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

All 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.

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

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.

Learning Ecologies in the Digital Era: A Challenge for Primary Education in Low-Income Contexts

This research focused on the study of learning ecologies utilizing digital technology. The qualitative methodology used has allowed the analysis of the interactions children establish with digital technologies and the manner in which they construct a learning ecology. A total of 46 12-year-olds, their families, and their teachers participated in this study. The children’s schools and homes were in neighborhoods where structural situations of poverty and social and cultural marginality concurred. The children integrated researchers into their digital community, which allowed access to the events that the community was developing through digital technologies for two years. This information was complemented by the development of systematic observations and interviews with each participant. The participants’ multimodal linguistic and literacy practices were analyzed using a social semiotics approach. The results of the research describe and interpret the interactions that took place between participants and digital technologies. The research has identified the processes of recontextualization, transduction, and transcontextualization of the discourses developed in the frame of the participants’ learning ecologies. Digital ethnography has been revealed as an adequate method for studying learning ecologies.

Primary school teachers’ professional development through the learning ecologies lens: new ways for keeping up to date in uncertain times

Learning is evolving, just as the world and society are. In this context, teachers are also experiencing new ways for updating their professional development. The metamorphosis of learning is currently being pushed by four main catalysts: the connectivity of networks, the empowerment of the students, the overcoming of space and time barriers, and the assumption of the existence of silent, unnoticed learning. But these uncertain times have added a new, recent catalyst for change in learning and education: the COVID-19 pandemic. In the framework of the ECO4LEARN research project, a study was designed and carried out to check to what extent the learning ecologies approach could provide information on how primary school teachers organise their learning and how they make decisions about it. A survey was sent to the entire population of primary school teachers in Catalonia, getting 1,253 answers. The calculated margin of error was ±3.14%. Data analysis was conducted along three steps: a) Descriptive statistics; b) Principal Component Analysis (PCA); and c) Multiple Regression. Results show that the learning ecologies approach proves to be useful for analysing the actual means teachers use for their professional development and updating. Although some teachers are more advanced, practices do not respond to what could be expected regarding the use of less formal training for teachers and its mediation through the use of technologies. Regarding the sample analysed, the digital dimension of teacher professional development practices is still in its inception. Some recommendations are provided.

Is Science for Everyone? Exploring Intersectional Inequalities in Connecting With Science

Several studies have investigated the way learners connect with science, re-emphasising persisting inequalities in science learning. This article combines the concept of intersectionality with the theoretical lens of science learning ecologies to focus on inequalities in connecting with science: Which factors influence the formation of a positive science attitude of young learners and how does the social background of young learners influence their opportunities of connecting with science, focusing on the intersections of class and gender? Based on a quantitative survey among 1,486 visitors of non-formal science education offers aged between 8 and 21, we analyze important factors for the development of a positive science attitude and investigate structural inequalities. The intersectional perspective was implemented in the sampling, survey design as well as its analysis. Using composite indicators of age and gender as well as gender and educational capital, we avoid a homogenisation of broadly defined groups. The results highlight that the development of a highly positive science attitude–as identified in a stepwise logistic regression model–is linked to supportive social environments, intrinsic motivation, science learning in school as well as regular engagement in arts-based learning, and self-directed science learning. The learning ecology perspective illustrates the influence of school on science attitudes in general. From an intersectional perspective, however, our findings demonstrate that the persistence of an androcentric and classist concept of science is not compatible with every learning ecology; male learners from educationally affluent backgrounds are most likely to enjoy science learning and see how science relates to their everyday realities. In turn, however, not only female learners with lower educational capital but also male learners with lower educational capital might find it more difficult to connect with science. The intersectional approach unveiled the multiple ways educational capital and gender shape individual learning ecologies. More equitable science learning spaces and offers have to adapt to a diversity of needs and preferences in order to make science activities enjoyable for all.

