Programme de bourses "Echanges Universitaires"

Learners’ voices @ UWIOC
Overcoming the “generation Y” perspective: observing ICTs in learners’ experiences in a disadvantaged context

The project was developed at the UWI-Universities of West Indies (main locations: Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica), aimed at studying the reality of UWIOC-Open campus of Universities of West Indies; the Swiss partner is the NewMinELab (New Media in Education Lab – Faculty of Communication Sciences – Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano).

Project Goal
The project aimed at investigating the actual uses of ICTs in learning experiences at the UWI and how eLearning is provided and perceived at UWIOC. Two main research fields were concerned: ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development) thread of studies and the “generation Y” and “digital natives” issues. UWIOC is a really interesting reality because it provides online courses for the 15 nations of Caribbean which is, for some of them (e.g. Anguilla), the only available access to university.

Theoretical background and Research Rationales

RELEVANCE OF THE TOPIC
In the last decade a huge literature has been produced in order to understand how people learn in the knowledge society – also known as society of information and communication, because of the widespread diffusion of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) in whatever aspect of daily life, not excluded learning. Mostly coming from the United States, the dominant theory path is built around the two label-concepts of “digital natives” and “generation Y” (or “net generation”); the “Y” persons have the main characteristic to have grown up with ICTs and to have developed a “different” way to think and learn, just because the new technologies permeated their lives; in average scholars consider “digital natives” people born after 1980. In the following table there are summarized the characteristics attributed to “Generation Y” people. Actually, the present research proposal is developed within the framework of a wider study aiming to overcome the Gen Y dominant perspective (see: “e-ethnography project” at http://www.newmine.org/?page_id=97); in that research, learning experiences of “digital natives” facing ICTs have been studied both in the University context and in six Swiss companies.

DIGITAL NATIVES AND DIGITAL DIVIDE
A crucial point of the proposed work concerns the “ICT4D” research path and the attention devoted in considering the so-called “digital divide” issue (Kinuthia, Marshall, Taylor 2009); that topic is considered in two directions, transversally, the digital divide between generations (observed with an anthropological-pedagogical perspective) and the one between countries (observed with the ICT4D perspective). On this purpose, even recent studies underline that «The „digital divide? continues to perpetuate itself despite the increasing spread of technology among the socially weaker classes and educationally deprived families. „The web is the medium of the better educated?» (Schulmeister, 2008).

WHY THE UWIOC?
The last rationale behind this proposal implies to explain why the UWIOC condition is considered strategic for the research itself: being a reality in which 15 countries-islands are served by one open campus (that, in 12 cases, is the only chance to access university), it is considered a context in which the eLearning way to teach and learn is really and structurally needed and it is not provided vaguely because “digital natives must be taught digitally”.

Main goals and Expected Benefits
Theoretically:

A better understanding of the “digital natives” issue, going further a US-centred vision.
A better knowledge of context-related factors in ICT-enhanced instructional design.

Practically:

-For UWIOC: a growth in self-knowledge, elaborated with an external and qualified observer of eLearning matters.Being a reflection coming from a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, it would allow a growth in terms of self-awareness and the results of this research could – eventually – be used to improve the eLearning experiences provided by UWIOC.
For NewMinELab: interesting data, needed to understand how to sharp a better university eLearning, based on the experience in which the teaching provided online is not a choice, but a condition.

Table: Digital Opportunity Index (DOI) 2005/2006
(in yellow, the countries will be observed in the research)

Tabelle
(from: World Information Society Report 2007
http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/worldinformationsociety/2007/WISR07-DOIworld.pdf)

Involved Persons and Institutions: NewMinELab & UWIOC

@ Open Campus - University of West Indies

Responsible: Prof. Stewart Marshall
The University of the West Indies
Cave Hill Campus, Barbados
Phone: +1 246 417 4575
Fax: +1 246 421 6753
Email: stewartmar@gmail.com

Stewart Marshall

@ New Media in Education Lab

Phd student- jeune chercheur: Emanuele Rapetti
Office 130
Via Giuseppe Buffi 13
6900 Lugano
Tel. +41 (0)58 666 47 60
Mobile: +41 77 461 43 66
Mail: emanuele.rapetti@lu.unisi.ch
Blog: materialeducativi.blogspot.com
Skype: emanuele.rapetti

Emanuele Rapetti

Supervisor: Prof. Lorenzo Cantoni
Tel: +41 (0)58 666 46 20
Mail: lorenzo.cantoni@lu.unisi.ch

