Research in Education at UOIT: 2011 Symposium - November 11, 2011
Presentations
Dr. Jim Greenlaw - Deconstructing the Metanarrative of the 21st Century Skills Movement
Dr. Allyson Eamer - Making English Our Own: Ethnolects in Toronto’s Diasporas
Lisa Wray (MEd Graduate Student) - The Effects of Using Mobile Devices for Students with Disabilities in Secondary Mathematics: An Exploratory Study
Dr. Janette Hughes (S. Thompson) - Using ICTs in Middle School Literacy Programs
Dr. Wendy Barber (Dr. L. Robertson & Dr. D. Thompson) - Body of knowledge - Pan-Canadian Curriculum Analysis in HPE
Dr. Diana Petrarca - If you build it, will they come?
Joe Stokes (MEd Graduate Student) - Facebook and Transactional Distance: smarter social networking?
Michelle Dubek (UOIT B.Ed. Sessional Instructor), Dr. E. Pedretti & S. Jagger - Telling Tales: Emergent Narratives from the Body Worlds Exhibition
Dr. Shawn Bullock - The Social Implications of Digital technologies for Education
Dr. Roland van Oostveen (& others) – Towards a reconceptualization of Online Teacher Professional Learning: Problem-based Learning Objects (PBLO)
Research in Education at UOIT: 2010 Symposium - November 12th 2010
Keynotes:
Michael Owen: Research Matters
Maggie McPherson : Thoughts and Experiences of Doing e-Learning Research within Higher Education in Europe and Africa
Bill Hunter : Teaching at the cusp: Coping with technology and research
Presentations:
Bullock, S.: Digital Technologies & SDL
Desjardins, F.: Online graduate studies in education: Examining student uses and attitudes toward digital technology
Eamer, A. & Hughes, J. : Media(ting) identities: Digital identity projects in an ESL classroom
Hunter, B. & Austin, R.: Social and cultural influences on ICT policy: An international perspective
Kay, R .: Understanding how to use web-based learning tools effectively in K-12 classrooms
Kay, R.,: The use of clickers in K-12 education: The good, the bad, and the ugly
O’Brien, G.,: Experimental Proposal Design Facilitation by a Moodle-based Collaborative Online Learning Environment (COLE)
Petrarca, D.: Associate Teacher Learning Tool (ATLT) – An Exploration of Associate Teachers’ Use and Responses
Robertson, L. Thomson, D. & Barber, W.: How lean is the pan-Canadian body image curriculum?
Scarfo, N.: Touching the future: Educators and the Law
Shah, U. : Integration of robotics in the curriculum
Thomson, D.: Reflection on Practice: What is it and how is it Evaluated?
Tolley, S.: Mathematics – the Social Practice of Functional Skills and Social Justice
van Oostveen, R., : Toward a reconceptualization of online teacher professional learning: Problem-based learning objects
EdMedia Presentation #2
Towards a Reconceptualization of Online Teacher Professional Learning: Problem-based Learning Objects (PBLO)
Roland vanOostveen, François Desjardins, Shawn Bullock, Maurice DiGiuseppe, Lorayne Robertson
See the publication file at http://eilab.ca/spip/spip.php?article46
EdMedia Presentation #1
Exploring Graduate Student’s Use of Computer Based Technology for Online Learning
François Desjardins, Roland vanOostveen, Shawn Bullock, Maurice DiGiuseppe, Lorayne Robertson (UOIT)
Please see the presentation file at http://eilab.ca/spip/spip.php?article43
Presentation and Symposium Upcoming at Ed-Media in Toronto
Members of EILab will be giving several presentations and conducting a symposium at the upcoming Ed-Media Conference in Toronto, June 28-July 2, 2010.
