Research Article
Ernesto Colomo Magaña, Andrea Cívico Ariza, Julio Ruiz Palmero, Enrique Sánchez Rivas
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep314
ABSTRACT
The excessive use of ICTs is a growing problem among young people. The social isolation caused by COVID-19 can increase these inappropriate behaviour. This study aims at analysing the problematic use of ICTs in trainee teachers based on the gender variable before and after the COVID-19 lockdown based on the gender variable. A longitudinal panel design was carried out with pre-test and post-test measurements based on the gender variable. The sample consisted of 147 students from the Faculty of Education at the University of Malaga who were tested using a validated instrument: MULTICAGE-TIC. The results show that women used ICTs at a higher risk than men before lockdown, except for video games. During lockdown, men obtain higher scores than women in all the analysed ICTs (except for mobile phones). Both genders reach dependency level in all ICTs except for video games in women. The significant increase in all ICTs shows that the effects of the pandemic, such as restrictions on mobility and social interaction, have influenced such growth.
Keywords: addiction, ICT, educational personnel training, COVID-19
Research Article
Andrea Lukács
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep315
ABSTRACT
Recent literature draws attention to the fact that problematic Internet use is a growing health issue among adolescents worldwide. This study aimed to find the potential demographic, physical and psychopathological risk factors associated with severe problematic Internet use of adolescents. A total of 1,347 adolescents (45.1% males) were recruited from five high schools in three settlements. Students completed an online questionnaire and provided data about socio-demographics, physical activity, physical and psychopathological health, as well as about their Internet use habits (Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire). 1.9% of the respondents appeared to be severe, 20.4% moderate problematic Internet users. The complexity of the problem is manifested in the multifaceted relationships of factors. The multinomial regression analysis identified four significant risk factors for severe problematic internet use, namely depressive symptoms, loneliness, low level of father’s education level and low level of physical activity. The real severe problematic Internet use is not so common in adolescent students, however, together with moderate problematic Internet users, this number has significance. Psychopathological factors such as elevated depressive symptoms and loneliness should be considered when preventive programs are implemented and more attention should be taken on physical activity as an effective tool against addictive behavior.
Keywords: adolescents, depressive symptoms, loneliness, physical activity, problematic Internet use
Research Article
Denise Pauline-Graf, Susan E. Mandel, Heather W. Allen, Lynne E. Devnew
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep316
ABSTRACT
Technology-enhanced learning (TEL) is a broad term to denote the incorporation of digital technology to mediate activities that support education. Educational researchers need to validate critical assumptions about any new system that involves TEL early and throughout its development course to make quick, informed, de-risked decisions about the progress of TEL. We introduce an assumption validation process for educational researchers to consider utilizing when evolving ideas or prototypes of TEL. We present a preliminary study conducted in Russia of a knowledge sharing (KS) training program using digital games to illustrate the proposed four-stage process. The first stage is listing the assumptions that apply to initiatives of TEL. The second is identifying the methods most useful for testing those assumptions. The third is executing tests on each of those assumptions. The last stage is determining assumption validity. In the illustrative study, a single pilot trial was considered the appropriate approach to validate the assumptions selected in the first stage. We found that determining assumption validity requires testing many of the assumptions individually and in aggregate. Educational researchers can use this assumption validation process to assess the potential of TEL in a variety of settings before investing resources into its further development.
Keywords: instructional digital games, assumption validation, knowledge sharing, pilot trial, self-efficacy, technology-enhanced learning
Review Article
Barry Matthews
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep317
ABSTRACT
Introduction: To meet the ambition of the UK becoming the global leader in health technology, the future workforce needs to have a developed digital literacy. The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the move to online learning has also increased the requirement for a reinvention of traditional teaching methodologies (Sá & Serpa, 2020).
Methodology: A systematic review was conducted using a mix of Boolean search terms in twelve education and health journal databases to discover the extent of current international research of digital literacy in health programmes. Papers were selected for their specificity to digital literacy in health education pre-registration professional programmes.
