Search results for "computers"
showing 10 items of 3243 documents
Reflections on the Significance of Images in Genocide Studies: Some Methodological Considerations
2018
Social practices such as massacres, mass violence and the extermination of entire populations are not a historical novelty. Indeed, when Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide in 1944 he was but giving a new name to an old crime.1 Such phenomena have been witnessed by humanity since Ancient times and historians, as well as artists and writers, have utilized every tool at their disposal to find ways to depict them and impress upon their audience the impact they had. Insofar as these are extreme phenomena that challenge the very notion of our humanity, such events inevitably test as well the limits of representation. Eyewitness accounts, historical narrations, philosophical observations, and…
Writing as a Learning Tool: An Introduction
2001
This introductory chapter begins with a brief historical account of the writing-to-learn movement, emphasising especially the significance of the cognitive revolution for the development of both teaming research and writing research. The next section considers those theories of the writing process which have had the most profound impact on writing-to-learn, theories of writing as problem solving. Further on, theories and views of learning are discussed as essential determinants of approaches to writing as a learning tool. it is emphasised that current constructivist and social constructivist views imply the use of writing activities requiring transformations of knowledge, social interaction…
Improving Online Interaction Among Blended Distance Learners at Makerere University
2017
This article reports on a study done to improve interaction among distance learners offering the blended Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) programme at Makerere University. The study attempts to answer the question: How can a Learning Management System be used to improve learner interaction on the blended B.Ed. programme at Makerere University? The study adopted the Affordance eLearning Design Framework. This study was done among 54 students studying a Policy Planning and Implementation course on the B.Ed. programme. The study employed qualitative approaches to data collection and analysis. These included semi-structured interviews and observation of the interaction logs within the groups and o…
Learning from learners: a non-standard direct approach to the teaching of writing skills in EFL in a university context
2016
Corpora have been used in English as a foreign language materials for decades, and native corpora have been present in the classroom by means of direct approaches such as Data-Driven Learning (Johns, T., and P. King 1991. 'Should you be Persuaded'- Two Samples of Data-Driven Learning Materials. In Classroom Concordancing,1-16. Birmingham University. English Language Research Journal 4.). However, the suitability of using learners' output in classroom tasks remains controversial. This paper describes a pilot study in the application of a non-standard direct approach where Spanish university students are invited to reflect on their production. In the experiment, carried out in several sessions…
Online Intercultural Exchanges Through Digital Storytelling
2017
This article focuses on the affordances of a digital storytelling project in developing students' language, digital and other skills: learning and innovation, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, team working, and life and career skills. The project was undertaken by university English for Specific Purposes students and was conducted within an Online Intercultural Exchange between the Cyprus University of Technology and the University of Valencia. Its design was based on a Project-Based Learning (PBL) methodology. It incorporated active learning and multimodal resources and capabilities. The need for transforming language teaching pedagogies was borne in mind, as it is necessary …
Beyond the “student” position: Pursuing agency by drawing on learners’ life-worlds on an EAP course
2018
AbstractIn today’s world, individuals should be able to maintain their expertise amidst constant changes. Thus, this type of agency should be supported in higher education. One approach for a teacher-researcher to examine supporting agency and how it manifests itself in higher education courses is through the learning design. In this article, learning design is defined as the planned course path and the way in which that path is enacted in the course in a real-life setting. Thus, the learning design of a blended EAP course is examined, with a focus on the course assignments in two different groups in two consecutive years. Different types of agency were assumed through the tasks and those t…
Training the modern translator – the acquisition of digital competencies through blended learning
2019
This paper presents the ERASMUS+ DigiLing project, which aims to teach and improve linguists’ and translators’ skills and knowledge of digitalisation to prepare them for today’s job market. Against this background, it discusses the development of digital competencies and distinguishes them from traditional domain-specific and general competencies. For the purpose of competence acquisition, six online courses have been created which all revolve around the field of ‘digital linguistics’, including localization in the digital age and post-editing machine translation. We provide an overview of the project, the course contents and the didactic methodology. In addition, we discuss which competenc…
Knowledge ecology for conceptual growth:Teachers as active agents in developing a PluriLiteracies approach to Teaching for Learning (PTL)
2017
This article explores how a group of educators and researchers enacted an inclusive process of conceptual growth involving teachers and teacher educators as active agents, knowledge builders and meaning-makers in the development of a Pluriliteracies approach to Teaching for Learning (PTL). The evolution of a working model based on five emergent principles, foregrounded the need for stakeholders across different languages, cultures and disciplines, to work together from the start so that learning spaces were created where teacher development went alongside researcher development, and theorizing was not only inclusive of praxis but validated by it. A growth cycle emerged using theories of pra…
Feedback practices in language classes in Finnish general upper secondary schools
2020
As feedback and formative assessment have a substantial effect on learning, the aim with this paper is to report on a study of the perceptions of Finnish general upper secondary school students of feedback in Swedish and English classes, and to compare how the perceptions differ at language proficiency (CEFR) levels. The data were collected by using a survey and were analysed quantitatively. The results show that several differences occur in Swedish: students with higher proficiency levels find feedback more useful, feel that they receive feedback from teachers, and are more willing to correct their own mistakes. There were no differences in perceptions according to language proficiency lev…
Formulating 'principles of procedure' for the foreign language classroom: A framework for process model language curricula
2015
This article aims to apply Stenhouse's process model of curriculum to foreign language (FL) education, a model which is characterized by enacting principles of procedure which are specific to the discipline which the school subject belongs to. Rather than to replace or dissolve current approaches to FL teaching and curriculum development, this article seeks to improve and enrich communicative and task-based orientations with an additional criterion for assessing the educational worth of the tasks through which these orientations are developed. Unlike the objectives and competences models, principles of procedure provide an intrinsic justification of school curriculum by enacting the epistem…