bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
PROSPECTS FOR THE RATIONAL USE OF BEAR’S ONION WILD-HARVESTED IN NORTH OSSETIA-ALANIA
Authors:   Gorsky State Agrarian University, Vladikavkaz, Russia, Tsugkiev B. G. , Tsugkieva V. B. , Gagieva L. Ch. , Ramonova E. V. , Grevtsova S. A.
Published: October 2024

Nowadays research aimed at finding new natural sources of biologically active substances is becoming increasingly relevant, which is consistent with government policy in the field of healthy nutrition, preserving and strengthening public health. Plants containing valuable nutritional and biologically active substances that have antimicrobial activity and have a fungicidal effect (antifungal) are widely used in many industries and medicine. In this regard, determining the age characteristics of bear’s onion, the biochemical composition of the above-ground and underground parts and antimicrobial activity is a relevant area. The location of the research was the botanical garden and the research laboratory of the Research Institute of Biotechnology of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education «Mountain State Agrarian University». It has been established that under cultural conditions, samples of bear’s onion go through all stages or periods of development 8-10 days earlier than in natural conditions. A. ursinum L. is an ephemeroid, early-flowering species and belongs to the group of short-vegetating plants. Young shoots contain carbohydrates, proteins, organic acids, beneficial fiber, as well as biologically active substances: carotenoids - 0.31 ± 0.01 mg/g, total flavonoids - 1.79 ± 0.26 mg/g, ascorbic acid - 150 ± 5.11 mg%. Biologically active substances included in the composition of the above-ground and underground parts of bear onions can have an inhibitory effect on the growth of test microbes. Moreover, the bulbs have a large zone of inhibition of the growth of test microbes: Pr. vulgaris and Staph. aureus relative to the aerial part and is 26-30 mm, respectively. The antimicrobial activity of the aerial part of Allium ursinum relative to the test microbes is: E. coli - 22 mm, Pr. vulgaris - 25 mm; Staph. aureus - 20 mm. The results obtained provide a scientific basis for the possibility of introducing and cultivating Allium ursinum , as well as using it as a food product with a rich chemical composition and antimicrobial activity.
Coffee Consumption and Sleep Quality: A Cross-Sectional Study among Saudi Adults
Authors: AlMutairi Najla , Shakir Ismail , Mohammed Soheib , Quraiba Lama , Shaikh Narmeen , Alhusseini Noara
Published: October 2024

Background: Caffeine is one of the most commonly consumed stimulants in Saudi Arabia. We aim to examine the relationship between caffeine consumption and sleep quality among individuals residing in Saudi Arabia.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Data was collected through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. The study included adults 18 years and older who reside in Saudi Arabia. Descriptive statistics were performed to examine the population characteristics, and the logistic regression model was used to examine the association between caffeine consumption and sleep quality.
Results: A total of 636 respondents participated in the study. Nine out of ten respondents reported consuming caffeine (90%). The respondents were predominately aged 30 to 44 (52.04%), females (63.11%), married (62.89%), and overweight/obese (60.47%). Around two-thirds were Saudi nationals (69.68%).  More than half of the respondents reported a good quality sleep score (56.88%). In multivariate analysis adjusted for potential confounders, body mass index was the only statistically significant demographic predictor for sleep quality. Overweight/obese respondents had a statistically significantly lower sleep quality score mean than non-overweight/obese respondents (coefficient -0.48; P-value 0.05).
Conclusion: Caffeine consumption was highly prevalent among Saudis; however, it was not associated with poor sleep quality. On the contrary, those with high body mass index, particularly in obese individuals, were significantly associated with poor sleep quality. Caffeine consumers have to monitor their caffeine consumption carefully and set a daily consumption limit for themselves.
Cross-Sectional Assessment of Chronic Kidney Disease Awareness Among the General Population in Makkah
Authors: Mokhtar Shatla  , Muhannad salih Alghamdi  , Saud Mohammed Almutawa  , Anas Mohammed Alamodi  , Abdulaziz Ali Alsaedi  , Salman Ali Alosaimi  , AL-Ghanem Mashael K. , Al-Zamel Sulaiman M.
Published: October 2024