Results: The initial search included 5359 papers, 3925 after duplicates removed, 134 remained after title review which were then input into Covidence for full reading, finally 47 papers being included for thematic analysis. This thematic analysis identified a number of key themes within these papers: digital literacy of the educator, digital literate workforce, technical skills limit adoption, information literacy, a curriculum requirement in education, institutional infrastructure or personal access, preparedness for entering academia, concerns over the use of digital skills, personalised digital literacy experience, increased communication skills with digital literacies, competency frameworks, COVID-19 and social media in education.
Conclusion: This research identifies areas of good practice and areas that need to be considered in higher education programmes and by academics to ensure the digital literacy of the future healthcare workforce.
Keywords: health education, digital literacy, digital skills, technology enhanced teaching, health care, higher education
Research Article
Lawrence Meda, Areej ElSayary
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep318
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 has forced many universities across the globe to implement emergency remote teaching as a preventative measure. Many faculty staff members were not adequately equipped with knowledge and skills of facilitating remote teaching. This made the establishment of social, cognitive and teacher presences difficult for them. The purpose of this study is to examine ways in which certified online instructors established social, cognitive and teacher presences during emergency remote teaching at a university in the United Arab Emirates. The study is guided by one critical question: How did certified online instructors establish social, cognitive and teacher presences in their online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic? The study adopted a qualitative case study within an interpretivist paradigm. Two certified online instructors were purposely selected to reflect on their experiences in establishing social, cognitive and teaching presences in their remote classes. It was found that students’ engagement, critical thinking and self-directed learning and continual engagement play an indispensable role in students’ remote learning. The study concludes that the establishment of the three components of a community of inquiry enhance students’ learning experiences and allow instructors to cater for the diverse learning needs of all students in an online community.
Keywords: emergency remote teaching, social presence, teaching presence, cognitive presence, online learning
Research Article
Suthanit Wetcho, Jaitip Na-Songkhla
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep319
ABSTRACT
Self-regulation is an essential skill in teacher development, especially for pre-service teachers who need to develop their own self-regulated skills while simultaneously promoting self-regulation in learners. This study outlines a teacher development program in which pre-service teachers participated in a self-regulatory process in a Mobile Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (mCSCL) online learning environment. Our aim is to fill the existing gap in this area by adding more collaborative learning processes. This study aimed to investigate the predictive effects that self-evaluation to define tasks and goals (at forethought phase) has on self-reflection, which is mediated by collaboration. Furthermore, we have drawn the possibility of embedding collaboration into the socio-emotional note-taking process by using the concept of mCSCL throughout the self-regulated learning process. Data was collected from undergraduate students, working as pre-service teachers, and studying at two institutes in Thailand (N=147), with 17 items of self-regulatory inventory obtained from the original self-regulatory inventory together with 5 other collaboration developed by the author. Structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis was used to confirm a partial mediation model via direct and indirect effects. Later the path analysis, the qualitative data is acquired to re-design the socio-emotional collaborative note-taking on mCSCL tools during the self-regulatory learning process, corresponding with the model testing phase according to the previous study by a semi-structure interview with 5 pre-service teachers. The results proved that collaboration was found to be a significant partial mediator of self-evaluation and self-reflection, in accordance with the empirical data. With our findings we were able to design a socio-emotional collaborative note-taking activity in the mCSCL setting. We proposed collaborative note-taking activities which collaboration procedure is highlighted throughout 3 phases: collaboration in pre-performance (recording ideas and planning), collaboration during the performance (sharing and brainstorming, support and seeking helps), and collaboration in post-performance (reflecting and evaluating) in which the activity was taking place between instructors and peers during supervision period.
Keywords: self-regulation, collaborative-notetaking, MCSCL, socio-emotional, teacher development
Research Article
Poh Chua Siah, Jie Yeng Hue, Bernie Zi Ru Wong, Sin Jie Goh
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep320
ABSTRACT
The excessive use of social media is prevalent among undergraduates. Dark triad personality is one of the significant predictors of social media addiction, but inconsistent findings were reported. This study adopted the personality-coping-outcome theory as a framework to examine whether coping strategies mediate the effects of dark triad personality on social media addiction. The purposive sampling method was used to recruit 219 undergraduates for a survey. The results showed that only narcissism is associated with social media addiction, and only avoidance coping strategy mediated the effects of pathology on social media addiction. It is suggested a complete theory is required to explain the relationships between dark triad personality and social media addiction, and a coping scale to be developed to cover the coping strategies that fit dark triad personality.
