Learning a language is challenging and it is important that learners be kept motivated throughout the process. Many Irish primary school children are not particularly motivated to learn the language and there are few computer assisted language learning (CALL) resources available to them. WordBricks is an app that enables learners to construct only…

When the first national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, all higher educational institutions in Ireland moved to remote learning and have effectively remained in this mode ever since. The situation presented enormous challenges for many mathematics lecturers who had not delivered lectures or tutorials online before. This study looks…

How do we teach and learn with our students about data literacy, at the same time as Biesta (2015) calls for an emphasis on 'subjectification' i.e. 'the coming into presence of unique individual beings'? (Good Education in an Age of Measurement: Ethics, Politics, Democracy. Routledge) Our response to these challenges and the datafication of higher…

This study aims to explore the current published research on Language Massive Open Online Courses (LMOOCs), outlining the types of papers, countries where studies were performed and institutions devoted to this field. Also, it intends to classify the reviewed literature following a general categorisation of MOOCs, and to identify the main trends…

Gamification of language learning is a clear trend of recent years. Widespread use of smartphones and the rise of mobile gaming as a popular leisure activity contribute to the popularity of gamification, as application developers can rely on an unprecedented reach of their products and expect acceptance of game-like elements by the users. In terms…

The twenty-first century world of digital media and multimodalities demands a rethinking of approaches to languages for specific purposes (LSP). This article seeks to determine the effectiveness of digital video creation as a teaching and learning tool in the LSP context through an investigation of students' perceptions of the usefulness of this…

In the 2011 census almost one in three Irish teenagers claimed to be unable to speak Irish (Central Statistics Office, Ireland, 2012), despite the language being taught daily in school. The challenges facing the Irish language in schools are complex and multifaceted. The research reported here attempts to address some of these challenges by…

The current study investigates the applications of the pinyin input system, a Chinese word processing method, for writing on Facebook in order to help CFL (Chinese as a foreign language) learners from two Irish universities to improve their handwriting in Chinese characters on paper. The data were collected from writing activities conducted over…

When attempting to integrate any Information and Communications Technology (ICT) based resource into Post-Primary Schools (High Schools) many potential barriers must be considered. Importantly, many of these barriers revolve around the individual teacher and hence they are an important starting point in understanding the change process in schools.…

This paper details the development of a multidialectical text-to-speech (TTS) application, "Sinteiseoir," for the Irish language. This work is being carried out in the context of Irish as a lesser-used language, where learners and other L2 speakers have limited direct exposure to L1 speakers and speech communities, and where native sound…

Because of the recent revolutionary developments brought about by Web 2.0, the emergence and popularity of blogs as learning tools represent an important area of consideration by the higher education sector. Indeed, while many researchers have acknowledged the advantages of using blogs in this environment, it is clear that more investigation is…

Analysing the influence of new technologies/media (e.g., mobile phones, chats, instant messaging services) on the use and learning of maternal languages basic rules is the goal of this investigation, involving teachers and students (10th, 11th and 12th grade pupils, aged between 16 and 21) at the "Escola Secundaria de Silves" -- ESS…

Due to the social changes brought about in no small part by Web 2.0 tools, the potential impact of the blog writing phenomenon upon teaching and learning contexts reveals an important area for consideration for all university educators, and in particular for e-learning practitioners. Today, web users may access a wide variety of media to express…

Active learning facilitated through interactive and adaptive learning environments differs substantially from traditional instructor-oriented, classroom-based teaching. We present a web-based e-learning environment that integrates knowledge learning and skills training. How these tools are used most effectively is still an open question. We…

A collaboration between three higher education institutions in Ireland and two European partners has resulted in the design and development of reusable learning objects for undergraduate programming students that would assist in their learning. This international project conducted extensive research of over 600 students' examination scripts in…