|
Mini Tracks – Calls
for Papers
|
|
|
|
Mini Track Social
networking in Health & Social Care
Mini Track e-Learning
support for work-based learning
Mini Track
Student Reflections on using eLearning technologies
Mini Track
ePortfolios in Education
Mini
Track eLearning in developing countries
Mini Track Web 2.0 tools &
assessment
|
|
|
|
Mini
Track: “The use of social
networking tools in Health and Social Care- current position and future
developments”
Chair: Dr Pam Moule, University of the
West of England, Bristol, UK
Internationally health and social care educators and practitioners have a
range of e-learning tools available for use. The e-learning ladder (Moule,
2006)1
presented at ECEL previously, identified a range of possible
e-technologies ranging from instructivist through to constructivist
approaches. The ladder acknowledged that learning can occur through access to
online materials and resources and as part of social interaction online. The
development of social network learning through Web 2.0 technologies is
increasing and the application of such tools in health and social care is
evolving. Web 2.0 technologies include social networking sites, such as My
Space and Facebook, online discussion forums, wikis (based on the idea that
multiple users can add to and edit the content of a web-based information
resource), podcasts (digital audio files downloaded to personal digital audio
players such as MP3 players) and weblogs (blogs) (online diary or news and
events record). Web 2.0 websites can facilitate online reflection,
interaction and allow the users to create and own the content as well as
using sites to retrieve information. Virtual worlds are a further technology
used more recently. The most popular platform is Second Life (http://slife.com). A number of universities have
purchased islands or part of the mainland, with scope to provide virtual
health and social care environments to facilitate student interaction and
learning.
The burgeoning use of social networking tools within health and social care
is acknowledged in this call for papers. Papers are invited from
educationalists and researchers working in the health and social care field
using Web 2.0 technologies to support pedagogy.
Though not exhaustive, topics might include examples of current use of:
- Web 2.0 technologies (podcasts,
weblogs, wikis)
- Social networking sites
- Virtual worlds
- Online discussion forums
- Interactive online
communities
Or
consider aspects such as:
- Student experience of social
networking and learning
- Staff experiences of Web 2.0
technologies
- Patient and user involvement
and use
- Issues of using social
networking (such as My Space and Facebook) to support learning and
assessment
- Potential use of social
networking tools
- Expected developments in
social networking
- Barriers and enablers to use
1. Moule P (2007 Challenging the five-stage model for e-learning: a
new approach. ALT-J. 15 (1), 39-52
For mini track submission details, see the call
for papers page along with the Abstract
Submission page.
|
Pam Moule
|
|
|
Mini
Track: “e-Learning support
for work-based learning”
Chair: Joan Burgess, University of Winchester, England
Learning in the work-place implies having learning outcomes which have direct
relevance to the improvement of employees’ prospects as well
employers’ capability to deliver products or services. Such learning requires a good working
relationship between students, employers/managers and the academic
institution/publisher supplying the learning material. In general terms, all those involved
must be convinced that it is worth the cost (in all senses of the word) of
doing it. An e-learning
environment can improve the availability, flexibility, quality and fidelity
of the learning experience as well as providing access across national
boundaries. However there are
many practical challenges about resources, maintenance of learning materials,
access in the workplace, workplace student mentorship, work-place assessment
and employer involvement.
Papers are invited which share and reflect on practical experiences of
e-learning in the work-place.
Recommended topics include, but are not limited to:
- Implementing e-learning in
the work-place.
- A description and assessment
of successful studies using e-learning in the work-place.
- A description of e-learning
Projects in the work-place under way to meet national or international
objectives.
- Models of managing institutional/employer
requirements and relationships to support e-learning developments.
- Using e-learning in the work
place to widen participation.
For mini track submission details, see the call
for papers page along with the Abstract
Submission page.
|
Joan Burgess
|
|
|
Mini Track: “Student Reflections on using eLearning
technologies”
Chair: Amanda Jefferies, University of Hertfordshire, England
The availability of technologies to support e-learning has grown globally and
become ubiquitous in recent years. This has been the focus of much research interest,
witness the papers presented previously at ECEL and ICEL and the mature
academic debates on their development and uses. A recent study by Sharpe et al
(published 2006) identified some of the reasons for an earlier lack of
research into the student experience of e-learning and this has subsequently
to an increase in the number of research projects considering the use of
e-learning from the student perspective and listening to the learners’
voices.
Are our students the enthusiastic users of technology, pushing their learning
opportunities forward in accordance with the stereotypes represented by e.g.
Oblinger’s ‘Net generation’ or Prensky’s
‘digital natives’? Alternatively are our students more reluctant
users of e-learning, seeing it as a necessary evil to support their studies?
What is an authentic student voice in e-learning and blended learning? From a
research point of view what kinds of methodologies are being used to
successfully capture the student reflections?
Below are some suggested topic areas for the mini-track, papers may include
but are not limited to the following areas of interest:-
- Research papers investigating
student reflections on how they use e-learning technologies
- Overcoming barriers to
e-learning, supporting the reluctant e-learner
- Student preferences for
effective use of e-learning technologies
- The use by students of social
networks to support their academic studies
- Methodologies which promote
the use of the ‘learners’ voices’ in reflection
- Case studies exploring
learner experiences of e-learning
- Accessibility of e-learning
– student reflections
- Students’ use of video
and audio diaries to reflect on the use of technology-supported learning
- Blogs and wikis as a source
of students’ reflections
- Personalised e-learning
Reference:
For mini
track submission details, see the call
for papers page along with the Abstract
Submission page.
|
Amanda Jefferies
|
|
|
Mini
Track: “ePortfolios in
Education”
Co-Chairs: Mark Brown, Massey
University, New Zealand
Eva
Heinrich, Massey University,
New Zealand
Significant ePortfolio activity is occurring throughout the world at
all levels of education. Europe is no
exception. EIfEL has made Europe
an important hub and leader of ePortfolio activity and this mini track aims
to build on previous work.
