scholarly journals Participating with Experience—A Case Study of Students as Co-Producers of Course Design

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Reneland Forsman
Keyword(s):  
Course Design ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Diverse Student ◽  
Student Meaning ◽  
Communicative Actions

<p>Higher Education (HE) needs to handle a diverse student population. The role of student expectations and previous experience is a key to fully participate. This study investigates student meaning making and interaction in a course designed to stimulate student as co-creators of course content and aims. Results revealed that rich communication added structure for students, that open-ended design challenged student approaches and constructed students as subjects. Analysis was made using recorded webinars, asynchronous discussion forums and e-mails. Data was categorised as communicative actions based on their orientations in the course i.e., what further actions they provoked. Analysis was guided by theories on participation and framing (Wenger &amp; Bernstein). The influence of dominating discourses for the didactics of HE risk excluding some perspectives and experiences when students’ experiences and expectations are not regarded as contributing to the meaning making of their own participating in academic educational practices. Finally, the study suggests that a move into web-based contexts more easily challenges students’ preconceptions of studying.</p>

Exploring a pedagogy for meaning-making in physical education

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 1093-1109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justen O’Connor
Keyword(s):  
Physical Education ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Range Of Movement ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Embodied Meaning ◽  
Student Meaning ◽  
Shed Light

This paper responds to calls for an exploration into pedagogies of meaning within physical education. Developing meaningful educational experiences in physical education for lifelong movement involves supporting students to explore their personal experiences in movement and to use these to derive a greater understanding of themselves and the world in which they live. Following a brief overview of the role of meaning-making in physical education, a case study is offered as a practical example for how reflection can be utilised to explore movement as meaningful. The case study presents a series of steps that provide detail about a meaning-making process undertaken during a physical education class. Data suggest that setting aside time for reflection and the generation of rich movement narratives aligned to a ‘first rush of movement’, can shed light on what students find meaningful ‘in’ movement in ways that link physical education to experiences across varying social and environmental contexts. Through giving priority to bodily understandings of movement as felt, sensory experience, participants ( n = 44) were able to express meaning across a wide range of movement contexts. I contend that the exploration of student meaning in physical education is engaging, informative, and serves to extend possibilities for what curriculum is seen as legitimate in physical education by/for whom. The paper sheds light on the use of embodied meaning-making stories as a potential springboard for further exploration and activity in physical education.

A Case Study of Student Use of Asynchronous Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) to Support Reflection and Evaluation

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan M. Land ◽  
Michele M. Dornisch
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Bulletin Board ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Computer Supported Collaborative Learning ◽  
Communication Tools ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Recent Interest ◽  
Face To Face Instruction

Recent interest in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has prompted educators to incorporate communication tools into their courses. This article reports findings of students' use of two Web-based discussion forums across two semesters to supplement face-to- face instruction. By tracking the discussions, we discovered that when students initiated reflection and integration of perspectives, they did so through concessions and oppositions to the postings of their peers. Findings point to the importance of explicit scaffolding of conversations to encourage student sharing and evaluation of perspectives.

Preparing Beginning Teachers to Use Instructional Technology Effectively

2013 ◽  
pp. 85-99
Author(s):  
Nanette I. Marcum-Dietrich ◽  
Oliver Dreon
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Technology ◽  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Future Teachers ◽  
Course Content ◽  
21St Century Classroom ◽  
Technology Course

In this case study, two education professors examine how an instructional technology course founded historically in an industrial model of teaching evolved to reflect and model the pedagogy needed in a 21st century classroom. Critical in this evolution is the development of course content and structure that allowed their students (all future teachers) to identify problems and collaboratively create solutions. With this new focus, the role of the students changed from being passive actors in an instructor-designed space and evolved into one where students were actively engaged in creating their understanding through their participation.

Narrative Account of the Arab Spring: Translations of Aljazeera and RT of the Egyptian and Syrian Uprisings as Case Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 819
Author(s):  
Haitham A. Aldreabi
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Media Messages ◽  
Reality Construction ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Arab Spring

the events of the Arab Spring attracted the attention of many scholars from various disciplines. However, the general trend of existing literature seems to ignore the different cultural representations within the Arab world leading for assumptions that the uprisings share similar outcomes and/or motivations. This article attempts to deconstruct the terms Arab Spring and Arab world through shedding light on two of the most influential uprisings that brought about social, economic, and political changes. To do so, it combines CDA and narrative theory to address the subject of the thematic nature of the subsequent media messages during the Egyptian and Syrian uprisings to investigate the process of meaning-making and the role of language in social reality construction. The purpose is to motivate researchers to address the largely ignored issue of the different representations in media and narratives.

scholarly journals Training Kuwaiti Teachers to Lead: A Case Study of Competitive Debate at the Basic Education College

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Reem Al-Rubaie
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Transformative Experience ◽  
Effect Change ◽  
National Education ◽  
Future System ◽  
Education College ◽  
Student Meaning

