As online learning modes become more common, this can exacerbate educational inequalities for learners who do not have the ability to utilise these modes effectively. This has been seen in the COVID-19 crisis where there has been a shift to remote and distance learning modalities despite the limited ability for all learners to benefit equitably. In particular, digital literacy remains a fundamental barrier to benefitting from online and blended learning. This paper reports on a study that investigated the digital literacy needs and preferences of peri-urban, marginalised youth when utilising online and blended learning in South Africa and how online education platforms can be designed to better suit such groups. It is argued that for online courses to truly support marginalised groups, it needs to be ensured that these learners are digitally equipped and digitally literate in terms of accessing, utilising, and benefitting equitably from online learning.
{"title":"Digital Literacy Needs for Online Learning Among Peri-Urban, Marginalised Youth in South Africa","authors":"Tas Adam","doi":"10.4018/ijmbl.310940","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijmbl.310940","url":null,"abstract":"As online learning modes become more common, this can exacerbate educational inequalities for learners who do not have the ability to utilise these modes effectively. This has been seen in the COVID-19 crisis where there has been a shift to remote and distance learning modalities despite the limited ability for all learners to benefit equitably. In particular, digital literacy remains a fundamental barrier to benefitting from online and blended learning. This paper reports on a study that investigated the digital literacy needs and preferences of peri-urban, marginalised youth when utilising online and blended learning in South Africa and how online education platforms can be designed to better suit such groups. It is argued that for online courses to truly support marginalised groups, it needs to be ensured that these learners are digitally equipped and digitally literate in terms of accessing, utilising, and benefitting equitably from online learning.","PeriodicalId":44375,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning","volume":"65 1","pages":"1-19"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83085083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The history, development, products, and impact of image-making are well-represented in literature. The literature looks extensively at the technological developments and advancements in the field and how photography has contributed to our understanding of historical, political and social tensions. However, the training and preparation of photographers has received less attention in the literature, particularly in photography education in resource-constrained contexts. This paper seeks to present mushfaking as a conceptual framework that addresses the multi-literacies required in photography education. This approach uses inexpensive solutions to aid digital photography's teaching and learning process. Mushfaking is offered as a learning design tool for practice-based teaching and learning. The paper aims to offer a new dimension on how mushfaking can be used as a learning design principle to show how this concept could bring theory and praxis together, facilitating the design of context-based solutions to educational problems.
{"title":"Photography Education in Resource-Constrained Contexts: Exploring the Potential of Mushfaking","authors":"B. Khoza, N. Tshuma","doi":"10.4018/ijmbl.313974","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijmbl.313974","url":null,"abstract":"The history, development, products, and impact of image-making are well-represented in literature. The literature looks extensively at the technological developments and advancements in the field and how photography has contributed to our understanding of historical, political and social tensions. However, the training and preparation of photographers has received less attention in the literature, particularly in photography education in resource-constrained contexts. This paper seeks to present mushfaking as a conceptual framework that addresses the multi-literacies required in photography education. This approach uses inexpensive solutions to aid digital photography's teaching and learning process. Mushfaking is offered as a learning design tool for practice-based teaching and learning. The paper aims to offer a new dimension on how mushfaking can be used as a learning design principle to show how this concept could bring theory and praxis together, facilitating the design of context-based solutions to educational problems.","PeriodicalId":44375,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning","volume":"45 1","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86942632","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper focuses on a qualitative analysis of the ways in which rural and urban teens domesticate digital technologies that are available to them. The study draws from 16 focus group interviews with teenagers in the southeast and north central parts of Nigeria using a child-centered approach. Anchored on domestication and technological appropriation framework, the paper explores the circumstances whereby technology assumes the meanings and uses assigned to them by the teens. From gaming, social connections, leveraging schoolwork, information and news, family connection, to self-learning and education, the findings foreground the idea of domestication whereby the teens metaphorically tame digital technologies to suit their realities as children in specific contexts. Analysis foregrounds barriers such as digital illiteracy and other factors limiting children's digital development. Recommendations are made on how to improve children's full digital participation in the local context.
