In this study we explored whether physiological measurement technologies could be used in a combi... more In this study we explored whether physiological measurement technologies could be used in a combination with traditional educational research methods to investigate learning experiences. We aimed, first, to explore individual physiological reactions during learning and how these reactions relate to experiences, emotions and contexts of learning and, second, to test new methodology and its suitability for investigating learning. The data was collected during a teacher education programme in a Finnish university. A total of 14 students participated in the study. The data was collected during two contact periods of three days and the weekends after them, ten days in total. We used a mixed method approach and collected various kind of data: quantitative heart rate variability data, qualitative diaries, videos, interviews and questionnaires. Heart rate variability data was analyzed by using SPSS, interviews were transcr ibed, and a content analysis was performed. M eaningful learning episodes and experiences reported by the students were linked to the physiological data. In addition to the heart rate variability analysis on sequential learning related activities, the heart rate variability between different days and periods was also conducted. Overall heart rate variability varied between days and showed recovery during weekends. The daily differences in physiological alertness (derived from heart rate variability analysis) corresponded to the student reports, suggesting that small group work facilitated by the teacher was physiologically more alerting/engaging and also experienced as more meaningful than the lectures. In addition, comparisons between sequential activities with similar learning situations but with different contents showed differences in alertness. This may be due to subtle changes in the composition of the activities or students' physiological state. Exploring learning in natural contexts involves challenges, such as various uncontrolled variables in people's lives. Therefore further studies with larger samples, different contexts and meaningful episodes related more detail analyses are needed.
... Tanzania Email: [email protected] 3University of Eastern Finland, School of Educatio... more ... Tanzania Email: [email protected] 3University of Eastern Finland, School of Educational Sciences and Teacher Education, PL 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland Email: mikko ... Keywords: Distance education, e-learning, ICT education in developing countries ...
Fourth IEEE International Workshop on Technology for Education in Developing Countries (TEDC'06)
... Tanzania in fact has its own ICT policy [2] that identifies key areas for the development of ... more ... Tanzania in fact has its own ICT policy [2] that identifies key areas for the development of human resources. Among these is ICT in education. An important question that has to be asked is: What kind of ICT education does the country need? ...
Proceedings. Frontiers in Education. 36th Annual Conference, 2006
Tumaini University has been developing the use of information and communication technology (ICT) ... more Tumaini University has been developing the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in education since the mid-90s. Their first systematic ICT development project called Internet Project Strategic Plan (IPSP) focused on obtaining infrastructure for accessing information; instilling ICT skills into staff and students, and installing and servicing computers to support learning activities. With this in mind, we developed the CATI model (Contextualize, Apply, Transfer, Import) to support sustainable ICT development projects on the basis of our evaluation of the IPSP project and our previous experiences in contextualized ICT education. During the past few years we have focused our efforts on contextualizing ICT education. One of the outcomes of this initiative was a contextualized Introduction to Programming course (2004-2005). In this paper, we analyze the course design and implementation by using the CATI model. We found that the basic elements and ideas of the contextualization in terms of learning materials, practical project components, and exercises were concentrated on the application level. The course has created promising spin-offs in local Tanzanian communities. The main weaknesses of implementation are that practical elements such as teaching on the campus are still dependent on the presence of Western teachers.
Fifth IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT'05), 2005
... We appreciate the great support of Mr. Marcus Duveskog, Mr. Emmanuel Lupilya, Mr. Roman Bedra... more ... We appreciate the great support of Mr. Marcus Duveskog, Mr. Emmanuel Lupilya, Mr. Roman Bedranik and Tumaini University. References [1] World Bank Group, Tanzania Data Profile. Available: http://devdata.worldbank.org (February 24, 2005) ...
International Conference on Information Technology: Research and Education, 2003. Proceedings. ITRE2003., 2003
... ICT is important for the development of a country 181. ... To summarize, there were several r... more ... ICT is important for the development of a country 181. ... To summarize, there were several rea to launch a new HIVfAIDS education vroiect within a Dragramming course. ... _ . - - B. Thefromework of the current study AIDS is an immense problem in Tanzania. ...
IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2004. Proceedings.
The global information society is evolving at breakneck speed but developing countries are left b... more The global information society is evolving at breakneck speed but developing countries are left behind. The technology of Simputer, simple hand-held computer, has been developed to bridge the digital divide. We developed a programming tutorial on the Simputer platform and ...
This paper reports a case study for developing lecture teaching in higher education by connecting... more This paper reports a case study for developing lecture teaching in higher education by connecting simultaneously the benefits of face-to-face teaching and social software for capturing and sharing students' lecture notes. The study was conducted with 12 university students taking a degree course on pre-primary education. Data were collected on (1) the nature of the shared lecture notes produced by the students; and (2) their experiences in creating and sharing lecture notes. Students wrote 367 notes in eight lecture sessions. Discourse analysis revealed five types of notes: reproducing lecture content; summarizing lecture content; connecting key concepts; developing lecture content; questions arising from lecture content. Content analysis revealed those aspects of the lectures developed through the shared notes. Discussions with four students at the end of the course explored their experiences of using the shared notes. The results are discussed in the context of changes to the cultural ecology of learning.
