bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of combined exposure of chemical fertilizer, bacterial inoculums, and compost on the growth of forest tree species in saline soil
Authors: Sharma Shivam , Kotiyal Parul
Published: July 2024

Salinity is the leading abiotic stress, especially in India, where saline soil affects 6.727 million hectares. The study investigated the effects of different combinations of chemical fertilizers, bacterial inoculums, and compost on the growth of Prosopis cineraria and Toona ciliata in pot experiments using saline forest soil. Treatments included varying mixes of seeds, compost, bacterial inoculums, and chemical fertilizers. Soil analysis confirmed salinity with pH and electrical conductivity (EC) levels indicating saline conditions. Results showed that treatments incorporating compost and bacterial inoculums significantly enhanced plant growth, increasing shoot, and root lengths, as well as fresh and dry weights. The application of compost increased the root length of Toona ciliata. The dual application of Pseudomonas spp. and compost enhanced the biomass of the root, whereas the application of chemical fertilizer and compost improved the height of the plan. The study indicates that the combined application of compost, bacterial inoculum, and chemical fertilizer is superior in enhancing the growth and development of the vegetative growth of plants. Overall, the study underscores the potential of integrated nutrient management strategies involving compost, bacterial inoculums, and reduced chemical fertilizers to enhance productivity in saline and salt-affected soils.
Integrating Quantum Computing and NLP for Advanced Cyber Threat Detection
Authors: P.Ramya P ,   Associate Professor, Department of CSE. Mahendra Engineering College, Namakkal, India,   Assistant Professor (Sel. Gr.), Department of Electronics Communication Engineering, B. S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, Vandalur, Chennai, India,   Associate professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Velalar college of Engineering and Technology, Thindal, Erode-12, India,   Associate professor, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai, India, R.Anitha R , Rajalakshmi J. , R.Dineshkumar R
Published: July 2024

The exponential growth of digital data and the increasing sophistication of cyber threats demand more advanced methods for threat analysis. This paper explores the integration of quantum computing and natural language processing (NLP) to enhance cyber threat analysis. Traditional computing methods struggle to keep up with the scale and complexity of modern cyber threats, but quantum computing offers a promising avenue for accelerated data processing, while NLP provides sophisticated tools for interpreting and understanding human language, crucial for analysing threat intelligence. Our proposed framework leverages quantum algorithms for rapid anomaly detection and advanced NLP techniques for precise threat identification and analysis. The methodology includes data collection from diverse sources, pre-processing for normalization, quantum-assisted data processing using Grover's search and Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA), NLP analysis with transformers and BERT-based models, and integration of findings to build comprehensive threat profiles. Experimental results demonstrate significant improvements: quantum algorithms reduced data processing time by up to 50%, NLP models achieved 92% accuracy in threat identification, and the false positive rate was reduced by 30%. These findings indicate a promising direction for next-generation cybersecurity solutions, enabling more proactive and efficient threat mitigation. Future work will focus on refining quantum algorithms, enhancing NLP models, and expanding the framework for real-time threat detection capabilities.
Unravelling Dystopia in Dreams of Resurrection: Searching for Meaning Amid Chaos
Authors: Hamzeh Sara M. Omar , Ali Halimah Mohamed
Published: July 2024

Amidst the global COVID-19 epidemic, there has been a growing surge in the popularity of dystopian literature, notably in the Arab world. This analysis delves into a unique piece of this literature, Ahlam Al Qeyamah (2018) by Egyptian writer Mohammad Gamal, translated as Dreams of Resurrection and released in 2021. This paper not only explores the dystopian characteristics included in the novel and their connection to the pandemic but also highlights the unique narrative style and thematic elements that set this work apart. The novel, which ignited substantial controversy in the Arab world, portrays a virus spreading in Egypt via tourists at an international airport. Gamal's narrative delves into the intricacies of a dystopian society, gradually unveiling its depths as the novel progresses. This paper presents the characteristics of classic dystopian writing as a structure for examination and offers a concise summary of the genre's evolution in Arabic literature. The discourse emphasizes shared components and discerns specific themes in Dreams of Resurrection. The results suggest that the work conforms to Erika Gottlieb's defining characteristics of dystopian literature, clearly placing it within the category. Furthermore, this interpretation emphasizes that dystopian literature does not support senseless suffering but instead aims to discover significance in a world devoid of meaning and to provide purpose among disorder.
University Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions on Autonomous English Learning: A Case of a Private University in Vietnam
Authors: Ho Han Van , Pham Yen Thi Hai
Published: July 2024