{"title":"Assessing Rural and Urban Teenagers' Domestication of Technology: The Role of Digital Literacy","authors":"Chikezie E. Uzuegbunam","doi":"10.4018/ijmbl.310941","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijmbl.310941","url":null,"abstract":"This paper focuses on a qualitative analysis of the ways in which rural and urban teens domesticate digital technologies that are available to them. The study draws from 16 focus group interviews with teenagers in the southeast and north central parts of Nigeria using a child-centered approach. Anchored on domestication and technological appropriation framework, the paper explores the circumstances whereby technology assumes the meanings and uses assigned to them by the teens. From gaming, social connections, leveraging schoolwork, information and news, family connection, to self-learning and education, the findings foreground the idea of domestication whereby the teens metaphorically tame digital technologies to suit their realities as children in specific contexts. Analysis foregrounds barriers such as digital illiteracy and other factors limiting children's digital development. Recommendations are made on how to improve children's full digital participation in the local context.","PeriodicalId":44375,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning","volume":"70 1","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78436265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In South African higher education, institutions are exploring pedagogical practices of dealing with a multiple number of emerging technologies. Though the use of educational technologies is an established practice in higher education institutions, its uptake seems to be varied. This chapter draws on a study of educational technologies (EdTechs) in different institutions within the South African higher education context to identify how various academic staff development units (for example, instructional designers in e-learning units) empower academics to integrate technologies in teaching and learning practices. In this chapter, the author analysed data by drawing on Archer's (1995) social realist framework. Data was obtained from an online survey (open-ended questionnaire) and interviews The findings from both data phases reveal a strong call for more theorised approaches in the use of EdTechs to promote digital literacies. In addition, academic development activities were valued as a driver to the uptake of these technologies.
{"title":"Enablements and Constraints in the Uptake of Digital Technologies for Teaching and Learning","authors":"N. Ngcobo","doi":"10.4018/ijmbl.314584","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijmbl.314584","url":null,"abstract":"In South African higher education, institutions are exploring pedagogical practices of dealing with a multiple number of emerging technologies. Though the use of educational technologies is an established practice in higher education institutions, its uptake seems to be varied. This chapter draws on a study of educational technologies (EdTechs) in different institutions within the South African higher education context to identify how various academic staff development units (for example, instructional designers in e-learning units) empower academics to integrate technologies in teaching and learning practices. In this chapter, the author analysed data by drawing on Archer's (1995) social realist framework. Data was obtained from an online survey (open-ended questionnaire) and interviews The findings from both data phases reveal a strong call for more theorised approaches in the use of EdTechs to promote digital literacies. In addition, academic development activities were valued as a driver to the uptake of these technologies.","PeriodicalId":44375,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43955363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Novice teachers are often discouraged by the problems they encounter in their daily professional practices and they (still) feel unable to cope with. This is also reflected in high drop-out rates in the early stages of teachers’ careers. In this paper a theory-informed methodology to support novice teachers’ individual and collective professional development at the workplace is proposed. This methodology, called MirrorMe@work, strives to reduce teachers professional loneliness, increase their confidence and reduce stress, through technology-enhanced support of self- and co-regulation, (collective) reflection and knowledge co-creation processes, informed by (shared) memorable moments and critical incidents that teachers experience in their practices. Future and further research is needed to determine whether the MirrorMe@work method supports novice teachers as intended and whether this indeed reduces novice teachers’ drop-out rates.
{"title":"MirrorMe@work: A Theory-Informed Methodology to Support Novice Teachers' Individual and Collective Professional Development at the Workplace","authors":"E. Rusman, Jeroen Storm","doi":"10.4018/ijmbl.304460","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijmbl.304460","url":null,"abstract":"Novice teachers are often discouraged by the problems they encounter in their daily professional practices and they (still) feel unable to cope with. This is also reflected in high drop-out rates in the early stages of teachers’ careers. In this paper a theory-informed methodology to support novice teachers’ individual and collective professional development at the workplace is proposed. This methodology, called MirrorMe@work, strives to reduce teachers professional loneliness, increase their confidence and reduce stress, through technology-enhanced support of self- and co-regulation, (collective) reflection and knowledge co-creation processes, informed by (shared) memorable moments and critical incidents that teachers experience in their practices. Future and further research is needed to determine whether the MirrorMe@work method supports novice teachers as intended and whether this indeed reduces novice teachers’ drop-out rates.","PeriodicalId":44375,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning","volume":"12 1","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81557629","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study explored actualization of affordances of audiobooks for mobile learning, as well as constraints encountered by students engaging with elective readings in a university course. Participants often tried learning in different situations before settling on a preferred learning practice. Students reported having listened on-the-go as well as in their traditional learning spaces. Some students took advantage of hands-free, eyes-free and screen-free listening along another task, such as a commute, note-taking or a sport activity. Participants also leveraged audiobooks for incidental and intentional learning of second language (L2). Co-listening was identified as an affordance stemming from unique properties of audiobooks and students’ initiative. Some students combined listening and reading to address challenges related to mLearning in L2. Despite having had little or no prior experience of learning with audiobooks, most participants discovered new ways to learn - using audiobooks to customize their mobile learning practice.