Objectives: A growing global health concern is chronic kidney disease (CKD), which isprevalent in Saudi Arabia as well. In this research, we aimed to assess the knowledge,Perception, and Attitude toward Chronic Kidney Disease among the General Populationin Makkah, Saudi Arabia.Methods: In Makkah City, Saudi Arabia, a cross-sectional survey was carried out in2023. A random sample of the general population aged 18 to 60 was given an onlinequestionnaire; individuals with CKD and healthcare professionals were not included.Results: The study's findings showed that 73.6% of participants had little or noawareness of chronic kidney disease (CKD), suggesting that the public had a poorcomprehension of the condition. Being young, unmarried, and having a family history ofrenal disease were all positively correlated with higher awareness levels.Conclusion: The study emphasizes the urgent need for public health measures, such aseducation and awareness campaigns, to raise public understanding of chronic kidneydisease (CKD) in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.Keywords: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), Makkah, Online questionnaire, Survey,Public awareness.
Curriculum Framework Considerations for Introducing Networked Learning within a Career-Focused Higher Education Institution
Authors: Avard Georgina L. , Zenios Maria
Published: October 2024

In this small-scale interpretive case study the Polytechnic of Namibia (PoN) curriculum framework (CF) is explored in relation to its openness to Networked Learning (NL) principles. The PoN is a career-focussed institute educating leaders for the new economy. At its core is a "Knowledge Economy" (KE), which supposes an educated and skilled population to ‘create, share, and use knowledge' and requiring lifelong learning due to rapid changes in the KE (World Bank, 2003, p. 2). Additionally, knowledge is increasingly being generated, developed, accessed, applied and transferred in innovative ways, with advancements in ICT enabling rapid expansion of knowledge networks. Innovation is a primary attribute of employees in contemporary workplaces and is requiring what Dovey (2006) calls a ‘new vocationalism', one that focuses on the ability to learn how to learn and communicate effectively with colleagues and managers. Thus, knowledge revolving around processes and know-how is valued over static propositional knowledge or know-what (Dovey, 2006).
NL is a pedagogical approach focusing on the connections between people and resources within ICT-enhanced networked settings (Jones, 2004a). Its concern is with meaning making and learning within social processes and within the social and organisational dynamics within which the processes take place (Jones, 2004a). NL is seen as being appropriate for the new economy because of its culture of connectivity and collaboration (Parchoma & Dykes, 2008), which in turn advances employability skills.
In this study, three top PoN managers completed an interview and questionnaire to get a sense of; the underlying ideas that underpin the CF and its flexibility, which were then balanced against NL principles. Although this small-scale research cannot offer definitive conclusions regarding the openness of the CF to NL principles, it highlighted several points of interest and further research possibilities. Tentative findings intimate the CF as being flexible regarding teaching, learning and assessment strategies however, because of its career-focused, industry-defined curriculum, the use of an adaptable, student-driven NL approach may prove challenging. Overall, what is needed at this stage are pilots of NL strategies involving multiple stakeholders to establish what works and what may still be problematic across all CF elements. Also, research may also focus on the question of how the PoN can move away from a more technicist e-learning approach to embrace NL practices.
Social learning in Learning Networks through peer support
Authors: Brouns Francis , Hsiao Amy
Published: October 2024

Learning Networks are particularly suitable for lifelong learners as Learning Networks are online social networks designed to support non-formal learning. Lifelong learners want to learn what they need, when they need it and at a place and pace that suits them. Combined with the heterogeneous background of the learners, it is very hard to meet these needs with traditional curriculum based formal education. Instead the learner needs to be put central. Moreover, learners in a LN need to rely on learning through and with others, by sharing knowledge. That this is a feasible option is shown by the positive effects of collaborative learning and peer tutoring in formal education, as well as the interest in social learning in the digital era. However, a Learning Network needs to provide learner support services to tackle obstacles that arise due to the lack of interaction structures and organisational structures that come naturally with a formal educational setting. A peer support service that assists learners in finding the most suitable peer for their request is one of the required learner support services. In this paper we argue why social learning and peer support are relevant to learners in a Learning Network. We describe our peer support model based on the notion of ad hoc transient groups and present findings of five empirical studies that used prototypical implementations of this model. In the first prototypes peer selection criteria focused on content knowledge, proximity or eligibility and past workload. As collaboration tools, a wiki, discussion forums or instant messaging were used. In three studies, both formal education and in Learning Network conditions, the peer support systems were successful in that selected peers provided decent answers. However in two other studies we encountered problems. In one study learners failed to use the peer support systems to ask questions. In another study, sufficient participants were recruited beforehand, but many never responded when the experiment started. As a consequence, peers who were paired with learners never showed up and learners got frustrated. This shows how important it is that learner support services not only provide the means to interact with others but also provide the affordances that stimulate and motivate the learners to engage in meaningful interactions.
Detecting mathematics learning online
Authors: Corneli Joseph A. , Ponti Marisa
Published: October 2024

