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Research section on possible changes in teachers and students'  attitudes and behaviors after using SCOUT

What kind of teachers has the SCOUT environment been developed for? teachers who are either somewhat familiar with the use of IT in education or would like to incorporate IT use in their teaching practice but they feel frustrated by the huge amount of  information they get bombarded with from everywhere.
What kind of teachers are actually accessing SCOUT?- What are their vews on the added value of online learning?(either totally or partially online)

in order to find out, a questionnaire has been developed.

Why should they use SCOUT? -what are the advantages and disadvantages of using the SCOUT learning environment for themselves and their learners? they can find a step-by-step user guide on creating cooperative activities.
they can easily access e-literature 
they can find tools for building their own materials.
they can find ready-made examples of  micro-teaching units they can adapt to their needs and 
they can build their own collaborative test archives.
In what way can SCOUT change their views on teaching and specifically IT-based teaching/learning?

see research study

 

 

 

What kind of teachers are accessing or willing to access the SCOUT environment?

in terms of the following dimensions:

  • assumptions and views on students' learning: am I a teacher who has.....
  1. a reproducing/transmitting/expository conception which tends to encourage...reproductive learning
  2. a pre-emptive orientation...sensitive to past student learning difficulties...focuses on explanations
  3. a conversational or transformative conception...understanding is constructed by the student with the assistance of the teacher (Bain & McNaught, 1996:56).
  • personality traits
  • self-efficacy, assertiveness, leadership styles

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Why should they use SCOUT? -what are the advantages and disadvantages of using the SCOUT learning environment?

Preliminary considerations: Learning in a web-based environment is a social process because:                 

  • it takes place in a certain social situation
  • is motivated by it
  • any relevant learning process has as its goal the ability to cope with the social situation
Therefore, in order to become a viable alternative to traditional teaching  the learning environment has to take into account:
  • the social situation in which the media are used, and must not be limited to the media themselves
  • the goal of dealing with complex social situations and must not limit itself to the isolated individual learner;
  • the specific forms of interaction between the learner and society, which range from the passive reception of static knowledge to the active design of complex situations.

 

 research study plan

STEP 1