Susan Crichton

Virtual Ethnography: Interactive Interviewing Online as Method

Recognizing the power of the Internet to connect people, regardless of place or time, we explore the notion of a virtual form of ethnography, suggesting online, textual interactive interviews are worthy of research consideration. This paper reports on three research projects, drawing examples from almost ten years in the evolution of Internet supported conferencing software. It is the position of this paper that we were able to share and develop new insights into being authors, interlocutors, online learners, online researchers, and members of an educational context. Further, we feel that we were able to sustain conversations beyond the scope of many traditional face-to-face interview sessions, noting that the participants enjoyed the process and often found it hard to quit their interactions with us. Hence our position that even though the technology is still emerging and improving, the potential is clearly rich, inviting, and worth continued study.nstructor if given the authority in a social constructivist learning environment.

A review of 2000-2003 literature at the intersection of online learning and disability

Literature published between 2000 and 2003 at the intersection between online learning and disability can be classified into didactic, descriptive, research, and opinion pieces. In this article, two research pieces surveying the literature are reviewed. The resounding theme throughout the literature is that improving accessibility of online learning for students with disabilities will promote best practices in online learning for all students.

Deepening Understanding of Inquiry Teaching and Learning with E-Portfolios in a Teacher Preparation Program

This paper describes the first stages of a project focusing on the use of preservice-teacher-generated e-Portfolios as a means of documenting and assessing inquiry-based teaching and learning. The project is designed to explore ways in which preservice teacher-created e-Portfolios can be used to (1) document how inquiry lives in practice, and (2) help university instructors and practitioners in the field assess the knowledge, skills, and attributes of preservice teachers who are participating in an inquiry based teacher preparation program.

The value of eJournals to support ePortfolio development for assessment in teacher education

This paper presents findings from a two-year pilot project into the use of ePortfolios as a tool for assessment in a two year, field-oriented, inquiry-based teacher preparation program. Participants consisted of five cohorts of pre-service student teachers and five instructors; interviews, focus groups, artifacts, and project meetings provided the raw data for analysis. The originality of this work rests in the importance of establishing an eJournal to accompany the ePortfolio. Based on our findings in this action research study, we challenge and add to the existing ePortfolio literature around such issues as ePortfolio project design, process vs. product, the use of templates, social software, and documentation. Resume : Cet article presente les resultats d’un projet pilote de deux ans portant sur l’utilisation des portfolios electroniques comme outil d’evaluation au sein d’un programme de preparation des enseignants axe sur la recherche et la pratique d’une duree de deux ans. Les participants se composaient de cinq cohortes d’etudiants en enseignement non encore sur le marche du travail ainsi que de cinq instructeurs; les donnees brutes qui ont ete analysees proviennent d’entretiens, de groupes de discussion, d’artefacts et de reunions de projet. L’originalite de ce travail reside dans l’importance attachee a la creation d’un journal electronique pour accompagner le portfolio. Sur la base de nos conclusions dans cette etude de recherche appliquee, nous remettons en question la documentation existante tout en y contribuant sur des sujets tels que la conception du projet de portfolio electronique, la comparaison du processus et du produit, l’utilisation de modeles, les logiciels sociaux et la documentation.

Learning Plans as Support for the Development of Learner Identity: A Case Study in Rural Western Canada:

The development of a complex, multi-faceted sense of self can increase student achievement and self-confidence. Individualised learning plans link the personal and social identities of students with the academic curriculum, mapping a pathway to activities appropriate to needs and goals and the development of an increasingly complex sense of self.

