HANDBOOK OF MIXED METHODS IN SOCIAL & BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH (Book)

The concept of student engagement has become somewhat of an enigma for educators and researchers, with ongoing discussions about its nature and complexity, and criticism about the depth and breadth of theorising and operationalisation within empirical research. This equally applies to research conducted in the field of educational technology and its application in schools and higher education. Recognising the inherent role that technology now plays in education, and the potential it has to engage students, this paper draws on a range of student engagement literature and conceptualises a provisional bioecological framework of student engagement that explicitly includes technology as one influential factor. This paper first proposes a definition of student engagement and provides an exploration of positive student engagement indicators. It then presents a bioecological framework, and the microsystemic facets of technology, teacher and curriculum are further explored in their relation to fostering student engagement. Based on this framework, implications for further theory-based research into student engagement and its relation to educational technology are discussed and recommendations for educators are given.

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Facilitating Student Engagement Through Educational Technology: Towards a Conceptual Framework

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has had an unprecedented impact on education around the world. In order to understand and face this challenge, educators and researchers undertook a range of research, however the time that teachers have to undertake professional development and seek out such literature to inform their practice has been sorely lacking. Furthermore, literature exploring the wider variety of stakeholder experiences has been suggested to be missing. This living rapid systematic review synthesises K-12 research on teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, published in English and indexed in 5 international databases. 89 studies were included for synthesis in the present article, and the results are discussed against a bioecological model of student engagement. The results indicate that the majority of research was conducted in Europe and Asia, predominantly focused on teachers, with more studies undertaken in high schools. Online surveys were the most used method, although future research must include all study design information. Recommendations from the literature include providing further funding for professional development and equipment, prioritising equity, designing collaborative activities, and using a combination of synchronous and asynchronous technology. Gaps in the literature are highlighted and practical tips for teachers are provided.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1285336.pdf

Schools and emergency remote education during the COVID-19 pandemic: A living rapid systematic review

Deconstructing Digital Natives: Young People, Technology and the New Literacies

As a generation of ‘digital natives,’ secondary students who were born from 2002 to 2010 have various approaches to acquiring digital knowledge. Digital literacy and resilience are crucial for them to navigate the digital world as much as the real world; however, these remain under-researched subjects, especially in developing countries. In Vietnam, the education system has put considerable effort into teaching students these skills to promote quality education as part of the United Nations-defined Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4). This issue has proven especially salient amid the COVID−19 pandemic lockdowns, which had obliged most schools to switch to online forms of teaching. This study, which utilizes a dataset of 1061 Vietnamese students taken from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s “Digital Kids Asia Pacific (DKAP)” project, employs Bayesian statistics to explore the relationship between the students’ background and their digital abilities. Results show that economic status and parents’ level of education are positively correlated with digital literacy. Students from urban schools have only a slightly higher level of digital literacy than their rural counterparts, suggesting that school location may not be a defining explanatory element in the variation of digital literacy and resilience among Vietnamese students. Students’ digital literacy and, especially resilience, also have associations with their gender. Moreover, as students are digitally literate, they are more likely to be digitally resilient. Following SDG4, i.e., Quality Education, it is advisable for schools, and especially parents, to seriously invest in creating a safe, educational environment to enhance digital literacy among students.

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How digital natives learn and thrive in the digital age: Evidence from an emerging economy

Children have increasing access, and at younger ages, to ICT. This results from state policy measures, or from families having progressively provided ICT access to their children, or both of these influences. As a critical approach to the impact of technology in the construction of social change, this paper seeks to understand how children's relationships are built with ICT, and how family background and mediation affects this relationship, within the context of socialisation and a certain position in social space. From two case studies we present results of a multivariate analysis as well as qualitative data. The data suggest that the democratisation of access to ICT, amplified by the wide distribution of a laptop computer to children in elementary schools, has resulted in distinct profiles of use by children. These profiles appear linked to different (academic and digital) family resources and diverse parental involvement concerning these uses (regulation and support).

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Children's Use of ICT, Family Mediation, and Social Inequalities.

