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1 – 10 of 90Beth Seyala, Erin Burns, Shannon Richie, Amy L. Deuink and Valerie Lynn
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Chromebooks as an alternative to the traditional computer laboratory for library instruction in an academic environment. The results of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Chromebooks as an alternative to the traditional computer laboratory for library instruction in an academic environment. The results of this study could help inform the creation of a mobile instruction lab that students and librarians quickly construct inside any classroom with minimal effort and no software to manage.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was distributed to student participants. The survey contained two demographic questions followed by seven user experience questions related to the in-classroom use of Chromebooks; most questions were quantitative in nature.
Findings
The majority of respondents (84 percent) strongly or somewhat agreed that Chromebooks were easy to use, and 15 percent of the respondents reported some difficulty accessing the university’s Wi-Fi system while using the devices.
Research limitations/implications
This introductory study was limited to a survey population primarily comprised of lower-level undergraduate students in their first two years of study. Additionally, Chromebooks were not tested in an educational environment using G Suite for Education, which could increase the opportunities for use in an academic setting.
Practical implications
The study’s findings, combined with the portability and long battery life of Chromebooks, make them a candidate for a mobile instruction lab.
Originality/value
This research seeks to explore the viability of Chromebooks as an affordable and easy to manage alternative to wired instruction rooms, using a light laptop technology that is becoming increasingly familiar to college students.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine how elementary school teachers integrated technology into their mathematics teaching in classroom settings that were one-to-one computer…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how elementary school teachers integrated technology into their mathematics teaching in classroom settings that were one-to-one computer environments for most of the day. Following a series of classroom observations and interviews, inductive qualitative analyses of data indicated that teachers felt that technology supported students’ mathematics learning and prepared them for their future where technology was important. However, observations indicated that despite teaching in one-to-one environments, students only used technology on rare occasions or if they finished activities early. Further, these technology-based activities were low-level review of mathematics computations. Implications include the need to provide effective support to teachers about integrating technology in meaningful ways.
Design/methodology/approach
This study involved classroom observations of two-third grade teachers.
Findings
Findings indicate that teachers used Chromebooks in one-to-one classrooms to provide students with extra practice on computational skills.
Research limitations/implications
There is a need for future studies to look at teachers’ use of technology and its influence on student learning.
Practical implications
Teacher education programs and school leaders should provide opportunities for current and future teachers to learn about technology with content specific examples.
Originality/value
This study provided an examination of all of the third grade teachers in a school who all were teaching mathematics in one-to-one classroom environments.
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Lana Peterson and Cassandra Scharber
The purpose of this paper is to describe the practice of using student technology teams (STTs) offered at a high school within a 1:1 district.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the practice of using student technology teams (STTs) offered at a high school within a 1:1 district.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative case study (Merriam, 1998, 2009) documents how an STT program functioned in 2015-2016 academic year.
Findings
Findings show the STT provided a rich and authentic learning opportunity for students interested in information technology. The district benefits greatly through both cost savings and personnel support related to its 1:1 initiative.
Originality/value
As there is no current research on K-12 STTs, this study serves as a foundation for a practice that is growing within schools.
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Chinwe H. Ikpeze and Susan M. Schultz
The purpose of this study was to examine major issues and perspectives emanating from teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and proffer ways to reimagine P-12…
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine major issues and perspectives emanating from teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and proffer ways to reimagine P-12 (Pre-Kindergarten to 12th grade) education to achieve equity. The research question was “What major issues/challenges arose from COVID-19 pandemic teaching, and in what ways if any can these be ameliorated?” Tierney's concept of global meaning making provided a framework for the study in addition to critical digital pedagogy. Data for the study were collected from eight P-12 teachers drawn from both urban and rural school districts in the United States. Data sources were two questionnaires administered to teachers at the beginning and end of the study as well as teachers' reflective entries. Data analysis was done using thematic analysis. The major findings indicate that poverty and digital divide were the biggest challenges that impacted teaching and learning among the urban and rural students. Another major issue was teacher and student technology proficiency. In addition, there was a low level of student engagement which was caused by family dynamics, lack of accountability, and lack of self-regulation skills. Social emotional learning received great attention because students faced anxiety and stress. Findings from this study suggest the need to create equitable learning opportunities through equitable distribution of resources to disadvantaged students. Second, there is need to train teachers and students to effectively use digital tools for teaching and learning. We need to emphasize caring relationships and reconceptualize learning spaces.
