Education Commons^™

Can The Use Of Web 2.0 Tools Help Deliver 21st Century Learning?, Peter Beamish, Bobby Mcleod

Peter Beamish

It has long been recognized that people need to be literate to function optimally within society. The 21st century has seen technology increase the complexity of environments, so that a literate person must now possess a wide range of abilities, competencies, and literacies. These have often been referred to as “21st-century skills” and while many of them are not new, the extent to which individual success depends on having such skills is new. The current study seeks to explore ways in which technology can be used to increase literacy and enhance 21st century skills in students.

1193 students attending Sahmyook …

Perceptions, Beliefs And Practices About Technology Among Teachers In A Jamaican Infant School, Suzette Anissia Kelly

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this interview study was to describe and explain perceptions, beliefs, and practices about technology among four teachers at a Jamaican infant school, by answering: What are teachers' perceptions and beliefs about the role of technology in young children's learning? What are the practices regarding technology among Jamaican infant school teachers? I used criterion sampling to identify participants for my inquiry. For data collection, I used semi-structured interviews, teachers' lesson plans, and my reflective journal. I applied a socio-cultural approach (Rogoff, 1990) for the data analysis to make sense of the teachers' perceptions and articulated practices. The findings …

Rethinking Critical Literacy In The New Information Age, Panayota Gounari

Panayota Gounari

This article looks at new information and communication technologies (ICTs) as sites of public pedagogy in that they produce particular forms of knowledge and literacies and reproduce representations that are always mediated through specific social relations. Public pedagogy as a process that constitutes a broader category beyond classroom practices, official curricula, and educational canons, extends to all sectors of human life, including virtual spaces. No longer restricted to traditional sites of learning such as educational or religious sites, public pedagogy produces new forms of knowledge and apprenticeship and new narratives for agency and for naming the world. Virtual spaces as …

Engaging Diverse Secondary Students In International Collaborative Networked Learning, C. Candace Chou, Chi-Syan Lin, Mark Van ‘T Hooft, Yi-Me Lin

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

This study examines the processes of engaging a group of highly diverse 7th and 8th grade students in the utilization of information and communication technology (ICT) for collaborative activities through a global networked learning environment called APEC Cyber Academy. Thirty-six middle school students went through a nine-week project-based learning program that aimed at improving ICT skills and promoting international peer learning. Although students showed strong interest in learning about ICT, the findings suggest that students need to be coached in collaboration skills, given appropriate roles to ensure proper division of labor, and supervised closely to ensure the completion of tasks.