{"title":"Actualizing Affordances of Audiobooks for Elective Readings in a University Course","authors":"Vladena Bätge Jahn, Koen Lombaerts","doi":"10.4018/ijmbl.304457","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijmbl.304457","url":null,"abstract":"This study explored actualization of affordances of audiobooks for mobile learning, as well as constraints encountered by students engaging with elective readings in a university course. Participants often tried learning in different situations before settling on a preferred learning practice. Students reported having listened on-the-go as well as in their traditional learning spaces. Some students took advantage of hands-free, eyes-free and screen-free listening along another task, such as a commute, note-taking or a sport activity. Participants also leveraged audiobooks for incidental and intentional learning of second language (L2). Co-listening was identified as an affordance stemming from unique properties of audiobooks and students’ initiative. Some students combined listening and reading to address challenges related to mLearning in L2. Despite having had little or no prior experience of learning with audiobooks, most participants discovered new ways to learn - using audiobooks to customize their mobile learning practice.","PeriodicalId":44375,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning","volume":"29 1","pages":"1-21"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82715785","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Physical field trips have long been used in education, but virtual field trips are increasingly being used to enhance them. This article focuses on the use of mixed reality to enhance a physical field trip before, during, and after the field experience as part of a project in teacher professional development. The context is a field trip to a landfill site, where students learn about waste management, recycling, and sustainability. Building on several different themes from the literature to create a single model of pre-, intra-, and post-field trip digital learning activities, three scenarios are outlined: One where a virtual field trip is used prior to a physical field trip to prepare students for their visit, a second where an augmented reality experience is used during the physical field trip, and a third where students build on their experience of virtual reality to create their own virtual tours. The article highlights how mobile mixed reality offers new ways to deepen the field trip learning experience through student- and teacher-created digital artifacts.
{"title":"Integrating Mobile Mixed Reality to Enhance Learning Before, During, and After Physical Field Trips","authors":"K. MacCallum, David Parsons","doi":"10.4018/ijmbl.304456","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijmbl.304456","url":null,"abstract":"Physical field trips have long been used in education, but virtual field trips are increasingly being used to enhance them. This article focuses on the use of mixed reality to enhance a physical field trip before, during, and after the field experience as part of a project in teacher professional development. The context is a field trip to a landfill site, where students learn about waste management, recycling, and sustainability. Building on several different themes from the literature to create a single model of pre-, intra-, and post-field trip digital learning activities, three scenarios are outlined: One where a virtual field trip is used prior to a physical field trip to prepare students for their visit, a second where an augmented reality experience is used during the physical field trip, and a third where students build on their experience of virtual reality to create their own virtual tours. The article highlights how mobile mixed reality offers new ways to deepen the field trip learning experience through student- and teacher-created digital artifacts.","PeriodicalId":44375,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning","volume":"109 1","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74279769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mobile phone ownership has grown exponentially over the years with the development of many forms of mobile applications that replicate, if not replace, existing real-world technologies. The mobile games market follows this trend, usurping the video games console and computer games market with mobile game apps offering multiplayer and networked mobility. Educational mobile games have their own niche, but at the same time many games made for self-entertainment can be re-purposed into teaching and learning, provided the game dynamics and mechanics are sufficiently present for active learning to take place. This paper is an early literature review and preliminary study on identifying students' perception of certain game dynamics and game mechanics so that in turn any decision in introducing mobile game apps into learning is able to measure their relevance and appropriateness to the target student user. The study employed factor analysis to construct a six-factor model that can be used in measuring students' preferences for, and aversions to, specific game dynamics and mechanics.