Presentations:
1. Exploring Graduate Student’s Use of Computer-Based Technologies for Online Learning Room: 9 Wed, Jun. 30 11:35 AM-11:55 AM
Authors: Francois Desjardins, Roland vanOostveen, Shawn Bullock, Maurice DiGiuseppe, Lorayne Robertson, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada
Abstract: In the area of online education, it is becoming apparent that the technology as well as the pedagogical approach landscape is changing. As learners are more and more technologically savvy, so must the institutions adjust their offerings to adapt to the rapidly evolving needs of these students. In a graduate program designed to meet the needs of learners specifically interested in education and digital technologies, this case study addresses the question of what technologies these specific students already use when they come into the program and how comfortable they claim to be with it. The data from this case study show that adult students enrolled in a Master of Education and Digital Technology program come in as frequent users of many of the latest technologies and in general are quite confident as to their abilities and competences.
2. Towards a reconceptualization of online teacher professional learning: Problem-based learning objects (PBLOs) Room: 4 Wed, Jun. 30 4:00 PM-5:00 PM
Authors: Roland van Oostveen, Francois Desjardins, Shawn Bullock, Maurice DiGiuseppe, Lorayne Robertson, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada
Abstract: In spite of profound changes in society, real reforms regarding the focus of education or the methods used have been slow to take hold in educational systems around the world particularly regarding the use of technology for teacher professional learning purposes. The present study is a case study based on the pilot use of a single Problem-based Learning Object (PBLO) with 36 pre-service teacher candidates in a science education curriculum methods course. The PBLO, set within a Collaborative Online Learning Environment, was used to instigate discourse between pairs of users. Among other tasks, the teacher candidates were asked to create two sets (pre and post) of concept maps. The differences between the two concept maps were analyzed. The results, although not statistically significant, demonstrated that the developed tools are useable by students, and it further suggests that investigation with larger samples over a longer period of time is warranted.
Symposium
Transforming Learning: Digital Technologies and Educational Change: A Symposium to Explore Interdependent Effects of Society and Technology on the Future of Education ID: 30017 Type: Symposium Topic: New Roles for Teachers/Learners Room: 3 Wed, Jun. 30 1:30 PM-2:30 PM
Authors: Roland vanOostveen, Francois Desjardins, Maurice DiGiuseppe, Shawn Bullock, Lorayne Robertson, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada
Abstract: The increasingly symbiotic relationship between society and digital technology suggests that studying one is impossible without studying the other. Technological innovations are fueled by a seemingly ever-growing demand for sophisticated communication devices that serve multiple purposes such as voice and data communication, personal information access points, collaboration tools, multimedia recording and editing, data presentation, GPS, and measurement instruments - just to name a few. Simultaneously, society is being shaped by the power and ubiquity of technological devices and processes that serve us... sometimes to the point of addiction. Over the past 150 years, technological advances and research in medicine served to improve general health and extend life expectancies. Today, there is a need to focus on digital technologies in education to understand how its sociological and technological interdependencies can have similar effects on education over the next 50 years. This symposium will explore these interrelationships.
Symposium Papers
1. eAssessment: ‘Phone a friend’ Room: 3 Wed, Jun. 30 1:30 PM-2:30 PM Authors: Greg Neal, Victoria University, Australia
2. Exploring Learner Needs for Collaboration and Access Room: 3 Wed, Jun. 30 1:30 PM-2:30 PM Authors: Valerie Irvine, University of Victoria, Canada
3. Moral Issues in the Teaching of Digital Literacy Room: 3 Wed, Jun. 30 1:30 PM-2:30 PM Authors: Jim Greenlaw, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada
4. Vid-Ability: A portable computing project to improve the condition of people living with an intellectual disability Room: 3 Wed, Jun. 30 1:30 PM-2:30 PM Authors: Ann-Louise Davidson, Concordia University, Canada
Research Seminar: Learning with Technology
Friday Mar. 19, 2010 9am - 12pm
Studying the interplay between learning and digital technologies is fundamental to the work undertaken by students and faculty members in the Faculty of Education@UOIT. The projects presented in this seminar portray the diversity of approaches, methodologies and topics that are actively being investigated within the Faculty. This seminar is also intended to provide a venue for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty members, to present their research related work while simultaneously attempting to showcase some of the practically oriented research with which our faculty is currently engaged.
