This article aims to shed light on our understanding of how teacher reflection could be fostered ... more This article aims to shed light on our understanding of how teacher reflection could be fostered through online teacher professional development. In this respect, the presented article starts from three theoretical foundations, namely the characterisation of online teacher professional development, logic modelling and fostering teacher reflection. Based on these foundations, a logic model is constructed and subsequently used to analyse an online teacher professional development programme. The examined online teacher professional development trajectory is the Digital Didactics programme, which originated in Flanders (Dutch-speaking part of Belgium). Twenty participants and four coaches participated in the study. The results explain how reflection was fostered through several online teacher professional development programme features. The reflective practices that formed the main outcomes of this study were mainly from a behavioural, attitudinal and social nature. The conclusions drawn can inform both theory and practice on how online teacher professional development could instigate teacher reflection.
Research on mobile learning indicates that students perceive mobile devices mainly as communicati... more Research on mobile learning indicates that students perceive mobile devices mainly as communication and entertainment tools. Therefore, a key factor in successful mobile learning implementation is the initial measurement of students' acceptance of those devices into their learning. Countless language applications available suggest that mobile devices can be ideal tools for language learning. Surprisingly, there are few studies reporting students' acceptance of mobile assisted language learning (MALL), let alone MALL acceptance in developing countries. By adapting and extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model, the study assesses the dimensions affecting behavioral intentions and actual use of MALL. Data were collected and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results show that performance expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions influence students' attitudes towards using MALL. Accordingly, attitude is the factor that affects behavioral intention the most. The model also shows that behavioral intention has an effect on MALL use. The study concludes that students & Gustavo García Botero
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2018
The increased number of courses taught in an online environment has led to more teachers in need ... more The increased number of courses taught in an online environment has led to more teachers in need of professional development for online or blended teaching. Although various professional development programs have been scrutinised, only a few studies integrate the feelings of teachers during their professional development process. Teachers’ feelings form an inherent part of their teacher-selves and are reflected in their everyday practice. Therefore, this study uses a hermeneutic phenomenological research method to examine the lived experiences – the feelings – of educational staff within a professional development program that targets online and blended teaching. The results indicate that teachers experience a large range of feelings and that these fluctuate throughout the program. These include positive feelings of connectivity, responsibility, and satisfaction, but also more negative feelings of chaos and frustration. The recognition and understanding of these feelings can illumin...
This study analyses the use of online threaded discussions (OTD) through social network analysis ... more This study analyses the use of online threaded discussions (OTD) through social network analysis (SNA). The participants involved are university students in a Cuban higher education setting. It was conducted in the Programming Technologies course of the Information Sciences, at the Universidad Central " Marta Abreu " de Las Villas (UCLV). An intervention study was conducted involving students in Information Sciences during one semester. Both survey research and content analysis for online discussions have been used in this research. The social network analysis shows that online discussions reinforced student peer relationships and network dynamics. Furthermore, it is shown that SNA is a useful approach to analyze students " peer interactions in the digital space by comparing the peer relations before OTD and those during the OTD. The results are beneficial for both teachers and students to get a better view of the interaction patterns in online learning activities and...
Research in the field of computer supported collaborative learning stresses the need to foster th... more Research in the field of computer supported collaborative learning stresses the need to foster the collaborative process in view of attaining optimal cognitive involvement of all participants, a higher level of metacognitive regulation and an increased level of affective involvement. The present study involved 80 third-year university students, enrolled in the educational sciences, in a quasiexperimental study to research the impact of a scripting approach to support their collaborative work in asynchronous online discussion groups. Students in the experimental condition were required to label all their contributions to the discussions using Bloom's taxonomy. The results point at a significant differential impact of this scripting approach: a higher level of cognitive processing was attained and students in the experimental condition mirrored a higher degree of metacognitive regulation in relation to planning, achieving clarity and monitoring. Lastly, the students in the experimental condition were more affectively involved. Given the two-week duration of the study, it is remarkable that the positive impact of the scripting approach was attained after this relatively short period of time.
Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) is increasingly gaining attention from educational stake... more Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) is increasingly gaining attention from educational stakeholders. This quantitative study implements the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model with the added variable of attitude. The participants were 89 Colombian higher education language teachers who shared their views on MALL via an online questionnaire. The results indicate that teachers’ behavioral intention is influenced by their attitude, social influence and facilitating conditions. The study also highlights the importance of including use behavior in the measurement model: teachers who scarcely use MALL express stronger intentions to use it when compared to teachers with high MALL use, resulting in a negative correlation between behavioral intention and use behavior.
Teaching presence influences student learning, motivation, satisfaction and performance in blende... more Teaching presence influences student learning, motivation, satisfaction and performance in blended learning courses. Many studies have focused on understanding teaching presence using quantitative measures only. This study explores perceptions of teaching presence (TP) in relation to academic performance among instructors and students in blended learning (BL) courses in Tanzania. Six instructors and 651 students were involved in the study. We examined student perception of TP, the role of the instructor, and how TP relates to performance. Data were obtained using a TP scale, interviews and focus group discussion. The results of the qualitative data show that all instructors involved in the study regard content delivery as their main teaching presence. Instructors also viewed provision of notes, assignments, and questions (facilitation) as their second main role of TP. Students report a high teaching presence in all BL courses studied. Also, students regarded group discussion as the main teaching presence. They described their instructors as playing roles in facilitating the lessons, delivering content, directing and organizing courses they taught. The study finds no significant gender differences in students' performance. The student reported TP significantly predict their performance scores. While students' characteristics such as gender have shown no influence on students' performance, course type and teaching presence influence students' performance. Instructors favour traditional teaching roles in BL courses and exalt a high teaching presence as reported by students. The implications of the study are discussed.
Improving blended learning in teacher education: A multidimensional approach
While researchers agree on the general meaning of the term blended learning (BL), a precise opera... more While researchers agree on the general meaning of the term blended learning (BL), a precise operationalization of the term is an issue that generates a lot of discussion. This freedom of defining BL has, on one hand, contributed to the significant increase of empirical studies on different variations of BL. On the other hand, it produces designs and results that are hard to be replicated or generalized (Graham, Henrie, & Gibbons, 2014). Likewise, attempts to provide professional development support and quality assurance at institutional level are harder to be achieved. This symposium presents several aspects of BL, ranging from a descriptive framework, professional development support for practitioners, and attempts to optimize BL at institutional level. Session summary The aim of the symposium is to present instructional practitioners and institutional management personnel with a more specific descriptive framework of how blended learning (BL) environment can be designed, provide input for policies aimed at professional development support for BL instructors, and processes and measures to implement high quality BL. The first study presents a descriptive framework for BL environments that support self-regulation with seven attributes, e.g. authenticity, personalization, learners’ autonomy, and cues (reflection and calibration), validated by empirical data is elaborated. The second study is a review of 15 selected articles about effective strategies for teacher professional development (TPD) for BL. Ten different categories deemed to be important when designing and implementing TPD. A rethink on the role of the instructors taking into account their stages of career development, is further discussed in this work, which necessitates the quest to describe more specificities unique to BL TPD than general TPD. The third work of the symposium aims to provide a classification of current instruments focusing on assessing BL programs based on a set of criteria. This results in the selection of the e-maturity model (eMM, Marshall, 2010) as relevant tool for assessing and monitoring quality of a BL program under investigation.
Cognitive presence sustains the learning community through intellectual discourse. Previous studi... more Cognitive presence sustains the learning community through intellectual discourse. Previous studies have explored cognitive presence using mainly quantitative measures in relation to students’ perceived learning. This study adopts a mixed‑method approach to investigate students’ perception of cognitive presence, its relationship with academic performance, and its manifestation in blended learning courses in selected Tanzanian universities. The study adds empirical evidence about the emerging blended learning courses. A total of 351 students were involved in the study. The findings show that students reported a high cognitive presence (mean = 3.9, SD = .51). Furthermore, cognitive presence predicted student performance. Qualitative data show that students explored information through interaction in group discussions and presentations, with the main push being questions from instructors (teaching presence). Students integrated and applied their knowledge by discussing among themselves...