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Alexandria Bradley and Bill Davies
This paper aims to highlight the impact that Covid-19 has had on the quality of education in prisons. This study considers the restrictive approaches taken by Her Majesty’s Prison…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to highlight the impact that Covid-19 has had on the quality of education in prisons. This study considers the restrictive approaches taken by Her Majesty’s Prison Service during this challenging time, to argue that prisoner education is not being adequately prioritised. This study highlight issues relating to the digital divide in prisons and the lack of technological advancement, which could improve educational continuity and in-cell learning.
Design/methodology/approach
This study provides an examination of the broad impact the national pandemic has had on prisons and punishment, Covid-19 National Frameworks and policies relating to prison restrictions, the movements within prisoner education policy, scholarship and reflections from delivering Learning Together in HMP Full Sutton, to argue that prisoners are at the bottom of the educational hierarchy in terms of delivery, innovation and prioritisation of learner needs. However, this study proposes that some of the technologically enhanced learning is a potential solution, to transform educational equity and to reduce the digital divide.
Findings
This study highlights that education in prisons has taken a sudden and substantial deterioration. Findings suggest that there are few signs of this improving in the immediate future due to ongoing national restrictions. The Covid-19 prison restrictions further demonstrate the neglect of prisoners' educational needs. In addition, the national pandemic has highlighted the lack of use of technology within educational delivery in prisoners. However, findings suggest that through engaging digital learning platforms and the greater inclusions of technology in prisons, they can enhance educational opportunities and inclusive experiences for isolated learners.
Research limitations/implications
This is a study piece with support from a review of policy and scholarship. This is not based on data collected with serving prisoners during the national pandemic.
Originality/value
This study provides an overview of the current restrictions and lockdowns in prison associated with the national pandemic. Contemporary consideration to this underexplored area is essential to highlight the severe deprivations of prisoners and the fundamental impact this has had on educational delivery and much anticipated progression. Nuanced approaches to increase the use of technology within prison education are considered, in light of the challenges the pandemic has spotlighted.
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how changes in K-12 educational delivery methods in the USA impacts students as 1:1 device programs become a required tool for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how changes in K-12 educational delivery methods in the USA impacts students as 1:1 device programs become a required tool for learning. This change produces gaps in knowledge and understanding of the digital environment and exposes minors to risk. Mandatory technology integration by school districts places the ethical responsibility on school districts to prepare students to use the digital environment to mitigate risk.
Design/methodology/approach
The author’s literature review focused on the impact of personal device integration in education on students. The author surveyed teachers in the district on what they perceived as risk to students accessing the digital environment and what they believe creates value in digital citizenship instructional content. The author also gathered information while serving on the school district technology steering committee and digital citizenship working group.
Findings
Mandatory 1:1 device programs used for learning provide unlimited access to the digital environment. This technology integration creates digital knowledge gaps in understanding among students and exposes them to risk or dangers such as loss of privacy, psychological harms and engaging in or being a victim of illegal online activities. School districts are responsible for providing a remedy to close this gap and mitigate risk by developing learning content resources for teachers.
Social implications
As 1:1 device programs continue to grow in school districts in the USA, it is essential for students to learn to apply protocols and understand norms of the digital world. Providing a digital citizenship curriculum in a format such as a Google Site will offer educators access to instructional content that teaches students to apply protocols, understand norms of the internet and social media and foster critical thinking to analyze power structures, biases and recognize manipulation online. Student must learn how to apply rules that challenge assumptions behind the digital content they see, and they must be able to identify and resolve digital practices and behaviors that are problematic, so they are prepared to participate in a digital society.
Originality/value
This perspective may be relevant to school districts contemplating personal device integration, providing insight into how 1:1 device use impacts students and develops an ethical position for creating digital citizenship resources for teachers.
