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Learning communities have been proposed as an interesting approach in adult education. Especially in blended learning environments, it is important that learners feel embedded in a group. It is suggested that embedment may have a positive impact on persistence. In this study the expectations of adult learners and program coordinators regarding the creation of learning communities at the program level are scrutinized. Starting from the Community of Inquiry model and evidence from literature concerning social presence and immediacy behavior three intervention scenarios were elaborated. By means of six semi-structured interviews with dyads of adult learners and program coordinators of Adult Education Centers in Flanders, these scenarios were systematically assessed using Kano matrices. The thematic analyses reveal five major themes affecting learners’ and program coordinators’ attitude towards learning communities. Some of the emerging themes were previously not addressed in literature. Academic utility is identified as decisive factor for acceptance. The findings contribute to our understanding of the acceptance of learning communities and suggest a set of practical recommendations. ispartof: pages:927-933 ispartof: ICERI2018 Proceedings pages:927-933 ispartof: International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation location:Sevilla date:12 Nov - 14 Nov 2018 status: published

Writing is a crucial skill in almost any field of study, both as a means for developing higher-order thinking skills and as the prevailing instrument in (inter)disciplinary communication. At the same time, writing is a deeply challenging activity that involves an intricate interplay of a variety of abstract cognitive processes and skills such as logical, reflective, metacognitive and evaluative skills, language proficiency, lay-outing skills and psycho-emotional attitudes. Being both a crucial and complex (academic) activity, writing is often targeted by tool developers who are now offering a profusion of software applications such as prodding tools, spelling and grammar checkers, plagiarism detectors, structuring and visualization tools, platforms for collaborative writing and so on. The large amount and wide range of tools make it difficult for students and teachers alike to navigate the technological options on offer. Which tools are useful, to which didactic end and in which stage of the writing process? A survey study was conducted that aimed, firstly, to chart the available tools, secondly, to assess them on didactic affordance (using Puentedura's SAMR-model and the "seven affordances" model by Cope & Kalantzis) and finally, to map these tools onto a structured model of the writing process. The model that was chosen is the "spinner model", developed by writing researcher Sarah Haas. This flexible framework differentiates between five modes in the writing process ("exploring", "incubating", "unloading", "structuring and scribing" and "polishing and publishing") and each mode is then broken down to several moves. For example, constituent moves of the exploring mode are "brainstorming", "freewriting", "searching for information", "mapping", "reading and annotating" and "taking notes". In this study, then, a critical selection of useful apps was mapped onto each move. Additionally, this research project also surveyed, assessed and mapped tools for collaborative writing and for teaching writing. To validate the result, the map was submitted for review, elaboration and optimization to the "Expertmeeting" of NACV, the "network for academic communicative skills" in the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium). The main achievement of this study is the selective mapping of technological tools supporting (academic) writing onto a well-structured model of the writing process. This map will benefit both students and teachers of (academic) writing. ispartof: pages:1152-1159 ispartof: EDULEARN18 Proceedings pages:1152-1159 ispartof: Edulearn2018. 10th annual International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies location:Palma, Spain date:2 Jul - 4 Jul 2018 status: published

