Designing IDE Interventions to Promote Social Interaction and Improved Programming Outcomes in Early Computing Courses

As in other STEM disciplines, early computing courses tend to stress individual assignments and discourage collaboration. This can lead to negative learning experiences that compel some students to give up. According to social learning theory, one way to improve students’ learning experiences is to help them form and participate actively in vibrant social learning communities. Building on social learning theory, we have designed a set of software interventions (scaffolds and prompts) that leverage automatically collected learning process data to promote increased social interactions and better learning outcomes in individual programming assignments, which are a key component of early undergraduate computing courses. In an empirical study, we found that students’ interaction with the interventions was correlated with increased social activity, improved attitudes toward peer learning, more closely coupled social networks, and higher performance on programming assignments. Our work contributes a theoretically motivated technological design for social programming interventions; an understanding of computing students’ willingness to interact with the interventions; and insights into how students’ interactions with the interventions are associated with their social behaviors, attitudes, connectedness with others in the class, and their course outcomes.

Validating Professional Learning Communities Practice Model in a Malaysian Context

<p style="text-align: justify;">Despite the ubiquity of professional learning communities (PLCs) among researchers, studies on PLCs have widely differed in terms of dimensions used to conceptualise them. Thus, the study aimed to validate the conceptual model consisting of PLCs practices. The study employed a quantitative method using a survey. Firstly, a pilot test was conducted in which 103 school-teachers were involved in completing a questionnaire. The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) had determined six dimensions and 20 elements of PLCs practices. Then, the field study was conducted using the new questionnaire. The survey involved 386 school-teachers from 25 High Performing Schools (HPS). The result revealed that: I) Based on the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), multidimensional PLCs practice model is evidence in the Malaysian context. They are operationalised in six dimensions including visions, missions and values, professional leadership, collective and collaborative culture, sharing of best practices, conducive school climate, and strategic alliances among stakeholders and, ii) The level of PLCs implementation in HPS is high for all the dimensions. The practical implications from the study and future research recommendations were also discussed.</p>

Meta-Governance Framework to Guide the Establishment of Mass Collaborative Learning Communities

The application of mass collaboration in different areas of study and work has been increasing over the last few decades. For example, in the education context, this emerging paradigm has opened new opportunities for participatory learning, namely, “mass collaborative learning (MCL)”. The development of such an innovative and complementary method of learning, which can lead to the creation of knowledge-based communities, has helped to reap the benefits of diversity and inclusion in the creation and development of knowledge. In other words, MCL allows for enhanced connectivity among the people involved, providing them with the opportunity to practice learning collectively. Despite recent advances, this area still faces many challenges, such as a lack of common agreement about the main concepts, components, applicable structures, relationships among the participants, as well as applicable assessment systems. From this perspective, this study proposes a meta-governance framework that benefits from various other related ideas, models, and methods that together can better support the implementation, execution, and development of mass collaborative learning communities. The proposed framework was applied to two case-study projects in which vocational education and training respond to the needs of collaborative education–enterprise approaches. It was also further used in an illustration of the MCL community called the “community of cooks”. Results from these application cases are discussed.

Teacher leadership and teacher identity in turbulent times in Iraq

This article addresses the professional challenges faced by teacher leaders in Iraq. The country is beginning to emerge from a period of political unrest and violent threats to personal safety. This has seriously affected the educational provision; nowhere more so than in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city. The article examines three issues: how teacher-leaders describe and understand their empowerment to build inclusive education systems in the post-conflict city; how professional learning communities can support inclusive practices to optimise students’ learning and build community cohesion; and what role digital skills can play in the modernisation of an inclusive Iraqi curriculum. The naturalistic enquiry approach draws on interview data from two teachers, two headteachers and two inspectors; the latter work directly with the Iraqi Ministry of Education and local communities. The findings show that, as teacher leaders reframe their understanding of the role of educational leaders in the changing context of Iraq, they become better empowered to build sustainable learning communities. Digital skills are crucial in supporting learning within and beyond the school curriculum.

Social Networks and Blogs as Educational Communicative Resources During a Pandemic

This work aims at researching the use of social networks and blogs as resources of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in non-face-to-face educational environments, which, in this case, education centers have had to reshape on a large scale due to the pandemic. With this aim in mind, an analysis is performed about the most important aspects which make social networks and blogs into important educational resources in the classroom, which enable us to propose collective and individual activities based on digital technology. Such activities make it possible for us to undertake experiences referred to formal, non-formal, and even informal education, which have the potential to enrich the current non-face-to-face context thanks to their diversity. The conclusion is that these resources can serve as effective communicative tools to generate true learning communities within an online environment.

The Challenges Behind the Development of an E-Mentoring Model for Online Distance Education

Different higher education institutions (HEI) have broadly adopted peer mentoring as a strategy to provide initial and continuous support for new students, to promote their academic inclusion. In Distance Education HEI, peer e-mentoring assumes a crucial role in the promotion and maintenance of social and cognitive presence and in the creation of a sense of belonging to the academic community. Thus, it is assumed as a crucial support for the overcoming of online students' specific difficulties and as a factor for his success. After a theoretical framework, this chapter presents the case of a pilot e-mentoring project implemented in a European open university based on the paradigms of virtual learning communities and the model of the community of inquiry (CoI). To conclude, it presents a set of assumptions for the construction of an e-mentoring model adapted to online DE and further research to be conducted.

Implementing Learning Communities in a Medical School

Learning communities have been successfully incorporated into undergraduate medical education around the globe. These communities promote student and faculty interaction as well as senior-to-junior student mentorship opportunities and vast learning experiences. These may positively impact the students' personal and professional development. This chapter focuses on the experience of one medical school during the design and implementation of a learning communities model incorporated into its curriculum. The authors expand on the technical aspects of the model and on challenges, solutions, and learning experiences gained during more than six years since the program's implementation in their institution.