Victoria I. Marín

Exploring the Possibilities of an Institutional PLE in Higher Education: Integration of a VLE and an E-Portfolio System

This paper presents an exploratory study on the potential for offering students elements to construct their own personal learning environments, by integrating an institutional virtual learning environment and an e-portfolio system. The study was conducted in the University of the Balearic Islands Spain and 73 students enrolled on a graduate course on Pedagogy took part in the study. The course was project-based, and the study was carried out in phases. The collection of data was undertaken through observation and monitoring the evolution of the e-portfolio activity, a student questionnaire and the observation of student output. This data showed that this kind of environment is used almost exclusively for academic purposes. The conclusions include that the e-portfolio is a good tool for the organization of academic information; it is useful for collaborating and working in groups.

The development of the reflective practitioner through digital storytelling

This paper presents a multiple case study on the use of digital storytelling to support the development of reflection and digital skills in professional education. Students from two universities, one group studying health and social care, the other training to be teachers, were asked to produce two artefacts, at the beginning and end of their respective modules, in which they reflected on the aspects of professional and personal learning. The artefacts, some of which were produced in groups, others by individual students, were analysed for recurring themes, levels of reflection and digital competence, particularly in the use of open educational resources. Findings from the analysis support the use of digital storytelling methods to develop a range of key skills pertinent to professional education in general but concluded that the deeper levels of reflection may be most evident in individual artefacts produced in the later stages of professional education. The study provides some important insights for teaching and learning in professional education as it suggests that digital storytelling provides a highly engaging way of introducing both reflective and open educational practices.

From Diagrams to Self-Regulated Learning: Student Teachers' Reflections on the Construction of Their PLE.

Abstract This paper presents a study on the reflections on their PLEs by student teachers in an ICT subject of the fourth degree course in Teacher Education (Early Childhood Teacher Training) at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB). There were four student teacher groups (n = 117) participating in this project, from the three Balearic Islands’ campuses (Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza). The main research issues focused on in this study are: the topics highlighted from the reflections on the students’ PLEs and the reflection level achieved. To explore these issues, a content analysis technique has been used to interpret their final assignment of the students’ eportfolios, in which they had to carry out their reflections on their PLEs. For that purpose, two instruments have been designed: a system of categories and a rubric of assessment. Results show that the topics on which students reflect most are the conception of the PLE, its explicitness and its purpose. Although some improvement in students’ reflective skills was observed, conclusions lead us to the necessity of working further on the depth of reflections in order to adequately support self-regulated learning.

Seamless Learning Environments in Higher Education with Mobile Devices and Examples

The use of seamless learning environments that have the potential to support lifelong learning anytime and anywhere has become a reality. In this sense, many educational institutions have started to consider introducing seamless learning environments into their programs. The aim of this study is to analyze how various educational university programs implement the design elements for seamless learning environments with mobile devices. For that purpose, three cases involved in a Finnish teaching development project are explored by conducting semi-structured interviews with key participants. The themes of the interviews were related to the theoretical background for mobile seamless learning environments from previous literature. This paper describes the findings of the three cases as common aspects for designing mobile, seamless learning environments; and it proposes a research agenda on challenges related to designing seamless learning environments with the integrated use of mobile devices in the curricula.

A Methodological Strategy focused on the Integration of different Learning Contexts in Higher Education

In this paper, we describe the design and validation results for the second rollout of a learning strategy integrating formal, informal and non-formal learning and boosting interaction in a degree course for pre-service teachers at the University of the Balearic Islands, after a first implementation in the previous academic year (2012/13), following the iteration cycle of the research-based design. The learning strategy is based on the idea of the personal learning environment (PLE) as a model for ICT integration, and is applied as such in the course. We used student questionnaires to validate the second implementation of the changed learning strategy with regard to reactions, learning and transference of the different items of the strategy. We present the results as a refined model of the methodological strategy and highlight some conclusions related to the use of this model and future research lines directed at learning design by teachers.

El uso del blog de aula como recurso complementario de la enseñanza presencial para el intercambio de información e interacción entre el profesorado y alumnado de primer año de química

Las posibilidades de las TIC en los procesos de ensenanza-aprendizaje ya llevan un recorrido de experimentacion en areas cientificas, como es la Quimica. De hecho, han adquirido mayor relevancia ya que se consideran como una forma posible de motivar a los alumnos y promover el rol del alumno activo. En esta experiencia integramos un blog en la asignatura “Quimica II” del primer ano de los estudios de Quimica en la Universidad de las Islas Baleares (UIB) con el objetivo de construir un espacio de comunicacion y conocimiento colaborativo relacionado con la quimica entre profesores y estudiantes. Los datos de esta experiencia se han recogido a partir de cuestionarios a los alumnos, una entrevista con una de las profesoras y observacion de la actividad en el blog. Tras revisar los resultados, podemos concluir que la experiencia, en general, ha sido interesante para ambos profesora y estudiantes, pero requiere de mayor elaboracion y promocion para la mejora de la participacion y enriquecer la construccion de conocimiento a traves de la reflexion y la discusion.

