Ola Erstad

Research and experiences from three national ICT development programs for schools and teacher education in Norway (2000 - 2010) are presented and critically examined by the use of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory. Future perspectives on the development of digital technologies and media use in schools are discussed. All the authors in the book have been involved in follow-up work of ICT reform projects. Denne boka fokuser på hvilke krav en må stille til en framtidsrettet skoleutvikling. Ut fra ulike perspektiver og temaer viser forfatterne at en må ta hensyn til mangfold, kompleksitet og ekspansiv læring for utvikling av norsk skole generelt, og for nye medier og teknologiformer spesielt. Boka viser også at implementeringen av slike verktøy og virkemidler representerer en rekke utfordringer for skolens rolle og funksjon i samfunnet. Dette gjelder ikke minst i spørsmålet om hvordan utdanningssystemet forholder seg til de nye kunnskapsformene som er en integrert del av den digitale ...

ABSTRACT This article elaborates on the competencies, often referred to as 21st century competencies, that are needed to be able to live in and contribute to our current (and future) society. We begin by describing, analysing and reflecting on international frameworks describing 21st century competencies, giving special attention to digital literacy as one of the core competencies for the 21st century. This is followed by an analysis of the learning approaches that are considered appropriate for acquiring 21st century competencies, and the specific role of technology in these learning processes. Despite some consensus about what 21st century competencies are and how they can be acquired, results from international studies indicate that teaching strategies for 21st century competencies are often not well implemented in actual educational practice. The reasons for this include a lack of integration of 21st century competencies in curriculum and assessment, insufficient preparation of teachers and the absence of any systematic attention for strategies to adopt at scale innovative teaching and learning practices. The article concludes with a range of specific recommendations for the implementation of 21st century competencies.

As a frame of reference we will use some major research initiatives in Norway studying the impact of new technology on learning activities among students. Several ongoing projects in Norway have a strong focus on qualitative methods and action research in trying to search out the ...

The main objective of this study is to develop a self-report instrument to measure pre-service teachers’ ICT competencies in education. The questionnaire items of this instrument are based on an existing comprehensive framework and were created with input from experts in the field. The data were collected from a sample of 931 final-year pre-service teachers in Flanders (Belgium). A first subsample was used for an exploratory factor analysis, and a second one to verify the identified factor structure via confirmatory factor analysis. A two-factor structure of ICT competencies was identified: (a) competencies to support pupils for ICT use in class and (b) competencies to use ICT for instructional design. This two-factor structure was confirmed in the confirmatory factor analysis. Recommendations are made on how this reliable instrument can help assess the level and progress of pre-service teachers’ ICT competencies.

In this article we discuss why media literacies are being acknowledged as a key competence across a range of life functions and policy domains, and we propose that, in order to understand and help develop these literacies, researchers from media studies and education studies need to identify common theoretical and empirical grounds and systematically harness synergies where they may be found. As an inroad to such a process of identification, the article explores key trajectories within the two fields since the 1980s by considering the intensified interest in the people who are at the core of the activities under study (learners, audiences), their practices of meaning-making, and the scientific approaches employed. We argue that the trajectories toward studying meaning-making across contexts that have devel- oped largely without interaction between the two fields of study now need to be acknowledged and aligned in order to strengthen the research base from which media literacies may be advanced. We present recent studies on connected learning, by which we mean learning studied from the learners’ perspective and across different contexts and temporal trajectories, with a focus on the Eu- ropean context.

... Page 6. 188 O. Erstad et al. ... The data are extracted from two different episodes of the post-production phase in the project. In the first one, two students, Carla and Heidi (referred to as C and H in the extracts) are looking for a suitable font for the title of their TV-feature. ...

In this article we discuss why media literacies are being acknowledged as a key competence across a range of life functions and policy domains, and we propose that, in order to understand and help develop these literacies, researchers from media studies and education studies need to identify common theoretical and empirical grounds and systematically harness synergies where they may be found. As an inroad to such a process of identification, the article explores key trajectories within the two fields since the 1980s by considering the intensified interest in the people who are at the core of the activities under study (learners, audiences), their practices of meaning-making, and the scientific approaches employed. We argue that the trajectories toward studying meaning-making across contexts that have devel- oped largely without interaction between the two fields of study now need to be acknowledged and aligned in order to strengthen the research base from which media literacies may be advanced. We present recent studies on connected learning, by which we mean learning studied from the learners’ perspective and across different contexts and temporal trajectories, with a focus on the Eu- ropean context.

An Interdisciplinary Journal on Humans in ICT Environments Volume 1, Number 2, October 2005 Contents From the Editor-in-Chief: Open Access Publishing as an pp. 109-110 Incorporator of Research and Innovation Cycle Pertti Saariluoma Guest Editor's Introduction: International Perspectives on the pp. 111-116 Pedagogically Innovative Uses of Technology Marja Kankaanranta Original Articles: National Policies that Connect ICT-Based Education Reform to pp. 117-156 Economic and Social Development Robert B. Kozma ICT and Curriculum Change pp. 157-175 Joke ...