Master programme.Qualitative content analysis based on Graneheim and Lundman’s procedures was applied.Findings:Our analyses revealed one main theme:aspiring for competence in a multifaceted everyday life and four main categories:acquiring professional competence,struggling to manage diverse forms of communication,demanding task juggling and confused student role.Conclusions:The participants experienced that the programme enabled them to acquire professional competence relevant to practice.Despite the challenges,the programme is recommended for prospective students who live in both urban and rural areas,who are working and also responsible for children and other family tasks.
文摘The popularity of technology has allowed universities to make changes through their educational system in recent years. Some transitioned from face-to-face instruction to online instruction. The aim of this study is to investigate the perceptions of both the instructors and the students as regards second language acquisition through online education at a rural university. The study was implemented in the context of teaching and learning English as a second language in an online education environment. The course material is based on The Net Languages Learning Platform, which is available at http：//ide.yok.gov.tr/, and the course level is general English pre-elementary. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this study. For quantitative data collection, a questionnaire was employed to understand the reasons for low student attendance on online courses. For qualitative research method, observation was carried out, and interviews are designed as data collection techniques. Purposive selection was used for selection of the participants. The findings revealed that online education needs to be modified. The students are eager to improve their second language competencies; however, they do not want to waste their time on an easy course level.
文摘Although Web 2.0 tools like blogs and wikis have been used for supporting collaborative learning in higher education, there are not many reports about implementation of that resource on engineering in Brazil. In this way, the main purpose of this research is to use a wiki platform for online activities and evaluate how students collaborate with each other in online tasks. It was investigated how collaboration can be measured on wiki platform During four-week online activities, 40 students of Civil Engineering course were monitored on Wikispaces~ platform. All students＇ actions were analyzed and classified as low, medium, or high level of collaboration. The data were collected through the statistical reports of Wikispaces~ and Google Analytics platforms. It computed 336 students＇ actions： 16.67% as high level, 45.24% as medium, and 38.10% as low. During informal interview, most of students （70%） related that wiki was a nice tool for collaboration work. The results indicated that wiki platform is an important way to develop innovative activities and tasks for the purpose of improving engineers＇ abilities and skills such as： writing communication, organization, collaboration, and critical thinking development.
基金a research project (Code number:UKM-GUP-TMK-08-03-310) funded by a research grant provided by the National University of Malaysia
文摘The implementation of the Smart schools project was one of the seven flagships＇ initiatives of the Malaysian Government aims at optimalising ICT utilisation in schools in line with Malaysia＇s aim to position the country as a globally competitive knowledge-based economy. However, research studies reported a lack of success of the project towards promoting effective ICT usage and developing teacher professionally. This situation became the impetus for the development of the e-CPDelT research project which intends to develop an online learning system based on action research and personal involvement for Smart school teachers. The model adopted is loosely based on the successful UK-based Improving the Quality of Education for All （IQEA） proiect （Ainscow et al., 1994） and the Communities of Practice （CoP）＇s approach （Wenger, 1998）. The data were obtained from the blog entries made by the 20 participating Smart schools teachers and triangulated with focus group interviews and mentor reflections. The preliminary findings revealed both internal and external problems. Drawing upon these findings, the eCPDelT learning system was designed and steps were undertaken to promote the new system. However, the response to this promotion was far from satisfactory. The paper concludes by discussing the reasons for such disappointing results and proposes a new plan of action that involves the introduction of the Critical Friends Group technique,
