Search results for "Open learning"
showing 10 items of 38 documents
Classroom Orchestration: Balancing between Personal and Collaborative Learning Processes
2014
The nature of vocational education needs has changed. In authentic vocational classroom contexts, there is a rising need to develop new ways to integrate ongoing and overlapping processes of students' personal learning environments and collaborative knowledge construction. However, there is currently very little knowledge about how teachers integrate these two approaches in arranging learning. This creates new challenges for teachers when creating instructional activities, especially regarding teacher-student interactions. This case study illuminates teachers' instructional activities in empowering the students' knowledge construction in a technology-enhanced learning setting. The results s…
Perspectives into learning at the workplace
2008
Abstract The article presents a thematic review of the recent research on workplace learning. It is divided into two main sections. The first section asks what we know about learning at work, and states four propositions: (1) the nature of workplace learning is both different from and similar to school learning; (2) learning in the workplace can be described at different levels, ranging from the individual to the network and region; (3) workplace learning is both informal and formal; and (4) workplaces differ a lot in how they support learning. The second section focuses on workplace learning that is related to formal education. Different models of organising work experience for students an…
Web-Based Learning
2013
Web-Based Learning: Theory, Research, and Practice explores the state of the art in the research and use of technology in education and training from a learning perspective. This edited book is divided into three major sections:*Policy, Practice, and Implementation Issues -- an overview of policy issues, as well as tools and designs to facilitate implementation of Web-based learning;*Theory and Research Issues -- a look at theoretical foundations of current and future Web-based learning; the section also includes empirical studies of Web-based learning; and*Summary and Conclusions -- highlights key issues in each chapter and outlines a research and development agenda.Within this framework t…
E-Learning in Pharmacology and Pharmacy
2011
Computer-based learning facilitates a shift from externally controlled to self-directed learning. Universities and other educational institutions are challenged by these developments and must react appropriately to meet the requirements of education. The term e-learning has been coined to describe a wide range of diverse learning and teaching strategies based on the use of electronic devices. Recently developed concepts in the science of education and learning provide appropriate frameworks for novel e-learning scenarios. The present review introduces strategies and concepts for the implementation of e-learning in academic and non-academic programs and gives an overview of current e-learnin…
Considering Learners’ Perceptions in Designing Effective 21st Century Learning Environments for Basic Education in Finland
2014
Focusing on so called Key Competences or 21st Century Skills urges educational organizations to redesign their psychosocial and physical learning environments. Inspired by studies indicating that considering learners’ perceptions of learning environments can have a positive impact on learning and wellbeing, our study aims at developing design principles for involving learners in the learning environment design. This pilot case study analyzed 7- to 14-years old Finns’ (n = 80) perceptions by using web questionnaires and design workshops. The results are in line with research indicating that Finnish learners value aspects such as safety and peacefulness, the possibilities for rest and physica…
Building educational capabilities through information technology in developing countries
2014
There is one aspect of globalization of IT work that appears only in fleeting glimpses in the mainstream IS literature and is sidelined in the discourse in general. If global IT work is painted mainly as outsourcing IT-infused work from developed countries to poorer countries (euphemistically referred to as "low income countries"), shouldn't the development of capabilities in these very same less-developed countries be a vital cog? Simply put, if these countries do not have a capable workforce, IT work, or any other work for that matter, cannot be outsourced to these countries. The question then is how can capabilities be developed in developing countries? In this research-in-progress paper…
Facilitating Teaching and Learning Capabilities in Social Learning Management Systems: Challenges, Issues, and Implications for Design
2013
The adoption of learning management systems LMSs and social networking technologies SNTs in higher education has begun to change the way learning and teaching take place. However, the adoption of these emerging tools as a means to support collaboration seems to be slow. This study seeks to identify issues and opportunities related to LMS and SNT utilization and combination to enhance learning and teaching capabilities in higher education. An illustrative study reports on student and instructor experiences of using these systems in two Norwegian universities. The empirical evidence gained is analysed in terms of current benefits and drawbacks, and future challenges and capabilities. This pro…
Information Ecology as a holistic lens to understand ICTD initiatives
2016
Techno-centric initiatives to bridge the digital divide, such as One Laptop per Child (OLPC), has been criticized for not taking a holistic approach. This has led to limited success in areas such as providing quality education in developing countries. In this paper, we offer a premise for a holistic understanding by borrowing from the field of information ecology. To illustrate our premise, we applied the theoretical lens of information ecology to analyze a case study of Open Learning Exchange (OLE) which has been described as one of the few successes in implementing OLPC. Based on our analysis, we posit that information ecology is a suitable and appropriate lens to interpret and understand…
Widely Acclaimed but Lowly Utilized: Congruencing ODL Utilization with its Wide Acclaim
2019
World over, open distance learning (ODL) is widely articulated and vouchered as a panacea pedagogy for increased access and flexibility to higher education. In reality, however, the actual use of ODL approaches in higher institutions of learning in developing regions is unexpectedly low and not in tandem with its wide favorable regional and international vouchering. This paper has the goal to suggest a framework for congruencing the low utilization levels of ODL approaches with their wide acclaim. Using a cross sectional survey, an inquiry was conducted among faculty across institutions of higher learning in Uganda to establish: i) the factors explaining the wide acclaim for ODL; ii) the ut…
Higher education teachers' descriptions of their own learning : large scale study of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences
2016
In this large-scale study, higher education teachers’ descriptions of their own learning were examined with qualitative analysis involving application of principles of phenomenographic research. This study is unique: it is unusual to use large-scale data in qualitative studies. The data were collected through an e-mail survey sent to 5960 teachers at universities of applied sciences in Finland. The number of respondents was 1622. Four hierarchically structured categories of learning were found: individual learning, collegial learning, team learning and innovative partnership learning. The role of teachers in higher education demands innovative partnership learning: being active at the socie…