Lorenzo cantoni

Co-ideator: Isabella Rega
Tel: +41 (0)58 666 46 74
Mail: isabella.rega@lu.unisi.ch
Skype: isakof

Isabella reag


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		Programme de bourses "Echanges Universitaires" Learners’ voices @ UWIOC Overcoming the “generation Y” perspective: observing ICTs in learners’ experiences in a disadvantaged context The project was developed at the UWI-Universities of West Indies (main locations: Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica), aimed at studying the reality of UWIOC-Open campus of Universities of West Indies; the Swiss partner is the NewMinELab (New Media in Education Lab – Faculty of Communication Sciences – Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano). Project Goal The project aimed at investigating the actual uses of ICTs in learning experiences at the UWI and how eLearning is provided and perceived at UWIOC. Two main research fields were concerned: ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development) thread of studies and the “generation Y” and “digital natives” issues. UWIOC is a really interesting reality because it provides online courses for the 15 nations of Caribbean which is, for some of them (e.g. Anguilla), the only available access to university. Theoretical background and Research Rationales RELEVANCE OF THE TOPIC In the last decade a huge literature has been produced in order to understand how people learn in the knowledge society – also known as society of information and communication, because of the widespread diffusion of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) in whatever aspect of daily life, not excluded learning. Mostly coming from the United States, the dominant theory path is built around the two label-concepts of “digital natives” and “generation Y” (or “net generation”); the “Y” persons have the main characteristic to have grown up with ICTs and to have developed a “different” way to think and learn, just because the new technologies permeated their lives; in average scholars consider “digital natives” people born after 1980. In the following table there are summarized the characteristics attributed to “Generation Y” people. Actually, the present research proposal is developed within the framework of a wider study aiming to overcome the Gen Y dominant perspective (see: “e-ethnography project” at http://www.newmine.org/?page_id=97); in that research, learning experiences of “digital natives” facing ICTs have been studied both in the University context and in six Swiss companies. DIGITAL NATIVES AND DIGITAL DIVIDE A crucial point of the proposed work concerns the “ICT4D” research path and the attention devoted in considering the so-called “digital divide” issue (Kinuthia, Marshall, Taylor 2009); that topic is considered in two directions, transversally, the digital divide between generations (observed with an anthropological-pedagogical perspective) and the one between countries (observed with the ICT4D perspective). On this purpose, even recent studies underline that «The „digital divide? continues to perpetuate itself despite the increasing spread of technology among the socially weaker classes and educationally deprived families. „The web is the medium of the better educated?» (Schulmeister, 2008). WHY THE UWIOC? The last rationale behind this proposal implies to explain why the UWIOC condition is considered strategic for the research itself: being a reality in which 15 countries-islands are served by one open campus (that, in 12 cases, is the only chance to access university), it is considered a context in which the eLearning way to teach and learn is really and structurally needed and it is not provided vaguely because “digital natives must be taught digitally”. Main goals and Expected Benefits Theoretically: A better understanding of the “digital natives” issue, going further a US-centred vision. A better knowledge of context-related factors in ICT-enhanced instructional design. Practically: -For UWIOC: a growth in self-knowledge, elaborated with an external and qualified observer of eLearning matters.Being a reflection coming from a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, it would allow a growth in terms of self-awareness and the results of this research could – eventually – be used to improve the eLearning experiences provided by UWIOC. For NewMinELab: interesting data, needed to understand how to sharp a better university eLearning, based on the experience in which the teaching provided online is not a choice, but a condition. Table: Digital Opportunity Index (DOI) 2005/2006 (in yellow, the countries will be observed in the research) (from: World Information Society Report 2007 http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/worldinformationsociety/2007/WISR07-DOIworld.pdf) Involved Persons and Institutions: NewMinELab & UWIOC @ Open Campus - University of West Indies Responsible: Prof. Stewart Marshall The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Barbados Phone: +1 246 417 4575 Fax: +1 246 421 6753 Email: stewartmar@gmail.com @ New Media in Education Lab Phd student- jeune chercheur: Emanuele Rapetti Office 130 Via Giuseppe Buffi 13 6900 Lugano Tel. +41 (0)58 666 47 60 Mobile: +41 77 461 43 66 Mail: emanuele.rapetti@lu.unisi.ch Blog: materialeducativi.blogspot.com Skype: emanuele.rapetti Supervisor: Prof. Lorenzo Cantoni Tel: +41 (0)58 666 46 20 Mail: lorenzo.cantoni@lu.unisi.ch Co-ideator: Isabella Rega Tel: +41 (0)58 666 46 74 Mail: isabella.rega@lu.unisi.ch Skype: isakof