Research Article
Gilber Chura-Quispe, Raúl Alberto Garcia Castro
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 16, Issue 1, Article No: ep486
ABSTRACT
The aim of the research was to verify whether the techno-pedagogical design based on flipped learning and collaborative writing (TPD-FLACW) improves the level of academic essay production in university students. The research approach was quantitative, explanatory-experimental, and quasi-experimental in design. The sample consisted of 109 students enrolled in the faculty of engineering of a university in Tacna. In the experimental group (A=40) TPD-FLACW was implemented and in the control groups traditional individual writing (B=29) and traditional team writing (C=40) were applied. TPD-FLACW was validated by 16 expert judges (CVCtc=.934, k=.392, p=.000) and applied between September and December 2022-II. A rubric was used to assess the pretest and posttest. The results indicate that in the pretest there were no significant differences between the three groups (H=.286; p>.05), but in the posttest, the experimental group obtained a high and significant improvement in the level of academic essay production (H=24.863, p<.05, ε2>.200) in comparison with groups B and C. There are also significant differences in the dimensions of superstructure, macrostructure, microstructure and textual stylistics. The students rate the proposal positively and recommend it. In conclusion, TPD-FLACW improves the level of academic essay production of university student.
Keywords: techno-pedagogical design, flipped learning, collaborative writing, academic essays
Review Article
Muhammad Imran, Norah Almusharraf
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 4, Article No: ep464
ABSTRACT
This study examines the role of ChatGPT as a writing assistant in academia through a systematic literature review of the 30 most relevant articles. Since its release in November 2022, ChatGPT has become the most debated topic among scholars and is also being used by many users from different fields. Many articles, reviews, blogs, and opinion essays have been published in which the potential role of ChatGPT as a writing assistant is discussed. For this systematic review, 550 articles published six months after ChatGPT’s release (December 2022 to May 2023) were collected based on specific keywords, and the final 30 most relevant articles were finalized through PRISMA flowchart. The analyzed literature identifies different opinions and scenarios associated with using ChatGPT as a writing assistant and how to interact with it. Findings show that artificial intelligence (AI) in education is a part of the ongoing development process, and its latest chatbot, ChatGPT is a part of it. Therefore, the education process, particularly academic writing, has both opportunities and challenges in adopting ChatGPT as a writing assistant. The need is to understand its role as an aid and facilitator for both the learners and instructors, as chatbots are relatively beneficial devices to facilitate, create ease and support the academic process. However, academia should revisit and update students’ and teachers’ training, policies, and assessment ways in writing courses for academic integrity and originality, like plagiarism issues, AI-generated assignments, online/home-based exams, and auto-correction challenges.
Keywords: AI in education, chatbots, ChatGPT as writing assistant, scientific writing, academic integrity
Research Article
Santi Pratiwi Tri Utami, Andayani, Retno Winarni, Sumarwati
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 4, Article No: ep450
ABSTRACT
Research shows that artificial intelligence (AI) technology positively influences students’ writing skills, but this area has yet to be touched by Indonesian researchers. This study aims to map perception, obstacles, and recommendations for optimizing use of AI in teaching academic writing in Indonesian. This article focuses on a case study of three senior high schools in Central Java, Indonesia. It employs quantitative and qualitative data. The researcher collected the data using questionnaires presented with Likert scale, followed by an in-depth interview through mobile instant messaging interview. Findings show that (1) AI-based learning tools help students to do academic research, especially in the planning step, to identify and develop the topics, as well as in the drafting step, to develop a paper draft, (2) AI-based learning tools are deemed flexible in accessibility despite not being able to cover all necessities required by students in writing process, (3) students are interested in using AI technology in academic writing class so that learning process will not be boring. Although AI has been used in academic writing classes, tools have not positively impacted quality of students’ academic papers in all indicators. There are several obstacles to using AI, namely (1) need for more available feature, especially in editing Indonesian text, and (2) in contrast, the features still need to be optimized. These are the recommendations for the optimization of AI-based learning tools, which are (1) adding features to edit Indonesian text, including spelling, diction, and sentence structure, and (2) enhancing AI literacy to be able to explore and leverage the existing features optimally. This research has yet to accommodate the possible coverage in checking the originality and accuracy of the written product assisted by AI-based learning tools, which could become a focus for future researchers.
