| E-Learning |
ISSN 1741-8887 | ||
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Volume 4 Number 1 2007 | |||
Other issues available | Journal home page | Publisher home page | |||
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CONTENTS [click on author's name for abstract and full text] | |||
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Editorial, page 1
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Editorial |
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doi: 10.2304/elea.2007.4.1.1 |
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E-Learning enters its fourth year with this issue, and its first year as a paid subscription journal. We thank our authors and guest editors for their invaluable roles in getting the journal to this point, and hope you will continue to see E-Learning as a venue for your work. We also thank our readers and current subscribers, and look forward to your continuing interest and support. Journal subscriptions are increasingly competitive, and E-Learning has endeavoured to keep its costing as user-friendly as possible, at US$36 for individual subscriptions and $270 for institutions. We welcome new subscribers and invite readers and authors to recommend the journal for their institutions’ library stocks. E-Learning continues to evolve. This issue presents a mini symposium concerned with online learning in the context of early childhood education and teacher education, edited by Andrew Gibbons. The mini symposium presents an alternative to full guest-edited issues, and readers who are interested in editing symposia are invited to present a prospectus to the editors – as, of course, are readers who have ideas for guest-edited issues. This issue also contains for the first time a research report, a note, and a new, regular addition to the reviews section, in the form of games reviews. We warmly welcome Chia-Yuan Hung to the reviews team, and look forward to regular contributions in this area. E-Learning seeks to balance scholarly academic criteria and virtues with responsiveness to user needs and interests. For this reason we keep communications channels open and welcome suggestions for new features, occasional features, and ideas for enhancement generally. Above all, if you have an idea for a guest issue, or an extraordinary issue, or if you have a conference or symposium you think would be appropriate for E-Learning, please contact us. One of the great advantages of electronic publishing is that quality does not have to be sacrificed at the altar of economic cost. If the quality is there we will publish it, running to extraordinary issues as and when required. Colin Lankshear & Michele Knobel, for the Editorial Team |
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INTRODUCTION |
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doi: 10.2304/elea.2007.4.1.2 |
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That an early childhood education sector is increasingly delimited in academic discourse, regulated in political discourse, and promoted in economic discourse evidences significant transformations, on a global scale, for a range of political and sociocultural relationships. These many contexts of early childhood care and education environments continue to offer robust sites for ongoing philosophical and pedagogical engagement with questions concerning education. In this E-Learning symposium the question concerning early childhood education is that of the role of online learning in early childhood teacher education. Three experienced leaders in the provision of online teacher education programmes report and reflect upon the development of online learning and identify the many successes and challenges encountered on their real and virtual educational journeys. Inspired by the scope of E-Learning, the following articles critically engage with the design, implementation and evaluation of online learning in early childhood teacher education. They demand that the purpose and outcomes of online learning be open to ongoing critical debate, particularly when considering the context of early childhood education – a context that has historically attracted very diverse views with regard to the place and role of technology. More than this, the following content identifies terrains in which to explore the questions concerning education and technology and regenerate ways of thinking about the natural and the technological, the human and the machine. Such distinctions have a long and (increasingly) problematised association with early childhood education that have contributed to consideration of: the child’s place in the world of industry and machines, the role and importance of the natural world in education, the importance of fantasy in the development of cognition, the adaptability of children in coping with vast information networks, the cybernetic modelling of the child’s cognitive ‘nature’, and, more recently, the very nature of fantasy and reality in (and out of) virtual social relationships. More than this, such distinctions and their relation to early childhood education constitute discursive constructions of the child and the adult subjects. The infiltration (and perhaps generation) of teacher education programmes for early childhood education by online technologies provides important sites to question the construction of the child and adult subject in relation to the nature of the natural and the technological. This is a critical concern when claims for and against the ‘invasion’ of new technologies in early education are couched in assumptions regarding the nature of the natural and the technological. Where ‘robotic baby dolls’ (Cordes & Miller, 2000) are stigmatised as inferior to ‘ordinary baby dolls’, or where face-to-face tutorials are privileged over online chat room discussions, relationships are constituted to and through technology. A range of important questions manifest around these relationships: how do theories of education and the use of online technology constitute techniques of ordering and augmenting early education experiences (Shutkin, 1998; Ailwood, 2003); in what ways are some technologies articulated as more valuable for natural development than others (Armstrong & Casement, 2001); how might online learning impact on the subject’s relationship to knowledge and information (Lyotard, 1999; Baudrillard, 2001); what relationships to technology are revealed and/or obscured in online learning discourse (Heidegger, 1977); what personal, interpersonal and environmental relationships might emerge through an increasing attention to online technologies as media for educating early childhood teachers (Bowers, 1988; Feenberg, 1999); and what power/knowledge relationships emerge through and around online technologies, both between individuals and groups, and between humans and machines (Ellul, 1964)? These questions acknowledge the importance of critical research as an essential component of the integration of information technologies in early childhood education and professional development (Bolstad, 2004). Furthermore, they demand that existing assumptions and practices that might support or challenge online learning and its role in early childhood teacher education be reviewed and/or invigorated. The contribution of online learning to the development of early childhood professionals is widely recognised. For instance, Technology and Early Childhood Professional Development: a policy discussion (Education Commission of the States, 2002, p. 8) broadly states that online programmes provide ‘a powerful means of increasing the availability of high-quality professional development experiences for early childhood educators’. This document recommends the promotion of ongoing research, dialogue and networking to ensure development of online programmes across the sector. Overarching themes of educational quality and opportunity indicate a potential for ongoing and rapid synthesis of online learning and early childhood education. Hence, the publication of a symposium exploring the interrelationship between these two provides an opportunity to critically consider a wide range of issues associated with early childhood education, information and communication technologies (ICTs) and, in particular, online learning. The three articles that contribute the core of this symposium are first-hand accounts of online programmes in early childhood teacher education. The programmes are guided by aims of access, of diversity, and of community. Pence traces a journey in capacity building from its roots in development of community-led education initiatives with the Canadian First Nations Partnership Program to the planning, implementation and evaluation of online graduate programmes with the Early Childhood Development Virtual University Program. Holstrom et al identify key principles and requirements for delivery and assessment of an online programme in the USA. In particular, they explore the use of video in self-assessment and triadic assessment of teaching practice. The importance of student voices in assessing the role and value of video technologies is emphasised through the article’s acknowledgement of student perspectives of their experiences of using video for practicum reflections. Clark’s research identifies the online experiences of licence-exempt child care providers in Illinois, establishing key issues and opportunities for policy makers, researchers and online learning providers. Significantly, Clark challenges any existing assumptions of the ‘low-tech’ online user often associated with early childhood education providers and, importantly, with participants in online early childhood education programmes. The characterisation of any learner as low-tech is problematic. It generally reflects a perception that certain valued skills are required by the learner. For early childhood educators this characterisation suggests that the stereotypical subject’s warm and caring nature, and experiences of infants and toddlers, is dissonant with the characteristics and experiences of the more-or-less skilled ICT subject. Some skills and ‘intelligences’ are here articulated as more important than others in performing with and on(the)line. However, just as the neutrality of online technology is a dangerous myth that obscures sociocultural, political and economic relationships around and to the cultural constructs that have come to be labelled new technologies (as distinct from old technologies), so too is the notion that ICT skills are neutral skills that enhance the learning experience. The delimitation of a range of valued skills limits the use of technology to certain desired performances – a hierarchy of skills is established. Evidence of this hierarchy resides in the very tendency to stigmatise certain groups as low-tech or needy. A key question concerning technology and online learning in early childhood education relates, then, to the forming of the subject as an able user, and what the formation of the subject might produce in terms of certain desired ends. What subject is being formed and why? What is obscured and/or marginalised in the formation of this subject? How will the subject accept and perform their predetermined role in their learning of ICT skills, and how then will they transmit these skills in their day-to-day experiences with children? Ironically, the very subject of early childhood education, we are often told, is the child, and yet this child subject is characterised as high-tech and ‘net-savvy’ in developmental and marketing literature. Indeed, the dissonance between levels of tech-savvyness in child and adult may enhance claims that those working in early childhood education need to engage in some ICT-oriented lifelong learning in order to augment their performance for the sake of keeping pace with and supporting the child. These characterisations suggest a certain freedom, or a certain space, to interpret and construct that might be lost or obstructed in the case of the low-tech adult. Such obstructions require problematisation if online learning is to proliferate as a medium for constructing knowledge about practices of caring for and educating young children according to the aims of opportunity, of access, of community, and of diversity. E-Learning is, then, an essential space in which to explore, critique, problematise, and create the spaces in which the caring and educating subject might be formed online.
