Impact Of Digital Tools Research Articles

Exploring the emerging digital scene in Art History and museum practice

This article addresses the current digital status in the fields of Museology and History of Art, both in Greece and internationally, in order to examine, record and analyse the extent of usage and the impact of digital tools. We will study the state-of-the-art in the fields of Museology and Art History, with a particular focus on examining the degree to which Greek institutions of culture and arts, as a case study in Europe, use state-of-the-art digital technologies (e.g., semantic technologies, augmented reality, and ubiquitous computing) for (a) storing, managing and documenting artworks together with all relevant knowledge/information; and (b) interpreting and presenting artworks to the public. We will also study and analyse the degree of interrelation between knowledge/information, and art and cultural heritage that is currently hosted in distinct cultural and art institutions around Greece, as well as between Greek institutions and relevant projects abroad. In this context, the issue at stake is the identity and the way Art History is exercised.

Formation of Professional Culture of Youth in the Digital Economy: Foreign and Domestic Experience

The article is devoted to the analysis of the professional culture of youth. In the beginning, the author presents a description of the concept of professional culture as inherent in the human creative potential, his abilities, talents, level of achievement of social goals and ideals, as well as their implementation in practice. Further, the author defines the difference between professional selection aimed at identifying the most capable people and screening out other candidates and professional orientation, allowing the young person to independently and responsibly choose their future occupation. Also, the author analysed the impact of digital tools in the process of training young professionals for the upcoming activities, while indicating both positive and negative consequences of their use and compared the ways of formation of professional culture in the United States, Finland, China. At the same time, the author paid much attention to the study of the historical experience of instilling a professional culture of the Soviet youth and pointed out characteristics of the pedological and activity stages of development of professional culture in the Soviet Union. In conclusion, the author reveals the features of the development of a professional culture of young people in modern Russia and concludes that it is necessary to introduce young people to the existing traditions and values in the interests of the formation of new intellectual and political elites.

Digital Pedagogy–An Opportunity or a Threat?

The classroom is a very vibrant venue assembling learner aspirants from diverse backgrounds with varied abilities. To meet the individual needs of such diverse learners, the teacher should adopt several creative and innovative teaching strategies. The recent pedagogic mode is learner-centered and it is mostly task or activity based. In this process, the learners get fully involved and the teacher acts as a guide and facilitator, leading the learners to attain the set objectives. Digital pedagogy provides many opportunities to employ several strategies. While using digital technologies for teaching, care is to be taken to assess the impact of digital tools on learning. An attempt is made here to assess the opportunities and threats of digital of pedagogy. Digital technology aids independent learning and it enhances retention of information as instruction is audio-visual. Further, it reduces tuition costs; allow instructors a focused and objective instruction while educating students. However, there are adverse effects as well, as the learner gets distanced from feedback. The students may resort to choose available study material without a clear check on authenticity and quality of the texts; may tend to arrive at wrong conclusions, save alone distractions in study due to excessive edutainment. It may diminish the overall value and impact of personalized teacher-taught relationship resulting in socio-psychological problems. Integrating technology in education is like a double edged knife. A careful strategic planning is, therefore, essential to contain the disadvantages and take the best out of the digital pedagogy.

Digital Tools in Academic Writing?

The process of writing has changed due to the increased availability of digital tools that can facilitate the task of writing in one’s first language (L1) or second language (L2). There has been research on the use of tools by students writing in a foreign language, on the impact of digital tools on student writing, and on the use of digital tools for K-12 writing instruction. However, it seems no studies have investigated the use of digital tools by writing professionals. The aim of this exploratory study was to learn about the use of digital tools by writing professionals – researchers and instructors – when writing in first or second language. The results showed that some writing professionals use a variety of tools throughout the writing process, whereas others use very few tools, and that the patterns of use appear to be similar when writing in L1 or L2. The results informed a new categorization of tools, the various types and subtypes classified by purpose. The study offers a fresh perspective on the use of digital tools for writing by writing professionals.DialogueWe invite responses to this study with examples of the use of digital tools for writing and writing instruction. Case studies, short investigative papers and provocations will be collated and published in a future issue of the Journal of Academic Writing, as outlined in the submissions section of the journal. A fuller invitation is framed at the end of this article.

How digital environments in schools might be used to boost social skills: Developing a conditional augmentation hypothesis

The use of online devices, tools and technologies in schools is seen as being able to promote ‘21st century’ skills, specifically inter personal (e.g., being empathetic, taking others' perspectives, cooperation and collaboration) and intra personal skills (e.g., persistence and self-control). We review theoretical rationales for and, where available, research evidence about the impact of digital tools and technologies on the development of these skills under two conditions. One is where there are direct effects of access to and use of digital technologies relatively independently from other influences of the teacher. The evidence suggests powerful mechanisms are afforded directly, such as feedback, social learning, agentive learning and play (game-based learning), but that effects are variable and there are both positive and negative influences on skills. The second condition is when the digital environments are mediated by teaching. The evidence is that both effectiveness and the consistency of effects of digital environments depend on the deliberate design and management of the tools and their functions. Explanations relate to the mediating effects of the activity structures and how they are designed, the role of the teacher in both that design and specific instructional acts, and the guided actions of interlocutors through digital devices. We propose a teacher ‘conditional augmentation’ hypothesis: teachers' augmentation adds instructional power to the direct effects of digital technologies.