The purpose of the paper is to design a rubric for assessment of informal learning in undergraduate level mathematics. Our proposed assessment strategy would support and parallel the mathematics learning environment we are developing at PlanetMath. PlanetMath is currently an open Web 2.0 system that consists of peer-produced encyclopaedia articles and forum discussions: we will add facilities for contributing textbook-style problems and solutions, and detailed activity tracking to model and support learning.
PlanetMath.org was initially developed by Aaron Krowne during the course of his Master's studies at Virgina Tech. PlanetMath is a virtual community and peer-produced repository of mathematical knowledge. Its central feature is a peer-produced mathematics encyclopaedia, which has been written by a group of around 300 volunteers, and now containing nearly 9000 entries defining over 15000 terms. Similarly to Wikipedia, its contents are available under the terms of the Creative Commons By/Share-Alike License, but as a subject-specific encyclopaedia, it tends to have more specialised content (e.g. detailed proofs).The design we are using to transform PlanetMath from being primarily a reference resource into a new learning environment will include all of the traditional activities associated with building and maintaining PlanetMath's encyclopaedia (e.g., writing and editing articles, forum discussions, corrections and requests), an a new "problem solving layer", which contains problems, solutions, links from the problems into the encyclopaedia (and vice versa), as well as discussions about problems (including evaluation or marking), and course packets that combine problems with expository material.Viewing PlanetMath as a learning environment encompassing interactions among humans, technology and artefacts such as terms, articles, problems and solutions, our proposed analytical framework aims to examine the process of learning in a social context and to support the cycle of knowledge building in which learner-produced materials have an important role to play.It appears that the biggest strength of our proposed approach to detecting learning is its three layer framework: we can detect specialised vocabulary use, socio-technical features like "working at the cutting edge", and manage a catch-all category of heuristics which can be used to detect and talk about different ways of thinking. While there is a somewhat domain-specific mathematical flavour to this approach, we feel it poses an interesting model for educators and educational scientists working in other fields to consider adapting to their purposes. Further work will need to be done to establish whether this analytical framework can effectively detect patterns of learning.
Use of Visual Analysis to Investigate Networked Learning in Online Forums
Authors: Ferguson Rebecca
Published: October 2024

Asynchronous online forums such as FirstClass are frequently used in many educational settings to link networks of learners. They offer opportunities for knowledge-building dialogue and for the exchange of learning resources, but many students struggle to make effective use of them. Researchers have therefore been concerned to investigate how learners successfully build knowledge together in online forums and which skills and literacies are likely to help users to learn in these environments. To date, much of this research has focused on the textual elements of online forum dialogue. This paper acknowledges the importance of studying these textual elements, but presents visual analysis as a complementary tool that can significantly extend understanding of activity in these forums.
Asynchronous dialogue, like written text, is typically both verbal and visual, with much of its meaning carried by a range of visual features, including layout and typographical elements. These aspects of forum data require analysis of the composition of the dialogue alongside its content. In the case of such composite texts, with meanings realised through different semiotic codes, visual and verbal elements interact and should be analysed as an integrated whole. This semiotic approach draws attention to the syntax of images as a source of meaning and to the structuring principles that enable viewers to make sense of the layout of text and images. These principles include salience, frames, vectors and reading paths.
This paper demonstrates ways in which analysis that makes use of these structuring principles can increase understanding of online exchanges between learners. It takes as an exemplar a series of forum postings that were shared in the formal setting of an online course at the UK’s Open University. It shows that the construction of knowledge in an online forum is heavily reliant on visual elements of the online interaction, and that a focus on words alone does not make it clear either how this construction takes place or why it fails to take place on some occasions. Visual analysis shows that groups of learners use affordances of forum software to increase the salience of some elements of the dialogue and to increase the coherence of their discussion.
Designing for Learning in Coupled Contexts
Authors: Gleerup Janne , Heilesen Simon B. , Mogensen Kevin
Published: October 2024

