Research Article
Rozalin Fareed Qazamel, Doa Omar Hawari
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 17, Issue 4, Article No: ep616
ABSTRACT
This study aims to explore the impact of distance learning on the quality of practical applications among early childhood education students in secondary schools within the Green Line. The descriptive correlational approach was used, utilizing a research tool consisting of two main axes: distance learning and the quality of practical applications. The validity and reliability of the tool were verified. The study sample consisted of teachers working with early childhood education students in secondary schools. A survey study was initially conducted by distributing the tool to a sample of 30 male and female teachers from the study population but outside the main research sample. After that, the final tool was distributed to the main sample, which included 160 male and female teachers who were selected through the comprehensive survey method. The data collected through an electronic questionnaire were statistically analyzed. The findings revealed a significant negative relationship between distance learning and the quality of practical applications, indicating that higher engagement in distance learning was associated with lower performance in practical skills and hands-on activities. This highlights the challenges of applying practical training effectively in a fully online learning environment.
Keywords: early childhood education, distance learning quality, practical applications
Review Article
Alez Lagos-Castillo, Andrés Chiappe, María-Soledad Ramirez-Montoya, Diego Fernando Becerra Rodríguez
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 17, Issue 1, Article No: ep543
ABSTRACT
It may seem that learning platforms and systems are a tired topic for the academic community; however, with the recent advancements in artificial intelligence, they have become relevant to both current and future educational discourse. This systematic literature review explored platforms and software supporting personalized learning processes in the digital age. The review methodology followed PRISMA guidelines, searching Scopus and Web of Science databases. Results identified three main categories: artificial intelligence, platforms/software, and learning systems. Key findings indicate artificial intelligence plays a pivotal role in adaptive, personalized environments by offering individualized content, assessments, and recommendations. Online platforms integrate into blended environments to facilitate personalized learning, retention, and engagement. Learning systems promote student-centered models, highlight hybrid environments’ potential, and apply game elements for motivation. Practical implications include leveraging hybrid models, emphasizing human connections, analyzing student data, and teacher training. Future research directions involve comparative studies, motivational principles, predictive analytics, adaptive technologies, teacher professional development, cost-benefit analyses, ethical frameworks, and diverse learner impacts. Overall, the dynamic interplay between artificial intelligence, learning platforms, and learning systems offers a mosaic of opportunities for the evolution of personalized learning, emphasizing the importance of continuous exploration and refinement in this ever-evolving educational landscape.
Keywords: improving classroom teaching, data science applications in education, human-computer interface, learning communities, distributed learning environments
Research Article
Mohamed Atef El-Badramany, Mai Elsayed Khalifa, Dina Samir Mekky, Noha Mohamed Soliman
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 3, Article No: ep440
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of cognitive training (CT) using mobile applications on attentional control and impulsivity among pre-service teachers. Pre-service teachers were divided into two groups: experimental (n=25) and control (n=14) groups, they were selected from a large sample (n=718). Over 28 sessions, the training group engaged in CT tasks (the tower of Hanoi [TOH] and simple reaction time [SRT]), whereas the control group did not participate in training sessions or understand the main goal of the study. In the criterion tasks (matching familiar figures and numerical Stroop), all participants were pre- and post-tested. CT using mobile applications helps us see how the trained group’s attentional control and impulsivity had influenced. we also observed the progress of trained group as measured by number of moves or time for TOH, and reaction time (RT) for SRT. Other effects were observed in comparison to a control group that underwent no training. There were changes in impulsivity in post-test in favor of training group according to number of moves, and time component of matching familiar figures test. Corresponding to attentional control, the finding indicated that there were changes in (number and size) RT component in post-test in favor of training group.
