Education I Session
Chair: G.Garas - L.Gomatos -El. Papatheodorou- G.Potamias
C.2.1. Education for Educators: Equipping Educators with the use of Virtual Learning Communities
Ismini Kavallari
EdD Doctor of Education Candidate (Distance Learning Programme)
Department of Educational Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Tel: +44 114 2228096, Fax: +44 114 2228105, E-mail:
Abstract
The 21st century has brought about astounding changes to many things, most especially the way education has been viewed and delivered. Such changes should be seen as a sign to indeed change and modify the way educators have been teaching and seeing education as a whole. This paper aims to discuss Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and its advantages, and present the various types of ICTs there are. Most particularly, however, Virtual Learning Communities will be discussed. For ages and ages, the classroom model wherein students and teacher congregate has been the prototype, the normal and only way of learning. Opinions have changed dramatically since then. Some teachers still use this model; however, people such as parents, teachers and lawmakers have especially lobbied that such a setting, and such a way of teaching, could no longer carry on. A new “learning setting” and community is seen as something much better and conducive for students nowadays. While people see this as an opportunity to increase knowledge for students, however, some plainly disagree about such a method. Arguments regarding this case shall be examined. It is hoped that not only would educators in the country find invaluable information in this research, but that it would serve as further proof of the need for concerted efforts with regards to ICTs.
Keywords: Educators, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Virtual Learning Communities (VLC)
C.2.2. Digital Revolution in Classroom of the 21st Century:A Transatlantic Overview
Georgia Kafka, Ph.D.
High School Teacher-Researcher, VarvakeioExperimentalSchool
Abstract
In the decade of 2000s, use of technology in the classroom for any level of education, from First to Secondary and Higher level, has started to become a reality that it is advanced systematically. Teaching process is based on technology and the new applications. A great number of applications have been appeared the last years. They have enriched the teaching process. Some of the most important applications are as follows: a) the electronic platforms for long distance education, 2) the e-books and e-readers, c) the smart whiteboards, d) the pocket computers, e) the clickers, f) the webinars through Skype or relevant programs etc. These applications are the media for assisting the teaching process. They are considered supportive tools for the instructors. They have also strengthened the interest of the learners.
These days, the above applications have already been implemented in order to be established. Some others have been in experimental process. The higher level of education has been applied many of them and it has contributed to their advance.
The present paper will examine the contribution of these applications in the classroom regarding the instructor’s point of view. For this reason, the instructors have to be informed and educated in order to implement them. Reports regarding case studies will bring this issue into light. The application and the evaluation will fill out the gaps and contribute to the advance of new technologies. Where will this technology revolution be led? Do the new technologies apply to any scientific field? What are the drawbacks of these applications? More future research studies are needed to examine the impact of new technology’s applications on any level of education.
Key-words: technology, new applications, education
C.2.3. E- literature as metonymy of postmodernism: emancipation or new
homage?
Moula Evangelia
Parodos Agion Anargyron 58E- Rhodes-85100
Abstract
Literature within the frame of the radically changed, technologically advanced conditions of its production and reception, raises a significant amount of issues, which demand a more thorough approach. New literary experiments subvert conventions and certainties of the past, discredit hierarchies, impugn authorities, create collaborative communities, emancipate the meaning from any kind of interpretative doctrines and redefine narrative categories. Among the concepts that are being reexamined are textness itself and even more the established and till recently irrefutable state of being of the writer and of the intellectual rights. At the same time the transmedia literary projects, the multiplatform or interactive concepts or the user- generated content, by merging the stages of production and reception, undermine the hermeneutic procedure by suppressing the personal pace of the reflective reading which constitutes the bedrock of critical thought. Technological determinism paves the way to a new kind of subjugation and threatens to impose new kinds of imperialism and class discrimination. The relation of the individual reader with the cyber spatial literature is controversial and contradictory. It ranges from the upmost optimistic point where its adherents profess an interconnected- web- paradise of free expression and creativity up to the most pessimistic point of the techno- Luddists, the doomsayers who foresee the advent of Big brothers and the imposition of thought control. In between one can find a transitional zone of fertile questioning, where literature is looking for its new identity and place in the world.
