Children's TV and Digital Media in the Arab World

Who analyses children’s screen content and media use in Arab countries, and with what results? Children, defined internationally as under-18s, account for some 40 per cent of Arab populations and the proportion of under-fives is correspondingly large. Yet studies of children’s media and child audiences in the region are as scarce as truly popular locally produced media content aimed at children. At the very time when conflict and uncertainty in key Arab countries have made local development and diversification of children’s media more remote, it has become more urgent to gain a better understanding of how the next generation’s identities and world-views are formed. This interdisciplinary book is the first in English to probe both the state of Arab screen media for children and the practices of Arabic-speaking children in producing, as well as consuming, screen content. It responds to the gap in research by bringing together a holistic investigation of institutions and leading players, children’s media experiences and some iconic media texts. With children’s media increasingly linked to merchandising, which favours US-based global players and globalizing forces, this volume provides a timely insight into tensions between differing concepts of childhood and desirable media messages.

El papel de los museos en la sociedad actual: discurso institucional o museo participativo

Desde hace ya varias décadas se ha extendido un lema convertido en habitual año tras año: que los museos necesitan cambios y que, éstos, deben seguir produciéndose en el futuro para que estas instituciones sigan siendo significativas en la sociedad, es decir, para los ciudadanos a quienes representan y sirven. La cuestión de cómo afrontan los cambios es lo que verdaderamente ha dado lugar a reflexiones interesantes en el campo de la museología. No existe un enfoque único para una cuestión tan compleja, ya que está compuesta de múltiples capas que, en muchas ocasiones, son difícilmente acoplables. Sin embargo, en términos generales, podemos apuntar que va a ser en la exposición donde los nuevos planteamientos tendrán su desarrollo.

The role of learning design and learning analytics in MOOCs

The last couple of years there has been a lot of attention for MOOCs. More and more universities start offering MOOCs. Although the open dimension of MOOC indicates that it is open in every aspect, in most cases it is a course with a structure and a timeline within which learning activities are positioned. There is a contradiction there. The open aspect puts MOOCs more in the non-formal professional learning domain, while the course structure takes it into the formal, traditional education domain. Accordingly, there is no consensus yet on solid pedagogical approaches for MOOCs. Something similar can be said for learning analytics, another upcoming concept that is receiving a lot of attention. Given its nature, learning analytics offers a large potential to support learners in particular in MOOCs. Learning analytics should then be applied to assist the learners and teachers in understanding the learning process and could predict learning, provide opportunities for pro-active feedback, but should also results in interventions aimed at improving progress. This paper illustrates pedagogical and learning analytics approaches based on practices developed in formal online and distance teaching university education that have been fine-tuned for MOOCs and have been piloted in the context of the EU-funded MOOC projects ECO (Elearning, Communication, Open-Data: http://ecolearning.eu) and EMMA (European Multiple MOOC Aggregator: http://platform.europeanmoocs.eu).

Learning design guided learning analytics in MOOCs

Poster presentation for our paper Brouns, F., & Firssova, O. (2016, October).The role of learning design and learning analytics in MOOCs. Paper presented at 9th EDEN Research Workshop, Oldenburg, Germany.

Redes de conversação como possibilidade de formação do professor tutor virtual na mediação pedagógica da educação profissional a distância