An interdisciplinary approach to the development of professional identity through digital storytelling in health and social care and teacher education

Abstract The present article presents a study based on an interdisciplinary approach to research into reflection on identity construction. This multiple case study explores the narrative of professional identities in digital artefacts. It is aimed at exploring in what way digital storytelling can be used as a suitable pedagogical strategy for the construction of professional identity. The students involved in the innovative learning activity comprise two groups of Health and Social Care students in the UK, two groups of Primary Education student-teachers and one group of Secondary Education student-teachers in Spain. Thematic analysis is used to identify the topics addressed by students in exploring their professional identities, including values and the process of learning itself. Finally, the lessons learned from this interdisciplinary approach to reflection on identity and the implications these have not only for teaching and learning design but also for future collaborative research projects are set out in the discussion and conclusions.

Thematic analysis of the international journal of educational Technology in Higher Education (ETHE) between 2004 and 2017

* Correspondence: jduart@uoc.edu Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain Full list of author information is available at the end of the article Introduction It gives us great pleasure to be able to use this editorial to present a thematic analysis of the articles published in the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education (ETHE) since it began back in 2004. The study uses the articles published in the 14 years of the journal’s history (2004-2017) to show what research was carried out in the field of educational technology in higher education in this period. This qualitative analysis could be considered to be complementary to the bibliometric analysis between 2004 and 2013 (Ramiro, Ramiro-Sánchez, & Alba-Ruiz, 2014). Although we cannot say that the study reflects all the areas of research covered during this period given that, as with any other journal of its kind, the articles published have to have passed a peer-review process and fit with the topic of the special issues proposed by the editors, but the results do show that the areas of research and the subjects covered in the articles published correspond to the research carried out in the field as a whole over the same period (Hsu, Hung, & Ching, 2013). As in previous studies with other journals in the field Edutec-e (Marín, Zawacki-Richter, Pérez Garcias, & Salinas, 2017), IRRODL (Zawacki-Richter, Alturki, & Aldraiweesh, 2017) or Distance Education (Zawacki-Richter & Naidu, 2016) -, the key themes covered in the publications over this period and the semantic relationships among these themes were explored with the text mining tool LeximancerTM.

La universidad entre lo real y lo virtual: una trayectoria no lineal para la didáctica universitaria

Resumen: El Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES) ha implicado cambios sustanciales en el aspecto de lo virtual en la didáctica universitaria. La introducción de entornos virtuales de enseñanzaaprendizaje permite y requiere de un cambio en el enfoque de la didáctica universitaria, en relación a los roles que desempeñan profesorado y alumnado. Estos entornos, si bien en un inicio podían ser únicamente un reflejo de la clase tradicional, cada vez más se orientan a la permeabilidad de contextos y situaciones didácticas, hasta el punto de que a veces es difícil establecer las fronteras entre la virtualidad y la realidad, así como el ámbito formal e informal. Las posibilidades que ofrecen los entornos virtuales de aprendizaje se orientan al aprendizaje ubicuo, en cualquier momento y lugar, y por tanto, a lo largo de la vida. Por ello, la integración de estos entornos en la didáctica universitaria suponen un cambio necesario en las metodologías de enseñanza-aprendizaje a favor del aprendiz y requieren, por otro lado, una adecuada formación del profesorado. Palabras clave: didáctica universitaria, aprendizaje ubicuo, virtualidad, metodologías activas, entornos de aprendizaje.

Chapter 1 – Collaborative e-Assessment as a Strategy for Scaffolding Self-Regulated Learning in Higher Education

In the European Higher Education Area various challenges are apparent regarding the use of didactical strategies centered on the learner, including learning assessment and improving self-regulated learning skills in students in preparation for lifelong learning. In this chapter, a collaborative e-assessment activity using the workshop plugin of the institutional virtual learning environment (VLE) based on Moodle in a preservice teacher training course at the University of the Balearic Islands (Spain) is presented as a strategy for promoting self-regulated learning. Experimental data were collected through the use of students’ questionnaires and written reflections and the teachers’ observations of the co-assessment results. The findings confirm the positive effects of co-assessment for students’ learning and improving self-regulated learning abilities, and the workshop is valid for developing this type of e-assessment strategy in other courses. As another relevant result of the study, a model of the co-assessment strategy using the Moodle workshop plugin is proposed.