*** ATTENTION! ***
This call, that closes on November 30, 2022, will only accept articles that respond to the specific terms of the Call for Papers.
The next Call for Papers, closing on May 30, 2023, will be more open.
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Special Issue Coordinators:
César Coll, Frida Díaz Barriga, Jesús Salinas y Anna Engel
1.- Introduction
Since the beginning of the information society era, the ways in which people learn have been rapidly evolving. Today learning is no longer limited to the initial periods of people's lives or to formal educational institutions. People learn in the multiple contexts of activity that go lifelong and life-wide (Banks et al., 2007; Coll, 2013). More and more, people learn in virtual and hybrid activity contexts, and not only face-to-face. We learn with the support of multiple and different types of devices that allow us to incorporate and integrate digital resources and tools of different nature and origin, as well as build personal digital learning environments adjusted to our interests and learning preferences (Castañeda & Adell, 2013; Downes, 2015). Many of these devices are mobile and have a wireless connection, which allow us to access different learning content and activity contexts that offer learning opportunities and resources. Also, these devices allow us to learn at different times and transfer our learning from one context to another (Wong & Looi, 2011). This focus on lifelong learning that is being outlined conditions the way in which students access information and acquire knowledge, skills and competencies, and poses a challenge to formal education of creating appropriate environments for these new forms of learning.
The formal educational system has not been left out of this digital transformation. The incorporation of digital technologies into teaching and learning processes is, without a doubt, one of the factors that has driven the search for teaching-learning models and strategies and the creation of appropriate learning environments for the 21st century. Currently, a variety of training modalities that use digital tools coexist and can be placed on a continuum. On the one side, we find face-to-face teaching that uses very few digital resources. On the opposite side, we find online teaching and learning processes entirely mediated by digital technologies. Between both poles, we can find a myriad of hybrid modalities which depend on the time and workload distributed between face-to-face and online activities. We also find other important characteristics of these activities, such as, for example, the amount of tutorial support and autonomous learning of the students, the individual or collaborative activities or use of experiences that originate in non-formal learning contexts.
In recent years, new pedagogical and didactic models and strategies have emerged from the use of digital technologies, such as adaptive learning, computer-supported collaborative learning), flipped classroom, smart-classroom, personal learning environments, gamification, serious games, learning analytics, etc. In parallel, the incorporation of digital technologies has given a new dimension to traditional methodologies (i,e., problem based learning, service learning, learning based on challenges...), including direct teaching, through the incorporation of teaching platforms or more specific technologies such as educational applications (apps), extended reality, simulations, metaverse or other developments based on artificial intelligence techniques, among others. Recently, due to Covid-19 confinements and mobility restrictions a boost to the use of digital technologies in teaching and learning processes has come. Therefore, it is urgent to know the possibilities and limitations of technologies between the different contexts, users, purposes or content based on evidence focused on students' learning.
Research on the impact of technologies in learning point out two main approaches (Istance and Kools, 2013). One approach seeks the "technological impact", from the consideration that digital technologies are by itself the catalyst of a radical change in education. The second is a learner-centred approach which focuses on the "impact on learning" and considers technology as a tool to assist people in their learning. It is very problematic when digital technologies allow teaching and learning environments to be configured to find a “technological impact” on learning because this impact depends to a large extent on how these technologies are used and on what purpose, and in combination with all the other elements that configure the environment they shape (i,e., the quality of learning resources and tasks, modes of interaction between teachers and students, types of feedback, etc.). Besides, research studies that focus on the "impact on learning" do not always provide clear evidence of the learning achieved by students. In many cases, the provided results have to do with the satisfaction of the students with the training received, the usability of the tools, the students’ perception of learning, the levels of completion or abandonment and the degree of success, and to a lesser extent, with their academic performance (Martin, Sun, & Westine, 2020). Academic grades obtained through exams or tests are obviously highly valuable evidence, but also the performance evaluations that prove that students have acquired certain skills, abilities or have the ability to solve problems, apply, interpret, analyse, categorise, argue, defend, evaluate, build, formulate, etc.
