Virtual Pedagogy Research Articles

Virtual Communication Competencies for Effective Virtual Pedagogy in Basic Electricity

This study was carried out to investigate virtual communication competencies required for effective online pedagogy in Basic Electricity. Basic Electricity teachers in Anambra State are expected to possess competencies that would enable them to understand the category of students in their virtual class, choose the right channel best suitable to communicate to the class, and seek out for the most suitable feedback channel within a defined time frame. Hence the need to identify the specific areas in virtual communication that Basic Electricity teachers need skills upgrade to enhance their effectiveness in implementation of virtual pedagogy. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The study was guided by a research question and one hypothesis. A five-point scale structured questionnaire was used in data collections. This was validated by three experts and the reliability established using Cronbach Alpha Reliability technique which yielded reliability coefficient of 0.86. The research question was answered using mean while statistical t-test was used to establish the significance or otherwise of the hypothesis. The findings of the study revealed that ability to speak fluently online using voice compliant platforms, ability to lead discussion online, ability to make learning interactive online, ability to make video calls, among others are the competencies upgrade needs of the teachers. Location was not found to be a determinant factor in the skills upgrade need. Thus, self-development, in-house training, reflective practices, peer review, education, and training related courses as well as standardization meeting for the Basic Electricity teacher was recommended.

Speech Genre of Reminder and Discursive Conditioning of its Features in Virtual Pedagogical Discourse

The study examines the genre-defining features of the speech genre “reminder” in virtual pedagogical discourse. The relevance of the research is determined by its inclusion in the problems of modern discourse studies (the problem of discursive conditioning of the genre) and virtual pedagogy (the involving of computer technologies as a means and platform for learning in the information-educational environment). Based on T. V. Shmeleva’s genre survey, the genre features of the speech act “reminder” are described, taking into account their determination by communicative-pragmatic conditions in virtual pedagogical communication. It is established that invariant features of the genre include (1) a communicative goal, which is related to the need to activate the addressee’s existing knowledge, and (2) the presence of language markers — syntactic constructions modeled by verbs remind, remember, and don’t forget. The discursive conditioning of the genre is manifested at the level of its dictum content (the sphere of pedagogical communication united by the semantic field “Teaching”), participants in communication (status-oriented roles of communication participants), and those substantial characteristics that are determined by the electronic information carrier (attachment of media files, communication interactivity).

Аксиология ментально-коммуникативного плана современной виртуальной педагогической коммуникации: дискуссионные заметки

The article introduces a logical analysis of the contemporary virtual pedagogy, which seems to have developed no basic trends so far. Teaching staff, education management, and, to a certain degree, parents keep failing to adapt to the rapid technological progress. This cognitive unpreparedness manifests itself as axiological modality. Most representatives of the senior generation involved in the academic process tend to demonstrate cautious or even negative attitude to virtualization. The author aims at introducing a more insightful attitude by devaluating critical or negative attitudes to virtual pedagogy and the role of social networks in it. The article discusses the factors and manifestations of this unwilling acceptance by schoolteachers and university staff. The main emphasis is not on the electronic tools per se, but on the virtual communication and academic discourse as objects of learning.

Undergraduate Student Perceptions on Virtual Online Versus On-campus Teaching – Learning Modes of Delivery and Assessment in Public Universities

On the onset of COVID 19 Pandemic, educational institutions took up either virtual online or blended modes of delivery and learning; as an intervention of solving programmed learning retention, transition and completion concerns among students in institutions of higher learning. In spite of the fact that online learning faces access learning challenges; there seems to be myriad issues with online assessment procedures. Despite this, there is still much debate on whether online assessments, particularly examinations, offer the same academic integrity as the traditional on- campus face to face paper assessment (Paulli and Ferrelli 2020). The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of undergraduate students on virtual online versus on-campus teaching- learning mode of delivery and assessment. The study anchored on descriptive survey design. A sample of 200 students across different years of study at the Faculty of Education, Kikuyu Campus, University of Nairobi, were targeted. The study used online google form to collect data. Descriptive statistics were applied in data analysis. Data was presented through tables, percentages and graphs. 140 students participated in the study. 86.1% of the respondents were in learning session and 13.9% were not in session. The most preferred mode of delivery is face to face on campus with 69.7 % responses, Virtual online – 21.8% and both, was 8.5%. The major reason for preference was that there are subjects such as mathematics, Kiswahili and English which require physical classroom student – lecturer real interactions and immediate instructional feedback for quality acquisition of skills, knowledge and values; which is completely lacking in online virtual learning; and that online virtual pedagogy flow is usually interrupted with network issues causing in-consistency in coverage of course content. Blended learning was recommended for courses that require intense practical sessions, while the other courses can take up online mode of pedagogy. Conclusively, there is need for further review of online pedagogical approaches, and curriculum policies in order to have aligned online assessments that consider equity in access to online pedagogy, in line with student socio-economic backgrounds and conducive learning environments. More research is needed for effective online pedagogical alignments.

