Over the last two decades, institutions for higher education such as universities and colleges have rapidly expanded and as a result have experienced profound changes in processes of research and organization. However, the rapid expansion and change has fuelled concerns about issues such as educators' technology professional development. Despite the educational value of emerging technologies in schools, the introduction has not yet enjoyed much success. Effective use of information and communication technologies requires a substantial change in pedagogical practice. Traditional training and learning approaches cannot cope with the rising demand on educators to make use of innovative technologies in their teaching. As a result, educational institutions as well as the public are more and more aware of the need for adequate technology professional development. The focus of this paper is to look at action research as a qualitative research methodology for studying technology professional development in HE in order to improve teaching and learning with ICTs at the tertiary level. The data discussed in this paper have been drawn from a cross institutional setting at Fontys University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands. The data were collected and analysed according to a qualitative approach.
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The objective of this paper is a reflective discussion on the validity of the construct Information Literacy in the perspective of changing information and communication technologies. The research question that will be answered is: what is the impact of technological developments on the relevance of the Information Literacy concept? Technological developments that will be discussed are: - content integration (federated search engines) - amateur publishing (user generated content) - use of social networks to find information - personalisation and push technology - loss of context / fragmentation of information. Research methods: desk research and critical analysis of the results that were found. The analysis of the influence of the discussed technologies on the Information Literacy concept is represented by arrow diagrams. Findings: The Information Literacy concept refers to a set of sub skills varying from retrieval skills to critical use of scholar information. Changing technologies reduce the significance of the more instrumental sub skills of the Information Literacy concept. On the other hand, higher order cognitive skills (for instance critical evaluation of resources and analysis of content) become more and more important for students and professionals who try to solve their information problems. The paper concludes with a description of the facets of the Information Literacy concept that need extra attention in the education of the knowledge workers of the future. [De hier gepubliceerde versie is het 'accepted paper' van het origineel dat is gepubliceerd op www.springerlink.com . De officiële publicatie kan worden gedownload op http://www.springerlink.com/content/n32j3um878720h40/abstract/]
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The aim of this review was to explore which factors influence nurses' adoption of information and communication technology. A systematic review was conducted using qualitative and quantitative studies. The authors performed the search strategy in the databases of PubMed, CINAHL, and IEEE and included articles published between January 2011 and July 2021. This review explores the following factors: collaboration, leadership, and individual and team factors—that, according to qualitative and quantitative research, seem to influence nurses' adoption of information and communication technology. A gradual implementation process of the information and communication technology, involvement from care professionals in the implementation process, and team functioning are important factors to consider when adopting information and communication technology. In addition to these, individual factors such as age, experience, attitude, and knowledge are also influencing factors. The review suggests that collaboration is important within the implementation of information and communication technology in care and that it positively influences nurses' adoption of it. Individual factors are researched more extensively than collaboration, leadership, and team factors. Although they also appear to influence the adoption of information and communication technology, there is insufficient evidence to convincingly substantiate this.
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Background: Our transition to an “information society” means that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become integral to our lives. ICT has also become an essential aspect of medical institutions and healthcare settings. Healthcare professionals, especially nurses are required to use ICT in their daily work. In Lebanon, however, due to political factors, many universities have not introduced technology or any form of ICT in their curricula. Institutions of higher education do use technology in various ways, however, successful incorporation of ICT in education requires acceptance by instructors who are expected to use ICT in teaching practices. Although international findings reveal that ICT should be used in nursing education, some faculty members experience difficulty integrating it. Method: A mixed methodological research approach was used to investigate the attitudes of nursing teaching staff toward the use of ICT in nursing education. Results: Our findings revealed three categories of faculty with differing attitudes to the use of ICT in teaching and learning: pioneers, faculty members who have developed positive attitudes toward ICT usage; followers, faculty members with neutral attitudes; and resisters, faculty members with negative attitudes. Conclusions: Identification of the nursing faculty members’ attitude toward ICT and the challenges faced by them contributes to the integration of ICT into nursing curricula and further development of educational practices.
