scholarly journals Do our children learn enough in Sky Class? A case study: online learning in Chinese primary schools in the COVID era March to May 2020

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina Zhao ◽  
Peter Thomas ◽  
Lingling Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Primary School Students ◽  
School Students ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Ecologies

AbstractAll human being’s ways of living, working and studying were significantly impacted by the Covid-19 in 2020. In China, the Ministry of Education reacted fast in ensuring that primary school students could learn online at home by promoting the Sky Class program from February 2020. Educators, parents, and students all faced the challenges of adapting to new online teaching and learning environments. In this small-scale case study, Sky Class’s content and the participants’ experiences, will be presented. Four primary school teachers and five primary school students and their parents participated in three-rounds of interviews sharing their perspectives and experiences of online learning. The study showed that the students gained more parental support and that they benefited from using multimedia functions, like replay, in their Sky Classes. However, the majority of participants reported that the students learnt less. By mapping the learning activities and themes from Sky Class against Cope and Kalantzis’ e-learning ecologies, our study found that only ubiquitous learning and multimodal meaning were achieved. We suggest the reason may be that high cognitive learning was not achieved due to less teachers’ supervision, lack of interaction, delayed feedback, shorter learning times and communication. In conclusion, innovative pedagogies, which can foster different types of learning from the e-learning ecologies may overcome the negative aspects reported about Sky Class. Further research is required for implementing online technology as a catalyst for educational change.

scholarly journals Learning ecologies in online students with disabilities

Comunicar ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (62) ◽  
pp. 53-65
Author(s):  
Covadonga Rodrigo ◽  
Bernardo Tabuenca
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Learning Ecologies

E-Learning environments are enhancing both their functionalities and the quality of the resources provided, thus simplifying the creation of learning ecologies adapted for students with disabilities. The number of students with disabilities enrolled in online courses is so small, and their impairments are so specific that it becomes difficult to quantify and identify which specific actions should be taken to support them. This work contributes to scientific literature with two key aspects: 1) It identifies which barriers these students encounter, and which tools they use to create learning ecologies adapted to their impairments; 2) It also presents the results from a case study in which 161 students with recognised disabilities evaluate the efficiency and ease of use of an online learning environment in higher education studies. The work presented in this paper highlights the need to provide multimedia elements with subtitles, text transcriptions, and the option to be downloadable and editable so that the student can adapt them to their needs and learning style. Los entornos de aprendizaje en línea están mejorando sus funcionalidades y la calidad de los recursos, facilitando que estudiantes con discapacidad puedan crear y adaptar sus propias ecologías de aprendizaje. Normalmente, el número de estudiantes con discapacidad matriculados es tan residual y sus discapacidades tan particulares, que resulta difícil identificar y cuantificar qué medidas de asistencia son relevantes para este colectivo en general. El objetivo de este trabajo es hacer entender cómo aprenden los estudiantes en entornos en línea dependiendo de su discapacidad y de las características del entorno. Consistentemente, se definen cinco ecologías de aprendizaje que son más frecuentes. Este trabajo contribuye a la literatura científica en dos aspectos fundamentales: 1) identificar qué barreras se encuentran, qué herramientas de apoyo utilizan los estudiantes online con discapacidad y cómo las combinan para formar ecologías de aprendizaje adaptadas a discapacidades específicas; 2) presentar los resultados en los que 161 estudiantes con discapacidad reconocida evalúan la eficiencia y facilidad de uso de un entorno de aprendizaje online en el ámbito universitario. Se resalta la necesidad de proveer elementos multimedia con subtítulos, transcripciones de texto, y la opción de que sean descargables y editables para que el estudiante pueda adaptarlos a sus necesidades y estilo de aprendizaje.

Evolving Learning Ecologies

2007 ◽  
pp. 708-720
Author(s):  
J. Dron
Keyword(s):  
Learning Process ◽  
Teacher Involvement ◽  
Social Navigation ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Ecologies ◽  
Learner Needs

This chapter describes the application of self-organising principles to the field of e-learning. It argues that traditional managed approaches to e-learning suffer from deficiencies both in cost and adaptativity that are addressed through the application of nature-inspired processes such as stigmergy and evolution. Such systems, primarily those employing social navigation, are built to generate structure through the dialogue-like interactions of individual learners within them. The result is emergent control of the learning process, adapting dynamically to learner needs, with limited teacher involvement. The chapter describes some example applications and explores some of the remaining challenges in the field, most notably in encouraging pedagogically useful structures to evolve.

Technodiscursive Affordances in Innovative E-Learning Ecologies

2021 ◽  
pp. 149-164
Author(s):  
Jailine Farias
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Digital Learning ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Digital Language ◽  
Digital Learning Environments ◽  
Learning Ecologies

This chapter investigates the discursive dimension of digital learning environments with a focus on emergent digital language practices and new text architectures. Thus, in order to reflect and characterize these digital language practices afforded by e-learning environments, the authors ground their reflections on the theoretical framework proposed by Paveau to define and analyze technodiscursive practices. How do the platform's algorithmic patterns and affordances shape the way meaning is made in digital texts and online technolanguage activities? Guided by this key question, this chapter will characterize and analyze one e-learning environment—CGScholar—based on the platform's technodiscursive practices. Through a qualitative methodological approach, the author investigates and illustrates how digital learning ecologies designs/programs support the nature and complexity of technolanguage activities, based on Paveau's work on technodiscourse.

scholarly journals Towards an e-learning ecologies approach to pedagogy in a post-COVID world

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Aslam Fataar ◽  
Najwa Norodien-Fataar
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Educational Approach ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
South African Education ◽  
Future Education ◽  
Learning Ecologies

In this article, part of the special COVID-19 issue of the Journal of Education, we concentrate on digital technology as one of the core dimensions of education's pandemic-related response. As the default teaching mode during the pandemic, Online Emergency Remote Teaching evoked contentious responses about future education directions in a post-COVID world. We shed light on the role of digital technology in South African education, specifically in relation to current debates on higher education. We present an argument that supports an approach based on e-learning ecologies to pedagogy to inform teaching and learning in institutional contexts. We argue that a reflexive pedagogy-led response to digital technology holds promise for creating a systemic educational approach to promoting students' critical epistemic engagement to enable them to secure viable futures.

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