| Title : | Do students prefer a Digital or in-Person Environment when Learning in Efl/Esp Classrooms : doctoral studies-third cycle | | Material Type: | printed text | | Authors: | Daniela Kirovska-Simjanoska, Dissertant ; Judy S Richardson, Thesis advisor | | Publisher: | Tetovë : Fakulteti i Gjuhëve, Kulturave dhe Komunikimit - UEJL | | Publication Date: | 2018 | | Pagination: | 208 p. | | Layout: | ill. | | Size: | 30 cm | | General note: | Includes bibliographical references
Includes bibliographical footnotes
Includes Appendix | | Languages : | English (eng) Original Language : English (eng) | | Abstract: | Nowadays teachers are witnessing how student learning extends outside the traditional settings. The classroom itself is no longer the primary learning space. This reshaping of learning is inevitably followed by fundamental redesign of the formal and informal learning spaces. The formality of the classroom is transformed by the development of the digital content. Thus, the classroom turns into a collaborative learning space where the students bring in their outside learning experience and combine it with in-class learning. The technological tools used in class only enhance the transformation enabling students to work and learn as teams. Outside the classroom, students tend to learn in an informal setting using interaction and collaboration. In this sense, online education can be helpful by connecting learners from various places for synchronous group discussions, collaborative projects and different hands-on learning assignments. In a fast changing educational setting, ways of learning technological possibilities are emerging and replacing the old ways of teaching. The face of education is evolving and the schools of the future should be open to different trends and resources that haven’t been used previously in education, but show significant potential for teaching and learning. Ware and Helmich (2014) point out that the use of technology in education encouraged educators to guess how this digital turn can be use to reconsider the ways in which teaching and learning connect. The essential nature of learners in today‘s world is the one of constantly connected students who are surrounded by different digital devices. Today’s learners’ lives are also greatly dependent on technology. As a result, students are bringing attitudes, beliefs and perceptions to learning environments around their own learning experiences there, and the role that technology should play in it. Technology can shape, and reshape, who is the learner and who is the teacher. It can open up knowledge and content that otherwise would be less available. After all, language education does not only happen in the classroom and should not stop after the learners leave the classroom. Thus, technological devices should be frequently used by students and the teachers in order to provide an interaction between language learners and teachers or peer-to-peers. The development of Web-based language teaching and learning activities continue to be a stimulating and growing field allowing language teachers to create their own web-based language activities and use the communication tools. In this sense, digital learning can increase flexibility of access, eliminate geographical barriers, and improve convenience of use and effectiveness of collaborative learning. Additionally, some studies also show that students are likely to perform better in an online learning environment than in a traditional classroom environment (Liu, Ho, & Song, 2011). Digital teaching and learning activities have continued to develop as an alternative to traditional face-to-face teaching and learning. According to Dickinson, et al. (2008), if instruction takes place in a less traditional setting learners experience a more comfortable learning environment. Furthermore, Lam (2009) suggests that Web-based instruction has been regarded as most effective when the course is based more on practical knowledge and problem solving. The arguments from the previous studies suggest that Web-based instruction should be more effective than classroom-based when students have greater control of the learning environment and when practical knowledge is being taught. Better students’ performance is a combination of technology, and students’ control of learning and their learning objectives, not because of the web-based instruction per se. As a result of this new awareness, the philosophy behind European Higher Education is being altered with university educational models that initiate new methodologies aimed at students’ life-long learning for personal or professional purposes. Preparing students to be able to communicate successfully in the international labor market is one of the biggest challenges of university degrees, i.e. the acquisition of English written and spoken skills. Technological advancements had a significant effect on learning styles: learners use computer-mediated communication to further their written and spoken skills, although the effectiveness on these innovations greatly depends on the way they are used. | | Link for e-copy: | https://repository.seeu.edu.mk/sites/thesis/ThesisSharedDocs/DR_123621.pdf | | Record link: | https://library.seeu.edu.mk/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=17928 |
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Do students prefer a Digital or in-Person Environment when Learning in Efl/Esp Classrooms / Daniela Kirovska-Simjanoska 