“Defining Ourselves for Ourselves”

Black girls have long created their own subversive and creative forms of curriculum and pedagogy. I explore adolescent Black girls’ suggestions for teaching and learning about Black girlhood online based on a virtual summer arts program called Black Girls S.O.A.R. Through performance ethnography, we contended with our conceptualizations of Black girlhood and identity sense-making. The co-researchers suggested that storytelling, learner-centered pedagogy, and intentional community-building must be central in virtual pedagogy and saw reclaiming girlhood and self-care as two essential topics for teaching Black girlhood content. I also reflect on the tensions and possibilities of co-constructing participatory learning environments with Black girls, particularly as it relates to disrupting power and adultism.

Students’ Learning Motivation with Virtual Pedagogy during COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia

Recently, the education system faced an unpredicted health pandemic (COVID-19) that led to quick actions by governments to transform education from traditional face-to-face learning to modern virtual/distance learning. Due to the transition to a new education environment, learners needed special social care to improve their concentration and motivation for online learning in such a crucial crisis. In the current study, virtual learning is investigated to determine its impact on student’s motivation from teachers' perception. The influence of teachers on students’ motivation is examined by measuring the effects of teachers` gender, age, experiences, and levels of education. The current study also reflects on the influence of obstacles that face virtual education and their impact on student’s motivation. The current study is conducted at the Department of Education in Jeddah Region for teachers in middle and secondary schools. To answer the research questions and discuss their results, the current study followed the descriptive analytical methodology and deployed the social survey method. Afterwards, statistical anis were utilized to analyze the responses to the survey. The results revealed that the motivation of students is directly affected by determinants, such as the age of teachers and the practical experience they possess, since there is a statistically significant relationship between the two variables of virtual learning. Research results also indicate a strong relationship between the obstacles of online learning and the motivation of students.

To Assess Postural Discomfort of School Students using Virtual Pedagogy

Posture is usually defined as the relative arrangement of the parts of the body. It was observed that school teachers worked continuously in one posture for long hours. Constantly, they suffered from discomfort in different parts of their body, especially in the shoulders, knees, back, lower back, and upper back, which mainly prevent them from continuing their work. Aim: The purpose of this study was to assess the postural discomfort of the teachers using virtual pedagogy. With this background, this study was carried out with the objectives to assess. Objective: The postural discomfort faced by school teachers across gender. Methods: The sample size was 100 school students and sample was collected from Lucknow city using interview schedule along with a technique for measuring postural discomfort scale prepared by Corlett, E.N. and Bishop, R.P. (1976). The collected data were coded, scored, tabulated, and analyzed using relevant descriptive statistics frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation, and relational statistics like correlation. The sample was collected through random and purposive random sampling technique. The data calculated were analyzed using frequency, percentage, and correlation. Results: There is no significant difference between gender and postural discomfort of respondents.

ROLE OF ICT IN PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE OF COMMERCE EDUCATION

The education sector is considered to be a significant contributor to the global economy faced a severe blow with the onset and progression of COVID-19. With the turmoil that had been created, the educational concerns and administration who had long resented the introduction of technology in the designing and implementation of the curriculum, were left with no option but to walk on the path they had dreaded for long. The sudden shift from conventional system of schooling to the web-based system of instruction did present a variety of conundrums for both the educators and the pupils, however, it was the prospects, and particularly those brought by the use of ICTs that made this shift a lucrative option in pedagogical sphere. Despite the fact that there have been innumerable studies on the students and teachers perceptiveness of the virtual pedagogy, there are still some areas that have not been explored to their full potential, one of them being the amalgamation of the ICT trends and commerce education. This study intends to find out the efficacy, utility and the future of the ICT tools, especially in commerce education.