Bu çalışmanın amacı Rekabetçi Değerler Modeli (RDM) kullanılarak Türk üniversitelerinin örgüt kül... more Bu çalışmanın amacı Rekabetçi Değerler Modeli (RDM) kullanılarak Türk üniversitelerinin örgüt kültürü tipinin belirlenmesidir. Bu modelde klan, yenilikçi, market ve hiyerarşi kültür tiplerine bağlı olarak baskın örgüt kültürü tipi incelenir ve örgüt kültüründe yapılabilecek değişiklikler belirlenir. Bu çalışmada, dört farklı devlet üniversitesinden 21 akademik personelle görüşme yapılmıştır. Görüşme sorularının anafikri RDM'ye bağlı olarak oluşturulan Örgüt Kültürü Belirleme Ölçeği'ne benzerlik göstermektedir. Bu method örgüt kültürü tipi hakkında daha derin ve genel bir bilgi sağlamaktadır. Çalışmanın sonuçlarına göre, Türk üniversitelerindeki baskın örgüt kültürü tipi hiyerarşidir. Bunu market kültürü izlemektedir. Hiyerarşi ve market kültürünün özellikleri birlikte değerlendirildiğinde devlet üniversitelerindeki genel kültürel yapının yenilikçi bir ortamın olduğu organik süreçler yerine kontrollü yapının hâkim olduğu mekanik süreçleri yansıttığı söylenebilir.
The purpose of this study is to apply the Technology Acceptance Model to identify the determinant... more The purpose of this study is to apply the Technology Acceptance Model to identify the determinants affecting students' behavioural intentions when it comes to using micro-lectures. The conceptual framework included three antecedents of behavioural intentions-perceived usefulness of micro-lectures; perceived ease of use of micro-lectures; and user satisfaction. Moreover, the four first-order constructs of content richness, user satisfaction, vividness and self-efficacy were incorporated into the framework based on the theoretical construction. Employing a structural equation modelling approach, the hypothesised model was validated empirically using data collected from China. This study examines two factors (perceived usefulness of micro-lectures and user satisfaction in terms of micro-lectures) related to learners' behavioural intentions to continue using micro-lectures. Additionally, micro-lecture compatibility, micro-lecture self-efficacy and the vividness of micro-lectures emerged as critical predictors of the perceived usefulness of micro-lectures. The findings provide practical implications for educators and micro-lecture learning system developers.
Aim. The aim of this research is to identify student perceptions of the current organizational cu... more Aim. The aim of this research is to identify student perceptions of the current organizational culture type in four flagship Turkish public universities. Its further goal after this diagnosis was to help the researchers and policy makers to deeply understand the actual situations and make recommendations for organizational culture change and educational innovations. Methods. We applied a mixed-method approach to collect data. The quantitative method consisted of 964 applications of the instrument of OCAI to bachelor students. The qualitative method included 19 semi-structured interviews to follow up and verify the results from the survey to have a deeper insight into Turkish HEIs. Results. The variety of findings through survey and interviews revealed and validated that the dominant culture type of Turkish universities regarding students is hierarchy followed by market culture. It is probable that the national cultural structure of the Turkish society is a result of this finding. It...
International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 2019
Relying on advanced network technologies, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) can support the tra... more Relying on advanced network technologies, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) can support the transformation and deep construction of high-quality open courses. However, with the use of MOOCs in many universities and colleges, new issues have emerged. MOOCs are not specifically designed for local conditions. Researchers lack understanding of the effectiveness of using shared MOOCs in traditional university teaching. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of MOOC-based flipped learning and to propose clear reuse guidelines for MOOCs in the traditional university education. We conducted a quasi-experiment in an inorganic chemistry course. The results were presented in terms of learners' participation and learning performance, and a post-task survey and interviews were also conducted to investigate the students' experiences in order to include these experiences in design and research plans of MOOCs-based flipped learning. The results showed that students in the MOOC-based flipped classroom on average performed better than those in the traditional classroom. However, no changes in self-efficacy and selfregulated learning were detected after the end of the course. In addition, the quantitative and qualitative data combined indicated that most students had a favorable experience of the flipped classroom, in terms of student-student interaction, available learning materials, and active learning results. Implications for MOOC integration are discussed.