A educação a distância apoiada pelos meios de comunicação digital ampliou as possibilidades de interação, flexibilizando o processo de mediação pedagógica no tempo e no espaço. Nessa perspectiva, a educação profissional democratizou seu acesso, na qual os conhecimentos de nível técnico são customizados em um Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem (AVA) para serem mediados a distância. Esta tese, apresentada na forma de artigos, problematiza o processo de mediação pedagógica realizado pelo professor tutor virtual na Rede e-Tec Brasil do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Sul-rio-grandense (IFSul) Campus Visconde da Graça (CAVG). Nesse modelo de ensino, o professor tutor virtual é contratado para atuar, pelo período de dois anos, em todas as disciplinas curriculares de um curso técnico. Se, por um lado, isso permite-lhe conhecer a realidade de seus alunos; por outro, exige-lhe um esforço pedagógico de apropriação e mediação dos conteúdos específicos nas diversas disciplinas que integram os currículos de cada curso. A pesquisa buscou conhecer como o professor tutor virtual apropria-se dos conhecimentos específicos nos cursos técnicos para mediá-los pedagogicamente com os alunos. Apresentamos, como hipótese explicativa neste estudo, que é na convivência com o professor pesquisador que o professor tutor virtual encontra a possibilidade de se apropriar dos conhecimentos curriculares para poder mediá-los pedagogicamente com os alunos. Para sustentar teoricamente nossas proposições na experiência vivida, estabelecemos uma rede de conversação com os autores Humberto Maturana, Pierre Lévy, Lee Shulman e Maurice Tardif, por meio dos conceitos: cultura em redes de conversação; inteligência coletiva; conhecimento pedagógico do conteúdo; e formação profissional docente. Como procedimento metodológico, encontramos na técnica do Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo (DSC), de Lefèvre e Lefèvre, uma estratégia de abordagem qualitativa para analisar as recorrências encontradas nos discursos dos professores tutores virtuais. O estudo aponta que uma rede de conversação recursiva entre o professor pesquisador e o professor tutor virtual possibilita a apropriação de conhecimentos técnicos e específicos necessários ao processo de mediação pedagógica com os estudantes. Essa convivência, no caminho da constituição de um coletivo inteligente, favorece o trabalho colaborativo no ambiente da tutoria, contribuindo para profissionalizar o processo de mediação pedagógica na educação profissional a distância do IFSul CAVG. Supported by digital media, distance learning has increased the possibilities of interaction, easing the process of pedagogical mediation in time and space. From this perspective, the access to professional education has been democratized: technical knowledge is customized in a Learning Managing System and later delivered by means of mediated distance education courses. Structured in a sequence of articles, this dissertation addresses the problem of the pedagogical mediation process performed by on-line tutor teachers at Rede e-Tec Brasil of the Instituto Federal Sul- rio-grandense (IF-Sul), Campus Visconde da Graça (CAVG). This model of education establishes that on-line tutor teachers are hired to work with all the curriculum courses of a technical program for two years. If, on the hand, it allows these teachers to know the reality of their students well, on the other hand it demands them a pedagogical effort of appropriation and mediation of the specific contents guiding the various courses that comprise the curriculum of each program. This research aimed to find out how on-line tutor teachers appropriate expertise from technical programs to mediate it with their students in a pedagogical way. The explanatory hypothesis given is that by working together and sharing experience with the teacher/researcher, on-line tutor teachers will be able to appropriate of curricular knowledge and pedagogically mediate it with their students afterwards. To support our theoretical propositions, a network of conversation was established with authors like Humberto Maturana, Pierre Lévy, Lee Shulman, and Maurice Tardif through the concepts of culture in networks of conversation, collective intelligence, pedagogical content knowledge, and teacher training. As a methodological procedure, the technique of the Collective Subject Discourse (CSD), by Lefèvre and Lefèvre, was found to offer a strategy of qualitative approach to analyze the recurrences seen in the speech of on-line tutor teachers. The study shows that a recursive network of conversation between the teacher/researcher and the on-line tutor teacher enables the appropriation of specific and technical knowledge required for the process of pedagogical mediation with students. The experience of sharing a consensual professional relationship, in which one respects and accepts the other as a way of establishing a collective intelligence, encourages collaborative work in the tutoring environment, helping professionalize the process of pedagogical mediation in distance professional education at IFSul CAVG.

A educação histórica e as mídias digitais construindo o conhecimento histórico em sala de aula

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo investigar se o uso de mídias digitais pode ou não contribuir para a progressão das ideias históricas dos jovens em idade de escolarização. A pesquisa tem seus pressupostos teóricos e metodológicos pautados na Educação Histórica, linha de pesquisa do Ensino de História que se preocupa com a busca de respostas concernentes ao desenvolvimento do pensamento histórico e a formação da consciência histórica de crianças e jovens. A dissertação é composta de três capítulos, o primeiro intitulado O Ensino de História em sua historicidade aborda a História do Ensino de História no Brasil desde seu surgimento no século XIX,até a primeira década do século XXI, e o modo como está estruturado enquanto disciplina escolar no ensino básico brasileiro, o surgimento e incorporação das mídias digitais no cotidiano dos sujeitos e a consequente produção de novos sentidos, e também a forma como a Educação Histórica se propõe enquanto campo teórico e metodológico para a aprendizagem de História intermediada por essas recentes tecnologias. No segundo capítulo denominado Ideias tácitas dos jovens a respeito do modo de vida e origem dos primeiros homens e mulheres foi investigado as ideias iniciais das duas turmas de 6° ano do ensino fundamental analisadas nesta pesquisa, com base na ideia substantiva, a origem e modo de vida dos primeiros homens e mulheres, o sentido que os jovens atribuem às experiências humanas ocorridas ao longo do tempo, bem como, a aplicação da Unidade Temática Investigativa a partir dos conhecimentos prévios dos educandos. O terceiro capítulo intitulado A construção do conhecimento histórico intermediado pelas mídias digitais, trata da análise dos dados da pesquisa de modo a investigara progressão das ideias históricas dos jovens, com base na comparação de suas narrativas iniciais e finais, elaboradas ao longo da aplicação da pesquisa.

