Lecture Notes in Educational Technology

Series editors

Ronghuai HuangKinshukMohamed JemniNian-Shing ChenJ. Michael Spector

Lecture Notes in Educational Technology

The series Lecture Notes in Educational Technology (LNET), has established itself as a medium for the publication of new developments in the research and practice of educational policy, pedagogy, learning science, learning environment, learning resources etc. in information and knowledge age, – quickly, informally, and at a high level.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11777

Ronghuai Huang · Kinshuk · Jon K. Price Editors

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ICT in Education in Global ContextEmerging Trends Report 2013–2014

EditorsRonghuai HuangBeijing Normal University BeijingChina

KinshukAthabasca University Edmonton, ABCanada

Springer Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law.The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

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ISSN 2196-4963 ISSN 2196-4971 (electronic)ISBN 978-3-662-43926-5 ISBN 978-3-662-43927-2 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-43927-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014943123

Jon K. PriceCorporate Affairs Group

Intel Corporation AlbuquerqueUSA

This work is organized by Collaborative and Innovative Center for Educational Technology (CICET), which is jointly supported by China’s Ministry of Education and Intel Corporation.

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Foreword

This volume addresses information and communications technology (ICT) in a global context, reporting emerging trends and issues in four areas: (a) basic educa-tion, (b) technical and vocational education, (c) distance and continuing education, and (d) higher education. These four areas represent the primary contexts in which ICT is used to support learning and instruction. It is no surprise that technology is changing how education is conceptualized, designed, and implemented around the world. Innovations in technology lead to innovations in education. Nonetheless, the essential nature of learning remains relatively constant in the sense that learning involves stable and persistent changes in what a person knows and can do. While the changes in ICT have been quite dramatic in the last 20 years, the changes in education have been much less dramatic. Education is not being radi-cally reformed on a large scale. Rather, changes in education are usually being introduced in an incremental fashion in spite of the exaggerated rhetoric about the complete transformation of learning and instruction. These incremental changes are likely to result in large-scale transformations, but those transformations take time and effort to be realized.

Teachers and instructors have been trained to support traditional models of learning and instruction that have established records of effectiveness. One aspect of large-scale transformation is the reality of existing schools and teacher/instructor training programs. One cannot expect those to be changed in significant ways overnight, and the changes that are occurring require new ways to organize schools, prepare teachers and trainers, and plan for continuing changes in technology. Given these requirements, dramatic changes are not as likely as incremental changes.

Among the promising affordances of new and emerging technologies are the ability to (a) provide meaningful and timely online assessments of complex prob-lem-solving skills, (b) support ongoing and further education in many different locations, timeframes, and contexts, and (c) create new and innovative ways to design, develop, and deploy support for learning for a wide variety of subjects and a diverse population of learners. Many such efforts around the world are reported in this volume as representative of the kinds of gradual transformations that are likely to continue in the coming years.

Forewordvi

The unspoken question that remains unanswered is not whether education can be transformed through information and communication technologies to sig-nificantly improve learning and instruction in different contexts on a large scale. Education can be improved and technology can be and will be a catalyst for improvement. The question that remains is the willingness of organizations, schools, and society to commit the resources and support necessary to make sub-stantial and sustained improvements in learning and instruction. It is clear that a few organizations and schools are already making such commitments. A few nations are beginning to see that a well-educated citizenry is a path to peace and prosperity. However, there are many obstacles yet to be overcome for ICT to have the impact on learning and instruction that is envisioned by so many dedicated edu-cational researchers and instructional technologists. Among those obstacles are the willingness to commit the necessary resources to promote and support change and the political and social will to place primary emphasis on education. It is not clear what the landscape of education in these four areas will be in 10 or 20 years. One can only hope that such efforts as those represented in this volume will lead to pro-ductive and meaningful transformations.

J. Michael SpectorApril 2014

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Preface

Rapid advances in technology have revolutionized the way in which children learn, play, communicate, and socialize. During the past years, the increased inter-est in applying digital technologies aiming to improve learning and teaching has led to significant growth in research and practice of ICT in education. Several national policies, cutting edge research, and practices worldwide are aiming at leveraging digital technologies to promote the infusion of ICT into education and meeting the twenty-first century life-long learning societal needs. To this end, this book aims to capture the current advances and emerging trends of digital tech-nologies for learning and education through a number of invited chapters in key research areas.

The book is structured into four parts.

Part I: ICT in Basic Education

The first part of the book consists of seven chapters. The focus of this part is on the integration of ICT in schools. Countries throughout the world have estab-lished different national strategies for integrating ICT in their schools. Rosa Maria Bottino examines the situation in Italy, focusing in particular on the national plan for digital schools and on some of the projects that have been launched under this umbrella. The chapter reports some of the initial outcomes of the plan, which is presently underway, and looks at various strengths and weaknesses taking into account a review of this plan made recently by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Dermod Madden introduces the inclusive education in rural Alberta, Canada to show how they have utilized ICT to support twenty-first century learning.

Jon Price, Daniel Light, and Elizabeth Pierson highlight the research on six assessment strategies that should be part of a twenty-first century learning

Prefaceviii

environment and encourage ministries to consider how these strategies may play a role in their own reform efforts. These strategies include rubrics, performance-based assessments, portfolios, student self-assessment, peer-assessment, and stu-dent response systems.

Daniel Light and Elizabeth Pierson focus on the experience of two Russian schools that are using laptops in everyday instruction to explore how educators are enriching and transforming Russian educational practices. After examining the approaches of using laptops in the two Russian schools, the authors propose some common elements supporting their success.