Understanding teachers' perspectives on learner autonomy is essential for addressing issues related to autonomous learning, as these perspectives heavily influence instructional approaches and consequently impact the learning experiences of students. With regard to students' perceptions of their English language learning, they are not solely dependent on the teacher; instead, they take ownership of the decisions guiding their own learning process. To promote learner autonomy effectively, educators must simultaneously confront their own apprehensions about relinquishing some control over the classroom environment and improve their communication skills with students. The paper used mixed-method which combined between quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze how the teachers’ and students’ perspectives on autonomous English learning through their teaching and learning styles. The paper surveyed 1000 students and 40 English teachers, all of whom participated voluntarily in the survey. The study aims to assess the specific objectives (1) the level of learner autonomy among a private university (2) the perceptions of English teachers regarding learner autonomy (3) the perceptions of English-majored students regarding learner autonomy (4) the strategies and methods employed in promoting learner autonomy. The findings suggested that the students should enhance their self-directed learning and take more responsibility for their own learning to meet the program's learning outcomes and increase the teachers’ satisfaction.
The Significance of a Feminist Geopolitical Analysis in Mahasweta Devi’s The Hunt and Douloti the Bountiful
Authors: A John Vincent , K Devimeenakshi
Published: July 2024

In the inspiration of bringing alternatives to Critical Geopolitics and Subaltern Geopolitics, Feminist Geopolitics has been employed in this paper. Feminist geopolitics traverses upon the discriminated, marginalized community’s lives and events as well as it connects their exploitation with power production. This feminist geopolitics’ analytical approach demonstrates connections of geopolitics power production with everyday life of Indian tribal people. While reading Indian Tribal community as a subaltern in the works of Mahasweta Devi, through feminist geopolitics we have analyzed violence, displacement, and resistance of tribal women. In geographical imaginaries, the land of tribal protects and strengthens women; simultaneously the tribal land displaces and destroys. The article investigates two questions, 1. What is the role of land in the lives of tribal women? 2. What is the need of mother land for tribal women? It also focuses on two women, whom the dominant geopolitics had marginalized once, but then, the research gap states, how one (woman) could survive through epitomic influence on geography and another could not survive due to displacement. Moreover, the gap insists on how the power relation operates inside and outside the tribal border as well as the interest, knowledge and power of elite’s invades the tribal community after the independence. The qualitative method (textual analysis) is used for research analysis, and Arya (2020) defines that “textual analysis is a type of qualitative analysis that focuses on the underlying ideological and cultural assumptions of a text” (Arya, 2020, p. 173). Hence, this method utilizes the theoretical approaches of the feminist geopolitics theory for the study of the two short stories of Mahasweta Devi. In this article, Imaginary Maps (1995) a collection of short stories by Mahasweta Devi, translated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak from which The Hunt (1995) and Douloti the Bountiful (1995) (two stories) have been analyzed for discussion.
Operationalizing Critical Literacy in EFL Classrooms in KSA: Possibilities and Challenges
Authors: Jumiah Abdullah Al
Published: July 2024

Using a qualitative research method, this article explores how EFL teachers can operationalize critical literacy (CL) when teaching prescribed textbooks that emphasize functional literacy in EFL classrooms in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). To address this research issue, the action research demonstrated and reflected my experience of using CL in one of my college-level EFL classrooms. The study ends by shedding light on the possibilities and challenges which teachers may need to negotiate and navigate through when implementing CL in EFL classrooms. Data were collected from two primary sources: my teaching reflective journals and classroom observations. The results indicate that students’ engagement, autonomy, voice, agency, and critical conscious awareness can be maintained and promoted when CL is enacted in EFL classrooms. In addition, the findings show that the use of CL can empower students and teachers alike to take on new positions and play different roles in EFL classrooms. KSA can equip its learners with the necessary skills to critically engage with language and texts, empowering them to become informed, active participants in an increasingly globalized world.
Examining Foreign Language Learners’ Speaking Anxiety: The Case of English L2 Learners
Authors: Hanake Norah Al
Published: July 2024

