Jalal Nouri

Mobile Devices as Support Rather than Distraction for Mobile Learners: Evaluating Guidelines for Design

This article questions the design of mobile learning activities that lead students to spend time focusing on the mobile devices at the expense of interacting with other students or exploring the environment. This problem is approached from an interaction design perspective, designing and analysing geometry-learning activities. The authors present six guidelines for designing mobile learning activities, where mobile devices support rather than distract students from contents and contexts relevant to the learning goals. The guidelines are developed through video analysis of groups of middle school students doing learning activities outdoors and evaluated using the task model. The guidelines suggest that students 1 assume roles based on a different functionality of each device, 2 use devices as contextual tools, that the activities, 3 include physical interaction with the environment, 4 let teachers assume roles, 5 encourage face-to-face communication, and 6 introduce students to the mobile devices.

Exploring the Challenges of Supporting Collaborative Mobile Learning

Mobile technology opens up opportunities for collaborative learning in otherwise remote contexts outside the classroom. A successful realization of these opportunities relies, however, on mobile learning activities providing adequate collaboration structures. This article presents an empirical study aimed at examining the role played by mobile devices, teachers and task structures as a means for collaborative learning in geometry. The study focused on the analysis of the nature of collaboration that unfolded when students measured areas outdoors in the field. The analysis of the mobile learning activity was conducted from an Activity theory perspective. The findings obtained indicate that the collaboration observed may be impaired if: 1 the functionalities needed for collaborative problem-solving are asymmetrically distributed on a number of mobile devices; 2 task-related information is not accessible to all learners; 3 the task structure is not sufficiently complex; 4 teacher scaffolding is too readily available; and 5 necessary collaborative skills are not developed.

The flipped classroom: for active, effective and increased learning – especially for low achievers

Higher education has been pressured to shift towards more flexible, effective, active, and student-centered teaching strategies that mitigate the limitations of traditional transmittal models of education. Lately, the flipped classroom model has been suggested to support this transition. However, research on the use of flipped classroom in higher education is in its infancy and little is known about student’s perceptions of learning through flipped classroom. This study examined students’ perceptions of flipped classroom education in a last year university course in research methods. A questionnaire was administered measuring students’ (n = 240) perceptions of flipped classroom in general, video as a learning tool, and Moodle (Learning Management System) as a supporting tool within the frame of a flipped classroom model. The results revealed that a large majority of the students had a positive attitude towards flipped classroom, the use of video and Moodle, and that a positive attitude towards flipped classroom was strongly correlated to perceptions of increased motivation, engagement, increased learning, and effective learning. Low achievers significantly reported more positively as compared to high achievers with regards to attitudes towards the use of video as a learning tool, perceived increased learning, and perceived more effective learning.

Evaluating Interaction with Mobile Devices in Mobile Inquiry-Based Learning

We evaluate to what extent students are interacting with mobile devices in one of four ways intended in the design of a mobile learning activity. Video data from one class of fifth grade students were analyzed using a model of four different types of interaction. The evaluation shows that the students interacted with the devices in the ways intended in design 64% of the time. The contribution is an approach for translating learning goals to interaction design goals in mobile learning research. We conclude that this approach can be of value in designing and evaluating interaction with mobile devices for an entire mobile learning activity.

Exploring mediums of pedagogical support in an across contexts mobile learning activity

The possibility to step out of the classroom for learning in authentic contexts, that which earlier have been studied in abstract terms in the classroom context, can be an enormous asset to the educational system. A successful realization of this possibility relies, however, on that the designed mobile learning activities provide the pedagogical support learning requires. In this exploratory study, we aim to present findings on how learners can be supported in a mobile learning activity by utilizing resources available in educational settings such as teachers, mobile technology, and the possibility to cross contexts.

Open government ideologies in post-soviet countries

Most research in research areas like e-government, e-participation and open government assumes a democratic norm. The open government (OG) concept is commonly based on a general liberal and deliberative ideology emphasising transparency, access, participation and collaboration, but also innovation and accountability are promoted. In this paper, we outline a terminology and suggest a method for how to investigate the concept more systematically in different policy documents, with a special emphasis on post-soviet countries. The result shows that the main focus in this regions OG policy documents is on freedom of information and accountability, and to a lesser extent on collaboration, while other aspects, such as diversity and innovation, are more rarely mentioned, if at all.

