Education

In April 2012, the federal higher education system of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) embarked on the path to national adoption of the Apple iPad as the educational computing platform. The core objective of the adoption was improved learning and degree completion among students in academic programs in support of national development goals. From the National Higher Education development document, the goals are to - "Achieve individualized student learning consistent with “Post PC Era” trends; - Introduce of challenge-based learning or other progressive classroom pedagogy; - Increased student participation and motivation; - Enhance opportunities for cross-institutional collaboration between faculty members; - Increase faculty collaboration through cross-institutional repositories of learning objects; and - Facilitate the migration to e-books." The UAE has three institutions encompassing 20 campuses serving 50,000 students in its federal higher education: UAE University provides a research-intensive experience; Zayed University, a liberal arts, comprehensive environment; and HCT, professional programs. The HCT iPad program was envisioned by HCT’s Chancellor, His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research, and was led by the Vice Chancellor Dr Tayeb Kamali. This program builds on his history of entrepreneurship and e-learning initiatives, such as integrated wireless campus infrastructures, online learning and knowledge-management programmes, Dr Kamali has successfully built a cutting-edge institution that provides UAE youth with technological skills and the ability to innovate, while driving job creation in the region.

In order to maximize college English language students' learning, product development, 21st Century skills and engagement with real world meaningful challenges, a course was designed to integrate Challenge Based Learning (CBL) and iPad mobile learning technology.

ABSTRACT Purpose ‐ This article aims to present an examination of the first six months of a national college-level iPad implementation project involving 14,000 new students based on faculty shift from substituting their teaching methods with mobile technology to augmentation of teaching methods with new affordances of mobile technology. Design/methodology/approach ‐ A ?2 analysis of descriptions of teaching practices at a baseline sharing event among teachers (called iCelebrate) and a second similar event (iCelebrate2) was used to compare the abstracts for the events using an alpha of 0.05. The parameters examined were five indicators from the technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) model including the substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition (SAMR) levels of technology integration. Findings ‐ No significant difference (p=0.069) was found in the technology focus of abstracts, although there was a significant (p=0.0015) difference in the content focus. There was no significant difference (p=0.129) for the pedagogical focus. For technology integration into content teaching, there was no significant difference (p=0.379) in level of substitution versus other levels (augmentation, modification or redefinition), although substitution increased to higher levels; with a corresponding decrease in abstracts that focused merely on substitution. For the level of technology adoption, there was a significant difference (p=0.0083) in levels, with a shift to higher levels of integration. Research limitations/implications ‐ A limitation of the study is that it relies on volunteer faculty who were motivated to adopt the mobile learning tools and to share their approaches with colleagues. Thus, the findings show the development and potential of this self-selected group and may not generalize to non-volunteers. Indeed, the findings may generalize in very specific ways at different campuses. In seeking to understand why these faculty volunteered and why specific campuses were represented differently from others, the paper refers to the varying influences of the school context proposed by Clarke and Hollingsworth. The campus context may support or impede professional growth by influencing a faculty member's access to professional development opportunities, by offering incentives to participation, by creating a culture that values experimentation, and by providing supports for applying learning in the classroom. More data are needed in order to document linkages among campus factors and faculty TPACK. Originality/value ‐ This study is entirely original and has not been published elsewhere in whole or in part. Its intent is to guide education organizations in planning faculty development for mobile education programs.

ABSTRACT This article presents faculty perceptions of the first month of iPad deployment in a national college system and a case study describing the integration of mobile learning devices in one college, interpreted within the framework of a SWOT analysis. We include a brief history of the implementation; description of the three-tier structure of infrastructure, pedagogy, and content; faculty perceptions; and pedagogy interview findings. We collected data using 1) case study interviews, 2) a faculty dispositional survey, and 3) iPad lead faculty. Overall, the large-scale deployment of iPad mobile learning devices was associated with high faculty engagement in formal and informal professional development activities and adoption of an active student-centered pedagogy. In addition, the program stimulated innovative approaches to technical challenges; and it spurred development and evaluation of new digital content.

This is a text of an invited talk at WordComp'15, 27 July 2015. Materials were used to  initiate two sessions on this new subject of evolving theory attempting to see our research and developments including process and results as evolving flow

... This paper discusses a study that investigated the use of intensive block weeks in the architecturaldesign and technology context. The design week was mainly introduced to improve student participation and engagement, while teaching technical principles and promoting the ...

The relationship between educational attainment and website usage is examined using data from the National Opinion Research Center’s General Social Survey (GSS).  The relationship between educational attainment and educational website use was found to be moderate to strong and statically significant. The results of this study found that respondents with the highest level of education (graduate degrees) were 14 percentage points more likely to use the web more frequently for educational purposes than Americans with less than a high school degree. When controlling for gender, highly educated males were 15 percentage points higher than their counterparts just as highly educated females were 12 percentage points higher than their counterparts.  The implications of this study suggest that educational attainment plays a major role in the use of web technology for educational purposes.

ABSTRACT Le présent texte fait état de l'évolution des conceptions relatives à l'enseignement, à l'apprentissage et aux technologies de l'information et de la communication (TIC) dans le cadre d'une recherche-action-formation visant à accroître le recours aux TIC chez des enseignants du primaire. Ces conceptions sont dégagées à partir de données recueillies lors d'entrevues menées auprès de huit volontaires parmi les 40 enseignants engagés dans l'étude. Elles sont mises en lien avec deux perspectives de l'apprentissage: le béhaviorisme social et le néoconstructivisme. De plus, l'incidence de telles conceptions sur les pratiques d'intégration pédagogique des TIC est discutée. Enfin, le présent texte suggère des pistes d'intervention susceptibles d'orienter des programmes de développement professionnel conçus à l'intention d'enseignants. /// This article reports the evolution in conceptions relevant to teaching, learning and information and communication technologies (ICT) within the framework of an action-training-research aiming to increase the recourse to ICT by primary teachers. These conceptions emerge from the data gathered during interviews conducted with eight volunteers among the 40 teachers engaged in the study. They are linked to two perspectives of learning: social behaviorism and neoconstructivism. In addition, the incidence of such conceptions on the pedagogical integration practices of ICT is discussed. Lastly, the present text suggests courses of interventions likely to orient professional development programmes designed for teachers.

Cet article s’intéresse à la prise en charge de problématiques éducatives et scolaires dans des dispositifs portés à l'échelon local par des acteurs non scolaires. Il interroge les rapports de contingence qu’entretiennent l'école et ces nouveaux espaces éducatifs, tant sur les missions confiées aux dispositifs que sur les registres d'intervention mobilisés, pour mettre en lumière ce que cette articulation nous apprend de la recomposition des espaces scolaires et éducatifs.