{"title":"Considerations of Game Dynamics and Mechanics in College Students' Use of Mobile Games for Learning","authors":"Pengiran Shaiffadzillah Pengiran Omarali","doi":"10.4018/ijmbl.309739","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijmbl.309739","url":null,"abstract":"Mobile phone ownership has grown exponentially over the years with the development of many forms of mobile applications that replicate, if not replace, existing real-world technologies. The mobile games market follows this trend, usurping the video games console and computer games market with mobile game apps offering multiplayer and networked mobility. Educational mobile games have their own niche, but at the same time many games made for self-entertainment can be re-purposed into teaching and learning, provided the game dynamics and mechanics are sufficiently present for active learning to take place. This paper is an early literature review and preliminary study on identifying students' perception of certain game dynamics and game mechanics so that in turn any decision in introducing mobile game apps into learning is able to measure their relevance and appropriateness to the target student user. The study employed factor analysis to construct a six-factor model that can be used in measuring students' preferences for, and aversions to, specific game dynamics and mechanics.","PeriodicalId":44375,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning","volume":"37 1","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81555951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Digital media and connected technologies have brought about some new ethical challenges to the surface. Digital media ethics is the scientific and systematic study of ethical attitudes and problems in relation to the use of digital media. This paper discusses the role of digital media ethics in modern school education. First, it is argued that digital media ethics is best perceived as a dimension of digital competence more generally. Since the development of students’ digital competence is one of the central ambitions in modern school education, there is good reason to teach digital media ethics in school. Then, the authors go on to argue that there are at least three potential benefits from teaching digital media ethics: (i) students will increase their digital competence; (ii) students will develop their ability to use digital and connected technologies such as mobile phones for learning; and (iii) students will be helped in living a good life. Finally, the authors offer some reflections on challenges that might arise when digital media ethics is integrated in school education.
{"title":"Digital Media Ethics: Benefits and Challenges in School Education","authors":"Torbjörn Ott, Marco Tiozzo","doi":"10.4018/ijmbl.304459","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijmbl.304459","url":null,"abstract":"Digital media and connected technologies have brought about some new ethical challenges to the surface. Digital media ethics is the scientific and systematic study of ethical attitudes and problems in relation to the use of digital media. This paper discusses the role of digital media ethics in modern school education. First, it is argued that digital media ethics is best perceived as a dimension of digital competence more generally. Since the development of students’ digital competence is one of the central ambitions in modern school education, there is good reason to teach digital media ethics in school. Then, the authors go on to argue that there are at least three potential benefits from teaching digital media ethics: (i) students will increase their digital competence; (ii) students will develop their ability to use digital and connected technologies such as mobile phones for learning; and (iii) students will be helped in living a good life. Finally, the authors offer some reflections on challenges that might arise when digital media ethics is integrated in school education.","PeriodicalId":44375,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning","volume":"36 1","pages":"1-8"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84532770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the Winter semester of 2020 during a multimedia design and production class for pre-service teachers, the students were introduced to basic computer coding concepts such as variables, conditional statements, various expressions, logic, and syntax. For their final project, the students were asked to create an interactive instructional app using MIT App Inventor for their own future students in their teaching subjects (such as social studies, mathematics, science, and language arts). They were expected to integrate technical skills and knowledge of interface design, instructional design, and pedagogical strategies. The instructors examined exit tickets submitted at the end of each hour-of-code lesson and course evaluations at the end of the semester for evidence of threshold concepts, students’ learning experiences, and motivation. This brief qualitative study provides a description of the course, coding and computational thinking processes, and the student evaluations. The paper concludes with commentary on lessons learned for teaching coding to pre-service teacher candidates.
{"title":"Evaluating Students' Experiences of a Weekly \"Hour of Code\": Cookies or Cake?","authors":"Marguerite Koole, Kaleigh Elian","doi":"10.4018/ijmbl.304458","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4018/ijmbl.304458","url":null,"abstract":"In the Winter semester of 2020 during a multimedia design and production class for pre-service teachers, the students were introduced to basic computer coding concepts such as variables, conditional statements, various expressions, logic, and syntax. For their final project, the students were asked to create an interactive instructional app using MIT App Inventor for their own future students in their teaching subjects (such as social studies, mathematics, science, and language arts). They were expected to integrate technical skills and knowledge of interface design, instructional design, and pedagogical strategies. The instructors examined exit tickets submitted at the end of each hour-of-code lesson and course evaluations at the end of the semester for evidence of threshold concepts, students’ learning experiences, and motivation. This brief qualitative study provides a description of the course, coding and computational thinking processes, and the student evaluations. The paper concludes with commentary on lessons learned for teaching coding to pre-service teacher candidates.","PeriodicalId":44375,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning","volume":"15 1","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89508323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}