The goal of this research was to design, implement and evaluate contextualized ICT education appr... more The goal of this research was to design, implement and evaluate contextualized ICT education approach in Tanzania as a joint effort of Tumaini University, Iringa University College, Tanzania, University of Southern Denmark, and University of Joensuu, Finland. The main ...
33rd Annual Frontiers in Education, 2003. FIE 2003., 2003
Teaching programming in non-Western surroundings reveals the cultural roots and dependencies of C... more Teaching programming in non-Western surroundings reveals the cultural roots and dependencies of Computer Science. Both the concepts and the teaching methods of the discipline needed to be rethought in a teaching experiment carried out in Kidugala, Tanzania, among secondary school students. Following the idea of contextualized Computer Science, called ethnocomputing, we used culturally relevant entry points to teach the basics of programming. HIV/AIDS was chosen as the topic of an Internet site, to be designed and implemented by novice programmers, using the Java language. Analyzed by action research, our experiences indicate a significant motivation among the students to learn programming skills in order to be able to deal with a taboo-like topic on a neutral platform -a computer. The experiment suggests that a culturally relevant entry point, combined with problem-based learning, could challenge novice programmers also in Western societies; a side-effect of studying Computer Science education in a less developed country.
Due to their shared socio-cultural background and common values, the Nordic countries have simila... more Due to their shared socio-cultural background and common values, the Nordic countries have similar approaches to development projects. When focused on ICT designs and uses for development, or ICT4D for short, the pragmatic and nonhierarchical Nordic agenda calls for reaching the goals demanded by the citizens of a developing community and, hence, set for an ICT project in an efficient way. The projects are often carried out in close collaboration, or even participation, within a whole set of stakeholders. Based on an analysis of five Nordic ICT4D projects, we derive a design and implementation framework for ICT4D. The framework, attributed stepwise and multithreaded, belongs to the larger family of agile design methods which can be applied also outside ICT4D.
The paper describes some initial experiences in involving users from Tanzania in the development ... more The paper describes some initial experiences in involving users from Tanzania in the development of I-BLOCKS technology for the African cultural context. Users of the intelligent building blocks (I-BLOCKS) can do 'programming by building' and thereby construct functionality of artefacts in an intuitive manner without the need to learn and use traditional programming languages. We allow both secondary school pupils and university students in Tanzania to investigate possibilities by building with I-BLOCKS within three scenarios, for (1) mathematical training, (2) emotion construction, and (3) language grammar training. Based on the experience, the pupils and students engaged in description of future development of the technology, e.g. by developing concept maps for African I-Blocks.
This paper links two perspectives on the problems of introducing information and communications t... more This paper links two perspectives on the problems of introducing information and communications technology (ICT) and ICT education to developing countries. Ongoing projects aimed at establishing ICT provision for Tumaini University in Tanzania have led to the identification of a strategy ('the CATI model') that aspires at contextualising ICT in a progressive fashion, through activities that can be interpreted as importing, transferring and applying ICT. Independent research at Warwick has highlighted the way in which orthodox ICT-based education promotes a particular variety of learning, where knowledge that can be de-contextualised is privileged. The aspirations for CATI are reviewed with reference to an alternative conception of ICT rooted on a methodology for modelling with dependency ('Empirical Modelling'). An Empirical Modelling perspective on ICT is potentially seen as overcoming some of the obstacles to contextualising information and communications technology in developing countries. This potential is illustrated with reference to a model of the Linux vim editor that has been developed to bridge the gap between the cultures of the graphical user interface and the command line.
Teaching programming in non-Western surroundings reveals the cultural roots and dependencies of C... more Teaching programming in non-Western surroundings reveals the cultural roots and dependencies of Computer Science. Both the concepts and the teaching methods of the discipline needed to be rethought in a teaching experiment carried out in Kidugala, Tanzania, among secondary school students. Following the idea of contextualized Computer Science, called ethnocomputing, we used culturally relevant entry points to teach the basics of programming. HIV/AIDS was chosen as the topic of an Internet site, to be designed and implemented by novice programmers, using the Java language. Analyzed by action research, our experiences indicate a significant motivation among the students to learn programming skills in order to be able to deal with a taboo-like topic on a neutral platform -a computer. The experiment suggests that a culturally relevant entry point, combined with problem-based learning, could challenge novice programmers also in Western societies; a side-effect of studying Computer Science education in a less developed country.
