Worldbuilding, Gaming, and Multiliteracies in an Online First-Year Seminar

2022 ◽  
pp. 220-247
Author(s):  
Brian Angus McKenzie

This chapter provides a case study of the use of worldbuilding for role-playing games as the foundation for a first year multiliteracies seminar. The author provides an overview of teaching and learning during the pandemic in the Irish context. The chapter provides practical advice on using a MediaWiki installation as the infrastructure for worldbuilding projects. The author shows how this imparts important digital literacies and allows for a critical apprehension of Wikipedia itself. The author argues that online learning and professional development benefit from a multiliteracies approach and, furthermore, that worldbuilding is a useful strategy for overcoming the limitations of online learning while at the same time achieving rigorous learning outcomes.

Author(s):  
Gregory L. Waddoups ◽  
Scott L. Howell

The primary purpose of Brigham Young University (BYU) is to provide students with a combination of sacred and secular education often described as the “BYU experience.” Achieving this purpose is challenged by the rapid growth in Church membership and an enrollment cap of 30,000 students. To address these challenges, BYU sponsors the use of technology to bridge the gap between the increased Church membership and the number of students allowed under the enrollment caps. This institutional case study shows how these challenges have influenced the hybridization of teaching and learning for on campus (resident) and off campus (distance) students. It also describes how BYU has brought distance education to campus, and is beginning to bring campus-based educational practices to distance education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-262
Author(s):  
Wahyu Eko Widiyanto ◽  
Andi Fepriyanto ◽  
Albi Dwi Prasetyo

The study aimed at exploring the implementation of physical education (PE) teaching during the Covid 19 Pandemic at elementary schools of sub-district of Balung, Jember, Indonesia. This descriptive research which follows the quantitative approach implemented the survey method using one shot case study. The samples participating in the study are 12 SE teachers. In order to gather the data, a questionnaire was distributed to the participants online through Google Form, containing 10 items. The data obtained were analyzed in descriptive quantitative  through percentage. The findings indicate that all participants (100%) conduct the teaching and learning, where 50% of them delivered the teaching in online learning and 58% confirmed that the learning adheres to the lesson plans. Moreover, 67% of the participants informed that the learning materials are in the same order as stated in the lesson plans, 67% used WhatsApp groups as their teaching media, 67% of the participants informed that their students were enthusiastic and participated actively in the class, 50% have cooperated with their students’ parents for supporting learning, 67% of them stated the assessment was based on submitted exams and tasks, 58% stated that the assessment was less effective. Meanwhile, the analysis of learning indicators reveal that generally 41% of the participants claim difficulties in accessing good Internet connection, and 42% of the participants’ students could not afford smartphones for their learning and thus could not submit their tasks. Briefly the Covid 19 pandemic does not hamper the conduct of teaching and learning though it is now delivered online, however, in general the study found that the teaching and learning is less effective; therefore,  more attention needs to be paid to students especially with their obstacles in using the learning media and accessing proper Internet connection.


Author(s):  
Jukka Orava ◽  
Pete Worrall

This paper examines the professional implications for teachers and managers in new and evolving forms of professional development using Web 2.0 tools in a European context. Research findings are presented from the “Creative Use of Media” learning event developed through a European eTwinning Learning Lab initiative in spring of 2009. The Creative use of the Media online learning event supported a series of initiatives celebrating the European Year of Creativity and Innovation and involved 135 participants from 27 countries. The key objective was to introduce a range of learning themes constructed around a phenomenon-based inquiry model, which supported interdisciplinary approaches and collaborative online learning methodologies to stimulate new teaching and learning rationales. Digital Web 2.0 technology was used as an independent creative medium and as a powerful facilitating tool to enhance and blend with the more traditional forms of visual, audiovisual and multimedia inquiry. In developing models encapsulating risk taking and experimentation this online learning project supported a general principle that future education models and professional development would be based on social learning and “customer-driven collaborative knowledge building” in relation to open source materials.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (42) ◽  
pp. 155-167
Author(s):  
Faizahani Ab Rahman ◽  
Nurul Afrahah Hussin ◽  
Sutha Sugumaran

This paper looks at the perceptions of MRSM (Majlis Amanah Rakyat or also known as People’s Trust Council) English teachers on their current professional development and their expectations on in-service training. As teachers, they are often expected to act as a source of motivation to their students apart from being accountable in providing instructions, knowledge, and skills in their respective academic subjects. However, very often, teachers are not provided with sufficient and appropriate training that would prepare them to be the kind of teacher that they are required and expected to be. This prompts this study that determines whether the in-service training provided is sufficient and aptly to help the teachers produce academically excellent students. This case study used a qualitative approach with purposive sampling of seven English teachers at Maktab Rendah Sains MARA, Beseri in Perlis with teaching experiences between 10 to 30 years. Semi-structured interviews and focus group methods were used to answer the research question which dwells on the MRSM English teachers’ expectations of professional development teacher training of their students’ achievement. The findings of the study revealed that teachers expect to have more professional development in terms of pedagogy, proficiency level, technology integration, and stress management. They also believe that improvement in professional development can positively affect their students’ achievement as teaching and learning processes can be done more effectively. It is therefore recommended that MARA should highlight its current in-service training and development policy to be consistent with the needs of teachers.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hazita Azman ◽  
Nurul Farhana Dollsaid

