Search results

With the purpose to contribute to the English language teaching-learning process of refugees, as part of a university linking project carried out at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, Esmeraldas Campus, to foster refugees’ sustainability and social integration, an educative investigation was carried out with the help of the Applied Linguistics School at the mentioned university, in collaboration with the United Nations Refugee Agency, from 2016 to 2017. The population was formed by 20 student refugees and 4 students from the Applied Linguistics School who worked as teachers. The refugees who attended the course needed English language literacy because they were going to be resettled in other countries, which were English-speaking ones. With the empirical-analytical and hermeneutic methods, and the techniques of observation and survey, a diagnosis of the teaching-learning process was made, which revealed the necessity to teach English to the referred refugees based on their communicative needs, according to their jobs. As a result, an occupation-based didactic model for English language teaching to refugees, with its components, principles, and laws, was designed, which permitted the proposal of a didactic methodology for fostering meaningful learning, motivation, and communicative competence in English in connection with refugees’ occupations.

Covid-19 pandemic has affected all sectors in the economy. Among them, education sector is one of the most influenced fields. This chapter presents a case of a faculty in a state university in Sri Lanka which underwent a transformation toward online teaching, learning, and assessment mode with the Covid-19 pandemic. The unexpected conversion to online mode impacted many parties, and among them, the lecturers and students were mostly affected within universities. The author explored the perception of students and lecturers on this unexpected compulsory transformation and identified how they perceive this new normal in teaching, learning, and assessment. In addition, the benefits and challenges faced, and the pre and post views on online experience were also studied. An online survey with students and a series of interviews with lecturers were exercised for data collection. The views that students have on online learning were different among the various study program levels, and the benefits and challenges faced by the different student groups also varied. Further, the lecturers had different perceptions on teaching the different level programs and subjects. These aspects are discussed in detail throughout the chapter, and at the end, suggestions for making the online mode more effective are presented.

Focusing on the theory of a humanizing pedagogy implies the building of an academic freedom in class to seek for students’ critical thinking and development. To achieve this aim, a qualitative investigation was carried out with 27 eighth-level Applied Linguistics School students who were undergoing their degree process at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador in Esmeraldas, from 2018 to 2019. The teacher in charge of the subjects degree I and degree II taught the students with a humanistic approach, by means of which the students were encouraged to investigate the real problems on English language teaching (ELT) faced in their community, guiding the students to look for proposals to solve these problems. A humanistic theoretical approach was designed to lead the students’ research process taking into consideration three important dimensions: ELT contextualized assessment, ELT innovative intervention and ELT experiment projection. As a result of the process, 27 educative research projects, which mainly focused on free innovative didactic ELT methods, methodologies, strategies and didactic materials, were carried out with successful results for the ELT community in Esmeraldas, since teachers were provided with the necessary tools to get the students involved in the teaching–learning process to improve their English level.

March 30, 2020 is a day of qualitative changes in the Lithuanian education system. This day in history – at least in the history of education – will record the day when mass distance learning began in the entire Lithuanian education system. All educational activities from kindergarten to higher and adult education were organized at a distance. In fact, the idea of distance learning was not so new in Lithuania. The first steps in developing a distance learning system in Lithuania were taken 25 years ago, but before the pandemic, it was more the exception than the norm and, of course, it had never been global. But in Spring 2020, all educational institutions (in general education during 2 weeks, in higher – even only during 2–3 days) were transformed from contact to distance learning. From a few-month perspective, it can be said that, despite all the circumstances, this transformation has been quite successful. In order to better understand the reasons for this quite sufficiently successful transition, it would be worthwhile to briefly review the organization of distance learning in Lithuania until the 2020 pandemic.

The application of blockchain, particularly through avenues in teaching and learning and academic administration, has created scope for a new business model in higher education. Although higher education institutions in many African countries including Botswana are yet to adopt blockchain in their institutional processes, the chapter points to seven unique areas of practice in which the technology could be infused. Distributed ledgers and smart contracts are among the blockchain functions that could assist in improving efficiency, security, and privacy in the way academic administration is executed especially in student identification, processing of student admission applications, degree certification, document authentication, and quality assurance. A distinct highpoint of the chapter is the attention it calls to student experience in the learning and teaching process, by highlighting that it stands to benefit from the collaborative learning model that blockchain enables. At a wider level, the conversation about blockchain-based pedagogy coalesces with the push by many African governments, in particular in Botswana, towards a digitally transformed society. Already, many colleges and universities have placed the focus on achieving ‘smart campuses’ as a strategic goal. Blockchain adoption is one such step towards a smart campus. The chapter theorises that higher education institutions cannot legitimately talk about smart campuses while still holding steadfast to manual systems and processes.

