Social Software for Learning – The Institutional Policy of the University of Glamorgan

2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Norah Jones ◽  
Esyin Chew
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Policy ◽  
Social Software ◽  
The University

Implementation of Learning Outcomes in Mathematics for Non-Mathematics Major by Using E-Learning

2012 ◽  
pp. 119-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Divjak
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Social Software ◽  
First Year ◽  
Technology Enhanced Learning ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Undergraduate Study ◽  
E Learning ◽  
The University

Learning outcomes are considered to be a key tool for student-centered teaching and learning. They can be successfully implemented in teaching and learning mathematics on higher educational level and together with appropriate level of technology enhanced learning can provide the framework for successful learning process even for students that have not been primarily interested in mathematics. The aim is to present the case study of implementation of learning outcomes and e-learning in several mathematical courses at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics of the University of Zagreb. First of all, there are examples of mathematical courses in the first year since the first study year is crucial for retaining students. Further, there are mathematical courses taught at higher years of undergraduate study and the first year of graduate study. Again, educational process is appropriately supported by ICT and executed through blended e-learning, as well as the use of social software.

On Using Wiki as a Tool for Collaborative Online Blended Learning

2010 ◽  
pp. 511-521
Author(s):  
Steve Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Social Software ◽  
Cognitive Tool ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
The University

This chapter explores the use of the wiki and its role as a cognitive tool to promote interaction and collaborative learning in higher education. The importance of the software to enable student created content, storage, and sharing of knowledge is reviewed. This chapter provides an evaluation of some of the affordances and constraints of wikis to promote critical thinking within a blended learning context. It assesses their potential to facilitate collaborative learning through community focused enquiry for geographically separated students and nomadic learners. One particular focus of the chapter is the development of new digital literacies and how students present their written work in wikis. The chapter also examines group dynamics within collaborative learning environments drawing on the data from a study conducted at the University of Plymouth in 2007, using wikis in teacher education. Finally, the chapter highlights some recent key contributions to the developing discourse on social software in what has been termed ‘the architecture of participation.’

scholarly journals Canadian University Social Software Guidelines and Academic Freedom: An Alarming Labour Trend

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 45-56
Author(s):  
Taryn Lough ◽  
Toni Samek
Keyword(s):  
Academic Freedom ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Social Software ◽  
Canadian Universities ◽  
Administrative Capacity ◽  
Personal Use ◽  
The Right ◽  
The University ◽  
And Control ◽  
Academic Year

An analysis of first-stage social software guidelines of nine Canadian universities conducted in the 2012-13 academic year with the aim to reveal limits to academic freedom. Carleton University’s guidelines serve as the anchor case, while those of eight other institutions are included to signify a national trend. Implications for this work are central to academic labour. In as much as academic staff have custody and control of all records they create, except records created in and for administrative capacity, these guidelines are interpreted to be alarming. Across the guidelines, framing of social media use by academic staff (even for personal use) as representative of the university assumes academic staff should have an undying loyalty to their institution. The guidelines are read as obvious attempts to control rather than merely guide, and speak to the nature of institutional overreach in the related names of reputation (brand), responsibility (authoritarianism), safety (paternalistically understood and enforced), and the free marketplace of [the right] ideas.

scholarly journals Mocking the MOOCs

Seminar.net ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yngve Nordkvelle
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teacher Training ◽  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Health Science ◽  
Social Software ◽  
Digital Network ◽  
The University