Examining speaking anxiety in learners of foreign languages is important not only for the learners but also for teachers and curriculum designers. The study aimed to examine foreign language learners’ speaking anxiety in 100 M.A. students at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia. The survey was directed to M.A. students. The study used the PSCAS. The findings demonstrated that a variety of factors, including a limited vocabulary, pronunciation difficulties, social pressure, a lack of confidence, and negative past experiences, might contribute to speaking anxiety. Together, these components create a complex web of worry that keeps students from being open to vocal communication. However, the study also discovered several practical strategies that M.A. candidates could employ to boost their speaking confidence and lessen their speaking anxiety. These strategies included role-playing games, conversations in small groups, the use of technology, group projects involving collaborative speaking, regular constructive criticism, availability of interactive language labs, practical language application, progressively more difficult assignments, cultural immersion programs, and workshops on public speaking. By using these strategies, students can establish a supportive learning environment that promotes language proficiency and confidence. Based on the findings of this study, several recommendations were proposed, such as integration of supportive learning environments, utilization of technology, implementation of practical language application, training in public speaking, gradual complexity in assignments, and promotion of positive thinking.
Minecrafters
Authors: Hughes Janette , Morrison Laura , Butler-Ulrich Tess , Robb Jennifer
Published: July 2024

In response to significant global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, educational environments are undergoing a fundamental transformation towards collaborative online spaces and networked learning. Networked learning includes (a) the process of learning with and through other people and resources and (b) the environment (i.e., the internet) and platforms (i.e., YouTube, websites, social media, discussion forums) that support these connections or networks (Hodgson & McConnell, 2019). This shift in how learning is done necessitates a reevaluation of pedagogical methods to foster the development of students' global skills and competencies. These competencies, as defined by the Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC), are recognized as essential for individuals to not only adapt but thrive in our current and future world. This world is characterized by unprecedented simultaneous challenges, often referred to as a 'polycrisis,' and rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (A.I.) that have the potential to reshape every aspect of human existence. Therefore, it is imperative that we delve into a deeper investigation and understanding of innovative pedagogical approaches to ensure students are adequately prepared for the evolving landscape. Collaboration is arguably one of the most important of the global skills and competencies as it underpins many of the essential skills youth need to thrive in educational and non-educational settings. More specifically, collaboration underpins the type of networked learning rising in popularity in formal and informal learning settings (Bülow & Nørgård, 2021). As a result, this exploratory research focuses on Minecraft: Education Edition (M:EE) as a tool for developing collaboration through critical making and team-based learning. Over a five-day spring-break camp, two cohorts of students (grades four to six and grades seven to eight) participated in open-ended design-based learning challenges online (in the virtual meeting platform, Google Meet, and in the virtual world, M:EE). Data analysis revealed that collaboration manifested itself in three primary modes: co-constructing knowledge, peer-teaching, and conflict management. Analysis further revealed that younger versus older students build and collaborate in the online environment very differently, which at times mirrored the 'real world' classroom. These findings have implications for designing age-appropriate online learning experiences to support collaboration in a networked environment, especially within virtual simulation and creation worlds like Minecraft.
Web Conferencing
Authors: Buadu Yaw Sampene , Kear Karen , Donelan Helen
Published: July 2024

Society, people, and institutions have reaped the benefits of technologies that allow online meetings and collaboration in real-time ¬¬¬¬- often known as web conferencing technologies. Most of the benefits of these technologies were observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, where efforts to prevent the spread of the virus introduced mass social distancing. In higher education, web conferencing benefits a growing number of students across the world. It enables synchronous online learning, where learning takes place in real time, with communication technologies that permit live audio, video, and text transmission. Extant research suggests that the interplay of technical and social challenges within synchronous online learning, before the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, has not been comprehensively investigated. Additionally, there is a need for thorough studies on the effects of prolonged virtual interactions on individuals, teams, and organizations, stemming from the features of web conferencing technologies. This paper reports ongoing research aimed at exploring the technical and social challenges that affect the success of web conferencing in synchronous online learning. The research investigates the experiences of students and teachers who use these technologies for learning and teaching, and the challenges they face. The work uses theories of technology acceptance and the psychology of user behaviours. The research aims to advance knowledge and offer valuable information to educators and learners. It seeks to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning processes using web conferencing technologies, ensuring that they successfully achieve their intended outcomes. The results of this study, in the long-term, will also inform the development of better and improved interventions, practices and strategies for web conferencing, that can be applied in educational and even commercial contexts. The paper also discusses an exploratory study that was conducted to explore the effects of webcam usage on learner engagement in training and tutorial sessions among higher education students. The exploratory study showed that the webcam, even though rarely used in most sessions, had an impact on learner engagement, and can be explored further. Additionally, the technical and social aspects in these online sessions are complex and need more examination.
Building Employability Skills for Graduate Students
Authors: Andersson Vibeke , Balslev Clausen Helene
Published: July 2024

