title: Students’ Voice on Mobile Technology and Web 2.0 Tools for Learning

authors: Vesey, Patricia Edna

subjects: students' voice

abstract: Literature tells us, and from my own observations as an experienced teacher, when students have a mobile device in hand they show signs of being motivated, and a phenomenon takes place where students display a natural curiosity and engagement with the device through various interactions. The purpose of this study was to validate students’ voice by allowing them to express their views on the use of mobile technology and Web 2.0, whether they found them motivating and engaging, and how they perceived them as being useful for learning. Students’ perceptions of current and emerging technologies and their usefulness can differ to teachers’ perceptions, therefore research involving conversations with students are needed to better understand how they perceive and relate to these technologies. This study has had such conversations in order to uncover students’ perceptions. Gathering students’ views gives us a first-hand view on what affects them. It identifies factors that perpetuate or diminish their learning, that educators may not have considered before. Knowing and understanding how it is for students, helps to improve learning conditions for them.

While there is an initial phase of excitement and curiosity that students have when using mobile technology and Web 2.0, this quickly passes and there are learning conditions that need to be met in order for motivation and engagement to be sustained. To sustain their motivation, students need to have self-determination. For students to be self-determining, their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness must be met. This thesis has determined, through the voice of students, that their need for autonomy can be met through the affordances of mobile technology and Web 2.0, but the teacher’s role is vital for meeting their needs for competence and relatedness.

The findings from this study strongly argue that the teacher has a vital role to play in ensuring students’ learning experiences supported by technologies are effective, and assumptions around students’ knowledge, skills and understanding of using technology in formal learning situations needs to be checked. Teachers need to robustly scaffold the use of technology in learning situations until students have built up competence. Teachers need to keep relating to and conversing with students, and not assume students do not need support when using technologies characterised by autonomy and independence. It also found that the learning conditions must support students’ needs for self-determination if students are to stay motivated and engaged – the use of technology alone is insufficient. It also highlighted equity and access to technology learning opportunities for all students, students’ informal learning, and influences on students’ perceptions as to whether they considered technologies were useful for learning.

text: Students’ Voice on Mobile Technology and Web 2.0 Tools for Learning Literature tells us, and from my own observations as an experienced teacher, when students have a mobile device in hand they show signs of being motivated, and a phenomenon takes place where students display a natural curiosity and engagement with the device through various interactions. The purpose of this study was to validate students’ voice by allowing them to express their views on the use of mobile technology and Web 2.0, whether they found them motivating and engaging, and how they perceived them as being useful for learning. Students’ perceptions of current and emerging technologies and their usefulness can differ to teachers’ perceptions, therefore research involving conversations with students are needed to better understand how they perceive and relate to these technologies. This study has had such conversations in order to uncover students’ perceptions. Gathering students’ views gives us a first-hand view on what affects them. It identifies factors that perpetuate or diminish their learning, that educators may not have considered before. Knowing and understanding how it is for students, helps to improve learning conditions for them.

While there is an initial phase of excitement and curiosity that students have when using mobile technology and Web 2.0, this quickly passes and there are learning conditions that need to be met in order for motivation and engagement to be sustained. To sustain their motivation, students need to have self-determination. For students to be self-determining, their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness must be met. This thesis has determined, through the voice of students, that their need for autonomy can be met through the affordances of mobile technology and Web 2.0, but the teacher’s role is vital for meeting their needs for competence and relatedness.

The findings from this study strongly argue that the teacher has a vital role to play in ensuring students’ learning experiences supported by technologies are effective, and assumptions around students’ knowledge, skills and understanding of using technology in formal learning situations needs to be checked. Teachers need to robustly scaffold the use of technology in learning situations until students have built up competence. Teachers need to keep relating to and conversing with students, and not assume students do not need support when using technologies characterised by autonomy and independence. It also found that the learning conditions must support students’ needs for self-determination if students are to stay motivated and engaged – the use of technology alone is insufficient. It also highlighted equity and access to technology learning opportunities for all students, students’ informal learning, and influences on students’ perceptions as to whether they considered technologies were useful for learning.

year: 2013

title: Surface tension: Place/poverty/policy: From "poverty" to "social exclusion": Implications of discursive shifts in European Union poverty policy, 1975-1999

authors: Peace, Robin M.