9:00 Welcome and Greetings - Dr. F. Desjardins, Associate Dean 9:15 Presentation 1 - MEd Graduate Student Project 10:00 Presentation 2 - Dr. R. van Oostveen with members of the PBL Electives Course - BEd Course-based Work - Problem-based Learning Objects 10:45 Refreshments 11:00 Presentation 3 - Dr. M. DiGiuseppe - Exploring Pre-Service Teachers’ Views Regarding Use of Computer-Based Technologies in their BEd Program 11:45 Closing Remarks - Dr. R. van Oostveen
All presentations will provide opportunities for discussion with the participants directly following the presentation.
The seminar will be held in the EILab (Mezzanine Level @ 11 Simcoe St. N.) and simultaneously online.
All attendees are asked RSVP with Kim Mitchell (kim.mitchell@uoit.ca) by Mar. 17, as there is limited seating in the EILab and, if attending virtually, to receive the URL for the virtual conference space.
Ed-Media General Conference Call - Due Dec. 18, 2009
The call for papers/presentations for the Ed-Media general conference is due on Dec. 18, 2009. All papers are to be submitted through the Ed-Media site (http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/call.htm).
The UOIT pre-conference Ed-Media Symposium (http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/symposium2010.htm) paper proposals are due Mar. 8, 2010.
EILab Chairs Symposium at Ed-Media 2010 in Toronto
EILab would like to invite you to a pre-conference symposium at Ed-Media 2010 (http://blogs.aace.org/edmedia/ ).
Program description:
"The increasingly symbiotic relationship between society and digital technology suggests that studying one is impossible without studying the other. Technological innovations are fueled by a seemingly ever-growing demand for sophisticated communication devices that serve multiple purposes such as voice and data communication, personal information access points, collaboration tools, multimedia recording and editing, data presentation, GPS, and measurement instruments - just to name a few. Simultaneously, society is being shaped by the power and ubiquity of technological devices and processes that serve us... sometimes to the point of addiction. Over the past 150 years, technological advances and research in medicine served to improve general health and extend life expectancies. Today, there is a need to focus on digital technologies in education to understand how its sociological and technological interdependencies can have similar effects on education over the next 50 years. This ED-MEDIA pre-conference symposium will explore these interrelationships."
Topics
• Epistemological and/or Sociological Perspectives on Digital Technologies
• Going beyond Interactive Learning Environments
• Co-operative / Collaborative Technologies
• Mobile Technologies
• Cloud Computing
• Online Pedagogical Issues
• Technological Competencies
Call for Papers: Papers may be written in "short" form (max 2,500 words, excluding references) or "long" form (max 6,000 words, excluding references). Long form papers should take the form of either a research proposal (data collection is incomplete) or a research report (data collection and analysis is complete). All papers should be written in a style consistent with the APA manual of style (6th edition). Participants should be prepared to upload a PDF version of their papers by May 15, 2010 to provide everyone with the opportunity to review ideas before the pre-conference. Proposals for papers should be limited to 700 words (excluding references).
Submit to: roland.vanoostveen@uoit.ca by March 8, 2010.
Submitters will be notified by March 29, 2010.
Format of the Symposium: The symposium will take the form of a “working” conference. Each participant will be assigned to one of three break-out groups, based on the major theme in their paper, for the majority of the day. It is expected that this format will provide participants to engage deeply with issues in a small-group format. Each breakout group will give a brief summary presentation to the main group at the end of the day. Discussants will also participate in small-group sessions to provide additional context for their comments at the end of the day.