Vocational training curricula are often designed as a progression of alternating periods of attending school and working as an apprentice in a company. In the case discussed in this paper, involving the training of electrician apprentices at a Danish vocational school, many of the apprentices (pupils) have difficulties understanding how the two modes of learning, i.e. formal learning by means of instruction and informal learning through apprenticeship, relate to one another and add up to a meaningful whole. This paper is an account of an experiment in designing for net-based vocational learning with the aim of providing a coupling between widely different learning contexts. The design approach is based on a user-focused quadruple helix model of understanding the learning situation. According to this model, knowledge institution, enterprise, and public authorities together and in shifting constellations provide a framework in which all actors assume roles that are multi-dimensional. The actual design process used is based on a recently-developed method for user-driven innovation, the "quadrant model", involving apprentices, teachers, and masters and journeymen from companies as active and equal co-creators of new didactic designs. Having initially acquired domain knowledge by means of observation and interviews with the various user groups, the researchers together with apprentices, teachers, masters and journeymen have developed a series of designs for new practices by means of workshops, prototyping, and testing. The final outcome has been three designs that facilitate communication between apprentice-and-apprentice, school-and-apprentice, and apprentice-and-master/journeyman. From the perspective of the apprentices, the three designs: a) facilitate community building; b) help bring the school into the practice environment; and c) encourage reflection on one's own practice. From the point of view of the school, the designs make it possible to extend formal learning to the workplace, and for masters/journeymen the designs offer an opportunity to supplement dreary routines of documentation with visualisations and reflections on practice. It is suggested that the designs are likely to result in an empowerment of the apprentices, and thus that in a wider perspective successful integration of the designs entail a need for adjusting existing practices in terms of assigning the learners a more active and responsible role as co-contributors to their own education.
Student author as actor network? Using ANT to explore digital literacies in higher education
Authors: Gourlay Lesley
Published: October 2024

The concept of 'digital literacies' is indeterminate and contested, arising from contrasting theoretical positions and traditions of practice and enquiry. 'Literacies' - particularly the plural - is a term which has come to be associated with New Literacies Studies (e.g. Barton 1994) and the resultant critique of the notion of generic, transferable 'skills' (e.g. Lea & Street 1998, Wingate 2006).
The literacies perspective sees writing as situated social practice, and seeks to blur the categories of 'content' and writing process, arguing that they are inextricably linked. Writer subjectivity is also foregrounded and dominant forms of representation are critiqued as implicated in the reproduction of social privilege. Focusing on academic writing in particular, this paper will argue that this critique has only been partially successful in terms of influence across the sector, and that 'digital literacies' has in many contexts simply become the new term for 'IT skills'. The persistence of the 'skills' lens - with its implicit techno-rationalist focus on decontextualised procedure - can be seen in hybrid formulations such as 'digital literacy skills'.
The picture is further complicated by the widespread use in popular culture of 'literacy' to denote a form of 'know-how', such as 'computer literacy'. I will argue that the fundamental shift in understanding demanded by the original (once-disruptive) 'literacies' critique has been largely lost through a process of domestication of the term. In response, actor-network theory (ANT) (Latour 2005) is proposed as a complimentary orientation which may allow new understandings of relationships between texts, contexts and practices, recasting the author and reader as enmeshed in complex posthuman (e.g. Hayles 1999) networks of human and non-human actors. This standpoint may serve to creatively undermine seemingly stable categories such as 'text', 'author' and 'machine' in generative ways when seeking to explore networked, digitally-mediated forms of writing and representation. This will be illustrated with reference to a JISC-funded study (JISC 2011) in which multimodal journaling will be deployed to explore these networks in day-to-day student practice in a specialist postgraduate institution. It will conclude with suggested implications for researchers and practitioners concerned with writing and representation in higher education.
The role of feedback in the design of learning activities
Authors: Griffiths David , Richards Griff , Harrison Michelle
Published: October 2024

