Six Technological Innovations That Changed English Language Teaching

The paper focuses on six technological innovations which have influenced English language teaching and learning. Their potential is analysed and the way suggested how they could be creatively used. In the research part, authors introduce the most popular ones among English teachers and present those they would like to apply within the lessons. Being able to analyse the opposite point of view as well, small number of English students were asked which of these technological tools their English teachers use the most and on the other hand, would like to experience when learning English. In addition, we compare the difference in their choice when teaching and learning English at primary and secondary school.

Interactive Learning Environment Supporting Visualization in the Teaching of Probability

The probability is exceptional in the teaching of mathematics because students often have difficulties to understand the basic terms and the problem solving strategies. Understanding lacks of the probability concept and various types of misconceptions arise from the misleading intuition and misinterpretations of experience with the stochastic phenomena. The probability concept seems too abstract to some students therefore it is advisable to use mathematical problems based on real-life ideas, such as drug efficacy testing, tests for diagnosing of diseases in medicine, sports competitions, and games. By eliminating misconceptions and improving understanding of the problem solving strategies, it is possible to use various types of visualization to solve problems from this field of mathematics. Tables and different types of graphic diagrams can help students to understand the basic rules and problem solving techniques. This paper describes the main objectives and the structure of an interactive worksheet, prepared in spreadsheet environment, in which students are guided to use the visualization to solve probability problems. The implementation of an automatic feedback enables to evaluate the students’ answers. In the case of incorrect answer, solutions of the additional tasks using tree diagram or a tangram are recommended to the students. Students can decide which type of the visualization is more understandable for them to solve the probability of random events. Solving different task sequences using the selected types of visualization allows more learning paths for students. The final part of the paper contains an evaluation of the results and experiences of problem solving in the teaching of probability at grammar schools.

The Nature of the Facebook Group Learning Environment: Insights from University Students

The paper analyses the inherent features of the Facebook learning environment that were identified by university students enrolled in an English for Academic Purposes course. The presented case study is based on students’ subjective theories that have been reconstructed from semi-structured interviews and diaries. The research material involves qualitative data acquired from thirty-four university students. The identified characteristics relate to four areas, namely motivation, distraction, security, and structure. The dominant strengths and weaknesses of the discussed learning environment are singled out.

ICT as an Enhancing Tool of Foreign Language Teaching Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders

This paper reports on teaching/learning a foreign language of children having autistic spectrum disorders (ASD), particularly Highly functioning autism and Asperger´s syndrome by virtue of help of ICT. The content includes theoretical background of the strengths and weaknesses of ASD students. It also includes research on four foreign language skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing of the examined group and provides proposals for farther investigation.

Investigating Issues in Computing Education: Usability Factors for the Use of an Operating System Among African American and Hispanic American High School Students

African Americans and Hispanic Americans historically have been underrepresented in U.S. jobs in the fields of STEM in large part because of the usability of technology. In this research, the goal was to discover the usability factors relative to operating systems that may limit African Americans and Hispanic Americans from pursuit of computer science higher education. For the purpose of this study, “usability” refers to the “appropriateness of purpose.” Categorized by three factors, appropriateness of purpose can be defined as (i) the effectiveness of the users’ ability to complete tasks while using technology and the quality or output of those tasks, (ii) the efficiency and the level of resources used in performing tasks, and (iii) the satisfaction or users’ reaction to the use of technology (Brooke, 2014). This research examined quantitative analysis based on students’ routine computer task knowledge using a survey questionnaire and the SUS. The population included high school students responding to questions on common tasks and usability. A web survey was conducted to assess the measurement and understanding pattern demonstrated by the participants. The quantitative analysis of the computer usability included ANOVA, independent t-tests and orthogonal contrasts. The analysis of the SUS measured usability and learnability. The results of the data analysis showed that the combined African American and Hispanic group has a mean computer usability score that is significantly lower when compared with the other ethnicities and the SUS findings included the highest gap among this most underrepresented group in the STEM field.

Game-construction students experiences of educational games - gaming outcomes and learning outcomes

Game-based learning has been a rapidly expanding field in the 21th century, with research reports praising the motivational effects and learning outcomes of games. At the same time there have been doubts on the learning outcomes of even the most seriously designed learning games. The generation that today enrols for university programmes is in general a gaming generation, and game construction students are often so called hard core gamers. What are the game construction students’ experiences of educational games, and what are their perceived learning outcomes? This study is based on student essays on gaming habits and game-based learning outcomes, written by students taking a course on game-based learning. Essays from four course batches have been thematically analysed to answer the two research questions. Findings show that students have a rich experience of various kinds of games, but that they do not make any clear distinction between games developed for educational purposes, and other games. Students also perceive that there are cognitive, behavioural as well as affective learning outcomes from both standard entertainment games, and more serious learning games.

Personalized e-course implementation in university environment

The paper deals with the issue of e-courses personalization in selected LMS. Even though this topic has been the subject of research for a longer time, more effective concepts of learning through e-courses are still being sought. Part of the contribution is a brief explanation of the terms personalization and adaptivity, which are often mistaken or regarded as equivalent in practice. An overview of the current issue provides to reader concrete solutions to a personalized approach to education through the LMS Moodle. For purposes of research, LMS Moodle is used, which fulfils the conditions for meeting the goal of the research problem. SWOT analysis has been selected as an auxiliary tool for implementing the personalized e-course in the university environment. Further, the paper deals with the principles of creating an e-learning course as well as with the proposal of a specific methodology and its implementation in LMS Moodle. The results and findings from the research conducted so far are also available. The conclusion of the contribution deals with the summary of the results and findings as well as the further tendency in this field.

Sustainability of U-CALL

This paper shows that the flexibility of time as a potential of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) proves the sustainability of its latest stage – Ubiquitous CALL. Firstly, the ideas of the Third Millennium Pedagogy are combined with the ethical and philosophical principles of sustainable education. One of the descriptors of the sustainable education – its durability is then compared with the principle of time flexibility in e-learning. On this theoretical base, the ideas of Ubiquitous Learning in general and Ubiquitous CALL (U-CALL) in particular are developed. Two comparable cases of the research aimed at the time flexibility of e-learning in foreign language education are described. The former one was conducted in 2016, the later in 2008. Similar results in time flexibility prove that e-learning in language education can be omnipresent, fulfilling the demands on Ubiquitous CALL. The durability of time flexibility proven by the real-life examples indicates the sustainability of U-CALL.

Is Open Access to Research Data a Strategic Priority of Czech Universities?

Open access to research data is one of the key themes of current science development concepts and relevant R & D strategies at least in Europe. A systemic change in the modus operandi of science and research should lead to so-called Open Science. The presented paper questions the extent to which the Open Science concept is reflected in the strategies of Czech universities. The paper first describes basic idea of Open Access to Research Data including principles of „FAIR data” as one of the key assumption of it. After a brief characterization of the Czech university sector, the results of the empirical analysis of the inclusion of the Open Access to Research Data concept in the current strategic plans of the Czech universities are presented. The conclusion of the paper is then an evaluation of the results, which reveal an underestimation of the Open Science concept in the current strategic plans of the Czech universities.

Gamification in LMS Courses

This paper attempts to respond to the use of the elements of gamification in education. With the help of research papers, we have chosen three different systems in which the elements of gamification are included and we have focused on their use in education.