The purpose of this RIED monograph is to collect empirical studies (quantitative, qualitative or mixed-methods) that provide evidence of the impact of educational practices mediated, totally or partially, by digital technologies on student learning outcomes. Learning outcomes need to be understood in a broad sense, that is, including conceptual and actitudinal content, skills, competencies, participation, involvement, and importantly emphasising on the students’ personal and social development. We ask for studies that prove empirically that students achieved (or not) that learning.
Reviews will also be accepted as long as they formulate theoretical or methodological proposals aimed at overcoming the possible limitations derived from the results and clearly establishing new priorities in the research agenda of the topic of this monograph.
Studies related to the university environment will be prioritised, although those carried out with non-university students whose methodology and results can be replicated in higher education settings may also be accepted.
2.- Topics
In accordance with this focus, the studies are expected to address, among others, one or more of the following issues:
- Which evidence of student learning exists of educational practices mediated by digital technologies aimed at promoting reflection, metacognition or self-regulated learning in higher education?
- Which evidence of student learning exists of educational practices mediated by digital technologies aimed at fostering critical thinking, creative thinking or problem-solving skills?
- What unusual methodologies are being developed in higher education due to digital technologies? Do we have empirical evidence of the impact of these methodologies on student learning?
- What blended learning practices are currently being carried out? Do we have empirical evidence of the impact of these practices on student learning outcomes?
- What types of methodologies or didactic and pedagogical strategies use digital technologies to a greater extent? What types of digital technologies are the most common in university classrooms? Which practical learning experiences with empirical evidence on student learning do exist?
- Does the student learning resulting from the participation in educational practices mediated by technology vary according to the students sociodemographic factors (age, educational level, sociocultural level, gender...) and/or contextual factors (discipline, content, course...)?
- What theoretical and methodological approaches are most appropriate to investigate the impact of practices mediated by digital technologies on student learning? What are the advantages and limitations of the different approaches? How can we reap the benefits and counter the limitations?
3.- Key dates
- Deadline for submission: until November 30, 2022.
- Official publication of the monograph: June-July, 2023.
4.- Requirements to the authors
- Adjust to the characteristics of the monograph, previously exposed.
- Adjust to the indications and requirements of RIED that can be found in Information For Authors or in the summary of RIED requirements.
References
- Banks, A. et. al. (2007). Learning In and Out of School in Diverse Environments: Life-Long, Life-Wide, Life-Deep. The Learning in Informal and Formal Environments Center. University of Washington, Stanford University, and SRI International. http://lifeslc.org/docs/Banks_etal-LIFE-Diversity-Report.pdf
- Castañeda, L., & Adell, J. (2013). La anatomía de los PLEs. En Castañeda, L., & Adell, J., Entornos personales de aprendizaje: claves para el ecosistema educativo en red, (p. 11-27). Ed Marfil.
- Coll, C. (2013). La educación formal en la nueva ecología del aprendizaje: tendencias, retos y agenda de investigación. En J.L. Rodríguez Illera (Comp.), Aprendizaje y Educación en la Sociedad Digital (pp. 156-170). Universitat de Barcelona. http://www.psyed.edu.es/archivos/grintie/AprendizajeEducacionSociedadDigital.pdf
- Downes, S. (2015). From MOOC to Personal Learning. FGV Online, 5(1), 69-77. http://www.downes.ca/post/64556
- Istance, D., & Kools, M. (2013). OECD work on technology and education: Innovative learning environments as an integrating framework. European Journal of Education, 48(1), 43-57. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12017
- Martin, F., Sun, T., & Westine, C. D. (2020). A systematic review of research on online teaching and learning from 2009 to 2018. Computers & Education, 159, 104009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.104009
- Wong, L-H., & Looi, Ch-K. (2011). What seems do we remove in mobile-assisted seamless learning? A critical review of the literature. Computers & Education, 57, 2364-2381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.06.007