Mobile Inquiry-Based Learning

This paper presents a study on mobile learning that could be viewed as a manifestation of strong voices calling for learning in natural contexts. The study was based on a sequence of inquiry-based mobile learning activities within the domain of natural sciences and mathematics education. We questioned the effects of collaborative scaffolding, and the effects scaffolding provided by technology have on learning and performance. Based on a quantitative interaction analysis, findings suggest that low-achievement students benefit from inquiry-based mobile activities; that the use of mobile technologies bring multiple effects on students’ learning, both positive and negative, and that the roles of teachers remains as crucial as before the introduction of learning technologies.

How social network analysis can be used to monitor online collaborative learning and guide an informed intervention

To ensure online collaborative learning meets the intended pedagogical goals (is actually collaborative and stimulates learning), mechanisms are needed for monitoring the efficiency of online collaboration. Various studies have indicated that social network analysis can be particularly effective in studying students’ interactions in online collaboration. However, research in education has only focused on the theoretical potential of using SNA, not on the actual benefits they achieved. This study investigated how social network analysis can be used to monitor online collaborative learning, find aspects in need of improvement, guide an informed intervention, and assess the efficacy of intervention using an experimental, observational repeated-measurement design in three courses over a full-term duration. Using a combination of SNA-based visual and quantitative analysis, we monitored three SNA constructs for each participant: the level of interactivity, the role, and position in information exchange, and the role played by each participant in the collaboration. On the group level, we monitored interactivity and group cohesion indicators. Our monitoring uncovered a non-collaborative teacher-centered pattern of interactions in the three studied courses as well as very few interactions among students, limited information exchange or negotiation, and very limited student networks dominated by the teacher. An intervention based on SNA-generated insights was designed. The intervention was structured into five actions: increasing awareness, promoting collaboration, improving the content, preparing teachers, and finally practicing with feedback. Evaluation of the intervention revealed that it has significantly enhanced student-student interactions and teacher-student interactions, as well as produced a collaborative pattern of interactions among most students and teachers. Since efficient and communicative activities are essential prerequisites for successful content discussion and for realizing the goals of collaboration, we suggest that our SNA-based approach will positively affect teaching and learning in many educational domains. Our study offers a proof-of-concept of what SNA can add to the current tools for monitoring and supporting teaching and learning in higher education.

When Teaching Practices Meet Tablets’ Affordances. Insights on the Materiality of Learning

Research on tablets in schools is currently dominated by the effects these devices have on our children’s learning. Little has yet been said about how these devices contribute and participate in established school practices. This study delves into the questions of what do tablet-mediated teaching practices look like in Swedish schools and how are these practices valued by teachers? We collected data in four Swedish schools that were part of the one-to-one program financed by their municipalities. We apply qualitative and quantitative analysis methods on 22 deep interviews, 20 classrooms observations and 30 teachers’ responses to an online survey. The study identifies a set of tablet-mediated teaching practices that lead to a deeper understanding of how affordances of media tablets configure contemporary forms of learning.

Using social network analysis to understand online Problem-Based Learning and predict performance

Social network analysis (SNA) may be of significant value in studying online collaborative learning. SNA can enhance our understanding of the collaborative process, predict the under-achievers by means of learning analytics, and uncover the role dynamics of learners and teachers alike. As such, it constitutes an obvious opportunity to improve learning, inform teachers and stakeholders. Besides, it can facilitate data-driven support services for students. This study included four courses at Qassim University. Online interaction data were collected and processed following a standard data mining technique. The SNA parameters relevant to knowledge sharing and construction were calculated on the individual and the group level. The analysis included quantitative network analysis and visualization, correlation tests as well as predictive and explanatory regression models. Our results showed a consistent moderate to strong positive correlation between performance, interaction parameters and students’ centrality measures across all the studied courses, regardless of the subject matter. In each of the studied courses, students with stronger ties to prominent peers (better social capital) in small interactive and cohesive groups tended to do better. The results of correlation tests were confirmed using regression tests, which were validated using a next year dataset. Using SNA indicators, we were able to classify students according to achievement with high accuracy (93.3%). This demonstrates the possibility of using interaction data to predict underachievers with reasonable reliability, which is an obvious opportunity for intervention and support.