Incorporating Internet resources into classroom practice: pedagogical perspectives and strategies of secondary-school subject teachers

Drawing on evidence from lesson observations, teacher interviews and project reports, this paper examines the pedagogical perspectives and strategies of teachers working to incorporate use of Internet resources and associated ICT tools into humanities, social studies and science lessons in English secondary schools. The eight teachers were participants in small-scale, school-based projects in which they investigated self-devised, technology-integrated pedagogical strategies in their own classrooms. Each of the five projects proved to have important distinctive features. This paper provides an overview of project characteristics, followed by a within-project analysis of key pedagogical concepts and concerns. The salient ideas and issues emerging from a cross-project analysis are then summarised in terms of the following themes: Organising lessons around teacher-supported pupil activity; Enhancing lesson resources through use of Internet material; Structuring and supporting pupil access to Internet resources; Instrumenting use of ICT tools to support subject learning; Building and capitalising on pupils’ sense of capability and agency; Supporting and shaping pupil activity through informal teaching; Managing lesson relocation, room configuration and technical malfunction.     

Middle school students' flipped learning readiness in foreign language classrooms: Exploring its relationship with personal characteristics and individual circumstances

This study surveyed 387 middle school 7th – graders' flipped learning readiness in their English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classrooms and explored the effects of personal characteristics on their readiness levels. These personal characteristics included gender, the availability of outside-school support and resources, foreign language beliefs, perceptions of their English teachers, and how they use the Internet. Through factor analysis, flipped learning readiness consists of five dimensions: learner control and self-directed learning, technology self-efficacy, motivation for learning, in-class communication self-efficacy, and doing previews. It was found that personal characteristics and individual circumstances, including language beliefs, student perceptions of teacher characteristics, the availability of outside-school support and resources, learning performance, study time and net-surfing time, can make a difference to the levels of the readiness dimensions. These findings may shed light on the middle schoolers' flipped learning readiness in EFL classrooms and provide insights for teachers wanting to incorporate individualized instruction in the flipped classroom.     

ICT and learning: Lessons from Australian classrooms

Research into Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in schools is well into its third decade but there is still a pressing need to better understand how computer-based technologies are influencing learning opportunities, and how the local conditions of schooling impact on teachers’ attempts to integrate these technologies in their classrooms. In this article, we provide some insight into these questions through our research in six diverse public schools in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. We observed classrooms and conducted interviews with teachers and other key stakeholders, such as principals and technology coordinators about the integration of ICT. Our goal was to describe and examine the ways in which teachers, in a range of settings, are utilising ICT in their classroom practices to mediate student’s learning experiences Our findings indicate that ICT is largely being integrated in ways that support and supplement existing classroom practices. From our observations, we believe that successful integration of ICT requires fundamental shifts in the core activities of schools. These shifts include new teaching. The cases described in this article suggest some ways in which these shifts may be initiated and sustained.     

Designing a technology‐enhanced flipped learning system to facilitate students' self‐regulation and performance

In recent years, the flipped classroom has become prevalent in many educational settings. Flipped classroom adopts a pedagogical model in which short video lectures are viewed by students at home before class so that the teacher can lead students to participate in activities, problem‐solving, and discussions. Yet the design or use of technology that employs planned instructional strategies with sustainable support of self‐regulation is scant. We propose a technology‐enhanced flipped language learning system (Flip2Learn) that provides facilitation and guidance for learning performance and self‐regulation. A quasi‐experimental study was carried out to examine whether Flip2Learn could enhance college students' self‐regulatory skills and later contribute to the learning performance in the flipped classrooms. The results showed that Flip2Learn not only better prepared students for flipped classrooms but also better promoted learning performance compared to the conventional flipped classrooms. The results of this research advanced our understanding of the dynamics of flipped classrooms and represented a revolutionary new approach to the technology‐enhanced learning for flipped classrooms.     

