Speech Genres and Other Late Essays

The purpose of this research was to explore teaching and learning when mobile computing devices, such as cellphones and smartphones, were implemented in higher education. This paper presents a portion of the findings on students' perceptions of learning with mobile computing devices and the roles social media played. This qualitative research study focused on students from three universities across the US. The students' teachers had been integrating mobile computing devices, such as cellphones and smartphones, into their courses for at least two semesters. Data were collected through student focus group interviews. Two specific themes emerged from the interview data: (a) advantages of mobile computing devices for student learning and (b) frustrations from learning with mobile computing devices. Mobile computing devices and the use of social media created opportunities for interaction, provided opportunities for collaboration, as well as allowed students to engage in content creation and communication using social media and Web 2.0 tools with the assistance of constant connectivity.

Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media

Informal science is a burgeoning field that operates across a broad range of venues and envisages learning outcomes for individuals, schools, families, and society. The evidence base that describes informal science, its promise, and effects is informed by a range of disciplines and perspectives, including field-based research, visitor studies, and psychological and anthropological studies of learning. Learning Science in Informal Environments draws together disparate literatures, synthesizes the state of knowledge, and articulates a common framework for the next generation of research on learning science in informal environments across a life span. Contributors include recognized experts in a range of disciplines--research and evaluation, exhibit designers, program developers, and educators. They also have experience in a range of settings--museums, after-school programs, science and technology centers, media enterprises, aquariums, zoos, state parks, and botanical gardens. Learning Science in Informal Environments is an invaluable guide for program and exhibit designers, evaluators, staff of science-rich informal learning institutions and community-based organizations, scientists interested in educational outreach, federal science agency education staff, and K-12 science educators.

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Learning science in informal environments : people, places, and pursuits

Review on teaching and learning of computational thinking through programming

The relation between 21st-century skills and digital skills

In recent years, there has been much debate about the concept of digital natives, in particular the differences between the digital natives' knowledge and adoption of digital technologies in informal versus formal educational contexts. This paper investigates the knowledge about educational technologies of a group of undergraduate students studying the course Introduction to eLearning at a university in Australia and how they adopt unfamiliar technologies into their learning. The study explores the 'digital nativeness' of these students by investigating their degree of digital literacy and the ease with which they learn to make use of unfamiliar technologies. The findings show that the undergraduates were generally able to use unfamiliar technologies easily in their learning to create useful artefacts. They need, however to be made aware of what constitutes educational technologies and be provided with the opportunity to use them for meaningful purposes. The self-perception measures of the study indicated that digital natives can be taught digital literacy.

Can we teach digital natives digital literacy

School experience influences on pre-service teachers' evolving beliefs about effective teaching

While there are studies that have looked at the implementation of mobile learning in educational institutions, particularly the identification of issues encountered, few studies have explored holistically the elements that sustain mobile learning. This study dissects the findings of a longitudinal study of a secondary school adopting a personal digital assistant programme and proposes a person-centred sustainable model for mobile learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A framework for sustainable mobile learning in schools

Students often make little linkage from lesson to lesson on what they learn in the regular classroom. Having them take responsibility for what they are learning is one way of having them think and connect these thoughts together. This qualitative study looks at the use of the World Wide Web (WWW) as a research and teaching tool in promoting self-directed learning in a group of 15 year old students. The perceptions of students on the effectiveness of the World Wide Web in assisting them with the construction of knowledge on Photosynthesis and Respiration are reported and discussed in this paper. The study showed that the students found that the WWW had a number of positive effects on their learning including motivation for independent learning. However, the unedited and unstructured nature of the WWW meant that many of the sites they visited had information that was too difficult to understand and that time was required to improve technical and critical thinking skills to search effectively. The teacher's role as facilitator and guide was crucial to the success of their learning.

Students' Perceptions of the Effectiveness of the World Wide Web as a Research and Teaching Tool in Science Learning

As is the case with most developed countries, pressures from various sectors of society have seen computers make a big presence in Australian education systems in the last decade In the state of Victoria, integrating learning technology (LT) into all key learning areas of every school's curriculum has been a priority policy of governments Over the last 8–10 years, large amounts of money have been provided to set schools up with computers and associated technologies In the area of science, a range of LT resources is available for use in the teaching and learning processes in the classroom However, there has been limited evaluation into teachers' attitudes towards, and types of, methodology and effectiveness of usage of computer-based technologies in knowledge construction Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, a study aimed at identifying science teachers' opinions and practices with the use of computer-based technologies in their teaching has been carried out in Victorian government schools

Wan Ng

Papers

Can we teach digital natives digital literacy

School experience influences on pre-service teachers' evolving beliefs about effective teaching

A framework for sustainable mobile learning in schools

Students' Perceptions of the Effectiveness of the World Wide Web as a Research and Teaching Tool in Science Learning

Science and computer-based technologies: attitudes of secondary science teachers