2023 VOL.10, No. 1
In any technology-enabled learning formulation, it is important to consider the pedagogic affordances of technology, and how to develop the required level of competency and concomitant capacity building to undertake teaching-learning and training activities of high quality. There are a variety of frameworks and guidelines available on TEL, and we, as teachers, trainers and researchers, need to consider reviewing the research literature, analysing the effective blending of pedagogy and technology, developing appropriate learning resources (and/or considering existing Open Educational Resources and MOOCs), understanding the challenges faced especially due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and appropriating the quality assurance frameworks and parameters, among others. The present issue of the Journal, comprising one invited paper, five research papers, two case studies, and two book reviews, addresses the above issues and concerns.
In the invited but peer-reviewed paper, Loglo and Zawacki-Richter have critically analysed published research studies on the use of digital media by higher education students in Africa. While students had been constrained in their mobile access with low bandwidth, the student learning activities had low congruence with their subject area or programme of study. The authors suggest: i) designing and implementing active learning (rather than transmitive learning) while studying online; ii) focusing on developing theoretical frameworks for conducting research as well as solving technical issues, and iii) enhancing teacher digital proficiency.
The research section includes five peer-reviewed papers. In the first research paper, Karunanayaka argues for capacity development for teachers to be able to engage meaningfully in online and open education practices. She presents an evaluative case on the design, development and implementation of OER-based technology-enabled learning (TEL), focusing primarily on the design of interactive learning experiences and hands-on activities within a Moodle-based LMS, supplemented by interactive workshops conducted through ZOOM. The research results suggest the effectiveness of adopting a ‘learning by designing’ approach for the effective integration of pedagogy and technology in empowering teachers to actively engage in the design of OER-integrated TEL and open practices. In the second research paper, learners’ feedback on MOOCs has been analysed by Pant, Lohani and Pande by using the technique of ‘sentiment analysis’ through Python programming and NVivo tools. The results suggest three important primary factors, besides others, affecting the retention of learners — job-oriented courses, content localisation, and assignments and learner support. The researchers have suggested a framework on related factors which may be considered for learner retention in MOOCs.
Christina Myers and colleagues report the findings of a study on designing digital educational games on the theme of gender equality meant for specially developing critical thinking and concerns for social change. The study was grounded on Freire’s critical pedagogy and design-based research methodology. The three-phase study yielded thirteen design principles based on observation, interview and feedback from diverse groups of participants. The suggestions on this pedagogic technique and required resources shall be helpful to teachers elsewhere.
The fourth research paper, by Verulava, Shengelia and Makharashvili, reports the challenges faced by both university students and teachers during Covid-19 in Georgia. Like elsewhere in the world, these respondents also underlined online distance teaching as the best opportunity to keep teaching-learning going, and also one which saved on costs and provided opportunities to learn new skills and new experiences. There were also constraints relating to communication, the learning environment for engagement, and social relationships.
We have included, in the fifth research paper, student perception of quality assurance in higher education in Vietnam, a country on which a very much lesser number of research reports is available. Hien Ta and colleagues used valid responses collected from 1,323 students from five major cities. The results indicated that most of the students were aware of the policy, goals and areas of quality assurance, though the same level of awareness was not found with regard to quality implementation in higher education in the country.
In the case study section, we have included two peer-reviewed papers. In the first case study, Kanyemba and Josua report the findings on student perception of online learning in Namibia during Covid-19. Though online learning was useful to students during the pandemic, especially in improving digital skills and information search, the common challenge experienced by them included subject knowledge acquisition. As elsewhere in the globe, here in Namibia, the students preferred blended teaching-learning and assessment, which is now considered by teachers and students as the most appropriate design and delivery strategy especially in higher and professional education. The second case study by Shala and Grajcevci investigated the impact of ICT on the achievement of school students on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in Kosovo. The findings, based on responses from 5,058 randomly selected students from 224 schools, on socioeconomic and school complex factors and achievement in reading mathematics and science, suggest a strong relationship between ICT usage and student achievement. In a context where diversity in student groups raise the question of equity and where there is gender difference in ICT access (female students had a lower online presence compared to their male peers), access to equitable resource needs to be ensured. Besides, the other primary issue to be considered is if the students are using ICT for only chatting and personal communication or for learning, including doing home assignments.