Embedded or linked learning objects: Implications for content development, course design and classroom use

This research explores the idea of embedding and linking to existing content in learning object repositories and investigates teacher-designer use of learning objects within one high school mathematics course in an online school. This qualitative case study supports and extends the learning object literature, and brings forward context-specific examples of issues around repository design, autonomy and self-containment, technical support and granularity. Moreover, these findings have implications for building learning objects and repositories that could better support teachers in their instructional design and pedagogical decision-making. Resume : La presente recherche etudie la possibilite d’effectuer un emboitement et d’etablir des liens avec le contenu existant dans les referentiels sur les objets d’apprentissage et explore l’utilisation par les enseignants-concepteurs des objets d’apprentissage au sein d’un cours de mathematique du secondaire donne dans une ecole en ligne. Cette etude de cas qualitative appuie et vise la litterature sur les objets d’apprentissage et met en avant plan des exemples de questions touchant la conception de referentiels, l’autonomie et l’independance, le soutien technique et la granularite propres au contexte. De plus, ces conclusions ont des repercussions sur l’elaboration d’objets et de referentiels d’apprentissage qui pourraient mieux appuyer les enseignants dans le cadre de leur conception pedagogique et de leur prise de decision touchant l’enseignement.

Describing a design thinking methodology to develop sustainable physical activity and nutrition interventions in low resourced settings

The objective of the study is to describe how design thinking as a participatory process can be applied in determining how sustainable physical activity and nutrition interventions should be implemented in a low resourced community in South Africa. Physical inactivity is the 4th leading cause of mortality world-wide. Associated with inactivity, a high prevalence of obesity is reported. Evidence based research indicate that sustainable physical activity and nutrition interventions will reduce the burden of physical inactivity and obesity. Poverty, and its inherent lack of food security, further impacts the health of people living marginalized, increasingly urban lifestyles. The intent of the project is to change attitudes and behavior towards physical activity participation and nutrition choices. Design Thinking is typically implemented using a five-step process where the community is engaged with presenting the problem they experience, defining the problem, presenting solutions to the problem and finally developing a prototype in solving the problem they experience. The principle of the Design Thinking process is that the low resourced community holds part of the answer to the problem and has a desire to change their health. The proposed solutions, coming directly from the participants, are therefore considered viable. Once a desired prototype is developed and tested in the community, feasibility can be determined. The presence of these three factors, is expected to result in an innovation.

Empowering twenty-first century assessment practices: designing technologies as agents of change

The overarching questions guiding this interprofessional design-based research study are: (1) How might a suite of assessment tools help K-7 educators visualize learning in their classrooms and (2) How might these visualization approaches inform K-7 educators’ changes in classroom assessment? Recognized by their administrators as having previously introduced twenty-first century learning and teaching into their classrooms, seven primary educators (grades K-3) and two intermediate educators (grades 4-7) volunteered to participate in this study. Across three data collections, researchers explored how these K-7 educators perceived an impact to their classroom practices when introduced to a new suite of assessment tools. All K-7 educators reported the importance and challenges of visualizing and capturing individual, small group, or whole-class formative learning artifacts in their classrooms. They reported the following characteristics were important: interactive, personalized, collaborative, creative, and innovative. Reflecting on their brief experiences with the software, the K-7 educators reported more confidence in using the suite of assessment tools. They appreciated working as part of an interprofessional team including researchers, academics, and software developers. Based on these initial findings, the researchers discuss the study’s scholarly significance, position the study within the growing literature, and suggest such opportunities may initiate just-in-the-moment professional development.

Cognitive Development in ICT contexts

New, dynamic, virtual learning environments are presenting opportunities for more diverse types of learning and cognitive social activity than have been previously available in formal educational settings. Some consequences of our understanding of how learning occurs include newly recognised forms of learning, how these can be nurtured, and how this new knowledge can be applied to the design of virtual social contexts that encourage new approaches to learning and thinking. Also, settings in which ICT are used can be designed in new ways to take advantage of the knowledge that cognition is plastic, active and socially embedded. In this paper, four related investigations are presented which are based on systemic, socio-cultural approaches to the understanding of learning in ICT contexts. Our research indicates, however, that there is also a need for changes in institutional practice if these new approaches are to be actualised.