Programme

The conference starts on Wednesday 23^rd June 2010 in the evening with a welcome drink in the Bohemia Sekt centre in Stary Plzenec. Transport will be provided.      

Conference programme:

The detailed conference programme is available here.

Keynotes

At DisCo 2010, Lynette Naidoo presents: Integrating pedagogy, cognition and technology in distance education. The paper argues that e-learning must be firmly rooted in epistemological frameworks to be effective in the learning experience and that it is imperative that the pedagogy continue to transform and evolve as technologies change. This paper suggests that a new grounded pedagogical model is developed, incorporating the cognitive and technological aspects of distance education in pursuit of dialogical learning excellence. Lynette Naidoo is currently a lecturer at the University of South Africa (Unisa), the country's only Open Distance Learning (ODL) Institution, a position she has held at the Department of Communication Science since 2000. Her prime interest lies in the field of Open Distance Learning in Higher Education, including the use of e-learning which is a flagship project at the university. Choosen publication from last year: Mbatha, B.T. & Naidoo, L. 2009. Complexities of e-learning in an ODL environment: the experience of students at the University of South Africa (Unisa). In proceedings of the 10th Department of Library and Information Science (DLIS) conference at the University of Zululand in South Africa. Mbatha, B.T. & Naidoo, L. 2009. Paradoxes and dilemmas in diffusion and adoption of electronic learning: the case of the University of South Africa. In proceedings of the International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI) 2009 in Spain.
At DisCo 2010, Maryanne Maisano presents her paper: Second Life - A Technological Simulation for Culturally Responsive Teaching for Every Classroom. Maryanne Maisano is currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Professional Education at University of North Carolina at Pembroke. She strives to make a positive impact, focusing on implementing and sustaining educational change in the lives of her students. She brings a history of educational involvement in both public and private education, from being a classroom teacher to creating her own private school dedicated to the principles of diversity, social justice, and community participation. Choosen publication from last year: Maisano, M., (December, 2009) Second life - a technological simulation for bringing global perspectives of social justice and human rights to every classroom, Winter Edition of Innovative Learning Technologies (in press). Maisano, M., (April, 2009) A Work of A.R.T., Accountability, Responsibility, and Teamwork: A Cross-Cultural Model for Individualizing Instruction America Journal of Educational
At DisCo 2010, Professor Jiri Mares from Charles University, Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Kralove will summarize the findings of the difficulties which accompany the survey of pedagogical effectiveness of the type of distance education which uses computers instead of printed educational aids. Explanation will first draw attention to the existing forms of the research into the pedagogical effectiveness of courses which are based on e-learning. It will then confront the new incentives for the effectiveness research with the research reality. The paper will also recall terminological problems with definition of the term effectiveness. With the support of works by V. Kulic it will differentiate between five possible forms of pedagogical effectiveness: target, subject, result, process and cost. It will suggest possible methods for measuring pedagogical effectiveness It will present more recent attempts of teaching effectiveness taxonomy (Makkiova, 2002; Kuittinenova, 1998; Fresen, 2007) which could also be used in our environment. By contrast to the traditional conceptions which concentrate primary on the results of the educational process the paper will recall possibilities of the evaluation of effectiveness of the educational process itself. It will introduce some interesting results of the evaluation of the efficiency on the combined study methods of five faculties of Charles University. At the end the paper will mention new variables which complicate the computer aided distance learning.

For detailed information about the accompanying programme, please see the Social events section.