Martha Cleveland-Innes, Editor-in-Chief
Welcome to Volume 50, Issue 1, of The Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology (CJLT). CJLT is a decades-old peer-reviewed journal that invites English or French submissions on the research and practice of education, technology, and learning. This bilingual journal is free-of-charge to anyone with access to the Internet, is multi-indexed, and presented in accessible formats. There are no article submission/publication fees or access charges.
CJLT’s scope covers all things relevant to the improvement of education and technology use. This issue’s Book Review is presented by Kyu Yun Lim, University of British Columbia, Canada about a book titled Next level grammar for a digital age by Darren Crovitz, Michelle D. Devereaux, and Clarice M. Morgan. According to Lim, “the book provides educators with a wide range of approaches to guide students in utilizing language in digital spaces and understanding rhetorical grammar to create digital content, aiming to raise learners to become more conscious digital readers and writers, and to grow up to be engaged citizens.” I would add ‘digital’ to her last phrase and suggest these strategies will help student grow up to be engaged digital citizens. This notion prepares readers with a premise to consider when reviewing the research articles which follow.
While the book offers teacher development, Article 1 suggests that teacher training programs have not kept up with the necessary teacher development. If You Choose Not to Decide: A Survey of Online Field Experiences for Canadian Teacher Preparation Programs/Si vous choisissez de ne pas décider : Une enquête sur les expériences de terrain en ligne pour les programmes Canadiens de préparation à l'enseignement is presented by Jason P. Siko, Michael K. Barbour, Douglas Archibald, and Nathaniel Ostashewski. Their findings pinpoint the developmental lag between the use of online and distance learning opportunities and the teacher training programs available to K-12 teachers. Canadian teacher education programs with online or blended field experiences are in the minority. There is some evidence of “program offerings to support in-service teachers, such as graduate certificate, degree, and diploma programs, as well as MOOCs offering free professional development.” This mixed-method replication study “found that programs were slow to change these deficiencies due to institutional lack of resources, limited knowledge base, perceived lack of usefulness for their teachers’ future careers, and regulatory discouraging of online field experiences.” This list is a valuable source for education leaders looking to remedy this notable deficiency.
While formal training remains scarce, research about online K-12 teaching practice is increasingly available. Nadia Delanoy, Jasmine El-Hacha, Monica Miller, and Barbara Brown present such research findings in Article 2: Implementing a Flipped Learning Approach with TPACK in Grades 6 to 9/Mise en œuvre d'une approche d'apprentissage inversée avec TPACK de la 6e à la 9e année. With practitioner-research approach, they “explore the implementation of a technology-enhanced pedagogy in science, math, and social studies.” The TPACK framework provides teachers a way to understand technology, pedagogy, and content integration to design and teach effective online learning. In this case, TPACK was used “to inform the instructional design for the flipped learning activities” by providing online videos as pre-learning activities. Results indicate that, for teachers, the flipped classroom approach opened in-person class time to customize and personalize learning. For students, prior online video activities benefited overall learning and improved in-class learning activities. Recommendations are offered for teachers and schools implementing flipped learning.
Article 3 presents another type of technology integration: Virtual Labs for Postsecondary General Education and Applied Science Courses: Faculty Perceptions/Laboratoires virtuels pour les cours de formation générale postsecondaire et de sciences appliquées : perceptions des professeurs by Elena Chudaeva and Latifa Soliman. In this qualitative research, faculty member and learner perceptions of virtual labs are explored for usability, engagement, and accessibility. Findings derived from focus groups, surveys, meetings, and interview notes that, while five comprehensive themes emerge, “learners and faculty members may have different perceptions of the importance of virtual labs for the development of various skills.” This is not surprising as the goals of each group are unique. Virtual labs are perceived as useful across groups, but faculty members’ perceived barriers include a lack of digital literacy skills, technology training, and transition support. Recommendations about overcoming such barriers and virtual lab integration are included.
Generative Artificial Intelligence represents yet another major technology trigger that may have hit the peak of inflated expectations (King & Prasetyo, 2023). Most necessary now is the use empirical evidence about the education value of GenAI. For author Katja Fleischmann, “Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is re-defining the way higher education design is taught and learned.” To explicate the students’ view, she offers Article 4: Generative Artificial Intelligence in Graphic Design Education: A Student Perspective/L'intelligence artificielle générative dans l'enseignement du graphisme : Le point de vue d'un étudiant. Her research “explores student attitudes toward GenAI, frequency of its use, and student perception of its impact on their future design careers.” The results of this empirical study identify the critical role of educators to prepare critical, evaluative use of GenAI in their studio and professional practice. These early reviews of student GenAI use provide an evidence-based platform to guide educators and their students into the future.
Aïcha Benimmas and Margarida Romero created our French languge article Recréer le territoire de l’école par la cocréation de maquettes/Recreate the School’s Territory by Co-Creating Models. Here the researchers consider the relationship between education and community through a “process of co-creating their school district through the creation of a model combining analog and digital techniques.” In this experience, the learning uses multiple technological approaches that lead to levels of learning outcomes, based on the assumption that a learner’s “relationship with space can be developed through a variety of learning activities.” Through a software application and learning design, this creative research outlines ways to observe a learner’s relationship with space and the demonstration of spatial thinking.
Our congratulations to all the authors!
King, S., & Prasetyo, J. (2023, December). Assessing generative AI through the lens of the 2023 Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies: a collaborative autoethnography. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 8, p. 1300391). Frontiers. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1300391