In our book review section, the two book reviews put up by our book review editor Dr. Mairette Newman on i) encyclopedia of female pioneers of online learning, and ii) identity, pedagogy and technology-enabled learning, are related to the theme of this issue of the Journal, and should be of interest to our readers. This journal is indexed in Scopus and ERIC (besides other indexing services) which had over 4,000 views and downloads. I take this opportunity to sincerely thank Dr. Tony Mays, Dr. Jako Oliver and Alan Doree for facilitating this issue being published on time. We hope, our readers enjoy reading and benefitting from the papers and book reviews of this issue.
Acknowledgements: We sincerely acknowledge the following scholars for their support to JL4D in peer reviewing the papers submitted to the journal published in 2022.
Professor Mohamed Ally, Athabasca University, Canada.
Dr Virginia Clinton-Lisell, University of North Dakota, USA.
Dr Alexis Carr, Simon Fraser University, Canada.
Dr. Olabisi Kuboni, Independent Consultant, West Indies.
Professor Sugata Mitra, Newcastle University, UK.
Professor Sutapa Bose, Indira Gandhi National Open University, India.
Professor Goolam Mohamedbhai, Formerly Association of African Universities and University of Mauritius.
Professor Som Naidu, Technology, Education and Design Associates, Australia.
Dr. Revati Namjoshi, Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Ltd, India.
Professor Don Olcott, Jr., University of South Africa, South Africa.
Dr Margaret Funke Omidire, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Dr Matt Smith, University of Wolverhampton, UK.
Dr. Irwin DeVries, Royal Roads University.
Professor Karen Aline Françoise Ferreira-Meyers, University of Swaziland.
Dr Stella Hadjistassou, KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence.
Dr Felix Kayode Olakulehin, National Open University of Nigeria.
Dr. Marianne Raley, University of Phoenix, USA.
Dr Dianne Thurab-Nkhosi, The University of the West Indies.
Dr Freda Wolfenden, Open University UK.
A. M. Abirami, Thiagarajar College of Engineering.
Dr Adebowale Oluwasegun Adebagbo, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Nigeria, in Affiliation with University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Adeoye Ademakinwa , Kwara State College of Education, Oro, Nigeria.
Mint Husen Aditama, Universitas Negeri Manado.
Lady Angela, University of the Philippines Integrated School, The Philippines.
Lilian Anthonysamy, Multimedia University, Malaysia.
Gulden Akin, Ankara University, Turkey.
Davi Apriandi, Universitas PGRI Madiun.
Prakash V. Arumugam, Wawasan Open University, Malaysia.
Dr. Ashish Kumar Awadhiya, Indira Gandhi National Open University, India.
Goonesh Bahadur, University of Mauritius.
Hyejin Bak, Seoul National University, South Korea.
Dr Biswajit Behera, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, India.
Magdelene Brown, Vellore Institute of Technology.
Aris Budianto, Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia.
Abolaji Bukki, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye.
Josephine Ie Lyn Chan, Wawasan Open University, Malaysia.
Dr Hemlata Chari, Mumbai University, India.
Huan Chin, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Valdenildo Pedro da Silva, Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Norte/Brasil.
Olha Fast, The Municipal Higher Educational Institution “Lutsk Pedagogical College” of the Volyn Regional Council.
Suritno Fayanto, State University of Malang.
Devine Grace Funcion, Leyte Normal University.
Sneh Bansal Ruby Garg, Chandigarh College of Education, India.
Dr Monika Gautam, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, India.
Liudmyla Havrilova, Donbas State Pedagogical University, Russia.
Adane Hailu Herut, Dilla University.
Nur Hidayat, Universitas Negeri Surabaya.
Success Osatohanmen Imamun, University of Abuja, Nigeria.
Uttam Jadhav, Sanjay Ghodawat University, Atigre, Kolhapur, India.
Muhammad Nurrohman Jauhari, Universitas PGRI Adi Buana Surabaya.
Ariel San Jose, Southern Philippines Agribusiness and Marine and Aquatic School of Technology.
Lawrence Kabinga, The Unicaf University.
Ngepathimo Kadhila, University of Namibia.
Raj Kishor Kampa, Berhampur University, India.
Kinjari Kancharla, Chettinad Academy of Research and Education.
Erasto Kano, The University of Dodoma.
Mr. Gurumurthy Kasinathan, IT for Change.
Dr Ceyhun Kavrayici, Anadolu University, Turkey.