A learning ecologies approach on school leaders' professional development

Los líderes escolares generalmente cuentan, para su desarrollo profesional, con programas totalmente estructurados dirigidos por la administración. La investigación publicada identifica algunos atributos comunes para el liderazgo que tales programas intentan transmitir. Aunque esto es y será una parte importante del desarrollo profesional de los líderes escolares, la gran cantidad de contenido digital abierto y cursos abiertos disponibles y la accesibilidad de redes especializadas y comunidades virtuales amplían las oportunidades para el autoaprendizaje y el autodesarrollo. En este contexto, el marco de análisis de las ecologías del aprendizaje resulta útil para ampliar el conocimiento sobre lo que hacen los líderes escolares para el desarrollo profesional, cuáles consideran que son los medios más útiles para su actualización continua y cuáles son los componentes de sus ecologías de aprendizaje individuales. Este artículo presenta las estrategias más habituales de desarrollo profesional que utilizan los directores escolares en Cataluña (España), su equilibrio entre las actividades de desarrollo profesional organizadas y el autodesarrollo, y cómo evalúan el papel que juegan las tecnologías digitales en sus ecologías de aprendizaje. Se realizó una encuesta de 48 preguntas con el objetivo de recopilar información sobre el desarrollo profesional continuo, a un total de 212 líderes escolares en las escuelas catalanas. Los resultados se centran en las ecologías del aprendizaje, con especial énfasis en las estrategias que demuestran el aprendizaje informal, las formas de formación privilegiada, el uso de las TIC y la participación en redes y comunidades profesionales, y demuestran que casi la mitad de los encuestados consideran que su estrategia habitual de desarrollo profesional es el autoaprendizaje. Los resultados también muestran que los líderes escolares que se mantienen actualizados mediante estrategias de autoaprendizaje, prefieren el aprendizaje en línea (recursos, actividades, cursos) y utilizan la tecnología de manera más intensiva. Las ecologías del aprendizaje demostraron ser un marco útil para el análisis de las estrategias de desarrollo profesional de los líderes escolares. School leaders are usually provided with administration-led, fully structured programmes for professional development. The research literature identifies some common attributes for leadership that such programmes try to convey. Although this is and will be an important part of school leaders’ professional development, the vast amount of digital open content and open courses available and the accessibility of specialised networks and virtual communities expand opportunities for self-learning and self-development. In this context, the learning ecologies analysis framework proves useful in extending knowledge on what school leaders do for professional development, what they consider the most useful means for continuous updating and what the components of their individual learning ecologies are. This paper presents the more common strategies for professional development that school leaders are used in Catalonia (Spain), their balance between organised professional development activities and self-development, and how they assess the role digital technologies play in their learning ecologies. A survey with 48 questions was conducted with the aim of gathering information on school leaders’ continuing professional development in Catalan schools. Two hundred twelve school leaders answered the survey. The results focus on learning ecologies, with special emphasis on strategies demonstrating informal learning, forms of privileged training, ICT use and participation in professional networks and communities, and demonstrate that almost half the responders to the survey consider their usual professional development strategy to be self-learning. Results also show that school leaders who stay up to date through self-learning strategies, prefer online learning (resources, activities, courses) and use technology more intensively. Learning ecologies proved to be a useful framework for the analysis of the professional development strategies of school leaders.

Aprender desde la perspectiva de las ecologías: una experiencia en Secundaria a través del teatro y de Tiktok

El presente trabajo tiene por objeto analizar una experiencia didáctica e innovadora, y reflexionar sobre sus implicaciones en el marco de las ecologías de aprendizaje. Se describe cómo un docente de Secundaria, de la especialidad de Lengua castellana y Literatura, transforma y enriquece sus prácticas educativas y, al mismo tiempo, propicia nuevos formatos de aprendizaje de los estudiantes en escenarios alternativos al aula física. En este caso, cobran sentido y relevancia la utilización del teatro como herramienta potencialmente pedagógica, junto con la red social Tiktok, la cual se erige como un entorno virtual que ofrece nuevas oportunidades formativas. Para ello, se ha empleado una metodología cualitativa que, por medio de la observación y el análisis de documentos, ha posibilitado conocer en profundidad el objeto de estudio, la realidad educativa del fenómeno y sus implicaciones desde la perspectiva de las ecologías de aprendizaje. La exposición de los resultados pone de manifiesto, por un lado, el valor que adquieren los aprendizajes en la trayectoria de vida, tanto del docente como de los participantes, así como el impacto de la experiencia en sus identidades como formador y aprendices, respectivamente. Por otra parte, subraya la necesidad de incorporar a las aulas recursos de la sociedad de la información, como Tiktok, para facilitar experiencias de aprendizaje que estén en sintonía con las necesidades socioculturales de los individuos y que favorezcan el enriquecimiento de los currículos, posibilitando la formación integral y expandida a todos los niveles. This paper aims to analyse a didactic and innovative experience and to reflect on its implications within the frame of learning ecologies. We will be describing how a Spanish Language and Literature Secondary school teacher transforms and enriches his educational practices while fostering new learning formats outside the physical classroom. In this case, the use of theatre makes sense as a potentially pedagogical tool together with the social network TikTok, the latter becoming a virtual environment offering new educational opportunities. A qualitative methodology based on observation and document analysis was used for this purpose, allowing us to gain a deep understanding of the object of study, its educational reality and its implications from the perspective of learning ecologies. Results show the value of long-life learning experiences, both for the teacher and for the participants, together with the impact on their identities. There is an evident need to use ICT resources such as TikTok in the classroom. These resources may encourage learning experiences, consistent with the sociocultural needs of the individuals, fostering curriculum enrichment, and stimulating a comprehensive and expanded idea of education in all levels.