Introduction: Bully/victims mean someone who is both being bullied and is bullying others simultaneously. They have more problems in life adaption, interpersonal relationship, academic performances, and mental disorder than bullies or victims (Copeland, Wolke, Angold, & Costello, 2013; Khamis, 2015; Zych et al., 2017). Therefore, they require greater attention and assistance from school teachers. However, compared to bullies or victims, until now, there still lacks studies for exploring how can teachers handle their bullying and victimizing situation. Moreover, according to the idea of social information processing (SIP) model, teachers’ handling strategies may be influenced by their views to bully-victims. However, notably, there also lacks relevant studies to explore teachers’ views to bully-victims. In sum, this study aims to explore school teachers’ views regarding bully-victims, and their handling strategies for bully-victims. Methods: A total of 10 school teachers from Taiwan were invited to participate in interviews (3 males and 7 females; an average of 8.9 years of teaching experience). This study collected data by semi-structured interviews. The qualitative data analysis method (Wolcott, 2008) was adopted to analyze these data. In order to increase the trustworthiness of this study, the calculation of Intercoder reliability and Case analysis meeting are employed in this study (Merriam, 2002). Results: Most of the teachers believed that the bully-victims initially are victims due to their improper characteristics and behaviors. For instance, they have poor emotional control; they easily provoke others; they cannot read others’ expressions well. These will lead to situations that they often have conflicts with others and then gradually are bullied. However, with the accumulations of negative impacts caused by their continual victimization such as accumulations of negative emotions and low self-esteem, this will cause them to attack more vulnerable targets to enhance their self-esteem, vent their emotions, transfer victimized targets, and prove their capabilities. Therefore, they eventually become bully-victims. Most of the teachers initially recognized bully-victims as victims. However, when they have more and more interactions with bully-victims, and realize more and more perspectives from bully-victims’ peers, they will begin to adjust their views to bully-victims. Notably, these views to bully-victims will influence teachers’ handling strategies to them. Because the bully-victims’ situations are complicated and school bullying is a school level incident, most of the teachers adopt handling strategies based on the idea of ecological system theory to solve bully-victims’ situation. Notably, because of bully-victims not only bully others but also are bullied, teachers prefer to employ both assistance and punishment in parallel for solving bully-victims’ needs and problems. Implications: 1. Teachers should pay more attention to the causes of bully-victims so that they can prevent initial victims from becoming bully-victims. 2. Teachers should comprehensively collect information from the bully-victims’ entire system for understanding the causes of bully-victims’ bullying or victimizing situation so that organize appropriate handling strategies to intervene them. 3. Cooperating with the entire system of bully-victims and combining discipline and assistance strategies for helping bully-victims is really important.

10th Annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI) -- NOV 16-18, 2017 -- -- Seville, SPAIN, WOS: 000429975307126, The aim of the present study is to examine the relationship between academic procrastination behaviours and academic dishonesty tendency in pre-service teachers studying at the Faculty of Education, Dumlupinar University. Since the study examines the relationship between academic procrastination behaviours and academic dishonesty tendency of pre-service teachers, it was conducted in accordance with the correlational model. Stratified sampling strategy was utilized to recruit participants and a total of 272 pre-service teachers were participants in this research. The "Academic Dishonesty Tendency Scale" [15] was used to identify the academic dishonesty tendency of pre-service teachers. On the other hand, "Academic Procrastination Scale" [11] was used to determine the academic procrastination levels of the pre-service teachers. In the analysis of the research data, frequency, percentage, arithmetic average, and parametric and non-parametric techniques were utilized. It was understood from the study there was a medium and positive correlation between academic dishonesty tendency and academic procrastination of pre-service teachers'.

10th Annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI) -- NOV 16-18, 2017 -- Seville, SPAIN, WOS: 000429975306023, Imitation is an important social communication skill that emerges in the early phases of child development and plays a critical role in the development of cognitive and social skills of young children. According to research, imitation has been found to be significantly important for children with autism spectrum disorder. Besides, it has been observed that teaching imitation skills to children with autism spectrum disorder considerably contributes to the development of their social skills and play skills as well as language skills. This poster will present information about the importance of imitation skills in the education of children with autism spectrum disorder and a number of practices applied. Within the scope of this study, the research in international literature conducted on developing imitation skills in children with autism spectrum disorder between 2000 and 2017 will be examined. The poster will present information about the aims, the subjects, methods and findings of these studies, and suggestions for further research will be provided.

