Richard E. West

Mendeley: Creating Communities of Scholarly Inquiry Through Research Collaboration

Mendeley is a free, web-based tool for organizing research citations and annotating their accompanying PDF articles. Adapting Web 2.0 principles for academic scholarship, Mendeley integrates the management of the research articles with features for collaborating with researchers locally and worldwide. In this article the features of Mendeley are discussed and critiqued in comparison to other, similar tools. These features include citation management, online synchronization and collaboration, PDF management and annotation, and integration with word processing software. The article concludes with a discussion of how a social networking tool such as Mendeley might impact the academic scholarship process.

Technology Integration in Schools

It is commonly believed that learning is enhanced through the use of technology and that students need to develop technology skills in order to be productive members of society. For this reason, providing a high quality education includes the expectation that teachers use educational technologies effectively in their classroom and that they teach their students to use technology. In this chapter we have organized our review of technology integration research around a framework based on three areas of focus: (1) increasing access to educational technologies, (2) increasing the use of technology for instructional purposes, and (3) improving the effectiveness of technology use to facilitate learning. Within these categories, we describe findings related to one-to-one computing initiatives, integration of open educational resources, various methods of teacher professional development, ethical issues affecting technology use, emerging approaches to technology integration that emphasize pedagogical perspectives and personalized instruction, technology-enabled assessment practices, and the need for systemic educational change to fully realize technology’s potential for improving learning. From our analysis of the scholarship in this area, we conclude that the primary benefit of current technology use in education has been to increase information access and communication. Students primarily use technology to gather, organize, analyze, and report information, but this has not dramatically improved student performance on standardized tests. These findings lead to the conclusion that future efforts should focus on providing students and teachers with increased access to technology along with training in pedagogically sound best practices, including more advanced approaches for technology-based assessment and adaptive instruction.

The Influence of Asynchronous Video Communication on Learner Social Presence: A Narrative Analysis of Four Cases

Online courses are increasingly using asynchronous video communication. However, little is known about how asynchronous video communication influences students’ communication patterns. This study presents four narratives of students with varying characteristics who engaged in asynchronous video communication. The extrovert valued the efficiency of making video comments but saw little value in viewing the video comments of her peers. Somewhat inversely, the English language learner valued the video comments of her peers but lacked the ability to fully participate herself. The introverted student valued the flexibility and richness of asynchronous video but spent an inordinate amount of time recording her videos. Lastly, the instructor video messages helped the student with low self-regulation to progress in the course.

Benefits and Challenges of Using Live Modeling to Help Preservice Teachers Transfer Technology Integration Principles

Abstract One method underutilized in training teachers to use technology is to use live modeling sessions. This study qualitatively investigates how the use of modeling sessions impacted students. In this study we found that modeling was perceived by most students to be effective at teaching technology skills and ideas for integrating technology as teachers. However, we identified several breakdowns in the ability of students to transfer their understanding of technology integration to their own situations. We explain this difficulty of transfer of learning and describe five situations when these breakdowns were likely to occur. Implications include the benefits of using live modeling if adapted to address students’ unique needs, as well as future research into the impact of contextual differences on the transfer of students’ learning.

An Analysis of a Decade of Research in 10 Instructional Design and Technology Journals.

In this paper, we review findings from an analysis of the past decade (2001-10) of research in 10 major journals in the field of instructional design and technology. Each research paper published in these journals during this decade was categorized according to its focus or methodology, topical keywords, authorship and citation trends; and the findings were aggregated across all of the journals to show trends over the last decade. We found there is a strong emphasis on technology-related issues, distance education, communication strategies and instructional methods over cognitive-related topics and learning issues. There is a strong history of theoretical inquiry and a fairly even balance of qualitative and quantitative research being published, with other research methods emerging. However, there are distinct differences in methodological stances among the journals. We also found some evidence that the Institute for Scientific Information Impact Factor may not be the best indicator of impact quality for journals in our field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insights From Research on Distance Education Learners, Learning, and Learner Support

Abstract This article reviews the key ideas related to increasing student learning and support described in selected chapters from the second edition of the Handbook of Distance Education (Moore 2007). These chapters described research findings related to the impact of distance education on learners in general (student autonomy, cognition, social learning, and satisfaction) as well as specific subgroups of distance students and instructors (K–12, female, and disabled students as well as academic advising and library services). This article concludes with brief recommendations for future research in each of these areas.