Learning Activities with Semantic. Hypermedia in Higher Education

The increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in diverse professional and personal contexts calls for new knowledge, and a set of abilities, competences and attitudes, for an active and participative citizenship. In this context it is acknowledged that universities have an important role innovating in the educational use of digital media to promote an inclusive digital literacy. The educational potential of digital technologies and resources has been recognized by both researchers and practitioners. Multiple pedagogical models and research approaches have already contributed to put in evidence the importance of adapting instructional and learning practices and processes to concrete contexts and educational goals. Still, academic and scientific communities believe further investments in ICT research is needed in higher education. This study focuses on educational models that may contribute to support digital technology uses, where these can have cognitive and educational relevance when compared to analogical technologies. A teaching and learning model, centered in the active role of the students in the exploration, production, presentation and discussion of interactive multimedia materials, was developed and applied using the internet and exploring emergent semantic hypermedia formats. The research approach focused on the definition of design principles for developing class activities that were applied in three different iterations in undergraduate courses from two institutions, namely the University of Texas at Austin, USA and the University of Lisbon, Portugal. The analysis of this study made possible to evaluate the potential and efficacy of the model proposed and the authoring tool chosen in the support of metacognitive skills and attitudes related to information structuring and management, storytelling and communication, using computers and the internet.

Massive inclusion of digital technologies in schools : Argentinian young adolescents? appropriation of computers and the Internet in popular and middle classes

Since the implementation of the Programa Conectar Igualdad (PCI) (Connecting Equality Program) in 2010 in Argentina, numerous Social Science specialists started to research how massive ICT introduction in schools would radically affect teaching and learning processes, knowledge building and youth behaviour. Nevertheless, there is still not much empirical evidence showing the ways in which these technologies are appropriated. This situation discloses the need of placing research questions locally situated with regard to those potential changes. What existing access methods does PCI encounter? And how does its implementation participate in the design of personal and family heterogeneous trajectories of ICTs appropriation? How do the students themselves perceive the infl uence of PCI on their own technologic abilities and competence? How do knowledge and aptitudes associated to new digital media articulate with the knowledge manners promoted by the school format and institutionalism? How does the massive introduction of netbooks affect the interaction among different school actors (students-teachers)? What happens in other sociability and socialization spaces, such as the house and cybercafé?

The space for social media in structured online learning

In this paper, we explore the benefits of using social media in an online educational setting, with a particular focus on the use of Facebook and Twitter by participants in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) developed to enable educators to learn about the Carpe Diem learning design process. We define social media as digital social tools and environments located outside of the provision of a formal university-provided Learning Management System. We use data collected via interviews and surveys with the MOOC participants as well as social media postings made by the participants throughout the MOOC to offer insights into how participants’ usage and perception of social media in their online learning experiences differed and why. We identified that, although some participants benefitted from social media by crediting it, for example, with networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities, others objected or refused to engage with social media, perceiving it as a waste of their time. We make recommendations for the usage of social media for educational purposes within MOOCs and formal digital learning environments.

Digital storytelling: an integrated approach to language for the 21st century student

Societal changes have, throughout history, pushed the long-established boundaries of education across all grade levels. Technology and media merge with education in a continuous complex social process with human consequences and effects. We, teachers, can aspire to understand and interpret this volatile context that is being redesigned at the same time society itself is being reshaped as a result of the technological evolution. The language- learning classroom is not impenetrable to these transformations. Rather, it can perhaps be seen as a playground where teachers and students gather to combine the past and the present in an integrated approach. We draw on the results from a previous study and argue that Digital Storytelling as a Process is capable of aggregating and fostering positive student development in general, as well as enhancing interpersonal relationships and self-knowledge while improving digital literacy. Additionally, we establish a link between the four basic language-learning skills and the Digital Storytelling process and demonstrate how these converge into what can be labeled as an integrated language learning approach.

Digital literacy, technology and social inclusion: making sense of one-to-one computer programmes around the world

This book was produced in the scope of a research project entitled “Navigating with ‘Magalhães’: Study on the Impact of Digital Media in Schoolchildren”. This study was conducted between May 2010 and May 2013 at the Communication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho, Portugal and it was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/CCI-COM/101381/2008).

Introduction [to Digital literacy, technology and social inclusion: making sense of one-to-one computer programmes around the world]

This book was produced in the scope of a research project entitled “Navigating with ‘Magalhães’: Study on the Impact of Digital Media in Schoolchildren”. This study was conducted between May 2010 and May 2013 at the Communication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho, Portugal and it was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/CCI-COM/101381/2008). As we shall explain in more detail later in this book, the main objective of that research project was to analyse the impact of the Portuguese government programme named ´e-escolinha´ launched in 2008 within the Technological Plan for Education. This Plan responds to the principles of the Lisbon Strategy signed in 2000 and rereleased in the Spring European Council of 2005.