Program:
08:00 Introduction UOIT Facilitators
08:15 Keynote Address William Muirhead, UOIT (Whole Group)
09:00 Working Session 1 Short Paper Summaries (Working Groups)
09:50 Break
10:00 Working Session 2 TBD by Working Groups
10:50 Break
11:00 Working Session 3 TBD by Working Groups
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Summary Status Check (Working Groups to Whole Group)
13:40 Working Session 4 TBD by Working Groups
14:40 Break
14:50 Panel Discussion TBA (Whole Group)
15:30 Closing Keynote Address Maggie McPherson, Leeds Uni. (Whole Group)
16:00 Closing UOIT Facilitators
Organization of Working Groups:
Each working group will be composed of participants who have a paper that is relevant to a particular theme. During the first working session, participants will each present a short (10-minute) summary of their paper to the rest of their working group. The group will then decide how best to discuss the papers and develop ideas for the remainder of the day. Each group will be responsible for presenting a short (10 minute) summary of their discussion to the entire group during the session immediately following lunch. It is hoped that working together in small groups might facilitate discussion and produce preliminary working partnerships.
Cost:
Symposium registration is $145 USD and includes morning and afternoon beverage breaks and lunch.
EILab Conversation with Publishers - Nov. 10/09
On Tuesday Nov. 10, we welcomed a team of 3 representatives from an e-publishing group to the EILab. After a tour of the main campus and dropping in on the Vice Provost - Teaching and Learning Bill Muirhead, the group was brought into the lab for some refreshments. Following refreshments, the EILab principal investigators attempted to share the vision that we have for the lab and the research activities that we are and will undertake under this umbrella. A copy of the presentation can be found in the publications section of this site.
A future meeting will be scheduled to continue conversations regarding exploring common purposes and possible shared interests.
Research Seminar - Sabbatical Presentation
Global Hand Shaking: Developing International Educational Research Relationships
Roland vanOostveen, PhD Associate Professor, Faculty of Education University of Ontario Institute of Technology
This presentation will focus on the preliminary findings of a 7 month, 4 continent, around-the-world trip to various universities involved in the integration of technology in teacher training. Meetings with faculty members in 14 different institutions revealed common issues with conceptions of learning and pedagogical practice. The use of video-based cases ranged from exemplary practice for pre-service teachers to a modified ‘lesson-study’ approach with hundreds of teachers in China. Descriptions and samples of some of these techniques will be shared during the session. Much of the on-going modification of open-source applications, including Moodle, revolves around the use of these packages as alternative learning management systems (LMS) but does not tackle the misappropriation of the ‘learning’ reference in LMS. There appears to be a healthy appetite for international collaboration although there are concerns about the availability of funding to support the effort. The presentation will conclude with suggestions designed to foster the connections that have been made.
A copy of the PowerPoint presentation can be found in the publication section of this site.
A link to the video recorded version of the presentation can be found at: http://education.uoit.ca/EN/main/151820/research_seminarseries.php
Upcoming Discussions with UVic
On Thursday Apr. 9/09, Roland van Oostveen will be having discussions with researchers at the Technology Integration and Evaluation (TIE) Research Lab at University of Victoria regarding the possibility of collaborating on the development of yet another funding proposal to Industry Canada to study Video Conferencing.
Upcoming Presentations in New Zealand
Roland van Oostveen will be meeting with and giving presentations to researchers, and hopefully future collaborators, from the following institutions:
University of Auckland (Auckland, NZ) - Tuesday, Mar. 3
Waikato University (Hamilton, NZ) - Thursday, Mar. 5
Massey University (Palmerston North, NZ) - Wednesday, Mar. 11
New Zealand Council for Educational Research, NZCER (Wellington, NZ) - Tuesday, Mar. 17
Accounts of the meetings and/or copies of the presentations will be posted to the publications section of this site when they are available.