Improving Problem-based Learning in Creative Communities Through Effective Group Evaluation

In this case study, we researched one cohort from the Center for Animation, a higher education teaching environment that has successfully fostered group creativity and learning outcomes through problem-based learning. Through live and videotaped observations of the interactions of this community over 18 months, in addition to focused interviews with nine key community leaders, we considered the evaluative culture and actions of this community, and how these evaluative practices improved their creative problem solving. We describe their evaluation practices in the context of principles derived from the Joint Committees’ Evaluation Standards (Yarbrough, Shulha, Hopson, & Caruthers, 2011), which are well-respected standards used by professional evaluators. Specifically, we found that problem-based learning strategies were successful in part because the community members (1) established a context and culture of high expectations, collaboration, and evaluation; (2) united the students, teachers, and industry leaders as shared stakeholders in the success of the project; (3) identified early the key criteria for evaluating progress; and (4) asked questions to evaluate progress towards meeting the criteria, using many approaches to gathering information. We discuss the implications for applying these principles to other problem-based learning environments, particularly in higher education, as well as future research.

Innovation 101: Promoting Undergraduate Innovation Through a Two-Day Boot Camp

Over the years, many training methods for creativity and innovation have been developed. Despite these programs and research, further improvement is necessary, particularly in schools of technology and engineering education, where previous efforts have focused on developing solutions to defined problems, not in identifying and defining the problems themselves in ways that promote creative outcomes. This study presents initial efforts to develop an instructional program designed to teach innovation to undergraduate technology and engineering students. Results from a pre/posttest analysis using both the Torrance Tests for Creative Thinking and a survey with self-reported data indicate that the Innovation Boot Camp was successful because it (a) encapsulated innovation into a process that students could learn and apply, (b) engaged students in multidisciplinary groups, and (c) provided a hands-on, activities-oriented curriculum explicitly designed to enhance innovation. Notwithstanding, ideas for improvement and further research and development of the curriculum are described.

Using Open Badges to Certify Practicing Evaluators

For several decades members of the American Evaluation Association have discussed and disputed the issue of evaluator certification. Our past inability to agree on a certification solution may have been partially caused by the weaknesses of traditional certification systems, which rely on candidates obtaining a degree and completing a comprehensive exam. In this article we propose a certification system based on digital open badges. The open badge framework uses a top-down design to structure and understand the certification process as micro-certification units. These types of systems are adaptable and clearly communicate the evidence of knowledge, skill, and experience represented by the credential. The potential benefits of using an open badge infrastructure make this an enticing option and viable solution for the AEA to establish policy and practice regarding an efficient, rigorous and credible way to certify evaluators.

Innovating How We Teach Collaborative Design Through Studio-Based Pedagogy

Over the past decade, a handful of researchers have studied the most important skills for becoming an effective instructional designer (Kenny, Zhang, Schwier, & Campbell, 2014; Lowenthal, Wilson, & Dunlap, 2010; Ritzhaupt, Martin, & Daniels, 2010; Sugar, Brown, Daniels, & Hoard, 2011; Sugar et al., 2012). While nearly all employers indicate the need for specific instructional design skills and knowledge (e.g., ADDIE, ID models), many of the most requested skills are neither technical nor theoretical, but instead include social skills such as creativity, teamwork, and communication. For example, collaboration was the second most requested skill of instructional design job postings in Sugar et al.’s (2012) findings, while communication skills was the third most requested ability. In a Delphi study of instructional designers in higher education, communication and social skills were the first and second most important skills, respectively (Sugar et al., 2011). In this chapter, we discuss how a studio-based approach to instruction may foster such skills.