Vickel Narayan

iPadagogy: appropriating the iPad within pedagogical contexts

This paper critiques eight m-learning projects, including four m-learning projects using iPads in 2010 followed by a further four iPad projects in 2011. Using an action research methodology, the authors explore the impact of the integration of the m-learning projects on the pedagogical approaches of these courses. The eight iPad projects present different approaches to the integration of the iPad within a variety of educational contexts. The projects were informed by six critical success factors identified from thirty m-learning projects between 2006 and 2010, and illustrate the potential for the iPad to become a pedagogical game changer.

Rethinking e-learning support strategies

This paper discusses an e-learning support team model developed as part of a new e-learning strategy within a tertiary education polytechnic. Based upon a community of practice model, the e-Team supports the establishment of e-learning and m-learning (mobile learning) throughout the institution as a catalyst for the adoption of social constructivist pedagogy. The paper reviews and reflects upon the impact of strategies for creating and supporting communities of practice across the institution along with the ways this model is achieving the breaking down of the barriers to ‘e’ and ‘m’ learning adoption among lecturers. This model helped to move lecturers from non-engagement to legitimate peripheral participation and onto full participation within the institution’s e-learning community, and ultimately enabling social constructivist learning environments for students. This model based on a community of practice framework for e-learning support is potentially transferable to other educational contexts.

Mobile Social Media: Redefining Professional Development and Collaborative Scholarship

In this chapter, we explore a developing model for scaffolding and supporting professional development for higher education lecturers via mobile social media. The framework involves the establishment of communities of practice comprised of lecturers and mobile learning researchers exploring the potential of mobile social media to enable new pedagogical strategies. We identify three key elements of the framework illustrated by two case studies: modelling a community of practice, redefining pedagogy and designing an appropriate technology support infrastructure.

Nurturing Collaborative Networks of Mobile Learning Researchers and Practitioners

In this article, we present the development of a framework for supporting and facilitating collaborative networks of reflective practice using mobile social media. Developed throughout a two-year collaborative mobile learning project #NPF14LMD, the framework has subsequently been used to support two wider international networks of mobile learning researchers and practitioners. The #NPF14LMD project was a national project comprised of three universities and three polytechnics across New Zealand. One of the goals of the #NPF14LMD project was to create a collaborative network of practice across the six institutions participating in the project. The network provided a support and communication structure linking the six institutional communities of practice, enabling sharing of their experiences and a sense of belonging to a wider national and international community. This article outlines the use of mobile social media to facilitate the #NPF14LMD network, and the subsequent application of this framework to support two international networks.

Principles of Modeling CoPs for Pedagogical Change: Lessons Learnt from Practice 2006 to 2014

In this chapter the authors draw upon their experiences of facilitating communities of practice (CoPs) within a variety of higher education contexts since 2006 to identify several key principles for modeling CoPs to enable pedagogical change. These principles include: the critical role of the technology steward, reproduction via brokering the activity of CoPs, building trust, sustaining collaboration, fostering uniqueness, cultivating creative pedagogies, addressing the fear factors, and critical peer reviewed reflection. A key catalyst facilitating these principles has been the reframing of mobile social media from a purely social domain to an educational domain.