La formation initiale des enseignants de l’enseignement fondamental au Grand-Duché de Luxembourg : un bachelor de quatre années au sein de l’Université du Luxembourg

in Administration et Education (2017), 154(2), 157-163

The use of iPads in Kindergarten: An exploratory survey study

Scientific Conference (2016, September 06)

The educational technology support team of the city of Luxembourg deployed 60 iPads, in a pilot phase during the school year 2014-2015, in around 120 Kindergarten classes. In order to assess whether this ... [more ▼]

The educational technology support team of the city of Luxembourg deployed 60 iPads, in a pilot phase during the school year 2014-2015, in around 120 Kindergarten classes. In order to assess whether this deployment was well received by teachers and whether it was worth extending it, we did an exploratory survey study that asked Kindergarten teachers about their reactions to the provided iPads. Moreover, we wanted to contribute to the existing body of research on enabling and hindering factors for the integration of ICT in education (Ertmer, 2005; Pelgrum, 2011). We did send out an email to about 210 Kindergarten teachers inviting them to participate in our study and answer various questions about their use or not of the provided iPads. A mix of open and closed questions were used. We first asked them whether they had used the iPads or not and depending on their answers they received a slightly different version of our survey. Both groups of respondents were asked to answer some questions not directly linked to the use of iPads in education: their gender, their age, the length of their work experience, how many children they have in their class, how competent they feel with using digital tools, what digital tools they use privately and for what purposes they use them, what digital tools (other than iPads) they use in their classes and for what purposes they use them, what they consider to be good teaching in Kindergarten. Those who said they had indeed used the iPads were then asked how they had prepared themselves before using the iPads in class, why and for what purposes and for which learning & teaching activities they had used them (Leclercq & Poumay 2005), what they had expected from their use, what problems, issues and challenges they had faced, if they would want to use them more / differently in the future, what they would need to wore more / better with iPads and whether they would be willing to offer professional development sessions to other teachers. Those who said they did not use the provided iPads were asked why they did not use the iPads, if they had thought about the use of iPads in education, if they had heard about it from colleagues, under which conditions they might consider to use them, how they would prepare themselves in case they would plan to use iPads in their class, if they wanted to visit colleagues and observe how they use them, for what purposes and activities they might want to use them, how they would use them, and what effects they would expect the iPads to have on their pupils and on their teaching. Overall, 91 teachers filled out the survey, 63 claiming they had (at least once) used the provided iPads in their class and 28 saying they never used them. Results will be presented at the conference and discussed in terms of teacher believes about the usefulness of tablets and digital technologies (Tondeur, Hermans, van Braak & Valcke, 2008), and more specifically how first-order and second-order barriers impact Kindergarten teachers decisions to integrate mobile ICT in their classrooms, or not (Lui & Pange, 2015). [less ▲]

Project Based Learning - A Teaser

Conference given outside the academic context (2015)

Project-Based Learning (PBL) is currently one of the big buzz words in education. To some it is like a "magical wand” that transforms everything and turns dull classes into rich and deep learning ... [more ▼]

Project-Based Learning (PBL) is currently one of the big buzz words in education. To some it is like a "magical wand” that transforms everything and turns dull classes into rich and deep learning experiences. Others think that PBL is just a waste of time and that the return on investment is not worth trying. In order to give you a better understanding of this pedagogical approach, we will (1) define what Project-Based Learning is, (2) what it is not, (3) what scientific research tells us when it works and when it does not work, (4) which educational challenges teachers and students have to face when using PBL in classes and (5) which theories of learning & teaching help us explain and understand why and how PBL works. Finally, we will give you a very personal account of PBL based on our teaching experiences in a higher education setting. [less ▲]

Vers une intégration stratégique des technologies digitales à l’école

Conference given outside the academic context (2014)

Dans cette présentation nous allons tenter de proposer un certain nombre de concepts théoriques et pratiques que nous jugeons utiles pour toute personne désireuse de se lancer dans l’aventure d’une ... [more ▼]