Keywords: perception, AI technology, learning tools, academic writing
Research Article
Yuval Ben Abu, Renana Kribushi
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 14, Issue 3, Article No: ep364
ABSTRACT
During the junior high and high school years, there is a dramatic decrease in motivation for math studies, which has been found to play a major role in learning processes. Many attempts have been made to mitigate this decrease in motivation and to encourage mathematics studies in higher grades. One way that researchers have proposed to stimulate students’ curiosity and their perceived ability in math is to integrate technology into teaching. Such technology includes technological tools, digital educational activities, learning support software. Using tablet in class has significant potential to improve learning but the issue of how to effectively integrate digital technology into teaching and learning practices becomes critical. According to that knowledge we examined the impact of the use of a digital writing board (similar to tablet) by the lecturer during frontal lectures in mathematics on students’ learning motivation in an engineering academic preparatory program, following motivational constructs: self-efficacy, implicit theory of ability, value beliefs, and learning climate. The results showed that the technological tool positively affected two important motivational constructs that influence general motivation for mathematics studies.
Keywords: motivation, teaching using technological tools, digital writing board, teaching mathematics, pre-academic preparatory program
Research Article
María Martínez Lirola
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 14, Issue 1, Article No: ep346
ABSTRACT
This article offers a proposal for integrating the social network Facebook into an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom in tertiary education. The main objectives of this article are the following: 1. To offer a pedagogical proposal so that students can develop written skills and grammar at the same time that they acquire social competences using Facebook and 2. To know students’ opinions about the use of Facebook and the main social competences that they have acquired while using this social network in the teaching-learning process. The methodology is mainly qualitative-descriptive although some quantitative data is offered with the results of a questionnaire students completed. The data were collected through students’ posts in the Facebook discussions and a questionnaire.
The findings reveal the main grammar mistakes observed in students in the Facebook discussions and how Facebook is an appropriate social network for the participation of students in cooperative discussions on social topics and for the acquisition of social competences such as cooperation or communication. The results of the questionnaire show that students have a positive opinion about practicing the written skill in Facebook and they are aware that, apart from learning English, they also acquire social competences.
Keywords: English language online teaching, social networks, Facebook group, writing skill, social competences
Research Article
Duygu Umutlu, Yavuz Akpinar
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 12, Issue 2, Article No: ep270
ABSTRACT
This study investigated different modalities of videos in a flipped classroom for English writing classes in an intensive English program at a state university in Turkey. This quasi-experimental study was conducted with six experimental groups (n= 109) and one control group (n = 18). The dataset included the participants’ scores of an essay pretest and two posttests, namely, recall and essay posttests. The data analysis showed that the experimental group viewing the video lecture which includes simultaneous presentation of animation and on-screen text followed by a narration in a user-paced environment outperformed the control group on the recall posttest. The groups studying the video lecture including animation with simultaneous narration and sequential on-screen text in a whole presentation and in a part-by-part presentation outperformed the control group on the essay writing posttest. In the whole presentation, participants studied all the parts of a video in a system-paced design and answered the related questions whereas participants studied each part of a video and answered the related questions in a part-by-part presentation. The paper provides a discussion and a set of recommendations on how to design flipped classrooms.
Keywords: flipped learning, flipped classroom, multimedia learning, video modalities, English as a foreign language, academic essay writing
Research Article
Mazhar Bal
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 10, Issue 3, pp. 246-271
ABSTRACT
The aim of the study is to determine the contribution of gamification to writing skills of middle school students. For this study, a lesson plan has been developed to relate Writing and Authorship Skills lesson to the gamification for middle school students. From this lesson plan, it was tried to determine the effectiveness of the teaching process. Therefore, the study was designed as action research. The research group is composed of seventh grade students. Criteria sampling technique was used to determine the participants. As a data collection tool, student diary, semi-structured interview form, semi-structured observation form, digital content of the students were used. Data obtained from the semi-structured interview form were analyzed by content analysis; other data were analyzed by descriptive analysis. Writing skills and gamification were related in the study. Turkish Language Teaching Program (2018) has been taken into consideration in the action plan which relates to gamification and writing skill. As a result of the study, it was seen that all participants were actively involved in the implementation process. In addition, it was concluded that gamification increased the interest of students towards the course, combined school and non-school life, facilitated classroom management, supported collaborative work, and developed creativity. As a result of this study, it is suggested that digital games can be used as a text type in Turkish language lessons with the method of gamification in order to positively affect motivation of the middle school students toward writing education.
