Sustaining Learner Engagement and Achievement through the Study Abroad Experience, (Published)
The study abroad, also known as Year Abroad or Period Abroad, has always been and remains a very important part of any language degree programme. Whilst abroad, students are expected to develop language, academic, cultural, intercultural, personal and professional skills; even though some providers’ attention has been leaning on the development of foreign language skills. Self-reported experiences have revealed that after the study abroad, many students fail to use productively acquired skills to cope with demands of the academic complex tasks, including independent major writing projects, various communicative encounters and the development of related soft skills. With an insight into the issues surrounding the curriculum provision, the learning support and the assessment of the study abroad in language programmes, the paper examines and challenges the way many students are prepared and supported to embark on the independent learning journey. The analysis of the findings suggests recommendations for effective learner engagement.
Keywords: Collaborative Learning, Critical thinking, Self-directed Learning, Study Abroad, learner engagement, reflective learning
Investigating Post Graduate Students Attitude towards Adopting Web 2.0 Technologies for Collaborative Learning (Published)
The study investigated post graduate students attitude towards adopting web 2.0 technologies for collaborative learning. The research design was survey research. The sample size was thirty postgraduate students from the Department of Curriculum studies and Educational Technology, Faculty of Education, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. One instrument was used to collect data from the samples namely: Post Graduate Students Readiness for Web 2.0 (POGSTR WEB 2.0). The instrument was subjected to face and content validity by two experts in test and measurement and three experts in information and communication technology. The estimated value of the reliability coefficient was.713.Three research questions and one hypothesis were used for the study. Simple percentages were used to answer the research questions while Pearson moment correlation was used to test the hypothesis. The findings revealed that android phone is the most common technology device owned by post graduate students with a percentage of (53.3%), followed by laptop and desktop with percentages of 33.3% and 26.7% respectively. Also 50% of the sampled students possess high technology competencies and the other 50% had low technology competencies. The correlation coefficient of 0.51 showed a positive but weak correlation between postgraduate students’ technology competencies and their attitude towards the adoption of web 2.0 technologies for collaborative learning, which implied that post graduate students with high technology competencies, would have a near tendency towards adopting web 2.0 technologies and vice-versa.
Keywords: Collaborative Learning, Web 2.0 Technologies