subjects: discourse analysis

abstract: This dissertation addresses four substantive issues or arguments that are linked in an interdisciplinary discussion informed by contemporary feminist and cultural geographies, feminist political philosophy, policy studies and discourse analysis.
The first argument is that there are flexible and contingent uses of discourses of 'social exclusion' in the supranational context of the European Union. The concept of 'exclusion' as the 'new kid on the welfare discourse block' has a distinctive provenance. I discuss the development of Poverty Programmes, and European Union social policy more generally in the liberal democratic milieu of the European Union over the period from 1975-1999.
My second argument concerns the relationships between policy and place. I develop a number of arguments about paradoxical spatiality and social policy. Metaphors of 'subsidiarity' and 'solidarity' have key place-effects in relation to anti-poverty discourse. Regional policy produces countervailing effects to supranational and national policy configurations. Projects, such as those developed under Poverty 3 of the European Union Poverty Programmes, clarify the scale of operations of European Union policy initiatives and highlight the local level. Migrant bodies exemplify many of the axiomatic ways in which the principles of solidarity and social cohesion intersect in social exclusion discourse. All of these circumstances identify and reiterate the mutually constitutive and paradoxical nature of place / policy / poverty interactions.
The third issue relates to the metaphors and metonymic figurations that produce, and are in tum influenced by, particular interpretations and enactments of social policy. On the one hand, 'social exclusion' is linked to metaphors of 'social integration' and 'social cohesion'. This suggests that anti-poverty policy is part of a complex of social control measures. On the other hand, metaphors of economic 'progress' are linked to discourses of employment, employability and citizenship rights in a way that occludes the discursive space of poverty, and makes it appear as if economic progress is the sole motivation for anti-poverty policy. In either of these circumstances certain categories of poor unwork( able) bodies continue to be excluded from discourses of social exclusion.
The current discourses of 'social exclusion' are also producing new ways of 'targeting' 'poor bodies'. This final issue is taken up through a discussion of the relationship of social exclusion, as it is currently deployed in European Community discourse, to 'politics of recognition' and 'politics of redistribution'. Both of these dominant organising strategies for politicised policy initiatives have unanticipated outcomes for the social exclusion of unwork(able) 'poor bodies'. Care needs to be taken, in re-categorising the poor as 'excluded', to ensure that a 'politics of cohesion' does not produce new economies of disregard.
The thesis is also experimental in a number of ways. A specific 'technical' objective was to 'test' an approach to policy analysis through the application of textually oriented discourse analysis (TODA), following work pioneered by Norman Fairclough (1992, 1994), coupled with the use of a computer assisted qualitative data analysis system (CAQDAS). I used Qualitative Systems Research software (QSR): NUD.IST© as the tool. The method entailed the development of an online document corpus and also encouraged the use of the Internet as a data source.

text: Surface tension: Place/poverty/policy: From "poverty" to "social exclusion": Implications of discursive shifts in European Union poverty policy, 1975-1999 This dissertation addresses four substantive issues or arguments that are linked in an interdisciplinary discussion informed by contemporary feminist and cultural geographies, feminist political philosophy, policy studies and discourse analysis.
The first argument is that there are flexible and contingent uses of discourses of 'social exclusion' in the supranational context of the European Union. The concept of 'exclusion' as the 'new kid on the welfare discourse block' has a distinctive provenance. I discuss the development of Poverty Programmes, and European Union social policy more generally in the liberal democratic milieu of the European Union over the period from 1975-1999.
My second argument concerns the relationships between policy and place. I develop a number of arguments about paradoxical spatiality and social policy. Metaphors of 'subsidiarity' and 'solidarity' have key place-effects in relation to anti-poverty discourse. Regional policy produces countervailing effects to supranational and national policy configurations. Projects, such as those developed under Poverty 3 of the European Union Poverty Programmes, clarify the scale of operations of European Union policy initiatives and highlight the local level. Migrant bodies exemplify many of the axiomatic ways in which the principles of solidarity and social cohesion intersect in social exclusion discourse. All of these circumstances identify and reiterate the mutually constitutive and paradoxical nature of place / policy / poverty interactions.
The third issue relates to the metaphors and metonymic figurations that produce, and are in tum influenced by, particular interpretations and enactments of social policy. On the one hand, 'social exclusion' is linked to metaphors of 'social integration' and 'social cohesion'. This suggests that anti-poverty policy is part of a complex of social control measures. On the other hand, metaphors of economic 'progress' are linked to discourses of employment, employability and citizenship rights in a way that occludes the discursive space of poverty, and makes it appear as if economic progress is the sole motivation for anti-poverty policy. In either of these circumstances certain categories of poor unwork( able) bodies continue to be excluded from discourses of social exclusion.
The current discourses of 'social exclusion' are also producing new ways of 'targeting' 'poor bodies'. This final issue is taken up through a discussion of the relationship of social exclusion, as it is currently deployed in European Community discourse, to 'politics of recognition' and 'politics of redistribution'. Both of these dominant organising strategies for politicised policy initiatives have unanticipated outcomes for the social exclusion of unwork(able) 'poor bodies'. Care needs to be taken, in re-categorising the poor as 'excluded', to ensure that a 'politics of cohesion' does not produce new economies of disregard.
The thesis is also experimental in a number of ways. A specific 'technical' objective was to 'test' an approach to policy analysis through the application of textually oriented discourse analysis (TODA), following work pioneered by Norman Fairclough (1992, 1994), coupled with the use of a computer assisted qualitative data analysis system (CAQDAS). I used Qualitative Systems Research software (QSR): NUD.IST© as the tool. The method entailed the development of an online document corpus and also encouraged the use of the Internet as a data source.

year: 1999

title: Kaumtua Mana Motuhake: A study protocol for a peer education intervention to help Māori elders work through later-stage life transitions

authors: Oetzel, John G.

