Search

Obituary for Donatus Moiwend, West Papuan artist.

Academic self-efficacy is identified as one of the strongest predictors of students' academic performance. However, few studies have explored the factors that influence students' academic self-efficacy in a blended learning environment. By developing a comprehensive model, this study investigates the main factors that influence students' academic self-efficacy in blended learning from the personal, interpersonal, and environmental perspectives. The relevant information was acquired through a questionnaire survey. The participants included 366 college students at a university in central China. Hierarchical regression analysis shows that intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, instructor support, performance expectancy, and facilitating conditions are significant predictors of students' academic self-efficacy in blended learning. The findings expand the understanding of students' academic self-efficacy in technology-enhanced learning environments and provide valuable insights that could help to improve the appropriateness of instructional design in blended learning courses.

This study explored parents' and students' attitudes toward tablet usage in a formal educational setting. A total of 212 students from four 7 th-grade classes, along with 145 of their parents, responded to the Tablet Acceptance Questionnaire. Quantitative methods including a t-test and partial least square (PLS) analyses were employed to examine students' and parents' attitudes toward tablet integration in schools, and to investigate factors influencing students' and parents' attitudes toward tablet usage, respectively. The results indicated significant differences between students' and parents' attitudes. Empirical findings suggested students hold more positive views than their parents with regard to tablet usage, tablet benefits for learning, and technical advantages and ease of use. Conversely, parents expressed greater concern over potential negative effects of tablet usage in education than do their children. This study also suggested educational benefits of tablet usage were the key factor influencing both students' and parents' attitudes. Based on the cross-examined understanding of parents' and students' attitudes, suggestions for large scale tablet initiatives are proposed.

Technology-enabled active learning environments (TE-ALEs) have attracted considerable research interest, particularly in higher education. However, research shows inconsistent results describing the influence of TE-ALEs toward students' cognitive learning outcomes. This study was designed to identify high-quality empirical research examining college students' cognitive learning outcomes and to utilize meta-analysis to determine the overall effectiveness of TE-ALEs. A systematic literature search identified 31 high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles that met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis showed that the calculated effect size of TE-ALEs more positively influenced students' cognitive learning than traditional lecture-based environments. Moderator variable analysis suggested that social context, study design, and sample size were significant factors that influence the effectiveness of TE-ALE. TE-ALEs were found more effective when instructors employed individualized learning contexts as well as when bias was reduced in randomized controlled trials. TE-ALEs were also found to be more effective in small courses rather than in large courses.

The rapid integration of social media into personal, professional, and educational settings has catalyzed the need to assess social media competence. This study provides the rationale for developing an instrument to conduct such an assessment, and the research illustrates evidence of validity and reliability in assessing social media competence in the field of higher education. The instrument includes 28 items and 4 dimensions: technical usability, content interpretation, content generation, and anticipatory reflection. Data were collected from a sample of 622 college students. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, and this study finds that the instrument shows no signs of deficiency in its validity or reliability when measuring social media competence. Accordingly, the instrument could be used to evaluate and improve levels of social media competence in higher education.

Student-to-student connectedness is promoted by active, student-centered learning processes. It is a socio-psychological result of interpersonal communication and behavior in the classroom, which emulates belonging, cohesiveness, and supportiveness among peers. Currently, two survey instruments exist--Dwyer et al.'s (Commun Res Rep 21(3):264-272, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1080/08824090409359988) Connected Classroom Climate Inventory and Johnson's (Commun Res Rep 26(2):146-157, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1080/08824090902861622) amendment thereof, which have been used for nearly two decades to gain insight into instructional processes in face-to-face environments. However, research on student-to-student connectedness is relatively limited in the context of modern, technology-mediated learning environments. Arguably, where student-to-student connectedness is most urgently needed because of the decrease in face-to-face contact time between students and their instructors within online and hybrid learning environments. This study is a systematic literature review that presents a synthesis of twenty-four peer-reviewed journal articles, which empirically investigate student-to-student connectedness within face-to-face, hybrid, and online environments. The documentation of data is organized in accordance to the six aspects of activity theory (subjects, objects, mediating artifacts, rules, community, division of labor) to provide a basis for understanding the dynamics of each research report, as well as to assist identifying the trends and gaps in the literature, thereby expediting future research on this topic.