Learning Analytics plays an increasingly important role in informing educational institutions about their performance, and in supplying them with data on which they can guide their future policy. In this paper we analyse the challenges involved in obtaining useful data about learning activities, and in responding appropriately to them. The paper describes a case study carried out at the Open Learning Division of Thompson Rivers University which sought to lay the groundwork for an enhancement of instructional design practice by identifying the factors which are responsible for the success or failure of learning activities. The responsibility for development of learning activities lies principally with the Instructional Design team. The five members of this team were interviewed, and their perspectives were supplemented by interviews with eight lecturers, academic managers, and those responsible for faculty development. The 13 interviews were transcribed, and Qualitative Data Analysis techniques applied to draw out the principal themes. This process identified factors determining the success of learning activities, and requests for feedback, which will feed into the collection of data from students as they take their courses. On examination of the data valuable information was found which went beyond the original scope of the inquiry. This concerned, first, the methods, problems and workarounds in the instructional design group when defining activities; and second, the organisational, technical and policy constraints on the design group, and their consequences. The perceived flows of feedback within the learning activity process were analysed, from the perspective of the instructional designers, and an explanation for the barriers encountered is proposed in terms of variety management. The instructional design team is required to use its experience to resolve issues which are too complex for formal analysis, and the principal problems are identified. It is proposed that (a) documents should be developed to represent agreed practice in dealing with these problems so as to reduce cognitive load on the instructional designers; and (b) that the collection of data on learning activities should be focused on confirming the accuracy of the suppositions and mechanisms implied in this practice.
The objects of e-learning
Authors: Hannon John
Published: October 2024

The implementation of learning technology systems in universities tends to be associated with perennial debates about e-learning effectiveness. These debates are phrased in a variety of ways, such as a gap between policy and practice, or outcomes and expectations, or as a mismatch between institutional technology systems and the emergence of Web 2.0. Such characterisations derive from a legacy of huge investment in e-learning systems and strategies that herald great promise for elusive outcomes, attended by a record of compromise and breakdown. This paper draws on this legacy to reflect critically on the pervasive deployment of learning technology systems in universities that has emerged from the brief but vexed history of e-learning, focusing on the arrangements for implementation of a new learning management system in one university. I argue that although this instance of implementation was successful in achieving its purposes, it nevertheless embedded aspects of historical human-technology interactions that reproduced troublesome effects for institutional e-learning. I draw on actor-network theory (ANT) concepts to examine the nonhuman participants of implementation, in particular the "objects" that are the focus of implementation: how these objects entail networks and relations that act prior to and at a distance from the implementation, how they are enacted in technologies and processes of institutional change, and their consequences for teaching and learning practices. Implementation, in this instance, did not fit with an understanding of the LMS as a single object. Rather it involved the enactment of the LMS in multiple forms: as a technological system requiring constant testing and reporting, as a vehicle for organisational change in the form of subject migration and staff adoption, and as a site for situated practices of e-learning. The implications of the study are that where an institution-wide technology is implemented as a singular entity, with a single narrative, there are potential consequences for teaching and learning practices. Understanding organisational change involving e-learning means reappraising the objects that merit such attention and resources, and approaching them as materialised effects of multiple and extensive social and technological relations. I propose that early intervention in the assembly of such objects, at the outset of their implementation, is critical to the construction of a learning-centred e-learning environment.
Supervisors' utterances in online supervision of first-year students' dissertations
Authors: Augustsson Gunnar , Jaldemark Jimmy
Published: October 2024

While offline supervision is comprised of physical social clues, verbal communication, and drafts of texts, online supervision mainly focuses on written communication and electronic drafts. Participating in online supervision probably sets other requirements regarding clarity in the utterances of the supervisor. In online student supervision, it helps if supervisors are aware of differences in how their utterances of drafts are interpreted by students. Earlier research of supervision in online education has overlooked these differences in qualities of utterances. A problem that arises out of this omission is a deemphasizing of the quality in the social interplay between students and teachers in online supervision. A study of differences in written utterances of supervisors pays attention to this overlooking.As part of a greater research project of online supervision, the current study expands on earlier studies of the practice of online supervision by focusing on written utterances of supervisors and identifying and analysing differences in their comments on drafts of students' dissertations. To fulfil this purpose online utterances' of supervisors were analysed. Theoretical ideas of communication and online participation were used to interpret the empirical data. Overall we identify four categories of utterances: comments, points of view, instructions, and questions.
The preliminary results of the research project implicate the importance of awareness among supervisors in online supervision, particularly on the nature of the utterances they make use of when supervising students' academic writing. Such awareness makes it possible for supervisors to strategically emphasise students 'independence'. That could guide students through their writing by applying a balanced mix of comments, point of views, instructions, and questions. Reaching a balance in online supervisions may be very valuable in the process of supervising dissertation work.
The preliminary results of the research project of online supervision suggest scrutinising how students perceive supervisor's utterances of their drafts. That task will, together with an analysis of how supervisors perceive their own utterances, be examined more closely in further studies. Those studies could focus on how the dialogue between students and supervisors intersects in drafts of student's dissertation.
Promoting connections through Community Equity
Authors: Johnson Mike
Published: October 2024

