Petra Poulova

Older People and Their Attitude to the Use of Information and Communication Technologies--A Review Study with Special Focus on the Czech Republic (Older People and Their Attitude to ICT).

ABSTRACT Rising standards of living and good quality health care have contributed to people living longer. According to the Eurostat agency (Benáčová & Valenta, 2009), in the next 50 years there will be twice as many older people worldwide. The aging process, however, brings about new economic and social issues. Therefore, there is constant effort to prolong the active age of these older people who want to lead an active, fulfilling, and quality life in a sense of their inclusion, socialization, and independence. This can be achieved not only by continuous support from their family members. Current trends also show an important role for information and communication technologies (ICT) in the prolonging of an active life. The purpose of this review study is to explore the role of ICT in the lifestyle of older people and show how the Czech older people can cope with the use of ICT in their life. The methods exploited in this review study include a literature review of available sources exploring the use of ICT by older people and a comparison of the very few research studies exploring this topic in the Czech environment. The objective was to illustrate how the role of ICT in the life of the Czech older people and their training in the use of ICT can lead to a gradual positive change in their attitude towards ICT.

Tutor as an important e-learning support

Abstract Teachers are all the time looking for different ways of increasing the quality of their teaching. At present the use of computers and new technologies has become an important aspect of education. They have enabled the teaching community to redefine some of the strategies and concepts of teaching and learning. In this climate computer-based distance learning courses have emerged. One of the supports of the distance learning is e-learning, which is widely used at the University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. The article attempts to examine how the traditional role of a teacher in the e-courses changes and what preconditions are pivotal for the tutoring of such courses. In addition to that, it describes a creation of e-learning courses from the pedagogical point of view. Finally, a few problems of practical e-tutoring run at a university level in the Czech Republic are depicted.

The use of ICT devices by older people with a special focus on their type and respondents’ age: A Czech case study

ABSTRACT The recent demographic trends show a rapid increase of aging population, especially in developed countries. Therefore, there is an urgent need to look for the opportunities of maintaining the quality of life of this aging population. One of the solutions seems to be the use of information and communication technology (ICT) devices, which can promote autonomy of older people by facilitating the execution of many routine activities such as shopping or communication. The purpose of this study is to explore the use of ICT devices among older people in the Czech Republic with respect to their type and respondents’ age. The methods include a questionnaire survey, as well as statistical processing of data collection. The results indicate that present seniors are becoming more digitally literate, especially in the use of mobile phones. However, the use of the technological devices then dramatically drops at the age of 75 years. In addition, the results indicate that future research should focus on the use of mobile phones, respectively smartphones, and its effectiveness on the improvement of quality of life of older generation groups.

Flexible Hybrid Learning: Comparative Study

Hybrid learning has become a widely exploited approach within the ICT-enhanced instruction. Making it flexible, so that the process of learning reflecting students’ needs and preferences was the problem solved in various ways at three Czech institutions of higher education. In the paper the whole process is described, describing the starting phase, which was identical at all three institutions, and comparing different models of flexible hybrid learning applied further, including the results of pedagogical experiments comparing learners’ knowledge in flexible and non-flexible learning. The results did not proved clearly visible differences, as neither world-recognized research did. Despite this, authors are persuaded that research activities in this field should go on, paying deeper attention to learners’ personal characteristics and other activities within the learning process.

Forms of Instruction and Students’ Preferences - A Comparative Study

Online teaching and learning is increasingly common nowadays at many types of higher education institutions, ranging from hybrid/blended courses that offer a combination of face-to-face and online instruction, to fully online experiences and distance learning. The purpose of this article is to firstly outline the main benefits of online teaching and learning. Secondly, the authors survey which of the forms of instruction currently prevails and thirdly, to what extent students’ learning preferences correspond to the selected form of instruction. This survey is conducted both in the Czech Republic and abroad, in this case in Kazakhstan, in order to obtain more reliable results

Linking theory with practice

The article illustrates an example of a close cooperation between the academic environment and businesses at regional level. Apart from a number of different activities, the cooperation is enhanced through one event that is annually held at the Faculty of Informatics and Management (FIM) in Hradec Králové. This event provides the students of FIM with a higher chance to succeed in the job market after leaving school and reflects the importance of cooperation between the universities and businesses. In addition, the findings obtained from the evaluation questionnaires distributed among the participants of this event are described and put into a wider context of job opportunities for university graduates in the Czech Republic.

University teacher as an on-line tutor

At present the use of computers and new information and communication technologies has become an important aspect of education. Teachers have enabled the teaching community to redefine some of the strategies and concepts of teaching and learning. The contribution attempts to examine how the traditional role of a teacher in the electronic courses changes and what preconditions are pivotal for the tutoring of such courses. It provides results of small-scale research which was carried out among the teachers of the Faculty of Education and Faculty of Arts of the University of Hradec Králové in order to discover how theory reflects field experience.

Pedagogical Issues of Online Teaching: Students’ Satisfaction with On-Line Study Materials and Their Preferences for a Certain Type

Education has dramatically changed thanks to the implementation of new technologies into a learning process in last years. Such education place higher demands on teachers since they must have not only good pedagogical skills but usually also good managerial and technical skills. Unfortunately, there are not many empirical studies addressing pragmatic issues such as the form of online study materials. Thus, the purpose of this article is to discover what kind of online study materials students prefer so that the teacher could adjust his/her online teaching materials to student’s needs.

Mobile technologies within the higher education

The paper focuses on the field of the possible use of mobile devices for education. data were collected by the questionnaire method from 203 respondents - FIM students monitoring the ownership and use of the devices for personal and education purposes. The results show the mobile devices are widely spread among the FIM students so their systematic implementation into the process of instruction cab start.

Google Glass Used as Assistive Technology Its Utilization for Blind and Visually Impaired People

Project Google Glass represents the innovative technology developed by Google’s X Lab. This smart gadget is built on human interaction with world through Android operating system. Wearable computer with the optical head-mounted display (abbreviated as OHMD) has been developing by Google. Firstly, the primary purpose of Project Google Glass was the hands-free displaying of knowledge presently obtainable to most sensible mobile phone users. Secondly, Google Glass (abbreviated as GG) was allowing interaction with the Internet and the web via basic voice or vision commands. In a basic view, Google Glasses are wearable computers that can easily power mobile devices such as Smartphones or tablets. This paper is focused on the practical utilization of Google Glass for sensually impaired people (in this case it means blind or visually impaired people). Google Glass is easily programmable and helpful technology that can significantly help people, not only the handicapped or impaired individuals, but their benefits can also make easier life for elderly people. Primary purpose of the paper is to provide and test developed application for basic navigation issues, which are usable for daily support of blind or visually impaired people. Second part of research is using Google Glass camera as a basic recognition tool for blind or visually impaired individuals. In this point of view it is possible to call GG as Assistive Technology or device, which helps blind people or people with visual impairment too. Google Glass are currently often used in various domains such as medicine, research, education.