While numerous papers have illuminated the worthiness of research collaboration, relatively few h... more While numerous papers have illuminated the worthiness of research collaboration, relatively few have addressed its prerequisites. In our study, seven prerequisites for research collaboration were extracted from the existing literature, and 460 student researchers were surveyed for their perceptions of the prerequisites' importance. Focusing on voluntary research collaborations rather than brokered ones, it was found that socially oriented prerequisites such as reciprocal interactions, accountability, trust, and equality are perceived of more importance than prerequisites of psychical proximity, networking channels, and funds and material supplies (substance- and entity-related prerequisites). With latent regression analyses, we also found that Chinese and older, more experienced researchers are inclined to stress the importance of equality. Researchers of different cohorts prioritise substance- and entity-related prerequisites disparately. Specifically, Chinese researchers empha...
Different acculturation strategies (i.e. integration, assimilation, separation and marginalizatio... more Different acculturation strategies (i.e. integration, assimilation, separation and marginalization) tend to contribute to different adaptation outcomes for international students. The current study examines Chinese international students' acculturation strategies under the influence of sociodemographic variables and social ties they developed in the host country. A group of Chinese international students in Belgium (N = 183) participated in an online survey. The results indicate that integration was the most commonly adopted strategy among Chinese international students in Belgium, followed by separation, marginalization and assimilation. The results from three separate multiple regressions show that English proficiency, local language proficiency, prior adaptation experience and female were significant predictors of Chinese students' social ties (i.e. host-national ties, international ties and co-national ties). The discriminant analysis identified host-national ties, international ties, co-national ties, local language proficiency and prior adaptation experience as important variables that can distinguish Chinese students' acculturation strategies.
International Journal of Learning Technology, 2017
Universities started to implement online learning to support face-to-face learning. However, stud... more Universities started to implement online learning to support face-to-face learning. However, student satisfaction and perceived effectiveness of blended learning courses are linked to their previous learning experience, personal preferences and other student and teacher variables. This study examines student satisfaction and perceived effectiveness of a blended learning course and key factors related their satisfaction and perceived effectiveness in a Belgian university. In total 117 students enrolled for this course participated in an online survey and a random sample of 22 students participated in the interviews. The results indicate that student background and situational variables (international or local students, full-time or part-time students) perceived the effectiveness of the blended learning course differently. Part-time students had a higher perception of the effectiveness of the blended learning course. International students were more in favour of the blended learning mode than local students. Teacher competence and teacher support were regarded as the most important determinants for student satisfaction with the blended learning course. Other important factors influencing student perceptions and satisfaction with the blended learning course were examined and the results were discussed.
Adult Learners’ Informal Learning Experiences in Formal Education Setting
Journal of Adult Development, 2014
ABSTRACT Schools typically ignore an enormous part of students' learning, i.e. informal l... more ABSTRACT Schools typically ignore an enormous part of students' learning, i.e. informal learning. Such informal processes include intentional, incidental, and tacit learning and tend to be unnoticed because of their taken-for-granted nature. By conducting in-depth interviews with 15 students, two teachers, and two program coordinators of an adult education program, this study examines informal learning outcomes, processes, and personal informal learning experiences within formal education. The study aimed to reveal the interaction between formal and informal learning as well as the respondents' experiences in this matter. Respondents report a diverse array of informal learning results. Respondents describe informal learning to occur through self-directed learning projects, daily conversations and experiences, and the program's informal and hidden curriculum. According to respondents, informal learning has the potential to enrich and complement formal learning. Moreover, the findings point to potential personal, educational, and societal benefits of revealing informal learning within formal education. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
This research investigates the role of an ICT tool for meeting the educational and social needs o... more This research investigates the role of an ICT tool for meeting the educational and social needs of long-term sick adolescents. Both surveys and interviews were conducted in this study. The participants of this study were sick school students between 12-19 years old. The interviewed participants had used the ICT-supporting tool for three months to three years. The results indicate that the ICT learning tool had a positive impact on meeting the educational and social needs of long-term sick adolescents. The respondents reported that using the ICT tool helped them to keep up to date with their schoolwork and maintain social contact with classmates and teachers. More importantly, the ICT tool helped them to reduce their social isolation and to feel more confident about their reintegration into school and about their future.
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