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Vicki A. Hosek and Lara J. Handsfield
The purpose of this study was to examine teacher decisions surrounding opportunities for student voice, experiences and beliefs in digital classroom communities. The teachers’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine teacher decisions surrounding opportunities for student voice, experiences and beliefs in digital classroom communities. The teachers’ decisions reflect monologic rather than dialogic teacher pedagogies which prompted the authors to ask the following question: What led to these teacher-centered practices in digital environments?
Design/methodology/approach
Authoritative discourses in school policies and a missing connection between critical pedagogies and teachers’ technology practices are examined in light of teachers’ decisions to engage in monologic and/or dialogic teaching practices. The authors propose professional development and research that emphasize pedagogy that supports student voice as foundational to practices involving digital literacies.
Findings
Examination of the teachers’ decisions showed monologic practices void of student opportunities to critically engage in digital environments. Dominant discourses imposed through protectionist and digital citizenship policies of schools as well as lack of opportunity through professional development to connect critical pedagogy to technology impacted the teachers’ decisions.
Originality/value
Current research surrounding teachers’ digital literacies uses the TPACK framework to examine technology integration practices. Missing is a critical component that addresses and works to dismantle the dominant discourses and power structures in digital communities (Author, 2018). The authors build on research in critical digital literacies to argue for adding the critical missing “C” into the TPACK framework (C-TPACK) to move researchers and educators to consider pedagogies that examine ideologies at work in digital communities to provide opportunities for student voice.
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Kimberly McDavid Schmidt and Rebecca Beucher
This study aims to investigate the ways affective intensities arise in the intra-actions within an assemblage (three Black girls, objects such as computers and hoodies…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the ways affective intensities arise in the intra-actions within an assemblage (three Black girls, objects such as computers and hoodies, institutionalized discourse associated with race and successful participation in schools) as the girls create multimodal responses to literature. This paper shows how the intra-actions among the girls and material objects produce affective intensities or new ways of being and becoming through which youth reauthor themselves as central and peripheral participants.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors present an illustrative case of the ways girls’ embodied literacy identities emerge when Jillian, Isa, and Rhianna intra-act with materials in an assemblage that includes their material-discursive positionings through qualitative and multimodal interaction analysis.
Findings
The analysis describes the ways the girls agentively participate through play, composing and moments of becoming (fluid subjectivities) that include emotive acts such as acts of solidarity, loving connectedness and possible frustration that inform who counts and who can be successful in the classroom.
Research limitations/implications
This single case study gives a descriptive, in-depth analysis of the ways affective intensities emerge as three girls respond to literature to understand their embodied and discursive practices within the composing process.
Originality/value
To fully understand agency and the students’ emergent subjectivities, the authors combine embodiment and material-discursive analysis to understand affective intensities that evolve during three Black girls’ composing processes and the ways the girls’ subjectivities shift within the intra-actions.
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Antero Garcia, Stephanie M. Robillard, Miroslav Suzara and Jorge E. Garcia
This study explores student sensemaking based on the creation and interpretation of sound on a public school bus, operating as a result of a desegregation settlement. To…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores student sensemaking based on the creation and interpretation of sound on a public school bus, operating as a result of a desegregation settlement. To understand these multimodal literacy practices, the authors examined students’ journeys, sonically as passengers in mobile and adult-constructed space.
Design/methodology/approach
As a qualitative study, the authors used ethnographic methods for data collection. Additionally, the authors used a design-based research approach to work alongside students to capture and interpret sound levels on the bus.
Findings
Findings from this study illustrate how students used sounds as a means to create community, engage in agentic choices and make meaning of their surroundings. Moreover, students used sound as a way around the pervasive drone of the bus itself.
Research limitations/implications
Research implications from this study speak to the need for research approaches that extend beyond visual observation. Sonic interpretation can offer researchers greater understanding into student learning as they spend time in interstitial spaces.
Practical implications
This manuscript illustrates possibilities that emerge if educators attune to the sounds that shape a learner’s day and the ways in which attention to sonic design can create more equitable spaces that are conducive to students’ learning and literacy needs.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates the use of sound as a means of sensemaking, calling attention to new ways of understanding student experiences in adult-governed spaces.
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