Keywords: Digital game, Writing skills, Gamification, Middle school students, Turkish language education
Research Article
Hicham Ziyad
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 314-330
ABSTRACT
In the past fifteen years, Web 2.0 social networking technologies have ushered in a new era of
information production, distribution and consumption with significant implications for
language teaching and learning. An example of such technology is Moodle, which is a learning
management system with several useful features that can transform the learning environment
into a site for interactivity, connectivity and great amounts of extensive learning. With this in
mind, the present case study aims to investigate tertiary education students’ acceptance of and
engagement in a Moodle-hosted writing course. Using case study methodology, qualitative
data were elicited from 24 semester-two students on the basis of focus group interviews
constructed in line with Technology Acceptance Model 2. Another source of data is Moodle log
reports, which offered a detailed account of students’ contributions and activities in the online
writing course. The results showed that almost all the students perceived Moodle as a useful
tool for sharing, collaboration and learning. The results also uncovered three different
categories of students in terms of level of engagement; namely, highly engaged, moderately
engaged and poorly engaged. The implications of these results for an effective implementation
of Moodle are discussed.
Keywords: ELT, Moodle, Technology acceptance, Engagement, Blended writing course
Research Article
Barbara Freeman, Kristina N. Higgins, Mark Horney
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 281-313
ABSTRACT
This article reports the findings of a study designed to examine the influence of multimodal
writing on the communication of mathematical ideas. Elementary school students (ages 8-13)
were required to write mathematics notes using two digital writing technologies, a personal
digital notepad and a social mathematics blog, in the context of a formal intervention. Fortytwo
students participated, across three schools. The study showed that when students wrote
notes that could be assessed for correctness, their answers were predominately right,
indicating that mathematical sense-making was taking place. It also showed that the digital
notepad and blog were used differently and that the type of technology influences the writing
content. Moreover, students’ mathematical writing were understandable by their peers and
students collaboratively explored solutions. Younger students were more likely to draw
pictures to represent their ideas than older students. These findings show that writing can
help students acquire mathematical understanding, and suggest that multimodal writing may
help them surmount difficulties often associated with learning math. Although this research
demonstrated that writing can help teachers gain an awareness of their students’
mathematical understanding, it also revealed that writing environments need to be monitored
and students require close guidance to bring about systematic improvement.
Keywords: mathematics education, instructional technology, elemantary education, digital writing tools, blogging
Research Article
Matthew U. Blankenship, Erin E. Margarella
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 5, Issue 2, pp. 146-160
ABSTRACT
This article reports a review of the literature that focused on relationship between writing instruction and technology in the secondary classroom since the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act over the past two decades. Based on the search, six themes have emerged across the fields of writing instruction and assessment. Within writing instruction, it was found that researchers often focused on a third space (Bhabha, 1994) where writing can take place in meaningful ways. Also, technology often served as a motivator during the instructional process of writing and worked to engage students in varied lessons. Finally, researchers found an increase in the amount of writing for secondary students when technology was introduced into the instructional classroom. Within writing assessment, the research focused on special populations including special education students, minorities, economically disadvantaged and English language learners. Next, technology served as a motivator in both the instruction and assessment of writing and tended to be a factor that increased writing assessment scores. Finally, researchers posit technology can be used to allow teachers to give effective and efficient feedback through the instructional and assessment cycles and tended to increase student assessment scores. These themes emerged across all articles reviewed and truly demonstrate where writing with technology research has occurred in the secondary classroom.
Keywords: Writing, Instruction, Technology, Policy, Secondary Education, Motivation
Research Article
Myriah T. Miller, Jill Olthouse
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 4, Issue 1, pp. 66-80
ABSTRACT
This comparative study identified the differences between gifted children’s offline and online peer feedback within a summer talented writer’s workshop. Researchers analyzed ten students’ writings for degrees of critical thinking evident in their feedback. Online feedback included students’ writings in social writing sites Storybird.com and KidBlog. Offline feedback was submitted on a teacher designed rubric, and then incorporated into a revised manuscript using Microsoft Word. Critical thinking was defined as the three upper tiers of Bloom’s Taxonomy: analysis, and evaluation, and synthesis. Each comment in students' online and offline feedback was coded according to one of the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. In addition, interpretative summaries were written describing how students used feedback within each category. Results indicated that critical thinking (specifically analysis and evaluation) was more evident in the responses that were structured opposed to those that were in the social media contexts. There was also evidence of an increased amount of informal dialogue in the online feedback opposed to the structured feedback. Online writing technologies are seen to be most successful when teachers' expectations for critical thinking and students' desire for informal positive feedback are combined; this success depends on the presence of a skilled teacher and supportive peers, rather than on the presence of a specific technology tool.
Keywords: Critical thinking, Educational technology, Peer feedback, Bloom’s Taxonomy, Gifted Students, Social Media, Writing