In Perth, Australia with ECU
Roland will be presenting another paper about the Collaborative Online Learning Environment and Problem-Based Learning Objects at the Edith Cowan University Faculty of Education and Arts Research Day to be held at Joondalup Resort on Feb. 4, 2009
The presentation was a success. A copy of the powerpoint file used in the presentation can be found in the publications section of this site.
vanOostveen presents at SLO: Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development or Instituut voor Leerplan-Ontwikkeling
Glimpses of Teacher Professional Improvement and Curriculum Development in Ontario: Science and Technology Education
Roland van Oostveen
The presentation focused on the recent history of science and technology (S&T) curriculum in the province of Ontario and offers some insights gleaned about teachers’ changing roles regarding curriculum development. Brief descriptions of the evolution of the S&T curriculum from 1990 to the present was shared (Science is happening...., The Common Curriculum, S&T Curriculum 1998, Revised S&T Curriculum 2007). Each of these documents present a slightly different view of the perceived role of classroom teachers, from curriculum developers to pedagogical technicians and beyond. Finally, a brief overview of a current ongoing research project using video case studies embedded in a collaborative online learning environment was discussed. The project attempts to provide alternative learning strategies for teacher professional development that can help to engage teachers as independent curriculum designers.
CONCORDIA’S EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM HOSTS A SERIES OF EVENTS TO CELEBRATE ITS FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY
François Desjardins will be appearing at this Live WebCast on Thursday November 6th 2008 at 7:30 PM. For further details click here : Concordia Department of Education event or write to: Francois(dawt)Desjardins@UOIT(dawt)ca
E-competencies: Building human capital for the 21st and 22nd centuries
The Knowledge Society demands that we leapfrog ahead in our education systems, build a new digital literacy, and improve soft skills (creativity, innovation, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking, among others) that could help all 21st century citizens become productive, effective knowledge workers. Educators, policymakers, business leaders, parents, and youth must identify and develop new sets of e-skills and e-competencies to help youth succeed, and build a capacity for success toward the 22nd century. The purpose of this event is to identify, project and discuss the e-skills and e-competencies required for success in the 21st and early 22nd centuries. This event will explore, gather and analyze relevant experiences in training and development of e-skills throughout North America.
This conference took place online today, live from Mexico City. You can go to the Conference site.
News from the Netherlands
Roland is currently on sabbatical and is stationed at the University of Twente in the city of Enschede, Netherlands for the next 3.5 months. While in Holland, Roland will be holding discussions with a number of faculty members and students about PBLOs and COLE. He will also try to determine if there is any interest on the part of those around to participate in the MI Lab initiative.
Computers and Advanced Technology in Education 2008
The Eleventh IASTED International Conference on Computers and Advanced Technology in Education CATE 2008 Globalization of Education Through Advanced Technology September 29 – October 1, 2008 Crete, Greece
Francois Desjardins and Roland vanOostveen just returned from this conference where they presented : IMPLEMENTING PBL ONLINE AS A COLLABORATIVE LEARNING STRATEGY FOR TEACHERS: THE COLE
This paper is published by ACTA Press and is available from their site (Click here).
Still in Vienna
We just finished the panel discussion on "Adaptive or Collaborative Learning?"
Authors : Stephan Weibelzahl, National College of Ireland, Ireland; Paul de Bra, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands; Alexandros Paramythis, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria; Peggy Ertmer, Purdue University, USA; Francois Desjardins, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada
Abstract : Adaptive Learning Technologies and Collaborative Learning have both been explored and argued for repeatedly. While the two approaches are not in opposition to each other, they include are a number concepts and aims that are potentially conflict such as optimising the individual learning gain or the quality of collaboration. This panel will explore where these conflicts are, where the limits of technological support for collaborative on-line learning are and how these conflicts might be resolved.
In Vienna !
Francois and Roland have just presented another paper about the Collaborative Online Learning Environment at the Ed-Media Conference in Vienna, Austria. Thanks to all who attended, your questions were most appreciated!! To access the slides and the paper, please check out the Publications section of this site.
Ed-MEdia World Conference on Educational Media, Hypermedia and Telecommunications