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Books by Angela Gerrard

Participatory Internet Radio is seen globally as an effective and low cost way to engage disenfra... more Participatory Internet Radio is seen globally as an effective and low cost way to engage disenfranchised groups. Done well, it is a democratising force, enabling the dispossessed to locate and
effectively use their voice.
This book brings together the research, findings and experiences of groups and researchers involved in a project using internet radio as an educational intervention.

Teaching Documents by Angela Gerrard

Step by step guide to integrating ICT into the STEM classroom.

Articles by Angela Gerrard

This short paper aims to provide a systematic review of learning theories in an attempt to better... more This short paper aims to provide a systematic review of learning theories in an attempt to better understand how pre-school children acquire the skills necessary to interact with modern technology such as smart phones and tablets.
In earlier work the author sought to document a child’s developmental milestones in technology use and compare them to Piaget’s stages of development. Piaget’s concept of schema; that babies construct checklists for every aspect of the world (MacLeod, 2009) can be used to explain the phenomenon of a child trying to use a magazine in the same way as a touch-screen tablet.
“They apply the schema to each new situation, (assimilation), realize the schema does not quite fit, (accommodation) and then adapt the checklist to create a new schema, (equilibration). Children construct an understanding of the world around them, then experience discrepancies between what they already know and what they discover in their environment.” (MacLeod, 2009)
So in the case of our media-confused baby, the schema for a tablet is fixed in her mind, she then encounters a magazine and attempts to use it in the same way as she would a tablet. When the sideswipe fails to move the picture she must create a new checklist for the new object.
The explanation is simplistic and assumes that the child has never previously encountered a document with static text or pictures. It also neglects any aspect of social learning or of mimicking what her parents are doing.
This paper will view the phenomenon of children swiping a static image through the different paradigms of Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Neuroscience, Humanism and Social Constructivism. There will be a theory by theory analysis culminating in a discussion of how best to describe the learning.

This is a short paper documenting observations on a child’s first experiences interacting with sm... more This is a short paper documenting observations on a child’s first experiences interacting with smart technology and mobile devices. Piaget’s cognitive learning theory is used as a way to explain the observations and the developmental milestones in technology are charted in relation to both clinical developmental standards and Piaget’s developmental phases. It is hoped that continued research in this area will pave the way for developers to create age appropriate and educational apps.

Papers by Angela Gerrard

RadioActive101 Practices ebook is now complete (in both PDF and EPUB versions), it contains many ... more RadioActive101 Practices ebook is now complete (in both PDF and EPUB versions), it contains many of the common practices developed and refined by participants and RadioActive researchers across this European partnership. And there are several examples of the significant impact felt by some of the individuals who became ‘radio-activists’ along the way.

This paper is based on the work and emerging results of the Erasmus Plus funded Taccle 5 project:... more This paper is based on the work and emerging results of the Erasmus Plus funded Taccle 5 project: Extend European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators for VET teachers and trainers. The paper provides a general overview of the aims of the Taccle 5 project and expected outcomes. It discusses the need to extend the EU DigiCompEdu Framework to consider the particular context and needs of Vocational Education and Training teachers and trainers. The development of digital learning materials and Open Educational Resources is seen as key in VET, given the large number of different occupational areas and, unlike in Higher education, the need for these to be available in national languages. The European perspective is seen as important in allowing the development of models and solutions which will have applicability in multiple VET contexts including in apprenticeship programmes, VET schools and in the workplace as well as in programmes for initial and continuing training of VET...

This paper builds upon the work of different European cooperation projects that have focused on p... more This paper builds upon the work of different European cooperation projects that have focused on promoting digital competences for teachers and trainers in different educational sectors. The current TACCLE4-CPD project has the task to develop <em>continuing professional development </em>of teachers and trainers with focus on <em>promoting digital competences</em>. This task requires a critical rethinking on the prior approaches to 'scale up' the promotion of digital competences via TACCLE courses or training campaigns related to digital tools (as was the case with the Learning Layers project). From this perspective the paper works with policy analyses and discusses different boundary conditions in general education and in the field of vocational education and training (VET). Thus, the paper gives a differentiated picture on the follow-up of the TACCLE projects and of the Learning Layers. Here the concept 'innovation paths' is used to specify di...

Critical Mobile Pedagogy, 2020

Lifelong learning, continuous education and the Impact of education on development are target are... more Lifelong learning, continuous education and the Impact of education on development are target areas of this paper, which addresses the results of Media In Action (MIA), a project at the intersection of technology, education and journalism. This project produced support materials and training for educators integrating Media and news literacy as well as digital storytelling. Preliminary results point that the training sessions had relevant impact on teachers' knowledge on media education and that the training increased the possibilities of using media education activities and projects with children and young people, even if with a close connection with already existent tasks. This reinforces the idea that media literacy specially makes sense in close articulation with the contexts of everyday life and with the daily needs of the citizens

In a changing world of work with high youth unemployment rates, an ageing society and flexible wo... more In a changing world of work with high youth unemployment rates, an ageing society and flexible work force, practitioners in Public Employment Services need to cope with continually growing demands. In this paper we present the EmployID project which introduced a blended learning approach for Public Employment Services in Croatia, designed to support professional identity transformation through peer facilitation and learning. The evaluation shows that learners benefited from higher knowledge and skills development related to peer coaching, along with an increase in activities related to collaborative, reflective learning.

Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality, 2016

Within TACCLE 3-Coding European Union Erasmus+ KA2 Programme project, a review and evaluation of ... more Within TACCLE 3-Coding European Union Erasmus+ KA2 Programme project, a review and evaluation of a set of resources that can contribute to teaching programming to younger children has made. This paper presents a survey of this review including the most outstanding products in order to help teachers to introduce programming in pre-university studies.

TACCLE 3, O5: An overview of the most relevant literature on coding and computational thinking with emphasis on the relevant issues for teachers, 2016

Within TACCLE 3 – _Coding European Union Erasmus+ KA2 Programme project, a structured report list... more Within TACCLE 3 – _Coding European Union Erasmus+ KA2 Programme project, a structured report listing and describing available literature has been done. This list is to be made availbale to teachers via the website in a user friendly format. Recomendations, instructions and directions regarding pedagogical aspects of teaching coding have been anlaysed and made available based on this literature. This document represents the TACCLE 3 O5 deliverable entitled “Literature Review”.

Within TACCLE 3 – Coding European Union Erasmus+ KA2 Programme project, a review and evaluation o... more Within TACCLE 3 – Coding European Union Erasmus+ KA2 Programme project, a review and evaluation of a set of resources that can contribute to teaching programming to younger children has made. This paper presents a survey of this review including the most outstanding products in order to help teachers to introduce programming in pre-university studies.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

Conference proceedings by Angela Gerrard