Technology-Enabled Blended Learning Experiences for Chemistry Education and Outreach

Technology-Enabled Blended Learning Experiences for Chemistry Education and Outreach discusses new technologies and their potential for the advancement of chemistry education, particularly in topics that are difficult to demonstrate in traditional 2d media. The book covers the theoretical background of technologies currently in use (such as virtual and augmented reality), introducing readers to the current landscape and providing a solid foundation on how technology can be usefully integrated in both learning and teaching chemistry content. Other sections cover the implementation of technology, how to design a curriculum, and how new tactics can be applied to both outreach and evaluation efforts.

Case studies supplement the information presented, providing the reader with practicable examples and applications of covered theories and technologies. Drawing on the broad experiences and unique insights of a global team of authors from a whole host of different backgrounds, the book aims to stimulate readers’ creativity and inspire them to find their own novel applications of the techniques highlighted in this volume.

• Provides detailed information on the theoretical background of technology usage in chemistry education, including discussions of augmented and virtual reality
• Helps readers understand available options and make informed decisions on how to best utilize technology to enhance their chemistry teaching using concepts surrounding blended learning
• Presents examples of theory in practice through case studies that detail completed implementations from around the world

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Release date: Jul 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9780128230794

Book preview

Section 1

Foundations in technology-enabled blended learning experiences

Chapter 1: Theoretical background on technology-enabled learning from an instructional designer’s point of view

Iman N’hari    Centre d'Accompagnement à la Pédagogie et SUpport à l'Expérimentation (CAPSULE), Sorbonne Université, Paris, France

Abstract

More than ever in this current context, pedagogical engineering finds its place in the landscape of higher education. Lifelong learning is a major issue in today’s fast-moving societies and is an important pillar in career development. In French higher education, the notion of hybridization is no longer as hostile as it used to be, and it is no longer necessary to convince people of the usefulness of tools in learning. Today, the question lies in the methods used to encourage autonomy, motivation, collaboration, and user-centered learning. A tool remains a tool if it is not accompanied by a defined and clear learning strategy. In this chapter, I will present the different methodological tools that have accompanied and guided me throughout my career in conducting instructional designing projects.

Keywords

Instructional designer; Blended learning course; Design; Educational platform; Resources; Evaluation; Implementation; Analysis; ICT

Introduction

Unknown: What do you do for a living?

Me: I work at the university, at Sorbonne University.

Unknown: Oww, so you are a teacher, in what subject are you a teacher in?

Me: No, I’m not a teacher, I’m an instructional designer.

Unknown: An instructional what ? What is it ? What does it consist of?

It’s the kind of conversation I often have with people I meet at friends’ houses, when carpooling… the job of an instructional designer is totally unknown to the general public.

No wonder, because I didn't know this profession myself 10 years ago, before I came across it by chance during my studies at Kingston University in England.

Moreover, the job of an instructional designer can be different depending on the context in which the position is practiced. For instance, in France, we talk of concepteur pédagogique literally translated as an educational designer, any person involved in the creation and mediatization of digital resources; we also talk of an engineer in information technology and communication for education, any person whose mission is to ensure the coordination, design, production, and development of off-line and online multimedia products and services (websites, front end, intranet) in phase with the development policy of ICTE of the institution for a little over 2 years has emerged the term of digital education engineer, and distinguishing from the previous one by its specificity to digital, its role is to study and ensure the project management of digital projects to meet the needs of stakeholders and public institutions and promote the evolution of educational practices. All these names demonstrate the extent to which this very recent profession (a little more than 10 years) in Europe is malleable, it evolves with the experience, and it takes the form of the structure in which it is inserted, which gives it a rather unstable character. So you will clearly understand that an educational or pedagogical engineer, which is finally the best known and most used designation in Europe, will have different missions depending on whether they work in a university, an engineering school, a training organization, or in the business world.

For my part, the definition that I give to my profession and as I would like it to be described is very close to the definition of an engineer in information and communication technology for teaching. Indeed, I consider the pedagogy as being at the heart of all issues related to teaching. Tools and technologies are only means to serve it.

In this chapter, I will refer to the term instructional designer well known and used in anglophone countries. More generally, what I found interesting in this acronym is the term design. The term instructional designer appeared in the 1960s, and it emphasizes a faculty of creation and of invention on the part of the instructional designer more than on the part of his engineering faculty, which contains the idea of a certain scientific technicality.

I have always been fascinated by this plural definition of the profession, which goes hand in hand with the diversity of the people who embody it. If you ask all the people working in this profession, none of them will have the same academic background. This is naturally explained by the fact that no diploma yet existed. For most, educational engineering was a revelation during a university career or professional experience. This was precisely my case.

During my third year of my Bachelor's degree in English Literature and Civilization at Kingston University in London as an Erasmus student (2007), I was fascinated by this teacher who offers French courses in the English language in blended learning, a term totally unknown to me at the time. What method is this? How does it work? I got closer to the French department of the university and sympathized with the head of the department because an idea had just emerged in me, why not dedicate my Master’s research thesis to the analysis of this method. So I continued with a Master’s degree in French as a Foreign Language and wrote a dissertation entitled blended learning: the case of English-speaking learners of French at the University of Kingston-London under the supervision of Anika Falkert from the University of Avignon. This is how I discovered this occupation and how I embarked on this new adventure. What fascinated me a lot during this research thesis is the complexity of this job at the crossroads between Education Sciences, Cognitive Sciences, Human and Social Sciences, Engineering Sciences. I have been greatly influenced by the writings of Marcel Lebrun, Philippe Merieu, Jean Piaget, late, Garrison, Viau, Vygotski, more recently Parmentier, Perraya, Jezegou, and many