Di Wu focuses on the status, problems, targets, key measures, and experiences of ICT in education in China, and introduces a series of measures such as “three connections and two platforms,” “full coverage of digital education resources in teaching sites,” and “teacher training,” adhering to the core idea of deep integra-tion between ICT and education.

Chee-Kit Looi and Wenting Xie elaborate and discuss two succinct examples of innovations adopting the design-based research approach that has shown promises of impact on classroom practices, on student learning, and of being able to be sus-tained and scaled to broader contexts.

Vassilios Makrakis discusses ICTs potential as a transformative tool in teaching and learning with focus placed on sustainability education. He argues that ICTs offer opportunities for educators, but there is a need for professional development as perspective transformation, a process whereby prospective teachers critically examine their beliefs, assumptions, values, and personal theories as they learn technologies and acquire new knowledge and experience.

Part II: ICT in Technical and Vocational Education

The second part of the book consists of three chapters, focusing on ICT in techni-cal and vocational education.

Alke Martens, Nils Malzahn, H. Ulrich Hoppe propose pattern-based approaches to introduce new technologies in vocational training by empower-ing teachers to better manage and share web resources in their teaching. Issues of organizational culture and change management turn out to be decisive for the suc-cess of such approaches.

Anup Kumar Ray analyzes available data to identify causes of poor access, equity, and quality in higher technical education system in India, and examines the effects of the policy measures taken to address these issues.

Panagiotis Zervas, Konstantinos Chatzistavrianos, Demetrios G. Sampson focus on modeling teachers’ ICT competence profile in Europe by considering existing teachers’ ICT competence frameworks and selecting the most appropriate one. They also focus on describing, in a machine readable way, the proposed teach-ers’ ICT competence profile by exploiting existing specifications for competences description.

Preface ix

Part III: ICT in Distance Education

The third part of the book consists of two chapters dealing with ICT in distance education.

Rob Koper presents a case study of a business model change of the Open University of the Netherlands in the period 2008–2013. The implementation of the business model is discussed in terms of adaptations in course development (including the use of open educational resources), course delivery, ICT infrastruc-ture, and a revised model for the implementation of innovations.

Carlos Villanueva and Marcia Ortega address three examples of success cases in distance education within (a) an important financial group with presence in Latin America and Spain; (b) a non-governmental organization based in Europe; and (c) a government department in an African country, through programs jointly designed with a prestigious Mexican higher education institution.

Part IV: ICT in Higher Education

The fourth part of the book consists of three chapters focusing on ICT in higher education.

Okhwa Lee and Yeowook Im present the current trends of ICT in higher educa-tion including the new pedagogy for digital teaching and learning, utilization of smart technology for higher education, globalization of e-learning in higher educa-tion, and open educational resources.

Toshio Okamoto, Fumihiko Anma, and Naomi Nagata discuss the framework for e-Learning 2.5 and its primary functions through the organizational knowledge circulated management on e-Learning.

Marmar Mukhopadhyay and Madhu Parhar introduce several major initiatives in integrating ICT in management and administration of higher education led by the University Grants Commission in India.

In conclusion, we hope this compilation would benefit learners, educators, scholars, and trainers by providing them an insight of the emerging trends of ICT in education.

We would like to express our gratitude to all those who provided support, talked things over, read, wrote, offered comments, allowed us to quote their remarks, and assisted in the editing, proofreading, and design.

Ronghuai Huang

Jon K. PriceKinshuk

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Contents

Part I ICT in Basic Education

1 ICT as a Catalyst of Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Rosa Maria Bottino

2 Inclusive Education in Rural Alberta, Canada: Utilizing ICT to Support Twenty-First Century Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Dermod Craig Madden

3 Classroom Assessment: A Key Component to Support Education Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Jon K. Price, Daniel Light and Elizabeth Pierson

4 Case Studies of Russian Educators Transforming Classroom Practices Through ICT-Rich School Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Daniel Light and Elizabeth Pierson

5 An Introduction to ICT in Education in China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Di Wu

6 Sustaining and Scaling Research-Based ICT in Education Innovations in Singapore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Chee-Kit Looi and Wenting Xie

7 ICTs as Transformative Enabling Tools in Education for Sustainable Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Vassilios G. Makrakis

Contentsxii

Part II ICT in Technical and Vocational Education

8 Pattern-Based Approaches to Introducing New Technologies in Vocational Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Alke Martens, Nils Malzahn and H. Ulrich Hoppe

9 Imperatives of Access, Equity and Quality in Indian Technical Education System: Role of ICT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Anup Kumar Ray

10 Towards Modelling Teachers’ ICT Competence Profile in Europe . . . 163Panagiotis Zervas, Konstantinos Chatzistavrianos and Demetrios G. Sampson

Part III ICT in Distance Education

11 Changing the Business Model of a Distance Teaching University . . . 185Evert Jan Robbert Koper

12 Capacity Building Models Through Distance Education . . . . . . . . . . 205Carlos A. Villanueva and Marcia Ortega

Part IV ICT in Higher Education

13 Innovation of Higher Education in the Globalized Era . . . . . . . . . . . 221Okhwa Lee and Yeonwook Im

14 The Framework for e-Learning 2.5 and Its Primary Functions . . . . 249Toshio Okamoto, Fumihiko Anma and Naomi Nagata

15 ICT in Indian Higher Education Administration and Management . . . 263Marmar Mukhopadhyay and Madhu Parhar