Dans cette présentation nous allons tenter de proposer un certain nombre de concepts théoriques et pratiques que nous jugeons utiles pour toute personne désireuse de se lancer dans l’aventure d’une intégration stratégique des technologies digitales à l’école. Ces concepts et scénarios sont issus et nourris de nos recherches empiriques, de nos lectures de textes scientifiques et didactico-pédagogiques et de nos propres expériences en tant qu’enseignants à l’université. L’objectif de notre présentation sera double. Nous souhaitons fournir des instruments de pensée qui permettront 1) de (mieux) comprendre l’utilisation et l’intégration des technologies d’apprentissage et d’enseignement dans les contextes scolaires et 2) de planifier et de réaliser cette utilisation de façon plus consciente, plus réfléchie. Ainsi nous proposons de mettre en évidence les défis posés à l’école par la révolution digitale et de les rendre reconnaissables comme opportunités pour l’école de demain en fournissant des éléments conceptuels et théoriques pouvant informer, voire guider l’action et la réflexion didactico-pédagogiques. Nous proposons donc de fournir quelques outils psychologiques susceptibles de vous aider à marcher les chemins passionnants mais semés d’embûches qui mènent vers une intégration stratégique, réussie et satisfaisante des technologies digitales dans votre pratique au quotidien. [less ▲]

Enhancing University Students’ Learning, Engagement and Satisfaction in a Blended Learning Environment: An Action Research Study

Scientific Conference (2013, September 27)

With the study reported here, two lecturers in Educational Technology tried to find out how they could improve their university students’ learning, their course engagement and their overall course ... [more ▼]

With the study reported here, two lecturers in Educational Technology tried to find out how they could improve their university students’ learning, their course engagement and their overall course satisfaction by systematically planning, observing and reflecting their teaching practices. For institutional reasons, they had been forced to switch from small-group seminars to large-group lectures in 2010-2011 and had since observed (1) relatively important declines in students’ knowledge and understanding (Bloom, 195 ), (2) low levels of student engagement during the lectures and (3) mixed levels of course satisfaction. During the winter semester 2012-2013 they thus wanted to explore various blended learning and interactive lecturing activities and to assess their effects. The aims of this research study are thus (1) to design and implement a meaningful and reasonable blended learning environment for students and (2) to roughly appraise its effects. Therefore an action-research process was established according emmis Mc aggart’s (1990) cyclical action-research model, where each cycle contains 4 steps: plan, action, observe and reflect. In addition, an intervention research process was also put in place to collect quantitative data about student learning, engagement and satisfaction. Planning, acting, observing and reflecting were done by the two lecturers. Oral presentations were prepared collaboratively; while one of the two lecturers delivered the presentation, the other one acted as the researcher, observing classroom activities, and implementing interactive learning activities; reflecting was done collaboratively after each lecture by writing down impressions. Several presentations were recorded (using a lecture recording software) and made available online for revision. Quantitative data were collected (1) from students’ actions in an online learning environment (moodle), comprising their viewing of various resources and their posting to assignments, and (2) from students’ scores at the final exam. Student satisfaction with the course had to be very generally assessed with the help of an optional anonymous course satisfaction survey set up by the university and could thus not be crossed with other types of data collected. Collected data are currently being analysed and will be presented at the conference. This research should help to better understand how university lecturing, often described as boring by students and leading to rather poor student performances, can be (1) enriched with the help of interactive and multimedia activities, as well as (2) extended by online learning activities. The objective is thus to contribute to the design of blended learning environments which (1) foster more sustainable learning in students, i.e. improving retention of knowledge and deepening understanding, and (2) lead to more responsible teaching, i.e. helping teachers to care about their students’ learning, engagement and satisfaction. [less ▲]

Vers une architecture de testing assisté par ordinateur pour l'évaluation des acquis scolaires dans les systèmes éducatifs orientés sur les résultats

in Blais, Jean-Guy (Ed.) Évaluation des apprentissages et technologies de l’information et de la communication: Enjeux, applications et modèles de mesure (2009)

Negative Zahlen in der Grundschule

in Vásárhelyi, Éva (Ed.) Beiträge zum Mathematikunterricht 2008 (2008)

Für Grundschüler gehören negative Zahlen intuitiv zum Allgemeinwissen: im Winter bringt der Wetterbericht Angaben über negative Temperaturen, Stockwerke in Tiefgaragen werden mit negativen Zahlen ... [more ▼]