Charlene Kaereho, University of Namibia.
Ayse Kizildag, Aksaray University.
Dr Monica Lintang Laxmi, Indira Gandhi National Open University, India.
Mwajuma Ibrahim Lingwanda, Mbeya University of Science and Technology.
Elisei Lubuva, Local Government Training Institute-Dodoma, Tanzania.
Ishmael Magare, Botswana Open University.
Elma Rosalia Malinda, Sebelas Maret University.
Dr Hamisi Mfaume, Dar es Salaam University College of Education.
Dr Ephraim Mhlanga, SAIDE, South Africa.
Dr Sushmita Mitra, Ex Director, SSS, National Institute of Open Schooling, India.
Ms. Entle Puleng Modise, University of South Africa.
Revelation Serathi Molokwane, Durban University of Technology.
Dr Ioana Tuugalei Chan Mow, National University of Samoa.
Dr Joel S. Mtebe, University of Dar es Salaam.
Evode Mukama, Commonwealth of Learning, Canada.
Rohmat Mulyana, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung.
Caroline Musyimi, TVET specialist.
Sammy Muteti Mutisya, Maasai Mara University
Harshith B Nair, Regional Institute of Education-NCERT, Mysuru, India.
Placidius Ndibalema, The University of Dodoma.
Joseph Njiku, University of Dar es Salaam.
Alice Macharia Njuguna, Zetech University.
Wahyu Nugroho, Universitas Sebelas Maret.
Oluwatosin Oguntoye, Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti.
John-Jude Chukwuka Omeife, Stirling College of Teachers.
Dr. Offia Tugwell Owo, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Dr Kshama Pandey, MJP Rohilkhand University, Bareilly.
Santanu Patra, Netaji Subhas Open University.
Jupeth Pentang, Western Philippines University.
K.D.R.L.J. Perera, The Open University of Sri Lanka.
Luka Pongračić, University of Slavonski Brod.
Jani Prinsloo, Eiffel Corp (PTY) Ltd.
Dr S K Pulist, Indira Gandhi National Open University, India.
Poonam Punia, BPSMV University, Khanpur Kalan, India.
Ibnu Rafi, Yogyakarta State University.
Dr Prabhas Ranjan, Patna Womens College, Patna University, Patna.
Yousra Banoor Rajabalee, Mauritius Institute of Education.
Harikrishnan Ranganathan, University of Cyberjaya.
Annisa Rhenadia, State University of Jakarta.
M. Rais Ridwan, STKIP YPUP Makassar.
Mulyadi Rusli, Universitas Nurdin Hamzah.
Dr Mohammad Issack Santally, University of Mauritius.
Prakriti Ranjan Sarkar, Aliah University.
Professor Rekha Sharma Sen, Indira Gandhi National Open University, India.
Anshuman Sharma, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow.
Dr Ramesh C Sharma, Ambedkar University Delhi, India.
Dr Sadrag Panduleni Shihomeka, University of Namibia.
Dr Murni Sianturi, The University of New South Wales, Ausralia.
Beatrice Sichombe, Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL).
Selvakumar Silaiyappan, Alagappa University, Karaikudi.
Silvita, Sebelas Maret University.
Dr Sivankutty V S, Alagappa University, Karaikudi.
Kwong Nui Sim, Auckland University of Technology.
Dr V S Sivankutty, Cochin University of Science and Technology.
Bobur Sobirov, Samarkand branch of Tashkent State University of Economics.
Mamta Srivastava, National Institute of Open Schooling.
Muhammad Amin Sunarhadi, Sebelas Maret University.
Sutirna Sutirna, Universitas Singaperbangsa Karawang.
Ying Tang, Southwest University.
Mr Vincent Itai Tanyanyiwa, Zimbabwe Open University.
Anita L Thomas James, University of Technology, Jamaica.
Mrs Grace Apondi Titi, Ramogi Institute of Advanced Technology.
Aisyamariam Abdul Uzza, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation.
Afam Uzorka, Kampala International University.
Aisyamariam Abdul Uzza, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation.
Joseph Villarama, Central Luzon State University.
Seema Yadav, The Bhopal School of Social Sciences.
Santosh Panda
Chief Editor, JL4D
Cite this paper as: Panda, S. (2023). Editorial — Technology and pedagogy for learning and capacity building. Journal of Learning for Development, 10(1), i-vi.