Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences

Helping us welcome the new year, Dr. Joseph Beck of Worcester Polytechnic institute met with students and faculty of the Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences on January 7, 2013.  Dr. Beck listened to presentations from the senior theses groups as well as Thor Collin Andallaza (MSCS) and offered suggestions about how the groups might proceed in their work. We thank Dr. Beck for his time, his interest, and most of all for the knowledge and experience he so generously shared!

Transfer requires comprehension, application and synthesis of learning to other contexts. Hence, the design of learning practices and technologies to scaffold and afford transfer is crucial to the inculcation of meaningful learning  practices.  We regard classrooms as emergent systems where communities link research and practice within situated learning cultures. This special issue follows from the 1st International Workshop on ICT Trends in Emerging Economies. We welcome papers linking research and practice in two categories, with special focus  on adapting curricula and methodologies to meet the needs of emerging economies. The first category of papers involves research informing practice, i.e. theoretically-grounded conceptual papers and empirical papers. The second category involves how  practice informs research. Papers revolving around  the design and development of adaptable curricula and low-threshold technologies which can be easily adopted and adapted by these emerging economies are strongly encouraged.

Please see the attached [CFP] for more details.

Jessica O. Sugay presented the paper entitled “Gathering Behaviors and Affective States of Learners Using Educational Software: Challenges to Research in Emerging Economies” at the First International Workshop on ICT Trends in Emerging Economies (WICTTEE). The workshop was held on November 27 at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore as part of the International Conference on Computers in Education 2012. The workshop organizers invited “contributions from researchers who are from emerging economies* or those who are working on issues related to emerging economies* to share scholarly findings and professional insights in ICT development in the field of education.”

The paper discussed five challenges that researches in developing countries face when conducting field studies: technology adoption, school support, infrastructure, student culture, and force majeur. Ms. Sugay co-authored the paper with Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo, Jenilyn Agapito, and Salvador Reyes, Jr. For the full paper, please click here.