Designing a toolkit to support dialogue in learning

Whilst the use of dialogue has many pedagogic advantages to offer Higher Education, implementing it effectively in teaching practice is a complex and problematic process that requires a wide range of expertise. This paper describes one strategy for addressing this issue: the development of a toolkit that supports the process of planning and reflection that practitioners must engage in when attempting to use dialogue in their teaching. After identifying and illustrating some of the issues relating to the use of dialogue, the notion of toolkits will be defined and a methodology for their development outlined. This is then exemplified with the specific case of the design of a toolkit for using dialogue in learning. A study is then described in which this prototype toolkit was evaluated, demonstrating its impact both in terms of changing practice and of developing a critical awareness of the issues relating dialogue and learning, before conclusions are drawn about the wider relevance of the work.     

Developing situated knowledge about teaching with technology via Web-enhanced Case-based activity

Situated, case-based approaches, featuring virtual teachers’ activity and reasoning in university classrooms, may provide a viable alternative to immersive field-based apprenticeships. Despite widespread advocacy on situated teacher education, research on preservice teachers’ situated learning remains rare. This study examined how preservice teachers gain situated knowledge about teaching with technology by engaging the experiences of practicing teachers through Web-enhanced, Case-based activity (CBA). Situated knowledge of exemplary teachers often espouses a constructivist epistemology and a student-centered pedagogy when they use computers for teaching. Also, their knowledge for teaching with technology requires linking computer skills with associated curriculum and pedagogical strategies. Based on this initial framework, in this study, preservice teachers’ changes in perceptions and understanding about teaching with technology were documented over the course of a semester. A qualitative case study was used, and constant comparative methods were used to continually compare emerging themes and refine categories. Web-enhanced CBA helped most preservice teachers to both understand appropriate uses of technology and refined their perspectives by using experienced teachers’ captured knowledge and practices. Research is needed to refine our understanding of situated case-based approaches’ potential to promote both meaningful technology integration knowledge and skill and to address a range of everyday classroom teaching and learning issues, decisions, and practices.     

Evolving open learning environments using hypermedia technology

Abstract A number of features of web-based hypermedia are identified as providing a suitable medium for the design of open learning environments. The underlying object-oriented architecture of hypermedia systems accords with the need for representational diversity of pedagogic mechanisms and the ongoing re-construction that an evolutionary approach to the design of learning activity demands. A web-based prototype has been constructed to represent aspects of the National English Board curriculum in diabetes mellitus. The design and development process tries to take account of features of the environment likely to influence or be influenced by the intervention. Quantitative and qualitative methods have been employed to enable an evaluation of the hypermedia design and its environment of use.     

Designing automated adaptive support to improve student helping behaviors in a peer tutoring activity

Adaptive collaborative learning support systems analyze student collaboration as it occurs and provide targeted assistance to the collaborators. Too little is known about how to design adaptive support to have a positive effect on interaction and learning. We investigated this problem in a reciprocal peer tutoring scenario, where two students take turns tutoring each other, so that both may benefit from giving help. We used a social design process to generate three principles for adaptive collaboration assistance. Following these principles, we designed adaptive assistance for improving peer tutor help-giving, and deployed it in a classroom, comparing it to traditional fixed support. We found that the assistance improved the conceptual content of help and the use of interface features. We qualitatively examined how each design principle contributed to the effect, finding that peer tutors responded best to assistance that made them feel accountable for help they gave.     

Designing augmented reality for the classroom

Augmented reality (AR) has recently received a lot of attention in education. Multiple AR systems for learning have been developed and tested through empirical studies often conducted in lab settings. While lab studies can be insightful, they leave out the complexity of a classroom environment. We developed three AR learning environments that have been used in genuine classroom contexts, some of them being now part of classroom regular practices. These systems and the learning activities they provide have been co-designed with teachers, for their own classrooms, through multiple cycles of prototyping and testing. We present here the features that emerged from these co-design cycles and abstract them into design principles.     

Concept and design of Ad Hoc and Mobile classrooms

Abstract This investigation describes the concept of mobile learning and the design of Ad Hoc and Mobile classrooms. Four classes of mobile learning and implementation of Ad Hoc and eSchoolbag systems are presented. The paper discusses the development of advanced wireless technologies for building an ad hoc classroom to create a modern and new learning environment. As in a traditional classroom, information technology is developed to provide the teacher with aids, such as a blackboard, a board rubber, coloured chalk, a microphone, a voice recorder, a video recorder, and so on, to support teaching and discussions. Additionally, students are provided with an electronic schoolbag which contains electronic books, a notebook, a parents' contact book, a pencil case, writing materials, sheets, a calculator, an address book, and other items. Taking lessons in a lively, vivid and new learning environment, it is expected that students will improve their learning performance with perhaps less attendance in a physical classroom and they gain the flexibility of being able to learn at their own convenience.     

