Jeanne Lam

A review of mobile learning in the mobile age

With the advent of mobile communication technologies, mobile learning (m-learning) is a new type of learning which allows people to learn across context and without restriction of location. This paper attempts to review the evolution of m-learning and to find out the learning trends and readiness of using mobile technologies within the community so that some practices could be encouraged to enhance learning experience. It is found that the latest mobile technologies are mature to support m-learning. As proven in many successful cases, m-learning has the advantages on boosting interaction and collaboration among students and teachers. M-learning is now perceived as the extension of e-learning that really makes learning available anywhere and anytime. When developing m-learning as a new learning option for student, it is necessary to balance between the organisational or student needs and the rapid technological changes. Security and copyright issues should also be carefully considered.

Facebook - education with social networking websites for teaching and learning

This paper is a study of using social networking websites, in particularly Facebook, for conducting courses as a replacement of expensive traditional electronic learning platforms. At the early stage of the Internet community, Internet users used electronic mail as the main communication mean. Although email is still the core way of communication in a convenient but off-line mode, other facilities were introduced, such as many Instant Messaging (IM) software applications like I-Seek-You (ICQ) and MSN, which enable people to communicate in a real-time mode. However, the communication between people was further enhanced to the next stage, when Facebook came to existence as a social networking website that supports many features. People do not only communicate with others, but also organize all kinds of interactions among them. Facebook provides rich features for organizing relationships. The framework of Facebook actually provides free of charge software that were provided by traditional electronic learning. This paper studies how people use Facebook for teaching and learning, together with recommendations provided.

A review of e-learning platforms in the age of e-learning 2.0

Online communication is changing the way instructors and learners interact and learn. Today, apart from providing an information repository or a place to search for resources, the new Web 2.0 allows us to find other people, exchange ideas and thoughts, demonstrate creativity and create new knowledge. Based on Web 2.0, e-learning 2.0 has evolved to provide a constructivist learning environment. In this paper, Web 2.0 applications, such as wikis, social bookmarking and podcasts, are reviewed on how they can provide a rich, interactive, user-friendly application platform effectively. The platform would allow teachers and trainers to empower learners and create exciting new learning opportunities. It is more desirable if Web 2.0 technologies can be well integrated into traditional e-learning platforms such as WebCT and blackboard.

A review of mobile learning environment in higher education sector of hong kong: technological and social perspectives

The development of mobile technology has been evolving rapidly over the past decade. The advancement of mobile devices, especially smartphones and tablets, enables people to gain access to online information without constraints of time and location. One of the distinguishing features of our society in this new millennium is the change of lifestyle by mobile technology. The way of learning is also changed by mobile technology. Students nowadays learn and share via mobile devices. Mobile learning, also named as m-learning, has already become an integral part of learning in many higher education institutes. Although m-learning is still at a nascent stage for many education institutes, the increasing adoption of mobile devices re-assures the popularity of m-learning in the learning sphere. This paper attempts to review on m-learning in technological and social perspectives. The situation in Hong Kong is critically reviewed. The review of the trend in the literature provides a reference for higher education institutes for decision making in developing m-learning for their students.

Instructional Design Practices for Blended Learning

In recent years, with the advances of the Internet and e-learning technologies, a blended mode of learning, which effectively combines the traditional face-to-face learning and e-learning, has evolved. Yet, this blended learning mode is not widely adopted in higher education. One major reason is that teachers are not familiar with the practices of designing courses under the blended learning environment. This paper investigates the instructional design practices for blended learning. Key steps in the instructional design process are proposed. The whole process begins with writing the course overview and re-designing the lesson plan. Following a blended learning course template, the face-to-face learning elements and e-learning elements are specified. Lesson materials and resources are then developed as learning objects to be launched onto a learning management system. Continuous review is required.

Collaborative Learning Using Social Media Tools in a Blended Learning Course

The concept of collaboration is rooted in social constructivist theories. With social theories as the theoretical base, collaborative learning is extended to online collaborative learning with the support of new technologies. In blended learning, students learn in collaborative situations using online tools to support inquiry and discovery learning. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework is a popular framework for blended learning from a socio-constructivist perspective where teaching, cognitive and social presence are required in collaborative constructivist learning. With the continued advances in technology, online collaborative learning via social media initiates new learning experiences. The purpose of this paper is to explore the student experience in collaborative learning using social media tools in a blended learning course. In this study, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in a blended learning course. The results show the students engaged in learning through use of WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook to transfer, share and construct knowledge among peers in asynchronous and synchronous modes. Relationships of the collaboration with learning outcomes, engagement and other influential factors were also found. The collaboration was found to be initiated independently by the students and was a non-prescribed activity as it was not designed in the course nor instructed by the teachers. This study asserts that the element of autonomy could be considered in the Community of Inquiry in reflecting the learning experience without a teaching presence in blended learning.

Knowledge Sharing through Technology

The recent interest in utilizing a large collection of authentic electronic language resources, called a corpus, has increased in tertiary institutions to facilitate student language learning. The examination of a corpus has made it possible for students to analyze multiple language examples and the patterns of co-occurred words. This approach, referred to as ‘data-driven learning’, assists students in becoming more aware of language use and patterns of various forms. This paper outlines the research conducted for the purpose of examining how Japanese students perceive the efficacy of exploring different types of corpora: one corpus familiar to students, and the other, the Brown Corpus which was unfamiliar to students. Specifically, the focus was on examining the relationships between the students’ proficiency levels and their perceptions of using different types of corpora.

Design and development process for blended learning courses

Combining face-to-face learning and e-learning, blended learning is well recognised as a promising mode of learning where the benefits of both can be effectively derived. This paper investigates the design and development process for blended learning courses. The process begins with an analysis of student needs and expectations. Design and implementation of the functional features and learning activities then follow. Learning effectiveness would be evaluated. Iteration is necessary in order to refine the delivered courses to align to student needs and competence. In this paper, some key challenges involved in the development process are discussed, and good practices are shared.

Technology in education. Technology-mediated proactive learning: Second international conference, ICTE 2015, Hong Kong, China, July 2-4, 2015, revised selected papers

Technology has become virtually an integral part of all areas of educational delivery. While technology brings new means and ways of learning to students and teachers, it also poses challenges to them. This paper attempts to offer glimpses of the transformation of technology-mediated learning that are taking place, with examples in three key areas: learning spaces, learning modes, and learning materials. It highlights the pervasive permeation of technology. Noting the challenges confronting educators in the adoption of the fast changing technology, it proposes a model to systematically identify the difficulties to tackle now and in time to come. The model takes into account the general environment that the educational institution operates in, as well as the readiness of the insti‐ tution, the instructor and the learner.

Policies and strategies of technology enhanced learning in lifelong education in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Singapore

Policies and strategies of technology-enhanced learning issued by governments have played an important role in improving the quality of lifelong education. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of policies and strategies of technology-enhanced learning in lifelong education in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Singapore. A review of lifelong education policies and strategies in these countries is conducted in this study. The results show that these Asian societies input different levels of efforts in promoting technology-enhanced learning. Technology-enhanced learning provides for remarkably new avenues for learning and skills development. In order to educate the workforce in the future, governments should invest and develop more in these aspects.