In this study we explored whether physiological measurement technologies could be used in a combi... more In this study we explored whether physiological measurement technologies could be used in a combination with traditional educational research methods to investigate learning experiences. We aimed, first, to explore individual physiological reactions during learning and how these reactions relate to experiences, emotions and contexts of learning and, second, to test new methodology and its suitability for investigating learning. The data was collected during a teacher education programme in a Finnish university. A total of 14 students participated in the study. The data was collected during two contact periods of three days and the weekends after them, ten days in total. We used a mixed method approach and collected various kind of data: quantitative heart rate variability data, qualitative diaries, videos, interviews and questionnaires. Heart rate variability data was analyzed by using SPSS, interviews were transcr ibed, and a content analysis was performed. M eaningful learning episodes and experiences reported by the students were linked to the physiological data. In addition to the heart rate variability analysis on sequential learning related activities, the heart rate variability between different days and periods was also conducted. Overall heart rate variability varied between days and showed recovery during weekends. The daily differences in physiological alertness (derived from heart rate variability analysis) corresponded to the student reports, suggesting that small group work facilitated by the teacher was physiologically more alerting/engaging and also experienced as more meaningful than the lectures. In addition, comparisons between sequential activities with similar learning situations but with different contents showed differences in alertness. This may be due to subtle changes in the composition of the activities or students' physiological state. Exploring learning in natural contexts involves challenges, such as various uncontrolled variables in people's lives. Therefore further studies with larger samples, different contexts and meaningful episodes related more detail analyses are needed.
... Tanzania Email: [email protected] 3University of Eastern Finland, School of Educatio... more ... Tanzania Email: [email protected] 3University of Eastern Finland, School of Educational Sciences and Teacher Education, PL 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland Email: mikko ... Keywords: Distance education, e-learning, ICT education in developing countries ...
Fourth IEEE International Workshop on Technology for Education in Developing Countries (TEDC'06)
... Tanzania in fact has its own ICT policy [2] that identifies key areas for the development of ... more ... Tanzania in fact has its own ICT policy [2] that identifies key areas for the development of human resources. Among these is ICT in education. An important question that has to be asked is: What kind of ICT education does the country need? ...
Proceedings. Frontiers in Education. 36th Annual Conference, 2006
Tumaini University has been developing the use of information and communication technology (ICT) ... more Tumaini University has been developing the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in education since the mid-90s. Their first systematic ICT development project called Internet Project Strategic Plan (IPSP) focused on obtaining infrastructure for accessing information; instilling ICT skills into staff and students, and installing and servicing computers to support learning activities. With this in mind, we developed the CATI model (Contextualize, Apply, Transfer, Import) to support sustainable ICT development projects on the basis of our evaluation of the IPSP project and our previous experiences in contextualized ICT education. During the past few years we have focused our efforts on contextualizing ICT education. One of the outcomes of this initiative was a contextualized Introduction to Programming course (2004-2005). In this paper, we analyze the course design and implementation by using the CATI model. We found that the basic elements and ideas of the contextualization in terms of learning materials, practical project components, and exercises were concentrated on the application level. The course has created promising spin-offs in local Tanzanian communities. The main weaknesses of implementation are that practical elements such as teaching on the campus are still dependent on the presence of Western teachers.
Fifth IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT'05), 2005
... We appreciate the great support of Mr. Marcus Duveskog, Mr. Emmanuel Lupilya, Mr. Roman Bedra... more ... We appreciate the great support of Mr. Marcus Duveskog, Mr. Emmanuel Lupilya, Mr. Roman Bedranik and Tumaini University. References [1] World Bank Group, Tanzania Data Profile. Available: http://devdata.worldbank.org (February 24, 2005) ...
International Conference on Information Technology: Research and Education, 2003. Proceedings. ITRE2003., 2003
... ICT is important for the development of a country 181. ... To summarize, there were several r... more ... ICT is important for the development of a country 181. ... To summarize, there were several rea to launch a new HIVfAIDS education vroiect within a Dragramming course. ... _ . - - B. Thefromework of the current study AIDS is an immense problem in Tanzania. ...
IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2004. Proceedings.
The global information society is evolving at breakneck speed but developing countries are left b... more The global information society is evolving at breakneck speed but developing countries are left behind. The technology of Simputer, simple hand-held computer, has been developed to bridge the digital divide. We developed a programming tutorial on the Simputer platform and ...
This paper reports a case study for developing lecture teaching in higher education by connecting... more This paper reports a case study for developing lecture teaching in higher education by connecting simultaneously the benefits of face-to-face teaching and social software for capturing and sharing students' lecture notes. The study was conducted with 12 university students taking a degree course on pre-primary education. Data were collected on (1) the nature of the shared lecture notes produced by the students; and (2) their experiences in creating and sharing lecture notes. Students wrote 367 notes in eight lecture sessions. Discourse analysis revealed five types of notes: reproducing lecture content; summarizing lecture content; connecting key concepts; developing lecture content; questions arising from lecture content. Content analysis revealed those aspects of the lectures developed through the shared notes. Discussions with four students at the end of the course explored their experiences of using the shared notes. The results are discussed in the context of changes to the cultural ecology of learning.