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Background
The Aotearoa/New Zealand population is ageing and numerous studies demonstrate with this phenomenon comes increases in non-communicable diseases, injuries and healthcare costs among other issues. Further, significant inequities exist between Māori (Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa/New Zealand) and non-Māori around poor ageing and health. Most research addressing these issues is deficit oriented; however, the current research project takes a strengths-based approach that highlights the potential of kaumātua (elders) by asserting mana motuhake (autonomy, identity and self-actualisation). We believe that the esteem of elders in Māori culture signals transformative potential. Specifically, this project utilises a ‘tuakana-teina’ (older sibling/younger sibling) peer-educator model, where kaumātua work with other kaumātua in relation to health and wellbeing. The objectives of the project are (a) to develop the capacity of kaumātua as peer educators, whilst having positive impacts on their sense of purpose, health and wellbeing; and (b) to enhance the social and health outcomes for kaumātua receiving the intervention.

Methods
The research is grounded in principles of Kaupapa Māori and community-based participatory research, and brings together an Indigenous community of kaumātua, community health researchers, and academic researchers working with two advisory boards. The project intervention involves an orientation programme for tuakana peer educators for other kaumātua (teina). The research design is a pre- and post-test, clustered staggered design. All participants will complete a baseline assessment of health and wellbeing consistent with Māori worldviews (i.e., holistic model). The tuakana and teina participants will be divided into two groups with the first group completing the intervention during the first half of the project and the second group during the second half of the project. All participants will complete post-test assessments following both interventions allowing comparison of the two groups along with repeated measures over time.

Discussion
The findings will provide an evidence base for the importance and relevancy of kaumātua knowledge to create contextually based and culturally safe age-friendly environments that facilitate engagement and participation by kaumātua for kaumātua. If the model is effective, we will seek to facilitate the dissemination and scalability of the intervention.

Trial registration
Australia New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ACTRN12617001396314); Date Registered: 3 October 2017 (retrospectively registered).

text: Kaumtua Mana Motuhake: A study protocol for a peer education intervention to help Māori elders work through later-stage life transitions Background
The Aotearoa/New Zealand population is ageing and numerous studies demonstrate with this phenomenon comes increases in non-communicable diseases, injuries and healthcare costs among other issues. Further, significant inequities exist between Māori (Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa/New Zealand) and non-Māori around poor ageing and health. Most research addressing these issues is deficit oriented; however, the current research project takes a strengths-based approach that highlights the potential of kaumātua (elders) by asserting mana motuhake (autonomy, identity and self-actualisation). We believe that the esteem of elders in Māori culture signals transformative potential. Specifically, this project utilises a ‘tuakana-teina’ (older sibling/younger sibling) peer-educator model, where kaumātua work with other kaumātua in relation to health and wellbeing. The objectives of the project are (a) to develop the capacity of kaumātua as peer educators, whilst having positive impacts on their sense of purpose, health and wellbeing; and (b) to enhance the social and health outcomes for kaumātua receiving the intervention.

Methods
The research is grounded in principles of Kaupapa Māori and community-based participatory research, and brings together an Indigenous community of kaumātua, community health researchers, and academic researchers working with two advisory boards. The project intervention involves an orientation programme for tuakana peer educators for other kaumātua (teina). The research design is a pre- and post-test, clustered staggered design. All participants will complete a baseline assessment of health and wellbeing consistent with Māori worldviews (i.e., holistic model). The tuakana and teina participants will be divided into two groups with the first group completing the intervention during the first half of the project and the second group during the second half of the project. All participants will complete post-test assessments following both interventions allowing comparison of the two groups along with repeated measures over time.

Discussion
The findings will provide an evidence base for the importance and relevancy of kaumātua knowledge to create contextually based and culturally safe age-friendly environments that facilitate engagement and participation by kaumātua for kaumātua. If the model is effective, we will seek to facilitate the dissemination and scalability of the intervention.

Trial registration
Australia New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ACTRN12617001396314); Date Registered: 3 October 2017 (retrospectively registered).

year: 2019