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De lerarenopleiding speelt een belangrijke rol bij de voorbereiding van leraren in opleiding op het gebruik van technologie voor onderwijzen en leren. Uit de literatuur blijkt echter dat lerarenopleiders vaak moeite hebben om een doeltreffende ICT-integratie te modelleren. De bereidheid om ICT in het onderwijs te gebruiken heeft betrekking op het verwerven van kennis, vaardigheden en attitudes over het gebruik van technologie voor onderwijzen en leren. Wanneer deze bereidheid tot uiting komt in het feitelijke gebruik van technologie in de klas, en het vermogen om op dit gebruik te reflecteren, past dit in de conceptualisering van 'didactische ICT-competentie'. Een curriculumherziening op vijf locaties van de Lerarenopleiding Basisonderwijs (Pabo) van Hogeschool Inholland in Nederland vormde de aanleiding voor deze studie. Het doel van dit onderzoek is het meten van de perceptie van leraren in opleiding van de strategieën die lerarenopleiders gebruiken om de ontwikkeling van effectief gebruik van informatie- en communicatietechnologie (ICT) in de klas te ondersteunen. Het Synthesis of Qualitative Data (SQD) model definieert zes kernstrategieën voor de ondersteuning van leerkrachten in opleiding om ICT in het onderwijs te gebruiken, namelijk (1) rolmodellering; (2) reflectie over de rol van technologie;(3) leren van technologie door (her)ontwerpen van lessen; (4) samenwerken met collega's; (5) authentieke Teaching, Learning & Technology en (6) voortdurende feedback. De centrale vraag van dit onderzoek luidt: Hoe percipiëren leraren in opleiding van vijf lerarenopleidingen deze strategieën die lerarenopleiders gebruiken om de ontwikkeling van hun didactische ICT-competenties te ondersteunen? Er werd gebruik gemaakt van een mixed-methods onderzoeksopzet. De SQD-vragenlijst met 24 items (zespunts Likert-schaal) werd vertaald naar het Nederlands en uitgebreid met zes open vragen, die verdere uitwijding bij elk van de kernstrategieën mogelijk maakten. Vijf locaties van de Lerarenopleiding Basisonderwijs (Pabo) van Hogeschool Inholland in Nederland waren erbij betrokken. De strategieën "authentieke technologie-ervaring" en "rolmodellering door de lerarenopleider" worden het meest herkend. Het geven van voortdurende feedback was de minst erkende strategie omdat feedback vooral als summatief werd ervaren. De meerderheid van de lerarenopleiders werd niet herkend als rolmodel voor ICT-integratie. Lerarenopleiders in digitale geletterdheid echter wel. Hoewel de stages een ruimte bieden om te oefenen, worden de zittende leerkrachten niet erkend als inspirerende voorbeelden van ICT-integratie. Als leerkrachten in opleiding te weinig rolmodellen zien die vakspecifieke ICT-integratie tonen, ontwikkelen zij zelf geen doeltreffende ICT-integratie. Verder onderzoek zou zich moeten richten op de vraag hoe het aantal erkende strategieën kan verhoogd worden, te beginnen met het "geven van continue feedback".