The goal of this research was to design, implement and evaluate contextualized ICT education appr... more The goal of this research was to design, implement and evaluate contextualized ICT education approach in Tanzania as a joint effort of Tumaini University, Iringa University College, Tanzania, University of Southern Denmark, and University of Joensuu, Finland. The main ...
33rd Annual Frontiers in Education, 2003. FIE 2003., 2003
Teaching programming in non-Western surroundings reveals the cultural roots and dependencies of C... more Teaching programming in non-Western surroundings reveals the cultural roots and dependencies of Computer Science. Both the concepts and the teaching methods of the discipline needed to be rethought in a teaching experiment carried out in Kidugala, Tanzania, among secondary school students. Following the idea of contextualized Computer Science, called ethnocomputing, we used culturally relevant entry points to teach the basics of programming. HIV/AIDS was chosen as the topic of an Internet site, to be designed and implemented by novice programmers, using the Java language. Analyzed by action research, our experiences indicate a significant motivation among the students to learn programming skills in order to be able to deal with a taboo-like topic on a neutral platform -a computer. The experiment suggests that a culturally relevant entry point, combined with problem-based learning, could challenge novice programmers also in Western societies; a side-effect of studying Computer Science education in a less developed country.
Due to their shared socio-cultural background and common values, the Nordic countries have simila... more Due to their shared socio-cultural background and common values, the Nordic countries have similar approaches to development projects. When focused on ICT designs and uses for development, or ICT4D for short, the pragmatic and nonhierarchical Nordic agenda calls for reaching the goals demanded by the citizens of a developing community and, hence, set for an ICT project in an efficient way. The projects are often carried out in close collaboration, or even participation, within a whole set of stakeholders. Based on an analysis of five Nordic ICT4D projects, we derive a design and implementation framework for ICT4D. The framework, attributed stepwise and multithreaded, belongs to the larger family of agile design methods which can be applied also outside ICT4D.
The paper describes some initial experiences in involving users from Tanzania in the development ... more The paper describes some initial experiences in involving users from Tanzania in the development of I-BLOCKS technology for the African cultural context. Users of the intelligent building blocks (I-BLOCKS) can do 'programming by building' and thereby construct functionality of artefacts in an intuitive manner without the need to learn and use traditional programming languages. We allow both secondary school pupils and university students in Tanzania to investigate possibilities by building with I-BLOCKS within three scenarios, for (1) mathematical training, (2) emotion construction, and (3) language grammar training. Based on the experience, the pupils and students engaged in description of future development of the technology, e.g. by developing concept maps for African I-Blocks.
This paper links two perspectives on the problems of introducing information and communications t... more This paper links two perspectives on the problems of introducing information and communications technology (ICT) and ICT education to developing countries. Ongoing projects aimed at establishing ICT provision for Tumaini University in Tanzania have led to the identification of a strategy ('the CATI model') that aspires at contextualising ICT in a progressive fashion, through activities that can be interpreted as importing, transferring and applying ICT. Independent research at Warwick has highlighted the way in which orthodox ICT-based education promotes a particular variety of learning, where knowledge that can be de-contextualised is privileged. The aspirations for CATI are reviewed with reference to an alternative conception of ICT rooted on a methodology for modelling with dependency ('Empirical Modelling'). An Empirical Modelling perspective on ICT is potentially seen as overcoming some of the obstacles to contextualising information and communications technology in developing countries. This potential is illustrated with reference to a model of the Linux vim editor that has been developed to bridge the gap between the cultures of the graphical user interface and the command line.
Teaching programming in non-Western surroundings reveals the cultural roots and dependencies of C... more Teaching programming in non-Western surroundings reveals the cultural roots and dependencies of Computer Science. Both the concepts and the teaching methods of the discipline needed to be rethought in a teaching experiment carried out in Kidugala, Tanzania, among secondary school students. Following the idea of contextualized Computer Science, called ethnocomputing, we used culturally relevant entry points to teach the basics of programming. HIV/AIDS was chosen as the topic of an Internet site, to be designed and implemented by novice programmers, using the Java language. Analyzed by action research, our experiences indicate a significant motivation among the students to learn programming skills in order to be able to deal with a taboo-like topic on a neutral platform -a computer. The experiment suggests that a culturally relevant entry point, combined with problem-based learning, could challenge novice programmers also in Western societies; a side-effect of studying Computer Science education in a less developed country.
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Papers by M. Vesisenaho