Based on social cognitive theory, this study aimed to examine the personal, behavioral, and environmental determinants of students' information literacy in China. Participants in the study included 2127 students, 1432 parents, and 948 teachers. The research findings were as follows: (1) positive determinants were environmental influences from parents' information and communication technology (ICT) usage and ICT interest, as well as teachers' ICT self-efficacy and collaborative ICT usage; (2) students' personal influences suggested that possessing higher levels of ICT self-efficacy or ICT interest was related to higher levels of information literacy; (3) students' behavioral influences showed that in-school and out-of-school ICT usage did not significantly influence students' overall information literacy level. Based on the findings, suggestions for improving students' information literacy are presented.

The flipped classroom has gained much attention for its pedagogical success in higher education. However, continued use of this technology-supported instructional approach has been problematic. To support the success and continuation of flipped classroom implementation, this study employs structural equation modeling techniques to examine the relationships between five key factors of influence (computer self-efficacy, perceived technological pedagogical content knowledge, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived organizational support) and instructors' continued use intention. The results identify that instructors' perceived organizational support and perceived technological pedagogical content knowledge are the only factors examined that directly impact continued use intention. Instructors' technological pedagogical content knowledge also mediates between perceived organizational support and computer self-efficacy to continued use intention. These findings provide empirical evidence of such relationships and indicate that personal beliefs regarding technology itself are not the strongest factors influencing the continued use of flipped classroom instruction. Rather, instructors' beliefs relating to their environmental surroundings and personal knowledge regarding technology usage for instructional purposes are the key factors of instructors' continued use intention in Chinese higher education.

Cloud classrooms provide many advantages in higher education. However, little is known about the social influence of peer relationships on students' acceptance of cloud classrooms. This study utilized structural equation modeling to examine a model that integrates the Universal Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Connected Classroom Climate (CCC). Effort expectancy, social influence, and CCC were found to significantly impact cloud classroom acceptance by college students. Performance expectancy and facilitating conditions, however, did not affect acceptance. These findings contribute understanding that can support decision-making for the cloud classroom, with particular emphasis on increasing college students' acceptance and use of such technology. Administrators, researchers, and practitioners can use this knowledge to guide their implementation, improvement, and assessment of cloud classrooms. In addition, beyond the cloud classroom, our identification of this relationship between CCC and students' acceptance represents new knowledge to guide other contexts of online learning.

The multiple synchronous smart classroom learning environment (MSSC) is an alternative educational context that describes several active learning classrooms, connected through synchronous broadcasting technology. MSSC provides conceptually new capabilities to maximise both student learning and instructor efficiency. However, MSSC lacks an empirically validated instructional model, which limits effectiveness, particularly in relation to student interaction. Therefore, this study designed, developed, and implemented the rotational synchronous teaching (RST) model: a practical instructional approach for simultaneously teaching large student audiences, while maintaining smaller interactive classroom atmospheres. The RST model was tested in a mixed method research design that relied on survey (n = 305) and interview (n = 8) data of college students collected at the conclusion of the spring semester 2017. The effects of this RST model on student connected classroom climate obtained results matching previous research in traditional face-to-face classroom contexts. These preliminary findings indicate that the MSSC can effectively cultivate social interaction among students in a large instructional context with an approapriate instructional approach. The results of this study also suggest the need to expand future research toward comparative methodologies that examine additional variables, including academic achievement.

The Internet, new media and social change have created issues requiring digital citizenship education, particularly within the socio-cultural context of Chinese education. Recent digital citizenship standards for education developed by organizations such as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) highlight the importance of this issue. Researchers have explored digital citizenship with some mediated behavioral determinants; however, the critical influence of interpersonal communication competence (ICC) has not yet been explored. To expand understanding of the components needed for improving the appropriateness of digital citizenship among future role models of society, this study investigates the relationship between ICC skills and digital citizenship with a sample of 905 pre-service teachers. The results showed that 10 ICC skills were positively predictive of digital citizenship. Environmental control and immediacy were found to be the strongest predictors of digital citizenship among the skills examined. These results theoretically emphasize the importance of ICC skills in mediated behavior and provide practical direction for improving pre-service teachers' digital citizenship, which can positively enable the behavior instructors display and convey to their future students.

The constructivist smart classroom learning environment is quickly emerging as an alternative classroom model that integrates active learning with advanced technology to improve learners' socialization and achievement. This research examines pre-service teachers' (n = 462) preferences toward this learning environment, as well as the predictive association between connectedness and other critical learning environment features. All pre-service teachers had at least one semester of actual experience as participants learning in this environment. The data was collected through a questionnaire, and a series of linear regressions were conducted to examine the hypothesized relationships. Connectedness was positive and significantly associated with all smart classroom features examined: inquiry learning, student negotiation, reflective thinking, functional design, multiple sources, usefulness, and ease of use. Pre-service teachers who preferred constructivist smart classroom learning environments tended to be those in their first year of post-secondary education, as well as those with higher levels of technology self-efficacy. Gender was not observed to significantly influence preferences. The findings show connectedness to be a central and critical feature that can be used to cultivate more appropriate environments from the participants' perspective.