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Given the growing number of older people, society as a whole should ideally provide a higher quality of life (QoL) for its ageing citizens through the concept of personalised ageing. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are subject to constant and rapid development, and can contribute to the goal of an improved QoL for older adults. In order to utilise future ICT solutions as a part of an age-friendly smart environment that helps achieve personalised ageing with an increased QoL, one must first determine whether the existing ICT solutions are satisfying the needs of older people. In order to accomplish that, this study contributes in three ways. First, it proposes a framework for the QoL of older adults, in order to provide a systematic review of the state-of-the-art literature and patents in this field. The second contribution is the finding that selected ICT solutions covered by articles and patents are intended for older adults and are validated by them. The third contribution of the study are the six recommendations that are derived from the review of the literature and the patents which would help move the agenda concerning the QoL of older people and personalised ageing with the use of ICT solutions forward. Original article at MDPI; DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082940 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers "Age-Friendly Cities & Communities: State of the Art and Future Perspectives")
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Background: Low-educated patients are disadvantaged in using questionnaires within the health care setting because most health-related questionnaires do not take the educational background of patients into account. The Dutch Talking Touch Screen Questionnaire (DTTSQ) was developed in an attempt to meet the needs of low-educated patients by using plain language and adding communication technology to an existing paper-based questionnaire. For physical therapists to use the DTTSQ as part of their intake procedure, it needs to generate accurate information from all of their patients, independent of educational level. Objective: The aim of this study was to get a first impression of the information that is generated by the DTTSQ. To achieve this goal, response processes of physical therapy patients with diverse levels of education were analyzed. Methods: The qualitative Three-Step Test-Interview method was used to collect observational data on actual response behavior of 24 physical therapy patients with diverse levels of education. The interviews included both think-aloud and retrospective probing techniques. Results: Of the 24 respondents, 20 encountered one or more problems during their response process. The use of plain language and information and communication technology (ICT) appeared to have a positive effect on the comprehensibility of the DTTSQ. However, it also had some negative effects on the interpretation, retrieval, judgment, and response selection within the response processes of the participants in this study. No educational group in this research population stood out from the rest in the kind or number of problems that arose. All respondents recognized themselves in the outcomes of the questionnaire. Conclusions: The use of plain language and ICT within the DTTSQ had both positive and negative effects on the response processes of its target population. The results of this study emphasize the importance of earlier recommendations to accompany any adaption of any questionnaire to a new mode of delivery by demonstrating the difference and equivalence between the two different modes and to scientifically evaluate the applicability of the newly developed mode of the questionnaire in its intended setting. This is especially important in a digital era in which the use of plain language within health care is increasingly being advocated.
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A social media architect is an appealing new profession that entails crossovers between communication and IT & Design. There are no study programmes for this job. Important questions are how to interest secondary school pupils for such a new job, and how to prepare them for these jobs or jobs that do not even exist today? This research aims to set an example by presenting a realistic job profile of a social media architect by linking the ‘21st century skills’ to the context in which he/she operates.
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Tom van Weert argues that economic, societal and cultural developments in indus-trialized countries push for educational innovation. He sees Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as enabling factor of this innovation. His line of reasoning is the following. Knowledge intensive economies have a need for modern professionals with new qualifications. These professionals have to be able to produce concrete business results, but need also to contribute to essential business knowledge, needed to survive in a highly competitive and changing environment. Knowledge creation is becoming part of working and is therefore not anymore the exclusive right of research institutions. In this light, universities as breeding place of modern professionals, need to redefine their role in much more fundamental ways than simply continuing old practices by modern ICT means. A new educational paradigm is needed, integrating learning, working and knowledge creation. Situation based learning environments may be the materialization of this new paradigm.
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The main research question in this chapter was: Which information problem solving skills are, according to the lecturers in the Bachelor of ICT, important for their students? Selecting items from a results list and judging the information on actuality, relevance and reliability were regarded as extremely important by most of the interviewed lecturers. All these sub-skills refer to the third criterion of the scoring rubric, the quality of the primary sources. As mentioned before, one of the NSE lecturers holds the opinion that students should improve their behaviour exactly on this point. Another sub-skill that is seen as very important by the interviewees is the analysis of information to be applied in the student’s own knowledge product. This refers to the fifth criterion of the rubric, the creation of new knowledge. The quality of primary sources and the creation of new knowledge criteria both bear extra weights in the grading process with the scoring rubric. A third criterion which also bears extra weight (‘orientation on the topic’) was mentioned as an important subskill by some interviewees but not as explicitly as the other two criterions. One of the facets of information problem solving that need improvement, according to one of the lecturers, is the reflection on the whole process to stimulate the anchoring of this mode of working. In the concept of information problem solving are higher order skills (orientation and question formulation, judging information and creation of new knowledge) distinguished from lower order skills (reference list, in-text citations, the selection of keywords and databases). Considering all results of this research, one can conclude that the importance of the higher order IPS skills – which refer to ‘learning to think’ (Elshout, 1990) – is recognised by most of the interviewed lecturers. The lower order skills are considered less important by most of them.
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