Strategic Growth (Asynchronous Session)
Peer-to-peer Learning in a University-level Immersion Context: A Pilot Project View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hélène Knoerr
This mixed methodology study reports on a new program pairing up first-year Anglophone students registered in a University-level French immersion stream with Francophone students enrolled in the same first-year content course in a bilingual university in Canada. This program had three main goals: (1) improving immersion students’ academic success; (2) facilitate their integration in the student community; (3) improve their French language skills. The program was offered over the course of an academic term and assessed via online questionnaires and participants’ digital journal entries. Although the number of respondents was limited, results indicate that students view the program as a way to improve their language and academic skills and to facilitate their integration into the student community. It also seems to foster closer ties between the two linguistic and cultural communities.
Lucian the Technician: How to Apply the Didactic Principles of the Second Sophistic Today View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Marina Lozano Saiz
Lucian of Samosata is a Greek author who lived in the second century. His critical vision of the world translated into an oeuvre that is really biting and sarcastic but also sharp and imaginative. These characteristics hinder the researcher's work but for the teacher, it is a great opportunity to increase student curiosity. He is the most original author of a cultural movement called Second Sophistic that emphasizes the value of the rhetoric and that embraces the Attic Greek as a way to recover the old splendor of the Classics. Greek authors have often been confined to Classical Languages departments, but in uncertain times such as today, their value may be immense in many aspects of education. My aim is to demonstrate that we can use Lucian’s innovation and criticism to teach values today. In his work, we can find trips to the bottom of the sea, flying gadgets, or a television. At the same time, historical or contemporary figures as well as characters of the myth or even the gods are usually the target of his irony. He provides us such a singular and subversive vision of a society that, instead of confining it to his time, we can take advantage of it to create a new singular approach to didactics.
The Effect of 7E Model inquiry-Based Approach on Students' Achievement View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nilda San Miguel
When the structure of knowledge and learning process is examined in education specifically in science, it will be seen that the current teaching and learning models are not enough, and therefore they have to be improved or other models are required. This was shown in this study - how the 7E Model Inquiry-Based approach affects the students’ achievement. Seventy learners from Masapang Elementary School, Philippines, were the subjects in this research. Two classes from grade 5 were grouped randomly for traditional instruction approach and 7E Model Inquiry-Based approach in teaching Science with the topic Female Reproductive System. This study employed the experimental design in doing research. The results were based from the spot tests given by the researcher. Using t-test, findings revealed that there is a significant difference between the academic achievement of learners who had undergone traditional instruction approach and academic achievement of learners who had undergone 7E model inquiry-based approach. The students performed better when 7E model inquiry-based approach was used than when traditional instruction approach was employed. It was also found out that students understand subjects easier if they experience, live with, and associate the information they obtained more accurately with events they encounter in everyday life. By applying the 7E model inquiry-based teaching approach, learners developed their critical thinking skills. It is recommended for instructors to make use of 7E model inquiry-based approach more frequently than traditional instruction approach. Though this would take more effort in preparing and implementing, it would result into better students' academic achievement.
What’s Next? Design Thinking to Create Social and Emotional Transformation Post-Pandemic View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Danielle Barron, Craig Ford
While undergoing design-based learning, we sought to increase positive social interactions between children and adults. Working in a collaborative environment with guided instruction, we defined our initial problem as “How might we increase positive social interactions in children ages 8- 13?” This topic originated as a way to improve social interactions between children and adults during the child’s use of screen time, to decrease or nullify negative behaviors associated with the child’s attachment to the screen. Through research, ideation, and empathizing with children and adults, a school character education program was determined to be a viable solution. A character framework was used, based on philosophies of Howard Gardner, Robert Sternberg, and Edgar Morin (Bialik, et. al., 2015). Cross-age peer teaching/mentoring was incorporated into a secret agent-themed program, Agents of Change (AoC). This program allows the students to feel empowerment due to the undercover nature of AoC. Throughout the prototype and testing of AoC, positive feedback was received by stakeholders. This included those in the age ranges targeted, as well as experts in the school psychology, counseling, and teaching professions. Empathizing with all involved was important throughout the process and assured that AoC was designed to befit the age groups involved. Short-term prototyping produced positive outcomes; long-term implementation into schools is recommended to further validate the AoC program.
A Game Plan for the Internationalization of the Curriculum in Higher Education View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Catherine Esposito
As internationalization becomes an increasingly vital component of the higher education sector, there is a need to explore innovative and creative approaches to developing intercultural skills in graduates. Digital game-based learning presents a promising yet relatively untapped opportunity to aid in the development of intercultural competence, a fundamental learning outcome of internationalization of the curriculum. This paper explores the potential as well as the limitations for digital game-based learning to foster intercultural competence. This is especially relevant for the field of international higher education in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has at least temporarily disrupted internationalization efforts and has also demonstrated the need to reassess traditional teaching methods and explore digital pedagogies. Through a literature review, this paper will analyze the theoretical and practical aspects of digital game-based learning in order to conceptually link this approach to the goals of intercultural competence. It argue that the use of video games as learning tools may support the acquisition of attitudes, knowledge, and skills necessary for the development of intercultural competence when used with supporting instructional activities. However, there are also challenges with this approach, including the risk of reinforcing biases which may be embedded within video games. To address these challenges and maximize the potential for digital game-based learning to promote intercultural competence, there is a need for collaboration between designers and educators in order to produce meaningful, engaging and entertaining games that can prepare students to live, work, and play in an interconnected world.
Enhancing Online Courses To Include Cultural Diversity Through Instructional Design View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jan Luedert, Brittany Bing
Inclusive teaching refers to pedagogical practices that support meaningful and accessible learning for students of all races, ethnicities, genders, socio-economic classes, sexualities, disability/ability statuses, religions, nationalities, ages, and military statuses. Teaching inclusively, in our view, entails leveraging the diverse strengths students and instructors bring to the classroom while recognizing how systems of power and privilege that play out in the classroom can be mitigated. This research takes at its starting point the following questions: How, if at all, are universities defining diversity presently and does this definition reflect reality? How successfully are universities facilitating conversations and policies of enhancing diversity in the classroom? More specifically, the focus here, how can instructional practices and curriculum design support educators in creating and consciously building course content for diverse student populations? To answer these questions, this research presents findings from a university wide student as well as faculty survey, proposes curriculum design innovations, and discusses institutional initiatives that consider teaching to diverse students as an integral part of curriculum design. As we argue in this article, inclusive teaching doesn’t occur automatically. It requires planning and promoting across a spectrum of teaching practices (from course design to assessment) with the aim of creating a learning environment that allows all students to engage, regardless of discipline and course content. In other words, there are methods of structuring inclusive education, that go beyond content and recognize that no education and learning is value free or that does not touch on the individual students perspectives and experiences.
