Juliana Elisa Raffaghelli

Moving education into the digital age: the contribution of teachers' professional development

This article introduces the main outcomes of discussions at EDUsummIT 2011 by the specific Technical Working Group on Teacher Professional Development (TWG3). The focus was to explore how professional development of teachers may ensure that teachers are better prepared to use information and communication technology (ICT) to promote 21st century learning. The article is organized into three main sections: a review of key literature on professional development of teachers (TPD), in general and with specific reference to ICT; a summary of the key points emerging from TWG3s discussions; and recommendations for action. On the basis of discussions held within the TWG3, the authors concluded that effective TPD requires changes at several levels of educational systems (political, institutional and individual), and that ICTs should be seen as an opportunity for introducing new goals, structures and roles that support these changes. It is significant that while many of the issues highlighted by the group are well established, addressing them continues to be problematic globally.

Methodological approaches in MOOC research: Retracing the myth of Proteus

This paper explores the methodological approaches most commonly adopted in the scholarly literature on Massive Open Online Courses ( MOOCs), published during the period January 2008- May 2014. In order to identify trends, gaps and criticalities related to the methodological approaches of this emerging field of research, we analysed 60 papers selected across four relevant scientific databases plus one journal in the sector of e-learning that published a special issue on this topic. The emerging picture is that of a research field in its infancy, heavily relying on theoretical research and JOUR studies, which is just beginning to identify suitable methods to deal with large cohorts of learners, very large amounts of data and new ways of learning. The state-of-the-art is also quite fragmentary, due to the different epistemological and ontological conceptions of the authors of the papers about the nature of the issues faced and the way they should be studied. In this paper, we compare the problems related to the definition of the methodological approaches in this research field with the Greek myth of Proteus, the elusive, multiform divinity whose wisdom would only be revealed to those capable of catching him. We therefore advocate the need for catching Proteus, that is, better identifying and choosing the methodological approaches for MOOC research as a condition for its development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supporting Self-regulated Learning Through Digital Badges: A Case Study

Self-regulated learning (SRL) takes place when individuals plan, monitor and evaluate their own learning experiences. Learning assessment plays a crucial role in this process because it provides an excellent basis for the above three phases of SRL; however, the identification, design and implementation of meaningful assessment activities is not easy and some technological affordances for an SRL-sensitive assessment design still need to be explored. Although Digital Badges are already considered an instrument that could provide good answers to the complex problem of assessment for learning, their potential for SRL support is rather under-explored. This paper puts forward a proposal on the role that Digital Badges can play in supporting SRL. The proposal consists in a “badge ecosystem”, developed for a course on “Scientific Information for Biomedical Research”, aimed at differentiating among different levels of competence to facilitate learners in making better informed decisions on how to go about in their learning process. The conclusions discuss the expected advantages and shortcomings of the proposed ecosystem.

Le tecnologie educative

Review of the book A. Calvani, G. Bonaiuti, L. Menichetti, & G. Vivanet (2017). Le tecnologie educative. Roma, IT: Carocci

Open educational resources and teachers' professionalism in the era of access

The use of Open Educational Resources (OER) has been considered a valid strategy for fostering innovative educational practices that adopt a learner centered approach. Following the conceptualization of OER proposed by UNESCO, a number of significant experiences have emerged in the use and sharing of OER. Nevertheless, these new modalities of interaction require new competences in the use and sharing of knowledge on the web. This paper introduces a preliminary study of teachers’ knowledge about the OER concept. It was carried out within the OER-Univirtual project, which is promoted by the Univirtual Lab on e-Learning Technologies. Analysis of results has provided the basis for formulating a training approach designed to foster teachers’ competences regarding the implementation of a new model of open education in secondary school teaching practice.

Digital resources for faculty development in e-learning: a self-paced approach for professional learning

Since a growing number of universities have adopted e-learning or blended solutions, faculty development is increasingly seen as a crucial strategy to prepare faculty members for innovative teaching practices. However, a number of barriers prevent faculty from attending training programmes, including scheduling and logistic constraints. Offering a flexible online format for training should provide opportunities to fit user needs better. In this regard, while literature exists on on-site interventions, studies on self-paced online courses are still limited. This paper presents a self-paced online programme for faculty development on e-learning, and explores its correspondence with users’ needs. The contribution starts with an examination of the literature and an explanation of the design strategies adopted for the programme. It then presents the methods used and analyses the main findings. The results show that, depending on their levels of experience and motivation, users demonstrated diverse patterns of use with regard to the contents and activities selected. From this point of view, the results confirm the importance of adopting design approaches based on self-paced principles.

After hours. Teacher time in online learning

This paper reports the results of a research study on the problem of online teaching time.The study was based on a qualitative approach that combined digital ethnography with thematic andcontent analysis. It comprised analysis of online communications between academics and experts ofdifferent nationalities engaged in the LinkedIn professional network. Content analysis relating theseprofessional conversations enabled the authors to reach the following conclusions: a) university teacherswho deliver online courses, particularly those based on constructivist and collaborative approaches, havea perception of high workload connected to this activity; b) intrinsic motivation hence becomes crucial to ensure continuity in pedagogical practices of this type; c) the lack of acknowledgement of this activity atinstitutional level generates frustration; d) awareness of the issue and related problems seems to be scarce at the level of institutional governance and also among faculty members.

Exploring the (missed) connections between digital scholarship and faculty development: a conceptual analysis

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between two research topics: digital scholarship and faculty development. The former topic drives attention on academics’ new practices in digital, open and networked contexts; the second is focused on the requirements and strategies to promote academics’ professional learning and career advancement. The research question addressing this study is: are faculty development strategies hindered by the lack of a cohesive view in the research on digital scholarship? The main assumption guiding this research question is that clear conceptual frameworks and models of professional practice lead to effective faculty development strategies. Through a wide overview of the evolution of both digital scholarship and faculty development, followed by a conceptual analysis of the intersections between fields, the paper attempts to show the extent on which the situation in one area (digital scholarship) might encompass criticalities for the other (faculty development) in terms of research and practices. Furthermore, three scenarios based on the several perspectives of digital scholarship are built in order to explore the research question in depth. We conclude that at the current state of art the relationship between these two topics is weak. Moreover, the dialogue between digital scholarship and faculty development could put the basis to forge effective professional learning contexts and instruments, with the ultimate goal of supporting academics to become digital scholars towards a more open and democratic vision of scholarship.

BIG DATA FOR SOCIAL MEDIA LEARNING ANALYTICS: POTENTIALS AND CHALLENGES

Today, the information gathered from massive learning platforms and social media sites allow deriving a very comprehensive set of learning information. To this aim, data mining techniques can surely help to gain proper insights, personalize learning experiences, formative assessments, performance measurements, as well as to develop new learning and instructional design models. Therefore, a core requirement is to classify, mix, filter and process the involved big data sources by means of proper learning and social learning analytics tools. In this perspective, the paper investigates the most promising applications and issues of big data for the design of the next-generation of massive learning platforms and social media sites. Specifically, it addresses the methodological tools and instruments for social learning analytics, pitfalls arising from the usage of open datasets, and privacy and security aspects. The paper also provides future research directions.

Open Digital Badges: a technology supporting assessment in Lifelong Learning

Un interessante strumento per affrontare la complessa problematica della valutazione a supporto dell’apprendimento permanente.