The significance of the reflective practitioner in blended learning

This is a case study paper concerned with the introduction of blended learning on a part-time higher education programme for mature students. The interpretive work draws on four action research cycles conducted over two years with two student cohorts. Discussion is based on observations, staff and student focus groups and interviews examining the students’ expectations and experiences. The initial focus of the action research was on the introduction of technology into the teaching and learning experience. The great advantage of an interpretive approach, however, is to allow the findings to determine the course of the research. During the first action research cycles, the focus of the research soon changed from the use of technology in blended learning to the role of the practitioners involved. We advocate the key role of reflective practitioners in facilitating blended learning and suggest that action research is a useful framework to develop this. Keywords: Educational Technology Implementation, Electronic Learning (E-Learning), Teacher Improvement, Teacher Preparation, Action Research, Asynchronous Communications, blended learning, part-time student, reflective practice

The impact of mobile phone uses in the developing world: giving voice to the rural poor in the Congo

In recent years, the rise of information and communication technologies (ICTs) contrasted with the dire living conditions of the world’s poorest has been the subject of debate among industry and academia. However, despite the amount of writings produced on mobile phones, Western bias is surprisingly unbridledly prevailing alongside the fêted dissemination of mobile phones. Expansive literature tends to present the rapid adoption of mobile phones among rural individuals, with little to no indication of how local values and voices are respected or promoted. We undertook semi-structured interviews with 16 rural chiefs to inquire into ways in which mobile phones enabled socio-economic development in the rural Congo. Rather than using quantitative, large-scale, or top-down data, we sought to give voice to chiefs themselves about the role of mobile phones. We found that Western bias dominates the literature and deployment of mobile phones more than usually acknowledged. We suggested some paths forward, while bringing the African communal Utu or Ubuntu culture to the center stage