Universities have recently been placing a greater emphasis on employability of their graduates. Academic discussions have introduced concepts such as transferable skills, employability, co-creation, active and networked learning, and sustainable transformation as strategies for bridging the gap between university studies and full-time employment after graduation. Collaborative initiatives with companies and organizations have become increasingly prevalent in university curricula, and administrative units have been established to help students transition from students to employees or entrepreneurs (Clark, 2015). This calls for innovating education, for example through increased emphasis on networked learning ((Dohn, Hansen, Hansen, de Laat & Ryberg 2021). This paper will present a case study that explores the effects of exposing university students to different environments than the traditional university campus and lecture rooms. The aim is to investigate whether this change of surroundings and introduction of different educational tools can broaden students' perspectives on their own capabilities and skills in co-creating solutions through, for example, collaborative engagement (NLEC 2021). The focus is on engaging students to address (wicked) problems in new contexts, which are often situated within sustainability and sustainable transformation frameworks. To accomplish this, the students are equipped with skills acquired at AAU and applied in diverse contexts (employability), and they are encouraged to think ‘outside the box’ through co-creation. This includes adapting to diverse sets of norms, values, and agendas, as well as hidden power alliances, when working and co-creating with external partners in a different context.
Co-designing authentic assessment
Authors: Wardak Dewa , Wilson Stephanie
Published: July 2024

Assessment design often involves a collaborative effort among various stakeholders. However, numerous assessment frameworks still operate under the presumption that assessment design is primarily the responsibility of individual educators. Design methods for networked learning need to shift towards more collaborative approaches that bring together different perspectives and acknowledge the socio-material entanglement of human and non-human actants for a more inclusive educational future. In our work we advocate for co-design and place a strong emphasis on cultivating relationships and a decentralised decision-making process that challenges traditional power dynamics and hierarchies. Co-design represents both a mindset and a method distinguished by specific principles and procedures. In this paper we untangle the network of socio-material relationships in the co-design of authentic assessment for a large accounting capstone course in a business school. Students undertook this course during the last semester of their degree program. Rather than designing our assessment on an authentic real-world scenario, our assessment was a real-world task. We collaborated with an industry partner who needed to re-evaluate their business model to generate more revenue for their business. The students were tasked with developing a value-enhancing action plan for our partner’s business model. In this paper, we use Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to trace the network of human and non-human actants in the co-design of this real-world assessment task. We describe this network through the Assessment Design Decisions Framework, which provides six key considerations for decision making: purposes of assessment, contexts of assessment, learner outcomes, tasks, feedback processes, and interactions. The concept of design is subject to ongoing debate, which holds significant implications for the future of educational design. We therefore explore the intricacies of design through the five design senses: 1) design as domain, 2) as process, 3) as plan, 4) as the resulting product, and 5) as intentional creation of new possibilities. We demonstrate that when co-designing assessment in higher education, the interrelationships among these five senses remain fluid, perpetually shifting, and emergent within a complex network involving both human and non-human actants. The conceptualisation of the five senses as a network represents a methodological standpoint that enables us to portray the complex interconnections of tools, competencies, roles, and relationships within our educational co-design project. Reframing design activities as a network allows us to modify parts of the network, leading to more sustainable designs.
Digital Problem Based Learning for Facilitating the Acquisition of Collaborative Competencies
Authors: Rathleff Camilla Rams , Telléus Patrik Kristoffer Kjærsdam
Published: July 2024