Τhe fertilization of literature and technology becomes pivotal for the reexamination and redefinition of the psychic field. Existential priority is negated and communication act is being conceived fundamentally differently. E-literature consists a version of the epistemological- philosophical model of our era itself and brings to light many social aspects of the changing paradigm.
Key words: e- literature, interactivity, rupture, new textness, postmodernism.
C.2.4. Technology teachers’ beliefs regarding Science-Technology relations
Leonidas Gomatos, Professor,
ASPETE Patras, P.O. Box 1318, Kentriko Tachidromeio Patras, 26001.
E-mail :
Abstract
Literature on History of science and technology shows that technology cannot simply be considered as a set of applications of science. This conception is, however, widespread and is enhanced by science textbooks. Research has recently focused on teachers’ beliefs on the subject. In this work we approach technology teachers’ beliefs regarding science-technology relations.
Three problem situations presenting different characteristics are proposed in a questionnaire which is handed out to teachers of technological subjects in Greek secondary schools. The teachers’ task is to characterize problems and evaluate their use as tools in classroom work or workshop work. The questions focus on the cognitive demands and on eventual strategies of the students for each problem, as well as on the degree that teachers consider each situation as a “technological theme”. Besides, teachers’ representations concerning the status of technological knowledge are approached through the questionnaire.
Our research shows that teachers’ prevailing conception about science-technology relations is one of technology as ‘applied science’. Concerning the status of technological knowledge teachers rarely see autonomy from scientific knowledge. For many of them it is only the presence of application and psychomotor aspects that distinguish technology from science. The idea that technology is not a simple application but it can advance by itself and is in a dialectic relation with science is not common. Some implications of these findings such as the content of teachers’ preparative courses are discussed at the end of this work and some perspectives of further research are proposed.
Key words: Technology teachers / technology /science/relations
C.2.5. GenderandICT: an action research in teaching history
withICTs
ChryssanthiPalazi,
Enrolled for PhD at the Department of Education, School of Philosophy and Education, AristotleUniversity of Thessaloniki
F. Dialeti 7, Ag. Ioannis, Serres, Greece,
Abstract
Objective of research:
The present research has been carried out in the context of the doctoral thesis of Mrs Chryssanthi Palazi on the subject: "Gender and Technologies of Information and Communication ", Department of Education, School of Philosophy and Education, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
The objective of the research is the investigation of possible changes concerning perceptions and opinions of male and female students, with regard to the integration of Technologies of Information and Communication (ICTs) and the teaching of History. The teaching and learning process is based on the use of educational software, teaching “scenarios”, as well as the use of educational material from the Internet. The means of teaching used consist of the computers in the Information Technology lab and the interactive whiteboards in a room specifically set up for the purpose. The “subjects” of the research are students of the High school of Iraklia, Serres. Three classes of the 3rd grade are involved in the research, one as a control group and two classes in which the experimental procedures were applied. In order for the research to be possible, an application for authorisation for educational research from the Ministry of Education, and the Pedagogic Institute was necessary. The evaluation of the research was implemented with educational methodological tools (quantitative and qualitative analysis).
Working hypotheses:
The teaching of History with the integration of Technologies of Information and Communication (ICTS) in students of High school and the attempted research, we appreciate that it will enlighten the following hypotheses:
- the girls are interested more by the boys for the course of History,
- the boys are interested more for the computers and their applications,
- the teaching of History with the integration of ICTS (educational software, Internet, use of PC and interactive whiteboard) will change the convictions of girls about computers,
- the teaching of course of History with the integration of ICTS (educational software, Internet, use of PC and interactive whiteboard) will change convictions of boys about the course of History.