11th International Conference on Technology, Education and Development (INTED) -- MAR 06-08, 2017 -- Valencia, SPAIN WOS: 000413668602025 English as a lingua franca (ELF)' has inevitably many implications in the agenda of English language teaching and teacher education. One of the implications of ELF paradigm is the need to review English language teacher education programs to prompt pre-service teachers to critically consider and ultimately transform their assumptions about ELF instead of being merely exposed to principles on language teaching. The current case study aims to explore the value of ELF integration into ELT preservice teacher education programs. It evaluated the effect of an elective course involving ELF related issues and critiques of ELF approach in which the pre-service teachers raised their awareness on the ELF-related issues. Interviews, reflection and response papers were the instruments to further explain the experience of pre-service language teachers. The findings revealed that there is an urgent need to integrate ELF into teacher education programs and the participants' in this study were observed to possess a positive stance towards ELF concept. The study has some crucial implications for curriculum designers, material developers, language instructors and learners in higher education context.

Safety at work represents a relevant topic also nowadays as in Europe almost 3.000 workers are still dying every year due to accidents at work. An important preventive measure that largely demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing occupational injuries and enhance workers' health is the development of organizational interventions such as safety training. However, in order to reduce accidents, the mere implementation of safety training courses is not enough as knowledge gained through the training should be applied to the workplace to be effective. This process refers to the transfer of training which has been defined as "the extent to which the learning that results from a training experience transfers to the job and leads to meaningful changes in work performance" ([1], p. 1066).Therefore, the main aim of this study is to add knowledge concerning the efficacy of safety training interventions through the analysis of the role of context in the transfer of safety training. Thus, we hypothesized that safety climate could moderate the relationship between safety knowledge (acquired via training) and transfer of training.A research study conducted in a vocational training organization involved 123 workers attending different safety training courses. The questionnaire was composed by items concerning safety knowledge, safety climate and transfer of training (measured as intention to transfer). Most of the participants were men (95%) and the mean average was 41 years old. The moderation effect was tested through a hierarchical multiple regression analysis.Results showed that safety climate moderated the relationship between safety knowledge and transfer of training. In other words, the workers perceiving lower levels of safety knowledge together with higher levels of safety climate reported higher levels of training transfer compared to their colleagues that perceived lower levels of safety climate. On the other side, among workers in conditions of high safety knowledge, the level of transfer wasn't influenced by safety climate. Thus, our hypothesis has been supported.This study presents both theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical point of view our results provided further evidences concerning the effect of safety climate on the transfer of safety training. Furthermore, findings provided suggestions to firms on how contextual factors (such as safety climate) should be enhanced in order to increase the efficacy and the usefulness of safety training and consequently reduce accidents and injuries on the workplace.

9th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (EDULEARN) -- JUL 03-05, 2017 -- -- Barcelona, SPAIN, WOS: 000493048102132, Play is the most important occupation that the child spends most of his time with. At the pre-school period, children learn more easily through games. In parallel with the rapid development of technology today, technological tools have also entered to our homes and the lives of children. Children spend their time in closed areas because of the fact that their parents work, and the playgrounds in big cities are scarce. Therefore, children play games with devices such as tablets, computers, and phones. The most important thing is that games that the children play must be educational and appropriate for children's development level. Games that are not suitable for the child's level of development and age, have violence and are non-educational will be harmful for the child. In this age, it is not possible to keep children away from technology so the task of educators and families is to provide the best way to benefit from the technology. In this study, "Tom the Animal Lover", an educational game aimed to introduce animals to pre-school children developed in 2016. The game providing information about animals and their voices for children at aged 4-5 aims to teach animals together with their voices and pictures. Unity 3D game engine was used in the design of the game. The game was designed in two dimensions in Unity 3D, and the software language was C #. The preschool period children's most enjoyable activity is play. Technology allows us to move children's play environment into digital world. In this study, we designed an entertaining and educational digital game for children. As a result of observations, we made after pilot application and interviews with teachers; we can say that children enjoy the game, they know the voices of animals that they did not know before and the sorting skills have improved.