Keywords: cognitive training, mobile applications, attentional control, impulsivity, the tower of Hanoi, simple reaction time
Review Article
Chen Chuang, Nurullizam Jamiat
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 2, Article No: ep412
ABSTRACT
Emergent literacy is the term used to describe the reading and writing experiences of young children before they learn to write and read conventionally, and it is important for the construction of children’s early reading skills and the enhancement of their later reading performance. The systematic review was conducted to examine the effectiveness of children’s interactive reading apps in promoting emergent literacy for children between the ages of three and eight over the last decade (2013-2022). A total of 50 studies were included in this review, and it can be concluded that multimedia features (e.g., a dictionary, background music, and animated pictures) in children’s interactive reading apps are effective for enhancing emergent literacy. Conversely, interactive functions (such as games and hotspots) may distract children’s attention, leading to poor reading performances. This review also demonstrated the positive effects of children’s interactive reading apps on improving their learning outcomes and behavior. In addition, the results indicated that well-designed apps could promote children’s emerging literacy skills. However, more in-depth studies will be required in the future to provide designers with a well-defined guideline for designing reading apps for children.
Keywords: emergent literacy, interactive, application, systematic review
Research Article
Yiyun Fan, Kathlyn Elliott
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 14, Issue 3, Article No: ep373
ABSTRACT
Educators have increasingly turned to social media for their instructional, social, and emotional needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to see where support and professional development would be needed and how the educational community interacted online, we sought to use existing Twitter data to examine potential educators’ networking and discourse patterns. Specifically, this mixed-methods study explores how educators used Twitter as a platform to seek and share resources and support during the transition to remote teaching around the start of massive school closures due to the pandemic. Based on a public COVID-19 Twitter chatter database, tweets from late March to early April 2020 were searched using educational keywords and analyzed using social network analysis and thematic analysis. Social network analysis findings indicate that the support networks for educators on Twitter were sparse and consisted of mainly small, exclusive communities. The networks featured one-on-one interactions during the early pandemic, highlighting that there were few large conversations that most educators were part of but rather many small ones. Thematic analysis findings further suggest that both informational and nurturant support were relatively equally present on Twitter among educators, particularly pedagogical content knowledge and gratitude. This study adds to an understanding of the educational networks as a means of professional and personal support. Additionally, findings present the discourse featured in educator networks at the onset of an educational emergency (i.e., COVID-19) as decentralized as well as desiring pedagogical content knowledge and emotional sharing.
Keywords: data science applications in education, emergency online learning, Twitter, teacher professional development, social network analysis
Research Article
Emmanuel Fokides, Aikaterini Mastrokoukou
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 9, Issue 2, pp. 154-170
ABSTRACT
The paper presents the results from a study which examined whether tablets together with a mobile application with augmented reality features can help students to better understand the functions of the respiratory and the circulatory system. The target group was 75 sixth-grade primary school students, divided into three groups. The first group was taught conventionally; students studied using a printed handbook. In the second, a constructivist teaching model was used, but the instruction was not technologically enhanced. The third group of students used tablets and an application, and the teaching was based on a slightly modified version of Bybee's 5Es model. All three groups of students worked in pairs, they were taught the same learning material, and the teacher acted as a facilitator of the process. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire and evaluation sheets. Results indicated that students in the third group outperformed students in the other two groups. The results can be attributed to students' enjoyment, motivation, and positive attitude towards the use of tablets as well as to the teaching method. The study's implications are also discussed.
Keywords: Augmented reality, Circulatory system, Mobile applications, Tablet computers
Research Article
Ahmet Basal, Selahattin Yilmaz, Asli Tanriverdi, Lutfiye Sari
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 7, Issue 1, pp. 47-59
ABSTRACT
Smartphones are increasingly becoming an ordinary part of our daily lives. With their remarkable capacity, applications used in these devices are extremely varied. In terms of language teaching, the use of these applications has opened new windows of opportunity, innovatively shaping the way instructors teach and students learn. This 4 week-long study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a mobile application on teaching 40 figurative idioms from the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE) corpus compared to traditional activities. Quasi-experimental research design with pretest and posttest was employed to determine the differences between the scores of the control (n=25) and the experimental group (n=25) formed with convenience sampling. Results indicate that participants in the experimental group performed significantly better in the posttest, demonstrating the effectiveness of the mobile application used in this study on learning idioms. The study also provides recommendations towards the use of mobile applications in teaching vocabulary.
Keywords: English language teaching, Figurative idioms, Mobile learning, Mobile applications, Vocabulary teaching