Beyond Alternative Text and tables: Comparative Analysis of Visualization Tools and Accessibility Methods

Modern visualization software and programming libraries have made data visualization construction easier for everyone. However, the extent of accessibility design they support for blind and low-vision people is relatively unknown. It is also unclear how they can improve chart content accessibility beyond conventional alternative text and data tables. To address these issues, we examined the current accessibility features in popular visualization tools, revealing limited support for the standard accessibility methods and scarce support for chart content exploration. Next, we investigate two promising accessibility approaches that provide off-the-shelf solutions for chart content accessibility: structured navigation and conversational interaction. We present a comparative evaluation study and discuss what to consider when incorporating them into visualization tools.     

Informal learning with PDAs and smartphones

Abstract There has been increasing interest in informal learning in recent years alongside interest in how such learning can be supported by technology. However, relatively little is known about the extent to which adults make use of their own mobile devices to support informal learning. In this study, a survey was used to investigate whether, and to what extent, experienced users of mobile devices use their mobile devices to support intentional informal learning. If so, do they make use of mobile device connectivity to support opportunistic informal learning and does such connectivity support or encourage collaborative informal learning? Experienced mobile device users were recruited from web forums and business, and asked whether they used their devices to support informal learning. A pattern of learning uses emerged, some of which deployed the mobile device capabilities relatively unchanged, others triggered adaptations to typical learning activities to provide a better fit to the needs of the learner. These informal learning activities provided the basis for the design of a flexible mobile learning framework that can be extended to support developments in mobile technology, and increasing use of Web 2.0 technologies by informal learners.     

The use of ICT to support the development of practical music skills through acquiring keyboard skills: a classroom based study

This paper concerns the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in music classrooms, with the focus on the secondary school music curriculum in the United Kingdom. In particular, it reports on a study of learners in a UK school using software designed to support practical music skills. The paper begins by briefly raising and summarising some key issues for the use of ICT in the UK music curriculum arising from current research and practice in music education. In this context the study is described, which was carried out in a British secondary school with 36 pupils in year 8 (aged ≈13). This study investigated whether a commercial CD-ROM entitled Teach Me Piano Deluxe, which was designed to teach music practical skills was able to support pupils’ acquisition of music keyboard skills.The results showed that there was a significant improvement in reading music (staff) notation and rhythm skills. The study suggests that this is one of the ways in which ICT may be useful for learning practical music skills in the music classrooms. Such potential improvement in practical skills may, in turn, enable pupils to approach music-based activities such as: composing, performing or listening in the classrooms, with greater confidence, a deeper level of understanding, and appreciation.     

Providing adaptation and guidance for design learning by problem solving: The design planning approach in DomoSim-TPC environment

Experimental learning environments based on simulation usually require monitoring and adaptation to the actions the users carry out. Some systems provide this functionality, but they do so in a way which is static or cannot be applied to problem solving tasks. In response to this problem, we propose a method based on the use of intermediate languages to provide adaptation in design learning scenarios. Although we use some approaches which are familiar from other domains (e.g., programming tutors) they are novel as regards their application to a very different domain and as a result we have incorporated new strategies. The purpose of our proposal is to provide monitoring, guidance and adaptive features for PlanEdit, a tool for the learning of integral automation methods in buildings and housing by design. This tool is part of a collaborative environment, called DomoSim-TPC, which supports distance learning of domotical design. We have carried out an experiment to obtain some data which confirm that our position can be effective for group learning of domotical design, studying the relationship between the quantity of model work carried out and the errors made.     