Is Networked Learning (NL) and Problem-Based Learning (PBL) the future of education to foster collaboration? Networked learning has been proposed to be combined with PBL. Both are pedagogies and philosophies influenced by traditions of open learning, radical pedagogies and humanistic educational ideas. Problem-based learning is a constructivist, student-centered, and problem-based approach used at the medical education at Aalborg University (AAU). During COVID, AAU fast-tracked the implementation of Digital PBL (DPBL) methods. Digital PBL opens new possibilities for collaborations across platforms and holds a potential to improve learning. This potential has yet to be released through systematic efforts to understand the possibilities in the context of medical education.The curriculum at the medical education at AAU is centered around the seven roles of physicians originally described in the Canadian framework, CanMEDS. Healthcare systems becomes increasingly complex, interconnected, and rely on interdisciplinary teamwork. The Collaborator role thus becomes more important than ever before. Physicians are expected to excel in clinical expertise and collaborate effectively with other healthcare professionals, patients, and families.The specific focus on collaboration is a good example of alignment between PBL-, NL pedagogy and the CanMEDS framework, and could be important to further exploration using DPBL.This study will investigate the possibilities of DPBL within the medical education at AAU by exploring and testing digitally supported pedagogical design options for facilitating the acquisition of collaborative competencies.This explorative sequential mixed-method study will explore user-needs and perspectives using DPBL in the medical education. This contextualized knowledge will inform the development of a new teaching intervention aimed at enhancing the Collaborator role. It will be evaluated using quantitative measures of student engagement, time requirements, satisfaction and self-report learning outcomes. The data will be merged with focus group interviews to gain an in-depth understanding of the quantitative results.The theoretical background will be learning design, including constructivism. This approach will be employed using the ACAD-model. The DPBL will include a digital element, the podcast media, and a pedagogical practice encouraging the medical students to engage actively in the learning process. This is facilitated by podcast production in groups.At NLC24 the findings of the user-needs and perspectives will be presented and interpreted as part of the design and frame of the podcast intervention. The intervention will take place in autumn 2024 and this can answer if NL and PBL is part of the future education to foster collaboration.
Denormalising the Future Digital University
Authors: Pischetola Magda , Dirckinck-Holmfeld Lone
Published: July 2024

Universities have become increasingly dependent from digital platforms and AI-assisted learning environments, with unprecedented investments in educational technologies during the pandemic. Generative AI is now raising new promises of a radical transformation of education, with machine learning supporting academic writing and customised learning. It is not surprising that the most normalised narrative about the future university is that it will be highly automated and datafied. Grounded in feminist and decolonial theories, this short essay poses questions to explore alternative imaginaries to this narrative. Feminist scholarship has contributed to epistemological relativism by questioning values that are embedded in techno-scientific knowledge production. It has pointed at the way rational modern subjectivity embraces homogeneity and denies difference, identifying equality with sameness. Adopting a feminist standpoint allows us to assess discursive-material attributes of technologies that are silencing differences. Critical/speculative questions following this approach could be: what does technology do in academic spaces? What are its political effects? How does/can it silence differences? Decolonial scholarship has shown how modernity is intricated with colonial logics, a relationship that is particularly evident in the rhetoric of progress and technological innovation. Most recently, it has stressed how digital technologies and AI shall be assessed in terms of their potential to oppress people and increase inequality. Decolonial thinkers focus on the subjectivities of those who are involved and consider institutions as a space for political action. Critical/speculative questions that go in this direction will ask: in the benefit of whom are technologies used in academic spaces? What are the invisible risks of these uses in terms of social justice? How do digital technologies reproduce social oppression?We argue that the dialogue between these theories can allow us to make the effort of denormalising the role of digital technologies in the future university and understanding how structural change might occur.
Traversing Situations and Contexts in Networked Learning
Authors: Wilson Stephanie , Wardak Dewa
Published: July 2024

To meet the goals of business education and develop responsible business leaders, educators need to design networked learning environments that nurture and leverage connections. This includes connecting students to each other, their teachers, to industry and to the community. This paper aims to understand factors that support or inhibit students’ participation in networked learning in a business education context. Productive participation in learning networks is essential if students are to connect meaningfully with people and resources in ways that support their learning and experience. As the physical and digital learning environments students engage in often include complex configurations of tools, tasks, and epistemic resources, they require the skills and dispositions to effectively transition between these environments. Using a situated readiness framework by Hachmann and Dohn (2018), this study presents an analysis of focus group data from business students in higher education to identify ways in which students’ level of readiness impacts on their ability to participate effectively in learning networks. Students in the present study highlighted a range of challenges they faced when attempting to traverse between face-to-face and online learning environments. However, our study also revealed numerous other situations or contexts that business students needed to traverse as part of their networked learning experience. These were grouped into five overarching categories: domain; space and configuration; format, structure and resources; people or groups; and purpose and responsibility. Overlayed onto the situated readiness framework, these categories can be used by other researchers to gain a more nuanced understanding of how students navigate the complexities of networked learning environments. Future research conducted across a range of learning contexts would allow the categories to be refined and built upon. The study also identified skills and dispositions that contributed to students' level of readiness to navigate situations and contexts within networked learning environments, and some preliminary design considerations based on the findings. To support business students in higher education on their journey to becoming responsible business leaders, it is imperative that they are able to participate productively in complex networked learning environments. As educators, this requires us to understand their level of readiness to do so and equip them with the skills and dispositions they need to participate effectively.
An initial exploration of semi-automated tutoring
Authors: Jansson Malin , Tian Kathy , Hrastinski Stefan , Engwall Olov
Published: July 2024