Key words: Gender, ICT, action research, history.
C.2.6. Class, race and within neighborhood segregation.The case of aGreek Schools
Garas Georgios, Headmaster of 52 Gymnasium of Athens.
Vrahoriou 38B, 10444, Athens.
Abstract
The problem of within neighborhood school segregation, in terms of class and race, in an urban Greek neighborhood, is addressed and the underlying mechanism – related to the allocation of human and technological recourses - is exposed as it is seen by an acting agent. Action Research is used and the local dynamics are studied in response to changes imposed by the various agents in the context of a broader national system and a universal super-system. A review in “school effectiveness” literature is presented and criticized for its validity for local communities, in relation with class and race-ethno segregation in terms of functionalistic, meritocratic, egalitarian and Social Darwinism models. Programs in the direction of amelioration of social inequality problems as well as current trends to the opposite direction are evaluated. Systems theory is employed, informed by chaos, dynamic and ecological systems’ theories. Aspects of self-reflexivity are considered and research itself is exposed as a systemic actor. Further research in local systems is proposed as a means of self-knowledge for schools and society.
Key words: school, segregation, class, race, effectiveness.
C.2.7. Collaboration in a web-based environment and analysis of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning”
EleniPanou- Papatheodorou – Teacher ΠΕ05
PhD Candidate,
Department of Primary Education, University of Aegean
Abstract
The development of a collaborative and productive ambiance is an essential priority of the modern school. Educational research has shown that collaboration can improve students’ performance, due to different types of interaction developed within the classroom framework. Social interactions in particular interest students and help them remain highly motivated during the learning process.
In this present research our goal is to present the potential uses of collaborative learning environments. We will analyze the conditions that enhance Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). Additionally we will present issues related to group structure, means used by the teacher, effective evaluation of the interactions and the group performance. The main research questions that will determine our work are the following:
- What are the key features of pedagogical approaches and how do they contribute to the development of social interactions in a collaborative learning environment?
- What are the main functionalities and benefits of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)?
Key-words: Pedagogical Approaches, Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)
C.2.8. Multimodal Teaching and Learning through ICT education: teaching English as a foreign Language
Nassiou Sophia ()
Postgraduate studentin “Educational Organization and Administration”
University of Thessaly, Bolos,
75 Vissarionos st., Larissa, P.O. Box.: 41447
Potamias Georgios ()
Pedagogical department of primary education, University of Athens
12thPosidonos St, Neo Iraklio Athens, P.O. Box: 14121
Abstract
Multimodality is a major factor in promoting education through multidimensional aspects in an approach determined by its social environment. Thus, Multimodal educational approach enhances not only the teaching through the principles of ICT education and technology, but also the reforming of school culture. Modality, according to the principles of modern social semiotics, is considered the relative approach of truthfulness. Through the social semiotic approach, truth and the concept of reality are determined by the means and commands of a generally accepted social context. Multimodality is the multidimensional representation and reconstruction of a generally accepted “truth” and its social status. Intheapproachpresentedinthispaper, schoolisconsideredapartofagenerallyacceptedgivensocialcontext, where adynamicand activeinvolvement inthelearningprocess is recognized andgiven to thesubjectof learning,utilizing new trends in language teaching and opportunities that the information of technology and communication provides.
In this paper an instructive example for the course of English through authentic learning contexts (situated practice),direct teaching of analytical skills and understanding texts (overt instruction), critical analysis (critical framing) andtransfer of knowledge to different environments and situations (transformed practice)is presented -and at the same time proposed. This proposal regards the teaching of a grammatical phenomenon in English as a foreign language by using texts, videos, films, computers, and the internet and is directly related to the students’ interests and needs. An opportunity is given to understand the ways and means of communication producing oral, written and electronic speech on authentic communication situations, as much as possible, while fostering metacognition, social literacy and self-evaluation.
Keywords: multimodality, ict education, social semiotics, English language
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eRA – 6 Conference