MOOC is one of the new terms that occupy many higher learning institutions these days. Rectors, Presidents or Vice-Chancellors, leaders of higher education in general, are all of a sudden all set for the target: we also want to provide courses for the “MOOC”. The conservative Norwegian newspaper “Aftenposten” claimed recently that the MOOCs will revolutionize higher education, and will alter “the ways we learn” in fundamental ways. The Norwegian Ministry of Education has established an expert group to monitor the development of MOOCs and the consequences for national higher education systems. The reactions sway between exhilaration and “moral panic”. Many positive reactions reflect what Thomas Alva Edison hoped for a century ago, by predicting that learning was now liberated from the institutions and offered entirely via film and radio. The moral panic is a sentiment held by those who think that higher education institutions also have an obligation to maintain national cultures of science and humanities. Leaving teaching to MIT, Open University or whoever wants to claim the turf of teaching a topic, is a challenge to the established higher education policies. The global market of science, communication, publishing and library service is already vastly dominated by the English speaking academia.The MOOCs are so far predominantly a phenomenon from this cultural area, and will add to the cultural dominance that is already so strong. In this respect I subscribe to a moral panic. On the other hand one might ask, what is truly new to the “MOOC”? Not much, in my view, except a different way of organizing, financing and marketing content and processes which are as old as correspondence schools. The technological wrapping is redesigned and offered in an importantly different context: “open access”. This tantalizing concept clouds the fact that teaching in higher education is situated in local cultural contexts, and is, as always, problematic to recontextualize.The first article in this issue is titled “From Classroom to Digital Arena in Seeking Higher-level Learning: Student Experience” and is written by dr. Mark Brown of The Department of Communication, Culture and Languages, BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo. In the article he acknowledges the vast influences distance-learning has had on the area of introducing digital technologies in higher education. The article reports some results from a teaching project in which they moved a mid-level learning process out of the classroom and into a digital learning environment in order to free up teaching time for higher-level learning. The findings demonstrate that students respond very positively to such reflective learning opportunities.In the paper “Challenges with social software for collaboration: Two case studies from teacher training” a collective of authors from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Eastern Finland, Teemu Valtonen, Sari Havo-Nuutinen, Patrick Dillon, Sini Kontkanen, Mikko Vesisenaho and Susanne Pöntinen offer us insights into which challenges with collaborative learning  one meets when using social software. It reports two case studies conducted in a teacher training department. Although the case studies were concerned with providing teacher students with inspiring and motivating experiences of using ICT in pedagogically meaningful ways, the research design was set up so that challenges could be identified and investigated. It turned out that the presumed added value of interaction and collaboration was poorly recognised.In the last article, Ragnhild Nilsen and Line Lundvoll Nilsen, of The University of Tromsø, write about their project on “Interdisciplinary professional education (IPE)”. The title, “Interprofessional Participation and Reflection in a Digital Network” introduces us to how teaching with digital tools allows collaborative learning to take place. Their methods supported collective reflection and increased professional understanding. The digital network allowed students from different health science programmes to draw on each other’s knowledge and expertise. The authors suggest that their findings are relevant for the development of reflection and professional understanding among health science students, as they show how students discuss and seek solutions to complex challenges in the practice.

Supporting Peer-to-Peer E-Mentoring of Novice Teachers Using Social Software

2010 ◽  
pp. 84-97
Author(s):  
Mark J.W. Lee ◽  
Catherine McLoughlin
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Secondary School Teachers ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Social Software ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
South Wales ◽  
The University

The Australian Catholic University (ACU National at www.acu.edu.au) is a public university funded by the Australian Government. There are six campuses across the country, located in Brisbane, Queensland; North Sydney, New South Wales; Strathfield, New South Wales; Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT); Ballarat, Victoria; and Melbourne, Victoria. The university serves a total of approximately 27,000 students, including both full- and part-time students, and those enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Through fostering and advancing knowledge in education, health, commerce, the humanities, science and technology, and the creative arts, ACU National seeks to make specific and targeted contributions to its local, national, and international communities. The university explicitly engages the social, ethical, and religious dimensions of the questions it faces in teaching, research, and service. In its endeavors, it is guided by a fundamental concern for social justice, equity, and inclusivity. The university is open to all, irrespective of religious belief or background. ACU National opened its doors in 1991 following the amalgamation of four Catholic tertiary institutions in eastern Australia. The institutions that merged to form the university had their origins in the mid-17th century when religious orders and institutes became involved in the preparation of teachers for Catholic schools and, later, nurses for Catholic hospitals. As a result of a series of amalgamations, relocations, transfers of responsibilities, and diocesan initiatives, more than twenty historical entities have contributed to the creation of ACU National. Today, ACU National operates within a rapidly changing educational and industrial context. Student numbers are increasing, areas of teaching and learning have changed and expanded, e-learning plays an important role, and there is greater emphasis on research. In its 2005–2009 Strategic Plan, the university commits to the adoption of quality teaching, an internationalized curriculum, as well as the cultivation of generic skills in students, to meet the challenges of the dynamic university and information environment (ACU National, 2008). The Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) Program at ACU Canberra Situated in Australia’s capital city, the Canberra campus is one of the smallest campuses of ACU National, where there are approximately 800 undergraduate and 200 postgraduate students studying to be primary or secondary school teachers through the School of Education (ACT). Other programs offered at this campus include nursing, theology, social work, arts, and religious education. A new model of pre-service secondary teacher education commenced with the introduction of the Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) program at this campus in 2005. It marked an innovative collaboration between the university and a cohort of experienced secondary school teachers in the ACT and its surrounding region. This partnership was forged to allow student teachers undertaking the program to be inducted into the teaching profession with the cooperation of leading practitioners from schools in and around the ACT. In the preparation of novices for the teaching profession, an enduring challenge is to create learning experiences capable of transforming practice, and to instill in the novices an array of professional skills, attributes, and competencies (Putnam & Borko, 2000). Another dimension of the beginning teacher experience is the need to bridge theory and practice, and to apply pedagogical content knowledge in real-life classroom practice. During the one-year Graduate Diploma program, the student teachers undertake two four-week block practicum placements, during which they have the opportunity to observe exemplary lessons, as well as to commence teaching. The goals of the practicum include improving participants’ access to innovative pedagogy and educational theory, helping them situate their own prior knowledge regarding pedagogy, and assisting them in reflecting on and evaluating their own practice. Each student teacher is paired with a more experienced teacher based at the school where he/she is placed, who serves as a supervisor and mentor. In 2007, a new dimension to the teaching practicum was added to facilitate online peer mentoring among the pre-service teachers at the Canberra campus of ACU National, and provide them with opportunities to reflect on teaching prior to entering full-time employment at a school. The creation of an online community to facilitate this mentorship and professional development process forms the context for the present case study. While on their practicum, students used social software in the form of collaborative web logging (blogging) and threaded voice discussion tools that were integrated into the university’s course management system (CMS), to share and reflect on their experiences, identify critical incidents, and invite comment on their responses and reactions from peers.