Following on from previous work (Johnson, 2008a, 2008b), this paper explores a central construct of the 2001 definition of networked learning, ‘promoting connections'. A significant percentage of higher education students do not engage with information technology which stymies their acquisition of working knowledge of IT and digital literacy and hampers their ability to benefit from programmed networked learning opportunities. The author's journey to explore Community Equity (Reiser, 2009a) as an answer to this challenge is briefly described. The system has not been used in higher education yet, its commercial origins are belied by the fact that the software is open source. Community Equity, or CEQ, is proposed as a system that could help to incentivise and measure networked learning in the context of group-based learning in higher education. CEQ plugs into the Atlassian Confluence enterprise wiki platform and counts primary activity, such as sharing a Web link, authoring a blog post or contributing to a wiki. Various proposals have been made concerning how usage data, or analytics, might benefit learners. By contrast, CEQ also takes account of whether the primary activity sparks secondary activity, such as visiting, responding to, and rating the primary activity. It is also possible to include activity from 3rd party social networking sites. Personal CEQ scores for ‘Contribution Equity' and ‘Participation Equity' are displayed confidentially to individual students, and their own ranking is also shown alongside a top-ten leader board which is visible to all. This is clearly in advance of the metrics normally available through Virtual Learning Environments (VLE). It offers to motivate engagement in a variety of ways that include ‘game-based', ‘psycho-social' and economic motivation.Further work is required to explore student responses to CEQ: whether assessment credit would be required to secure engagement from all students, or whether merely publishing the CEQ scores is sufficient to make networked learning activity a routine part of their daily lives.The possibilities afforded by CEQ allow us to ask further questions about networked learning as defined in 2001, since, for example, neither CEQ nor the definition make any claims about the quality of the connections or that which travels along them.This paper is presented in the hope of stimulating debate and developing ideas around these and other related questions central to the theory and practice of networked learning.
The Collaborative Remix of Cyberculture on the Web Project
Authors: Junqueira Eduardo S.
Published: October 2024

The paper presents the Collaborative Remix of Cyberculture on the Web Project's ongoing enactment at a Brazilian federal university. The project extends the activities of an on-campus course about Cyberculture as the instructor and current and former students engage in a collaborative process of co-designing a new web interface integrated by a remix of resources available on the internet and by students' own contributions. The Project's main objective is to advance students' learning about Cyberculture by engaging them with the interface co-design, the critical selection of resources and the production of their own materials. The instructor operates as a mediator, helping students develop a critical perspective about the Project and helping them make meaningful connections with the resources available on the internet. Former students act as brokers, aiding exchanges between the instructor and the students and supporting them in adding their imprint to the Project. The co-design of the web interface is detailed. Student response to this new way of participating and learning has been mixed. It is difficult for them to make sense of the new positioning of the instructor as a mediator instead of being the traditional solo holder of knowledge in class. But as the course evolves, students start to appreciate having the opportunity to share their ideas and to contribute to the Project, which leads to increasing participation and learning. Many students recognized that their involvement with the Project helped advance their learning as they had the opportunity to engage with new concepts and ideas related to the course and as they exchanged ideas and different points of view with their peers. Students also appreciated the production of original materials and the integration of these resources on the web interface. Challenges for the future are related to the need to bring new users to participate at the web interface, given that it is currently limited to the students, even though it is open on the internet. Also, new tools are necessary to help build meaningful connections between resources and to manage the continuous posting of new resources and the exchange of information on the web interface.
Professional development and innovative pedagogy in an online community through the lens of activity theory
Authors: Kaulback Brenda G.
Published: October 2024

