Autonomy, Motivation, and Digital Pedagogy Are Key Factors in the Perceptions of Spanish Higher-Education Students toward Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This paper proposes a development model of the adaptation capacity of students to digital transformation in university teaching through three constructs: motivations, digital pedagogy, and student autonomy. For this study, an ad hoc scale was created to record the adaptation capacity of students to digital transformation. The sample was 483 students from the University of Seville (Spain), to whom an online survey was administered during the development of online teaching in the period of November 2020 using the Google Forms platform. The findings of this study showed that university student motivation acquired a greater threshold than autonomy, whose threshold in turn, was greater than that of digital pedagogy in the ability to adapt to online teaching and that the capacity of adaptation to the online modality is explained by the perception that university students have of the usefulness, products, and learning outcomes, among others. In conclusion, the lack of adequate and enabled study spaces is key to developing the online model. We consider all these aspects as prospective research objectives.

Teaching and assessing students of information literacy in a single session—The case of the University of the West Indies Mona library

Assessing the performance of information literacy (IL) students can be a daunting task for librarians globally. Most IL sessions are taught in 1 to 2 hours where any meaningful assessments are difficult to achieve. This research demonstrated how this feat was achieved in an active learning environment through the use of Google Forms. This mixed method study shows how this was effectively achieved to test both lower and higher order skills in a 2 hour session to one hundred and seventy-two foundation writing course students.The research tested a rarely examined feature of Google Forms which is the tool’s effectiveness in enabling comprehensive assessment, facilitating active learning, and identifying instructional errors in an IL instruction session. The findings show that Google Forms can be used to teach and administer a quiz using both multiple-choice as well as open-ended questions to assess both low and higher order learning skills in IL. Students were able to actively respond to questions while they were being taught, the data gathered and analyzed and used to inform future library instruction. It also showed that Google Forms are useful not simply to administer multiple-choice quizzes at the end of teaching but can be used in executing real-time assessment and support active learning. Because Google Forms support the easy creation of charts and downloading/exporting of statistics, results of assessments can be shared among librarians, faculty, and students to motivate and encourage digital pedagogy. It allows for greater collaboration with faculty in the cooperative teaching of students in single sessions where there is usually difficulty in having dialogue with faculty once a session ends. This case study is based on a limited number of students; thus, the findings of this research may not be generalized but the methodology and some skills in teaching the concepts encountered by librarians may be replicated.

Towards a sustainable, student-centred approach for technology-supported music education: A Dutch perspective

Applying technology in music education is not always obvious for music teachers. Pre-service music teachers should be trained in technology-supported music pedagogy, but this requires more than isolated lessons, short projects and ad hoc support. This article reports on an exploration towards a structural implementation of digital pedagogy in higher music education (i.e. a bachelor of music in schools). This exploration was based on student-centred approaches that were iteratively developed over time and have been investigated through an action research strategy. The aim of this article is to inform about the design of the approaches, such as the structure of courses with its assignments, participants and external collaborations, and turning points and insights that steered the approach. Focus is put on the so-called technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), technology acceptance and students’ motivation. In the end, this article presents recommendations for designing education that prepares students to enhance their practice with technology: (1) adapt to your students; (2) be concrete to your students; and (3) embrace collaboration. This article concludes with explaining the value of these recommendations beyond higher music teacher education by providing examples of how these recommendations can be translated to higher music performance education.

Ripensare l’insegnamento delle lingue straniere a partire dall’esperienza della didattica a distanza: introduzione al numero speciale

IT La didattica a distanza emergenziale determinata dalla pandemia da Covid-19 ha posto insegnanti e studenti di fronte a sfide inedite, forzando un cambiamento senza precedenti in termini di entità e rapidità. Questo numero speciale raccoglie contributi sulla didattica delle lingue, accomunati dalla volontà di trarre vantaggio dalle problematicità legate all’insegnamento a distanza per innescare riflessioni e cambiamenti necessari e duraturi, capaci di prescindere dalla situazione emergenziale che li ha generati. Questa introduzione descrive il contesto in cui insegnanti e studenti si sono trovati a operare, sottolineandone le implicazioni glottodidattiche in termini di gestione dell’input, dell’output, dell’interazione e della valutazione delle competenze. Offriamo una sintesi dei contributi inclusi nel numero speciale, seguita da una riflessione sulle possibili conclusioni trasversali all’intero volume. Parole chiave: DAD, DIDATTICA DIGITALE INTEGRATA/DDI, DIDATTICA DELLE LINGUE, COVID-19, APPRENDIMENTO DELLE L2/LS EN The emergency remote teaching necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic has confronted teachers and students with unknown challenges, forcing truly rapid and significant changes that are without precedent. The current special issue offers contributions, in Italian and English, that are focused on language pedagogy. Their shared objective is to gain meaningful knowledge from new issues related to remote teaching that can lead to reflection and necessary, long-lasting changes beyond the context of the emergency that created them. This introductory article describes the context in which teachers and students have found themselves working, highlighting the implications for language teaching in terms of managing input, output, interaction, and assessment. We then offer a summary of the contributions and the reviews included in this special issue, followed by a reflection on its possible conclusions. Key words: DISTANCE LEARNING, INTEGRATED DIGITAL PEDAGOGY, LANGUAGE TEACHING, COVID-19, LEARNING OF L2/SECOND LANGUAGE ES La enseñanza remota de emergencia determinada por la pandemia COVID-19 ha situado a docentes y a estudiantes ante desafíos desconocidos, forzando cambios rápidos y significativos sin precedentes. El presente número especial reúne contribuciones en italiano y en inglés, centradas en la enseñanza de lenguas, cuyo objetivo común es extraer conocimiento de las problemáticas relacionadas con la enseñanza remota que pueda provocar reflexiones y cambios necesarios y duraderos más allá de la situación de emergencia que las generó. Este artículo introductorio describe el contexto en el que se han encontrado trabajando el profesorado y el alumnado, destacando las implicaciones para la enseñanza de idiomas en términos de gestión del input, del output, de las interacciones y de la evaluación de las competencias. Tras ello, ofrecemos una síntesis de las contribuciones y de las reseñas incluidas en este número especial, seguida de una reflexión sobre las posibles conclusiones trasversales al número entero. Palabras clave: DIDÁCTICA A DISTANCIA, DIDÁCTICA DIGITAL INTEGRADA, DIDÁCTICA DE LENGUAS, COVID-19, APRENDIZAJE DE SEGUNDAS LENGUAS