This paper presents a case study of a competitive debate program designed for teachers-in-training at the Basic Education College in Kuwait. Stakeholders at different levels have expressed an interest in introducing more constructivist-based pedagogies into the Kuwaiti national education system, but institutional and ideological challenges have hindered implementation. Teachers at the college designed and implemented a debate program based on constructivist principles of authenticity, student meaning-making, collaboration, and high performance expectations. Survey data suggest that participants experienced debate as a transformative experience, changing their perception of themselves, of the world, and of their ability to effect change in it. Participants came to imagine themselves as future system leaders preparing future generations with higher-order skills involving complex solving, which an increasingly complex social reality demanded. From 2015 to 2018, a group of professors formed debate teams at the Kuwait University National English Debate League. This endeavour formed the empirical research presented here as evidence to support a move from instructivist teaching to constructivist learning for future teachers in Kuwait.

scholarly journals Tutors and gatekeepers in sustainability MOOCS

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danish Mishra ◽  
Steve Cayzer ◽  
Tracey Madden
Keyword(s):  
Learning Process ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Massive Open Online Course ◽  
Sustainability Literacy ◽  
Digital Pedagogies

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of interactions between learners in a massive open online course (MOOC), particularly role of the tutors in such interactions. For educators concerned with sustainability literacy, the authors are necessarily both affected by, and effectors of, digital pedagogies. The call for papers for this special issue challenged the authors to consider whether digital pedagogies are “supportive of sustainability or perpetuators of unsustainability”. As might be expected, this question is not a simple binary choice and the authors have chosen to address it indirectly, by considering the nature of interaction in a global, digitally connected community of learners. In particular, the changing role of tutors in these communities, and the possible implications of this change on sustainable literacy, are examined. Design/methodology/approach The authors focus on the “Sustainability for Professionals” massive open online course (MOOC) delivered by the University of Bath on the FutureLearn platform which hosts the “Inside Cancer” MOOC, also from Bath. “Sustainability for Professionals” is pedagogically connectivist, with “Inside Cancer” being more traditional and instructor led. The authors used social network analysis (SNA) for the research. It is a key tool to understand interactions in an online environment and allows quantitative comparison between different networks and thus between courses. In the context of digital pedagogy, the authors used a number of relevant SNA metrics to carry out analysis of MOOC network structures. Findings It was found that MOOCs are different in their network structure but tend to adapt to the subject matter. Digital pedagogies for sustainability result in a qualitative as well as quantitative change in learning where course design affects the learning process and gatekeepers are critical for information flow. These gatekeepers are distinct from tutors in the network. In such a network, tutors’ role is limited to course delivery and verifying, depending on course content, the information within the network. The analysis shows that network learning is dependent on course design and content, and gatekeepers exercise influence over the information within the network. Originality/value This study has implications for sustainability literacy. The authors examined the extent to which patterns of interaction in the network affect the learning process, and how this can help participants engage with the concept of sustainability. They used SNA to explore the nature of interaction between learners in a MOOC, particularly the role of the tutors in mediating such interactions. They also found that tutors can and do take a central role in early runs of the MOOC; however, with the subsequent runs, the removal of tutor nodes has little effect, suggesting that different modes of learning driven by participants are possible in a MOOC community.

scholarly journals Using Web-based support for campus-based open learning: lessons from a study in dental public health

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Holt ◽  
Martin Oliver ◽  
Claire McAvinia
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Dental Public Health ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Close Study ◽  
The Web

There has been much written about the use of the Web in higher education, much of which advocates its use as an effective way of supporting learning, particularly in terms of the desirability of features such as flexibility and the value of online discussions. In this paper, a case study is described which calls some of this received wisdom into question. The study also explores wider issues of curriculum design, particularly in terms of the role of assessment and of self-assessment, both of which played a crucial role in the course. Unlike many studies, then, the purpose of this paper is not to demonstrate the success of a particular approach or to advocate particular forms of practice, but instead to highlight the shortcomings of existing guidelines for curriculum development in this area. This suggests that further inquiry into this form of education is required — and in particular, inquiry that pays detailed attention to the backgrounds of learners, and involves close study of their experiences.DOI:10.1080/0968776020100206

scholarly journals Satisfying personal needs at the museum: The role of digital technologies

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (57) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Eva Pina Myrczik
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Gain Control ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Museum Visitors ◽  
Other Information ◽  
Museum Experience ◽  
Personal Needs ◽  
General Meaning

<p class="p1">This paper investigates how museum visitors use digital technologies to mediate their general meaning-making process about artworks and other information they encounter throughout their museum experience. Concluding from a case study at the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen, this study suggests that visitors use digital technologies as a vehicle for satisfying one or more personal needs. In order to gain control over their experience, visitors used not only digital technologies provided by the museum but also their personal technologies. The article argues that both museums and visitors will derive great benefits by understanding the ways in which people process multimedia messages and by implementing these principles of multimedia learning into the design of digital technologies at museums. The data also suggest that museums should especially support visitors in using technology with which they are already familiar and embed it in the museum experience.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document