In this paper, we begin our process of incorporating an AI bot in an online chat tutoring setting as a support for the tutor. We explore how an AI bot could give suggestions for tutor messages, although the human tutor will control how to communicate with the student. Tutoring, an important dimension of networked learning, has long been seen as a beneficial approach to students’ learning. An AI bot has the potential to aid tutors in the tutoring process and contribute to the scalability. The present pilot study was conducted in the tutoring setting of the Math Coach program. In the program, teacher students aid students from upper primary school to upper secondary school in mathematics through an online text-based chat system. Llama2 was used as a large language model (LLM), fine-tuned for Swedish comprehension utilizing the Math Coach system's chat logs. Four coaches, teacher students at a technical Swedish university and active in the Math Coach program, were invited to interact with the AI bot and participate in a group discussion. The coaches interacted individually with the AI bot while the chat conversation was displayed on a monitor so all participants could discuss the interaction while it took place. A semi-structured interview approach was taken and the participants were also encouraged to 'think aloud' about their experience. In the discussions, the coaches expressed surprise by the AI's social aspect. They perceived the AI bot as friendly with a positive attitude and were especially surprised by its ability to correctly place appropriate emojis. The coaches agreed that the AI was able to ask both appropriate and helpful questions and share some good guidance for how to proceed in the problem-solving process. However, they felt that the AI bot was not able to offer sufficient mathematical guidance, oftentimes the AI bot was confidently wrong. It also wrote too long messages, which humans would typically separate into several chat messages, and did not wait for a response but instead moved too quickly towards the solution. Moving forward we plan to address the effects of improved prompts on the AI bot and continue finetuning the LLM. We will continue to conduct pilot studies and eventually conduct more large-scale empirical studies.
Reconceptualising emotions-as-practices in education
Authors: Zeivots Sandris
Published: July 2024

Emotions play a pivotal role in shaping educational experiences, yet their subjective and transient nature presents considerable challenges for research. This conceptual paper seeks to address these challenges by employing the Theory of Practice Architectures (TPA) as a lens to explore emotions as socially distributed and constructed phenomena within educational settings. TPA's holistic lens of 'sayings', 'doings', and 'relatings' offers a novel multi-dimensional approach to investigate emotions-as-practices.In education contexts, including the evolving landscape of Networked Learning, emotions significantly influence learners' motivation, engagement, and achievement. Beyond individual impact, they contribute to the collective atmosphere of educational institutions, affecting classroom dynamics, inclusivity, and collaboration. However, research methods often struggle with capturing the complexity and fluidity of emotions, which creates a need for a revised methodology.This paper, underpinned by Scheer's work on emotional practices and Wilkinson’s theorisation of emotions in practice, argues for a reconceptualisation of emotions. It presents them as distributed and entangled actions, discourses, and relationships rather than merely individualised physiological responses. In Networked Learning, the interplay of emotions and learning is emphasised by digital architectures, creating unique emotional experiences and challenges. The rise of affectivism in social sciences calls for a deeper understanding of these experiences, as digital spaces alter the ways emotions are expressed, perceived, and performed.Utilising TPA, this paper conceptualises emotions-as-practices and highlights the importance of researching them through the tangible anchors of 'doings', 'sayings', and 'relatings'. This approach transcends the individualistic perspective and enables researchers to illuminate the collective nature of emotions-as-practices within education. In the context of Networked Learning, this conceptualisation reveals how digital learning can shape and is shaped by the emotional landscape through actions, discourse, and relational dynamics, and thus provides insights in the practice-oriented research on emotions.By focusing on emotions-as-practices, the paper advances a nuanced view to investigate the holistic experiences of emotion that are sensitive to the active, discursive, and relational aspects. This perspective pushes the boundaries of emotion research, and suggests novel pathways for Networked Learning. The TPA serves as a valuable lens for researchers, educators, and policy makers to understand and integrate emotions-as-practices in the wider networks of educational practices. As educational paradigms evolve with advances in technology and artificial intelligence, the need to recognise and support emotions in education becomes increasingly critical, ensuring they are not only felt but actively fostered and integrated in learning environments.
Seeing them steadily and seeing them whole
Authors: Casey Alison
Published: July 2024