Keywords: social media addiction, Dark Triad, coping strategies, Machiavellianism, narcissism, pathology
Research Article
Eulho Jung, Hua Zheng, Nick Webster, Adonis Hamad, Fatih Demir, Dongho Kim
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep321
ABSTRACT
Higher education institutions partner with technology providers to stay competitive in the fast-evolving innovations of technological advancements. The purpose of this study is to reflect on and investigate technology integration cases at a mid-sized public university in the U.S. Taking a qualitative research approach, this study utilizes critical reflection and multiple case studies (Stake, 2006). After reviewing the data, a technology partnership model was created that is composed of five phases: (1) analysis, (2) negotiation, (3) pre-implementation, (4) implementation, and (5) evaluation. The findings indicate that a systematic process must be utilized to ensure efficiency in vendor–university partnerships. Discussions, limitations, and implementation are provided.
Keywords: technology partnerships, educational technology, online learning, vendor relationships, critical reflection
Research Article
M. Anas Thohir, Lia Yuliati, Erif Ahdhianto, Esti Untari, Fitri April Yanti
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep322
ABSTRACT
The successes of web design by learning relates to the pre-service teachers’ personality. Unfortunately, the relationship between personality and pre-service teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge related Web (TPACK-Web) still uncertain. The main objective of this study was to explore the relationship between the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality and TPACK-Web of the pre-service teacher in Indonesia (N=309). To examine the correlation among two packages of variables, descriptive statistic, bivariate correlation, and Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was applied. The finding presented that the correlation between FFM of personality and TPACK-Web was significant. The most important finding suggested that Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness had a direct effect on the core of TPACK-Web bases (WK, PK, CK), and WPK to WPACK had the strongest effect. Finally, the implication of this study is provided along with suggestions.
Keywords: five factor model, TPACK-web, pre-service teacher, PLS-SEM
Research Article
Mehmet Haldun Kaya, Tufan Adiguzel
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep323
ABSTRACT
For technology integration to achieve intended instructional objectives, professional development is of paramount importance for in-service instructors. Technology enhanced reflection providing multimodality and evidence-based data has the potential of helping instructors achieve technology integration in their teaching. Thus, this study addressed the lack of professional development programs for in-service English language instructors aiming at technology integration through evidence-based multimodal reflective practices. By following the developmental research methodology, an instrumental case study was conducted using mixed-methods design including both qualitative and quantitative data. The professional training was carried out with eight English language instructors at tertiary level who aimed to integrate technology into their English classes by being involved in evidence-based multimodal reflective practice. In this study, there were five different data sources (instructors’ opinions, recorded lessons, video annotations, face-to-face interaction notes and pages in the learning management system) and seven data collection tools (interviews, tutor reflection template, self-reflection template, peer-reflection template, technology integration questionnaire, online discussion forums and evaluation criteria form). As a result, this professional training particularly designed and implemented for the in-service English language instructors at tertiary level did make a change in their both technology integration and evidence-based multimodal reflective practice. Apart from the change in the instructors’ technology integration, this study had an impact on their understanding, practice and quality of reflective practice involving evidence-based multimodal reflection tools as it helped the instructors to increase depth in their evidence-based multimodal reflective practice.
Keywords: technology integration, reflection, professional development, teacher training
Research Article
Eirini Tzovla, Katerina Kedraka, Thanassis Karalis, Marina Kougiourouki, Konstantinos Lavidas
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep324
ABSTRACT
Teachers’ Professional Development Massive Open Online Courses (TPD-MOOCs) are a new form of MOOCs and have influenced an intense research interest. This study reports on the design and implementation of a TPD-MOOC which utilizes digital educational content and Open Educational Recourses (OER) and supports in-service elementary school teachers to enhance their self-efficacy beliefs. In the design framework we take into consideration the findings of previous research and the educational needs of the participants. We conducted an experimental design research and compared the teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs before and after their participation in a TPD-MOOC. A total of 251 teachers enrolled in this course and 142 of them completed it. We used quantitative data to measure the enhancement of teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and the effectiveness of the course. The results provide evidence that our TPD-MOOC improved in service elementary school teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in teaching biological concepts. Recommendations are made for future research.