References
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A New View: reflection and student teacher growth through an e-practicum model |
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doi: 10.2304/elea.2007.4.1.5 |
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This article explores innovations in assessment of student teaching practice employed in the University of Cincinnati, USA, online associate’s degree in early childhood education, the Early Childhood Learning Community. The program’s components are identified with a specific focus on assessment of teaching practicum. The use of a range of information technologies, including video, is discussed, and evaluated through the voices of participating students. Student feedback shows the importance of integrating video and conference calling into an effective e-practicum model that provides self, mentor, and faculty evaluation of student teaching practice in a distance education program. |
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Early Childhood Development and E-learning in Africa: the Early Childhood Development Virtual University programme |
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doi: 10.2304/elea.2007.4.1.15 |
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This article explores the development and evaluation of the graduate-level Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) programme in Sub-Saharan Africa from 2001 through to 2004. It outlines the history of the ECDVU and the establishing of a Sub-Saharan programme for future leaders in the early childhood field guided by the key principle of community capacity building, developed through the author’s involvement in an undergraduate educational programme in aboriginal communities of western Canada. The article explores the role of online technologies in the design, implementation and assessment of the ECDVU programme. A complex mix of online and face-to-face engagement was seen to underpin the programme’s success in supporting students to enhance their contribution to the development of early childhood programmes in their respective communities. |
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Exploring the Potential of Online Technology as a Tool for Informing the Practice of License-Exempt Child Care Providers |
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doi: 10.2304/elea.2007.4.1.24 |
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In the United States, government funding underwrites the cost of child care services for over 1.7 million children from income-eligible families. About one in four American children served by these subsidies is cared for in a setting where a state-issued license to operate is not required, but in many states the percentages are higher. In Illinois, the use of this form of child care accounts for nearly half of all children receiving services through the state’s child care subsidy program each year. Relatives, friends or neighbors are the most common providers of informal child care arrangements, yet most are not closely connected to resources and supports available to them via the state’s established early childhood regulatory system. In 2005, a state-wide study was undertaken to better understand the potential of Internet technology as a tool for connecting Illinois license-exempt providers with resources to inform their care-giving practices. This project was underwritten by the Child Care Bureau of the US Department of Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, and was strengthened by cooperation from the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. Data drawn from telephone interviews with a representative sample of 102 providers describe the background characteristics of license-exempt providers relevant to their past and prospective engagement in early childhood information and training. Furthermore, this study examined Illinois license-exempt providers’ current levels of access to computers and Internet connections along with their perceptions about the degree to which the Internet has a role in their daily routines and activities. Additional outcomes show the extent to which these providers engage in a range of online pursuits such as communicating by email, seeking news and weather reports, conducting web-based business, and seeking online information about early childhood education and care. |
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Electronic Portfolios in a Teacher Education Program |
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doi: 10.2304/elea.2007.4.1.40 |
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While much of the research literature focuses on the traditional paper and pencil format of teaching portfolios, the increased integration of electronic technology into teacher preparation curricula has propelled the use of electronic portfolios for a range of evaluative purposes. Electronic portfolios, or e-portfolios as they are commonly labeled, are similar in many respects to paper and pencil format portfolios in terms of content and alignment with a pre-designated purpose, and the artifacts included in the portfolio usually represent a variety of experiences over time. However, characteristics specific to e-portfolios are many and important to address when considering their effective implementation. This article discusses the benefits and challenges specific to implementing electronic portfolios within a teacher education program. Suggestions for navigating key aspects of planning, implementation, and assessment are also included. |
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Online Romance Languages Cross-comprehension in the Development of Educational Competence: a study of future teachers’ perceptions |
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doi: 10.2304/elea.2007.4.1.52 |
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This article presents perceptions of Portuguese teacher education students concerning their participation in the Galanet project’s plurilingual online communication (with Romance languages) and, particularly, the contribution of this participation in the development of their educational competence in relation to personal, intercultural and pedagogical dimensions. The results suggest the potential of online plurilingual communication for promoting plurilingualism and Romance intercomprehension, as well as in the development of future teachers’ professional identities. |
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From Distance Education to E-learning: a multiple case study on instructional design problems |
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doi: 10.2304/elea.2007.4.1.64 |
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Distance education, increasingly dubbed online learning and even e-learning, represents an important societal movement, as witnessed by the sudden emergence of a worldwide knowledge industry in which universities play a central role. Many universities, in implementing e-learning, have undertaken a process whereby faculty are being encouraged to move on-campus created knowledge to online-disseminated knowledge. In attempting to do so, a distance education university-inspired model is often implemented which is foreign to traditional university practice. In doing so, numerous design-related problems are encountered by learning technologists, educational developers (United Kingdom), or instructional designers (USA), who assist faculty in this ‘migratory’ process. This study presents findings from a multi-case study dealing with such instructional design-related problems and charts the emergence of a relevant instructional design model for universities developing e-learning. |
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Women, Violence and the Internet |
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doi: 10.2304/elea.2007.4.1.79 |
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This article explores a hypothesis that the Internet and the World Wide Web form an alternative resource to that provided by conventional adult education providers. The example used is the dissemination and transfer of information on and analysis of issues concerning women and violence. Four important issues for adult (that is, post-compulsory) education are choice, appropriateness and quality of provision, access and participation, and the wider benefits of learning, including the social. This article raises these issues through giving an overview of the use made by women of the Internet, with specific reference to women and violence, based on an analysis of web pages in the English language and registered on the Google search engine. |
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