The liberation of learning from time and place constrictions through digital technologies has enabled the creation of new learning environments. This paper analyzes one such model, which was developed by those engaged in Global Skills for College Completion (GSCC), through the lens of activity theory. GSCC is an on-going national research project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in which twenty-five faculty from sixteen U.S. community colleges created an innovative developmental education[1] pedagogy in an online community. Through the use of a managed digital environment consisting of an electronic portfolio, an online collaborative space called Polilogue (a customized version of the open source web-based course management system, Moodle) and various other technologies, the faculty simultaneously developed and field-tested both a professional development model and a developmental education pedagogy for community college students. The premise of GSCC is that faculty participating collaboratively in the creation of an innovative pedagogy drawn from current practice of successful faculty and utilizing social media technologies can change teaching practice and improve student success. Pass rates from these community college classes nationally, which enroll more low-income, immigrant, and black and Latino students than four-year colleges, are barely 60 percent and the goal of GSCC is to push that to an 80% pass rate. This research project, which is both evidence-based and theory-driven, is in the final semester of the first phase.
The project team includes faculty and administrators from LaGuardia Community College and consultants from Knowledge in the Public Interest. Several articles, chapters, papers and conference papers have been written and presented about GSCC (e.g. Woolis & Mellow, 2011; Woolis, Mellow, & Laurillard, 2011). A team of researchers from SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research institute, provides the research expertise for the project. The Center for Applied Research at Central Piedmont Community College collects and analyzes completion and pass rate data. This paper focuses on the professional development aspect of the project, the online pedagogy designed for the faculty themselves which incorporates dialogue, reflection, and practice. It considers three aspects of the project that are highlighted by an activity theory analysis: (1) the conjunction of the learning and knowledge creation systems, (2) the role of tags, themes and patterns in creating internal tensions and contradictions, and (3) the changed division of labor seen in the teaching/learning roles.
[1] Basic skills and remedial education are other terms for developmental education.
Participation and Alienation in Online Networked Learning
Authors: Kreijns Karel , Van Acker Frederik , Vermeulen Marjan , Buuren Hans van
Published: October 2024

The success of informal learning in large online learning networks largely depends on the existence of a sound social space that encompasses the networks of interpersonal relationships each individual has formed within this space. These personal social networks form the social capital of the individual and it is through this social capital that social interaction becomes possible and, thus, learning and knowledge co-creation can occur. It would appear that the existence of social capital is self-evident in large online learning networks as these networks are meant to connect people. However, online learning networks depend on technological systems that are incapable of transferring all the awareness cues necessary for finding people and feeling a sense of social presence. In this sense technological systems may hinder the development of a social space and the growth of social capital. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the technological systems incorporate social affordances - subsystems or widgets that compensate for the missing awareness information and that provide mechanisms to get into contact with others and to share information. In this position paper we propose that these social affordances should orient towards promoting impromptu encounters, social navigation, and social browsing. Social affordances that enable people to experience a psychological proximity (in contrast with physical proximity) with each other will facilitate impromptu or chance encounters which will in turn lead to in increased probability of meeting people. Social affordances not only are important to get in contact with people but also because of the informal conversations that arise from these meetings. Through these conversations, a person meets new people and maintains old contacts as well as gets information that may contribute to learning. Social navigation is the process in which people use other people (direct social navigation) or other people's traces (indirect social navigation) to find other people, perhaps the ones who possess expert knowledge and from who they may learn a lot. Social browsing is using directories of people (the social 'yellow pages') for browsing through the user profiles stored in these directories to find other people that have similar interests or other commonalities that are important. Ultimately, social affordances enable individuals to participate in online networked learning and experience the social presence of all other members of the network who may become part of the individuals' personal social capital. Without these affordances, individuals may feel alienated in these large online learning networks.
Social Network Analysis as a method to study the structure of contacts within teams of a school for secondary education
Authors: Meijs Celeste , De Laat Maarten
Published: October 2024

Social Network Analyses (SNA) is, mostly, used to study contacts between people, for instance in the study of the networks during networked learning. In the current study, we used SNA to study the contacts between teachers of a secondary school (n = 117) that were clustered in teams ( n = 6), based on the learning relations they have within and between teacher teams. These learning relations were inquired via an instrument called the ‘Contactmap’. On this map, teacher could indicate with whom they had contacts (within and between teams), how frequent (daily, weakly, or monthly) and the topic of these contacts. Information on the nature of these contacts within and between teams gives an indication of the information exchange within and between teams and the kind of learning within the team. It appeared that SNA can be used to indicate the dominant mode of team learning and learning processes characterized by the structure and topic of the social contacts. SNA can also be used to determine the web of contacts for each teacher personally and it turns out that a teachers functions in a school organization influences the relative number of (learning) contacts. For schools, SNA on the number and nature of contacts is valuable information because it helps to understand and uncover which teachers are influential in information exchange, what subgroups exist, and which teachers are on the edge of these networks. In sum, it gives valuable information about informal social relationships that can be used to optimize the efficiency of communication structures that exist in schools as well as their potential for professional development and school innovation. This study is part of a larger long term research programme on the dynamics of teacher professional development networks funded by the Dutch government. The findings of this research will be used for improving tools and instruments to detect and visualise informal learning relationships and to further understand the kind of capital and value these networks produce.
Issues in Internationalization of education
Authors: Fahmy Sandra Safwat , Bygholm Ann , Jaeger Kirsten
Published: October 2024