This article explores the use of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) as a type of serious games that have English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning potentials. It highlights evidence from a case study which investigated the effects of role-playing in MMOGs on communication behaviours among EFL game players. Additionally, findings from the study elucidate the learning principles of good games that incorporate the dynamics of gaming which induce the language learner to be active generators of information, knowledge and language. Essentially the preliminary findings reported affirm the viability of online games as a potential tool for teaching and learning in the 4.0 era, which endeavours to engage the digital natives of the 21st century. The study thus claims that MMOGs in particular the massively multiplayer online role-playing games or MMORPGs can facilitate in providing contextualized and authentic language interaction opportunities in English between online multilingual speakers.


Author(s):  
Mary V. Mawn ◽  
Kathleen S. Davis

Online professional development courses and programs provide science teachers with ongoing and relevant professional development opportunities that overcome time, distance, and budget pressures. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach, this chapter presents a case study of elementary and middle school teachers enrolled in two online courses in chemistry and science education. Based on this work, three themes emerged: the ability to incorporate inquiry-based teaching and learning in online environments, the importance of online discourse and reflection, and the role of linking theory with practice. Specifically, teacher participants reported increased experience exploring content via inquiry, felt actively engaged with their peers as they constructed their knowledge, and expected to adapt inquiry-based activities in their classrooms as a result of these online courses.


Author(s):  
Melissa L. Johnson ◽  
Laura Pasquini ◽  
Michelle R. Rodems

This case study, an honors first year seminar from the University of Florida, USA, demonstrates the benefits and challenges of these developments in education. The case expands the definition of formal, informal, and online learning communities in the context of a first year seminar.


Author(s):  
Glenn Finger

This chapter explores ways in which new and emerging information and communication technologies (ICT) might transform the learning experience through online delivery. After presenting a conceptualisation of ICT use by educators in terms of inaction, investigation, application, integration, and transformation, two diverse learning settings are examined to develop insights into the implications of online learning for lifelong learning—namely, the delivery of educational services to preschool children (aged 4 years old) through to Year 10 students (aged 15 years old) in rural and remote communities in Australia, and the dimensions required for designing online learning for adult learners in higher education. Through the presentation of a case study of a School of Distance Education in Australia, which reflects technological improvements using telephone teaching, and the affordances of improved connectivity, the case study demonstrates that this has enabled the use of more constructivist approaches to teaching and learning to transform the delivery of education to rural and remote students. Subsequently, this chapter provides a synthesis of the literature relating to the critical factors influencing learner satisfaction in online learning.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 248-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Poole

This article presents findings from a case study that explored the way Sophie, an expatriate International Baccalaureate Diploma art teacher in an internationalised school in Shanghai, China, interpreted and implemented the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile. The findings challenge the view that the Profile exerts a regulatory force on teachers’ behaviour by showing that Sophie not only reshaped the Profile according to her beliefs about teaching and learning, but also resisted what she perceived to be underlying patriarchal and westernising discourses. Findings suggest that the notion of a regulatory discourse should focus on both the Profile as text and also what could be called the lived Profile. Finally, this article offers tentative recommendations for professional development that incorporate both the Profile as text and the lived Profile.


Author(s):  
Courtney K. Baker

AbstractAs content-specific educational coaches, elementary mathematics specialists (EMSs) have emerged as school-based professionals who are needs-driven and work closely with school stakeholders in regard to mathematics teaching and learning. While leading mathematics education organizations have identified the specialized knowledge and skills required for EMS positions, how to best prepare these individuals is knowledge that the field is still exploring. This paper first presents a theoretical model for EMS preparation that aligns an emerging coaching tool, the Decision-Making Protocol for Mathematics Coaching (Baker & Knapp, 2019, [DMPMC]) with the Professional Development Design Framework (Loucks-Horsley et al. in Designing professional development for teachers of science and mathematics, Corwin Press, 2010). The paper then presents a descriptive case study that examines the application of this model in an EMS preparation course. The findings indicate that assessing the coaching situation fostered administrative partnerships, revisiting goals increased specificity of anticipated outcomes, and applying research-informed practices increased EMS self-efficacy and advanced coaching agendas. Taken together, these findings suggest that integrating the DMPMC into an EMS preparation course led to positive changes in EMS candidate learning of professional development design. Notably, this is one of the first studies that documents the influence of a coaching education tool on EMS candidates’ professional development design.


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