Nowadays, universities have a pronounced interest to link teaching and research. Research into this link has developed rapidly over the last decades, and focused on how the teaching-research nexus (TRN) enhances the quality and outcomes of the learning experience for both students and academics. As part of this nexus, Research-Based Learning (RBL) involves a curriculum designed around inquiry activities in which students have the opportunity to conduct their own research. We hypothesize if graduate students involved in a RBL version of a course reflect a higher intention to do research compared to students in a control condition of the same course. We also attempt to determine the impact of course contexts and changes in mediating variables such as autonomous motivation, engagement, perceived behavioural control (self-efficacy), behavioural beliefs, subjective norm and the interaction with age and gender. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was set up involving 52 students from 6 different programs at a public university. We developed scales building on Bandura's guidelines to determine self-efficacy (perceived behavioural control), Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour to test the intention to do research along with behavioural beliefs and subjective norm; and Deci and Ryan's Intrinsic Motivation Inventory to determine autonomous motivation. To measure engagement, we developed a 6-week intervention in which students in the experimental condition worked on RBL assignments whereas students in the control condition worked on TRN activities. All student activities were managed through an online learning management system. Our results show a clear trend, reflecting how students in an RBL version of the course attain slightly higher levels of intention to do research. However these differences are not significant. There are some explanations for the current findings. First of all, the students in the control condition were similarly involved in - though basic - research activities. This might have also boosted their level of intention in doing research considering the rather short term set up of the study (6 weeks). An additional explanation is related to our RBL design and the fact that students from 6 different programs were involved. This resulted in an RBL design that had to comply with the research focus of all 6 programs and as such involved the students in more general research activities. The results of the present study - though promising - push a research programme aiming at more in-depth research. Nevertheless, the RBL approach has invoked in the local university setting an innovative way of thinking about the teaching-research nexus. From a focus on a single-course innovation, a focus at a programme level approach of RBL has been put at the centre. This opens avenues for new and promising research endeavours. Future RBL related research implies setting up qualitative studies to compare the actual experiences of students in both conditions and whether they report differences. In addition, a new study could be set up in a single course setting, while involving a larger number of enrolled students. This is not an easy undertaking given the limited student numbers in advanced engineering courses in the target Ecuadorian University. Building on the limitations as to the quantitative nature of the study, a mixed method design could help developing a richer picture.

9th Annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (iCERi) -- NOV 14-16, 2016 -- Seville, SPAIN, WOS: 000417330204030, …

8th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (EDULEARN) -- JUL 04-06, 2016 -- Barcelona, SPAIN WOS: 000402955903114 There is no denial of the inevitable influence of information communication technology in our present age. Most web pages are now created with an interactive facility. Readers are no longer in a receptive mode only; on the contrary, they are able to express their views on the topic of their interest and receive responses in return to their comments. Weblogs do provide a platform for such an atmosphere. Based on this premise, this study aims to provide a fair picture of sixty-eight pre-service English language teachers reflecting on their experience drawn from a blogging activity that provides support for each other regarding their topic presentations in a Contextualized Grammar Course which lasted a full academic term. The study combined both qualitative and quantitative approaches including weekly blog tasks and reflection papers as data sets. Content analysis was conducted to analyze these sets of data. On completion of the course, participants expressed their views about the effect of this particular activity. While a great majority stated that they improved their both academic and social knowledge thanks to pedagogical comments received from peers, a very small number of the participants questioned the activity for its being too much learner-centered, without involving the instructor's scaffolding in classroom setting. Findings of this study may have some significant implications for language learners, instructors and administrators regarding the implementation of blogging as part of the syllabus in language education courses. Cukurova University Research FundCukurova University [SED-2016-6737] This study was funded by Cukurova University Research Fund under the Project Number SED-2016-6737.