Scaffolding problem solving in technology-enhanced learning environments (TELEs): Bridging research and theory with practice

With the expanding availability and capability of varied technologies, classroom-based problem solving has become an increasingly attainable, yet still elusive, goal. Evidence of technology-enhanced problem-solving teaching and learning in schools has been scarce, understanding how to support students’ problem solving in classroom-based, technology-enhanced learning environments has been limited, and coherent frameworks to guide implementation have been slow to emerge. Whereas researchers have examined the use and impact of scaffolds in mathematics, science, and reading, comparatively little research has focused on scaffolding learning in real-world, everyday classroom settings. Web-based systems have been developed to support problem solving, but implementations suggest variable enactment and inconsistent impact. The purpose of this article is to identify critical issues in scaffolding students’ technology-enhanced problem solving in everyday classrooms. First, we examine two key constructs (problem solving and scaffolding) and propose a framework that includes essential dimensions to be considered when teachers scaffold student problem solving in technology-rich classes. We then investigate issues related to peer-, teacher-, and technology-enhanced scaffolds, and conclude by examining implications for research.     

表格识别技术研究进展

表格广泛存在于科技文献、财务报表、报纸杂志等各类文档中,用于紧凑地存储和展现数据,蕴含着大量有用信息。表格识别是表格信息再利用的基础,具有重要的应用价值,也一直是模式识别领域的研究热点之一。随着深度学习的发展,针对表格识别的新研究和新方法纷纷涌现。然而,由于表格应用场景广泛、样式众多、图像质量参差不齐等因素,表格识别领域仍然存在着大量问题亟需解决。为了更好地总结前人工作,为后续研究提供支持,本文围绕表格区域检测、结构识别和内容识别等3个表格识别子任务,从传统方法、深度学习方法等方面,综述该领域国内外的发展历史和最新进展。梳理了表格识别相关数据集及评测标准,并基于主流数据集和标准,分别对表格区域检测、结构识别、表格信息抽取的典型方法进行了性能比较。然后,对比分析了国内相对于国外,在表格识别方面的研究进展与水平。最后,结合表格识别领域目前面临的主要困难与挑战,对未来的研究趋势和技术发展目标进行了展望。     

The design and implementation of dynamic hashing for sets and tables in icon

Two key features in the Icon programming language are tables and sets. An Icon program may use one large set or table, or thousands of small ones. To improve space and time performance for these diverse uses, their hashed data structures were reimplemented to dynamically resize during execution, reducing the minimum space requirement and achieving constant-time access to any element for virtually any size set or table. The implementation is adapted from Per-Åke Larson's dynamic hashing technique by using well-known base-2 arithmetic techniques to decrease the space required for small tables without degrading the performance of large tables. Also presented are techniques to prevent dynamic hashing from interfering with other Icon language features. Performance measurements are included to support the results.     

Repositories and communities at cross-purposes: issues in sharing and reuse of digital learning resources

Abstract   Globally, institutions are setting up digital repositories to support the sharing of resources for teaching and learning. The educational rationale is that a single set of resources can be restructured to support different pedagogical approaches and to achieve economies of scale. A key problem is that these learning object repositories (LORs), like many other learning technology innovations, are often designed to exploit the capabilities of technology rather than to meet learners' needs. The premise of this study is that the nature and organization of a community is likely to impact the way an LOR is used. Key dimensions of repositories and communities are discussed. Three repository systems are analysed to identify how communities use repositories. Guided by Activity Theory, the LORs and user communities are analysed as activity systems. These activity systems are compared and contradictions between them are identified. From the analysis, barriers and enablers for the use of LORs to support learning are discussed and a framework for addressing the key issues in the repository development stage is proposed.     

Using clickers in class. The role of interactivity,active collaborative learning and engagement in learning performance

As more and more educational institutions are integrating new technologies (e.g. audience response systems) into their learning systems to support the learning process, it is becoming increasingly necessary to have a thorough understanding of the underlying mechanisms of these advanced technologies and their consequences on student learning performance. In this study, our primary objective is to investigate the effect of clickers (i.e. audience response systems) on student learning performance. To do so, we develop a conceptual framework in which we propose that interactivity, active collaborative learning and engagement are three key underlying forces that explain the positive effects and benefits of clickers in enhancing student learning performance. We test these relationships empirically in a university class setting using data from a survey answered by students in a social sciences degree. The results provide strong support for our proposed framework and they reveal that the high level of interactivity with peers and with the teacher that is promoted by the use of clickers positively influences active collaborative learning and engagement, which, in turn, improves student learning performance. These results show the importance of clickers in improving the student learning experience and recommend their use in educational settings to support the learning process.