Should we Take Disintermediation in Higher Education Seriously?

2012 ◽  
pp. 72-92
Author(s):  
Carlos A. Scolari ◽  
Cristóbal Cobo Romaní ◽  
Hugo Pardo Kuklinski
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Social Software ◽  
New Agents ◽  
Software Applications ◽  
New Models ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
The University

Disintermediation based on digital technology has transformed different environments, including banking, commerce, media, education, and knowledge management. The spread of social software applications and digital media in general has given rise to new models of knowledge production and distribution in higher education. This chapter redefines higher education institutions and academic experts based on these changes. The chapter discusses the diffusion of disintermediation practices in higher education and proposes new categories, such as knowledge brokering, knowledge networking, and knowledge translation, to map a new environment that promotes disintermediation, innovation, and openness. Beyond the prophecies announcing the “death of the university,” the authors suggest new agents, actions, and transactions that are useful for envisaging the higher education institutions of the new century.

Translation, internationalisation and the university

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzy Harris
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Institutional Policy ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Central Concern ◽  
Internationalisation Of Higher Education ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
The University ◽  
Policy Arenas

The demands and challenges posed by the global economy help explain the growing importance of the internationalisation of higher education in European, national and institutional policy arenas. The discourse of internationalisation is driven primarily by economic factors, and an emphasis on competition, standards and skills has shifted attention away from considering internationalisation in relation to the aims, values and the purpose of higher education. This paper considers the notion of translation as a way of thinking about internationalisation. Translation is normally understood in relatively simple terms – as the transfer of meaning from one language to another – and it is seen primarily as a technical matter, albeit one that sometimes raises considerable difficulties. It is argued that that there is something limited and mistaken about this way of thinking about translation. It is not only between languages that translation occurs but also within a language. The question of translation has to do with the nature of meaning, and meaning has been and must remain a central concern of higher education and the university.

Investigating “Sense of Belonging” in First-Year College Students

2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marybeth Hoffman ◽  
Jayne Richmond ◽  
Jennifer Morrow ◽  
Kandice Salomone
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Intervention Strategies ◽  
Institutional Policy ◽  
Empirical Measure ◽  
First Year ◽  
Students At Risk ◽  
First Year College ◽  
First Year College Students ◽  
Departure Decisions ◽  
The University

A great deal of emphasis in higher education is centered on questions such as, “Why do students leave college and how can we get them to stay?” Although researchers have pointed to the import of “sense of belonging” in departure decisions, a measure of students' subjective sense of affiliation and identification with the university community has not been developed. The following is an empirical measure of “sense of belonging” which sheds light on factors that contribute to retention. Gaining greater clarity regarding factors important to the development of “sense of belonging” can help institutional policy planners evaluate the effectiveness of retention programs on their campuses, design more effective intervention strategies, and identify students at risk for departure.

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