Internationalization activities, according to Roger Bennett (Bennett and Kane 2009) include, but are not limited to, international franchising, curriculum internationalization, exchange programs, and the recruitment of foreign teaching staff. Internationalization also includes cross-border delivery of educational services, for example in the form of net-based distance education or blended learning programs (Hughes 2008). This paper addresses the issues that an educational institute may face when offering blended learning programs in countries, in which the cultural and social context, the educational and pedagogical traditions, and the access to supporting technologies differ markedly from the corresponding conditions in its home country. Based on the insights emerging from a discussion of these issues, the paper points out the problem areas in which further research is needed in order to establish a theoretical and practical platform for cross-cultural delivery of higher education as blended-learning programs.
In theory, there seems to be a perfect fit between the principles of blended learning and the needs of both the provider of cross-border higher education and the students. Within a blended learning framework, it should be possible to achieve the fine balance between exposure to high quality learning material, well-qualified teachers and face-to-face interaction in local learning environments. However, concrete experience made by a Danish higher education provider when offering an MBA education as a blended learning program in Egypt and Vietnam strongly indicates the pedagogical, organizational, social and cultural complexity involved in such an endeavour and the need to further develop blended-learning methods.
The case of a Danish private business school "International Business School of Scandinavia" (IBSS) and its experience in exporting a blended learning MBA program designed in Denmark to countries in the Middle East and Asia show that the use of the blended learning mode of teaching and advanced distance learning technologies was not enough to overcome the barriers that arise in countries which in significant ways differ from the program's country of origin.
Within the overall framework of internationalization of education and blended learning theory, this paper accounts for the obstacles met by the Danish MBA provider and discusses how these experiences challenge state-of-the-art theory and practice in the area of blended learning.
A proposed model of a visual interaction analysis graph for studying educational interactions and their impact on learning within a technology enhanced learning environment
Authors: Sen Arkendu , Passey Don
Published: October 2024

Enhancing educational interactions in collaborative learning within Technology Enhanced Learning Environments (TELE) is a popular approach to engage students in active learning within the Higher education sector globally. These entail providing educational interaction episodes at various time points of a teaching/learning session. Analyses of interactions can explore whether improving student collaborations and interactions do indeed have an impact on learning. Few empirical studies on interaction analyses have been conducted in the context of Technology Enhanced classrooms in Higher education. Tools used currently for analyses of video data of educational interactions yield reports that are either too technical or do not, in themselves, give feedback on the impact of student interactions on learning. In this project, while studying collaborative learning within a Technology Enhanced practical lab, a simple model of an "Interaction Timeline Graph" was developed to sequentially analyse educational interactions over time, so that teachers and students alike might understand these. Content analyses of widely-used video analysis software applications was done. This led to some elements of these software applications to be incorporated in this new model. To further analyze educational impacts of these interactions, elements of a learning framework applied specifically to Technology Enhanced Learning lab have been coded and then incorporated into a further innovative detailed model of the "Visual Interaction and Learning Sequence Graph". Such a model of "Visual Interaction and Learning Sequence Graph" includes three critical segments of colour coded educational interactions in a sequential timeline as well as their representative snapshots along with each of its learning element. While studying learning in a technology enhanced classroom setting, it has much potential in its use, as interactions can be directly related to learning outcomes and summative grades. As this "Visual Interaction and Learning Sequence Graph" is simple and graphic, it can be used as a feedback tool for both the learner as well for facilitators on the effectiveness of interactions. When compared with grades, this model could also be used to expand academic analytics in identifying types of interaction that successful students engage in and those that may influence increased learning effectiveness and higher student performance.