This paper seeks to study curriculum as a form of organization of the learning process from the perspective of the learner, in online learning contexts. Departing from a theoretical and conceptual analysis of curriculum, understood as the conception, organization and structuring of the learning process, we analyzed different adults’ representations of online learning and their general conceptions of curriculum. The empirical data came from the application of a questionnaire, distributed online (study I, 833 participants), and semi-structured interviews (study II, seven participants). The results contribute to the reflection on curriculum in a digital context, and to describing the curriculum organization of the learning process adopted by each individual. We found that space and time, in addition to strategies and actors are the most dynamic curriculum components in these circumstances. The formal contexts in which institutionalised learning and the curricula in force therein, occur are central to the development of the personal learning curriculum. This leads us to question the possibilities and ways of reconfiguring curriculum, of conceiving it differently, in digital learning contexts.

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Online Learning: From the Curriculum for All to the Curriculum for Each Individual

The main purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the kind of educational work to be done with higher education students (undergraduate) in order to encourage them to create and use personal learning environments (PLEs) as a strategy for learning (Attwell, 2007). Based on our current classroom work with students of the 2nd year of a degree in Education and mainly using the functionalities of the Ning system (Copyright © 2010 Ning, Inc.), as well as other tools available on the Internet, we tried to implement a strategy based not only on the presentation of content by the teacher, but also on the recognition of the importance of student’s leadership in the organisation and management of their own learning. Therefore, in addition to face-to-face lectures, we tried to extend the discussion outside the classroom walls using the different services offered by Ning, proposing to integrate the work done by students in their individual evaluation (50% of the final classification). At the end of the semester we observed evidence of a general difficulty felt by the students, particularly in terms of self-regulation and personal organisation. So we decided to try to understand the problem observed in depth. For the purpose of understanding the nature and the extent of these difficulties, we used a methodology focused on analysis of a questionnaire applied to the students about their perception of the difficulties in managing the learning process and about the strategies used for dealing with those difficulties. Although the students acknowledge that the development of the individual online portfolio in a PLE requires that, for the most part, largely they themselves have to get organised and manage of their own learning (Barrett, 2000; Attwell, 2007), one can see that they do not feel prepared for this, experiencing difficulties in personal organisation, time management and regular participation in the proposed activities. In strategic terms, they value the appraisals and/or suggestions given by the teachers, but do not adopt an attitude of reflection or interaction and sharing with others, as catered for by the platform and its functionalities.

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Managing personal learning environments: the voice of the students

Gamification has been a strategy widely used in recent years, particularly at higher education level. The idea is to improve the teaching and learning process through the use of different mechanics and other elements based on games, hoping to get more motivation and commitment from students. As a contribution to the discussion on the value that this approach can bring in terms of its effectiveness of students’ achievement, it seems particularly relevant to hear what students have to say. The study here presented was developed in the context of a gamification experience in an engineering course. We will present the results of the content analysis of the focus-group interviews carried out before academic activity ended. Preliminary results show that although students resume a globally positive experience about gamification, it is important to ensure that the “rules of the game” are clear, that the articulation between the elements makes sense and that educational feedback is not neglected.

What Do Higher Education Students Have to Say About Gamification

Digital technologies in education have been challenging us to reflect on curriculum and on learning. Within the scope of the so called educational digital technologies, specifically in non-formalized online contexts, is it still feasible and realistic to consider the curriculum as a framework of reference for learning? That is what we set out to research. Starting from a theoretical and conceptual analysis of the curriculum, understood as the conception, organization and structuring of the learning process, we analyzed the representations of different adults about online learning and their general conceptions about curriculum. Empirical data came from applying a questionnaire, distributed online, and conducting semi-structured interviews. 833 people were surveyed and seven were interviewed, all adults with different socio-demographic profiles. As a result of the research, we found that space and time, strategies and actors are the most changing curriculum components in these circunstances. The concept of personal learning curriculum is consolidated as an autonomous, flexible, individualized curriculum, the development of which the digital provides and facilitates.

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Aprender na era digital: Do currículo para todos ao currículo de cada um: Learning in the digital age: from the curriculum for everyone to the curriculum of each

Joana Viana

Papers

Children's Use of ICT, Family Mediation, and Social Inequalities.

Online Learning: From the Curriculum for All to the Curriculum for Each Individual

Managing personal learning environments: the voice of the students

What Do Higher Education Students Have to Say About Gamification

Aprender na era digital: Do currículo para todos ao currículo de cada um: Learning in the digital age: from the curriculum for everyone to the curriculum of each