This chapter reports on an ethnographic case study of how a group of elementary school teachers designed technology enhanced learning with mobile technology (e.g. notebooks, tablet computers and mobile phones) to facilitate students’ development of literacy and twenty-first century competencies. These teachers designed the school’s literacy pedagogical approach, leveraging the use of technology, namely digital storytelling. The school in this case study is one of the eight Future Schools in Singapore under the FutureSchools@Singapore program. The school has been providing one-to-one mobile computing learning devices and wireless Internet access for its students. The introduction of technology in the classroom makes it possible for twenty-first century competencies to be integrated into literacy development. The conversational framework is used as a framework to examine how the design of the digital storytelling pedagogical approach brings about the various teaching–learning activities – acquisition, inquiry, practice, production, discussion and collaboration. The use of digital storytelling as an approach to integrate information communication technology (ICT) into the classroom has not only modified how ICT is being used in the school, it has redefined how ICT could be used to engage young learners. It has fundamentally transformed conventional storytelling with the use of current state-of-the-shelf (i.e. easily and widely available) technologies. This case study also outlines the processes involved in improving the design of digital storytelling over the years by the teachers. The ecosystem of the school is also taken into consideration and described in detail. Findings suggest the importance of the collaborative efforts of the teachers in the continuous improvements made to this design. The adoption of a learning design framework, such as the one used in this study, can be beneficial to ensure a systematic approach to the design of learning. In addition, the availability of technological infrastructure and computing devices are necessary for the seamless use of technology in the classroom. The just-in-time learning approach is adopted for students to learn technology as they are developing their digital stories.

Human perceptions, attitudes, and relationships are shaped by worldviews and values. The rich mosaic of worldviews in today's fast-changing global village, where cultures interact and information flows freely, challenge educators and students. Worldviews influence problem modeling and solutions. Worldviews give us psychological confidence that the world is as we see it, safe, secure, and belonging. Each worldview is consistent with the assumptions, ideals, and analytical processes. Values define behavior, attitudes and decision-making. The global higher education system's long history and recent developments in globalization, technological innovations, and internationalization make it even more complex. Globally, higher education is evolving rapidly. Global political, economic, social, technological, and environmental factors promote rapid change. Higher education institutions have struggled to adapt to these developments due to limited resources and capacity. Growing demand has created new business models and institutions. Access, equity, inclusion, and quality are new issues that emerged. To be relevant in a rapidly changing environment, higher education institutions must adapt to the knowledge society and growing need for access. This anthology contains 14 thought-provoking studies on worldviews and values in teaching-learning, curricula, assessment, and outcomes.

In the face of the erosion of democracy and the reemergence of authoritarian styles of rule and leadership in the contemporary world scene, the author reintroduces the anthropological and pedagogical insights of Dorothy Lee and Paulo Freire in the ongoing debate on active learning and higher education. In the case of Dorothy Lee, these insights refer to “valuing the self” of the student, and to the value of learning (values) from “remote cultures” and, last but not least, on the meaning of freedom and autonomy bounded by culture and structure in the teaching–learning process. In the case of Freire, the author selectively points to: (1) the value of community as a sociocultural anchor of identity, freedom, and autonomy, (2) the view of education as a tool for raising awareness, critical thinking, inspiration, hope, empowerment, cultural action, and social transformation, and (3) the view on citizenship education. The author discusses, in this regard, the significant role assigned by Dorothy Lee and Paulo Freire to the neglected notions of dialogue, freedom, culture, self, autonomy, and structure. Lastly, the author argues in favor of reincorporating the pedagogical insights of Dorothy Lee and Paulo Freire in the curricula and structure of higher education and also reminds those concerned with upholding democracy that these formative values and concepts were acknowledged in the early conception and development of active learning.

Teaching Net Generation accounting students is a challenging experience. They anticipate that technology will be an integral part of the teaching–learning processes that we offer them. This chapter focuses on how to use technology tools to create innovative course materials, delivery methods, and collaborative processes.

The chapter explains how I combined traditional instructional methods and technology-mediated learning (TML) techniques to create a practice–feedback–interaction process for use with two undergraduate auditing courses. I taught the first course (Auditing) during Fall Quarter 2006 and the second course (Advanced Auditing) during Winter Quarter 2007. I taught both courses in a blended instructional format.

This chapter shows how I used the practice–feedback–interaction process with individual and team writing assignments in the two auditing courses. I explain how the TML process works and describe technology tools used at each step of the process. Student comments provide feedback about how they reacted to using the technology-mediated teaching–learning process.

Curriculum designers have a colossal role to perform. They behold responsibility of viewing futuristic needs not only of society but also of the planet as a whole. They have taken into consideration not only intangible needs of society but also cognitive, affective, and psychomotor needs of individual learners. Curriculum as a whole tends to stress more on the cognitive development of the child more, whereas the, “affective learning …is included infrequently in curriculum” (Sowell, 2005, p.74); thus at times affective and psychomotor domains are overlooked during curriculum transaction. Emotional development is important for the development of humane society. Combs (1982) notes that when we ignore emotional components of any subject we teach, we actually deprive students of meaningfulness. So there is a need to give importance to the development of values among the students. As microcosms of society school curriculum can play an important role in developing a humane society. This purpose can be realized to some extent by modifying the school curriculum in such a manner that values and skills that are expected for imbibing humane culture are integrated along with the content of the regular school curriculum. The process of designing school curriculum so as to integrate the sustainable development goals may include defining learning outcomes, identifying plug points for integration, ascertaining strategies for integration at cognitive, affective and psychomotor domain, devising curriculum transaction plan, implementing integrated curriculum, evaluating, reviewing and monitoring learning outcomes, and implementing process. It is possible to develop a climate of encouraging and safeguarding cultural heritage by developing resources to educate people. Cultural heritage and traditional knowledge can be safeguarded by supporting practitioners and transmission of skills and knowledge. Plugins can be provided in secondary education at various levels of languages, mathematics and sciences to integrate the curriculum. This text provides comprehensive process and strategies to equip curriculum designers and educators as they guide a whole generation to a bright, safe and beautiful future.