Celebrating hands-on making and technological inventiveness, the Maker Movement promotes the popularity of new makerspaces: learning environments filled with diverse materials for youth's creative projects. Described as "constructionist learning environments," makerspaces can be challenging to design because materials require substantial…

The ability to code computer programs is considered an important part of literacy in today's society. This paper reports from a case study in two sixth-grade classes where Scratch coding was part of six mathematics lessons. The aim of the study was to investigate how Scratch coding affected students' interest development in coding and in…

Mobile applications on the go have been adopted in many fields and areas. However, there has been little research regarding the development and use of a context-aware application for users to improve their English listening comprehension through collaboration. This research aimed at helping users improve their listening comprehension with a…

We investigated the effectiveness of reusable learning objects (RLOs) when delivered in a workshop or released for self-study with groups of student-nurses studying chemistry. Analysis of examination results showed that the proportion of students answering chemistry questions correctly increased significantly in both the workshop and self-study…

This paper discusses the potential of learning technologies to foster competence development of students. It aims to improve understanding of pedagogical conditions that have to be met to establish a competence orientation in e-learning. We review the literature to summarise recent changes in e-learning, identify attributes of web 2.0…

The national movement towards progress files, incorporating personal development planning and reflective learning, is supported by lecturers providing effective feedback to their students. Recent technological advances mean that higher education tutors are no longer obliged to return comments in the "traditional" manner, by annotating…

The rapid development of computer-supported collaborative environments has highlighted the need for collaborative knowledge construction devices. Because most available mindtools do not promote collaboration, there is a need for social mindtools that can be used in collaborative learning situations. We have used activity theory as a conceptual…

Social and mobile technologies offer users unprecedented opportunities for communicating, interacting, sharing, meaning-making, content and context generation. And, these affordances are in constant flux driven by a powerful interplay between technological innovation and emerging cultural practices. Significantly, also, they are starting to…

Even though computer games hold considerable potential for engaging and facilitating learning among today's children, the adoption of modern educational computer games is still meeting significant resistance in K-12 education. The purpose of this paper is to inform educators and instructional designers on factors affecting teachers' adoption of…

Is it possible to educate a fire officer to deal intelligently with the command and control of a major fire event he will never have experienced? The authors of this paper believe there is, and present here just one solution to this training challenge. It involves the development of an intelligent simulation based upon computer managed interactive…

Discusses effects of new technology on writing by assessing whether an experienced writer's style of writing changes with new technology. Compares typed word-processed letters with dictated word-processed letters after a change to a voice recognition system and indicates more of an influence on the writing process than on the written products.…

Reports findings of a case study that explored the possible benefits that dyslexic children might have when engaging in the creation of their own multimedia project. Concludes that the open-ended character of a multimedia authoring package can encourage creative thinking and interest for content and style of presentation. (Author/LRW)