Virtual pedagogical strategies and HESI student outcomes in response to COVID-19

BackgroundTo maintain curricular integrity in response to COVID-19, nurse educators are increasingly required to transition from traditional (face-to-face) to virtual pedagogy. ObjectivesThe purpose of this analysis was to compare the HESI scores based on a traditional pedagogy with the HESI scores following implementation of virtual pedagogy during Spring 2020. MethodsStudent (n = 115; 81% female; mean age = 25.71 years) HESI scores were compared after each eight-week session using the Mann Whitney U test, permutation test and Wilcoxon rank test. Logistic regression was used to identify students achieving at least 850. Chi-square test was used to determine the relationship between pedagogy and students meeting 850 HESI scores. Fall 2019 Exit HESI scores were also compared with Spring 2020 Exit HESI scores. ResultsStudents from diverse backgrounds (53.9% White; 27.8% Hispanic; 10.4% Asian; 5.2% Black; 1% Unknown) increased (p = 0.022) MHESI scores following virtual pedagogy in Fundamentals, although no difference was found in Maternity (p = 0.311), Psychiatric (p = 0.129) or Medical Surgical Nursing (p = 0.692). Wilcoxon rank test revealed significant differences in MHESI scores in same cohort of students between traditional (Psychiatric) and virtual strategies (Medical-Surgical) (p < 0.01); and traditional (Medical-Surgical) and virtual (Psychiatric) strategies (p = 0.023). White students' MHESI scores were higher than Asian students', as revealed by Logistic regression with no differences based on gender. Spring 2020 and Fall 2019 Exit HESI scores were comparable (p = 0.499). Chi-square analysis revealed no relationship between pedagogy and achieving at least 850 on HESI (χ2 = 0.027, p = 0.871). ConclusionsBased on the exit HESI scores, virtual pedagogy was as effective as traditional pedagogy for maintaining student competency in a community college associate degree nursing program. Future analyses of the effectiveness of virtual pedagogy in meeting curricular outcomes is warranted, regardless of exit degree option.

Deslinde conceptual entre educación en línea o educación a distancia

La COVID-19 logró en unos días lo que las reformas educativas desde hace 25 años no pudieron lograr: promover el uso de las herramientas digitales, en los diferentes niveles educativos, en los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje; así mismo transformar la organización y estructura de la escuela. Sin embargo, esta acción emergente está generando improvisaciones y descontextualización del enfoque y conceptos de la Pedagogía Virtual. Afirmar que las aplicaciones Zoom, Facebook y WhatsApp son plataformas educativas que permiten lograr exitosamente los procesos de enseñanza aprendizaje y que la educación por internet es una modalidad denominada Educación a Distancia son proposiciones erróneas que deben ser definidas y contextualizadas para no desvirtuar el enfoque científico que han logrado avanzar la Educación, la Pedagogía y la Didáctica. El propósito de este artículo pretende definir los siguientes conceptos: Educación a Distancia; Educación en Línea usando las diferentes herramientas digitales que la tecnología ha logrado desarrollar y que obligan a una definición de la Pedagogía Virtual. Palabras clave: Educación a distancia; educación en línea; pedagogía; didáctica; currículum; plataforma educativa.

Digital pedagogy: analysis, requirements and experience of implementation

The object of research is the process of digitalization of teacher education in Russian universities at the present time. The authors pay special attention to the characteristics of the concept of ‘digital pedagogy’. They analyze the definitions of the concepts of ‘digital pedagogy’, ‘electronic pedagogy’, ‘virtual pedagogy’ and ‘techno-pedagogy’. The authors of the article describe the functional and content components of digital pedagogy characteristics such as content-based, environmental, technological and competence-based components on the result of research by methods of content analysis, discursive analysis, synthesis of ideas of modern digital technologies. The article reveals the significance of digital transformation of education in creating non-standard algorithms for solving traditional pedagogical problems, forming and developing an innovative learning process based on artificial intelligence, big data and distributed computation. The article describes the Master’s program in digital pedagogy implemented at the Mari State University.