8th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (EDULEARN) -- JUL 04-06, 2016 -- Barcelona, SPAIN WOS: 000402955905120 This study aims to investigate the perceptions of pre-service English language teachers towards the use of podcasts. In addition, it surveys to what extent pre-service language teachers use Web 2 tools in their academic lives as well as personal lives and their views on the benefits and possible drawbacks of podcasts. For this reason, Teaching Language Skills Course specifically for the third year pre-service teachers is blended with podcasting in a web based platform. Twenty-two pre-service English language teachers who take the course constitute the working group. The theoretical background of this specific study is based on social constructivism. Combining both qualitative and quantitative research methods, a mixed method research design is used. The questionnaire and face to face interviews are held at the beginning and at the end of the course and results are compared to see if there is a significant change. Though the results indicate that participants do gain from podcasts, they encompass crucial drawback as well. This study also has got some important implications for curriculum designers, language instructors and students.

8th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (EDULEARN) -- JUL 04-06, 2016 -- Barcelona, SPAIN, WOS: 000402955906008, The concept of equality of opportunity proposes that all people should be treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers, prejudices or preferences. Equality can be assured within multiple dimensions. There have been many initiatives to eliminate the barriers and provide equality of opportunity. As an instance, Universal Instructional Design (UID) intends to provide guidelines to increase accessibility for learners with special needs. In digital knowledge age, accessing information is crucial and digital books have been one of the significant source of information. In this sense, this research aims to contribute to " equality of opportunity" notion by providing design criteria for digital books for individuals with special needs. Within this perspective, the purpose of this study is to identify design criteria for digital books for individuals with special needs. Employing a qualitative exploratory methodology to reveal the needs of hearing-impaired, visually impaired and orthopedically handicapped individuals and identify sound and effective design criteria for digital books. The study also explores the needs of each group within seven themes: Written content, spoken content, static graphic content, dynamic graphic content, technology, layout and interaction. Additionally, research findings are discussed and suggestions for future implications are provided., Anadolu University, Scientific Research Projects Commission [1409E396], This research was supported by Anadolu University, Scientific Research Projects Commission under the grant no: 1409E396

8th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (EDULEARN) -- JUL 04-06, 2016 -- Barcelona, SPAIN, WOS: 000402955906137, This study aimed to investigate the effect of different multitasking scenarios realized in different physical settings on cognitive load and retention. It also aimed to investigate the influence of multitasking and physical settings on cognitive load when the working memory capacity is controlled. In addition, the measurement of cognitive load is realized through both objective (electroencephalography) and subjective measures (cognitive load scale). Subjects were undergraduate students at a state university., Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) [115K773]; Anadolu University Research Fund [1505E366], This study contains preliminary findings of the first author's Ph.D. proposal, which is supervised by the second author. Different parts of the research were funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK grant ID: 115K773) and Anadolu University Research Fund (1505E366).

9th Annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (iCERi) -- NOV 14-16, 2016 -- Seville, SPAIN, WOS: 000417330205049, Today internet has become the most important tool for communicating and sharing. Internet use patterns and internet environment have expanded so much that this situation has affected many aspects of human life. This effect can be felt at every moment of life. Especially significant increase in social media use in human life has made this effect more explicit. Naturally, the opportunities and the environment that internet provides have led to many positive changes in human life and caused an improvement in the quality of life. However, problems arising from unhealthy internet use have expanded more and more and also brought new debates. Thus, internet addiction concept has become an important phenomenon nowadays. Relatedly, being healthy internet users has become crucial for young adults with higher internet use rates in terms of their mental health and healthy development. Because of this, there is a big necessity to determine the meaning and the importance of the internet concept in young adults' lives. The current study which was carried out with 168 students aims to reveal these university students' metaphorical perceptions of the internet concept. In this study that was conducted by qualitative research method, the students were asked to complete the statement "Internet is like... because...". In this context, the data was thematized through content analysis. The findings of the study have indicated that the participants used totally 81 metaphors for Internet concept. These metaphors were categorized under six different themes according to their common characteristics. These themes were determined as "Internet as a tool for acquiring information", "Internet as an environment that includes everything", "Internet as an environment that makes you a loser", "Internet as an indispensable tool", "Internet as a relieving environment" and "Internet as a beneficial tool if it is used correctly".