Für Grundschüler gehören negative Zahlen intuitiv zum Allgemeinwissen: im Winter bringt der Wetterbericht Angaben über negative Temperaturen, Stockwerke in Tiefgaragen werden mit negativen Zahlen gekennzeichnet, usw. In diesem Vortrag wird die Idee einer systematischen Einführung in den Zahlenraum der negativen Zahlen erläutert, eine Vorgehensweise die bereits in der ersten Klasse begonnen werden kann. Nach einem ersten intuitiven Kontakt führt die Ordnungsrelation zu einer Schreibweise der negativen Zahlen und anschließend zur Beziehung zwischen der Subtraktion in N und der Addition in Z. Abschließend werden die Vorteile der Anwendung der positiven und negativen Zahlen mit Hilfe von einigen konkreten Beispielen diskutiert. [less ▲]

Les TIC comme support au développement de stratégies de résolution de problèmes en mathématiques

in Les Cahiers de la Section des sciences de l'éducation. Pratiques et théorie. (2008), 27-28

A web-based system for mathematical problem understanding and solving

in International Journal of Psychology (2008), 43

In the domain of educational multimedia for primary school a lot of research has been done in the field of computer assisted calculation frameworks. However, much less work has been done in the area of ... [more ▼]

In the domain of educational multimedia for primary school a lot of research has been done in the field of computer assisted calculation frameworks. However, much less work has been done in the area of problem solving and especially in the area of problem understanding. The present project aims at the development and the scientific assessment of a computer assisted framework for mathematical problem understanding and solving (CAMPUS) based on analogical representations in form of number lines (Klein, Beishuizen, & Treffers, 1998; Petitto, 1990) and graphs. This tool will be deployed by our formerly developed computer assisted testing platform (http://www.tao.lu) [see our proposal on TAO] and will be the first learning tool on that system. The CAMPUS framework will help teachers to more efficiently analyze the different steps of the problem solving strategies of their students and thereby allow them to give more adapted feedback in order to guide the learner’s process. The main characteristic of this platform is the use of the computer as a framework for the development of problem solving strategies in mathematics. The tool imposes no restrictions in the resolution processes of the learner, but avoids him to get lost in those steps of solving that are obviously wrong (for example: addition of objects of different classes). In this way, the CAMPUS architecture is a sort of a cognitive tool that helps the student in structuring his thinking by telling him which calculations are mathematically or logically not permitted, but it does not suggest him a precise way towards the solution. In contrary, each logically correct action will be accepted by the system. Consequently, the CAMPUS tool is not a drill-and-practice tool, but it proposes a framework for the student in which he can develop problem solving strategies in complex situations. CAMPUS is based on a (socio-)cognitive approach, which means that the tool permits to solve the problems in an individual or a group situation, even if the teamwork is explicitly desirable in such a pedagogical approach (Webb, 1994; Yadrick, Regian, Connolly Gomez, & Robertson Schule, 1997). The tool is intended to be integrated into daily classroom teaching as a tool for triggering the learning process and therefore has not to be considered as a separate or additional exercising tool. The students learning process should be supported by the tool on one hand and by additional teacher support on the other hand. The learner and his learning process are at the centre of the learning activity (Tardif, 1998) and the teacher plays a supervision and support role in this sort of learning environment (Hudson, 1997; Tardif, 1998). Moreover, the use of analogical representations (of the operations to be taken) and graphs (representing the resolution steps adopted by the learner) should favour, on the learner’s side, the establishment of mental models including analogical representations and supporting the resolution process of this type of problems, even beyond the use of this computerized platform. We could expect that the learner will develop, through his experiences with the platform (which prevents experimentation with arbitrary meaningless calculations), thorough knowledge concerning the solving of mathematical problems based, at least partially, on non-explicit learning processes as described, for example, in the connectionist models of learning theories (Spitzer, 2000). These connectionist models show in fact that significant learning can be achieved in a non-explicit manner if the learner is placed in an environment which structures his behavior along certain regularities (even if these regularities are not taught in an explicit manner). The CAMPUS framework is based on a conceptual idea that emerged from previous research (Busana, 1999) where a prototype using a similar architecture has been developed in an alpha-version using Quest. This alpha-version was developed in only one language (German) and ran only under Windows. The new CAMPUS-tool will be published under the open-source licence, will be platform independent (plays in Macromedia’s Flash Player) and will be delivered over the Internet. [less ▲]

A web-based quality control system for assessment processes

in International Journal of Psychology (2008), 43