Keywords: teacher professional development, MOOC, self-efficacy beliefs, elementary education, improving classroom teaching
Research Article
Daniel Otto, Nadine Schroeder, Daniel Diekmann, Pia Sander
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep325
ABSTRACT
For almost 20 years, Open Educational Resources (OER) are an integral part of the debate about the digitisation of education. However, the empirical landscape of OER research is vivid and largely obscure. This article reviews the state of international empirical research on OER to reveal trends and gaps and, in this manner, identify possible desiderata for further research. We use a systematic mapping approach to examine the empirical English-speaking research landscape from 2015 to 2019. The results reveal that research primarily concentrates on the higher education sector while only a few studies are available for the school and other educational sectors. In terms of research methodologies, quantitative approaches are prevalent, with most of them being survey-based. The main research interests of the empirical studies lie in the perception of OER and the barriers to their use in educational practices. Open textbooks as a form of OER and their comparative cost advantages or qualitative comparability with traditional educational material constitute an emerging research field that is almost exclusively located in the U.S. Research gaps exist regarding the usability and user-friendliness of OER repositories. Addressing these gaps could support the numerous initiatives in different countries to establish and equip repositories. Additional gaps for empirical research were identified regarding the effects of the use of OER on pedagogical approaches and established educational practices.
Keywords: Open Educational Resources, OER, systematic mapping, empirical research, review
Research Article
Shu Ling Wong, Su Luan Wong
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep326
ABSTRACT
This quasi-experimental study sought to investigate the effects of the motivational adaptive instruction on Malaysian students’ motivation towards mathematics in a technology-enhanced learning classroom. Geometer’s Sketchpad is used in the study to foster a technology-enhanced learning environment. The motivationally adaptive instructions were designed following the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) motivational model. The study adopted a non-equivalent control group design with pre-and posttest with two weeks of treatments. Two intact Form Two classrooms were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a comparison group — each with 20 students. The findings showed that Malaysian students had a slightly above-average level of motivation towards mathematics. The ANCOVA results showed that the intervention did not significantly improve the experimental group’s students’ motivation towards mathematics learning, despite having their motivation mean scores improve from Time 1 to Time 2. The results also showed that motivation and mathematics performance were not strongly correlated for this group of students. The weak relationship between motivation and mathematics performance among Malaysian students may be explained by the culture and value of East Asian towards education, which is discussed in this paper.
Keywords: motivation, mathematics, ARCS motivational model, Malaysia, Geometer’s Sketchpad, dynamic geometrical software
Research Article
G. Amevor, Anass Bayaga, Michael J. Bossé
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 13, Issue 4, Article No: ep327
ABSTRACT
Dynamic visual tools such as MATLAB have inbuilt features which are believed to be able to empower students to learn through the visualisation of three-dimensional objects. While student learning through MATLAB has been investigated regarding students in urban settings, only a handful of studies have investigated how MATLAB can assist students in rural settings. Spatial visualisation (SV) as a measure or reflection of one’s cognitive reasoning is affected by family social economic status (SES). For instance, it is argued that SES in combination with other components, do enhance cognitive development in different ways. What is meant is that components such as but not exclusively, economic and occupational components of SES may vary and hence provide opportunities for generating better understanding of education (cognition). In this study, we randomly selected 100 second-year rural-based pre-service teachers in a vector calculus class at University of Zululand (UNIZULU). Students need SV skills to learn vector calculus and the Purdue spatial-visualization test/rotations (PSVT/R) is well established for measuring individuals’ spatial reasoning. In this study, spatial reasoning skills were assessed through a vector calculus pre-test and through a post-test using the Purdue spatial-visualization test/rotations (PSVT/R). The experimental group of students learned the vector calculus topics supported by activities and investigations using MATLAB. Duval’s Theory of Register of Semiotic Representation (TRSR) was employed to comprehend the impact of MATLAB on rural-based pre-service teachers’ spatial-visualisation skills. From using an independent sample t-test, our findings indicated that, for participants in this study, using MATLAB had positive impact on the rural-based pre-service teachers’ SV skills.
Keywords: spatial-visualisation skills, dynamic visual tool and learning, spatial reasoning, vector calculus and mental rotation