Boundaries of Internet Pedagogy development

The article discusses the development of pedagogy in the era of digital learning and upbringing. The pandemic has changed the way children are taught around the world. At present, distance learning technologies have become the main technology used in more than 185 countries of the world. The sudden transition of more than 1.5 billion children studying around the world showed some of the weaknesses of distance learning technologies today, indicating ways out of this situation. The widely implemented distance learning technology makes adjustments to some important aspects of the methodology and theory of digital pedagogy. The authors distinguish Internet pedagogy as a branch of pedagogical science dealing with the problems of distance learning for students of all ages, and the upbringing of the digital culture of all members of society. The connotate of online pedagogy is wider than digital pedagogy, virtual pedagogy, interactive pedagogy, and communication pedagogy.

Presence and Pedagogy: The Potentials of Multi-user Virtual Environments as Learning Spaces

Theoretical concepts in Humanities and Social Science disciplines are notoriously slippery for students to grasp, with often competing sets of discourses. At the Graduate level, teaching faculty often expect that students will be both better prepared, and more willing, to engage with such complexities. This is not always the case, however, leaving faculty searching for methods to facilitate students' understanding. In this paper, I discuss one such method and provide examples of student feedback about its effectiveness. The initiative in question involves a virtual in which graduate Sociology students create their own avatar and then write a short reflective field trip report paper on the process of identity construction in a Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE) called Second Life™. The exercise requires students to engage in several levels of situated, problem-based learning - a process perhaps best described as praxis. In reflecting on the possibilities and limitations they experience during this particular exercise, students encounter manifestations of theoretical concepts drawn from Symbolic Interaction, identity discourse and the interface between identity and embodiment. In my discussion of this exercise, I provide a brief background to the virtual field trip as a pedagogic strategy and suggest some best practice guidelines. I situate the initiative within the developing field of virtual pedagogy, and argue that the enhanced sense of presence in MUVEs provides students with opportunities to manifest theoretical concepts through praxis and playful experimentation.

What is it about Field Trips? Praxis, Pedagogy and Presence in Virtual Environments

Teaching Faculty in Humanities and Social Science disciplines often struggle to find ways to facilitate students’ understanding of theoretical concepts. In the Higher Education environment, we may neglect the “hands-on” strategies used so effectively in earlier educational contexts—to our students’ detriment in some cases.Recent moves towards situated and problem-based learning in Higher Education offer productive possibilities to incorporate all these modes of learning. In this paper, I argue that one specific pedagogical initiative—the field trip—offers productive opportunities for praxis in disciplines where it is not commonly considered as a teaching strategy. More specifically, I shall suggest that the traditional field trip can be usefully situated within an emerging field—virtual pedagogy—through the delivery of teaching strategies in virtual environments. I shall argue that, far from rebottling old wine, the virtual field trip combines situated, problem-based learning with praxis in excitingly new ways. Further, I suggest that the enhanced sense of presence provided by multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) offers Teaching Faculty in Higher Education contexts a surprisingly effective way to introduce students to complex theoretical concepts through playful experimentation. To illustrate my argument, I shall draw on personal experience of one such teaching initiative at graduate level—a Sociology graduate field trip to a MUVE called Second Life.

Educating far from Equilibrium: Chaos Philosophy and the Quest for Complexity in Education

It would be futile, John Dewey argued in 1902, to think that we have to choose between child-centered, progressive education and traditional, subject-matter-oriented approaches. Calling for adaptivity, he stressed that we need the act of balancing the one with the other. The tendency in current educational policy to lean in favor of traditional, disciplinary modes of control appears to lose sight of this need. The aim of this paper is to reconnect to the task of maintaining a balance between educational freedom and structure, using a variety of theoretical resources such as complexity science, and the philosophies of Deleuze and Guattari, Schiller, and Nietzsche. Based on these resources, the authors also discuss Steiner Waldorf education as an example of how educational practice may approach, and integrate the significance of chaos in the form of a “virtual pedagogy”.