In an effort to address student engagement challenges, much research has explored student-to-student connected classroom climate (CCC). Research positively associates CCC to the benefits of student integration, learning, and retention in face-to-face environments. However, few studies have examined CCC in computer-mediated environments. This study provides empirical evidence of the relationships between key technological factors and CCC in cloud classrooms. A survey was administered to 641 college students, and the results indicate that four of the five technological factors examined were positively associated with CCC: advanced computer self-efficacy, program/software computer experience, Internet/entertainment computer experience, and computer importance. Basic computer self-efficacy was not related to CCC. These findings identify mechanisms that can improve CCC in cloud classrooms. Researchers and practitioners should use this knowledge to develop, implement, and assess the cloud classroom. In addition, this study contributes knowledge that can direct student training of digital literacies for improving the learning processes of cloud classrooms in higher education.

The study reported here examined college students' academic self-efficacy, 'academic press' and learning achievement, as well as the association between these three variables within learning contexts using interactive whiteboard-based instruction. A quasi-experimental study was conducted using a sample (n = 103) of first-year college students in China. Participants were taught English by either an interactive whiteboard-based or traditional lecture-based instructional approach for three months. The results showed that the interactive whiteboard-based instructional intervention cultivated higher levels of academic press and academic self-efficacy among students and a significant, positive correlation was identified between these two variables. Students' learning achievement was not affected by the instructional intervention. These results indicate that interactive whiteboard-based instruction offers some distinct benefits. In future work, additional research is needed to clarify how the instructional model relates to understanding learning achievement.

Research has identified the need for additional teaching strategies to address issues within intercultural computer-supported collaborative learning (iCSCL) environments. While some strategies have been proposed to support teacher effectiveness and student participation, to date no research has traced issues back to students' underlying, intrinsic motivation for participation, or perception of social interdependence in small-group collaboration processes. To increase understanding of these critical aspects of learning, this study utilized a mixed methods approach to analyze the intrinsic motivation and social interdependence of 40 students enrolled in two universities, and participating in small-group intercultural computer-supported collaborations between the USA and China. The findings identified different sources of intrinsic motivation between the two cultures and five hierarchically different perceptions of social interdependence. The implications include the emergence of four teaching strategies which support the teachers' ability of aligning students' understanding of what type of participation is expected and motivating students' interests to successfully participate in iCSCL environments.

Academic writing groups aim to improve the quality and/or the rate of academic publications. In this article, the authors reflect on a writing group with academic and non-academic members that evolved over two years to uphold a deeper and arguably spiritual purpose. The group commenced with the aim of increasing its members' publication rates, but it developed to be a safe space for members to search for meaning as part of a fellowship of writers. This transition was based in the members' shared commitment to social justice values and individual concerns to generate meaningful research and writing experiences. The group's distinct processes, the shared values of its members and the site of the group meetings in a socially stigmatised community, all work to deepen its purpose beyond academic productivity. Though the group functions to strengthen individual and group norms that contribute to academic productivity, emergent norms and the fellowship of the writers foster a spiritual dimension in the group. This exploration of the spiritual dimension of a writing group adds to the long list of benefits of fellowship through academic writing groups.

This article charts the dynamics and trajectory of citizen media activism in West Papua's fight for freedom which has progressed from not even registering in news rooms around the world to influencing sub-regional and regional bodies. Citizen media has played an essential role in this transformation. In 1998, when the Indonesian military massacred more than 100 unarmed West Papuans in Biak Island, it took weeks and months to get the news out. Back then West Papua was a military operations area (Daerah Operasi Militer). Few journalists were willing to risk travelling into the country to get the story out. In January 2016 West Papua remains an occupied colony. The Indonesian government still tries to curtail open access to West Papua for foreign journalists but courageous young people armed with cell phones are finding ways to bypass the government's failed attempt at an informational blockade and it is making a difference. West Papuans are now members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Island Forum is starting to take notice of the Pacific's longest running self-determination and decolonisation struggle. Keywords: citizen media, conflict reporting, human rights, Indonesia, Melanesia, peace journalism, political journalism, West Papua, IN JULY 1998, Papuans gathered around the water tower in Biak City. For four days they sang hymns, prayed, danced, hoisted the Morning Star flag and demanded freedom. Protest leader [...]