Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://localhost:4000/handle/20.500.12504/65

Browse

Browsing Journal Articles by Subject "Educational technology"

Filter results by typing the first few letters
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Affordances of Using Educational Technology in Teaching Critical Reading: Insights from an Action Research Study in a Ugandan University
    (Researchgate, 2024-05) Namatende-sakwa, Lydia; Kasule, George Wilson; Kasamba, Juliet
    The rapid increase in student enrolment and/or massification, also implicated in large class sizes, has been problematised for compromising quality education. Institutions of higher learning in Africa have embraced the use of ICT as one of the approaches to cope with the challenges of massification. The purpose of this study was to provide an examplar on how teachers can use ICTs to optimise learning from higher-order to lower-order thinking skills. The study uses action research methodology, undertaken with undergraduate students in a Ugandan university, to illuminate the researchers’ experiences in using educational technologies to support the teaching of critical reading. Firstly, we demonstrate how learning progressed from lower-order to higher-order thinking skills as informed by Bloom’s taxonomy. We also show how we optimised the use of technology from the dominant simple substitution, which was also teacher-centred, to a more complex redefinition, which is also learner-centred, as informed by the SAMR model. Finally, we highlight the affordances of using emerging technologies to support transformative learning. These include ongoing learning, monitoring/feedback, research, deeper interaction, peer-review, creativity, and reflection. The study has implications for in-service as well as pre-service teacher education programs which should integrate relevant theoretical frameworks in equipping teachers to optimise the use of technology in supporting teaching and learning. Keywords: Educational technology; Massification; SAMR model; Bloom’s taxonomy; Uganda.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Optimizing computer supported collaborative learning within higher education: insights from student collaboration on take-home group tasks in Uganda
    (Makerere Journal of Higher Education, 2023-05) Lydia, Namatende-Sakwa; Loyce, Kiiza Kobusingye; Stephen, Ndawula; Christopher, Isabirye
    The growth in computer-supported Collaborative learning (CSCL), especially in higher education, has attracted many research studies. However, there remains a paucity of empirical studies on how it can be taken up within higher education in real-world settings. This study, undertaken with undergraduate students in a Ugandan university, takes up Design Based Research, specifically using Google docs, to provide an empirical example, illuminating how teachers can optimise technology as informed by the SAMR model in order to support Collaborative learning towards the attainment of higher order thinking skills. The study generated some design principles which can be used to inform CSCL. These principles, undergirded by the imperative for teachers to support learners in CSCL, include the provision of a feedback loop to enable learner support; designing in ways that cater for diverse learner styles; tracking and rewarding student contributions; supporting learners to explore and optimise the affordances of tools to complement each other as well as using technology in ways that allow for progression in students’ thinking as well as in their technological skills. The study has implications for teacher training, particularly the inclusion of technology as a key component in solving educational problems within their practice. Specifically, teacher education programmes should ground pre-service and in-service teachers in theoretical frameworks which can support their practice.