Of course, portfolios are nothing new in education. Zeichner and Wray
(2001) identify three different types of portfolio: (a) a ‘learning
portfolio’ which documents student’s learning over time, (b) a
‘credential portfolio’ which is used for registration or
certification purposes, and (c) a ‘showcase portfolio’ which
students can present to prospective employers. An ePortfolio can be designed to
fulfill one or all of these roles and is essentially an online collection of
digital artifacts and reflections that learners can use for different
purposes depending on the audience.
The
benefits of ePortfolios are many and varied. A perceived strength of
ePortfolios is their ability to place more ownership of growth in the hands
of the learner. In particular, the ePortfolio offers greater opportunity for
students to highlight their strengths and provide authentic evidence of
life-long learning. They also offer potential for the student to document a
broader range of attributes and dispositions than simply meeting conventional
learning outcomes. Despite these benefits, and a rapidly growing body of
literature on ePortfolios in the wider context of life-long learning, many
questions remain over their use in educational settings.
This
mini track seeks to address some of these questions, including:
- What principles should
underpin ePortfolio use?
- How do ePortfolios contribute
to life-long learning?
- How should teachers embed
ePortfolios in their courses?
- How should institutions
implement and support the use of ePortfolios?
- How does the design of
ePortfolios differ across academic disciplines?
- How do you encourage
reflection in the design and use of ePortfolios?
- What factors contribute to
the successful adoption of ePortfolios by learners?
Papers are
invited on these questions and a wide range of issues related to the use of
ePortfolios in education. The mini track aims to share and bring together
some of the innovative activities occurring across Europe
and from a wider international perspective.
For mini track submission details, see the call
for papers page along with the Abstract
Submission page.
|
Mark Brown
Eva Heinrich
|
|
|
Mini Track: “eLearning in developing
countries”
Chair: Anders Avdic, Örebro University, Sweden
This mini track is dedicated to research about e-Learning in developing
countries. The field of e-Learning in developing countries has seen a rapid
growth both in amount of research done and number of issues studied. Even
though e-Learning in developing countries has a great potential and the
benefits associated with e-Learning makes it attractive to educational
organizations all over the world it is not without its downsides. There are a
large number of issues that still needs to be addressed in order to make
e-Learning in developing countries live up to its potential. Developing
countries have started to recognize the potential benefits of e-Learning and
they can now educate a population that they were not able to reach before the
introduction of ICT-based education. Open universities in developing
countries are rapidly growing and open universities in e.g. India, Bangladesh
and China
annually enroll between 100,000 and 500,000 students each. Many international
organizations have also started to see e-Learning as a way to make citizens
in developing countries more educated to help with the development of the
country. “UNESCO believes that
education is key to social and economic development. We work for a
sustainable world with just societies that value knowledge, promote a culture
of peace, celebrate diversity and defend human rights, achieved by providing
education for all” (UNESCO).
The
purpose of this mini track is to share research in the field in order to gain
more knowledge on how e-Learning in developing countries can be improved.
Authors are invited to share their research about and experiences from
e-Learning in developing countries. Both empirical research and conceptual
articles are being sought.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- e-Learning issues specific for development
- Delivery of education
- Low-tech e-Learning solutions and m-learning
- Sustainability of e-Learning
- Evaluation of e-Learning
- Pedagogical considerations
- Methodological concerns in researching e-Learning in developing
regions
- Reusability, standards and learning objects
- Infrastructure, personal pre-requisites, social and cultural
conditions
For mini track submission details, see the call
for papers page along with the Abstract
Submission page.
|
Anders Avdic
|
|
|
Mini Track: “Web 2.0 tools &
assessment”
Chair: Richard Hall, De Montfort University, UK
Critical themes in this field surround: whether
students already have the awareness and reflexivity to engage with these
tools in a productive manner; the nature of the relationships that students
form between their informal and formal learning contexts and networks; and
the control of, and participation within, the curriculum by students. Papers
that address any of these themes would be extremely relevant.
We would
welcome papers that highlight the use of Web2.0 in higher education. In
particular, we encourage the submission of papers that focus upon:
§
the curricula affordances of
social networking tools like Facebook and Ning.com, social bookmarking tools
like del.icio.us and Ma.gnolia, and virtual worlds, like Second Life;
§
the impact on curriculum delivery
of embedding both user-generated content, for instance using blogs and wikis,
and innovative approaches to content and application-handling, including
mash-ups, syndication and aggregation;
§
the methods for assessing student work produced in new, non-institutional
environments, and possibly presented in new, innovative formats. This might
encompass diagnostic, formative or summative modes of assessment; and
§
the ways in which the use of Web2.0 tools affects the relationships
between student(s) and both their peers and tutor(s).
We are particularly interested in case studies, research
in-progress and position papers that investigate the ways in which Web 2.0
tools can be used to enhance student engagement, motivation and
decision-making.
For mini track submission details, see the call
for papers page along with the Abstract
Submission page.
|
Richard Hall
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Updated 7
January 2008
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
