New Member Research Special: Wednesday 5 May 2021 |

Following our fantastic new member research special back in the autumn, we’re delighted that May’s webinar will showcase more of our new member’s research. This is another great opportunity to hear what other GO-GN’ers are working on and connect with folks across the network. Please join us at 14.00BST on Wednesday 5 May 2021.

Our awesome line-up is as follows:

14.00 Welcome

14.05 Barbara Conde Gafaro (The Open University) Taking advantage of MOOCs to unpack language learners’ self-regulated learning

14.30 Stanislaus Agava Litsalia (University of Pretoria) Exploring the feasibility of offering data literacy services at selected private universities in Kenya

14.55 Dave Cormier (University of Windsor) Dealing Vs. Solving: A Real Problem

15.20 Further discussion + final reflections

15.30 Close

Join the session here!

Taking advantage of MOOCs to unpack language learners’ self-regulated learning (Barbara Conde Gafaro, The Open University)

The pandemic has disrupted our way of learning. The use of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to support learning at a distance has regained popularity. For example, these online courses have been considered to enhance online language learning (Gimeno-Sanz, 2021). The offer of language MOOCs (LMOOCs) has increased amidst the pandemic – with 499 language courses offered by the main providers at the time of writing (Shah, 2020). However, learners who are not familiar with these online environments have to self-regulate their learning to have a successful learning experience (Gimeno-Sanz, 2021). Unfortunately, the concept of self-regulated learning (SRL) is not much studied in this area of language education (Alonso-Mencía, et.al, 2020). Hence, a case study research was conducted to investigate the SRL processes that a group of 10 adult language learners employed during four weeks of engagement with LMOOCs in Spanish, Italian and French. Participants were asked to take part in two semi-structured interviews, take a screenshot of their favourite activity in the online course, complete four monitoring surveys and an online questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted following Zimmerman and Moylan’s (2009) cyclical model of SRL that consists of three phases where metacognitive and motivational processes are intertwined to help learners achieve their goals. The findings of this study may contribute to expanding LMOOCs research and to understand how learners assume a responsible role towards their online language education.

Bibliography

Alonso-Mencía, M.E., Alario-Hoyos, C., Maldonado-Mahauad, J., Estévez-Ayres, I Pérez-Sanagustín, M., & Delgado Kloos, C. (2020). Self-regulated learning in MOOCs: lessons learned from a literature review. Educational Review, 72(3), 319-345. doi:10.1080/00131911.2019.1566208
Gimeno-Sanz, A. (2021). LMOOCs: free, self-access language learning on a global scale. In T. Beaven & F. Rosell-Aguilar (Eds), Innovative language pedagogy report (pp. 49-55). Research-publishing.net. https://doi.org/10.14705/ rpnet.2021.50.1235
Shah, D. (2020, August 16). By the Numbers: MOOCs During the Pandemic. [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.classcentral.com/report/mooc-stats-pandemic/
Zimmerman, B. J., & Moylan, A. R. (2009). Self-regulation: where metacognition and motivation intersect. In D. J. Hacker, J. Dunlosky, & A. C. Graesser (Eds.), Handbook of Metacognition in Education (pp. 299–315). New York: Routledge.

Exploring the feasibility of offering data literacy services at selected private university libraries in Kenya (Stanislaus Agava Litsalia, University of Pretoria)

Data literacy is an emerging concept within a much longer historical narrative of literacy promotion. It is the ability, of a researcher, to collect, manage, evaluate, and apply data, critically. The concept of data literacy is quickly emerging as a key priority in today’s world economy where development is increasingly defined by data collection and the knowledge and skills required to use data effectively (data manipulation) and ethically. We are in perpetual production of streams of data from all sectors of life. It is generally accepted that effective use of data empowers people to make objective, evidence-based inferences and fundamental decisions affecting their lives, both as individuals and societies. Locally, the need for data literacy training for researchers is being augmented by data publication requirements by some National regulatory agencies in Kenya, such as the Commission for University Education (CUE), the National Council of Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) and the National Research Fund (NRF). Globally, some publishers and research funders are raising it as requirement to be submitted alongside the manuscript. Universities are therefore required to put in place mechanisms of rolling out data literacy training among its novice and seasoned researchers. Due to its “experience” in offering information literacy, some libraries have attempted to provide research services under Research Data Management training programs. As a core pillar in academics and research in a university, university libraries tend to play a significant role in supporting the university’s vision and mission. As a transformation, there has been a significant transition in the roles played by university libraries today compared to past roles. They are assuming new roles considering developing trends in library science, one of them being offering Research Data Management services. The current needs of a researcher demand for a one-stop-shop that would provide tailor-made services that would make their work easier in research, right from data planning to data re-use. This study aims at exploring the feasibility of Kenyan University libraries in terms of infrastructure and capacity in offering data literacy services. The researcher hopes to develop a data literacy framework for Kenya at the end of the study.

Dealing vs. solving – A real problem (Dave Cormier, University of Windsor)

In a series of blog posts this winter/spring, I’ve been working through understanding how the way we pose questions in our classrooms might need to be rethought. Drawing on an (at least) 50 year old debate between chess and wicked problems as the core model for problem solving, this presentation will lay out my current thinking on the difference between ‘dealing with problems’ and ‘solving problems’ and what that has to do with teaching in a time of information abundance.

Dave’s Educational Blog: Building a Better Rhizome

Join the session here!

Header image credits: #edcmooc cuppa mooc by SBF Ryan is licensed CC BY 2.0; problems by Mike Krzeszak is licensed CC BY 2.0 and Data Ownership + Data Literacy by Denise Cheng is licensed CC BY-ND 2.0