The Impact of Digital tools on Motivating young Arab EFL Learners to Improve Their Speaking Skills

Kuwait has a very low rate of English proficiency and ranks 65 out of 70 in the global English foreign language proficiency index for schools. A number of factors account for this including the amount of time allocated to spoken English in the curriculum and the lack of students' interest and subject confidence by the time they reach Grade 5. This study uses the Research Onion methodology to explore the potential for using digital tools (Apps and tablets) to increase the motivation and engagement of 5th grade young Arab EFL learners in Kuwait, improve their levels of spoken English and expand their learning space beyond the classroom into the home and everyday activities. It adopts the mixed methods approach and uses sample groups of students, parents and teachers from one school in Kuwait, including an online quantitative survey and semi-structured qualitative oral interviews, to gain insights into the topic. The results showed that the digital tools can have a positive impact on EFL learners speaking proficiency, and the increase of their sense of motivation to communicate but the newness of the idea in the Kuwaiti context raises questions for some parents and teachers in relation to their expectations based on the traditional teaching methods and curriculum.

Impact of digital tools on the research writing process: A case study of collaborative writing in computer science

This paper reports on a case study on collaborative research writing in computer science, with particular focus on the researchers’ use of digital writing and social media tools. The research paper is still a prominent genre in the field, but technological advances such as the development of real-time collaborative writing tools and social media have created new opportunities for collaboration as well as the sharing of research results. This paper takes a closer look at how digital tools, particularly collaborative writing tools and Twitter, are utilised in the process of producing a research paper for publication, and how the authors and their colleagues view the role of such tools in the text production process. The data include a text history of a research paper, as well as research interviews with the main authors and their colleagues. The data have been approached from a local practices perspective, considering the paper as part of the writing practices of the multicultural research group where the authors worked. The interviews provide further perspectives on the researchers’ use of digital tools. The findings shed light on collaborative research writing practices, particularly how collaborative writing tools, which enable new practices such as synchronous writing, may not be utilised by the researchers in the ways intended by the developers. The findings also highlight the significance of social media tools, particularly Twitter, in post-publication activities, with important implications for researcher education.

Resisting the Siren Call of Popular Digital Media Measures: Facebook Research Shows No Link between Trendy Online Measures and Ad Effectiveness

It is impossible to overstate the impact of digital tools and interactions on the marketing landscape. The way people connect, communicate, and share information online has evolved in ways unimaginable just a generation ago, yet from a marketer's perspective the biggest change may be in the amount

Political Change in the Digital Age: The Fragility and Promise of Online Organizing

We conclude that policymakers and scholars that have been most optimistic about the impact of digital tools have over-emphasized the role of information, specifically access to alternative and independent sources of information and unfiltered access to the Internet. We argue, in contrast, that more attention should be paid to the means of overcoming the difficulties of online organization in the face of authoritarian governments in an increasingly digital geopolitical environment.

Constructing the café university: teaching and learning on the digital frontier

PurposeThis paper aims to examine changes occurring in the organization and delivery of learning at the level of higher education, and argues that it is now possible to envision the shape and structures of the future digital university.Design/methodology/approachBeginning with a history of the basic organizational paradigm underlying the traditional university, this paper systematically explores the impact on this paradigm of new technological and pedagogical innovations: learning management systems (LMSs), learning objects, iPods, blogs, student e‐mail, wireless connectivity, Google's search capacity, distance (web‐based) education, and blended learning on the pedagogy of tertiary education.FindingsThe physical structure of the university is a consequence of the hierarchically organization of knowledge, the predominant model from the late middle ages through the industrial era. As knowledge becomes more extensive and complex, the old organization is proving inadequate. The organization of knowledge in several dimensions will bring a massive restructuring of institutions of higher education. The new digital university will have the web rather than disciplines and the library at its virtual center with (nearly) infinite access to the larger peripheral world. No longer holding a monopoly on information, the postmodern café university competes with commercial, for‐profit institutions of learning, thus offering traditional and new adult learners immediate access and enormous learning flexibility. This enables students of all ages to take advantage of learning experiences from any connected institution, commercial or traditional, in the world.Originality/valueAs a comprehensive and systematic examination of the impact of digital tools in the contemporary university, this paper can offer guidance to university administrators, faculty members, and others involved in the educational process.