The practice of assessing students on what they can produce at the end of a higher education course as a credible proxy for learning has been steadily devalued for years. It will be given a final push with the embedding of generative AI into ubiquitous productivity suites such as those of Microsoft and Google. The design of learning in higher education has also been given a push by the pandemic, with the focus moving from the blunt instrument of blended learning to approaches more grounded in theory such as networked learning. Both of these trends mean that attention has been turning to the assessment of the processes of student learning, rather than a final product. The current language of assessment is still very much derived from the vocabulary of cognition – primarily Bloom’s cognitive domain taxonomy. Cognition is of course an important aspect of learning, but in order to track the development of student understanding, ability to apply knowledge, to analyse and evaluate situations as they move through their learning experiences, we need language that can describe their response to their learning experiences. Bloom’s team of educational psychologists recognised this over fifty years ago, and developed a taxonomy of educational objectives in the affective domain that would do just that. In this paper I elaborate on how Bloom’s affective taxonomy can be used to assess such things as learning processes, and to make visible to students and educators the forming of connections that underpin networked learning. I illustrate this with an example drawn from a networked learning course. In this course students were asked to write short weekly reflections on their learning experiences. The act of writing the reflections was given a small mark, but the content was not assessed. Post hoc evaluation of the content of these reflections using the affective taxonomy showed a wide variety of affective response by students to learning experiences. A preliminary analysis shows a correlation between the depth of affective response and a student’s final mark. This approach shows great promise in not only designing assessment of learning processes, but in developing student efficacy in building connections and evaluating their own processes of learning.
Networked Educational Design for Novice Principals’ Professional Development
Authors: Sahlin Susanne , Sundgren Marcus
Published: July 2024

This paper focuses on professional development for school principals, drawing on literature on the education of leaders and school leaders' development. The Swedish National Principal Training Programme (NPTP) is a state-regulated executive education for professional principals in preschools, schools, and school-age Educare centres. It has been mandatory for all newly appointed principals in Sweden since 2010. The NPTP is a mandatory in-service programme and consists of three courses: school law and governance, governing with objectives and results, and school leadership. The programme runs over three years, parallel to working full-time as a principal. The participants are expected to spend 20% of their working time on their studies. The NPTP uses a networked educational design, which is a valuable research topic from a networked professional learning perspective. This pilot study aims to explore the role of networked educational design for novice principals' professional development and strengthened professional confidence and identity. The research question that frames the study is: In what ways do novice principals' experiences of professional development contribute to the development of their professional confidence and identity with a networked educational design? The study employed a qualitative case-study design with a purposive sampling method to include novice principals undertaking Sweden's national school training programme. Data were collected during 2018-2022 from post-programme evaluations, including individual digital questionnaires with close-ended and open-ended responses and small group oral evaluations documented in a log book. The participants were novice principals studying in the NPTP at one university in Sweden. In all, 321 school leaders from 10 cohort groups in the programme consisting of principals and deputy principals from preschool, primary, secondary, and adult education participated voluntarily. The programme evaluations were carried out during the participants' last residential stay in the programme. Results indicate the importance of residential stays and networking opportunities in the educational journey of principals. These opportunities help connect with peers, establish contacts, and acquire valuable strategies. Completing the training increased principals' professional confidence, particularly in their roles as school leaders. The study shows that the networked educational design supports the development of a professional network among principals, which enhances their professional identity and confidence. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of this networked educational design, which helps shape principals' professional identity and confidence. The findings emphasise the value of networked professional learning.
Everyday datafication and higher education
Authors: Noteboom Joe
Published: July 2024

Datafication—the transformation of human life into quantifiable digital data—raises important questions for student agency in higher education. Student agency is central to learning and engagement within university, and the development of agentic selves in students forms a core purpose of higher education. Data-driven practices such as learning analytics promise to support the development of student agency in the context of learning, while at the same time introducing new information and power asymmetries into the relationship between students and the university. Critical research on datafication, meanwhile, has highlighted the threats to student agency posed by data-driven analytics practices that reinforce structural inequalities and depend on the surveillance of student behaviours and bodies. This paper explores student agency in relation to datafication through a discussion of the findings of ethnographic research with university students in Scotland. Drawing on literature from the field of critical data studies that focuses on people’s everyday experiences of datafication, the paper will highlight how students understand, feel about and respond to datafication in their everyday lives, and what this means for their relationship with the university. Students draw on a range of everyday data literacies developed through their experiences of datafied platforms and academic knowledge to make sense of university data practices. They employ diverse tactics for coping with datafication, including minimizing perceived risks by taking measures to protect their privacy and disconnecting from certain platforms. They tend to trust the university with their data, but this trust is conditional and closely related to their overall perception of the university. Above all, perhaps, students are resigned to datafication within and beyond the university. Thus, while students demonstrate agency with respect to datafication in a range of ways, data relations between the university and students are fundamentally top-down, reflecting wider societal dynamics whereby people routinely give up their data in exchange for access to digital services, with little ability to opt out or control what happens to it. Universities, it will be argued, have the potential to introduce participatory forms of data governance that reframe these relations, thus supporting the development of student agency over datafication within and beyond the university.
Orchestrating Good Educational Relationships With(in) Automated Teaching
Authors: Gibson Patricia
Published: July 2024

Automated teaching tends to be underpinned by learning approaches that are personalised and adaptive by nature. This individualistic vision of education shapes our conception of knowledge and how it is created. Here, knowledge becomes objectified in the form of a quantifiable commodity in a commercial market. Consequently, knowledge creation becomes conceptualised as the transmission of this object from automated teacher to student. The human teacher is positioned outside the educational process, often to the point of exclusion. This research moves beyond a vision of automated teaching that is framed by learning approaches, where teaching approaches remain starkly absent. I coded an automated teacher in the form of a Teacherbot — a chatbot that functions as a teacher — to work with a group of Interactive Media students at a UK University. Posthuman critical theory is used to conceptualise knowledge and its creation as a process of relational encounters, rather than a transmissive object. The findings chart the transformations in student understandings around what constitutes knowledge and its creation. The emergent pedagogical encounters that brought about these student transformations are identified through the nature of the teaching relationships: the performance of an obligation of radical hope; the creation of disturbances; and, trust and the pursuit of risk. This paper is significant in its call to bring teaching back to automated teaching systems.
A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Inquiry into Higher Education Educators' Engagement with Technology for Facilitating Higher Order Thinking Skills
Authors: Healey-Benson Dr Felicity
Published: July 2024

Adopting a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, this study delves into the lived experiences of higher education (HE) educators who utilise digital technology to enhance Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). Grounded in the philosophical frameworks of Heidegger (1927/1962) and Gadamer (1960/1975) and employing an adaptation of van Manen’s (2014) Methodology of Phenomenology, this research provides an in-depth emic perspective on how educators experience the use of digital tools to foster students’ HOTS. The study engages a diverse, international cohort of twelve HE educators from Australia, Canada, India, the UK, and the USA, covering key disciplines relevant to contemporary business schools.The study aims to enhances understanding of the intricate relationship between digital technology and educators' experiences in fostering HOTS. By exploring these experiences through an existential lens, it addresses ethical, cognitive, and affective dimensions. The findings resonate with insights from Beard (2018) and Hare (2022), affirming technology's dual role in education, as encapsulated in the 'pharmakon' concept, originally articulated by Derrida (1972) from his reading of Plato’s Socrates. This principle illustrates technology's capacity to serve both as a remedy and a poison, a duality further explored in digital contexts by Kern (2014) and Adams (2017). For example, while digital technologies promote connectivity and collaborative learning—serving as a remedy to traditional educational limitations—they can also lead to cognitive overload and superficial engagement, exemplifying its 'pharmakon' effect in supporting HOTS development.By focusing on educators' lived experiences through a phenomenological lens, the research illuminates how educators adeptly navigate the complexities and opportunities presented by digital tools. The findings underscore the necessity for a critical and nuanced understanding of technology's role in shaping educational practices and outcomes and advocates for a balanced, reflective approach to technology integration when supporting HOTS development. The study offers grounded insights to inform pedagogical strategies for HOTS development in the digital era.
Building capacity through networking
Authors: Datt Ashwini
Published: July 2024

Networks are an ally for higher educators: providing them an avenue to connect beyond the boundaries of space, time, and institutional hierarchy, to build professional capacity. This paper reports on an ethics approved mixed methods study on the value of networking to develop capacity for teaching with technologies. Data were collected via the means of anonymous online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. There were 218 valid questionnaire responses and 31 interviews with participants from 23 countries worldwide. The value creation framework by Wenger, Trayner and deLaat (2011) was the main reference concept for data collection, analysis and reporting. The findings show that higher educators create value in networks to build capacity to teach with technologies by taking the role of Lurker, Seeker or Leader.